Is it time to admit PJ (and staff) can coach?

[2nd Degree Gopher]

If they had time to get the field goal unit on the field, they had time to set up for a shot at the end zone. They'd been effectively moving the ball in the final minute (+) leading up to that field goal. No guarantee they score the TD. As we've seen this year, no guarantee we hit the FG. Fleck has a history of settling for the FG at the end of the half.
If you can say "we'd have had a chance if we hadn't been jobbed by the refs" or "we'd have won if only Kesich hadn't missed that FG", it's also reasonable to play the "if only" game with coaching decisions. I happen to think the refs screwed the Goph's on the onside kick call. But that single call didn't decide the outcome of the game. Decision points and performance failures all along the way impacted the outcome.

They didn't have time to get the field goal unit on the field for any reason other than that they had predetermined that they were going to run on the field as soon as any play ended in bounds. Any hesitation or deviation from that plan would have killed the rest of the clock. PJ didn't know that the play was going to end a the one-yard line. Had he been clairvoyant and known that was going to happen, I am guessing that he would have rushed to the line and tried to punch it in, but he didn't know that, nor could anyone have known that. But that's what you called him out for.

I didn't say anything about the refs or the missed field goal, so I know that those remarks aren't directed at me specifically, and I don't disagree with your general statements about his conservative nature, but I don't think in this instance it is reasonable to look at what happened in the last few seconds of the first half and attribute it to PJ's lack of stones.

 

[gopherdudepart2]

I think PJ’s tryout for the MI head coaching job went pretty well. Let’s not fool ourselves. Our bald bold leader would break for the blue job.

He would bail for any job that has at least same salary and better NIL and recruiting base. MSHL football isn't very good even compared to Wisconsin or Iowa. What coach wouldn't leave the Minnesota job, especially since the head coach usually ends up getting fired.

 

[FanSinceTheFifties]

Is it time to admit PJ (and staff) can coach? I think so.

OK. Now, it's time to analyze why recruiting top talent to UM is so difficult and what, if anything, can be done to attract enough talent to compete for conference championships like the U did before the 60s.