The Gazette: 5 Things: Iowa football vs. Minnesota (3. Fleck is a good thing for BT)

[BleedGopher]

per The Gazette:

3. P.J. Fleck is a good thing for the B1G
This section could very well be its own column and have several different pegs to it, but for our purposes, the answer to this premise is pretty simple: Fleck moves people’s emotions.

Several of the other Big Ten coaches don’t exactly move the needle in terms of entertainment. Lovie Smith changing the tone of his voice is about as common as Kirk Ferentz dying his hair purple. Paul Chryst and Mike Riley aren’t exactly controversial individuals (the latter’s job status notwithstanding). Setting aside the national focus on Harbaugh at Michigan and Urban Meyer at Ohio State, Fleck is the most polarizing person as a head coach other than perhaps James Franklin at Penn State.

Fleck’s “Row the Boat” mantra – inspired by the death of his son – and the style with which he coaches and carries himself bothers fans and opposing coaches (see: the above entry). He’s a talker and isn’t afraid of addressing sensitive topics. He’s a guy who, if he’s leading your team, you love him and if he’s leading someone else’s, you very much don’t.

NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt (stick with me here, I promise the following is relevant and not just a gratuitous racing reference) once said he loved when fans booed him. As long as they’re making noise, he said, you’re doing something right.

Fleck makes noise. He took Western Michigan from 1-11 in his first year, to 8-5 in Years 2 and 3 to an undefeated regular season and a MAC championship in 2016, before losing in the Cotton Bowl to Wisconsin and finishing 13-1. If his recruiting classes stay good and Minnesota returns to national relevance, the noise around him will only grow – and so too will the attention on the Big Ten.

A better Minnesota makes a better Iowa, better Wisconsin and so on, because competition usually breeds success.

http://www.thegazette.com/subject/sports/college/football/5-things-iowa-vs-minnesota-20171023

Go Gophers!!

 

[Iceland12]

1. Fresh meat

Iowa welcomes Minnesota this week into Kinnick Stadium, and it’ll be P.J. Fleck’s first trip to the pink locker room as a Big Ten head coach*. Fleck, of course, is in his first year at Minnesota and first year as a head coach in the Big Ten.

Given Kirk Ferentz is the dean of college football coaches, being the most-tenured coach, he’s faced many opposing Big Ten coaches in their first go-round in the conference. There are a few high-profile ones who he hasn’t – James Franklin had two years at Penn State before playing Iowa and Jim Harbaugh had a year at Michigan before the Wolverines came to Kinnick and lost last year, for example – but he and Iowa have done well against fresh Big Ten coaches.

Ferentz’s Hawkeyes have faced 24 coaches competing in their first year in the Big Ten (out of the 37 coaches who have been or are at the other Big Ten schools) and Iowa has a 15-9 record in those games. When the games are at Kinnick, like Saturday’s, Iowa is 9-5. Ferentz welcomed guys like Michigan State’s Mark Dantonio (2007), Wisconsin’s Paul Chryst (2015), Illinois’ Lovie Smith (2016), Nebraska’s Mike Riley (2015) and Michigan’s Brady Hoke (2011) with victories. On the other hand, Bret Bielema returned to Kinnick with Wisconsin in 2006 and left with a win.

Of the current Big Ten head coaches, Ferentz only faced six of the 13 in their first Big Ten seasons, losing only to Pat Fitzgerald and Northwestern in 2006.

Ferentz has been around a long time, and several schools have changed coaches several times. Fleck is the fifth Minnesota head man since Ferentz started. The only school with more in Ferentz’s tenure is Indiana with six, which had Cam Cameron when Ferentz started, then followed him with Gerry DiNardo, Terry Hoeppner, Bill Lynch, Kevin Wilson and now Tom Allen.

2. Those guys in ____

Around here, Brian Ferentz’s summer comments about recruiting caused a stir – but most of the conversation was about “the guys in Ames.” That’s natural, of course, given the in-state rivalry and its proximity. But the other part of that sentence caused just as much of a stir with the corresponding fanbase and media contingent.

As told to the Des Moines Register on their podcast, Ferentz said, in part, “What has sped things up (in recruiting) in our state, especially, is the guys in Ames and then the new guys in Minneapolis seem to have no problem really throwing early things out.”

Social and traditional media north of the border were just as alive with coverage of that quote as it was in central Iowa.

The Minneapolis Star-Tribune covered it from a couple angles, reacting to the quote initially and then following up at Big Ten football media day with what Kirk Ferentz had to say about it. Fleck and the Gophers’ 2018 class has 24 commits as of Monday and ranks 34th in the nation.

Given Minnesota fans’ “Who hates Iowa?” chant, it’s reasonable to assume they haven’t forgotten this.