Jerry Kill Slams PJ

[BleedGopher]

I will say I am surprised this is getting national media traction. Until and unless Minnesota gets to the level of winning the division, I don't think most people around the country will care about any gossipy type stuff of this, so long as it falls below the threshold of a major crime or sexual scandal.

You're surprised this is getting national media attention?! Well, it's February so there isn't anything else to talk about in college football, but a former coach that is pretty well known taking some significant shots at a different coach including bringing up a divorce?! That's national news.

Go Gophers!!

 

[BleedGopher]

SI: Jerry Kill Criticizes Minnesota Coach P.J. Fleck: 'He's About Himself'

Former Minnesota head coach Jerry Kill is making it clear that he doesn't like the way current coach P.J. Fleck runs the Gophers program.

Kill spoke to SiriusXM College's "Big Ten Today" and shared why he has issues with the way Fleck has operated since taking over from Tracy Claeys.

"He went into Minnesota and treated the people the way he treated my guys and telling 'em he had to go in and completely change the culture and it was a bad culture and bad people, you know, he made it sound like we didn’t know what we were doing, and I took it personal. You just don’t treat people that have been with you and helped you career and you don’t even talk to him, you know, once you get the job."

https://www.si.com/college-football...l-criticizes-pj-fleck-about-himself-minnesota

Go Gophers!!

 

[BleedGopher]

WCCO: ‘He’s About Himself’: Former Gophers Coach Jerry Kill Says PJ Fleck Isn’t Concerned Enough About Students

Former Gopher football coach Jerry Kill is taking some shots at current coach P.J. Fleck.

Fleck was at one time on Kill’s staff at Northern Illinois University.

Speaking on Sirius XM Radio on Tuesday night, Kill said Fleck is not concerned enough about the players.

“Do I think he’s about the players? No,” Kill said. “He’s about himself.”

Fleck has not responded to the comments.

https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2019/02/20/jerry-kill-talks-pj-fleck-hes-about-himself-students/

Go Gophers!!

 

[GophersInIowa]

They are there. A number of examples. Arguing it with someone who doesn’t want to see them is pointless. Your stance is Kill is making it all up? He’s lying about what was said at the local HS that caused the face-to-face spat? Whatever makes you happy.

None of it justifies this move by Kill. Bush league.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm seriously just asking. I asked a simple question and you won't answer it. I've never heard Fleck take a shot at the previous staff publicly. Maybe I missed something. That's why I asked.

I think it's more than likely that Kill interpreted "change the culture" to mean that Fleck thought Kill and staff did a bad job. I don't think that was Fleck's intent.

 

[#2Gopher]

After thinking back a bit, I can't remember the last time a coach of his stature slammed another coach like this. Usually everyone takes the high road. Anyone?

 

[mnfaninmd]

JK right to be pissed about being thrown under the bus.
PJ right that there were some problems in the culture.
TC right that Coyle was just looking for pretense to move on.

It's water under the bridge at this point. PJ appears to have the team on the right track. I have no issue with JK being truthful about it. He should be ready to accept the blowback however if PJ brought up the legit problems in the culture (he probably won't).

I agree with this assessment. I think JK went a little far mentioning PJ's personal life. I did have the opportunity to meet JK while he was at Rutgers and thanked him for his time at MN. We chatted a bit about football recruiting and offered to help in any way he could. He impressed me as engaging and authentic. While at MN, he respected the identify of MN football and won alot of games. In no way was this a complete rebuild as PJ suggests. Since his hiring, the team performance has been disappointing with the exception of a few bright points. Another thing that bothers me is the audacity of PJ to change the identity of MN football. Imagine going to MICH or Penn St and suggesting they place an oar on the helmet or on all branding. It would never happen! I respect the RTB philosophy as a way instill a code of ethics but MN already has a proud football history and identity. Respect it. To me that says alot and lends weight to JK's comments about PJ being about himself.

 

[BleedGopher]

Deadspin: Former Minnesota Coach Jerry Kill Goes On The Radio To Grumble About Current Coach P.J. Fleck

Jerry Kill left his position as head coach of the University of Minnesota football team in 2015, citing health reasons. He’s kept a pretty low profile since then, serving as the offensive coordinator at Rutgers for one season before starting an administrative career at Kansas State and Southern Illinois. He will occasionally resurface, though, to get hopping mad about some injustice or other going on at his old school.

The last time Kill popped his head up, he was declaring a full boycott of the Gophers because the university had decided to fire head coach Tracy Claeys after Claeys had thrown his support behind a boycott that his players had planned in solidarity with 10 teammates who were accused of sexual assault. Now Kill is going after current Gophers head coach and ultimate cornball P.J. Fleck:

Kill’s complaints about Fleck are in line with most of the common criticisms Fleck receives: that he’s an egotistical phony. Kill is a grump with an axe to grind, but it’s hard to blame anyone for not liking the guy who invented the obnoxious “row the boat” dance and sends tweets like this:

https://deadspin.com/former-minnesota-coach-jerry-kill-goes-on-the-radio-to-1832751677

Go Gophers!!

 

[BleedGopher]

MLive.com: P.J. Fleck all ‘about himself’ says ex-Gophers coach Jerry Kill

P..J. Fleck was one of Jerry Kill’s assistants for two seasons at Northern Illinois.

Kill helped Fleck get the Western Michigan job at age 32, and Fleck even noted he was a “Kill guy” in his introductory press conference at Minnesota.

But don’t expect the former Gophers coach to “Row the Boat” anytime soon. Kill says he hasn’t spoken to Fleck since shortly after he was hired, and didn’t mince words when speaking to SiriusXM.

“Sometimes ego gets carried away,” Kill told “Big Ten Today” hosts Matt Schick and A.J. Hawk. "When he went into Minnesota and treated the people the way he treated my guys, telling them he had to go in and completely change the culture and that it was a bad culture and bad people.

"He made it sound like we didn’t know what we were doing. I took it personal. You just don’t treat people who have helped your career, and you don’t even talk to 'em once you get the job.”

https://www.mlive.com/sports/2019/0...himself-says-ex-gophers-coach-jerry-kill.html

Go Gophers!!

 

[benlaur]

Quote Originally Posted by AtTheLibrary View Post
https://saturdaytradition.com/minnes...mpression=true

Saw this on twitter reposted from 2 years ago or so:

Kill on Minnesota after being hired by Rutgers “People were saying they have to rebuild Minnesota. Shoot. That thing is built and ready to go. This year should be the best that Minnesota has had. I support (P.J.) Fleck on what he is doing. You have to do what you have to do. It is his program now. But I am not crazy about him saying they have to rebuild the program. We went in there and said a lot of the same things when I took over, but that’s not the case now. That new A.D. (Mark Coyle) has no idea what we inherited. (Former A.D.) Joel Maturi does. Call him. We inherited a mess. (Fleck) has walked into a gold mine.”




The above, posted by Atthelibrary is priceless. So when Kill said he had to rebuild that was okay by his judgement. However, when the next guy said he had to rebuild, that was heresy (Cuz Kill had built an empire). By this standard, Tim Brewster should mow over Jerry Kill. The fact that Kill cares so much about how others perceive him is the very definition of ego.

 

[Gophers_4life]

You're surprised this is getting national media attention?! Well, it's February so there isn't anything else to talk about in college football, but a former coach that is pretty well known taking some significant shots at a different coach including bringing up a divorce?! That's national news.

Clearly you are correct!!

I would have said "No, it won't rise to that level", and I am wrong!

 

[UpAndUnder43]

Kill is losing his mind. He can just go away. I'm sure his 6 month stint at Southern Illinois? as an AD will be great but then he'll take a job somewhere coaching and then last 6 months...

Kill isn't here because he refused to care about himself, his players and his coaches enough to take care of the health stuff he COULD control. Not sleeping, not eating well, not exercising...thats on him.

 

[Gophers_4life]

I think Kill needs to understand something: regardless of the actual state of the program, Fleck HAD to make a big deal about his culture, doing things the right way, "cleaning" things up, etc.

Because of the scandal. Duh. That's what Fleck was talking about. I believe that was preordained messaging, from the top down.

NOT that he had to clean up the stuff that Kill and Claeys had in place. I'm sure a lot of that was good.

 

[CurveballJesus]

Fleck will forget about this long before the season and if any of the playershave even heard about this they have probably forgotten about it by now. The only people who care are Kill (evidently it's still festering what a joke), us posters, and the media who can use this to feed our frenzy.

Yeah, the guy with the self-professed crack on his shoulder is totally going to let this slide. Dollars to donuts, there will be some sort of pithy callback to this in a post game presser next season, hopefully after a big win. He's got months to come up with it, so my expectations are high!

 

[imthewalrus]

Give fans hope? Is that why...

Jerry is all uptight because he is stuck in the MAC and PJ has accomplished in 2 years what his staff tried to do in 5 by winning the Axe and giving fans hope

attendance is so pathetic and season ticket sales are down so far and keep slipping heading into PJ's third season? PJ still has a heck of a lot to prove. His second season was an improvement over his first season in Big Ten play. The stinking wisky badger win was great! So was the bowl win.

It wasn't Jerry at his finest. But, let's face it GOPHERHOLE dudes and dudettes: it is a slow season and we all LOVE to get a long thread with lots of insults being slung back and forth going towards the end of February.

We should all thank JK for mouthing off and also thank the PJ ultimate defenders for ripping old Jerry for making a statement on the record. Things get mighty slow on the football board in the latter half of February.

Remember: Big Ten wins vs Big Ten losses tell the whole story of the adequacy and competence of a Big Ten Coach. Comparing the Big Ten records of the last half dozen or more of the football coaches at the University of Minnesota puts things into MINNESOTA perspective.

Now, let's se if this is just a "groundhog" GOPHER rouser. If you see your shadow: there are 6 more months until football season starts. If you don't see your shadow: there are about half a dozen months until the "pre-season exhibition games with South Dakota State and a couple of other pretend warm ups kick off the REAL Big Ten Football Season.

Battle on kids!

 

[Gold Rush]

Quote Originally Posted by AtTheLibrary View Post
https://saturdaytradition.com/minnes...mpression=true

Saw this on twitter reposted from 2 years ago or so:

Kill on Minnesota after being hired by Rutgers “People were saying they have to rebuild Minnesota. Shoot. That thing is built and ready to go. This year should be the best that Minnesota has had. I support (P.J.) Fleck on what he is doing. You have to do what you have to do. It is his program now. But I am not crazy about him saying they have to rebuild the program. We went in there and said a lot of the same things when I took over, but that’s not the case now. That new A.D. (Mark Coyle) has no idea what we inherited. (Former A.D.) Joel Maturi does. Call him. We inherited a mess. (Fleck) has walked into a gold mine.”




The above, posted by Atthelibrary is priceless. So when Kill said he had to rebuild that was okay by his judgement. However, when the next guy said he had to rebuild, that was heresy (Cuz Kill had built an empire). By this standard, Tim Brewster should mow over Jerry Kill. The fact that Kill cares so much about how others perceive him is the very definition of ego.

Let's take a closer look at this. When Fleck took over the team the defensive backfield was decimated and coming off a major scandal. He didn't even have enough healthy offensive line to have a Spring game due to no depth, his defensive line had little depth and he inherited a team with one, ONE scholarship QB and he couldn't even throw. So coming off a 9-4 season is a little deceiving. The cupboard wasn't bare, but there weren't that many cookies in the cookie jar, either!

It would be interesting to hear Glen Mason's take on this. He was fired by an overzealous AD and replaced by an inexperienced coach who wasn't even in his class. I heard him direct his frustrations at the administration but I do not think he ever took it out on Tim Brewster, either.

 

[bottlebass]

Yeah, the guy with the self-professed crack on his shoulder is total going to let this slide. Dollars to donuts, there will be some sort of pithy callback to this in a post game presser next season, hopefully after a big win. He's got months to come up with it, so my expectations are high!

Kill is the one with the chip on his shoulder. He's brought this up multiple times now. The only time PJ will address this is if/when the media forces him to by asking about it over and over. I don't think Fleck is worrying much about what Kill thinks at this point. He has bigger aspirations in his prick head than to care what the AD of some small time school thinks.

 

[WinLoseOrTy]

"Do I think that he’s about the players? No. He’s about himself."

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

Yeah, the guy with the self-professed crack on his shoulder is totally going to let this slide. Dollars to donuts, there will be some sort of pithy callback to this in a post game presser next season, hopefully after a big win. He's got months to come up with it, so my expectations are high!

What makes you think that is going to happen?

 

[Gophers_4life]

"Do I think that he’s about the players? No. He’s about himself."

View attachment 6015

You DO understand the *critical* difference between "Row the boat" and slogans like "Brick by brick", "Jerrysota", etc??

The latter came from the U, and the AD marketing dept. They're intellectual property of the U.

Row the Boat is Fleck's personal, trademarked brand, that he takes with him wherever he goes, and demands that it be put into the uniforms, and it becomes ubiquitous on other merch as well. When and if he leaves, the U of Minn can't keep using that. It's not ours. It belongs to him.


You get it, yes?

 

[benlaur]

Quote Originally Posted by #2Gopher View Post
"Kill was a nice guy who had his principals. When he was hired here, he was what 4th choice? People were saying that he was boring, not charismatic enough to bring in recruits etc. Fleck is the opposite in that he isn't boring. He makes things fun for the team with his scholarship announcements. Also a trip to a concert but with a lesson involved. Fleck is always teaching, people listen to him.

I'm one in the camp where I don't enjoy seeing him run down the sidelines when not really necessary. Perhaps an underlying message that the players see that I don't see. However if you don't enjoy seeing him run down the sidelines, look the other way, talk to your neighbor, drink your bill or whatever. Don't let something like this get the best of you. It really isn't that huge of a deal."


Why do people care about the guy running down the sidelines? Life is fun. The game is fun. Does everything need to be done the way it was done previously? Let see how Fleck does long-term, but I appreciate the fact that he can have some fun. It is possible to have fun, be disciplined as a team and to be successful. These things are not mutually exclusive..

 

[CurveballJesus]

What makes you think that is going to happen?

You don't think he'll slip in a "but i don't want to makes this all about me," with a wink somewhere?

Look at how Pitino loves to make cracks at filling the gas tank all the way back up now. I bet PJ does something similar.

 

[#2Gopher]

Quote Originally Posted by #2Gopher View Post
"Kill was a nice guy who had his principals. When he was hired here, he was what 4th choice? People were saying that he was boring, not charismatic enough to bring in recruits etc. Fleck is the opposite in that he isn't boring. He makes things fun for the team with his scholarship announcements. Also a trip to a concert but with a lesson involved. Fleck is always teaching, people listen to him.

I'm one in the camp where I don't enjoy seeing him run down the sidelines when not really necessary. Perhaps an underlying message that the players see that I don't see. However if you don't enjoy seeing him run down the sidelines, look the other way, talk to your neighbor, drink your bill or whatever. Don't let something like this get the best of you. It really isn't that huge of a deal."


Why do people care about the guy running down the sidelines? Life is fun. The game is fun. Does everything need to be done the way it was done previously? Let see how Fleck does long-term, but I appreciate the fact that he can have some fun. It is possible to have fun, be disciplined as a team and to be successful. These things are not mutually exclusive..

I look at the time between quarters is to rest, recharge your batteries. When Fleck runs, the rest of the team on the field is instructed to run as well. To me that isn't resting but rather using more energy. I probably should have said it differently. Why run the team hard on the field when you don't have to?

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

You don't think he'll slip in a "but i don't want to makes this all about me," with a wink somewhere?

Look at how Pitino loves to make cracks at filling the gas tank all the way back up now. I bet PJ does something similar.

So if he says that phrase or something like it ... it has to be about Kill's comment?

 

[CurveballJesus]

So if he says that phrase or something like it ... it has to be about Kill's comment?

...Yes

 

[#2Gopher]

Kill states that Fleck has changed. I hope all young coaches change as they learn how to deal with a team, the culture of the team, learn from assistant coaches, learn from seminars etc. For that matter I would hope that we all change as we grow and mature in life.

 

[Gold Rush]

Quote Originally Posted by #2Gopher View Post
"Kill was a nice guy who had his principals. When he was hired here, he was what 4th choice? People were saying that he was boring, not charismatic enough to bring in recruits etc. Fleck is the opposite in that he isn't boring. He makes things fun for the team with his scholarship announcements. Also a trip to a concert but with a lesson involved. Fleck is always teaching, people listen to him.

I'm one in the camp where I don't enjoy seeing him run down the sidelines when not really necessary. Perhaps an underlying message that the players see that I don't see. However if you don't enjoy seeing him run down the sidelines, look the other way, talk to your neighbor, drink your bill or whatever. Don't let something like this get the best of you. It really isn't that huge of a deal."


Why do people care about the guy running down the sidelines? Life is fun. The game is fun. Does everything need to be done the way it was done previously? Let see how Fleck does long-term, but I appreciate the fact that he can have some fun. It is possible to have fun, be disciplined as a team and to be successful. These things are not mutually exclusive..

Agreed. If you look at any of the big time, successful coaches and they have an ego. From what I have heard, Fleck has given great credit to his players and seems to have a very positive relationship with them. Saying he is all about himself is dead wrong - that just tells me Kill has sour grapes over the whole thing. He needs to pipe down and run his program.

 

[benlaur]

Gold Rush: "Let's take a closer look at this. When Fleck took over the team the defensive backfield was decimated and coming off a major scandal. He didn't even have enough healthy offensive line to have a Spring game due to no depth, his defensive line had little depth and he inherited a team with one, ONE scholarship QB and he couldn't even throw. So coming off a 9-4 season is a little deceiving. The cupboard wasn't bare, but there weren't that many cookies in the cookie jar, either

It would be interesting to hear Glen Mason's take on this. He was fired by an overzealous AD and replaced by an inexperienced coach who wasn't even in his class. I heard him direct his frustrations at the administration but I do not think he ever took it out on Tim Brewster, either."


Oh, so Jerry Kill is the self-proclaimed decider on determining when the cupboard was empty enough to call it a rebuild. Gotcha. Who bestowed this upon him? Himself? Any time a new coach comes in it is a rebuild. The program is rebuilt to fit the ways of the new coach. Perhaps just semantics. Because Kill made this public, it seem to drip of ego. If you have a problem with a person, you bring it to the attention of the person. From the outside, it looks like he has a problem with perception, which is purely an ego thing. Maybe Kill is an outstanding guy. Publicly, he did not come across that way (outstanding) and now he is making it worse. He seems to really care about public perception (i.e. He was shamed with a rebuild comment years ago) and he is attempting to get out of that hole with a shovel. From what I see, he needs to lighten up a little bit and be happy to have good health and the opportunity to make a positive impact. We all wish him well on that mission. If you are about the greater good, you do not care about how you are perceived. Clearly he cares about how he is perceived.

 

[Dano564]

This is amusing how we continually try to create a substantial difference between:

"Row the Boat"
"Jerrysota"
and
"Brick by Brick"



One of those is REALLY REALLY BAD.
The other two are fine.

Oh, the outrage of the one that is bad!!!

Obviously the one that is bad is really self-centered!

 

[Dano564]

Kill said Fleck changed.

You have a child who dies
You and your wife divorce.

Yeah, that will change someone.


In fact, not changing when something significant happens would be a worse offense.
Too stubborn to change.

 

[Word]

This is amusing how we continually try to create a substantial difference between:

"Row the Boat"
"Jerrysota"
and
"Brick by Brick"



One of those is REALLY REALLY BAD.
The other two are fine.

Oh, the outrage of the one that is bad!!!

Obviously the one that is bad is really self-centered!

I thought the Jerrysota thing was fan-created. If so that is a big difference.