"Fleck did have to rebuild. 9 wins and not sniffing the conference title should not be viewed as the pinnacle for this program."
Well, no one suggested that 9 wins should be viewed as the pinnacle of the program so you're making a false argument.
"Everyone is so worried that we aren't mediocre again this year."
You went with your emotions in this post and as you proceeded through it your wording became successively dumber. First of all, if you mean "average" is mediocre, then I guess we were mediocre. The truth is that over the previous four years, this team was the best team of the bottom 7 of the Big Ten. That makes the team "average" over that time period in one of the better FBS conferences rather than mediocre.
Am I satisfied that the Gophers didn't go beyond "average" over the time period? Well, no, but I sure as hell prefer average over doormat which is what we have been this year.
"The goal is to get past that"
Yeah, well don't all coaches say that?
There are people like you in every fan base. The new boss will alway be the savior who is better than the old boss. Maybe Fleck will be but we'll see.
Does taking a step back to achieve that really matter?
If you have empirical evidence that having a terrible year in college sports makes a team better in the long run and improves chances for success in the future, please give us the citation. This isn't pro sports where terrible years get you higher draft picks.