Fleck is fired up on KFAN

[Replacement Gopher]

History says this won't happen. People will literally watch almost any college football game on TV. This is why there are so many bowl games and why they get better ratings than the Stanley Cup finals.



It was also about money and paying players. Always. It just wasn't in the open.

I disagree.
Money makes the world go around and current college football product = NFL + no salary cap + every player is a free agent every year.

Product is being damaged, and when the product is damaged, people will move on, and when that happens things will be fixed.

 

[Former Goofer]

He's on right now.

Says we are going to be a AAA club for somebody else if we can't get some NIL money.

He is 100% right.

If we don't operate like a team that can compete then we won't be a team that can compete.

 

[Former Goofer]

Kinda interesting (or pathetic) for Fleck to bring up NIL this week of all weeks.

Galling after that abomination of a 4th quarter in Evanston, which has absolutely zero to do with NIL.

And those who are focusing on that game are completely missing the big picture that Fleck is talking about

 

[tpbeight]

And those who are focusing on that game are completely missing the big picture that Fleck is talking about

His timing is really bad. He just lost to Northwestern in horrible fashion. He had more talent on his sideline and they found a way to lose to a team that's in the same or worse NIL position. Makes no sense to bring it up now unless he's trying to create a distraction from his massive role in the loss.

His point is on the money, but his timing is awful.

 

[Jack jones]

If you're in the rarefied air of a Phil Knight or Boone Pickens, it doesn't really matter. It's F-U money to those guys.


Brian Kelly gave $1 million to LSU's collective.

Would PJ do this?? Didn’t think so.

 

[tpbeight]

I didn't read all the previous 10 pages but Minnesota's NIL deficit has to be a matter of priorities vs. ability.

Minnesota is the wealthiest state in the Midwest by household income. (look at all the blue states)

Minnesota makes a lot more money than all the SEC states. The average Minnesotan makes about 40-50% more money than the average Alabaman. This is part of why the Big Ten TV contract is more valuable than the SEC contract.

I realize I'm comparing incomes for average people versus the donor class, but Minnesota also has a much stronger corporate base per capita than any of the SEC states. The Twin Cities have more Fortune 1000 companies than the Miami, Tampa Bay, Orlando, and Jacksonville metro areas put together, but look who has all the NIL.

So why won't Minnesotans shell out for NIL? I get the pro effect - a local corporation will sign a promo deal with Justin Jefferson instead of Chris Autman-Bell, but that doesn't explain all of it.

Is it chicken and egg? The team must win big for wallets to open, but can't win big without the $$?

Why should we have to? Someone else said it: The university signs huge $$$ TV contracts but the fans are expected to pony-up and pay the players? No f'ing way.

 

[Some guy]

@Pompous Elitist check out 18:30 mark in this video


The right, what I would call A gap between Boe and Lewis, is open. But their LB #34 fills it immediately. So you never know, but probably would've got stuffed short if he tried to go up that, and guessing that's what DT saw.

If he doesn’t bounce there and puts it in B gap it is 4th and 1.5-2 instead of 4th and a long 3.

Not sure if that would’ve changed Flecks go for it calculus.

We would’ve downed the punt 5 yards deep in the end zone instead of 4

 

[Former Goofer]

His timing is really bad. He just lost to Northwestern in horrible fashion. He had more talent on his sideline and they found a way to lose to a team that's in the same or worse NIL position. Makes no sense to bring it up now unless he's trying to create a distraction from his massive role in the loss.

His point is on the money, but his timing is awful.

And I'll agree to that!

This is a classic "missing the forest for the trees moment."

The loss absolutely sucks but the bigger picture is what is more important.

The bigger picture is why I am such a fervent supporter of Fleck. Dude has faults which cannot be ignored but when you look at the situation he is in with the resources he has, you'd literally have to find a needle in a haystack to get a coach that is clearly better than him.

Looking at his entire career here at Minnesota and not any single game he has been a huge positive for this club and unless the Gophers get more support we simply wont be able to reach a higher level. It's, unfortunately, that simple.

 

[Zeppelin Gopher]

And those who are focusing on that game are completely missing the big picture that Fleck is talking about

And if you're more worried about the POTENTIAL for NIL related issues down the road than the meltdown the other night, then Fleck has you completely hoodwinked.

Insulting for him to bring this up after the embarrassing loss.

 

[GopherTheJugular]

Way more than you realize. I think you're really out of touch with reality.

I could be. Also, I believe you said in the past that you knew some hockey or football players? If so, you would have some legit second hand knowledge that I don't.

 

[GopherTheJugular]

Yes. Mason has talked about this on his weekly segment with Barrerio.

If an NFL player screws up - let's say gets a DWI - it reflects mainly on the player and their reputation.

If a college player does it? It reflects on the player, but also on the coach and the school. It's a whole different type of burden.

Maybe I've been too much into the SEC lol. Are these Georgia players ever gonna stop getting tickets???

But point taken, maybe my philosophy isn't so popular.

 

[fmlizard]

I disagree.
Money makes the world go around and current college football product = NFL + no salary cap + every player is a free agent every year.

Product is being damaged, and when the product is damaged, people will move on, and when that happens things will be fixed.

I don't watch much European soccer. It's not because I don't like watching soccer, it's because the same 2-4 clubs win every single league every single season on a hugely imbalanced financial playing field and thus I find the leagues boring.

Contrary to the USA's economic tendencies, the socialism of America's sports leagues stand out from the rest of the world. There's a draft, losers get the first pick, salary caps keep the spending fair, players are unionized, and fans of almost any franchise can realistically imagine their team being good in a couple years.

It's as if CFB learned nothing from the success of every other North American sports league. Organization is badly needed, because the current model is the most disorganized I know of in all of paid team sports, worldwide. Even those soccer teams have player contracts and movement rules.

 

[Dakota2]

I mean, if all coaches were like PJ with his off the field schtick, I'd say you are 100% correct. But I'd think there would be plenty of coaches happy to have a (hypothetical) booster like me, with the only requirement being that you can't bench them for non-football stuff.

I mean, how many coaches really care what the players do on their own time, besides PJ? Maybe I'm way off, but I doubt any SEC coaches make their football players waive goodbye to some women's team, or some of the other nonsense that happens here.

Please tell me Fleck did not send the entire team (to the airport?) to waive goodbye to one of the women’s teams. This is a joke, right?

 

[disco]

Would PJ do this?? Didn’t think so.

To a booster group? Probably not. But PJ and Heather do a LOT for the University and the community that isn't widely publicized. Certainly more than any other coach I can think of in the history of this or any other Gopher program. I have friends who can 100% attest to this.

He may be weird, but I suspect anyone who is a D1 head football coach is somewhat weird. But he's a good person.

 

[disco]

I don't watch much European soccer. It's not because I don't like watching soccer, it's because the same 2-4 clubs win every single league every single season on a hugely imbalanced financial playing field and thus I find the leagues boring.

Contrary to the USA's economic tendencies, the socialism of America's sports leagues stand out from the rest of the world. There's a draft, losers get the first pick, salary caps keep the spending fair, players are unionized, and fans of almost any franchise can realistically imagine their team being good in a couple years.

It's as if CFB learned nothing from the success of every other North American sports league. Organization is badly needed, because the current model is the most disorganized I know of in all of paid team sports, worldwide. Even those soccer teams have player contracts and movement rules.

Let's be honest. Major college football has always been kind of a weird sport in that, until recently, there's been no tournament/playoff to determine a champion.

 

[Dakota2]

Facilities, equipment, coach salaries, and paying for all the non-revenue sports.

It's not like profits from athletics are going into the university general budget.

If we start paying players like a minor league, it could be the end of non-revenue sports. Either that or coach salaries will take a big cut.

Right, much better to use $90 million in TV revenue to hire more administrators.

 

[GopherWeatherGuy]

His timing is really bad. He just lost to Northwestern in horrible fashion. He had more talent on his sideline and they found a way to lose to a team that's in the same or worse NIL position. Makes no sense to bring it up now unless he's trying to create a distraction from his massive role in the loss.

His point is on the money, but his timing is awful.

It was 1 minute in the middle of an hour long weekly show. NIL comes up on a pretty regular basis. He already spent nearly a half hour talking about the NW loss. How much more do you want him to talk about it?

 

[Spaulding!No!]

Today on the fan Dan Cole is riled up cuz someone in the building told him his show was nonsense. Now, the thin skinned one is ranting on how he could be more ridiculous.

 

[MNfootballfan]

I think it goes back to this: people, companies, or football teams will spend the money they have available. If you give them $5-million, they will find ways to spend $5-million. If you give them $20-million, they will find ways to spend $20-million.

facilities, equipment, support staff, etc. go online and find a complete listing of the football staff. (not the coaches) 48 people listed - analysts, quality control, grad assistants, trainers, nutrition, equipment staff, communications, marketing, tutors, sports psychology, and a social media strategist. and that does not include the whole recruiting structure. costs money to fly coaches around the country to recruit HS kids or transfers.

so, the TV money is basically spoken for. that means NIL - either the 'legal' NIL of Dinkytown Athletes, or the "pay-for-play" NIL - has to come from outside the program.

and again, the problem is not the 'legal' NIL - the problem is Rich Dudes throwing bags of money at recruits. that is the new arms race in college FB. If the other program has more Rich Dudes than you, they're going to outspend you for recruits and/or entice your players to leave because the other school can pay more. SMU boosters came up with $100-Million to basically buy SMU's way into the ACC. that ain't happening at the U of MN.

You're spot on. In normal life, my personal life, if someone gave me $100,000 right now I could have it spent to the penny and not even on anything extravagant. Finish off the basement, refinish the deck, and if I have any remaining put it towards the mortgage. All of this is "needs" not "wants" - I use the term Need vs. Want very loosely but I am sure the U is thinking when we get the next check it is going towards XYZ.

 

[howeda7]

I don't watch much European soccer. It's not because I don't like watching soccer, it's because the same 2-4 clubs win every single league every single season on a hugely imbalanced financial playing field and thus I find the leagues boring.

Contrary to the USA's economic tendencies, the socialism of America's sports leagues stand out from the rest of the world. There's a draft, losers get the first pick, salary caps keep the spending fair, players are unionized, and fans of almost any franchise can realistically imagine their team being good in a couple years.

It's as if CFB learned nothing from the success of every other North American sports league. Organization is badly needed, because the current model is the most disorganized I know of in all of paid team sports, worldwide. Even those soccer teams have player contracts and movement rules.

CFB already has this problem. The National Championship game is mostly a boring after-thought to me. At the beginning of every season for at least the last 20 years or so, you could probably pick the national champion out of a group of 5. At most there are 10 that have any realistic chance at it. The other 55 don't. But rivalries/conference tittles/bowls etc. still keep their fans watching.

The post-NIL world threatens to simply make the other 55 programs totally irrelevant leaving only the fane-bases of the top 10 with a chance caring. This will not lead to more TV viewers/revenue long-term.

 

[fmlizard]

Let's be honest. Major college football has always been kind of a weird sport in that, until recently, there's been no tournament/playoff to determine a champion.

True. I guess that's another way it's like European soccer, where most of the national leagues decide their champion solely on regular season play. I suppose CFP is like UEFA Champions League.

 

[Gopherchase]

With the amount of money the Big Ten will be
pulling in we are the haves and not the have nots. So we lost one kid to Nike money — big deal. Something like that will happen again. Who cares? PJ closed the borders on Minnesota kids this year and has a decent class in place. He has plenty of talent. He and his staff have coached like imbeciles so far this year let’s focus on what the real problem is.

 

[fan of Ray Williams]

@Pompous Elitist check out 18:30 mark in this video


The right, what I would call A gap between Boe and Lewis, is open. But their LB #34 fills it immediately. So you never know, but probably would've got stuffed short if he tried to go up that, and guessing that's what DT saw.

Thanks for posting it.

 

[GopherTheJugular]

Please tell me Fleck did not send the entire team (to the airport?) to waive goodbye to one of the women’s teams. This is a joke, right?

Not a joke, but it wasn't the airport either. It was in some building on campus, I believe? I think it was when they were getting ready to board the bus.

There was a thread on here a while back when it happened.

EDIT: here's the thread
Women's Hockey Send-Off

 

[Word]

Not a joke, but it wasn't the airport either. It was in some building on campus, I believe? I think it was when they were getting ready to board the bus.

There was a thread on here a while back when it happened.

EDIT: here's the thread
Women's Hockey Send-Off

The gall of Fleck to ask the team to step into the athletic building hallway to say goodbye and cheer on the womens hockey team on their way to the frozen four. Such an awful thing to do.

 

[RoseGoldy]

Ive been told Minnesota is a sleeping giant

 

[disco]

The gall of Fleck to ask the team to step into the athletic building hallway to say goodbye and cheer on the womens hockey team on their way to the frozen four. Such an awful thing to do.

I know. What a tyrant!

 

[tpbeight]

It was 1 minute in the middle of an hour long weekly show. NIL comes up on a pretty regular basis. He already spent nearly a half hour talking about the NW loss. How much more do you want him to talk about it?

I didn't say anything about what he SHOULD be talking about. It doesn't matter to me. NIL was absolutely something he SHOULDN'T have been talking about coming off that brutal loss against a team that does not have an NIL advantage (or talent advantage, for that matter) over his team.

Also, check the local papers. What were the stories coming out of that interview? I've seen his NIL comments from that interview all over local media outlets. They stuck out like a sore thumb.

 

[tpbeight]

With the amount of money the Big Ten will be
pulling in we are the haves and not the have nots. So we lost one kid to Nike money — big deal. Something like that will happen again. Who cares? PJ closed the borders on Minnesota kids this year and has a decent class in place. He has plenty of talent. He and his staff have coached like imbeciles so far this year let’s focus on what the real problem is.

You know who cares? PJ Fleck, head coach of the football team. He brought it up. It seems important to him.

 

[Word]

You know who cares? PJ Fleck, head coach of the football team. He brought it up. It seems important to him.

I hope pj cares about NIL and keeping players. I wish Coyle would do more but at least pj is putting it on people's radar.