Pioneer Press: Gophers coach P.J. Fleck making believers out of local coaches

[BleedGopher]

per Jace:

“Everything you’ve seen from Western Michigan, he’s that way all the time,” East Ridge coach Dan Fritze said. “The energy he brings to everything he does is very real and positive. I’m a believer.”

Fleck visited kicker Grant Ryerse and running back Dominik London at East Ridge, and Fritze said both oral commits are “100 percent” committed to the Gophers. Hill had received a few calls about Woodbury tight end and Gophers commit Nathan Bursch from other schools since the change in coaching staffs at Minnesota, but said the meeting Tuesday between Bursch and Fleck seemed to reaffirm a commitment from Bursch that was never truly in question.

Fritze said it “means a lot” to see Fleck make the trip to area high schools, rather than making a few phone calls. It was a rare sight. Neither coach remember Tracy Claeys visiting Woodbury or East Ridge. Hill doesn’t remember the last time an FBS coach came to Woodbury High School.

“It seemed to be obviously on the top of his list to get around to Minnesota schools and keep kids in Minnesota a priority,” Fritze said. “That was really good to see.”

Fritze said Fleck wants to let people know what he’s all about and what Minnesota football will be all about. Hill said that included a lot of talk about culture.

“One of the things I loved that he said: ‘I don’t want kids who want to be a Gopher, I want kids who need to be a Gopher,’ ” Hill recounted.

http://www.twincities.com/2017/01/17/gophers-coach-p-j-fleck-making-believers-out-of-local-coaches/

Go Gophers!!

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

per Jace:



“One of the things I loved that he said: ‘I don’t want kids who want to be a Gopher, I want kids who need to be a Gopher,’ ” Hill recounted.

I mean if they can play great, but I'm hoping they get some psychological help in the meantime.

 

[jonnyganas]

All the recruiting stories about Fleck seem to revolve around face to face meetings with him and his coaching staff. This is often the big selling point for players to show his commitment. Read other stories from WMU where he would get consistently get 7-8 of his coaches to show up at the home of a recruit. Those things pay off in recruitment battles.

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[Denver_Gopher]

I wanted to be a Gopher, guess I didn't need to be a Gopher. Must be why Cal Stoll never showed up

 

[Vandy]

All the recruiting stories about Fleck seem to revolve around face to face meetings with him and his coaching staff. This is often the big selling point for players to show his commitment. Read other stories from WMU where he would get consistently get 7-8 of his coaches to show up at the home of a recruit. Those things pay off in recruitment battles.

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I'd hate to have them show up to my house trying to sell home improvements.....

 

[lmh839]

I thought Tracy Claeys had a very good relationship with Minnesota high school coaches and visited a lot of high schools in the Metro area. I was just surprised he never visited East Ridge or Woodbury.

That will be important going forward to get out to these high schools around the metro and out-state.

Any chance the regents would approve a helicopter rental for recruiting season?

 

[Lakeville Goldy]

I thought Tracy Claeys had a very good relationship with Minnesota high school coaches and visited a lot of high schools in the Metro area. I was just surprised he never visited East Ridge or Woodbury.

That will be important going forward to get out to these high schools around the metro and out-state.

Any chance the regents would approve a helicopter rental for recruiting season?

One thing I thought Brewster did well was he or a member of his staff visited every high school in the state when he first started. Obviously he went to the big boys personally (Cretin, Eden Prairie, etc.), but I believe they even had someone hit the 9-man schools. I thought it was a very good thing because you never know where the next star might happen to be born. You make any sort of relationship and at least you have an in.

Also, I know both Brew and Kill went to the Coaches Conferences in the state. I thought I saw somewhere that Claeys did not attend last year (didn't they have Bielema as a speaker if I remember right?) but I could be combining multiple other stories somehow. It may have been partially due to timing, don't remember the details.

Either way, I hope that Coach Fleck goes out and starts building those bridges to help keep the good players here. Then build some bridges to TX, FL, OH and get some players from there...

 

[50PoundHead]

I wanted to be a Gopher, guess I didn't need to be a Gopher. Must be why Cal Stoll never showed up

I wanted to be a Gopher, but I needed to be face down on the bar at Culla's Tavern.

 

[MennoSota]

I thought Tracy Claeys had a very good relationship with Minnesota high school coaches and visited a lot of high schools in the Metro area. I was just surprised he never visited East Ridge or Woodbury.

That will be important going forward to get out to these high schools around the metro and out-state.

Any chance the regents would approve a helicopter rental for recruiting season?

Claeys wasn't much of a cake eater...

 

[GopherHomer]

Claeys wasn't much of a cake eater...

Could have fooled me...

 

[MennoSota]

Could have fooled me...

Claeys was an all beef patty kind of guy.

 

[bottlebass]

Claeys wasn't much of a cake eater...

Could have fooled me...

Claeys was an all beef patty kind of guy.

Everyone knows it was pie.

 

[MennoSota]

Everyone knows it was pie.

3.1415...he's a smart guy. [emoji41]

 

[bottlebass]

3.1415...he's a smart guy. [emoji41]

I always figured him for a classic pecan pie guy...

 

[Spoofin]

I thought Tracy Claeys had a very good relationship with Minnesota high school coaches and visited a lot of high schools in the Metro area. I was just surprised he never visited East Ridge or Woodbury.

<b>That will be important going forward to get out to these high schools around the metro and out-state.</b>

Any chance the regents would approve a helicopter rental for recruiting season?

PJ may be disappointed in the return on all that time at MN HSs. We just don't produce a whole lot of D1 CFB talent.


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[Buck_Buchanan]

One thing I thought Brewster did well was he or a member of his staff visited every high school in the state when he first started. Obviously he went to the big boys personally (Cretin, Eden Prairie, etc.), but I believe they even had someone hit the 9-man schools. I thought it was a very good thing because you never know where the next star might happen to be born. You make any sort of relationship and at least you have an in.

Also, I know both Brew and Kill went to the Coaches Conferences in the state. I thought I saw somewhere that Claeys did not attend last year (didn't they have Bielema as a speaker if I remember right?) but I could be combining multiple other stories somehow. It may have been partially due to timing, don't remember the details.

Either way, I hope that Coach Fleck goes out and starts building those bridges to help keep the good players here. Then build some bridges to TX, FL, OH and get some players from there...

That is correct. I remember Thomas Hammock being in our school within about 3 weeks of being on Staff. Then Brew had his "fish fry" @ the Gopher Clinic for the MFCA. It was seen as a very nice gesture @ the time. Then he proceeded to speak about how "positive" his staff coached and how feedback given to players was always positive and designed to correct mistakes. Fast forward to an Open Practice to watch and observe as a coach and the F-Bombs and negative feedback was in full force. He lost some coaches with that.......basically feeding them 1 Line and following through with a different one.

 

[joshvanklomp]

PJ may be disappointed in the return on all that time at MN HSs. We just don't produce a whole lot of D1 CFB talent.

They don't have to all be high-level guys. Build a strong walk-on program.

 

[KillmeNow]

PJ may be disappointed in the return on all that time at MN HSs. We just don't produce a whole lot of D1 CFB talent.


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Whether he is disappointed or not, or maybe he already knows how little the state produces in the way of Div 1 cfb talent, but realizes that former coaches losing the few top notch recruits the state produces did nothing, NOTHING, towards legitimizing the program. It would be a mistake for Fleck to ignore the state of Minnesota and concentrate only on out of state recruits, especially in light of his becoming the highest paid coach in U of Mn sports history and the Board of Regents publicly letting it be known that they think they should be allowed to be a part of the process of negotiating contracts such as the one made with Fleck.

Surely the Board of Regents would see any coach ignoring Minnesota athletes as going against the U's mission to serve the State of Minnesota.


But back to the issue of being disappointed with the return? Remember how good the Gophers were while Fitzgerald was playing at Pitt? Add Fitzgerald to that Gopher roster and how much of an impact do you think that one player might have had? And that's just one player. Not saying Fleck's doing what he seems to be doing will lock down the borders, but it couldn't hurt.

 

[Spoofin]

Whether he is disappointed or not, or maybe he already knows how little the state produces in the way of Div 1 cfb talent, but realizes that former coaches losing the few top notch recruits the state produces did nothing, NOTHING, towards legitimizing the program. It would be a mistake for Fleck to ignore the state of Minnesota and concentrate only on out of state recruits, especially in light of his becoming the highest paid coach in U of Mn sports history and the Board of Regents publicly letting it be known that they think they should be allowed to be a part of the process of negotiating contracts such as the one made with Fleck.

Surely the Board of Regents would see any coach ignoring Minnesota athletes as going against the U's mission to serve the State of Minnesota.


But back to the issue of being disappointed with the return? Remember how good the Gophers were while Fitzgerald was playing at Pitt? Add Fitzgerald to that Gopher roster and how much of an impact do you think that one player might have had? And that's just one player. Not saying Fleck's doing what he seems to be doing will lock down the borders, but it couldn't hurt.

I don't disagree with any of this. Never said ignore MN. Never said we never produce any players that could help us.


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[MennoSota]

I don't disagree with any of this. Never said ignore MN. Never said we never produce any players that could help us.


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We just produce players that go to Ohio State, Notre Dame, Miami, etc.
Our best players rarely stay on Minnesota.

 

[Spoofin]

We just produce players that go to Ohio State, Notre Dame, Miami, etc.
Our best players rarely stay on Minnesota.

The highest ranked player in the state last year and this year did/is. Besides, winning games will get them to stay more than anything.

It's not like I was trashing MN kids or saying PJF should ignore MN. Folks might be reading a bit too much into my comment.


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[KillmeNow]

The highest ranked player in the state last year and this year did/is. Besides, winning games will get them to stay more than anything.

It's not like I was trashing MN kids or saying PJF should ignore MN. Folks might be reading a bit too much into my comment.


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Sorry Spoofin, I didn't mean to come across as being critical of what you posted. I just used your comment as a starting point to express some of my thoughts. Your comment had some truth to it, Fleck may be disappointed some years in what Minnesota produces for football players.

But if he can stop players from going to Ohio St, Notre Dame, Oregon, Pitt, Miami, etc., and who knows, maybe even NDSU, there could be a few seasons when he won't be disappointed. If he can keep the best Minnesotans in Minnesota, including getting lesser players to walk on at Minnesota vs going to NDSU, because of the realistic hope of winning Conf and Natl Titles playing for Minnesota, like they have now going to NDSU, combined with upgrading the quality of non-Minnesota recruits he brings in, he could come to never think he wasted his time visiting Minnesota high schools and could come to never feel any disappointment.

I mean, my guess is he didn't go to WMU expecting to snag all of the best recruits from the state of Michigan, he probably went there fully expecting that he'd have to find players elsewhere or that he'd have to find underrated players and diamonds in the rough, etc.. And likewise, he probably took the Minnesota job fully aware that Minnesota isn't a football hotbed. I think he said that his 2nd favorite sport is hockey? So he probably knows where a lot of the good athletes from Minnesota end up, playing hockey, not football.

 

[dpodoll68]

PJ may be disappointed in the return on all that time at MN HSs. We just don't produce a whole lot of D1 CFB talent.


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The state produces around 30 DI football scholarship signees each year, which of course doesn't factor in all of the walk-ons.

 

[KillmeNow]

The state produces around 30 DI football scholarship signees each year, which of course doesn't factor in all of the walk-ons.

Does that include all FCS and FBS schools then? Because I'm sure a lot of people would say that most of those 30 players, while being div 1 quality, are not B1G Conference quality. Would you agree?

 

[jonnyganas]

This is all part of his 6-7 hour perimeter around the Twin Cities, right?

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[dpodoll68]

Does that include all FCS and FBS schools then? Because I'm sure a lot of people would say that most of those 30 players, while being div 1 quality, are not B1G Conference quality. Would you agree?

Yes, it does, as those are all DI schools. I would agree with your latter assertion, but that wasn't the point under discussion.

 

[CoMn]

Having relationships with the h.s. coaches is vital. I was shocked that Claeys didn't visit the local schools. We get a player out of a small school and the whole town comes to games to watch him. We get a star and folks from his h.s. fill the seats. The coaches send the players to the camp filling it to the brim and creating excitement about the program which helps get the big fish to come. Coaches start bringing their teams to the games and parents come along. Building relationships is how you create excitement in the state. Go visit a school on the iron range and the fact that you bothered to come makes headlines in the local paper....those little things turn into fan support. So I think it goes beyond recruiting.

 

[50PoundHead]

Having relationships with the h.s. coaches is vital. I was shocked that Claeys didn't visit the local schools. We get a player out of a small school and the whole town comes to games to watch him. We get a star and folks from his h.s. fill the seats. The coaches send the players to the camp filling it to the brim and creating excitement about the program which helps get the big fish to come. Coaches start bringing their teams to the games and parents come along. Building relationships is how you create excitement in the state. Go visit a school on the iron range and the fact that you bothered to come makes headlines in the local paper....those little things turn into fan support. So I think it goes beyond recruiting.

Agree with you 100%. It really helps build the fan base. It can also help build the walk-on program.

 

[GophersInIowa]

Someone posted on twitter last night that Fleck and Kill supposedly got into an argument a few days ago while both visiting a local HS. I can't find the tweet now and have nothing else to go on so it probably isn't true. Just thought I would mention it. Maybe I dreamt it?

 

[WinLoseOrTy]

Someone posted on twitter last night that Fleck and Kill supposedly got into an argument a few days ago while both visiting a local HS. I can't find the tweet now and have nothing else to go on so it probably isn't true. Just thought I would mention it. Maybe I dreamt it?

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