coolhandgopher
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As best as I can piece together, there are 11 former players who are referenced in the reporter’s piece; I did not see where former staffers spoke to the reporter directly, instead it seems to be gleaned from the external report completed in 2018 due to a staffer’s concern about medical treatment.
Of the 11 players, only Coney Durr is on the record and his responses come off as genuine and balanced.
The great majority of the allegations seem to be brought by Player #1, who is quite expressive about his displeasure with how his mental health needs were addressed. He also referenced a player who was “kind of run of the program” because he was forced to retire after collapsing during a workout due to a previously undetected heart condition, which…that’s viewed as a bad thing?
The other players cited in the article seem mostly to be carryovers from the Kill/Claeys roster and not surprisingly, they were among those who did not buy into the culture of a coach they had not chosen to play for when committing to university.
The report of irregular discipline or favoritism for positive drug tests—could possibly be true. However, any one that has made a career working with HS/college aged students knows that wild speculation as to the meting out of justice is pretty common (particularly since discipline/consequences are not typically shared) and I see shades of that here from the anonymous sources.
From the subheading “Are You Sure You Are Hurt?” onward, I really didn’t find anything directly attributed to Fleck, with specific mention of one incident from the report of grueling workouts ascribed to the previous regime, not Fleck (the report released in 2018 could hardly have included much in the way of a critique of the football team under present management). The last section of the article refers to allegations/history having nothing to do with Fleck.
Hsu is quoted prominently in the article and it’s evident that a) he doesn’t like Fleck, and b) he brings nothing current to the conversation.
In my summary, I am not saying there’s nothing untoward or concerning happening in the program-anyone who follows sports, specifically college sports as a fan should no better than to make such a declarative statement. However, this report does very little to make me concerned. As mentioned previously, it’s poorly organized and difficult to determine what concerns are current. It also seems this was a fishing expedition by a reporter not embedded in MN or near the program and he found several players/staff from the previous regime who were either loyal toKill/Claeys or not buying into Fleck’s culture or both and rehashed a story that Gopher fans have been hearing for six years running.
Of the 11 players, only Coney Durr is on the record and his responses come off as genuine and balanced.
The great majority of the allegations seem to be brought by Player #1, who is quite expressive about his displeasure with how his mental health needs were addressed. He also referenced a player who was “kind of run of the program” because he was forced to retire after collapsing during a workout due to a previously undetected heart condition, which…that’s viewed as a bad thing?
The other players cited in the article seem mostly to be carryovers from the Kill/Claeys roster and not surprisingly, they were among those who did not buy into the culture of a coach they had not chosen to play for when committing to university.
The report of irregular discipline or favoritism for positive drug tests—could possibly be true. However, any one that has made a career working with HS/college aged students knows that wild speculation as to the meting out of justice is pretty common (particularly since discipline/consequences are not typically shared) and I see shades of that here from the anonymous sources.
From the subheading “Are You Sure You Are Hurt?” onward, I really didn’t find anything directly attributed to Fleck, with specific mention of one incident from the report of grueling workouts ascribed to the previous regime, not Fleck (the report released in 2018 could hardly have included much in the way of a critique of the football team under present management). The last section of the article refers to allegations/history having nothing to do with Fleck.
Hsu is quoted prominently in the article and it’s evident that a) he doesn’t like Fleck, and b) he brings nothing current to the conversation.
In my summary, I am not saying there’s nothing untoward or concerning happening in the program-anyone who follows sports, specifically college sports as a fan should no better than to make such a declarative statement. However, this report does very little to make me concerned. As mentioned previously, it’s poorly organized and difficult to determine what concerns are current. It also seems this was a fishing expedition by a reporter not embedded in MN or near the program and he found several players/staff from the previous regime who were either loyal toKill/Claeys or not buying into Fleck’s culture or both and rehashed a story that Gopher fans have been hearing for six years running.
