Fleck on Rossi: “He’s one of the best football coaches that I have ever been around.”

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fmlizard said:
Less than 10 days ago Joe Rossi was our hero who turned everything around like magic and had a better reputation around here than Fleck himself. Everyone needs to chill.
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Sports in a nutshell right there.

LONG LIVE THE KING!

KILL THE KING!

THE KING IS DEAD!

LONG LIVE THE KING!

---fiddles with sword nervously---
 

I don't blame Rossi at all. He lost all his top players to the NFL and we knew the defense will be rebuilding this year, that's why the offense needs to stay hot and pour it on and not go super vanilla and predictable. Love Mo he's the best RB in the division, but we have the #1 WR and the #2 QB with CRAB destroying CBs.... SCORE SCORE SCORE!!!!!!!
 

That was bad defense. Like easily the worst we've seen since Brewster (though Kill's D had some brutal games when he first got to MN).

Might have been an overreaction to call for Rossi's job, but it's his job to have his players ready. It's his job to develop the players he has. He had an entire off-season + 1 extra month to get the defense into shape, and they look bad.

I don't expect him to last as DC, but we'll see... if the Gophers lose to the Illini this weekend, not sure how he keeps his job. We might be looking at a 0-8 season if they don't turn it around rfn.
 

Athleticism is a big part of it - our defensive players look SLOW. Also, they are out of position a lot, over-committing, taking bad angles for tackles - that is both experience and coaching.
 

I don't know why it gets overlooked that the impact of turnover of defensive coaches every year in this program has on a developmental program. Again this year there are two new def. Coaches on staff. We had no spring ball on top of it for the players and coaches to adjust. Veteran players players are much less impacted than younger players to new staff members. Coaching staff stability is HUGE in developing players.
 


Things are so bad someone else might be on the defensive play calls on Saturday.
 



hello-world said:
That was bad defense. Like easily the worst we've seen since Brewster (though Kill's D had some brutal games when he first got to MN).

Might have been an overreaction to call for Rossi's job, but it's his job to have his players ready. It's his job to develop the players he has. He had an entire off-season + 1 extra month to get the defense into shape, and they look bad.

I don't expect him to last as DC, but we'll see... if the Gophers lose to the Illini this weekend, not sure how he keeps his job. We might be looking at a 0-8 season if they don't turn it around rfn.
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The problem I have with this take is that you are assuming that firing Rossi would drastically change the trajectory of this defense. I get that worked when Smith was fired but what happened when Rossi took over is not the norm and frankly is a strong justification for why you keep Rossi around even with the current struggles on D.

I also fully disagree with the part in bold. Holding any coaches accountable for what happens in 2020 is pretty harsh. This was an offseason like non other. They are dealing with opt outs, lack of practice, changing dynamics of how they can interact with players, and constant uncertainty. What our young guys needed was a traditional off-season but they didn't get anything even closely resembling that.

I have no doubt there will be head coaches and position coaches fired across the country but I would bet it will be far fewer then what we see in a normal year. Football is very much based in routine and that routine has been upended, drop kicked a few times, tossed in a dumpster and lit on fire in 2020.
 



What if you don't fire Rossi, but have Harasymiak call the defense? Maybe, somehow, his DC experience and his perspective from the DB's point of view, instead of the LB's, would be meaningful?

Throwing you know what against the wall.
 

MplsGopher said:
What if you don't fire Rossi, but have Harasymiak call the defense? Maybe, somehow, his DC experience and his perspective from the DB's point of view, instead of the LB's, would be meaningful?

Throwing you know what against the wall.
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I really don't think that if Harasymiak calls a play ... we're more likely to make a tackle.

We had plenty of 'stops' that didn't happen because of missed tackles. DC can't change the play call to 'tackle more'.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
I really don't think that if Harasymiak calls a play ... we're more likely to make a tackle.

We had plenty of 'stops' that didn't happen because of missed tackles. DC can't change the play call to 'tackle more'.
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Could put them in a better position to hopefully take a better angle, though. 💡 That is a factor.
 





I think a lot of emphasis in the modern game has been put on speed, and how fast a person can close a gap, or transition from run to coverage. Like, if you can get there fast, that should be good enough.
 


Without knowing the game plan/assignments, etc, it's hard to determine whether the defensive breakdowns are the result of mental mistakes (wrong assignment) or physical mistakes (in right position, but just doesn't make play).

with a younger team, some mental mistakes are not surprising. but physical mistakes - at least in my book- are more concerning. at some point, you either have the physical tools to play D1 FB or you don't. some of the Gopher defenders just don't look like they belong on the field at this point.

it will be interesting to see what - if anything - is different this week.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
Without knowing the game plan/assignments, etc, it's hard to determine whether the defensive breakdowns are the result of mental mistakes (wrong assignment) or physical mistakes (in right position, but just doesn't make play).

with a younger team, some mental mistakes are not surprising. but physical mistakes - at least in my book- are more concerning. at some point, you either have the physical tools to play D1 FB or you don't. some of the Gopher defenders just don't look like they belong on the field at this point.

it will be interesting to see what - if anything - is different this week.
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Fleck was blunt and candid about saying that the players have been in the right location but have simply not made plays.
 

With anything there are two sides to the story.

1. Rossi benefitted from having 5 NFL caliber players.

or

2. Rossi created 5 NFL players


Everyone seems to believe #1.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
Without knowing the game plan/assignments, etc, it's hard to determine whether the defensive breakdowns are the result of mental mistakes (wrong assignment) or physical mistakes (in right position, but just doesn't make play).

with a younger team, some mental mistakes are not surprising. but physical mistakes - at least in my book- are more concerning. at some point, you either have the physical tools to play D1 FB or you don't. some of the Gopher defenders just don't look like they belong on the field at this point.

it will be interesting to see what - if anything - is different this week.
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Yeah at some point, guy has to make the play.

IF you adjust and get that LB some help ... but that help has to come from somewhere that is now -1 defender ....

Kirk Ciarrocca said that coaches call plays and that's kinda where it ends for the coach. Nothing he can really do from tehre ... then the player has to make them. I'm thinking this play is the one Kirk was talking about:


It's up to Tanner and Bateman to make that play.

On defense:

It's up to the LB or DB to finish that tackel, or at least slow the dude up a bit till your buddies get there. Wiff... and what does a coach do about that playcalling wise? He put the guy there ... change stuff up and maybe the dude isn't even there the next time...
 

Face The Facts said:
With anything there are two sides to the story.

1. Rossi benefitted from having 5 NFL caliber players.

or

2. Rossi created 5 NFL players


Everyone seems to believe #1.
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I mean, he was the LB coach since Fleck got here.

So you could argue he had some kind of influence on Cashman and Martin. Not sure if Caughlin was coached as a LB or a DL? Barber another great player, but not in the league.

Wegner (special teams coordinator) now coaches the "Rush Ends", basically OLBs that are on the line of scrimmage in a 2 point stance.
 

Face The Facts said:
With anything there are two sides to the story.

1. Rossi benefitted from having 5 NFL caliber players.

or

2. Rossi created 5 NFL players


Everyone seems to believe #1.
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Rossi had four nfl players last year. And one of them missed roughly half the year, including the biggest wins. Another was one of the last ten players taken, and was not inherited from Kill/Claeys. Another was also a 7th rounder. Yes Rossi took advantage of some decent talent but outside of a super star in Winfield it’s not like we were loaded. I personally think he can coach and develop guys.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
I really don't think that if Harasymiak calls a play ... we're more likely to make a tackle.

We had plenty of 'stops' that didn't happen because of missed tackles. DC can't change the play call to 'tackle more'.
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I don't even know about 'missed tackles'. To me, it was a lack of not getting into a position to make the tackle due to lack of quickness/speed and/or lack of overall athleticism, or all frankly!!
 

I was under the impression that both Michigan and Maryland's offenses were also quite inexperienced. That didn't seem to impact them (against us at least).

Inexperience and youth can only be an excuse for so long.

The team has fourth-year guys on the DL. Sori-Marin is an upperclassman. Three of its four main starters in the secondary are multi-year starters.

The problem is that none of those guys look like all-league caliber players. Inexperienced players are allowed to make tackles in space. They are allowed to cover receivers. They are allowed to shed blocks.

Inexperience isn't helping the team (but if you are going to have a good program, you better get used to there being turnover) but the bigger problem seems to be guys that just might not be any good.

Who on this current defense is either an all-league caliber player or an NFL draft pick in the next three years?
 

They didn't know what to prepare for with Michigan. They came out with a lot of 2-back looks that apparently we didn't prepare for.

Then Fleck said with Maryland that they got so far behind vs NW so quickly, they didn't have a chance to get into doing what they wanted to do. So I guess the NW game film didn't show stuff either?

Hopefully we have a very good idea of what Illinois is going to try to do against our defense.


Would love to see some other guys get a chance at some meaningful game reps, as well.
 

We will see if the defense is better without Rossi this week
 

If things go well the next two games with Harasymiak calling the plays ..... I don't know man ... how do you give it back to Rossi?
 

MplsGopher said:
If things go well the next two games with Harasymiak calling the plays ..... I don't know man ... how do you give it back to Rossi?
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Because you think Rossi is better would be the obvious answer.

we see 2 (or 13 in a normal year) days a year. fleck sees every day.
 

Some guy said:
Because you think Rossi is better would be the obvious answer.

we see 2 (or 13 in a normal year) days a year. fleck sees every day.
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Silly argument, it would apply exactly the same to Robb Smith over Rossi.
 

MplsGopher said:
Silly argument, it would apply exactly the same to Robb Smith over Rossi.
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It’s not an argument.

it is literally why you would go back to Rossi. Because the head coach wants to because he thinks it’s better


you asked the question. Who gets to decide? Fleck?

so you asked why he would go back. The answer is because he wants to and he makes the decision. Pretty simple
 

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