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Imagine how weird it would be for all of us to phase out our current RTB mantra and stop saying RTB? Then see another program buying in on all of the RTB BS with Fleck as their new HC? Be so weird to see another program say RTB, right?
 

Yah-E said:
Imagine how weird it would be for all of us to phase out our current RTB mantra and stop saying RTB? Then see another program buying in on all of the RTB BS with Fleck as their new HC? Be so weird to see another program say RTB, right?
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Like Western Michigan? That would be so weird.
 

If the Gophers remain outside the group of NIL-rich teams, it might just be that regular 6–8 win seasons will represent success and the pinnacle of recruiting. I’m OK with our being in the NIL-poor group. We graduate good student-citizens who have played football principally for an education. Corporations, esp. large publicly-held corporations, aren’t going to be dropping millions on unknown, socially-unpredictable 18 year olds to buy commercially worthless NIL rights. Big NIL money will remain uniquely the province of boosters who used to work through sleazy bagmen. And Gopher recruiting will not see any 5*s, or many 4*s, no matter who the coach is, so long as big NIL money is legal. This is reality. PJ is a good recruiter, HC and cheer leader for the U in such an environment. Just wish he’d run a slightly more creative offense …
 


I LOVE Coach Fleck and am grateful for what he has done for the program. My son, a sophomore at The U, thinks the world of Coach Fleck and tells me he is the most popular person on campus. I live in Indiana but go to 1-2 games every year and can tell you the atmosphere and 'feel' are different since Coach Fleck came aboard....I may even go this weekend. I am frustrated about the last three games...and the Bowling Green loss...and the entire COVID year...and the recruiting flat-line...but I still think we are better WITH Coach Fleck than WITHOUT. I urge you all to give him some more time!
 



Word said:
Like Western Michigan? That would be so weird.
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Yeah, but WMU didn’t get the full grown older matured Fleck like we did and Fleck wasnt there for 6+ years!

RTB is more immersed into Gophers than anywhere

Should I say, gophers will forever be know as RTB football team

Therefore much weirder when fleck leaves and migrate RTB else where

Not going to miss it, but just saying it’ll be weird because we had this RTB saying for 10+ years!

I still have a “Brew Crew” tshirt! You know many RTB short sleeved shirts, long sleeved tshirts, sweatshirts, caps, sweat pants, underwear, zip ups, posters, screensavers, and decals I have?
 

Indiana Gopher said:
I LOVE Coach Fleck and am grateful for what he has done for the program. My son, a sophomore at The U, thinks the world of Coach Fleck and tells me he is the most popular person on campus. I live in Indiana but go to 1-2 games every year and can tell you the atmosphere and 'feel' are different since Coach Fleck came aboard....I may even go this weekend. I am frustrated about the last three games...and the Bowling Green loss...and the entire COVID year...and the recruiting flat-line...but I still think we are better WITH Coach Fleck than WITHOUT. I urge you all to give him some more time!
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I will agree with you there. He has created a buzz among the younger fans which this program needed. A few years ago I never would have imagined my daughter (not a big sports fan) would some day be a Gopher football student season ticket holder, but she is now (a freshman) and she enjoys the games.
 

Yah-E said:
Yeah, but WMU didn’t get the full grown older matured Fleck like we did and Fleck wasnt there for 6+ years!

RTB is more immersed into Gophers than anywhere

Should I say, gophers will forever be know as RTB football team

Therefore much weirder when fleck leaves and migrate RTB else where

Not going to miss it, but just saying it’ll be weird because we had this RTB saying for 10+ years!

I still have a “Brew Crew” tshirt! You know many RTB short sleeved shirts, long sleeved tshirts, sweatshirts, caps, sweat pants, underwear, zip ups, posters, screensavers, and decals I have?
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Ski-U-Mah is forever ours. RTB is Fleck. Brick By Brick is Kill.
 



Yah-E said:
Imagine how weird it would be for all of us to phase out our current RTB mantra and stop saying RTB? Then see another program buying in on all of the RTB BS with Fleck as their new HC? Be so weird to see another program say RTB, right?
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not for me

I don't mind the RTB stuff, but I realize it's a fleck thing. Once fleck is done, so is RTB here



now if another school steals Ski U Mah, heads will ROLL
 







SallysEnthusiast said:
Sure, we're better than we were in 70s-90s, but ask yourself: are we really happy being perennially "decent"? The Fleck era was supposed to facilitate that leap from good to great. It just hasn't happened, and 6 years is a more than substantial sample size.
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For sure OP.
I am struggling not to his the thumbs up button on your post... my brain says your right, my heart says your wrong.
I gotta believe....at least one more year I have to believe in the guy. But let's just say I do believe in him next season, with a first year QB what's a realistic ceiling for the year and is that ceiling high enough to satisfy the fan base and keep us rowing? Man, this season will def go down as such a missed opportunity.
 

SallysEnthusiast said:
Fleck has been able to bring better talent through the door but the vast majority have transferred. Kill kept his guys home and developed them. His 2016 class was the backbone of our 2019 team.
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Fleck's 2020-2022 classes average out at 10 in the B1G conference. He's sitting at 9 for 2023 at this time. In the time NIL $'s how is a team like MN with a full slate of professional teams in town supposed to compete? It's an uphill battle.

I think he is providing MN with a really competitive product. I'm concerned with his future recruiting when his bread and butter is B1G states that have really good coaches competing for talent. His 7-year average is about 8-9 in the conference, and he's been able to be competitive during that time. Could somone out recruit him and MN, maybe. Could someone be better at development or game coaching, probably.

Since he took the job:
1. Wisconsin .680 in Conference (Fleck 2-3 vs)
2. Iowa .604 (0-5)
3. Northwestern .553 (2-2)
4. Purdue .489 (4-2)
5. Fleck .468
6. Illinois .312 (3-3)
7. Nebraska .270 (4-1)
 

SallysEnthusiast said:
The 2019 season was largely the fruit of Kill’s labor and the ensuing three seasons have only further proved that.
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Fleck and staff still deserve credit for the continued development of some of those players. Tyler Johnson, for instance, had 14 career receptions before Fleck took over. He ended up developing into one of the best WRs in the conference.

There were lots of key players on that 2019 team that were recruited by Fleck.
 

Panthadad2 said:
October 17, 2022 join date. GTFOH. Douche.
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Ah yes, gatekeeping.
Everyone knows that's exactly what our fanbase needs.

Let's definitely just eat each other's young and tear ourselves apart. Lord knows there isn't enough of that on a macro level in our society right now.

One of the fun things about immersing yourself in a subculture is having to be raked over coals for existing. Truly the sign of a fun place to be.
 


proudgopher said:
Totally agree with you on Coyle. He is a weak stick. The Stadium and Athlete's Village were alll done under someone else's watch. What has he done to pay off our debt? Also, he is the recipient of the largest TV package in the U's history. The revenue alone from the projected TV income will cover most of the athletic dept's budget. He didn't negotiate this package. The BIG administration did. This largess just fell in his lap.
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Agreed. Coyle has been dead in the water for awhile and isn't in the best graces of the athletic community on campus.
 

Let me start with this: Williams Arena was a blast in the 1990s, even before the Final Four. Conference records for the five years before the Final Four were 8-10, 11-7, 10-8, 10-8, 10-8. But we could beat anybody in the country at home on a given day. It felt like we were good. Then we had a magical season.

I think one's age has a lot to do with football expectations, but no matter your age, we will never be Ohio State or Michigan. Ever. Never ever. I'm not even sure we can be what Wisconsin has been for the past 30 years (and I'm not convinced Wisconsin will continue that, either). And NIL and unlimited coaching staffs, etc., on the way will only make it worse.

So what can we be?

Iowa is probably on that next step down from there, and most people outside of Gopherhole would consider Iowa to be a "better" program than us right now. But our records over the past eight years or so are pretty similar. The difference is that they've had the occasional magic season -- two during that time, to be exact. Beat a Michigan or Penn State once in a while. And, importantly, they've been more consistent, avoiding losing seasons. We're not quite there yet, but I think that's all we need.

We had one pretty magical season. We didn't win a championship in 2019, but it was tremendous fun. Students, casual fans and the diehards were all engaged. We rushed the field. We played on Jan. 1. If we can do that and play competitive games with the best teams most years, most people will stay engaged. Not everybody, but most.
 

salzie said:
so long as you don't count our starting QB, WR, LG, RG, RT, third WR, starting LE, Saftey, key players in secondary as part of the back bone
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Coughlin, Seth Green, Tyler Johnson, Schlueter, Kamal Martin, Coney Durr, Connor Olson, Antoine Winfield Jr and Ko Kieft were all 2016 guys, and made up more of the 2019 starting/rotational lineup than any other class. Yes, they were the backbone of that roster.
 

Indiana Gopher said:
I LOVE Coach Fleck and am grateful for what he has done for the program. My son, a sophomore at The U, thinks the world of Coach Fleck and tells me he is the most popular person on campus. I live in Indiana but go to 1-2 games every year and can tell you the atmosphere and 'feel' are different since Coach Fleck came aboard....I may even go this weekend. I am frustrated about the last three games...and the Bowling Green loss...and the entire COVID year...and the recruiting flat-line...but I still think we are better WITH Coach Fleck than WITHOUT. I urge you all to give him some more time!
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I'm interested to see how the next few classes pan out. I'd love to give the guy more time - not rooting for anyone to lose their job here. I think his results don't align with his brand yet (hopefully) and address the problems our team has instead of sweeping them under the rug.
 

SallysEnthusiast said:
Let’s be realistic - this program hasn’t changed under Fleck. The 2019 season was largely the fruit of Kill’s labor and the ensuing three seasons have only further proved that. With the 2023 schedule looking difficult and the current sentiment surrounding the program, it’s not out of question we can Fleck or he walks to a different program in the next 18 months. Fleck's persona, hypocritical behavior and inexplicable loyalty to his WMU players is clearly turning athletes and fans off of our program, and it would be in our best interest to at least consider our options in 2023 and 2024. We deserve a coach who will give our offense a pulse, adjust to adversity when our gameplan falls flat and bring in talent to put us in position to win the west.

In this scenario Rossi (paired with a great offensive mind at OC if not KC) is the obvious answer and would help keep our top talent in-house, but an experienced coach (preferably a coach or coordinator from a team with success against ranked opponents) could tip the scales too. Any thoughts on other potential hires?

Sure, we're better than we were in 70s-90s, but ask yourself: are we really happy being perennially "decent"? The Fleck era was supposed to facilitate that leap from good to great. It just hasn't happened, and 6 years is a more than substantial sample size.
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I disagree, they have been competitive almost every year and have had some good years also. Can’t fix 20 years of mediocre football right away. Have won the ax 2 of 4 and sometime they will figure out how to beat those pig farmers from Iowa. Did you think he was going to come into Minnesota and just slap Wisconsin and Iowa around. Those are good programs with lots of history. It takes time.
 



Cobra said:
I like coach Fleck. He’s just the wrong guy for the job. The sooner he takes another job or gets fired the quicker we can get the right coach for the job and move forward.
I wish him well in all his future endeavors!
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Uh huh. Please tell us: who is "the right coach"?
 

SallysEnthusiast said:
Coughlin, Seth Green, Tyler Johnson, Schlueter, Kamal Martin, Coney Durr, Connor Olson, Antoine Winfield Jr and Ko Kieft were all 2016 guys, and made up more of the 2019 starting/rotational lineup than any other class. Yes, they were the backbone of that roster.
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You're being ridiculous trying to credit kill
 

proudgopher said:
Totally agree with you on Coyle. He is a weak stick. The Stadium and Athlete's Village were alll done under someone else's watch. What has he done to pay off our debt? Also, he is the recipient of the largest TV package in the U's history. The revenue alone from the projected TV income will cover most of the athletic dept's budget. He didn't negotiate this package. The BIG administration did. This largess just fell in his lap.
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Which Big Ten AD negotiated the deal that dropped all this in Coyle's lap?
 

salzie said:
You think this is nuts, look at Packer fans

first three game losing streak in 4 years and they want everyone canned
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Yes. Typical sports fan stuff. Very predictable: Very emotional, extremely knee-jerk reactionary. Kind of funny in a way.
 

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