8 wins is unrealistic

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37score said:
The reason for ticket decline could be numerous, but part of it is winning and losing. Part of it is whether people feel connected to the team. Do they have a relationship with it. Are they more likely to have a good relationship if they hear more positive coming from the team than negative?

Right now the football team is viewed by many as a group of guys playing ball who get free rides and who are there to play football, have women chase them, and that's about it.

If you change the culture where they are positive figures in the community, where every day there is an article about them doing good things, that would help outweigh the one or two bad things that pop up which then makes them lose all the positive credibility they've gained with the community.

This is the definition of culture change. They need to change the culture where socially they are viewed as an essential contributor to the community, whether it's volunteering, visiting kids in the hospital, recognizing community members, etc., these are things they need to do, because in MN it is different than Alabama or Texas or LSU. It's not just about football here. You need to be more than just football. In the south that's good enough, but the Minnesota consumer has far more choices so it's easy to cut bait when the University Football program is embarrassing itself.

For all I know, the Gophers could be doing all of this already, but if so they need someone better and publicizing it. As much as i hate the term "marketing" that's essentially what the teams biggest need is at this point.

If their grade point average is above University average, that should be publicized. But a newspaper isn't just going to write about that, so they need to take the next step and do something unusual like create a Football Tutoring Program where the football players are actually tutoring the other students. It would be a complete 180 on what people's perceptions are.

Also, we neighbor Wisconsin. We should have Goldy and the football team visiting Wisconsin hospitals all the way to Marshfield Clinic. These kids are going to grow up and move to Minneapolis or Chicago for jobs in 10-20 years. Might as well start making connections to these families early on.

There's a lot they can do and that's why when PJ says, we're going to get people who don't even like football to be fans, that's the angle I think he's coming at.
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Wow now you are starting to show how little you actually pay attention and that you really aren't/weren't a fan of the program to start with.

1. The football team did and does all of the community service you are asking for. They volunteer all the time and yes even visit the kids at the hospital. You should research the M.A.G.I.C program, it is quite amazing how much time the student athletes at the U volunteer. As far as advertising this if you would actually attend a gopher football game you would know this. The fact that you don't know this and think the U doesn't market it shows your complete lack of attendance to a game ever or any sporting event. Do you want the U to take out money and advertise on TV? Why? If you just watch the news it is on the news when the team goes to the children's hospital. Pay more attention.

2. Where have you been? The GPA and other academic accomplishments have been widely advertised and bragged about by the U and coaches for a coupe years now. Remember when we made the bowl game last year purely on academic standards? Again, you obviously aren't a fan or pay any attention at all until now.

3. LOL at visiting wisconsin. They are at the UofM and should serve the community here. You are an idiot troll.
 


Bayfieldgopher said:
The culture thing is BS. Culture is now a cute and trendy word that is way over played.

Its all very simple.

What the Gopher program needs to change is bring in players who can tackle, block, run, pass, catch and over all play the game better than what we have had. That is what Fleck needs to do.
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You will obviously be confused by the recent firings and hirings then.
 

bottlebass said:
Wow now you are starting to show how little you actually pay attention and that you really aren't/weren't a fan of the program to start with.

1. The football team did and does all of the community service you are asking for. They volunteer all the time and yes even visit the kids at the hospital. You should research the M.A.G.I.C program, it is quite amazing how much time the student athletes at the U volunteer. As far as advertising this if you would actually attend a gopher football game you would know this. The fact that you don't know this and think the U doesn't market it shows your complete lack of attendance to a game ever or any sporting event. Do you want the U to take out money and advertise on TV? Why? If you just watch the news it is on the news when the team goes to the children's hospital. Pay more attention.

2. Where have you been? The GPA and other academic accomplishments have been widely advertised and bragged about by the U and coaches for a coupe years now. Remember when we made the bowl game last year purely on academic standards? Again, you obviously aren't a fan or pay any attention at all until now.

3. LOL at visiting wisconsin. They are at the UofM and should serve the community here. You are an idiot troll.
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Nope. no need to change the culture here.

Any fan that doesn't know as much as me is a troll and isn't needed here or in the stands. We'll sell out TCF by keeping things the same and yelling at other fans who don't agree with me. /sarcasm
Not only that, let's rip any new idea that someone else might offer that might help market the U of M beyond our borders 30 miles away.

Look at yourselves.
 

37score said:
Nope. no need to change the culture here.

Any fan that doesn't know as much as me is a troll and isn't needed here or in the stands. We'll sell out TCF by keeping things the same and yelling at other fans who don't agree with me. /sarcasm
Not only that, let's rip any new idea that someone else might offer that might help market the U of M beyond our borders 30 miles away.

Look at yourselves.
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It is completely obvious you weren't attending games anyway. Basically since the invention of the jumbo tron anyway where at every single game they highlight the great community service the team provides.

So yes, you are obviously a troll.

As far as the culture change, I agree there needs to be a culture change. But it isn't with the football team as a whole. It is with the university top down who support treating students like they are guilty until proven innocent.
 


GopherBulldog said:
To your first point, why did we then fire the football coach and not the marketing or PR director? Regarding the second point, I completely agree that those people will always be present. There simply is a large portion of the population that don't care for sports or anything associated with them. I prefer not to listen to them rather than allow them to influence our approach to athletics. But that's just me.
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Your biggest marketer is the football coach. I don't even know the names of any of their marketing people if they have any. (Nor should I really). This has to be driven by the coach for it to be effective. Fleck gets that.
There is a large portion that doesn't care about sports, but rather than ignore them and understand why they feel that way it's important to tap into them because we share the community with them and to grow the fan base, we need to understand the wants and needs of the community and align with that.

This is culture again.

But many of you would prefer to call me names, say I'm a badger fan, and call me a troll for saying this.
 

I'd prefer that the HC, actually coach the players and help them win a bunch of games.
That is first and foremost what he is there to do.
Sell the program, yes that is part of it, but they also pay people money to market the team and they should be the ones to do that.

The biggest thing I see from the switch to Fleck is that the U has made a bigger financial commitment to the program than it has ever done before. That is a plus, just not sure why it took so long.
Also,
All this talk about culture, and implementing new schemes is way overblown.
When Kill was hired he did have to adjust the culture of the program. Fleck does not. Tweek it maybe, but it doesn't need to be overhauled.
Under Kill and then with Claeys, the talent level of the team was much improved over the previous regime.
Just look at the on field product that we have had these past 4 or 5 years. You could see that our talent level at all positions was more in line with the rest of the BIG. When players were lost to graduation, there have been other players who have stepped in and performed just as well or even better. Replacing Claeys with Fleck doesn't change the talent that was returning. Which we have quite a bit and yes there are some holes to fill, but I am of the belief that there are players who will fill those holes because that is what has been done in prior seasons.
On the changing schemes part of it. From watching WMU games, their schemes look somewhat similar to what we have done these past few years, so we have the same type of players that fit this new system. It's not like Coach Fleck is installing at single wing or triple option on Offense and we aren't going to 3-3-5 or something on D. The returning players will have some adjustments to make, but they are talented and smart enough to be able to make those adjustments this season, just like they did last season.

I am looking forward to Signing Day to see what new talent we are able to bring to the team. Then for Spring Practice so we can see how this staff can coach and how much improvement the returning players have made. Then for fall practice to start so we can see the new additions and how they can help our team be better. It is an exciting time for Gopher Football.
SKI-U-MAH!!
 

37score said:
Your biggest marketer is the football coach. I don't even know the names of any of their marketing people if they have any. (Nor should I really). This has to be driven by the coach for it to be effective. Fleck gets that.
There is a large portion that doesn't care about sports, but rather than ignore them and understand why they feel that way it's important to tap into them because we share the community with them and to grow the fan base, we need to understand the wants and needs of the community and align with that.

This is culture again.

But many of you would prefer to call me names, say I'm a badger fan, and call me a troll for saying this.
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Having high expectations for the moral compass of the program is admirable. But suggesting that the football team needs to attain some lofty higher ground to win over more fans I just don't think is accurate. Just look around at the most successful, profitable programs with the largest and most rabid fan bases. These are programs that win. Period. Again, if you have a model program that achieves this through something called "culture," please show me this example. And you may win me over to your perspective. If one wants to have a debate about how culture impacts the perception of the football program, I'd ask them to start here... 10 African-American football players are investigated by the EOAA for sexual assault. Their pictures are published prominently in the major newspapers. Dozens of columns are written about how the program is rotten to the core. Protests and petitions are organized. On the flip side, positive developments with GPAs, graduation rates and community service initiatives are met with crickets from those same folks. The fact is, our local media and those that could care less about sports are extraordinarily quick to promote anything negative about the program. If you are looking for a cultural change, I would suggest the inherent bias in that faction playes a major role in perpetuating a public perception that is highly skewed to the negative.
 

37score said:
Your biggest marketer is the football coach. I don't even know the names of any of their marketing people if they have any. (Nor should I really). This has to be driven by the coach for it to be effective. Fleck gets that.
There is a large portion that doesn't care about sports, but rather than ignore them and understand why they feel that way it's important to tap into them because we share the community with them and to grow the fan base, we need to understand the wants and needs of the community and align with that.

This is culture again.

But many of you would prefer to call me names, say I'm a badger fan, and call me a troll for saying this.
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Geez I thought a coaches #1 job is to coach the team? The athletic department markets said team.
 



bottlebass said:
It is completely obvious you weren't attending games anyway. Basically since the invention of the jumbo tron anyway where at every single game they highlight the great community service the team provides.

So yes, you are obviously a troll.

As far as the culture change, I agree there needs to be a culture change. But it isn't with the football team as a whole. It is with the university top down who support treating students like they are guilty until proven innocent.
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You are correct about 37. I'd bet my house he is a Viking fan, thinks he knows CFB because of that, watches Alabama on Saturdays, but has never followed the Gophers because "they suck", heard about the incident on the news & believes everything he heard about it, saw PJF was hired to come "fix" that, and since it was Viking offseason he decided to come on here to discuss. He is now blessing us with his elite football knowledge. He will go away again when the NFL starts up.


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booger said:
How and why would you not expect a better record? If the expectations are not for more success, an unnecessary change was made.
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Because, last year was supposed to be the year. The year when all the schedule lined up up, the year when we have leidner as a senior, the year when all of our best defenders we're going to be there. To be honest, why would you expect them to be as good next year with a new coach and a new quarterback and a disfavorable schedule?

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principalguy said:
Because, last year was supposed to be the year. The year when all the schedule lined up up, the year when we have leidner as a senior, the year when all of our best defenders we're going to be there. To be honest, why would you expect them to be as good next year with a new coach and a new quarterback and a disfavorable schedule?

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But we changed offensive staff last year too. That seems to be an excuse for low expectations with PJF, but a throw away for TC. I get why some are excited for PJF, but the need many of his fans have for lowering expectations at the same time makes no sense. When exposed they simply say "culture" and tell the rest of us we just don't get it.


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principalguy said:
Because, last year was supposed to be the year. The year when all the schedule lined up up, the year when we have leidner as a senior, the year when all of our best defenders we're going to be there. To be honest, why would you expect them to be as good next year with a new coach and a new quarterback and a disfavorable schedule?

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Here we go again with the tougher schedule angle. How is it tougher ? You replace B1G champion Penn State with Michigan, who I believe graduated nearly their entire defense - no worse than a wash. You drop Rutgers and add the Spartans. They may be a lot better, but they might be horses*it again - who knows. We get the Badgers and Huskers here, in front of what should be a full house. And in non-conference, you lose CSU, a bowl team.
 



bigticket1 said:
Here we go again with the tougher schedule angle. How is it tougher ? You replace B1G champion Penn State with Michigan, who I believe graduated nearly their entire defense - no worse than a wash. You drop Rutgers and add the Spartans. They may be a lot better, but they might be horses*it again - who knows. We get the Badgers and Huskers here, in front of what should be a full house. And in non-conference, you lose CSU, a bowl team.
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x2 and in the end this year's B1G schedule wasn't easier than last years it just looked like it before the season.
 

Spoofin said:
But we changed offensive staff last year too. That seems to be an excuse for low expectations with PJF, but a throw away for TC. I get why some are excited for PJF, but the need many of his fans have for lowering expectations at the same time makes no sense. When exposed they simply say "culture" and tell the rest of us we just don't get it.


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I think they simply point out that ten players are suspended and no one knows the fate of them yet. They would also say they have entirely new systems on both sides of the ball with questionable talent at the quarterback and reciever positions. But sure keep throwing the "culture" thing around.
 

Johnnyboy18 said:
I think they simply point out that ten players are suspended and no one knows the fate of them yet. They would also say they have entirely new systems on both sides of the ball with questionable talent at the quarterback and reciever positions. But sure keep throwing the "culture" thing around.
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Have you read GH in the past week? Pretty sure I'm not the one throwing "culture" out there. Your target is moving again Johnnyboy.


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Spoofin said:
Have you read GH in the past week? Pretty sure I'm not the one throwing "culture" out there. Your target is moving again Johnnyboy.


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Most of the people throwing the culture word out there are the people mocking it. Target hasn't moved yet I look forward to this week's hearings to find out who will be on the team next year.
 


Johnnyboy18 said:
The only people throwing the culture word out there are the people mocking it. Target hasn't moved yet I look forward to this week's hearings to find out who will be on the team next year.
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Learn to read then come back and read this specific thread, you will realize how stupid of a comment you just posted.
 

bottlebass said:
x2 and in the end this year's B1G schedule wasn't easier than last years it just looked like it before the season.
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That's not true. The combined record from this year's regular season schedule was 75-77 and included a 4-7 FCS team. 2015 it was 96-58 without a FCS team.

Just looking at the B1G schedule: 2015's record: 67-36 vs 8 teams. 2016's record 60-56 vs 9 teams.
 


bigticket1 said:
Here we go again with the tougher schedule angle. How is it tougher ? You replace B1G champion Penn State with Michigan, who I believe graduated nearly their entire defense - no worse than a wash. You drop Rutgers and add the Spartans. They may be a lot better, but they might be horses*it again - who knows. We get the Badgers and Huskers here, in front of what should be a full house. And in non-conference, you lose CSU, a bowl team.
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After we win all our games, the history revisionists will be falling all over themselves to proclaim 2017 to be the easiest schedule year ever...
 






GopherWeatherGuy said:
The records of the opponents played speak for themselves.
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But our 9-4 record shouldn't for our opponents, right? Have you determined which of our opponents records are "real" and which aren't?


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GopherWeatherGuy said:
That's not true. The combined record from this year's regular season schedule was 75-77 and included a 4-7 FCS team. 2015 it was 96-58 without a FCS team.

Just looking at the B1G schedule: 2015's record: 67-36 vs 8 teams. 2016's record 60-56 vs 9 teams.
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You keep telling us how weak this 9-4 season was due to the quality of schedule, and that we have to look deeper. You then cite opponents' records to argue that last year's schedule was stronger. Priceless.
 

dpodoll68 said:
You keep telling us how weak this 9-4 season was due to the quality of schedule, and that we have to look deeper. You then cite opponents' records to argue that last year's schedule was stronger. Priceless.
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How do you not get that the 9-4 record was based on a weak schedule? How do you not get that 2015's schedule was significantly stronger?

Yes, replacing 11-2 TCU, 3-9 Kent St, 8-5 Ohio, 12-1 Ohio St, and 10-3 Michigan with 4-8 Oregon St, 4-7 FCS Indiana St, 11-3 Penn St, 6-7 Maryland, and 2-10 Rutgers is 'similar'. You've got to be kidding me.
 

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