On 10/16/19 Coach Fleck has the GOPHER at.380 in Big Ten play. (8-13 in Big Ten play at Minnesota.) He started at .278 this season in BT play. He is doing everything right so far this year. The team and Coach Fleck can achieve their 4th Big Ten win this season on Saturday. That would put his Big Ten winning percentage at Minnesota at .409. Any coach who can bring the GOPHER to .400 and above needs to be extended and given a full 10 years to battle Big Ten foes at the U of M. Some years will be better than other years for the GOPHER Football Program, but Coach Fleck has demonstrated that he IS a Big Ten Coach. He shows an inclination to balance his football team. He obviously realized that a Big Ten Team needs to run the ball and stop the run. He has attend to the passing game that can help shelter, defend and take pressure off the running game. He also demonstrates an understanding that he can defend his defense by controlling the ball, line of scrimmage field position. He emphasizes ball security and cuts down on penalties.
I am a fan who is better off not listening so much to Coach Fleck. I guess I'm just too old to appreciate the fast talk...the slogans. I don't wish to change that and that is all on me... It is not the fault of Coach Fleck that I am old and set in my ways and only remember what it was like to be 20 years old way back when I was 20 years old...over a half century ago.
I have grown to appreciate what I see on the field though. These young GOPHER players are exceptional in the way they have adapted to all the changes they have experienced. They believe in their mission. They continue to show improvement and they ARE competing in Big Ten play. And I appreciate that Coach Fleck and his staff obviously communicates with them very effectively...teaches them and empowers them to reach their potential. Leaders are stepping up on the playing field. These players are going to have an incredibly good experience as football players and as students at the U of M.. As an old fan, I can never ask for more than that from the football program I have followed all my life.
I love what I see when my GOPHER team competes on the field the way this GOPHER team is.
I credit the players and the coach and his staff.
IF the next Big Ten win occurs on Saturday I would be in favor of extending Coach Fleck for seven more years. That would insure that he would be given a full decade at Minnesota to see what he can do to extend his Big Ten winning percentage of .400 AND beyond. He is a Big Ten Coach! What Minnesota needs more than anything else at this point in time is stability.
Beat the stinking badger and the stinking hawkeye GOPHER!
