P.J. Fleck’s mission at Minnesota requires building on rare heights, steadfast beliefs

Donate To GopherHole
fmlizard

fmlizard

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 19, 2012
Messages
6,707
Reaction score
8,049
Points
113

As we approach the 10 yr anniversary of the Maturi exit we can all agree things are better. Oh, last year Joel was
Inducted into the Madison sports hall of fame! He likely lives in the shadow of camp Randall and is a badger season ticket holder!
 

Maturi's destructive decisions as AD makes one think he was a WI mole put there by The Emperor to keep MN sports mediocre.
 

From the article, on Mike Sanford and the offense last season -

“I wasn’t as good of a head coach because I was in that (offensive) room more than I’ve ever been in that room in 10 years being a head coach,” Fleck said.
 

Plato said:
Maturi's destructive decisions as AD makes one think he was a WI mole put there by The Emperor to keep MN sports mediocre.
Click to expand...
Maturi was a great AD for the non-revenue sports.....he was just a terrible AD for the ones that drive the department.
 


Spaulding!No! said:
Oh, last year Joel was
Inducted into the Madison sports hall of fame! He likely lives in the shadow of camp Randall and is a badger season ticket holder!
Click to expand...
Plato said:
Maturi's destructive decisions as AD makes one think he was a WI mole put there by The Emperor to keep MN sports mediocre.
Click to expand...
Let's just take a step back, for a minute. First off, Maturi is from the Iron Range. Regardless of his U. of Wisconsin ties, the man is a Minnesotan. Second, we can't forget the enemy terrain and all the landmines he had to navigate... through school administration & board of regents to even the state legislature... in order to keep MN athletics afloat. He did manage to get the Gophers out of the Metrodome and back on campus. He also had to clean up the Haskins scandal with the BB team. Sure, he did whiff on Brewster... and Tubby turned out to be a flop...

Yeah, it was time for him to move on... but he did the job he was brought in to do, which was to stabilize a floundering athletic department.

The man who was Chris Farley's inspiration for his "inspiational speaker Matt Foley" character on SNL doesn't deserve to be bashed, though.
 

laazrakit said:
Let's just take a step back, for a minute. First off, Maturi is from the Iron Range. Regardless of his U. of Wisconsin ties, the man is a Minnesotan. Second, we can't forget the enemy terrain and all the landmines he had to navigate... through school administration & board of regents to even the state legislature... in order to keep MN athletics afloat. He did manage to get the Gophers out of the Metrodome and back on campus. He also had to clean up the Haskins scandal with the BB team. Sure, he did whiff on Brewster... and Tubby turned out to be a flop...

Yeah, it was time for him to move on... but he did the job he was brought in to do, which was to stabilize a floundering athletic department.

The man who was Chris Farley's inspiration for his "inspiational speaker Matt Foley" character on SNL doesn't deserve to be bashed, though.
Click to expand...
Tom Moe was the interim AD for three years after the Clem Haskins scandal. He cleaned up the mess, merged the Womens and Mens Athletic Departments and laid the groundwork for the on campus stadium.

Glen Mason was key for the glad-handing and politicking to get the stadium funded and approved. Without him, the project may have fizzled and we’d be playing in the Vikings stadium.

Joel Maturi was certainly active in the new stadium, elevating the non-revenue sports, supporting the marching band, and successfully managing the department.

I still think his biggest mistake was firing Mason as a knee jerk reaction to a bowl game melt down. Mason had key recruits coming in, and deserved a chance to coach in the new stadium.
 

WAGopher said:
Tom Moe was the interim AD for three years after the Clem Haskins scandal. He cleaned up the mess, merged the Womens and Mens Athletic Departments and laid the groundwork for the on campus stadium.

Glen Mason was key for the glad-handing and politicking to get the stadium funded and approved. Without him, the project may have fizzled and we’d be playing in the Vikings stadium.

Joel Maturi was certainly active in the new stadium, elevating the non-revenue sports, supporting the marching band, and successfully managing the department.

I still think his biggest mistake was firing Mason as a knee jerk reaction to a bowl game melt down. Mason had key recruits coming in, and deserved a chance to coach in the new stadium.
Click to expand...
While I agree firing Mason was a knee jerk reaction, without the firing we never get Kill/Claeys and that probably equates to no PJ.
 

WAGopher said:
I still think his biggest mistake was firing Mason as a knee jerk reaction to a bowl game melt down. Mason had key recruits coming in, and deserved a chance to coach in the new stadium.
Click to expand...
Maturi fired Mason because Bob Bruininks ordered him to on the way home from Phoenix that night.
 



GopherRock said:
Maturi fired Mason because Bob Bruininks ordered him to on the way home from Phoenix that night.
Click to expand...
It was the right decision (although poor timing). Mason had his run and it was decent but we saw what he could accomplish. The problem is they had to scramble to find a new coach and ended up with Brewster.
 

Coach Mason had 10 years as Minnesota's HC and had reached a performance plateau.

His firing was indeed knee-jerk but the loss to TT was the last straw.

Where Joel failed in the moment was his inability to land someone at Glen's level to replace him. Much of that was on Maturi but the Administration's swing back to supporting revenue sports was still not fully apparent. Throw in the 'Dome and facilities and Brewster is who we ended up with.

Thankfully much better times now.
 

fmlizard said:
From the article, on Mike Sanford and the offense last season -

“I wasn’t as good of a head coach because I was in that (offensive) room more than I’ve ever been in that room in 10 years being a head coach,” Fleck said.
Click to expand...
Ya, because Sanford sucks!
 

fmlizard said:
From the article, on Mike Sanford and the offense last season -

“I wasn’t as good of a head coach because I was in that (offensive) room more than I’ve ever been in that room in 10 years being a head coach,” Fleck said.
Click to expand...
Nothing says he's looking for a scapegoat more than that statement.

JFC
 




Mason brought us back from the bottom as did Kill which I am forever thankful for. PJ is on higher level and PJ has exceeded those two coaches. There is still, however, more we should expect from PJ
 

Dakota2 said:
No need to look for a scapegoat. A blind dog could find Sanford.
Click to expand...
Show me a program where the HC doesn't have the ability to overrule an OC or DC.

The lengths some fans go to to make excuses for PJ is truly remarkable.
 

I blame Fleck for a bad hire in bringing in Sanford. Not trying to fix the issues he saw on the offensive side of the ball. I think, but only speculating, that he had had coach C as his OC for so long that he thought they all worked that way. He found out the hard way that may not be true.

Same thing with Smith a few years back and he struck gold with Rossi.
 


Boomtime said:
Show me a program where the HC doesn't have the ability to overrule an OC or DC.

The lengths some fans go to to make excuses for PJ is truly remarkable.
Click to expand...

Fleck used up a good chunk of goodwill hiring his “bud” but he’s earned himself a long rope.
 

Boomtime said:
Show me a program where the HC doesn't have the ability to overrule an OC or DC.

The lengths some fans go to to make excuses for PJ is truly remarkable.
Click to expand...
He did after Illinois. Not before. Too late but ultimately corrected his own error.
 


You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom