Souhan: You have to go back to Holtz for this kind of Gophers hire

[BleedGopher]

per Souhan:

When introduced as the new Gophers football coach Friday, Fleck spoke of winning a national championship at Minnesota. That only sounds crazy because it is.

Fleck has misread his audience. Gophers fans don’t want false promises. They would be satisfied with far less hype and far lower expectations.

Deep in hearts protected by layers of maroon fleece, Gophers fans would settle for hiring a coach who leaves to win a national championship elsewhere. That’s why they still love Lou Holtz.

Fleck is a strong hire, but he’s not the first impressive coach to take the job and he’s not the first to pepper us with slogans. Jim Wacker and Tim Brewster might as well have been selling timeshares.

Holtz intentionally left as quickly as possible. Mason unintentionally made Minnesota his retirement job. The most reasonable hope for Fleck is that he lands somewhere in between those extremes, winning for a while before rowing his boat to a more traditional power and trying out all of his sayings on a brand-new audience.

http://www.startribune.com/you-have-to-go-back-to-lou-holtz-for-this-kind-of-gophers-hire/409990525/

Go Gophers!!

 

[MissouriGopher]

Local sports writers need to ask themselves how many times coaches from any B1G program have left for a "more traditional power". I'll give them a hint: not very many.

 

[roone084]

Quick local media heads: assume your predisposed positions.

PS Souhan, I don't like Lou Holtz.

 

[#2Gopher]

Quick local media heads: assume your predisposed positions.

PS Souhan, I don't like Lou Holtz.

100%

 

[TruDomGopher]

per Souhan:

Fleck has misread his audience. Gophers fans don’t want false promises. They would be satisfied with far less hype and far lower expectations.

Souhan has misread his audience. Gophers fans don't want false promises. They would be satisfied with far less local press negativity and far higher expectations.

Any B1G school should be a destination coaching job. Yes, even--especially--Minnesota. Maybe, just maybe, we could get some elite journalists into this town that will row the boat and put all these cynical dipsticks out to pasture. They don't deserve Pasadena on an expense account.

Holtz--pheffttt. Did you know if you go on Amazon you can find rosaries with maroon and gold beads? Probably leftover from the Holtz era.

 

[Great Plains Gopher]

The legislature should have built that proposed Athelstan Spilhaus dome over the Twin Cities. The year-round warm weather might have dispensed the gloom and cynicism that seems imbedded in local sportswriters.

 

[skauma]

Local sports writers need to ask themselves how many times coaches from any B1G program have left for a "more traditional power". I'll give them a hint: not very many.

Excellent point...a lot of people around the area always seem concerned about the football and basketball coaches leaving for bigger programs...when is the last time that actually happened? Granted, the coaches here havent really had the success to be considered for the jobs, but for arguments sake, lets say that PJ turns the Gophers into a perennial top 25 program...what programs are going to come knocking? He has basically narrowed it down to him wanting to be a midwest coach, because of family...so, now we look at Notre Dame, and solely Notre Dame, as I don't see Urban or Harbaugh oing anywehere in a while...

so...why will the Notre Dame job all of a sudden become available? Will they be so awful in a few years that they need to make a change? If they are so awful then, why will Fleck be their top target? And if he is their top target, will the money be enough to pull away his young family with routes in Minnesota?

Im seriously not concerned with the prospect of him leaving for greener pastures, at all...and regardless, its an asinine thing to be worried about, as he hasnt proven to be that kind of coach yet. If he does eventually prove to be that kind of coach, that will mean the team is a perennial top 25 team, and that they would have to give him a very small raise to remain at the U of M, as he already is one of the highest paid coaches in the NCAA.