Fleck needs to examine every facet of this program

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Stan said:
I agree with this. I don't have confidence he will though. He's very stubborn.

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Said in another thread that it is easy to feel you don't need to make a ton of changes when the team is winning 9 games. Much harder to do that after a year like this one.

Fleck should be in zero danger of losing his job after this season but he knows full well he can't survive multiple seasons like this one. Have to find a way to get moving back in the right direction in 2024.

That starts by taking a hard look at all aspects of the program and figuring out what you need to do in order to avoid a repeat of what we saw in 2023.
 


MNVCGUY said:
Said in another thread that it is easy to feel you don't need to make a ton of changes when the team is winning 9 games. Much harder to do that after a year like this one.

Fleck should be in zero danger of losing his job after this season but he knows full well he can't survive multiple seasons like this one. Have to find a way to get moving back in the right direction in 2024.

That starts by taking a hard look at all aspects of the program and figuring out what you need to do in order to avoid a repeat of what we saw in 2023.
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This.
 



Stan said:
I agree with this. I don't have confidence he will though. He's very stubborn.

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Relax. Next year will be better.

The team:
  • Athan will improve
  • The running backs will be healthier
  • The receivers will have a another year in the system
  • The LBs will be healthier
  • Harbaugh will understand how to do his job better.
The schedule
  • Minnesota starts the season with a four-game home stand
  • Minnesota's home opener against UNC won't feature Drake Maye. It will feature a first-time starter
  • Michigan will probably regress
  • USC will also have a first-time starter playing in Minneapolis
  • Fleck's entire coaching philosophy is designed to beat Chip Kelly @ UCLA
  • Minnesota has two bye weeks heading into two home games (Maryland and PSU)
This year was always going to be a down year. The Gophers will be better next year.
 

kg21 said:
Nothing matters unless they recruit better. This team is frighteningly slow and unathletic.
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1000% correct and anyone who ignores this has lost the plot and is willfully ignoring the elephant in the room. PJ seemingly won the lottery 2019-2022 with a handful of successful recruiting groups, developmental projects and transfers, but those guys are all gone and we are now fielding kids that you can't compete in the B1G with.
 

hello-world said:
Relax. Next year will be better.

The team:
  • Athan will improve
  • The running backs will be healthier
  • The receivers will have a another year in the system
  • The LBs will be healthier
  • Harbaugh will understand how to do his job better.
The schedule
  • Minnesota starts the season with a four-game home stand
  • Minnesota's home opener against UNC won't feature Drake Maye. It will feature a first-time starter
  • Michigan will probably regress
  • USC will also have a first-time starter playing in Minneapolis
  • Fleck's entire coaching philosophy is designed to beat Chip Kelly @ UCLA
  • Minnesota has two bye weeks heading into two home games (Maryland and PSU)
This year was always going to be a down year. The Gophers will be better next year.
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Dumb
 

hello-world said:
Relax. Next year will be better.

The team:
  • Athan will improve
  • The running backs will be healthier
  • The receivers will have a another year in the system
  • The LBs will be healthier
  • Harbaugh will understand how to do his job better.
The schedule
  • Minnesota starts the season with a four-game home stand
  • Minnesota's home opener against UNC won't feature Drake Maye. It will feature a first-time starter
  • Michigan will probably regress
  • USC will also have a first-time starter playing in Minneapolis
  • Fleck's entire coaching philosophy is designed to beat Chip Kelly @ UCLA
  • Minnesota has two bye weeks heading into two home games (Maryland and PSU)
This year was always going to be a down year. The Gophers will be better next year.
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Holy Smokes, that’s awesome, I don’t know that I agree with much, but I admire your optimism. Wait a minute Is your last name Fleck by chance, PJ is that you?
 



Tech Machine said:
Holy Smokes, that’s awesome, I don’t know that I agree with much, but I admire your optimism. Wait a minute Is your last name Fleck by chance, PJ is that you?
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You must be new here because I'm the same guy that was telling people that the Gophers were going to suck this year last January. They were going to have a down year. Programs like Minnesota can't just replace their best QB ever and expect to pick right back up.
 

hello-world said:
You must be new here because I'm the same guy that was telling people that the Gophers were going to suck this year last January. They were going to have a down year. Programs like Minnesota can't just replace their best QB ever and expect to pick right back up.
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Guilty
 

The problem most every year has been the offense and to a lesser extent special teams. Low ceiling, low to middling floor.

The house (or boat) just might be on fire. Time to pull the plug on those coaches, approaches and start over from scratch and give the coordinators control. A house cleaning. Light a fire under enthusiasm, hope for the future. This regime looks lost and out of ideas. Perhaps time to do a walkabout, PJ.
 




bleedsmaroonandgold said:
Relax, if PJ can fix his offense, his defense, his special teams, and his in game coaching by next year, we could be competitive.
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Well it took until the last game of the year, but the punt and kick return games seemed reasonable today.
I miss the old days where you could bring in a Damien Wilson or De'Vondre Campbell to suddenly make the LB corp one of the better in the big ten.
 

hello-world said:
You must be new here because I'm the same guy that was telling people that the Gophers were going to suck this year last January. They were going to have a down year. Programs like Minnesota can't just replace their best QB ever and expect to pick right back up.
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You and PJ are in sync. Caught the post game interview on the radio. PJ put on his hindsight glasses and called this season and adjustment season.
Apparently he also knew we would suck, we adjusted and will be back next year
 

TheNorthernAmir said:
1000% correct and anyone who ignores this has lost the plot and is willfully ignoring the elephant in the room. PJ seemingly won the lottery 2019-2022 with a handful of successful recruiting groups, developmental projects and transfers, but those guys are all gone and we are now fielding kids that you can't compete in the B1G with.
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The group on the field would be fine for the MAC, but B1G level players are needed.
 

Pompous Elitist said:
The problem most every year has been the offense and to a lesser extent special teams. Low ceiling, low to middling floor.

The house (or boat) just might be on fire. Time to pull the plug on those coaches, approaches and start over from scratch and give the coordinators control. A house cleaning. Light a fire under enthusiasm, hope for the future. This regime looks lost and out of ideas. Perhaps time to do a walkabout, PJ.
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Or at least some "difficult" conversations
 

hello-world said:
Relax. Next year will be better.

The team:
  • Athan will improve
  • The running backs will be healthier
  • The receivers will have a another year in the system
  • The LBs will be healthier
  • Harbaugh will understand how to do his job better.
The schedule
  • Minnesota starts the season with a four-game home stand
  • Minnesota's home opener against UNC won't feature Drake Maye. It will feature a first-time starter
  • Michigan will probably regress
  • USC will also have a first-time starter playing in Minneapolis
  • Fleck's entire coaching philosophy is designed to beat Chip Kelly @ UCLA
  • Minnesota has two bye weeks heading into two home games (Maryland and PSU)
This year was always going to be a down year. The Gophers will be better next year.
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It's ok to have a "down" year, the issue fir me is how some of the games went. We gave up 21 in the 4q to hapless NW, we gave up an 80 yd drive to a backup qb for Illinois, we made a pretty poor Purdue team look like the 98 vikings. Furthermore, it's expected to lose to OSU MICH UNC, it's the fact that we weren't even competitive.
 

As I mentioned in another post, start by replacing the line coach and defensive coord.
 

Jack jones said:
As I mentioned in another post, start by replacing the line coach and defensive coord.
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I dunno, I think the offensive side of the ball needs more work, if we're replacing a coordinator....
 


leib0039 said:
It's ok to have a "down" year, the issue fir me is how some of the games went. We gave up 21 in the 4q to hapless NW, we gave up an 80 yd drive to a backup qb for Illinois, we made a pretty poor Purdue team look like the 98 vikings. Furthermore, it's expected to lose to OSU MICH UNC, it's the fact that we weren't even competitive.
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Very raw first year starter at QB with multiple injuries to RB and replaced an All American center. That's gonna happen. Athan is bad. He'll be less bad next year. The only person that should be apologizing is Charlie 'Athan is a generational talent' Walters.

Was pretty freaking clear that wasn't true at the time and with a full season under our belts it's obvious that they've got a project on their hands.

Agree Northwestern was disappointing but Iowa victory was equally surprising. I thought they would win a couple more than they did, but shouldn't be that shocking that they only won five. Hopefully their APR gets them three more weeks of practice in December. They need it.
 
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We changed nothing after an awful 2020 season because we blamed it on COVID

After a 2021 season where we pissed away a notable year by losing to Bowling Green and Illinois our response was to "bring the gang back together" Hire Ciarocca back and SIXTH years for Morgan, Mo, and others. That resulted in losing to Purdue, Illinois, and Iowa and pissing away another year. Ciarocca leaves for Rutgers and we decide to replace him in house with Harbaugh/Simon for 2023.

I am concerned Fleck is out of ideas. The warning signs for this program had been there well before this season turned sour. I hope I am wrong, but it's been 4 full seasons since 2019 and that's a large sample size for college football.
 


We just wait until Fleck is gone and then wait again for 7 years then wait. Coyle is worthless as is Fleck. It comes from the top and they do not care. What a waste.
 

Fleck was able to succeed by “selling” kids on staying for 5th, 6th years as well as kids like AWjr who were ready to bolt after the scandal. But this was essentially before NIL. AWjr probably would’ve been gone if NIL was a thing.
 

EG#9 said:
We changed nothing after an awful 2020 season because we blamed it on COVID

After a 2021 season where we pissed away a notable year by losing to Bowling Green and Illinois our response was to "bring the gang back together" Hire Ciarocca back and SIXTH years for Morgan, Mo, and others. That resulted in losing to Purdue, Illinois, and Iowa and pissing away another year. Ciarocca leaves for Rutgers and we decide to replace him in house with Harbaugh/Simon for 2023.

I am concerned Fleck is out of ideas. The warning signs for this program had been there well before this season turned sour. I hope I am wrong, but it's been 4 full seasons since 2019 and that's a large sample size for college football.
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2022
Purdue: Mo was injured
Illinois: Morgan was injured
PSU: Morgan was injured
Iowa: Morgan was injured

Unless y'all are gonna start paying players, Minnesota can't win with those injuries. They don't have enough depth.

Also let's not forget that 2019 was not as good as people remember. The Gophers played arguably the weakest P5 schedule in the country before the PSU game and came down to one possession with South Dakota State, Fresno State, Georgia Southern, and Purdue. They probably don't beat PSU if Bateman doesn't go off for 200 (!) yards in that game.
 
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Quick story of Fleck's tenure:
  • 2017: Doesn't have a QB
  • 2018: Starts season with Annexstad and tries to roll with him until Tanner forces the issue with a ridiculous comeback win against Indiana
  • 2019: Plays easiest schedule in country, but executes successfully
  • 2020: COVID and hires awful offensive coordinator
  • 2021: Gets beat by BGSU in part because of aforementioned awful offensive coordinator, losses Mo in very first game
  • 2022: QB gets injured halfway through season; transitions to a Freshman that hasn't played an organized football game at any level since before COVID
  • 2023: Plays toughest schedule in country, gets beat up pretty bad with a Sophomore QB
If I had to bet, next season will be better. He's either gonna pull someone from the portal or Athan will improve. Either way, the hill that they are trying to climb is not so steep next year.
 
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hello-world said:
Quick story of Fleck's tenure:
  • 2017: Doesn't have a QB
  • 2018: Starts season with Annexstad and tries to roll with him until Tanner forces the issue with a ridiculous comeback win against Indiana
  • 2019: Plays easiest schedule in country, but executes successfully
  • 2020: COVID and hires awful offensive coordinator
  • 2021: Gets beat by BGSU in part because of aforementioned awful offensive coordinator, losses Mo in very first game
  • 2022: QB gets injured halfway through season; transitions to a Freshman that hasn't played an organized football game at any level since before COVID
  • 2023: Plays toughest schedule in country, gets beat up pretty bad with a Sophomore QB
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Sounds like either a recruiting or coaching problem, IYAM.
 

Ewert86PC said:
Sounds like either a recruiting or coaching problem, IYAM.
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It's only a problem if there's a way to fix it and I haven't seen a single person throw out a realistic name. Otherwise, it's just the nature of things, and firing a coach because of a down season in this circumstance will do nothing but make it look like an unattractive job.
 

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