STrib: Pardon us, P.J. Fleck. It's going to take a while to get used to 'elite'

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By far the loudest applause at the social was when Fleck stated a goal of making the local media positive. By far.
 

PMWinSTP said:
Was I not hearing correctly, or did he refer to one of the players as the only 2-star signed? Could go back and watch again, but it took me three sittings to get through the first time...
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You heard correctly.


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Count me in the group that is excited about PJF and find the rhetoric a bit annoying. You don't have to love it to be pro-Fleck except on GH it seems. Also, let's not pretend that saying "Elite" the 100th time has the same impact as the 10th time. It does mean a little less and have less impact each time. Not saying you need to dislike it because of that - that is just basic logic.


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Spoofin said:
Count me in the group that is excited about PJF and find the rhetoric a bit annoying. You don't have to love it to be pro-Fleck except on GH it seems. Also, let's not pretend that saying "Elite" the 100th time has the same impact as the 10th time. It does mean a little less and have less impact each time. Not saying you need to dislike it because of that - that is just basic logic.


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Question on this point

What about saying brick by brick or ski u mah the 100th time? Same impact as the first?

I would make the argument, he's trying to make that part of the culture of the program, that we are elite. Branding 101. Trying to make the U of M bring the word elite to mind and vice versa. And if he's trying to make it the brand, he's going to treat it the same way as our other phrases, and he said as much during his initial presser. Obviously if his results on the field suck, he's going to be made fun of and fired and he knows that. That doesn't mean you stop marketing your brand, because as a college coach trying to make it big, it's what you've got.
 

Spoofin said:
Count me in the group that is excited about PJF and find the rhetoric a bit annoying. You don't have to love it to be pro-Fleck except on GH it seems. Also, let's not pretend that saying "Elite" the 100th time has the same impact as the 10th time. It does mean a little less and have less impact each time. Not saying you need to dislike it because of that - that is just basic logic.

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Not if he backs it up and the program achieves more success each year. That would certainly support his use or overuse of the term. If he fails to achieve that level success or progress stalls for 2 or 3 years, then yes, it loses its meaning.
If you're trying to create a mindset, who knows how much or how often you need to reinforce it.
 


upnorthkid said:
Question on this point

What about saying brick by brick or ski u mah the 100th time? Same impact as the first?

I would make the argument, he's trying to make that part of the culture of the program, that we are elite. Branding 101. Trying to make the U of M bring the word elite to mind and vice versa. And if he's trying to make it the brand, he's going to treat it the same way as our other phrases, and he said as much during his initial presser. Obviously if his results on the field suck, he's going to be made fun of and fired and he knows that. That doesn't mean you stop marketing your brand, because as a college coach trying to make it big, it's what you've got.
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Agree 100%
 

upnorthkid said:
Question on this point

What about saying brick by brick or ski u mah the 100th time? Same impact as the first?

I would make the argument, he's trying to make that part of the culture of the program, that we are elite. Branding 101. Trying to make the U of M bring the word elite to mind and vice versa. And if he's trying to make it the brand, he's going to treat it the same way as our other phrases, and he said as much during his initial presser. Obviously if his results on the field suck, he's going to be made fun of and fired and he knows that. That doesn't mean you stop marketing your brand, because as a college coach trying to make it big, it's what you've got.
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I'd say that saying it for the 100th time is more effective than the first time. If we were trying to introduce "Ski U Mah" as a new slogan, people's reaction would be "WTF is that?"
 

upnorthkid said:
Question on this point

What about saying brick by brick or ski u mah the 100th time? Same impact as the first?
Click to expand...

We certainly never said "brick by brick" as much as we now say elite. If we had, I would have the same view. As for Ski-U-Mah, that was virtually never said until PJF arrived.

I guess I'm saying is it isn't for me (which is fine & Im sure PJF would be OK with too) and I doubt it is inspiring anyone by being repeated over and over (we'll agree to disagree there). On the other hand - I was at the social last night and really enjoyed his speech otherwise. All I want is to be able to like PJF on here without having to buy in to the nonsense.


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RodentRampage said:
I'd say that saying it for the 100th time is more effective than the first time. If we were trying to introduce "Ski U Mah" as a new slogan, people's reaction would be "WTF is that?"
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It isn't a slogan. It is a word. Not everything is elite. Label everything as elite and it losses meaning.

My day was elite. That song was elite. What an elite cup of tea that was. Etc. Etc.


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Spoofin said:
We certainly never said "brick by brick" as much as we now say elite. If we had, I would have the same view. As for Ski-U-Mah, that was virtually never said until PJF arrived.

I guess I'm saying is it isn't for me (which is fine & Im sure PJF would be OK with too) and I doubt it is inspiring anyone by being repeated over and over (we'll agree to disagree there). On the other hand - I was at the social last night and really enjoyed his speech otherwise. All I want is to be able to like PJF on here without having to buy in to the nonsense.


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Fair enough. Just wanted the info for the clarification and picked those 2 things based on being things we attempted to make part of the culture at various times via shirts, promos, etc (which you know there will be elite shirts everywhere, guaranteed). I would say you're more than welcome to like PJ without commenting that you don't like his shtick, the same way I could comment that I do like him without mentioning I do like his shtick. It adds no value on either side of the equation imo.
 

Expectations being set high are a good thing.

BleedGopher said:
per Rand Ball:

New Gophers football coach P.J. Fleck used the word “elite” 27 times Wednesday as he talked for nearly an hour about the Gophers recruiting class — the first since he was hired as head coach last month.

He talked about the most “elite talent,” the “most elite staff in America” and 25 more elites in describing a class that by all accounts improved in the short amount of time he had to work on it.

I know this because I counted.

I counted because outside of the big question — will Fleck succeed at Minnesota? — the next biggest question you tend to hear about the new coach is some variation of, “what’s up with this guy and the word ‘elite?’”

http://www.startribune.com/pardon-u...-take-a-while-to-get-used-to-elite/412479183/

Go Gophers!!
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The first thing it oftentimes takes to start reaching lofty goals is to get rid of or remove "self doubt" or the words I can't or I won't(not a word I know). Apathy and low expectations have been a part of Minnesota football for a long time. Tim Brewster set lofty expectations but had poor control of the process and poor staff turnover to the point he was never able to implement a successful long term plan. Jerry Kill had a long term plan, and a slow progression towards bigger goals, building a foundation if you will but leveled out or plateaued at the same levels that the coach Mason staff did. Health problems and the derailment of EoAA investigations hurt his cause.

Fleck likes to talk about relevancy, and having elite things or things being elite. Doesn't bother me, or most I would think, it's just not something we are used to with Gopher football. Fleck is here to say that the Minnesota Gophers will not keep taking a back seat at the back of the bus or be irrelevant like the Twin Cities media want's or has previously wanted them to be. With Gopher football in this marketplace it has always been "Know your role and shut your hole" for many of the columnist and sports writers.

For me at least Fleck has the audacity to believe that Gopher Football can be something it has not been most recently which is GREAT. Whatever it takes, smoke blowing, dance music, talks about rappers, and DJ's thumping music at practice. Whatever brings the entertainment and get's people to believe that the Minnesota Gophers can win championships in football is a good thing. Minnesota could use a dose of Cockyness, and improved attitude, a bit of puffing out the chests. This program for me has turned a page and they should hold themselves in higher regard and to a higher standard. We have better players and athletes all over the field now more than at any period of time that I have been a Gopher fan. Minnesotans tend to downplay when we have success and poo poo it if it isn't some high level World championship or denigrate things to minor league.

I for one wouldn't mind one bit if the Gophers become ELITE, we are a little more than over due for the Football to spin our way.
 

#2Gopher said:
scools12 said:
The things we already don't like about PJ Fleck.

1. The use of the word elite
2. Row the boat
3. Thumps up sign
4. How he looked throwing plates to the Red Panda
5. How he looked throwing tee shirts to the crowd at the Wolves game
6. How he reacted to a Andrew Wiggin's dunk
7. He didn't wear a collared shirt to the Wolves game
8. sparkling cider
9. Gopher fans buying into PJ Fleck

Still to come as things we don't like about Fleck

Don't put me with that group. You use the word we...I'm not part of that.
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Come on I was mostly joking when I said the stuff about throwing the plates to the Red Panda. He was new and wouldn't know any better anyways. I like FLECK, his positivity is starting to become a good thing. It is like I told my brother I sure hope it works, whatever BS you have to spew to get the guys to believe they can do great things. Very hopeful this coaching staff has the goods when it comes to making players successful.
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All I care about is whether or not PJF actually makes our football program "elite" or not. If his using the word 1000 times a day helps to inspire his players to win more games, and/or helps convince recruits to choose Minnesota, then I'll be fine with it.


And what does the word "elite" mean to you?



Saw a commercial on TV recently about a new dating site called "Elite Singles". I think the ad said something about all of its members having a college education or degree? Seems to me a little bit of a watered down use of the word? I mean the simple act of getting a degree or the simple fact of having a degree, imo, doesn't make someone elite, but I guess it does make a definite distinction.

For a college football program, what would be considered elite? Consistently being ranked in the Top 25? Consistently winning conf titles? So what teams would you consider Elite?

I'd list Alabama and Ohio St as Elite for sure. I'd even be willing to list NDSU as an elite fb school. I'd have to think some more about any other teams, but possibly FSU and Clemson, and teams like Michigan and PSU and MSU would at least be considered.

Outside of cfb, I'd say UConn was an elite w's cbb program, Kentucky and Duke as elite mens cbb programs, Minnesota as an elite w's chk program and I would also include Wisconsin, too, and if UMD ends up in the Title game this year, I might add them back to the list. PSU and OSU and Iowa as elite college wrestling programs. 2 or 3 years ago I would have included Minnesota in that list, but not right now. UMn may never reach elite status in wrestling again? I doubt we have the right kind of administration here to make that happen. I hope it happens of course. Minnesota has an elite Dance team program and I don't know of any other school that I could say that about? Kentucky has an elite Cheerleading program.

A good question is would I consider Minnesota to be an elite Men's College hockey program?? And if either yes or no, who else might I consider an elite chk program? I'd probably include UND but not sure, without giving it some more thought, who else I'd include?

If you considered things outside of winning National Titles, I might be inclined to consider them elite, as one of the reasons they struggle to win Natl Titles is that so many of it's best players head off to the NHL early. The teams that have been winning Natl Titles recently haven't had to deal with that problem yet. And no other team in the nation even comes close to producing as many Olympic hockey players as Minnesota. Or if you took all of history into consideration, then I'd absolutely consider Minnesota an elite program.



But that is all just my opinion. And from going back over the programs I would consider "elite", I'd say that my standards are pretty high. Maybe higher than PJF's? Depends on what he means with his use of the word, because my question is does he use the word as some goal that he wants to reach or does he feel that the recruits he brought in since getting here are "elite"?

As far as recruiting goes, I'd consider a 5 star recruit, and elite recruit, maybe some 4 star recruits, and I'd say a Top 10 recruiting class would be an elite recruiting class, maybe a Top 25 class, depending on the situation.


So, like I said, to each his own, PJF may have a different definition of the word, or he may feel the same way I do, but as long as his ways and tactics brings about wins and titles and championships, he could speak in Portugease or greek or pig latin or sign language, I wouldn't care. Just win Baby, just win!!!

Go Gophers!!!
 

Spoofin said:
Count me in the group that is excited about PJF and find the rhetoric a bit annoying. You don't have to love it to be pro-Fleck except on GH it seems. Also, let's not pretend that saying "Elite" the 100th time has the same impact as the 10th time. It does mean a little less and have less impact each time. Not saying you need to dislike it because of that - that is just basic logic.


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Having attended the social: I agreed with you, every interview sounded the same, rehearsed. However, when he spoke for an hour, his personality came out, and the elite stuff became endearing to me. He was self deprecating about it. He acknowledged it can sound crazy. he's got thick skin. It's fun, it's energetic.
You can dislike it or not, for sure not for everyone, however I'd recommend not judging based off the flurry of interviews lately. Give it a chance.
 

Spoofin said:
We certainly never said "brick by brick" as much as we now say elite. If we had, I would have the same view. As for Ski-U-Mah, that was virtually never said until PJF arrived.

I guess I'm saying is it isn't for me (which is fine & Im sure PJF would be OK with too) and I doubt it is inspiring anyone by being repeated over and over (we'll agree to disagree there). On the other hand - I was at the social last night and really enjoyed his speech otherwise. All I want is to be able to like PJF on here without having to buy in to the nonsense.


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Nobody said brick by brick.... like almost never outside promotional videos.
 

BTW - I loved "difficult conversations for breakfast." That was awesome. But, I likely wouldn't think so if he said it all the time.

You are right Section2 - his speech at the social was outstanding. No way around that. I'm glad I went to hear him in person.


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Does using the word "elite" 27 times in 90 minutes make the word no longer elite, but average? [emoji57]
 

Typically snide piece from Strib. Note the reason he gives for counting the times "elite" was used.
 



Did anyone catch PJ Fleck with Dan B. on KFAN last night?
http://kfan.iheart.com/onair/dan-barreiro-11904/listen-gopher-football-hc-pj-fleck-15527624/

Dan asked Fleck for his last question if anything surprised him after coming to MN. Fleck was quick to put the local media on notice.

PJF:"I'll be honest with you, the media surprised me a little bit. I can't wait to continue to build a relationship with them. But, we haven't won a championship since 1967. And I think I speak for everybody in this room and even our media that, somewhere down deep, all of us believe we can do that, and not just a B1G championship but a National Championship. But you don't want to bring it out because you're a little AFRAID of it. We're going to need everybody. The media is going to have to be positive to bring recruits into the Twin Cities, to the U of M. Our alums are going to have to be positive. Winners surround themselves with positivity, and positivity finds winners. I look forward to the challenge every sing day, it's why I took the job. I also knew what was sleeping here, and when it gets woken up, what it can become. That's why I took the job."
DB: "If you win, then the media will be positive (laughs)"
PJF: "Correct. But I will say this: It's about buying into the process early enough. It's like the stock market, everybody wants to make a lot money, but you want to buy in when it's making money. That's easy. How about buying when it's really low and you could lose a lot, however, man, that thing down deep inside me says 'that is worth it, that's my gut, this is it, I'm buying it' and BOOM! That's exactly what we did in Western Michigan"

One thing Fleck gets is culture. If you undercut and undersell the program for years, whether you are an alum, a reporter, a sports personality, people start believing it (fans, media, and even inside the locker room). Culture is contagious, whether it is negative or positive. Fleck wants to reenergize all the stakeholders, from the University BOR, to the U Athletic Dept, to the students, to the alums, to the sports fans, to the high school players and potential recruits, to the sports writers and media personalities, to the community, to the public in general. If all of those stake holders are buzzing with positivity, it won't guarantee victories on the field, but boy could it help. Culture surrounded in positivity and energy makes the path to success easier. It will be very interesting to see how the old stalwart local media treats this new era of Gopher FB.

SKI U MAH and ROW THE BOAT!
 

jonnyganas said:
Did anyone catch PJ Fleck with Dan B. on KFAN last night?
http://kfan.iheart.com/onair/dan-barreiro-11904/listen-gopher-football-hc-pj-fleck-15527624/

Dan asked Fleck for his last question if anything surprised him after coming to MN. Fleck was quick to put the local media on notice.

PJF:"I'll be honest with you, the media surprised me a little bit. I can't wait to continue to build a relationship with them. But, we haven't won a championship since 1967. And I think I speak for everybody in this room and even our media that, somewhere down deep, all of us believe we can do that, and not just a B1G championship but a National Championship. But you don't want to bring it out because you're a little AFRAID of it. We're going to need everybody. The media is going to have to be positive to bring recruits into the Twin Cities, to the U of M. Our alums are going to have to be positive. Winners surround themselves with positivity, and positivity finds winners. I look forward to the challenge every sing day, it's why I took the job. I also knew what was sleeping here, and when it gets woken up, what it can become. That's why I took the job."
DB: "If you win, then the media will be positive (laughs)"
PJF: "Correct. But I will say this: It's about buying into the process early enough. It's like the stock market, everybody wants to make a lot money, but you want to buy in when it's making money. That's easy. How about buying when it's really low and you could lose a lot, however, man, that thing down deep inside me says 'that is worth it, that's my gut, this is it, I'm buying it' and BOOM! That's exactly what we did in Western Michigan"

One thing Fleck gets is culture. If you undercut and undersell the program for years, whether you are an alum, a reporter, a sports personality, people start believing it (fans, media, and even inside the locker room). Culture is contagious, whether it is negative or positive. Fleck wants to reenergize all the stakeholders, from the University BOR, to the U Athletic Dept, to the students, to the alums, to the sports fans, to the high school players and potential recruits, to the sports writers and media personalities, to the community, to the public in general. If all of those stake holders are buzzing with positivity, it won't guarantee victories on the field, but boy could it help. Culture surrounded in positivity and energy makes the path to success easier. It will be very interesting to see how the old stalwart local media treats this new era of Gopher FB.

SKI U MAH and ROW THE BOAT!
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Since we like to compare ourselves to Wisconsin due to location, Does anyone remember what the culture was like there before they started having winning seasons? I would assume they weren't Bucky everything when the team was the bottom of the big ten in every sport. Did it take the Rose Bowl victory in the 90's before fans started to catch on?
 

Word said:
During his Barreiro interview yesterday Fleck said the one surprise for him so far is how negative the media is here.
It is really annoying that it persists the way it does. Sid is about the only writer that is mostly positive. Pretty much the rest are very negative. You could expand it to the radio people too (in general).
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You're right, but damn MN sports sure have given them a lot of reason to be negative.


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Does the University of Minnesota know anything about being "Elite"????

I'll post a timeline, 1-2 decades at a time.

* - indicates a natl title according to some official or recognized source, or in the case of a few fb titles, unrecognized but acknowledged.
** - indicates a natl title recognized by all, either by officially recognized poll or by tournament victory

--------------cfb--------cbb
1900-01 - 10-0-2 / 11-1
1901-02 - 9-1-1 / 15-0*
1902-03 - 9-2-1 / 13-0*
1903-04 - 14-0-1* / 10-2
1904-05 - 13-0*
1905-06 - 10-1 / 13-2
1906-07 - 4-1 / 10-2
1907-08
1908-09
1909-10 - 6-1 / 10-3

1910-11 - 6-1
1911-12 - 6-0-1*
1912-13
1913-14 - 5-2
1914-15 - 6-1*
1915-16 - 6-0-1
1916-17 - 6-1 / 17-2
1917-18 - 4-1 / 13-3
1918-19 - 5-2 / 13-0*
1919-20


And I ran a winning percentage calculator function at a cfb site many years ago, and if you only included current Div 1 programs, from 1900-1919, Minnesota had the highest winning percentage of any cfb team in the nation during those 20 seasons.



And as a side note, the University of Minnesota has produced more Nobel Prize winners than all 14 schools in the SEC COMBINED!!!
 

I Want 2 Win said:
Since we like to compare ourselves to Wisconsin due to location, Does anyone remember what the culture was like there before they started having winning seasons? I would assume they weren't Bucky everything when the team was the bottom of the big ten in every sport. Did it take the Rose Bowl victory in the 90's before fans started to catch on?
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I think a lot of people (younger then age 30) would be suprised to know that Camp Randall Stadium had a lot of empty seats back in the 80's and early 90's. There was not much interest in Badger football at that time. Perhaps, they started to turn things around when Donna Shalala came on board and hired Barry Alvarez in 1990 and they started to invest in the football program. From there they went to the Rose Bowl following the 1993 season and beat UCLA and the rest is history. Rose Bowl appearances in 1999, 2000, 2011, 2012, and 2013. It looks like it took Alvarez a good 3 years to get things going in the right direction at Wisconsin. And they have done nothing but win consistently over the last 20 years.
 

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