Anonymous Big Ten assistant has thoughts on Gophers football

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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Per Greder:

An opposing Big Ten assistant coach shared some interesting comments about the Gophers football program for Athlon Sports’ preview magazine, wondering about coach P.J. Fleck’s commitment last offseason and whether new defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman’s scheme will translate to the Big Ten.

“I think P.J. chased UCLA and some other jobs pretty hard to get out of there, and that didn’t happen for him.”
www.twincities.com

Anonymous Big Ten assistant coach has thoughts on Gophers football

Among them, he wondered about P.J. Fleck’s commitment while he “chased” jobs in the offseason.
www.twincities.com www.twincities.com

Go Gophers!!
 


A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
Just recruiting FUD from someone who has no clue.

UCLA clearly didn't have the money to get PJ.

UCLA didn't pick Foster over PJ.... nobody with a brain thinks that.
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Yeah that quote seems much more like a guess than any inside info.

These anonymous quotes are dumb. It allows coaches to try to make other coaches look bad, regardless if there's any truth to it.
 

It certainly wouldn't shock me if PJ had interest in UCLA, and I don't doubt one bit that he has inquired on other jobs, but UCLA must not have been able to make the money work, or some other factor, because hiring Deshaun Foster over PJ when you have that option makes basically zero sense.
 




BleedGopher said:
Per Greder:

An opposing Big Ten assistant coach shared some interesting comments about the Gophers football program for Athlon Sports’ preview magazine, wondering about coach P.J. Fleck’s commitment last offseason and whether new defensive coordinator Corey Hetherman’s scheme will translate to the Big Ten.

“I think P.J. chased UCLA and some other jobs pretty hard to get out of there, and that didn’t happen for him.”
www.twincities.com

Anonymous Big Ten assistant coach has thoughts on Gophers football

Among them, he wondered about P.J. Fleck’s commitment while he “chased” jobs in the offseason.
www.twincities.com www.twincities.com

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...
Weren't we talking about this a month ago when it was reported? Not sure why this is making the rounds again. Athlon sucks anyway.
 


MNVCGUY said:
Yep, can always find an anonymous coach or player willing to trash other programs. Rince and repeat.
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And, let's be honest, Fleck is different and rubs other coaches the wrong way because he does things differently. So he's kinda an easy target.
 




Some guy said:
People need to realize that just because the LA in UCLA stands for Los Angeles it doesn’t make it a good job.

The UCLA job is like if the Illinois job had no fans, Michigan level expectations, and better weather.
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Michigan expectations? In football? That would be extremely unrealistic if they did. They're only 12-10-1 in winning, losing, and .500 seasons since 2001 and they have only a 6-8 bowl record in that time. Their winning-losing-tied record is almost identical to the Gophers over that time period and the Gophers have a better bowl record over that period (10-7). I know we don't have Michigan football expectations.
 
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A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
Just recruiting FUD from someone who has no clue.

UCLA clearly didn't have the money to get PJ.

UCLA didn't pick Foster over PJ.... nobody with a brain thinks that.
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PJ I'm sure is pretty savvy about any career move he would make. Part of that would be doing a lot of research on UCLA and the administration and their finances. If you ever heard Rick Neuheisel talk on his "Full-Ride" show on Sirius XM you would hear how big a pain in the ass the Administration and the California University system is. There was no way PJ was going there.

In fact, UCLA is required to make annual payments of $10 million to the University of California, Berkeley (Cal) for six years as part of their agreement to move to the Big Ten Conference. This arrangement, often referred to as “Calimony,” was recommended by the UC President and approved by the UC Board of Regents. The payments are intended to offset the financial impact on Cal’s athletic program due to UCLA’s departure from the Pac-12. The regents even left the possibility to reevaluate the revenue later and possibly increase the payout to Cal. How would you like to deal with that kind of shit from your own university system.
 
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Some guy said:
People need to realize that just because the LA in UCLA stands for Los Angeles it doesn’t make it a good job.

The UCLA job is like if the Illinois job had no fans, Michigan level expectations, and better weather.
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I don't think they have Michigan level expectations at all, but otherwise your point is largely true. I think people tend to view UCLA and USC in a similar way, when USC is on a very different level with their program.
 

Gophers1992 said:
I don't think they have Michigan level expectations at all, but otherwise your point is largely true. I think people tend to view UCLA and USC in a similar way, when USC is on a very different level with their program.
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You are correct. UCLA has USC level expectations

Hence the Midwest comparative was Michigan. I suppose I could’ve said Penn State expectations and it would’ve been better
 

Some guy said:
You are correct. UCLA has USC level expectations

Hence the Midwest comparative was Michigan. I suppose I could’ve said Penn State expectations and it would’ve been better
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I'm not so sure that's true either. They don't really have a rabid fan base out there.
 

TwistingMyMelon said:
Michigan expectations? In football? That would be extremely unrealistic if they did. They're only 12-10-1 in winning, losing, and .500 seasons since 2001 and they have only a 6-8 bowl record in that time. Their winning-losing-tied record is almost identical to the Gophers over that time period and the Gophers have a better bowl record over that period (10-7). I know we don't have Michigan football expectations.
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More UsC expectations. Perhaps their comp is more penn state.

You are correct, their success level is neither. You could also call them a west coast Nebraska without the history.
There is a reason their coach left on his own to be an offensive coordinator
 

Gophers1992 said:
I'm not so sure that's true either. They don't really have a rabid fan base out there.
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Go read the post you responded to again. That was in the comparison.

They are a program with no fans, institutional high expectations, and nice weather

They are Illinois of the west coast with an admin that expects them to be Michigan, Penn State, or what Nebraska dreams of being.
 

99Gopher said:
PJ I'm sure is pretty savvy about any career move he would make. Part of that would be doing a lot of research on UCLA and the administration and their finances. If you ever heard Rick Neuheisel talk on his "Full-Ride" show on Sirius XM you would hear how big a pain in the ass the Administration and the California University system is. There was no way PJ was going there.

In fact, UCLA is required to make annual payments of $10 million to the University of California, Berkeley (Cal) for six years as part of their agreement to move to the Big Ten Conference. This arrangement, often referred to as “Calimony,” was recommended by the UC President and approved by the UC Board of Regents. The payments are intended to offset the financial impact on Cal’s athletic program due to UCLA’s departure from the Pac-12. The regents even left the possibility to reevaluate the revenue later and possibly increase the payout to Cal. How would you like to deal with that kind of shit from your own university system.
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Yup.

Even UCLA administration is said to be pretty cold towards athletics generally.

People can still succeed there, but it's not what it used to be / has significant structural challenges.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
Yup.

Even UCLA administration is said to be pretty cold towards athletics generally.

People can still succeed there, but it's not what it used to be / has significant structural challenges.
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But they have high expectations and were thinking of firing chip kelly in a year that he beat USC.


Their expectations of winning to ability/resources/chances to win ratio is about as bad as anywhere in the country.
really bad job.
 

Some guy said:
But they have high expectations and were thinking of firing chip kelly in a year that he beat USC.


Their expectations of winning to ability/resources/chances to win ratio is about as bad as anywhere in the country.
really bad job.
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Is there any actual evidence this is true outside of your thoughts? Chip won 3,4, and 3 games (albeit 2020 season on the last one) his first 3 years at UCLA and they held on to him. Who has these expectations you are speaking of?
 



About UCLA coach DeShaun Foster:

Cons:
No head coaching experience
No coordinator experience
His recent poor press conference was not a good first impression

Pros:
11 years of coaching experience
A former star player for the school and NFL
His position he coached before becoming head coach did really well
Lots of coaches have made the leap after being an assistant

Ultimately recruiting may be more important than anything. How will he do at that.


I sort of doubt PJ Fleck was in the running for the job because I'm guessing Foster was in the pipeline for awhile.
 

Gophers1992 said:
Is there any actual evidence this is true outside of your thoughts? Chip won 3,4, and 3 games (albeit 2020 season on the last one) his first 3 years at UCLA and they held on to him. Who has these expectations you are speaking of?
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It was reported that they were going to fire him by multiple news outlets

Not going to go find links. You can if you want
 

GopherMarroon said:
About UCLA coach DeShaun Foster:

Cons:
No head coaching experience
No coordinator experience
His recent poor press conference was not a good first impression

Pros:
11 years of coaching experience
A former star player for the school and NFL
His position he coached before becoming head coach did really well
Lots of coaches have made the leap after being an assistant

Ultimately recruiting may be more important than anything. How will he do at that.


I sort of doubt PJ Fleck was in the running for the job because I'm guessing Foster was in the pipeline for awhile.
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And that is exactly why UCLA continues to stink at football. They haven't made a decent coaching hire in three decades. Between hiring guys with no experience (Foster, Dorrell) or mostly washed-up has-beens who had been fired in multiple previous jobs (Neuheisel, Mora, Kelly), they forgot they should hire a guy who can coach.
 

tjgopher said:
And that is exactly why UCLA continues to stink at football. They haven't made a decent coaching hire in three decades. Between hiring guys with no experience (Foster, Dorrell) or mostly washed-up has-beens who had been fired in multiple previous jobs (Neuheisel, Mora, Kelly), they forgot they should hire a guy who can coach.
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Disagree with this. Bob Toledo was hired 3 decades ago. Made a rose bowl and a cotton bowl.
Karl Dorrel had a top 20 finish
Neuheisel was a hire that was a better name at the time than resume. Had never been at a school for more than 4 years.
Jim Mora Jr had 4 8+ win seasons in 6 years
Kelly was a great hire…struggled his first two years as they changed systems then covid year. Post Covid he won 8+ each season.


UCLA has no fans. Has won 8+ games 7 times in 12 seasons and they’ve run multiple coaches out of town. It is hard to win at UCLA. Their upside isn’t the same as USC.
 

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