Article: Why Did Athan Kaliakmanis Enter the Transfer Portal?

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Here's an article with some insight on the events leading up to AK entering the transfer portal. It is based on inside sources confiding in Doogie, so take it for what it's worth. However, the events described seem completely plausible.

www.minnesotasportsfan.com

Why Did Athan Kaliakmanis Enter the Transfer Portal?

Report surfaces on why Athan Kaliakmanis decided to leave the Minnesota Gophers and enter the NCAA transfer portal.
www.minnesotasportsfan.com www.minnesotasportsfan.com
 
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Doogie is to be taken with a grain of salt but this does seem plausible. What it expresses is the tension between PJ's overly controlling mandates on the offense while having no direct responsibility for coordinating it. The staff deserves significant blame for the usage of AK and not putting him in favorable situations.
 

Kaliakmanis was not alone to be sure responsibility-wise for what transpired this season. First time I think I've heard Coach Fleck dishing it out to a player or players for poor performance or whatever. I'm sure these difficult conversations happen every day but we just don't hear about it. Still, no surprise we're hearing this now giving the high profile of the transfer.

If there's a positive is the point that Coach knows they need to win more games next season. Not rocket science there but I'll take it being stated nonetheless.
 

I heard from people on the sideline that the Wisconsin game was the first where PJ really chewed him out in front of others and really got in his face, so this tracks.
 




goldengophers said:
Doogie is to be taken with a grain of salt but this does seem plausible. What it expresses is the tension between PJ's overly controlling mandates on the offense while having no direct responsibility for coordinating it. The staff deserves significant blame for the usage of AK and not putting him in favorable situations.
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Hell, trying not running a 7th grade junior high offense where the opposition knows all your plays would help. Myself, Mrs Gil, and my seatmate were calling all the plays. We knew all the formations and where the ball was going and I'm far from being a football coach.
 
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"(Doogie's) source is someone close to Athan."

any bets? my money is on Dad.

you can argue about the best way to deal with coach-player situations. but the devil is in the details - if Fleck chewed out Athan in front of other coaches, that's one thing. if he chewed him out in front of other players or staff members, that's something different. context matters.

but I'm willing to bet that virtually every QB in college FB has gotten chewed out by the coach to some extent during their careers.

this - to me - feels like one of those situations where a HS player gets yelled at by the Coach, and Dad gets on the phone and starts complaining to school board members and trying to get the Coach fired.
 




goldengophers said:
Doogie is to be taken with a grain of salt but this does seem plausible. What it expresses is the tension between PJ's overly controlling mandates on the offense while having no direct responsibility for coordinating it. The staff deserves significant blame for the usage of AK and not putting him in favorable situations.
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What didn’t they do that made things so unfavorable?
 


I was very excited about AK at the start of the season but that quickly faded. A P5 quarterback should not struggle with reads and throwing simple passes the way that he did....and things didn't get better as the season went on. Plenty of blame to go around but I'm sure the coaching staff was even more frustrated than I was watching him continue to make the same mistakes over and over again throughout the season. His play at times was not putting them in the best position to win and he shouldn't have been surprised that he was not going to be guaranteed the start in a bowl game.
 




short ornery norwegian said:
"(Doogie's) source is someone close to Athan."

any bets? my money is on Dad.

you can argue about the best way to deal with coach-player situations. but the devil is in the details - if Fleck chewed out Athan in front of other coaches, that's one thing. if he chewed him out in front of other players or staff members, that's something different. context matters.

but I'm willing to bet that virtually every QB in college FB has gotten chewed out by the coach to some extent during their careers.

this - to me - feels like one of those situations where a HS player gets yelled at by the Coach, and Dad gets on the phone and starts complaining to school board members and trying to get the Coach fired.
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Players entering the portal — especially QBs — is a common occurrence now. I don't see much about Kaliakmanis' situation that seems unique.

- As SON stated in an earlier post, coaches do chew out players sometimes. Nothing new there.

- Wolfson says his source is "someone close to Athan" ... I'm thinking that would raise the possibility that the source has a biased point of view.

I hope Kaliakmanis does well with a new team.
 


This is big time sports. These coaches are going to use you and get what they want out of you, and if they don't you won't play. I have a number of friends that played big time college sports. Let me tell you, ass chewings in front of their peers was a regular thing. Looking for players to replace you was a regular thing. Head games to get more out of you to help you play to your potential was a regular thing. I don't like all of it but they all agreed that it worked. Many thought their coaches were assholes and jerks but they knew why they did it (and respect them now). They get paid millions of dollars to achieve success and they were going to do whatever they needed to get it done. It's a brutal thing for many of these kids. Some handle it, some don't. It certainly didn't sound like fun for many but they all agreed that they did it for their peers and that "brotherhood" that exists.
 

Wow! If he transferred because he got yelled at the last couple games of the season...that's pretty pathetic. Could AK8 have had any more support than he got all season long, playing as poorly as he did?
PJ praised him constantly. Put the blame on inexperience and the process takes time. Didn't want anybody criticizing his QB. Over and over in press conferences.
At some point you try a different tact to get different results.
Pretty disappointing to hear. The scenario seems to make sense....the OC seems to be staying.
Athan's complaints don't allude to problems with how he was coached all season long. Blame that the coaches messed him up etc. More he didn't think it was "ALL" his fault....which I highly doubt was said...just do your effing part!
Very weak.
On to New Hampshire.
 

I was impressed with Illinois' 3rd string QB when they played us. Is he available? :drink:
 


short ornery norwegian said:
this - to me - feels like one of those situations where a HS player gets yelled at by the Coach, and Dad gets on the phone and starts complaining to school board members and trying to get the Coach fired.
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Craig James on line one.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
"(Doogie's) source is someone close to Athan."

any bets? my money is on Dad.

you can argue about the best way to deal with coach-player situations. but the devil is in the details - if Fleck chewed out Athan in front of other coaches, that's one thing. if he chewed him out in front of other players or staff members, that's something different. context matters.

but I'm willing to bet that virtually every QB in college FB has gotten chewed out by the coach to some extent during their careers.

this - to me - feels like one of those situations where a HS player gets yelled at by the Coach, and Dad gets on the phone and starts complaining to school board members and trying to get the Coach fired.
Click to expand...
My money is on dad, too. This wouldn't be this snowplow parent's first snowstorm, either.
 

Maybe Athan has some self awareness and didn't want to spend another year being a mediocre qb1. I would have preferred that he stayed, competed for the job with a transfer, and developed further. Perhaps that would be the nudge to help him turn the corner.
 


Vandy said:
The need to read Doogie Wolfson’s work with a grain of salt is an understatement.

I view him in the same light as that dude that runs TMZ.
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TMZ has an incredible track record of accuracy; they literally break nearly every celebrity death, etc. They pay for their intel but their credibility is unmatched.

Go Gophers!!
 

short ornery norwegian said:
"(Doogie's) source is someone close to Athan."

any bets? my money is on Dad.

you can argue about the best way to deal with coach-player situations. but the devil is in the details - if Fleck chewed out Athan in front of other coaches, that's one thing. if he chewed him out in front of other players or staff members, that's something different. context matters.

but I'm willing to bet that virtually every QB in college FB has gotten chewed out by the coach to some extent during their careers.

this - to me - feels like one of those situations where a HS player gets yelled at by the Coach, and Dad gets on the phone and starts complaining to school board members and trying to get the Coach fired.
Click to expand...
Watch Kirby Smart coach a single game. QB gets ripped into every game. You can’t be this soft and play QB if getting chewed out takes you down
 

OK, do we all agree on these?
  1. Athan’s dad is 100% the source on this
  2. Athan was NOT the only reason the offense struggled
  3. Athan was 100% a big part of the reason the offense struggled
  4. PJ probably chewed Athan out in front of the offense/team during/after the Purdue game
  5. PJ probably chews lots of players out in front of their teammates
  6. PJ absolutely HAD to bring in a transfer QB
  7. A player should not be guaranteed a starting spot for any game until earning it during preparation and practice
 

If PJ wants to he can pin that whole offense on AK, but for the team and fanbase, he better not believe it. A lot of the problems this year were the same problems we saw under his bud Morgan.

The change needs to come from much more than changing QB’s. He has his collection of worshippers on Gopherhole who embarrassingly rip apart AK or departing players to make their man look better, but the knowledgeable fanbase knows that improvement needs to happen on the sidelines as well as under center.
 

BleedGopher said:
TMZ has an incredible track record of accuracy; they literally break nearly every celebrity death, etc. They pay for their intel but their credibility is unmatched.

Go Gophers!!
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Mostly meant the hyperbole and drama in presenting the relevant info, but I get ‘ya.
 

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