Apologies for the rant, but feel like it sums up my (and maybe many others) Gopher fandom right now.
It's time. It is time to move on from PJ.
I am a previous hardcore Fleck fan who thought he was a great hire. I thought his rah rah attitude coupled with a mauling ground game was something we could build sustainably with our recruiting grounds and could accent it with under the radar runners and a competent enough QB with a stout defense to make it work. 2019 seemed to prove that and things felt great. Unfortunately, literally every single season since then has been a step back. Numerous chances, a shitty division, veteran rosters, and still he cannot close a single deal. This season, he had shown some growth which I think gave us all some optimism. He was willing to actually throw the ball. He was willing to bring in a pressure focused defensive coordinator.
But then you take a step back and... he has absolutely no idea how to manage a team on gameday. He can't help them ride the highs and the lows. He can't divise a gameplan adjustment after half (just look at his w/l while trailing and all he's doing is adding Ls when leading after half at this point). He doesn't know how to manage the clock. It's just a damn mess.
I love PJ for what he does in the community. I love that he holds his players accountable to their coursework and he actually seems to care about what they become in this world. but...
That's not the world we live in anymore because the rules have changed. I don't want to make bowls because our APR is good. I want to make them because we fucking can curbstomp other teams and win games at least 6 god damn times in this new big ten and maybe every once in awhile have a schedule and a team that flirts with 10 and a playoff birth because 10 in the new b10 will get you close. PJ isn't that guy. He's not going to accept his deficiencies and hire a veteran OC who's been there and turn it over to them. He's not going to recruit well enough here we can play Dantonio press and pressure style defense to force turnovers and create havoc. He's just not that good at any of the specific spheres of being a coach but is that executive who says nice things in meetings but you wonder what the fuck he actually does every day. He doesn't call the plays but controls them. He recruits but only his type of guy and not well enough to land in the top 25 EVER. He doesn't adjust well enough on gameday like someone like Bielema does to steal games when you have lesser talents.
Personally it's been a fun ride. But watching Ferentz yet again walk out of MN with Floyd is enough. PJ inspires no worry or fear in any coach because they know they're going to have an easy, predictable day against him. We are more talented than iowa yet again, and yet again we fucking lost. That's on the coaching at the end of the day, whether the guys in maroon make the plays or not.
As yall know, I'm on this site almost every day. I bleed maroon and gold. I'll be there at the game next week. But ffs at some point enough is enough in watching the same old shit recycled. He had yet another chance to change the narrative today that he could dominate a rival and choked his chicken in the second half and looked like a scared puppy in the headlights. That's been PJ every year since 2019. Theres been no signature wins. It's time to stop living in the past and time for a new start
