Fresh start. This means .....

[PMWinSTP]

I strongly disagree with this take. He will no doubt put a ton of time into all those things you mentioned during the off-season but during the season they are going to do whatever they can to win games. Best way to get the fans on your side is by winning games and being competitive. While he shouldn't feel any pressure to win or else I have zero doubt they will do everything possible to win as early as possible.

Again, I don't get those who think there will be a drop off. This is not a rebuild or turnaround.

What happened to NIU after Kill essentially brought his entire staff to MN? It had 35 wins in the next three years. How about Boise St? 31 wins in three seasons after Peterson left. Michigan? 20 wins in the two seasons after Hoke. Wisconsin? Two 10 win seasons after Anderson left. Pitt has won 8 games each of the last two seasons. More than Chryst won in his tenure.

I seriously don't get it.

 

[e.bigelow]

Good question - I don't remember either!

Oh darn. Was hoping maybe you'd remember. Oh well.

I remember mine. It went from a picture of a full student section at TCF to Philip Nelson's football program photo from his second year, to David Cobb's TD celebration to Mitch dabbing after a TD at the Quick Lane Bowl, now to Rodney Smith's TD wave. Pretty sad I remember all of mine.

 

[joshvanklomp]

Again, I don't get those who think there will be a drop off. This is not a rebuild or turnaround.

What happened to NIU after Kill essentially brought his entire staff to MN? It had 35 wins in the next three years. How about Boise St? 31 wins in three seasons after Peterson left. Michigan? 20 wins in the two seasons after Hoke. Wisconsin? Two 10 win seasons after Anderson left. Pitt has won 8 games each of the last two seasons. More than Chryst won in his tenure.

I seriously don't get it.

We had seven games decided by seven points or less, going 4-3 in those games. We could stay even with that success rate, we could get better, or we could also get worse. Ignoring it as a possibility just seems foolish.

 

[Livingat45north]

Coyle wanted a re-boot, so the first thing was a new HC hire. But Fleck will also want a fresh start, as does every new HC. This will likely mean:



- new players - "the 10" are as good as gone. There is nobody that will speak up for them now. The last person that did was fired! Who would dare defend "the 10" with such repercussions. It would have been good to see Seth Green in a Gopher uniform, but I do not believe that to be likely at this point
.

The 5 or so players that weren't even in the apartment that night have a good chance of getting cleared, and I think that includes Seth Green.

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

We had seven games decided by seven points or less, going 4-3 in those games. We could stay even with that success rate, we could get better, or we could also get worse. Ignoring it as a possibility just seems foolish.

Sure, we could get worse. I don't think anyone is ignoring the possibility that we could become worse.

 

[frannyjunk]

This will not be a classic "rebuild" year. It will be a "fill gaps" year. No reason to believe anything less than a .500 season.

A "fill the gap" year would mean bringing in JC recruits to fill holes. IMO, there are holes in defensive backfield, OL and QB. It'll be interesting if Fleck brings in any JC players come national signing day.

 

[PMWinSTP]

We had seven games decided by seven points or less, going 4-3 in those games. We could stay even with that success rate, we could get better, or we could also get worse. Ignoring it as a possibility just seems foolish.

Yep, there is a difference between possibilities and expectations. That Gophs had so many close games, won the ones they were expected to and lost the ones they weren't (but were close), tells me they were very close to a breakout season.

I expect there will not be a drop off. Is it possible? Sure. Based on the situation as I see it (and laid out in other threads), having a drop off is much less of a possibility than not having a drop off.