SI: Gophers' PJ Fleck: Without NIL money, we can't keep team intact

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We have one guy who supposedly left for an NIL deal. That guy is on a great team and to his credit doing well, he also has one of the best O-lines in the country in front of him. I would worry more about guys transferring because they are not playing or their girlfriend broke up with them. Fleck made a mistake bringing this excuse in to play. We and the great majority of the country will never compete in the NIL world and the fear of our good players leaving for money is not warranted. Hopefully Fleck will have an epiphany and figure out how to coach and actually develop players.
 

@forever a gopher great post!

I think you hit the nail on the head: Oliver, Willis, etc. did not leave here to pursue (more) NIL. They left to find more playing time, at a location closer to home or at a lower level more appropriate to their abilities.

But it still decimated our depth. Now, if Oliver and Willis were still here, would we have won the NW, ILL, and Purdue games? I have no idea. I don't think we would've done worse, but who really can say for sure.

More so though, I think we swung and missed on some of the transfers we brought in, whereas in the past we've actually brought some solid guys in. Jack Hendersen has done pretty well, but what happened to Selig from Western Mich? And obviously Sean Tyler from Western has been a huge disappointment.

Could've really used a Jack Gibbens type transfer this year.
 

It's alarming that the only times he has raised the NIL sky is falling issue is after meltdowns that had nothing to do with NIL. If we hadn't choked away games against noted NIL powerhouses northwestern and Illinois we'd still be in very good position in the West.
 

Tucker32 said:
What a bunch of crap. Who are all these "best players" we lost other than Bucky. And, we replaced him just fine last year and this year until injuries. No one in the West, where we currently are, has a huge NIL. What a stupid excuse.

Will we need NIL in the future, sure. But this has nothing to do with getting blown out by Purdue, who had a decimated offensive line and no NIL lineman to step in.
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FYI, Flip Dixon at Rutgers has 57 tackles to Tyler Nubin's 49; 4 INTs for Nubin, 1 for Dixon. He would have really helped in the secondary.
 
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Go Gophers Rah said:
I would buy this against "the big boys."
But...
I doubt that Northwestern, Illinois or Purdue are doing any better than us, so why make that argument in light of losses like these?
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It helps explain why players may be vacating the team.
 


Mustang68 said:
FYI, Flip Dixon at Rutgers has 57 tackles to Tyler Nubin's 49; 4 INTs for Nubin, 1 for Dixon. He would really helped in the secondary.
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He is good would have helped a ton. Anybody think he went to Rutgers for a bucket load of NIIL?
 


FinnGopher said:
While the NIL is a hot mess of an unsanctioned marketplace, I take Flecks comments as his "Get out of Minnesota Free Card."

If Fleck cannot produce a competitive team without bags of cash at his disposal then perhaps Minnesota is not the place for him. It seems that he's getting derailed by looking at the situation and crying "woe is me" rather than looking for the opportunity to be successful in a different, more creative way.

I see Fleck throwing in the towel and not seeing an answer to the problem. If that's how he feels, then Coyle needs to start looking around for coaches who believe they can win without bags of money.
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You remember Ryan Day saying he needed $13m to get his players? This isn't a Fleck issue or even MN.
 




Volatility Ahead

The Gophers schedule next season is a slaughter schedule.

Fleck has to face that gauntlet.

Next season he will be saying, I told you.

But realize it's also a blessing to be in that position. Think of all the teams NOT in the Big Ten who wish they could get in.

How does Minnesota become like Oregon? I don't know.

QB is the most important position.

Need a top WR. Need time to throw.

Need a strong CB to cover an opponents top receiver. Need a pass rush. Need everything.

Gophers need to get lucky at QB.

AK? Nobody knows. Maybe.
 


SHGopher said:
Volatility Ahead

The Gophers schedule next season is a slaughter schedule.

Fleck has to face that gauntlet.

Next season he will be saying, I told you.

But realize it's also a blessing to be in that position. Think of all the teams NOT in the Big Ten who wish they could get in.

How does Minnesota become like Oregon? I don't know.

QB is the most important position.

Need a top WR. Need time to throw.

Need a strong CB to cover an opponents top receiver. Need a pass rush. Need everything.

Gophers need to get lucky at QB.

AK? Nobody knows. Maybe.
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All the Gophers need to become like Oregon is find a mega billionaire entrepreneur in the branded athletics apparel industry that loves supporting the athletics program as a hobby. Easy.
 

proudgopher said:
Don't expect Coyle to bail us out. Fundraising, relationships with donors and public speaking are not his strengths.
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...and hiring basketball coaches is not in Coyle's purview either.
 



Catechol said:
How about a universal NIL non compete clause? If you transfer you can still play but you may not sign an NIL deal for 1 year.

How about, freshmen cannot be offered NIL deals until they are enrolled in school? That way schools cannot entice kids to verbal or flip based on crazy NIL numbers. That’s fair, as NIL is defined as using name image likeness of an NCAA student athlete, which they are not until they enroll in school.
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NIL exists for high school kids too so it has nothing to do with being a college athlete or enrolled in college.
 

LesBolstad said:
NIL is terrible for college football, but let's be honest: The Gophers have not won a B10 title since 1967. Nineteen frickin' sixty-seven! Might be something more going on here.
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Yes. Is the issue being studied? What explains the lack of championships?
 

MaxyJR1 said:
This is a new form of fantasy football for rich people. It’s crazy, it’s gross and says a lot about our society.
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I said something similar when this became a thing.
Rich Uncle Pennybags may not have the money to own an NFL or NBA team, but they could sure buy a college basketball team. To a lesser extent football, but if I wanted to pay a bunch of five star guys to come play for tiny or obscure colleges like NJIT or Farleigh Dickinson or Wofford, to try and win March Madness, there's nothing really stopping me if I had the cash.

I brought up actually buying a school. I used Finlandia up in the UP (which is closing or has closed) as an example.
 

Some guy said:
A program like Michigan state is a lateral move to me in terms of ability to win. But in NiL, Michigan state has deep pockets. Last time they hired a guy who had one 5-7 season at the P5 level. I guess fleck is going to have 2 of those maybe.

BYU has deep pockets.

I don’t think he will go to a school like that. But Fleck would be a really good get for a program like that.

Otherwise they’re going to hire a coach without head coach experience. Or they’re going to hire a coach who has MaC or mountain west experience.
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I’d agree that MSU might be an attractive job to him. I do t know how his RTB would go over there. They’ve been down recently but I’d guess there are pretty good resources there.



BYU is interesting. They’re in the big 12 now (I think) traditionally they’ve been pretty good but not in a major conference.
 

gopherbadgerman said:
I’d agree that MSU might be an attractive job to him. I do t know how his RTB would go over there. They’ve been down recently but I’d guess there are pretty good resources there.



BYU is interesting. They’re in the big 12 now (I think) traditionally they’ve been pretty good but not in a major conference.
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Yeah I was just trying to think of programs who I think wouldn’t be “too good” for his resume but would have much deeper piggy banks than Minnesota both athletics dept and NIL wise
 

Dakota2 said:
OSU and Michigan have always had the best players, from long before NIL. The best players want to be with the winners, in front of massive, enthusiastic crowds, and showcasing for the NFL.

If Minnesota could pay as much as Ohio St the imbalance would still exist.
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We'd be able to keep our depth and our big time guys who blossom once they get on campus. As it exists, we have no way to keep Taylor, for instance, unless he shows a degree of loyalty that's become more uncommon than in the past. And I can't fault him for taking a paycheck.
 


Does Irving stay if he believed he was going to be the lead back after his Freshman year? Remember Ky Thomas left too. The initial rumor was that Bucky was contacted by USC which encouraged him to enter the portal. Supposedly what was promised there didn't materialize and he wound up with a lesser bag at Oregon. However was he more receptive to leaving because he knew how much Fleck loved Mo and that Mo was coming back the next season? I don't think a RB leaving has much to do with our struggles, but this is the clearest example of a player who left Minnesota and got more money elswehere.

On Flip Dixon: He didn't want to play the hybrid role we had him in last season (that Henderson plays now). I don't understand why he didn't want to play there and I don't know if he is more of a pure safety at Rutgers than he was at Minnesota, but that was the impetus for his departure.

On Trill Carter: His position coach was going to be a former teammate. It was an awkward situation, made more awkward by the desire to get Eastern and others on the field more often after a lackluster interior pass rush in '22.

I think more should be made of the failure of this "developmental program" to develop players over the past few years. Neither JJ Guedet (sp?) or Martes Lewis or one of the younger tackles could handle playing Right Tackle this year so Quinn Carroll (a transfer addition) had to stay there instead of moving to guard. If we had developed a tackle and played Quinn at guard this year, our line would have been significantly better. At corner, we had to bring in 2 transfers after bringing in 2 transfers the year before. If you look at the last two years Solomon Brown, Miles Flemming, Jalen Glaze, and Steven Ortiz all transferred to smaller schools. These were all either recruiting misses or a failure to develop talent as evidenced by their lack of playing time here and the schools they transferred to. You also have Victor Pless who is a Junior and is behind two rs-Freshman at CB. Glaze, Flemming, Press, Abner Dubar (also gone), and Michael Dixon were the DB commits for 2020. We hit on one guy and the one we hit on, we felt more comfortable playing in a hybrid LB/S role. The same issue could be seen at LB. Donald Willis, JaQwondis Burns, James Gordon all leave in the past two cycles to places like USF and SMU. These guys got past up by younger players who haven't been all that great (with the exception of Lindenberg). I think we've had a net gain from the portal (not saying that will continue with NIL becoming a larger factor) and have been more hurt by issues with recruiting and/or develoment. It's hard to think of a position group now that is better than 2019 and that's pretty bad considering '19 was only Fleck's 3rd season.
 

Fleck has some points on NIL but he is either becoming worse at commucating or just plain plateaud, what is the coherent message he is trying to deliver to the wider market and not the 50 people sitting on GH after a terrible loss?
 

Every year come Thanksgiving/Christmas time there are people on here in a panic we don't have enough scholarships for all the incoming freshmen. Right now we have 23 committed on the list. I'm TOTALLY guessing we'll need 10 or more guys to transfer to stay under 85. Magically, they transfer.

Then another additional 10 will also "decide" to transfer so we can recruit transfers from the portal to upgrade/replace the 3rd string guys on the roster to hopefully recruit a starter in their place.

PJ is now conveniently spinning this process he's done for a couple years to say that's why we
are losing...all our depth transferred. Very funny. Just use a year zero do-over in the seventh year because covid messed up the balance of the rosters....make something else up.
What a crock of Farmers Alliance this all is.

Bucky Irving left. He's really good. Nobody else who left is a difference maker. Bucky and PJ didn't get along.
Dylan Wright and PJ didn't get along...he's got 11 receptions for TCU.
Trill Carter has 7 tackles for Texas.
We should not be using guys like this for excuses. We certainly should be able to add our own incoming transfers who can do better.

The problem is we have no stars. We have no playmakers. The people who make big NIL money do so with endorsements because they perform on the field and have a large social media following. PJ doesn't seem comfortable with stars?...he was with Mo...maybe running backs are an exception? But Mo wasn't a star before he got here. Bateman was an unknown. He hasn't recruited many....maybe any high profile guys before they got here.

We certainly should be able to raise enough money to pay everybody a few thousand dollars a month. Stars are going to make money anywhere. They got agents brokering endorsement deals.

If we had a QB all this wouldn't be a topic.
 

60's Guy said:
Every year come Thanksgiving/Christmas time there are people on here in a panic we don't have enough scholarships for all the incoming freshmen. Right now we have 23 committed on the list. I'm TOTALLY guessing we'll need 10 or more guys to transfer to stay under 85. Magically, they transfer.

Then another additional 10 will also "decide" to transfer so we can recruit transfers from the portal to upgrade/replace the 3rd string guys on the roster to hopefully recruit a starter in their place.

PJ is now conveniently spinning this process he's done for a couple years to say that's why we
are losing...all our depth transferred. Very funny. Just use a year zero do-over in the seventh year because covid messed up the balance of the rosters....make something else up.
What a crock of Farmers Alliance this all is.

Bucky Irving left. He's really good. Nobody else who left is a difference maker. Bucky and PJ didn't get along.
Dylan Wright and PJ didn't get along...he's got 11 receptions for TCU.
Trill Carter has 7 tackles for Texas.
We should not be using guys like this for excuses. We certainly should be able to add our own incoming transfers who can do better.

The problem is we have no stars. We have no playmakers. The people who make big NIL money do so with endorsements because they perform on the field and have a large social media following. PJ doesn't seem comfortable with stars?...he was with Mo...maybe running backs are an exception? But Mo wasn't a star before he got here. Bateman was an unknown. He hasn't recruited many....maybe any high profile guys before they got here.

We certainly should be able to raise enough money to pay everybody a few thousand dollars a month. Stars are going to make money anywhere. They got agents brokering endorsement deals.

If we had a QB all this wouldn't be a topic.
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Taylor is absolutely a star and was playing like a future Gopher great until he got hurt. And I'm afraid that he's going to be another of our transfer casualties because he's definitely got the "it" factor and a big team or teams will come calling if they haven't already.

Additionally, Trill Carter plays a position that sometimes doesn't accumulate a ton of stats but he could absolutely be a disruptor on the line creating openings for the d ends and linebackers. That's a good Texas team and if he's getting snaps for them that's absolutely a significant loss for us.
 

Gopherchase said:
He has seven tackles this year. He’s not a difference maker.
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You need to reread what I wrote bud.

I never used the word @differece maker,” did I?

I said he was making an impact @ Texas😃. he’s a rotational player for the #7 ranked team in the land, ergo “impact” in my lexicon.

I’m not sure what scheme Texas runs, but I do know that a DL value is about a whole lot more than how many tackles he makes; to wit - we ran a 52 D in HS and as the call side backer, I lead the team in tackles as that was my job, the NT and DTs did great job, which allowed that to happen. I’m sure a football fan like yourself can appreciate that.

Additionally, Carter’s numbers last year wasn’t eye popping for the number of snaps, but Tejas knew what they were getting-

247sports.com

Texas picks up transfer portal commitment from defensive lineman Trill Carter

The former Minnesota Golden Gopher was an honorable mention All-Big Ten selection in 2022
247sports.com 247sports.com

Carter was named honorable mention All-Big Ten at the end of a 2022 season in which he recorded 19 tackles, two tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. According to Pro Football Focus, Carter’s 545 snaps played last season were the eighth-most by any interior defensive lineman in the Big Ten; he should provide experienced depth right out of the gate for the Longhorns behind projected starters Byron Murphy and T'Vondre Sweat after playing 95.2 percent of his snaps lined up in the A and B gaps, according to PFF.
 
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GopherPete said:
Does anybody see the big picture here? NIL is making a sucker out of the fan. You all could donate your entire salaries, and it would NEVER be enough. This is only the beginning, and it doesn't get any better moving forward.
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I fear you are correct. As PJ said, free agency with no salary caps is basically what we have. Combine that with the terrible new transfer portal and you have a recipe for failure for most middling teams. The situation cries out for reform both for the sake of fairness and for recovering the student athlete character of college sports. Leadership will have to come from university presidents, ADs and some courageous coaches. "Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; mere anarchy is loosed upon the world." (Yeats).
 

60's Guy said:
Every year come Thanksgiving/Christmas time there are people on here in a panic we don't have enough scholarships for all the incoming freshmen. Right now we have 23 committed on the list. I'm TOTALLY guessing we'll need 10 or more guys to transfer to stay under 85. Magically, they transfer.

Then another additional 10 will also "decide" to transfer so we can recruit transfers from the portal to upgrade/replace the 3rd string guys on the roster to hopefully recruit a starter in their place.

PJ is now conveniently spinning this process he's done for a couple years to say that's why we
are losing...all our depth transferred. Very funny. Just use a year zero do-over in the seventh year because covid messed up the balance of the rosters....make something else up.
What a crock of Farmers Alliance this all is.

Bucky Irving left. He's really good. Nobody else who left is a difference maker. Bucky and PJ didn't get along.
Dylan Wright and PJ didn't get along...he's got 11 receptions for TCU.
Trill Carter has 7 tackles for Texas.
We should not be using guys like this for excuses. We certainly should be able to add our own incoming transfers who can do better.

The problem is we have no stars. We have no playmakers. The people who make big NIL money do so with endorsements because they perform on the field and have a large social media following. PJ doesn't seem comfortable with stars?...he was with Mo...maybe running backs are an exception? But Mo wasn't a star before he got here. Bateman was an unknown. He hasn't recruited many....maybe any high profile guys before they got here.

We certainly should be able to raise enough money to pay everybody a few thousand dollars a month. Stars are going to make money anywhere. They got agents brokering endorsement deals.

If we had a QB all this wouldn't be a topic.
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If the starting linebackers and running backs played the whole season this team is 7-3 and we are all pissed we just blew control of our destiny and now need Iowa to lose a game because we still probably got by 40 by Purdue.
 

I feel like giving good interviews isn't that hard. "It's a changing landscape, but I can't worry about what I can't control. What I tell my players every day is this is big time sports, so excuses don't get us anywhere. No one wants to hear a guy making a multi million salary complain about how hard his job is. I trust our great athletic department to worry about the financial stuff. This season obviously hasn't gone the way we hoped so far, but we've still got at least two games left to make some noise, so we are getting ready for Oho State and then plan on keeping the Axe."

I don't do this for a living, and that was off the top of my head, but I think it would have played a lot better than whining about NIL right after a last place team with no major NIL advantage over us mopped the floor with the Gophers.
 

Tucker32 said:
What a bunch of crap. Who are all these "best players" we lost other than Bucky. And, we replaced him just fine last year and this year until injuries. No one in the West, where we currently are, has a huge NIL. What a stupid excuse.

Will we need NIL in the future, sure. But this has nothing to do with getting blown out by Purdue, who had a decimated offensive line and no NIL lineman to step in.
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You are over-emphasizing a loss to Purdue if you felt this was the point you had to make on this topic.
 

One of the best players I've seen this year was the linebackers from Eastern Michigan who was a senior portal transfer.

I assume we could've had him?

Roster evaluation in the off season was terrible.
 

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