Mike Harley: It’s time for Gopher football fans to appreciate what Fleck is building

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per Mike:

Fans need to be realistic about how Minnesota is viewed nationally in college football circles. As far as Power 5 programs go, Minnesota is an average job at best. Name programs such as Ohio State and Michigan will always have an advantage over Minnesota solely based on reputation and resources available to them. If the Gophers did decide to part ways with Fleck, I highly doubt the program would be able to find another coach of his caliber that would want the job.

Fleck has shown loyalty to Minnesota, even when rumors have been swirling that other major programs want to pluck him away from Dinkytown. I think now is the time for the fan base to reciprocate that loyalty. There is definitely a sense of urgency facing Fleck as he enters his seventh season with the program, but the future looks bright if you pay attention to what is happening in the recruiting circles.

The Big Ten Conference will be going through massive changes in the next few years, with the additions of UCLA and USC into the conference. As the conference expands, the divisions will almost certainly be mixed up. Currently, the Big Ten East Division is far and away better than the Big Ten West. Just last year, the conference signed a new seven-year, $7 billion media rights agreement with NBC, CBS, and Fox. With a healthy amount of that money going directly to the universities, that should bode well for the future of the Minnesota program.
As drastic as the changes have been the last few years in the Big Ten as well as college football overall, having a consistent head coach in Fleck is important to keeping the Gophers competitive. The grass is always greener on the other side, but I believe that thinking is misguided when it comes to Fleck.

He is a steady presence and it’s clear the players respond to his unique style of leadership. As impressed as I am with the program that Fleck continues to build, I have one piece of advice for him.

BEAT IOWA!

www.hometownsource.com

It’s time for Gopher football fans to appreciate what Fleck is building

University of Minnesota head football coach P.J. Fleck is a polarizing figure.
www.hometownsource.com www.hometownsource.com

Go Gophers!!
 

I'll agree with that! I think for a program like ours, it's VERY important to have a coach like Fleck. The camaraderie and everything else about RTB should help keep a team gelled, unlike places like MSU, Nebraska and stuff where they just hope they can put together a team of transfers and such and hope for the best.
 



MNVCGUY said:
I mean, I agree with most of what he is saying but I think Fleck is appreciated here by the vast majority of the fanbase already. So not really sure what the point of the story is.
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What I got out of it is Fleck is as good as we can expect and we should settle for being doormats to OSU, Michigan, and USC. 10-11 wins occasionally is the best we could hope for.

Personally, I believe it is plausible to catch lightning in a bottle like TCU and be legit contenders. People will tell me that isn't realistic, but I don't care. A lot of great things in the world wouldn't have happened if we were all realistic.
 
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MNVCGUY said:
I mean, I agree with most of what he is saying but I think Fleck is appreciated here by the vast majority of the fanbase already. So not really sure what the point of the story is.
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That was my first thought, too. But while I agree that the hard core fans appreciate Fleck and realize that Gopher football is at its best point in almost 50 years, the casual fan is oblivious to that. It's likely that's who the writer is talking about -- just the people he's around on a daily basis.

I was just at a grad party this weekend, and a couple of us were talking about our plans for traveling to the North Carolina game. A friend who is otherwise a fairly informed Minnesota sports fan laughed and said, "Why? What are they going to win? Why bother?" I asked what he meant by what are they going to win. "They can't beat Ohio State, Michigan or Michigan State." I reminded him that we beat MSU by 25 last season. He didn't know that and wasn't impressed. But that's what I hear from most people when I talk Gopher football.
 


Hates Monikers said:
That was my first thought, too. But while I agree that the hard core fans appreciate Fleck and realize that Gopher football is at its best point in almost 50 years, the casual fan is oblivious to that. It's likely that's who the writer is talking about -- just the people he's around on a daily basis.

I was just at a grad party this weekend, and a couple of us were talking about our plans for traveling to the North Carolina game. A friend who is otherwise a fairly informed Minnesota sports fan laughed and said, "Why? What are they going to win? Why bother?" I asked what he meant by what are they going to win. "They can't beat Ohio State, Michigan or Michigan State." I reminded him that we beat MSU by 25 last season. He didn't know that and wasn't impressed. But that's what I hear from most people when I talk Gopher football.
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Yep. All of us here know the ins and outs of the program, but the average person I talk to thinks "why bother, they're never going to win a national championship".
 

Gophers1992 said:
Yep. All of us here know the ins and outs of the program, but the average person I talk to thinks "why bother, they're never going to win a national championship".
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It is a losing battle with those "National Championship or bust" kind of fans anyway in the current college football landscape. The reality is that any fans that have that standard are going to be disappointed in any team unless they cheer for one of the elite few that actually can contend year in and year out like Georgia, Ohio State and Alabama.
 




Regardless of this clickbait-filler's content, Fleck has to contend with an administration that chooses to slaughter a cash cow for this week's board of regents dinner and then wonder we don't have the funds for the next dinner.
 


Hates Monikers said:
That was my first thought, too. But while I agree that the hard core fans appreciate Fleck and realize that Gopher football is at its best point in almost 50 years, the casual fan is oblivious to that. It's likely that's who the writer is talking about -- just the people he's around on a daily basis.

I was just at a grad party this weekend, and a couple of us were talking about our plans for traveling to the North Carolina game. A friend who is otherwise a fairly informed Minnesota sports fan laughed and said, "Why? What are they going to win? Why bother?" I asked what he meant by what are they going to win. "They can't beat Ohio State, Michigan or Michigan State." I reminded him that we beat MSU by 25 last season. He didn't know that and wasn't impressed. But that's what I hear from most people when I talk Gopher football.
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I hear ya. I have a friend that still thinks our QB's last name is McManus.
 




I think he is very much appreciated for what he has done. At the same time many are hoping for more and that's not a bad thing. He's elevated the program to a point where being in the division championship discussion every year is realistic. And with the playoff increase an appearance in that is also an actual possibility.
 



GopherTheJugular said:
Yet they probably watch the vikes week in and week out....

(Sorry about the cheap shot for those of you who are queens fans!)
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Not a cheapshot, it is spot on. Given there are roughly twice the number of P5 FB programs vs NFL teams, that alone makes winning a Natty harder than the SB IMHO.
 


Hates Monikers said:
That was my first thought, too. But while I agree that the hard core fans appreciate Fleck and realize that Gopher football is at its best point in almost 50 years, the casual fan is oblivious to that. It's likely that's who the writer is talking about -- just the people he's around on a daily basis.

I was just at a grad party this weekend, and a couple of us were talking about our plans for traveling to the North Carolina game. A friend who is otherwise a fairly informed Minnesota sports fan laughed and said, "Why? What are they going to win? Why bother?" I asked what he meant by what are they going to win. "They can't beat Ohio State, Michigan or Michigan State." I reminded him that we beat MSU by 25 last season. He didn't know that and wasn't impressed. But that's what I hear from most people when I talk Gopher football.
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Get new friends!!!!!!!!
 

GophersInIowa said:
I think he is very much appreciated for what he has done. At the same time many are hoping for more and that's not a bad thing. He's elevated the program to a point where being in the division championship discussion every year is realistic. And with the playoff increase an appearance in that is also an actual possibility.
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The hope is great. I do not, however, look forward to the day more reliable or consistent voices are calling for PJs head because we only won 8 or 9 games over the course of a season and should've won 10 or 11. I hope that never happens. Don't look this gift horse in the mouth, she's a beaut.
 

mngg11 said:
The hope is great. I do not, however, look forward to the day more reliable or consistent voices are calling for PJs head because we only won 8 or 9 games over the course of a season and should've won 10 or 11. I hope that never happens. Don't look this gift horse in the mouth, she's a beaut.
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That's just how humans are. No matter what, there will always be a group of people that complain because they need to. It's the case in sports, politics, religion, life in general. I can't wait for the day that someone can complain that we don't always win 11. There are people that complain about Georgia and Alabama right now.
 

mngolf said:
That's just how humans are. No matter what, there will always be a group of people that complain because they need to. It's the case in sports, politics, religion, life in general. I can't wait for the day that someone can complain that we don't always win 11. There are people that complain about Georgia and Alabama right now.
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I hear ya. I just fear that day because PJ might be our proverbial lightning in a bottle and no matter how good our program is when he eventually goes or how great or accomplished the next coach is, at the end of the day we might have found the only guy who could take Minnesota to the next level, and it's because of his messaging that goes along with the recruiting and coaching, not just the ability of those factors alone.
 

mngg11 said:
I hear ya. I just fear that day because PJ might be our proverbial lightning in a bottle and no matter how good our program is when he eventually goes or how great or accomplished the next coach is, at the end of the day we might have found the only guy who could take Minnesota to the next level, and it's because of his messaging that goes along with the recruiting and coaching, not just the ability of those factors alone.
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Perhaps a former player will take the reigns to keep it going.
 

Hates Monikers said:
Why? What are they going to win? Why bother?" I asked what he meant by what are they going to win. "They can't beat Ohio State, Michigan or Michigan State." I reminded him that we beat MSU by 25 last season. He didn't know that and wasn't impressed. But that's what I hear from most people when I talk Gopher football.
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The average Minnesotan grades the Gophers on the scale of Ohio State but considers them at the level of Youngstown State
 

I said this before but I see PJ as the upcoming AD and his culture continuing on through possibly a former player (Morgan, Winston D.?) or similar coach. An Alvarez or Osborne-style winning program in the future but with PJ's established standards.
 

I think like most things, you can give credit where it's due and also express disappointment at times. I can appreciate what Fleck has done here, winning at least nine games in three of the last full seasons, undefeated in bowl games, winning a NYD bowl, winning the Axe, getting back in the Top 25.

At the same time, there can be frustration with falling just short of making a season just a bit better. The 2020 Wisconsin game, 2021 Vs. Bowling Green and 2022 against Purdue were all games that felt like they were in reach and the Gophers weren't able to capitalize.

With all the change happening in CFB, though, I am glad he's here overall, steady leadership and winning seasons are net positives with UCLA and USC coming in. As long as there's more 2019s down the road we'll be in good shape.
 

I'm completely on board with the direction PJ is taking this program, but I agree these comments aren't focused on us. This is more directed I feel to the more casual MN spots fans who dabble a little bit as far as paying attention to Gopher football. Let's face it we are the outliers on this message board who pay attention to the Gophers 12 months a year.

I will use my brother-in-law as an example, he's a casual Gopher fans and after a good start last year I finally convinced him to go to the Purdue game. We got really good tickets with him and sister, but you all know what that game looked like. Basically after the game he was like that looks like the same old Gophers to me and lets talk Gopher football again if they ever win a division title. So, I think that's were the casual fan is at. We need to have that 2019 type season but actually capitalize on it an win one of those last two games to win the division (soon to be old format). We know how significant that season was, but a again I have friends who are casual fans who look at it like the Gophers screwed up and couldn't close the deal on the division.
 

MNVCGUY said:
I mean, I agree with most of what he is saying but I think Fleck is appreciated here by the vast majority of the fanbase already. So not really sure what the point of the story is.
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Yep, I can count on a couple fingers how many want Fleck gone. Some of his coordinators…well shall we say more fire has been directed at DC, OC and ST at times during his tenure. He needs good staff.
 

I think there are those “casual fans” and those who post on here just to get a reaction that won’t be satisfied with anything less than a perfect season. I’m satisfied with the current regime and I get morose thinking about Life After Fleck. As an alumnus, this is my team. I’m looking forward to seeing the new players as well as the veterans. With this schedule I won’t be calling for any resignations and I, for one, hope to be pleasantly surprised.
 

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