Gophers' RPO Offense: How much Fleck, How Much Ciarocca?

Donate To GopherHole
RememberMurray

RememberMurray

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 25, 2019
Messages
8,123
Reaction score
7,358
Points
113
I did a quick Google search, but I couldn't really find an answer as to the origin and author/designer of our current RPO offense (Gopher version).

Was it Fleck, Ciarocca, a combination of the two? Who came up with it and wrote the playbook? I know they ran it at Western Michigan; I'm more interested in authorship.

Does anybody on GopherHole know? I'm just curious, what with the staff changes and all.
 
Last edited:

RememberMurray said:
I did a quick Google search, but I couldn't really find an answer as to the origin and author/designer of our current RPO offense (Gopher version).

Was it Fleck, Ciarocca, a combination of the two? Who came up with it and wrote the playbook? I know they ran it at Western Michigan; I'm more interested in authorship.

Does anybody on GopherHole know? I'm just curious, what with the staff changes and all.
Click to expand...

I also think it might have something to do with Tanner Morgan being really good at executing it. Meaning it’s not unique in design just well execute.
 

I suspect PJ let Kirk do what he wanted.

Outside that I'm sure there are all sorts of discussions between HC and OC and rarely are things as clear as "his" and such.
 
Last edited:

Fleck says he doesn't micro manage and allows his coaches to do their jobs. But, I am sure during game planning meeting he may suggest a few tweaks.

He allowed Simon to cal the shots on the TE play against Auburn. He asked Simon if he was sure that's what he wants and went along with the plays.

"Failure is growth" - he apparently did not hold Mike Sanford being fired from WKU against him.
 

Yeah, thanks for the replies, but I'm really not asking about who calls the plays.

I'm curious about who designed the plays. I'm hoping to figure out who wrote the offensive playbook.
 


People like to say Fleck isn’t an X and O guy, but he was hired as NIU offensive coordinator, so he must have demonstrated the ability to draw up plays and make play calls.
 

I think Fleck is very smart when it comes to X's and O's but he doesn't micro manage.

He has an offensive system he believes in and rather than run 100 different plays each. each 6 times during a season, he runs about 6 plays 100 times a season and ensures they are executed perfectly.

He has explained that he has catching broken down to a 5-7 step process.
Every thing is broken down by process and to play you need to do things exactly to process.

I think this is why Fleck is having more success than Frosty right now. Frosty is brute strength and creative plays. Fleck is about finding guys who want to get better, who fit the RPO system and then teach them to execute with absolute minimum errors.
 

The answer does not matter. PJ and Simon know the offense inside and out now. Simon demonstrated his ability to tweak the offense and give different facets greater emphasis.
Our offense vs Auburn was superior to KC’s offense.
Right now we have PJ, Simon, Sanford, Patterson and Callahan refining our system. It is in good hands. There is no lack of understanding or creativity with the departure of KC.
The unknown for me is how gifted or responsible he was in developing Flacco, Terrell, and Tanner as QB’s. Can we develop, maintain, elevate QB’s at same level? That’s the secret sauce question.
 

PitinoFan said:
People like to say Fleck isn’t an X and O guy, but he was hired as NIU offensive coordinator, so he must have demonstrated the ability to draw up plays and make play calls.
Click to expand...
He was?
 




OC Fits in with his social studies teacher resume. ?
 


PMWinSTP said:
Run game coordinator...
Click to expand...

Yes, thanks for pointing out that he was the run game coordinator the year before. I only said he was “hired” as offensive coordinator, and that he must have demonstrated the ability to design an offensive system and call plays.

On February 2, 2012, he was hired as the offensive coordinator at Northern Illinois University. Coach Dave Doeren said the following about Fleck's hiring, "We spoke at length about why this is the right place for him. It was very evident to me that he bleeds NIU, and he would have tremendous pride and passion working not just for me, but for the university to help continue what we started last year, and really what he started here as a player. His recruiting abilities and passing game expertise, working alongside Coach Carey as our run game coordinator, will be a great combination for our offense."[10] Just one day later, on February 3, 2012, Fleck abruptly resigned the Northern Illinois position to accept a position as wide receivers coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the NFL. The move reunited him with Schiano, who had recently left Rutgers for the Buccaneers head coaching job.
 
Last edited:



RememberMurray said:
Yeah, thanks for the replies, but I'm really not asking about who calls the plays.

I'm curious about who designed the plays. I'm hoping to figure out who wrote the offensive playbook.
Click to expand...

What kind of offense did Joe Novak run? I ask because a lot of us are shaped by our early years and if PJ learned a similar offense from Joe I'd imagine it began there. This is only speculation, the same question could be asked of Tressel, Shiano, Mike Nolan. Weren't Ciarroca and Fleck both together at one of there stops before WMU also?

I guess to make a short story long, I have no idea...……..
 

PitinoFan said:
On February 2, 2012, he was hired as the offensive coordinator at Northern Illinois University. Coach Dave Doeren said the following about Fleck's hiring, "We spoke at length about why this is the right place for him. It was very evident to me that he bleeds NIU, and he would have tremendous pride and passion working not just for me, but for the university to help continue what we started last year, and really what he started here as a player. His recruiting abilities and passing game expertise, working alongside Coach Carey as our run game coordinator, will be a great combination for our offense."[10] Just one day later, on February 3, 2012, Fleck abruptly resigned the Northern Illinois position to accept a position as wide receivers coach with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the NFL. The move reunited him with Schiano, who had recently left Rutgers for the Buccaneers head coaching job.
Click to expand...
I stand corrected. I guess it was not the right place for him the next day, even after talking at length about why it was, just not the next day. He didn't actually bleed NIU.
 

RememberMurray said:
Yeah, thanks for the replies, but I'm really not asking about who calls the plays.

I'm curious about who designed the plays. I'm hoping to figure out who wrote the offensive playbook.
Click to expand...
Probably neither of them. It was most likely someone else that came up with the playbook and through their coaching experience they decided to adopt it. They might have different terminology or have added different wrinkles but I'd suspect neither "invented" the RPO offensive scheme. That's my opinion at least, just a hunch.
 



PMWinSTP said:
Had this same conversation today at work. It will be a looong three months until Spring practices.
Click to expand...

I'm so pumped for next year it already feels like its been 3 months since the bowl game.....
 


I don't think we've done anything exotic. We run the ball and run play action/RPO off of those runs.

I think every Fleck team will be about ball control (which means being run heavy) and I couldn't imagine our new OC would come in and change much about our offense.

As far as the play designs, I don't think KC or Fleck really designed many of them, they're pretty basic concepts.
 

RememberMurray said:
I did a quick Google search, but I couldn't really find an answer as to the origin and author/designer of our current RPO offense (Gopher version).

Was it Fleck, Ciarocca, a combination of the two? Who came up with it and wrote the playbook? I know they ran it at Western Michigan; I'm more interested in authorship.

Does anybody on GopherHole know? I'm just curious, what with the staff changes and all.
Click to expand...

This is from an article in SBNation:
"Fleck’s offense is a fairly standard spread-option scheme (CLICK) designed to ensure favorable numbers and angles to run the ball as the underpinning of the strategy. They chewed a lot of opponents up at Western Michigan last year running the ball with zone blocking schemes and then quick pass options attached if teams didn’t respect their athleticism on the perimeter."

I don't think it matters whether it came from Ciarrocca, Fleck, both, or from elsewhere. The basic RPO will have variants based on the talent that they have, and maximizing that is the central point. It will morph as time goes by. It thrives on adaptability and continuous improvement. We see the basic RPO adapted to Big Ten play with Ball Control Offense and explosive striking capability. PJ Fleck has stated that he'd like a balanced 50/50 run/pass offense. We saw that in the 2019 version of the Gophers how they adapted and got better from 2017 until now with each game as they gained more experience playing as a team. "Failure is growth". The team leaders on the field lead. Finally, we saw its full potential in the upset of Penn State and Auburn.

Expect to see new wrinkles to the Gopher's basic RPO scheme under Sanford and Simon.

Here is the link to the original article: Fleck’s oars are starting to break the ice, by Alan Boyd, SBNation, Oct. 20, 2017.
 
Last edited:

highwayman said:
Jesus, it’s officially the off season. God help us all.
Click to expand...
You don’t need to tell Jesus it’s officially the off-season. I think He already knows. Why do people not realize it is offensive to some of us to talk like this? I know it’s getting pretty common, but still no less offensive.
 

I don’t think our basic offensive strategy changes in 2020 because the RPO, as we run it, is well suited to Tanner’s strengths and doesn’t require him to do things (like run a lot) that aren’t in his wheel house and/or might heighten his risk of injury. That is why Simon is co-oC. We need continuity. Simon and the new OC will, if we are lucky, utilize TEs and RBs in the RPO passing game scheme more frequently than Kirk C did, as a means of presenting more diversity and less predictability to opposing defenses. But we’ll keep running a basic RPO offense, especially with Mo as the main RB.
 

The way that they used the TE in the Auburn game is exactly the way I'd like to envision the Gophers going forward. This is not to take away from the strength of the WR corps. The new wrinkle will give pause to defenders with an added threat. Now, if you have a Pat Freiermuth type of dominant big bodied TE why not adapt your offense to take advantage of that threat? Maybe, we'll see Paulson, Witham, or Spann-Ford utilized more as pass catchers. I am most excited about PSF's potential.

Who knows how the Sanford-Simon version of the RPO will shake out. We shall soon find out.
 

RememberMurray said:
I did a quick Google search, but I couldn't really find an answer as to the origin and author/designer of our current RPO offense (Gopher version).

Was it Fleck, Ciarocca, a combination of the two? Who came up with it and wrote the playbook? I know they ran it at Western Michigan; I'm more interested in authorship.

Does anybody on GopherHole know? I'm just curious, what with the staff changes and all.
Click to expand...
I've posted this article before...probably the best breakdown of Fleck's RPO I have read. I do not foresee much changing with the new OCs.

www.sbnation.com

How P.J. Fleck’s actual football team works

You might know the catch phrases, but what do you know about his creativity as a leader and strategist?
www.sbnation.com www.sbnation.com
 

Thanks. That is a good article explaining how the offense works.

As far as where it came from and who actually 'designed' it is concerned, I found this:

www.bannersociety.com

12 coaches explain the history and future of the RPO

Here’s a free coaching clinic on where it came from, how hard it is to stop, and what’s next.
www.bannersociety.com www.bannersociety.com

Sounds like it has many 'authors', and has developed and evolved over time.

I'm hoping the Gophers don't make too many changes with the hiring of the new coordinator. I still remember Adam Weber having to learn a new system every season, because of constant staff changes.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom