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Lots to consider, Minnesota loses final 2 games, season is very similar to Masons last. The start over guys have that, the U hired “Brew”, the stay the course guys can point to that.
Minnesota transfer portal and recruiting, the last 3 years, according to the recruiting services are nearly identical with Indiana, no matter the NIL, it’s irrelevant.
We have developed a good number of pros the last couple years, should the Gophers have been better the last few years, I say probably. Points to coaching, it has to. The last nine years have been better than the usual since the 60’s points to coaching as well.
My take is next year has to be much better or probably have to start over.
 







Really, Cal fired their guy, but they beat the Gophers…….oh wait….seriously, he seemed to coach a good game against us. I don’t know why Michigan State wouldn’t give Smith some more time, 2 years is quick.
 



Tech Machine said:
Lots to consider, Minnesota loses final 2 games, season is very similar to Masons last. The start over guys have that, the U hired “Brew”, the stay the course guys can point to that.
Minnesota transfer portal and recruiting, the last 3 years, according to the recruiting services are nearly identical with Indiana, no matter the NIL, it’s irrelevant.
We have developed a good number of pros the last couple years, should the Gophers have been better the last few years, I say probably. Points to coaching, it has to. The last nine years have been better than the usual since the 60’s points to coaching as well.
My take is next year has to be much better or probably have to start over.
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The major difference between us and Indiana is they have an elite coaching staff that we simply will never pay. Go look at how much Bryan Haines and Mike Shanahan are making while we putz around with the little sisters of the poor.

Bryan Haines makes in the ballpark of 10x more than Danny Collins. There is your difference beyond recruiting rankings. We had the talent to be much better than we were this year. Not nearly as good as Indiana to be fair, but definitely in the range of 9 wins. That falls on the coaching staff.

Making the next step for Gopher Football means identifying good coordinators and paying them enough to stay. PJ has made some shitty hires, but he has also made some good ones that we've lost. And he has probably made some of the shitty hires because he couldn't make the ones he really wanted. Danny Collins is just a totally unserious big ten coordinator with 4 total years of coaching experience beyond grad assistant and analyst roles. It is sad that he was given the job to begin with.
 
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Gopherchase said:
Shocker. But the positivity is good.
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Not necessarily positivity. I think for some folks there is no daylight between "right where we want to be" and "fire the coach." For others (including myself) there is definitely a zone of "this isn't good, but not calling for the coach's head yet." Im disappointed with the overall trend and definitely this year (especially if we dont end up with the axe, but I think we will win it). That said, PJ has never had really bad seasons here after his first year, and he had a strong enough stretch (including 2019) which buys him some leash (at least from me). If this year is a low point and we have some more good years ahead, all is well. If this year becomes a new norm, the seat should and will heat up.
 

RolGnav said:
I like PJ, but... this is our ceiling. So if you want 7 or 8 wins, and an occasional 9+ win season, stick with PJ. We'll never win the B10 under him, never go to college football playoffs. Reason is, he will get good enough players with his salesman personality, but he is not a good an X's or O's guy, so he will always rely on good coordinators. The sad thing is, even if he finds good coordinators, they will come and go, and move on... Usually getting poached if they are good and moving on to get better coaching jobs. So we're stuck trying to find the next good coordinator... and as we have seen, PJ really can't tell a good one from a bad one... with a lot of his misses. So do we stick with PJ and be ok with this ceiling, or do we try to find a brilliant mind out there that can coach and beat good coaches? Knowing Minnesota nice and football at the U, not being a priority... we probably should just be happy with this ceiling.
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"...or do we try to find a brilliant mind out there that can coach and beat good coaches?" (And would agree to coach in Minneapolis)
 





Obi-Wan Okogie said:
For whatever reason, the U of M is just never able to get the prestige of other big ten schools, don't know why but we are always one of the bottom feeders even though the surrounding talent and area is great.
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The answer lies in this thread. We don't have the prestige of other Big 10 Schools because the fans will defend a coach who goes 1-8 against his team's biggest rival and loses to Bowling Green.

Fans at other Big 10 schools would be calling for a coach's head in this situation. Half of the fans here think Fleck and his bottom-tier recruiting and years-long decline is the best thing to ever happen to the Gophers.
 

MZBKA1 said:
The answer lies in this thread. We don't have the prestige of other Big 10 Schools because the fans will defend a coach who goes 1-8 against his team's biggest rival and loses to Bowling Green.

Fans at other Big 10 schools would be calling for a coach's head in this situation. Half of the fans here think Fleck and his bottom-tier recruiting and years-long decline is the best thing to ever happen to the Gophers.
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Let's be honest, the U doesn't have the best track record in hiring coaches. I think a lot of it is the fear of "what if they hire another Tim Brewster?"
 

PMWinSTP said:
Indiana salary pool was very similar to Minnesota until this year.In
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In 2024, Indiana paid first-year DC Bryant Haines $1,175,000 and first-year OC Mike Shanahan $800,000. In 2024, Minnesota paid DC Corey Heatherman $850,000 and OC Greg Harbaugh $600,000.
In 2025, Indiana is paying DC Haines $1,800,000 and OC Shanahan $1,150,000. Minnesota is paying DC Danny Collins ????? (can't find it anywhere); Collins was to be paid $425,000 as assistant DC and DB coach--Heatherman was going to be paid $1,200,000 before he decamped. Doubt Collins is being paid more than $750,000 as DC. Minnesota is paying OC Harbaugh $730,000 this year.
{A weird thing. Co-OC Matt Simon was paid $600,000 in 2024 and is getting $640,000 this year.}
PJ has invested very little on the defensive coaching side this year (as Collins was already here coaching with Heatherman in 2024) and the results, possibly related, show it.
 


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