Two years into the PJ Fleck era, the Gophers program is...?

Two years into the PJ Fleck era, the Gophers program is...?

  • Fleck has the program further along than I expected

    Votes: 38 25.9%

  • Fleck has the program exactly where I expected

    Votes: 95 64.6%

  • Fleck has the program not as far along as I expected

    Votes: 14 9.5%
  • Total voters
    147
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gopher8190 said:
I see a lot of comments about how they are disappointed in the number of wins in 2017. Not only is the question about where the team is NOW, but why in the world are so many concerned NOW about what our record was in 2017? This site is truly depressing. We have the youngest team in the country and we just won a game we hadn't won since 1994 and 71% of voters in this thread don't think we are further along than expected?????? I don't get it.
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Wow...give me a break.
 


PMWinSTP said:
Fleck should be a handful of games above .500 overall, so below where I expected. No reason he couldn't be 16-10 or 17-9 right now.
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You're so right. Should have gone 9-3 with Demry Croft last year and the team with an entirely new coaching staff.

Good call
 

PMWinSTP said:
Fleck should be a handful of games above .500 overall, so below where I expected. No reason he couldn't be 16-10 or 17-9 right now.
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Vegas only had us as a favorite in 8 games over those two years.
 



gopher8190 said:
I see a lot of comments about how they are disappointed in the number of wins in 2017. Not only is the question about where the team is NOW, but why in the world are so many concerned NOW about what our record was in 2017? This site is truly depressing. We have the youngest team in the country and we just won a game we hadn't won since 1994 and 71% of voters in this thread don't think we are further along than expected?????? I don't get it.
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We just NOW finished 7-6. You don’t understand how only 29% of people find that better than expected?


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His only fault is hiring the wrong DC and then not firing him quicker. It cost us wins. That is not ahead of schedule. That said, the future is bright.
 

I expected 6 maybe 7 wins considering all the roster issues he had to deal with. I consider this year a success because he has a long term plan in place to get the team to a level that he will be proud to showcase as Minnesota's team. I know he has high expectations and I trust that he knows more about building a team than us average GH'ers. If you have a better plan then you are not on GH.
 



Joe Hardy said:
On the rise. Our QB situation is clearly improved. We have a much improved receiver corps. TE included. Our offensive line is good with a very young group. They are going to get a lot better. Our running back stable is full, with “a pair and a spare.” Running the ball is going to be what we do. We recruited well in D line group, with a good group of red shirt DE’s. We have two good LB’s returning. Our secondary will be much better with the return of Winfield and Sapp. I expect to see the physical team next year for 12 games that we saw in the bowl win.
The most promising thing about this team is their growth during the season. This is the result of good coaching.
We may not win the west next year, but whoever does, will have to take it from us. That’s where we realistically should be in year three. We will be in a better bowl game next year too.
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I think your comments reflect the most appropriate framework to view this question (rather than dwelling on whether or not we won enough games during the past two years). I've been a dedicated Gopher fan for only 6 years but I've never been this optimistic before about what this program has returning combined with what recruits that will be arriving. You checked all the reasons to believe this program is headed in a very good direction for the near future. Yes, we may not win the West but there are legitimate reasons to believe we have a very fair chance to do that.
 

gopher8190 said:
I see a lot of comments about how they are disappointed in the number of wins in 2017. Not only is the question about where the team is NOW, but why in the world are so many concerned NOW about what our record was in 2017? This site is truly depressing. We have the youngest team in the country and we just won a game we hadn't won since 1994 and 71% of voters in this thread don't think we are further along than expected?????? I don't get it.
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If we are farther along than you think, then that can be your answer. I don't think it is unreasonable to say that 7-6 is behind where we would want to be. Even Brewster, who seems to be the near-unanimous choice for worst coach in recent memory, was able to go 7-6 in year two. Our last few games have me pretty optimistic for next year, but I hoped we would win more games this year.
 

If we win 10 games next year does that mean we weren't far enough along today? My point being that sometimes the record doesn't always quite indicate where exactly the program is and where it is heading.
 
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Most expectations are win loss based and rightfully so. He’s met my expectations as far as on field discipline and recruiting. We seem to have more talented players headed to the U.
 



scools12 said:
Funny stuff
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Means a lot coming from you (sarcasm). Two games last year, which would have meant a bowl game and chance for an additional win, and at least two games this year, so very easily could have 16-17 wins. As shown in other threads, a solid majority of GHers agree with that assessment. Not sure how you can agree with that and also think he's at expectations or further along than expected.
 

btowngopher said:
If we win 10 games next year does that mean we weren't far enough along today? My point being that sometimes the record doesn't always quite indicate where exactly the program is and where it is heading.
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Yes, absolutely.
 

btowngopher said:
If we win 10 games next year does that mean we weren't far enough along today? My point being that <b>sometimes the record doesn't always quite indicate where exactly the program is </b>and where it is heading.
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Bill Parcells would disagree with you.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

PMWinSTP said:
Means a lot coming from you (sarcasm). Two games last year, which would have meant a bowl game and chance for an additional win, and at least two games this year, so very easily could have 16-17 wins. As shown in other threads, a solid majority of GHers agree with that assessment. Not sure how you can agree with that and also think he's at expectations or further along than expected.
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Funny stuff.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 



The last 4 games have me optimistic and feeling they're on right track.

Had we lost bowl game, I wouldn't have been too worried

Had we gone 0-3 down stretch, many of us optimistic fans would be worried, and the neutral fans would be a full panic fire PJ mode
 


love him or hate him, up to this point his predictions of where the Gophers would be have been right on the money. I am not a fan of paddles and slogans but I am a fan of cutting down on penalties, being able to run the football, and developing players. This is happening. The team plays a smart, confident brand of football and the improvement this season has been very visible especially since early November. The picture he had been painting all the way back to his introductory press conference seems be on schedule, in full color. He hasn't reached the finish line but his progress there, despite the defensive coordinator spot being a speed bump, is right on schedule.
 

It's funny how detailed and heavy the discussion about this topic gets (everywhere).

But really there is only one question you need to answer.

Do I want to ride this out and see where it goes for another year?

That's it. If it is yes, then the coach is good and he should get all the support from the fans and AD and U and so on.

To be clear I'm not saying anyone can't say they don't like him or think he won't do well, that's fine, but ultimately there's no stats discussion that means much if you're willing to see where it goes. Grades and such just don't matter at that point.

Example: I liked TC but was highly skeptical of his HC abilities from the start, but I was willing to see where it went, and there ya go I would have kept running with him, question answered.
 
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btowngopher said:
How can you say the program is behind where it should be if we win 10 games next year??
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Because winning 10 games next year has no bearing on where Gophs are today. I think they are not as far along as they should be right now, and absolutely think they can win 10 games in 2019.
 

Where is the "Faalele has the offensive line further along than I expected" choice?
 


PMWinSTP said:
Because winning 10 games next year has no bearing on where Gophs are today. I think they are not as far along as they should be right now, and absolutely think they can win 10 games in 2019.
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So you have expectations of winning at least 8 games and ten is absolutely possible, but you think the program isn’t where it should be at this point under Fleck? You have some lofty expectations. Aren’t you basing the ten game possibility on where the program is today?
 

Panthadad2 said:
Voted "where I expected" but that's not a perfect description. I had hoped for a better record in year 2 so that's below expecations (Illinois, Nebraska/Maryland killed that). However, the level of play shown in the latter part of the season coming from so many young players, both talentwise and mentally, has shown me more potential than I've seen since the early 2000s and will hopefully far surpass those teams actual performance. So the team's promise at this point exceeded my expecations.

I understand that the team's academic performance has been pretty impressive so there's that too.
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Pretty much where I fall as well. I expected 2017 to be a rough year with the way the roster was setup and like you I also would have liked to see a little better overall result this year.

That said, the team this year dealt with a number of key injuries to some of the best players on the team and that is tough for any team without great depth to overcome.

Have posted it before but considering who we were playing without, the play at the end of the season after the DC switch is nothing short of amazing. We dominated Purdue, Wisconsin and Georgia Tech and would have beaten Northwestern without the critical turnovers on offense. None of those teams are elite but none of them were pushovers either.

Even though they were not what they have been in recent years, going into Wisconsin and man handling the Badgers on their turf is not something that Minnesota teams usually do.

Overall I think we are right about on schedule with where we should be 2 years in but I also feel like we are setup really well for the future. Fleck has done a nice job of filling some positions that have been major weaknesses in recent years and building on the foundation that was left by the old staff.

We have not seen this kind of offensive potential around here in a long time. Combine that with what should be a very experienced defensive unit and the ingredients are there for a heck of a season if a few things break right next year.
 

btowngopher said:
So you have expectations of winning at least 8 games and ten is absolutely possible, but you think the program isn’t where it should be at this point under Fleck? You have some lofty expectations. Aren’t you basing the ten game possibility on where the program is today?
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Correct. I don't think most GHers consider eight regular season wins next year as lofty. No, I'm not, for me 8 regular season wins this year would be right where I expected, and most GHers polled agree. I looked at the body of the season and made my determination.
 

What I find most important about Fleck’s coaching is his insistance on growth and development athletically, academically, socially and spiritually. This human developmental plan will separate us from the pack of other 3 star schools. But a dramatic change that many people don’t quite understand will take more than 3 years. And helping boys become men is a win that doesn’t show up in the standings. So I don’t have any benchmarks to achieve as long as things continue to move forward.
 

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