PJ was hired 8 years ago today. What grade would you give the Fleck era?

What grade would you give the Fleck era?

  • A

    Votes: 36 22.6%

  • B

    Votes: 115 72.3%

  • C

    Votes: 8 5.0%

  • D

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • F

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    159
Donate To GopherHole
A-. He’s easily the best Gopher coach in a very long time and has brought about plenty of great moments, multiple good seasons and 1 great season in 8 years (and 7 full seasons). Undefeated in bowl games, has the upper hand on Wisconsin, and at the very least was able to win the pig last year. On top of all of that, he’s still growing as a coach and has brought an unprecedented energy to the program. Fleck is building something here, and I’m optimistic about the future with him at the helm.
 

ergopher said:
A-. He’s easily the best Gopher coach in a very long time and has brought about plenty of great moments, multiple good seasons and 1 great season in 8 years (and 7 full seasons). Undefeated in bowl games, has the upper hand on Wisconsin, and at the very least was able to win the pig last year. On top of all of that, he’s still growing as a coach and has brought an unprecedented energy to the program. Fleck is building something here, and I’m optimistic about the future with him at the helm.
Click to expand...
This is exactly how I feel - he’s trending positively!
 






fmlizard said:
B+ or A-

Best era of Gopher football since Murray Warmath. Some big high points along the way. Positive face of the program and leader who we can be proud of. Has brought stability to the program to the point where Minnesota is one of the most stable rosters and coaching staffs in P4 football. Gopher football sends more guys to the NFL now, and he's adapted well to the changes from NIL and the Portal.

I wish he would have engaged boosters and casual fans more. He's tried, but it seems like he did a better job of it at WMU when he was building up his name. Fleck's a showman and a salesman, but less of one than when he was hired, and he's mostly failed to move the needle on ticket sales, high school recruiting, and fundraising.
Click to expand...
Solid B for me. Aside from wins, my biggest surprises/disappointments have been on recruiting and attendance. Attendance is usually bumped by winning, of course.

Between the opening of the new stadium and Kill digging out from the Brewster years, attendance was strong 10 years ago. Then they initiated scholarship seating over two years. Then Fleck took over and had a bad first year. Unfortunately, after a great year, people weren't allowed at games due to COVID.

Attendance the past two seasons has been really good, partly due to attractive schedules, and the student section is great. I'm really interested to see if they can build on that. The next step is to increase season ticket sales to help keep it filled for November games against teams not named Wisconsin or Iowa and September games against lower-level teams. Season tickets are the key.

2009 - 50,805
2010 - 49,513
2011 - 47,714
2012 - 46,637
2013 - 47,797
2014 - 47,865 scholarship seating begins after this
2015 - 52,355
2016 - 43,814 Fleck starts after this
2017 - 44,358
2018 - 37,915
2019 - 46,190
2020 - 651
2021 - 46,140
2022 - 45,018
2023 - 48,452
2024 - 47,467
 

Hates Monikers said:
Solid B for me. Aside from wins, my biggest surprises/disappointments have been on recruiting and attendance. Attendance is usually bumped by winning, of course.

Between the opening of the new stadium and Kill digging out from the Brewster years, attendance was strong 10 years ago. Then they initiated scholarship seating over two years. Then Fleck took over and had a bad first year. Unfortunately, after a great year, people weren't allowed at games due to COVID.

Attendance the past two seasons has been really good, partly due to attractive schedules, and the student section is great. I'm really interested to see if they can build on that. The next step is to increase season ticket sales to help keep it filled for November games against teams not named Wisconsin or Iowa and September games against lower-level teams. Season tickets are the key.

2009 - 50,805
2010 - 49,513
2011 - 47,714
2012 - 46,637
2013 - 47,797
2014 - 47,865 scholarship seating begins after this
2015 - 52,355
2016 - 43,814 Fleck starts after this
2017 - 44,358
2018 - 37,915
2019 - 46,190
2020 - 651
2021 - 46,140
2022 - 45,018
2023 - 48,452
2024 - 47,467
Click to expand...
The student section is a big deal and a good indicator of how tuned into student life the program and particularly the head coach is. They've been great and get the place rocking no matter how many blue hairs decide not to show up
 

MaxyJR1 said:
58-39 after 8 seasons. (Almost 60% wins)
55 and 35 (61%) if you exclude COVID Season
34-36 in Conference play and 31-32 without COVID Season.
5-7 is worst season
Four 8+ win seasons.

Highest Win % since Bernie Bierman
Moved into 5th most seasons at MN (Williams 22, Warmath 18, Bierman 16, Mason 10, Fleck 8)
Click to expand...

This.

I guarantee you that if we win the last game of the year against wisconsin to give us 11 wins in the regular season and a spot in the Big10 Championship game, that one win would mean everyone here gives coach an A- at worst.

We simply have not won the "big one" that makes the season "legendary".

Because of that and a few horrible losses, some will give him a B- or B.
 



Texan Gopher said:
This.

I guarantee you that if we win the last game of the year against wisconsin to give us 11 wins in the regular season and a spot in the Big10 Championship game, that one win would mean everyone here gives coach an A- at worst.

We simply have not won the "big one" that makes the season "legendary".

Because of that and a few horrible losses, some will give him a B- or B.
Click to expand...
If we won either the Iowa or Wisconsin games in 2019 we win the West, go to the championship game and represent the conference in the Rose Bowl (Ohio State was #1 and was headed to the CFP either way). The inability to win just one of those games will haunt forever.
 



I feel like the extent to which he has elevated us to a new level is overstated. We had 8-4 regular seasons 3 of 4 years before he arrived, and that is basically the level we are still at (and now we have been below that level for back to back seasons). I still think he has been an upgrade for the following reasons:

1) 2019 was head and shoulders above any season during my Fandom (while the effect of one great seasons diluted with time if not replicated, having a good high-water mark is worth a lot)

2) not only got the Wisconsin monkey off our back, but has beaten them multiple times (while this has been somewhat offset by frustrating inefficacy against Iowa, the losing streak to Wisconsin was my biggest gripe about the previous regime, and Fleck was the answer)

3) wins the bowl games (always fun to end on a high note)

Went with a solid B. I sometimes rail against him during the season out of frustration because I feel like he could be even better, and too many of our struggles come from self-inflicted wounds in terms of gameplan, playcalling, and clock management. But at the end of the day, results are what matters, and his results have been a clear (even if not drastic) improvement from where we were at the four years before he arrived.
 




You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom