STATE OF THE PROGRAM: Where is Gophers football right now?



I dont think anyone deserves to be savaged but some shade is appropriate for the garbage situation.
 

Did you forget something about the glory days? Black athletes weren't allowed on southern teams then.

The Big Ten was integrated and UM was winning the conference. Also, if integration in Southern schools killed the UM why did it not affect the other Big Ten Schools.
 



Did you forget something about the glory days? Black athletes weren't allowed on southern teams then.
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The Big Ten was integrated and yet the Gophers were winning then. And when the South integrated, why did it affect only UM? There's some other explanation.
 


Heading towards apathy and basement status. At least if we're going to lose be a fun watch, but we're losing and the team isn't fun to watch either
 

I would say keep Harbrain as OL coach and go find a true OC with a proven record against major competition (P5) not some Mountain West dude or the like.
 



If we run it back with Athan, the same OC and the same scared approach, next year is going to be very very poor.
 

I have more interest in my fantasy football team than any of my teams this year.
 


I think it helps a lot. Our stadium is awesome and right on campus makes a big difference. If we were still trying to scrape out a living in the Metrodome, I think it would be a disaster. I also don’t think the cold makes that much difference with an outdoor stadium. The whole big 10 to one degree or another is in cold weather territory.
Well we brought in Brewster who was widely regarded as THE recruiter to take advantage of the new stadium and recruiting improved some but not massively. I doubt Mason would’ve generated a boost significant enough to overcome his deficiencies.
 



The southern schools that now rule.
Rule what? Michigan , Washington, Oregon, Ohio state, all teams that do just fine. Utah for fucks sake. The excuses people give for the gophers being worse overall than Iowa Illinois Purdue for decades is mind numbing
 

Next year will start the big 7 PSU, OSU, Mich, USC, UCLA, Wash and Ore and little 11. The CCG will be the 2 top teams. What is the likelihood that one of the little 11 will play in the CCG in the next (few, several, many) many years. The little 11 will likely be competing against each other for the foreseeable future. I have a hard time seeing some schools/boosters doing the investment necessary in order to keep up with the Joneses.

UCLA??
 

I would say keep Harbrain as OL coach and go find a true OC with a proven record against major competition (P5) not some Mountain West dude or the like.

Since Harbaugh doesn't even coach OL, I'll take this comment with a big grain of salt. We have had only one OL coach under PJ and he has been pretty damn solid.
 

The southern schools that now rule.
When did the gophers play southern schools? UM was a big ten powerhouse. They began to fade in the sixties and by the early 70 s they were about like now. As part of the same conference. No, something changed to the gophers in early 60s that did not affect all the other big ten schools.
 

Gophers football is cursed, and some of it is internal sabotage by the mentality of Facualty and politicians dating back decades. This dates back to the 1970's and the President that decided Sports were not important. Combine this with the rise in NFL football and the Vikings and Gophers football became stagnant and unpopular. Not much has changed in the last 30 or 40 years. We have tried upgrading facilities, stadium all of it, coaching Salary's and just never get over the hump. I don't know what the Geenie in the bottle is but Gophers football needs something like that. We have tried the changing coaches route and this hasn't been successful either. Now it seems we have to try buying players which is the next hurdle. It's gonna become difficult to do so when we look slow, and play boring style of football. The offensive play calling this year and QB play was atrocious.
 
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When did the gophers play southern schools? UM was a big ten powerhouse. They began to fade in the sixties and by the early 70 s they were about like now. As part of the same conference. No, something changed to the gophers in early 60s that did not affect all the other big ten schools.
Play them? I’m talking recruiting.
 

Rule what? Michigan , Washington, Oregon, Ohio state, all teams that do just fine. Utah for fucks sake. The excuses people give for the gophers being worse overall than Iowa Illinois Purdue for decades is mind numbing
Rule what? Have you not seen who has won the title the last 30 years?
 


Next year will start the big 7 PSU, OSU, Mich, USC, UCLA, Wash and Ore and little 11. The CCG will be the 2 top teams. What is the likelihood that one of the little 11 will play in the CCG in the next (few, several, many) many years. The little 11 will likely be competing against each other for the foreseeable future. I have a hard time seeing some schools/boosters doing the investment necessary in order to keep up with the Joneses.
UCLA and Washington are not in the same league as the other 5 at all. Washington hasn’t been very good, but have a great QB this year. UCLA hasn’t won what has often been a bad conference since in the 90s.
 


A lot of the 'Fleck' conversations have a "Yes, but" side to them.
Yes, Fleck has the 9-win and 11-win seasons, but even in those good seasons, the team could not win a Division title.
Yes, Fleck's recruiting is an improvement over Mason and Kill, but he still hasn't cracked the top half of the B1G.
IIRC, Fleck stated we’d regularly have Top25 recruiting classes when he started.

Anyone else remember this?

Yes, Fleck's teams have had strong running games, but the passing game has been inconsistent.

So IMHO, the state of the program is - better than before, but not as good as some people were hoping when Fleck was hired.
 

I can tell you when Mason recruited me and I went on my visit for the OSU game at the Dome, led thru all these dank tunnels and corridors, I remember it like it was yesterday. It was embarrassing compared to my experiences at other schools. So, I don't know if it creates a boost, but more importantly it creates a lasting memory of a pretty pathetic recruiting visit.
Where’d you matriculate to?
 


I always feel like this is so overblown. Is there any data to suggest that a new stadium creates a massive recruiting boost?
I would say the Gophers’ situation was different since they had no stadium on campus, so building the Bank likely had more impact than another school just rebuilding their existing stadium.
 

It doesn’t matter who the OC or QB is unless PJ dramatically changes. He is the issue.
I reluctantly agree. It began dawning on me as PJ started mewling and whining about NIL money. A decent coach, a competent coach would not be doing a backhanded condemnation of talent, which he recruited, by insisting that he needed more NIL money "to keep the team together". If this team felt like they were being properly prepared for games, then there wouldn't be the discontent that has blossomed since Bucky Irving headed to Oregon. It doesn't matter why Irving left because what it did was plant the idea that there might be better teams than here. Since coaching and playing opportunities are no longer sufficient, then the NIL card had to be played because the coach can't change fast enough to retain the talent.
 

UCLA and Washington are not in the same league as the other 5 at all. Washington hasn’t been very good, but have a great QB this year. UCLA hasn’t won what has often been a bad conference since in the 90s.
Even the Big 5 are going to make it tough for the underlings to make the CCG.
 

It did affect the other schools.
But if affected UM more? So much so that we went from competing for the Big Ten title occasionally to being in the lower half of the conference? Could it be that something else also changed here in the early sixties? Something that didn't happen in the other conference schools?
 




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