Mount Rushmore of gopher coaches

[The Deliberate Stranger]

Huh?

Quick Comparison:
Seasons: Mason - 10 years, Fleck 9 years (with one year being a Covid season)
Record: Mason 64-57, Fleck 66-44
Big Ten Record: Mason 32-48, Fleck 39-40
Record vs. top 25: Mason 8-32, Fleck 12-21
Record vs. Iowa/Wisconsin: Mason 3-17, Fleck 6-12

Mason took over a rougher program but it wasn't like Fleck walked into a great situation.
The way Mason ran the program has no effect on Kill and/or Fleck's successes.

I like Mason, but PJ is better in pretty much every category, except Mason had one more win vs. Iowa.

I am pro PJ in this argument but Mason did beat Iowa four times, 98,99,00,06. So that would put him 6-14

 

[denguegopher]

The incompetence Kill followed was not even close to what Mason followed.....it just wasn't.

Mason took over a program that had been a laughingstock of college football for decades before he got there. Kill just had to overcome one terrible hire and short dip before returning the program back to Mason levels. Every coach has work to do when they replace a fired coach but the work Mason had to do was significantly higher than anything Kill or Fleck had to do when they took over.

When Mason took over they could barely give student tickets away. Pretty sure a student season ticket was like $36 or something crazy like that.

I am not trying to say Mason was a great coach but he was instrumental in pulling the U of M out of the basement of the conference where the coaches before him had all failed to do so. I get it though, when people think of Mason they will think more about how it ended as opposed to how it was when he got here.

Mason did a lot for the program. Really did a good job in so many ways. If it weren't for some/several incredibly agonizing losses accomplished by blowing sizable leads, Mason would definitely be "Rushmore worthy."

 

[MNVCGUY]

I would like to elaborate on Fleck inheriting a program on solid footing. There was a boycott, star players publicly saying they were leaving, and a major sexual assault case hanging over the football team.

Fleck inherited a team that was better skill wise, but he didn't walk into a great situation.

Very few coaches walk into a perfect situation......but I still stand by my opinion that Mason had it way tougher than Fleck or Kill in terms of the state the program was in when they took over.

 

[BilldGopher]

The incompetence Kill followed was not even close to what Mason followed.....it just wasn't.

Mason took over a program that had been a laughingstock of college football for decades before he got there. Kill just had to overcome one terrible hire and short dip before returning the program back to Mason levels. Every coach has work to do when they replace a fired coach but the work Mason had to do was significantly higher than anything Kill or Fleck had to do when they took over.

When Mason took over they could barely give student tickets away. Pretty sure a student season ticket was like $36 or something crazy like that.

I am not trying to say Mason was a great coach but he was instrumental in pulling the U of M out of the basement of the conference where the coaches before him had all failed to do so. I get it though, when people think of Mason they will think more about how it ended as opposed to how it was when he got here.

Yep, Mason is why I am a Gopher among other factors. He was hired December 14, 1996...so a little over 30 years ago.

So I thank him for the joys and utter despair that I have relished each fall since then.

Concur with both VCG and Walrus he should be on the rock too for pulling Minnesota out of three decades of non-relevance in the modern era.

 

[STPGopher]

Fleck is ahead of Mason. By a lot.

He has more wins (66 vs 64), fewer losses (44 vs 57) , higher overall winning percentage (.600 vs. .530) and higher conference winning percentage (.4875 vs. .400)

Mason had a better grin and better hair.

"Mase in yer face!"