Huskers Radio Host: Nebraska should talk to PJ Fleck if things go south with Matt Rhule.

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I agree with the fellas it is kinda surprising that PJ doesn't get more serious buzz from bigger schools about their head coach openings.
I'm pleased he is our coach. Maybe the biggest reason is because I'm very wary we would hire someone better if he left.
We need a 2019 kinda season but if we get it...that might or could mean he's more likely to be gone. Still want the 10-11 win season. Willing to roll the dice. :)
 

As has been talked about before in PJ coaching carousel conversations, he has his culture and the way he coaches and develops players would be much less effective without it. His culture is very ingrained into Gopher football at this point, so it would be a big risk to uproot that and try and either plant it somewhere else that may not work so well (Imagine RTB at an SEC school) or try scrapping it entirely and running the risk that PJ just isn't an effective coach without it. That's not a risk that many major programs are willing to take when they can just hire an equally proven guy out there with less strings attached.
 

He would be a good fit for Nebraska.

But the Gophers have been better than Nebraska for a decade now, and any coach going there has to ask himself why so many men have failed to turn it around. Matt Rhule is a smart football coach. So were Scott Frost and Mike Riley.

There's very little local recruiting base, a marginally desirable location, and today's recruits haven't been alive at a time when Nebraska was a college football power. Tom Osborne could get California and Florida kids to go there to win championships, but it's not as easy when they have been one of the worst P4/5 programs by some measures over the last 10 years.
 

fmlizard said:
He would be a good fit for Nebraska.

But the Gophers have been better than Nebraska for a decade now, and any coach going there has to ask himself why so many men have failed to turn it around. Matt Rhule is a smart football coach. So were Scott Frost and Mike Riley.

There's very little local recruiting base, a marginally desirable location, and today's recruits haven't been alive at a time when Nebraska was a college football power. Tom Osborne could get California and Florida kids to go there to win championships, but it's not as easy when they have been one of the worst P4/5 programs by some measures over the last 10 years.
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I don't think Scott Frost was/is a smart coach.

Maybe experience will fix that. But yikes. I thought he was reliably dumb while at Nebraska.
 


ergopher said:
As has been talked about before in PJ coaching carousel conversations, he has his culture and the way he coaches and develops players would be much less effective without it. His culture is very ingrained into Gopher football at this point, so it would be a big risk to uproot that and try and either plant it somewhere else that may not work so well (Imagine RTB at an SEC school) or try scrapping it entirely and running the risk that PJ just isn't an effective coach without it. That's not a risk that many major programs are willing to take when they can just hire an equally proven guy out there with less strings attached.
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I agree. Minnesota is a great place for the "RTB" culture. The timing was right and it fits Minnesota. I don't think it fits just anywhere. I think PJ is in a great position at Minnesota. The "RTB" culture works. To pick up and start over at another location like a Nebraska, I believe would be much tougher. If PJ wins 8-10 games a year and makes an appearance in the CFB playoff once in a while, he will become the all-time winningest coach in MN history at some point and a statue will be built outside of the stadium. I think Fleck knows that. Not having the financial support from the school is making it tougher for PJ but he still believes it's possible. I do too.
 

Outside of $$, I'm not sure why you leave for the Nebraska job. It's now the equivalent of a mid-tier SEC job. A school/fan base that should be happy with 7-5 or 8-4 but is stuck longing for glory days that are never coming back. So 3 years of 7-5, 8-4, 7-5 will get you fired.
 


touchdownvikings said:
I don't think Scott Frost was/is a smart coach.

Maybe experience will fix that. But yikes. I thought he was reliably dumb while at Nebraska.
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I didn't think he Frost was dumb, but he was very arrogant and pigheaded about forcing things without the playmakers to execute. Frost was a poor recruiter for type of offense he was trying to run (UCF) without the speed.
 




howeda7 said:
Outside of $$, I'm not sure why you leave for the Nebraska job. It's now the equivalent of a mid-tier SEC job. A school/fan base that should be happy with 7-5 or 8-4 but is stuck longing for glory days that are never coming back. So 3 years of 7-5, 8-4, 7-5 will get you fired.
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The "disservice to the state" part of the quote is telling. It's a lot of pressure there, but without an absolute wagon of resources.
 

60's Guy said:
I agree with the fellas it is kinda surprising that PJ doesn't get more serious buzz from bigger schools about their head coach openings.
I'm pleased he is our coach. Maybe the biggest reason is because I'm very wary we would hire someone better if he left.
We need a 2019 kinda season but if we get it...that might or could mean he's more likely to be gone. Still want the 10-11 win season. Willing to roll the dice. :)
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Agreed. I'd love to see some substantial improvement from the coaching staff but I absolutely dread the idea of who this university would replace Fleck with. We don't have the presitge or cash to hire an upper tier gameday coach and I'd rather keep the moderate success guy who runs a clean program than a high risk, high reward guy. It's just not worth it to me.
 




howeda7 said:
Outside of $$, I'm not sure why you leave for the Nebraska job. It's now the equivalent of a mid-tier SEC job. A school/fan base that should be happy with 7-5 or 8-4 but is stuck longing for glory days that are never coming back. So 3 years of 7-5, 8-4, 7-5 will get you fired.
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Hell, 11 wins gets you fired in Lincoln. See Bo Pellini...🙆‍♂️
 


Bo got fired for winning 9 or 10 games for 7 straight years. Nebraska thought they should be winning 11 or 12 games. Now they would kill for one 9 or 10 win season.
 




Fleck just doesn't have a resume of playing in the right games or finishing in the right spots in the standings. That and not having a splashy offense outside of 2019 is the other. If he makes the CFP it will be hard to keep him around. Although if MN steps up that might be what keeps him for an entire career at MN.
 

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