Kill addresses previous comments on Fleck: "I said my piece and that was it. I moved on...I said what I said and move on in life."

[MGGopher]

It must be a reference to those things in the ground that heat the field. But they were removed so I'm not sure why he brought them up.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Talk about burying the lead! 100+ posts in this thread on Kill, but only two or three on this bombshell revelation about the heating coils?! We need someone to get down to TCF with a shovel ASAP to confirm!

 

[akgo4]

Time to quit Poking the Bear - Jerry was forced to resign under unique circumstances, which do tie into the awkwardness of the entire situation. Tracy Claeys could have been the 2nd Coming and he was going to be forced out. The recruiting efforts just weren't there. What was said by Jerry was said. I do not believe that Coach Fleck had any intention of ever upsetting Jerry, but he also didn't use a lot of tact in putting forth his "culture". Jerry's job getting that team to the Bowls he did was the 2nd Coming after the mess he inherited. I do believe some of this is Jerry believing he should have been seen in the same light as PJ is now. If Jerry had been fired, the Culture piece would have come off better. Claeys was, and I still believe the "Culture" pushing by PJ was directed towards him alone. Jerry was backing his man. People are always going to be left of the lasting impression of Jerry running his mouth - and to some extent they should. He answered some lack of tact with some of his own. What is said last is what is remembered most. This just needs to die. It's PJs program now. I don't believe there is a good way to do this, but I do believe the U could figure out a way to demonstrate the history of winning with Glen Mason, Brewster's winning years, Jerry's winning years, Claeys and the Holiday Bowl (without the distractions being brought up) and now PJ. There is some history of winning there.That is the work that needs to get recognized - by all. PJ is going to get his due - and he should - but that whole PJ and Jerry thing is dead.... Time to leave it alone.....

 

[MennoSota]

5 pages on a non-issue. Impressive work at the GH!

 

[MNVCGUY]

Time to quit Poking the Bear - Jerry was forced to resign under unique circumstances, which do tie into the awkwardness of the entire situation. Tracy Claeys could have been the 2nd Coming and he was going to be forced out. The recruiting efforts just weren't there. What was said by Jerry was said. I do not believe that Coach Fleck had any intention of ever upsetting Jerry, but he also didn't use a lot of tact in putting forth his "culture". Jerry's job getting that team to the Bowls he did was the 2nd Coming after the mess he inherited. I do believe some of this is Jerry believing he should have been seen in the same light as PJ is now. If Jerry had been fired, the Culture piece would have come off better. Claeys was, and I still believe the "Culture" pushing by PJ was directed towards him alone. Jerry was backing his man. People are always going to be left of the lasting impression of Jerry running his mouth - and to some extent they should. He answered some lack of tact with some of his own. What is said last is what is remembered most. This just needs to die. It's PJs program now. I don't believe there is a good way to do this, but I do believe the U could figure out a way to demonstrate the history of winning with Glen Mason, Brewster's winning years, Jerry's winning years, Claeys and the Holiday Bowl (without the distractions being brought up) and now PJ. There is some history of winning there.That is the work that needs to get recognized - by all. PJ is going to get his due - and he should - but that whole PJ and Jerry thing is dead.... Time to leave it alone.....

You get that there is no PJ/Jerry thing. The only one taking shots or being petty is Kill. It all can go away when our media stops calling Jerry and just lets him do his whirlwind job hopping tour of the country in peace.

Jerry had no reason to get offended by what Fleck said, he chose to be thin skinned and take it as some sort of personal attack. Kill's down home good guy persona is and always has been a total fraud. The guy was a decent coach who was forced to deal with some tough health circumstances. He did some good things and his group took things as far as they were going to take them, the U decided it was time to try and hang with the big boys in football and that was not going to happen with coaches like Kill, Claeys, Brewster, Post OSU job opening Mason, Wacker.....

 

[GopherWeatherGuy]

Time to quit Poking the Bear - Jerry was forced to resign under unique circumstances, which do tie into the awkwardness of the entire situation. Tracy Claeys could have been the 2nd Coming and he was going to be forced out. The recruiting efforts just weren't there. What was said by Jerry was said. I do not believe that Coach Fleck had any intention of ever upsetting Jerry, but he also didn't use a lot of tact in putting forth his "culture". Jerry's job getting that team to the Bowls he did was the 2nd Coming after the mess he inherited. I do believe some of this is Jerry believing he should have been seen in the same light as PJ is now. If Jerry had been fired, the Culture piece would have come off better. Claeys was, and I still believe the "Culture" pushing by PJ was directed towards him alone. Jerry was backing his man. People are always going to be left of the lasting impression of Jerry running his mouth - and to some extent they should. He answered some lack of tact with some of his own. What is said last is what is remembered most. This just needs to die. It's PJs program now. I don't believe there is a good way to do this, but I do believe the U could figure out a way to demonstrate the history of winning with Glen Mason, Brewster's winning years, Jerry's winning years, Claeys and the Holiday Bowl (without the distractions being brought up) and now PJ. There is some history of winning there.That is the work that needs to get recognized - by all. PJ is going to get his due - and he should - but that whole PJ and Jerry thing is dead.... Time to leave it alone.....

I'm not sure why people keep saying PJ's talk about changing the culture is a shot at Kill or Claeys. Pretty much every new coach, in any sport, talks about changing the culture to their own. College or pro, you hear new coaches talk about it all of the time. You even hear new business leaders talk about changing the culture.

 

[MRJ]

I'm not sure why people keep saying PJ's talk about changing the culture is a shot at Kill or Claeys. Pretty much every new coach, in any sport, talks about changing the culture to their own. College or pro, you hear new coaches talk about it all of the time. You even hear new business leaders talk about changing the culture.

Yep. And Kill should have known it too.

Every new coach that gets hired in every college sport changes the culture, at least to some degree. No new coach comes in and says "we're going to do things the exact same way as the previous coaching staff." And for anyone to think that would ever happen is fooling themselves.

Culture change is simply part of coaching changes. That's just how it goes.

But Kill chose to take it as a personal shot and made things infinitely worse from there.

 

[builtbadgers]

I thought Fleck was talking about his culture of accountability , working everyday, relentlessly to get better. Is there anything he said that i should think was a shot at Kill ? I thought Kill was a good person while he was here. Mediocre job as a coach in my opinion. I never saw any indication that he was ever going to get to 11-2 here.

 

[BilldGopher]

Although I am a very big supporter of the A.D. now, it must be stated that how things "ended" poorly coming into the Fleck hire is as much on the A.D. as anyone. Probably more in fact.

Had the A.D. even tried to say he justed wanted his own guy...even after the Holiday Bowl...would have put a different light on the "culture clash" starting Day Zero.

I stand by my comment before. Glad Kill was Coach while here. We're in a much better place with Fleck now.

Progress...some of which has to be attributed to the A.D. (for his choice) and the Kill/Claeys 'crutes who got us to here.

 

[WhoFellDownTheGopherHole?]

Whether it was Kill's fault or not, the culture here was such that player involved gang bangs were getting uploaded to popular media. These are kids - i mean some of them very literally, and say or think what you want, but it happened and it was a big black eye for the program. Any incoming coach's first priority was going to be to make sure that behavior isn't associated with the team, and to think otherwise would be ludicrous. I liked and appreciated Kill when he was here, but i'll be the first to admit that i just don't see it anywhere near as likely that the type of guys who buy into Fleck's system let themselves get caught up in stupid shit like has happened in the past.

 

[EsteGuey]

getting tired of this dude. The culture Kill and Claeys fostered was directly responsible for the awful assault case that could have devastated the Gopher football program. Whether he likes it or not, a culture change (upgrade) was 100% needed.

 

[EsteGuey]

Whether it was Kill's fault or not, the culture here was such that player involved gang bangs were getting uploaded to popular media. These are kids - i mean some of them very literally, and say or think what you want, but it happened and it was a big black eye for the program. Any incoming coach's first priority was going to be to make sure that behavior isn't associated with the team, and to think otherwise would be ludicrous. I liked and appreciated Kill when he was here, but i'll be the first to admit that i just don't see it anywhere near as likely that the type of guys who buy into Fleck's system let themselves get caught up in stupid shit like has happened in the past.

Wow we posted at the same time with pretty much the same thoughts. 4 of the guys expelled were Claeys recruits and the other was Kill's. Their character assessment was poor, and I am thrilled Kill/Claeys and the rest of their regime are not with Gopher football anymore.

 

[Mulligan]

Wow we posted at the same time with pretty much the same thoughts. 4 of the guys expelled were Claeys recruits and the other was Kill's. Their character assessment was poor, and I am thrilled Kill/Claeys and the rest of their regime are not with Gopher football anymore.

You just extended this thread who knows how many pages. Jesus, let it die!

Enjoy last season and look forward to this one--hoping like hell there is one even if I won't be at The Bank to watch.

 

[Some guy]

I'm not sure why people keep saying PJ's talk about changing the culture is a shot at Kill or Claeys. Pretty much every new coach, in any sport, talks about changing the culture to their own. College or pro, you hear new coaches talk about it all of the time. You even hear new business leaders talk about changing the culture.

Correct.
and I don’t even think “culture change” was talking about one incident or academics as much as it was going from an

“Aw shucks everyone should be happy with 8-9 wins” culture

to a

“we are going to try to win championships culture”


that interview with limegrover before the Penn State game told me everything I needed to know about why Coyle wanted a culture change.

Central Catholic alum Matt Limegrover looks forward to return trip to Minnesota

Limegrover spent five seasons with the Golden Gophers, so he recognizes how much things have changed since then.

www.post-gazette.com

 

[Cruze]

Correct.
and I don’t even think “culture change” was talking about one incident or academics as much as it was going from an

“Aw shucks everyone should be happy with 8-9 wins” culture

to a

“we are going to try to win championships culture”


that interview with limegrover before the Penn State game told me everything I needed to know about why Coyle wanted a culture change.

Central Catholic alum Matt Limegrover looks forward to return trip to Minnesota

Limegrover spent five seasons with the Golden Gophers, so he recognizes how much things have changed since then.

www.post-gazette.com

Thanks for posting the Limegrover article. I haven't seen it before. I always liked the guy and I like him even more now. He was being honest and spot on with his observations about Fleck and the Gopher's culture before he became coach. The culture that Coyle brought Fleck in to change was the Gopher's 50-year culture of mediocrity.

That culture reached it's zenith under Glenn Mason and his 32-48 Big 10 record. It was disturbing how many Gopher fans were satisfied with Mason's record because the Gopher's had a great running game and won several nice bowl games. I don't think Mason ever truly believed he could win a Big 10 Championship or go to the Rose Bowl with the Gophers. That was why it was so refreshing when Brewster came in and started talking about the Rose Bowl from day one. But many Gopher fans ridiculed Brewster for it. Jerry Kill was NEVER going to be the coach who would be able to change that culture.

 

[MNVCGUY]

Thanks for posting the Limegrover article. I haven't seen it before. I always liked the guy and I like him even more now. He was being honest and spot on with his observations about Fleck and the Gopher's culture before he became coach. The culture that Coyle brought Fleck in to change was the Gopher's 50-year culture of mediocrity.

That culture reached it's zenith under Glenn Mason and his 32-48 Big 10 record. It was disturbing how many Gopher fans were satisfied with Mason's losing record because the Gopher's had a great running game and won a couple of nice bowl games. Jerry Kill was NEVER going to be the coach who would be able to change that culture.

Had not seen that article before either but this bit really caught my attention:

“You talk about the idea of going to the Rose Bowl or a New Year’s Day bowl, it was always such a, ‘Yeah, well. That just isn’t for us anymore. Our time has come and gone,’ ” Limegrover said on Thursday, recalling the feeling around the Gophers during his tenure. “And I think a lot of people have that feeling of like, ‘Okay, when’s the other shoe gonna drop.’ And, you know what, I think [Minnesota coach PJ Fleck]’s done a phenomenal job of saying, ‘Hey, this is something that’s built to last. This was not catch lightning in a bottle.’

You are spot on with your line about Fleck's culture change comments being about far more then just Kill's little spot in Gopher Football's recent history. While Kill is taking it personal and getting his feelings hurt, Fleck is talking about changing the mindset around here and getting back to the point when the U of M was relevant on a National level.

 

[Gold Rush]

You get that there is no PJ/Jerry thing. The only one taking shots or being petty is Kill. It all can go away when our media stops calling Jerry and just lets him do his whirlwind job hopping tour of the country in peace.

Jerry had no reason to get offended by what Fleck said, he chose to be thin skinned and take it as some sort of personal attack. Kill's down home good guy persona is and always has been a total fraud. The guy was a decent coach who was forced to deal with some tough health circumstances. He did some good things and his group took things as far as they were going to take them, the U decided it was time to try and hang with the big boys in football and that was not going to happen with coaches like Kill, Claeys, Brewster, Post OSU job opening Mason, Wacker.....

A big part of the Gophers failures, especially when you compare them to rivals Wisconsin and Iowa lie with poor choices for coaches as well as lack of support for them. We finally have a guy in Coyle who looks like he is pretty good at making the right choices for his coaches.

Going back to 1984, their extended search committee yielded Les Steckel who turned down the job to take the Vikings job and go 3-13. They then announced Lavelle Edwards from BYU who probably would have been a great choice except he never put in for the job at all!!! They were then going back to square one and starting all over again but got lucky when Lou Holtz fell into their lap in late December. From there, Bobby Ross really wanted the job and would go on to win a national championship at Georgia Tech but they chose John Gutekunst who turned a team on the upswing into a .500 team and never was a head coach again. Jim Wacker was a disaster but Glen Mason wasn't a bad choice. If he would have recruited defense and placed a priority, he could have been a fantastic coach. Then you have the Brewster hire which was an epic disaster, literally the worst possible choice and you can see why this team has had such a hard time winning games. Jerry Kill was a better choice than I thought he would be, but I am on record for saying we should have gone with Mike Leach. That would have been interesting to say the least.

So a lot of our problems have come from inept athletic directors who ALWAYS seem to get it wrong!!

 

[Cruze]

So a lot of our problems have come from inept athletic directors who ALWAYS seem to get it wrong!!

College AD's get coaching hires wrong all the time. It's nothing new. Alabama went quite a few years after Bear Bryant with one coaching miss after another. And, of course, Nortre Dame is still looking for the coach who will get them back to their former glory and start winning national championships again after far too many years. Was the Gopher's hiring of Brewster as bad as the Fighting Irish hiring a high school coach after Ara retired? I don't think so - not even close.

Lack of support by the U's administration and bad coaching hires by Gopher AD's has only been part of the problem. The other part has been a Gopher fan base that had gotten so used to losing since the 1960's they starting accepting 6 wins and a 3rd rate bowl game as successful seasons. That is something Alabama and Notre Dame fans never did even when their programs were at their lowest.

 

[STPGopher]

Thanks for posting the Limegrover article. I haven't seen it before. I always liked the guy and I like him even more now. He was being honest and spot on with his observations about Fleck and the Gopher's culture before he became coach. The culture that Coyle brought Fleck in to change was the Gopher's 50-year culture of mediocrity.

That losing culture reached it's zenith under Glenn Mason and his 32-48 Big 10 record. It was disturbing how many Gopher fans were satisfied with Mason's record because the Gopher's had a great running game and won several nice bowl games. I don't think Mason ever truly believed he could win a Big 10 Championship or go to the Rose Bowl with the Gophers. That was why it was so refreshing when Brewster came in and started talking about the Rose Bowl from day one. But many Gopher fans ridiculed Brewster for it. Jerry Kill was NEVER going to be the coach who would be able to change that culture.

Brewster didn't succeed, but he did get fans thinking that it could be a possibility again.

 

[GopherWeatherGuy]

A big part of the Gophers failures, especially when you compare them to rivals Wisconsin and Iowa lie with poor choices for coaches as well as lack of support for them. We finally have a guy in Coyle who looks like he is pretty good at making the right choices for his coaches.

Going back to 1984, their extended search committee yielded Les Steckel who turned down the job to take the Vikings job and go 3-13. They then announced Lavelle Edwards from BYU who probably would have been a great choice except he never put in for the job at all!!! They were then going back to square one and starting all over again but got lucky when Lou Holtz fell into their lap in late December. From there, Bobby Ross really wanted the job and would go on to win a national championship at Georgia Tech but they chose John Gutekunst who turned a team on the upswing into a .500 team and never was a head coach again. Jim Wacker was a disaster but Glen Mason wasn't a bad choice. If he would have recruited defense and placed a priority, he could have been a fantastic coach. Then you have the Brewster hire which was an epic disaster, literally the worst possible choice and you can see why this team has had such a hard time winning games. Jerry Kill was a better choice than I thought he would be, but I am on record for saying we should have gone with Mike Leach. That would have been interesting to say the least.

So a lot of our problems have come from inept athletic directors who ALWAYS seem to get it wrong!!

Brewster was a bad head coach, but I think he gets a little too much hate on here at times. You would think he never won a game the way he's talked about. Wacker was worse than Brewster.

Brewster still went to two bowl games in 4 years. He had the team 7-1 and ranked 17th, in early November, in his 2nd season on the job. That's higher than Kill ever had the Gophers ranked. Then they lose to a 9 win Northwestern team after Weber throws a freakin pick-6 in a tie game with 12 seconds remaining. The wheels pretty much fell off the rest of that season, but you don't even get to that point by being an 'epic failure'.

Brewster did some good things, he just didn't know how to manage all aspects of the program. Which is why he was fired.

 

[MNVCGUY]

A big part of the Gophers failures, especially when you compare them to rivals Wisconsin and Iowa lie with poor choices for coaches as well as lack of support for them. We finally have a guy in Coyle who looks like he is pretty good at making the right choices for his coaches.

Going back to 1984, their extended search committee yielded Les Steckel who turned down the job to take the Vikings job and go 3-13. They then announced Lavelle Edwards from BYU who probably would have been a great choice except he never put in for the job at all!!! They were then going back to square one and starting all over again but got lucky when Lou Holtz fell into their lap in late December. From there, Bobby Ross really wanted the job and would go on to win a national championship at Georgia Tech but they chose John Gutekunst who turned a team on the upswing into a .500 team and never was a head coach again. Jim Wacker was a disaster but Glen Mason wasn't a bad choice. If he would have recruited defense and placed a priority, he could have been a fantastic coach. Then you have the Brewster hire which was an epic disaster, literally the worst possible choice and you can see why this team has had such a hard time winning games. Jerry Kill was a better choice than I thought he would be, but I am on record for saying we should have gone with Mike Leach. That would have been interesting to say the least.

So a lot of our problems have come from inept athletic directors who ALWAYS seem to get it wrong!!

Kill wasn't a choice, he is the guy they settled on after everyone else said no. We went through that whole coaching search to settle on a guy who could have been hired on day 1 because he was not in demand at all. It worked out Ok (outside of the health problems) but Kill wasn't anywhere near the top of (or probably even on the list) when the search process started.

 

[Spaulding!No!]

Many opposing defenses simply schemed to stop the run. The jig was up on Jerry and he took off knowing the jig was up. He stays at MN and Coyle woulda canned him a yr or two.

 

[Some guy]

Brewster was a bad head coach, but I think he gets a little too much hate on here at times. You would think he never won a game the way he's talked about. Wacker was worse than Brewster.

Brewster still went to two bowl games in 4 years. He had the team 7-1 and ranked 17th, in early November, in his 2nd season on the job. That's higher than Kill ever had the Gophers ranked. Then they lose to a 9 win Northwestern team after Weber throws a freakin pick-6 in a tie game with 12 seconds remaining. The wheels pretty much fell off the rest of that season, but you don't even get to that point by being an 'epic failure'.

Brewster did some good things, he just didn't know how to manage all aspects of the program. Which is why he was fired.

I agree with all of this.

Except:

I don’t blame Weber for the pick 6. It bounced off Eric Decker. People think Decker could do no wrong...but he should’ve caught that one. We would’ve maybe been in field goal range.
Decker was also injured on the play. Missed the next week and the team was never the same again.

The bad stretch caused Brewster for whatever reason to switch to a scheme that was the opposite of what he had recruited for offensively. Which to me was the downfall of Brewster.

Not to say he would’ve been successful if he stuck with the scheme. having no conviction in what he wanted to do was his demise and would’ve eventually manifested itself somewhere.

 

[Gold Rush]

I agree with all of this.

Except:

I don’t blame Weber for the pick 6. It bounced off Eric Decker. People think Decker could do no wrong...but he should’ve caught that one. We would’ve maybe been in field goal range.
Decker was also injured on the play. Missed the next week and the team was never the same again.

The bad stretch caused Brewster for whatever reason to switch to a scheme that was the opposite of what he had recruited for offensively. Which to me was the downfall of Brewster.

Not to say he would’ve been successful if he stuck with the scheme. having no conviction in what he wanted to do was his demise and would’ve eventually manifested itself somewhere.

They then switched offenses with a new offensive coordinator each year! I always felt a little sorry for Weber as he had to learn a new playbook each year with a different coach. Brewster just didn't have a firm direction and the team suffered greatly. One year it was the spread, then pound the rock, then pro style -- and you just don't have the team plugged in for drastic changes each year.

 

[Gold Rush]

Kill wasn't a choice, he is the guy they settled on after everyone else said no. We went through that whole coaching search to settle on a guy who could have been hired on day 1 because he was not in demand at all. It worked out Ok (outside of the health problems) but Kill wasn't anywhere near the top of (or probably even on the list) when the search process started.

That tells you how low the program had sunk at that point. One guy that DID want the job was Mike Leach but the search committee thought he had too much baggage from Texas Tech. I totally would have taken him if I was convinced this wouldn't happen again and he was willing to put his heart and soul into the job. He was a good coach who was a proven winner and he did a remarkable job at Washington St which is almost impossible to win at. Kill did a very good job while he was here though and surpassed my expectations. My feeling is if PJ Fleck left anytime soon there would be quite a few people interested in this job. Fleck has turned this into a pretty good job to have in a very short time.

 

[BTChamp]

That tells you how low the program had sunk at that point. One guy that DID want the job was Mike Leach but the search committee thought he had too much baggage from Texas Tech. I totally would have taken him if I was convinced this wouldn't happen again and he was willing to put his heart and soul into the job. He was a good coach who was a proven winner and he did a remarkable job at Washington St which is almost impossible to win at. Kill did a very good job while he was here though and surpassed my expectations. My feeling is if PJ Fleck left anytime soon there would be quite a few people interested in this job. Fleck has turned this into a pretty good job to have in a very short time.

You're right about what PJ has done to this program. It went from a place that nobody thought much of, to a place that people are thinking a lot of. Especially knowing there are no professional football, basketball, or hockey teams in the metro area......Gopher football has no competition from pro sports. I'm joking, but gopher football has the opportunity to take over a great portion of fans.

 

[Cruze]

They then switched offenses with a new offensive coordinator each year! I always felt a little sorry for Weber as he had to learn a new playbook each year with a different coach. Brewster just didn't have a firm direction and the team suffered greatly. One year it was the spread, then pound the rock, then pro style -- and you just don't have the team plugged in for drastic changes each year.

Lets not pretend that Brewster held Weber back from making it in the NFL as a QB. The thing I will always remember about Weber is watching him during open practices and being shocked by how inaccurate many of his passes were. Even when he wasn't under pressure from a rush he had a difficult time hitting his receivers on the numbers in full stride. Far too often Weber's passes where high, low, or behind the receiver. Based on my observations, his passing accuracy didn't improve much, if at all, during actual games. Tanner Morgan throws far more accurate passes than Adam Weber ever did.

 

[Gold Rush]

The thing I will always remember about Weber is watching him during open practices and being shocked by how inaccurate many of his passes were. Even when he wasn't under pressure from a rush he had a difficult time hitting his receivers on the numbers in full stride. Far too often his passes where high, low, or behind the receiver. Based on my observations Weber's passes didn't improve much during actual games.

You are right about Weber throwing bad passes, but I think part of the blame rests in changing offenses and coordinators every year. Weber never got to get into a good rhythm and none of the offenses were very efficient, either.
It would have been interesting to see him in Fleck's offense - I have a feeling he would have been way better off, and that would go for other recent QB's such as Leidner, Nelson etc. Weber also had Decker to bail him out and a lot of times he would just throw it up for grabs and Decker would come down with it. Still, remember even after his inaccurate passes he got a shot at the NFL for a few years. I just think he wasn't utilized in the best way possible.

Young QB's should be watching Tanner Morgan right now and saying this is an offense that I could be very successful in.

 

[50PoundHead]

Weber discussion has hijacked the thread, but I always thought Weber was as good as Tolzien, but Tolzien had the advantage of playing for a better team where he was more of a complementary player. Of course, that wasn't always an advantage for Tolzien because it made him look like he was simply a game manager who was good at handing off and finding receivers in man coverage. Weber saw so many different schemes during his career that it had to blunt his development. He did have accuracy issues, but, again, I think a lot of that had to do with coaching/scheme issues.

 

[MNVCGUY]

That tells you how low the program had sunk at that point. One guy that DID want the job was Mike Leach but the search committee thought he had too much baggage from Texas Tech. I totally would have taken him if I was convinced this wouldn't happen again and he was willing to put his heart and soul into the job. He was a good coach who was a proven winner and he did a remarkable job at Washington St which is almost impossible to win at. Kill did a very good job while he was here though and surpassed my expectations. My feeling is if PJ Fleck left anytime soon there would be quite a few people interested in this job. Fleck has turned this into a pretty good job to have in a very short time.

Leach would have been very entertaining to say the least but there is no way the U would have hired him because he was just too controversial.

Based on previous coaches at the U of M you would think that Leach would have had no shot of recruiting the WR needed to run his offense up here. Of course Fleck has proven that the right coach can absolutely recruit WR to play in Minnesota. But during the Mason, Brewster and Kill years, finding more than one decent receiver at a time seemed nearly impossible.

 

[Gold Rush]

Leach would have been very entertaining to say the least but there is no way the U would have hired him because he was just too controversial.

Based on previous coaches at the U of M you would think that Leach would have had no shot of recruiting the WR needed to run his offense up here. Of course Fleck has proven that the right coach can absolutely recruit WR to play in Minnesota. But during the Mason, Brewster and Kill years, finding more than one decent receiver at a time seemed nearly impossible.

Ideally, you want to be able to have a balanced offense that can either run or pass as the situation dictates. When Purdue tried to sell out into stopping the run how fun was that to see QB Morgan light them up? Mason's offense was still a dynamic one even though it didn't pass too much, but both Brewster and Kill's offense were tough to watch on many occasions. (You can see how Kill's defense though enabled them to be successful!)

The good WR recruits all know which teams throw and which ones don't and the best ones see Alabama, LSU etc putting kids in the NFL draft every year and want to go there, too. Only recently has Minnesota been successful throwing and I am sure Fleck points to guys like Johnson and Bateman along with one of the best QB's in the country and gets their interest. He will then have to keep it up by continuing to bring in good WR's and QB's to keep the ball rolling!!