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ncgo4 said:
We've made a great move with our HC. We've made several stellar moves with assistants. We've had very good news with recruits. Most importantly our Admin has put the money where their mouths are.

What's next? Well first, we get through NSD. If we can add just 1 or 2 key additions to what is now a pretty good group we will move up in the class rankings. Then we'll see Fleck in the community to open the wallets of all of these Fortune 500 companies. I believe that this could be THE most amazing surprise of all. Hell he raised money in Kalamazoo, for gosh sake, whadda ya think he could do here? I really think our own version of Elmer Gantry could really bring around some very serious cash.

I also think he will do everything in his arsenal to fill our stadium for the Spring scrimmage. By all reports he's got a hell of an arsenal. If we could get, say, 40,000 fans in the stadium all hell could break loose. Especially for recruiting and donations. Next few months is going to be fun.
Click to expand...

Insert Rick Grimes "Where we've been and whats going on" GIF here
 

Atl Gopher said:
I believe Fleck will eventually fill TCF for the spring game and beyond. He has already said he wants a sell out for the spring game. I believe his first spring game will have a percentage of fill-up in direct proportion with first-year expectations and media projections for the team's potential to win the West, as we get closer to the game.

I heard one of the BTN guys state recently that we had a shot at the West because we graduated only 13 players. Of course that perception will change based on the fate of the 10 suspended players, who will step-up prior to the game QB wise, any additional transfers out beyond Moore and Winfield JR(it would not surprise me if Fleck get's Winfield JR to stay), how elite the recruiting class rounds out over the next 19 days, etc.

Look at what Fleck has done in one week. I don't know about the rest of you, but I thought about taking a class virtually at Alabama, and turning in my life time alumni association membership pre-Fleck :) It is unreal. When is the spring game; 3 or 4 months from now? I got a feeling if Fleck wants the stadium full, he will make it so.
Click to expand...

I doubt the Fleck is a miracle worker. That's what it will take to change the program into a perannual(sp) power house.

The seeds are barely out of the package and not yet into the ground. We could end up with a bumper crop or see it get hailed out with no return. I think we can expect something in between.
 

For the first time in my lifetime, the U is actually making the financial commitment to truly excelling at football.
The fact that the Gophers have won as much as they have the last 50 years, and have gone to as many bowls
as they have, is nothing short of a miracle. Its told me that Minnesota is SUPPOSED to win at football, and now they
have a chance to win big again.
 


Need to find a QB or two and a few d backs and we could be in good shape.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 



I think Fleck could win multiple National Championships here and still not fill TCF for the Spring Game. That only happens in a few places with huge football tradition, warmer April weather, and few other sports or other civic events to compete with.

We'll see the Gophers filling up a 2nd deck at 85K on a regular basis in B1G games before we see 50K+ at the Spring Game, barring some crazy promotional incentive to fill the place.
 

Some history is needed here.....

For the first half of the 20th century, Minnesota was regarded as among the giants of the sport, right along with Notre Dame, Michigan, Yale,
Army, and a small select handful of others.

Nebraska had always been good, as had Wisconsin and Iowa for the most part.

It was about at the early 1950's when an anti-football sentiment began to slowly creep into consciousness at the U. The Gophers remained competitive
in the Big Ten through the 1960s with everyone else, but academic pressures coupled with budget cutbacks slowed down the Gopher program a bunch.
It wasn't just the U, either. Going into the 70s, only Ohio State and Michigan really amped up their commitments to football success. What had been an
historical "Biggest Three" of the Big Ten (Minnesota, Ohio State, Michigan) had become a Big Two and Little Eight.

As Minnesota waned, Nebraska filled the void and really benefited from the vacuum caused by apathy at the U. They emerged strong under Devaney in the
60s, and reached epic levels of success in the 70s, 80s and 90s.

When Hayden Fry took over at Iowa, Iowa once again made the commitment to be strong in football, and Rose Bowls followed. They returned to the levels
of Howard Jones and Forrest Evashevski. Minnesota waned further, and Iowa helped Nebraska fill the void in the northern plains.

In the 90s, Wisconsin decided to amp up their commitment as well, and the U fell behind them as Alvarez rebuilt the Wisconsin program.

An argument could be made that the great successes of the Nebraska, Iowa, and Wisconsin programs had been built, in part, with the help of
the waning influence of Minnesota. Its as though this once great football giant had fallen asleep, and our neighbors reaped the benefits.

Don't believe me? Go look at conference titles and national titles through 1969. Take a good look at the series records between Minnesota
and those teams through 1969. Minnesota was the true Goliath of the northern plains. Iowa, Wisconsin and Nebraska were just in the U's
shadow.

Here's what I find admirable about the coaches and players at Minnesota for the last 50 years or so.......

Despite minimal funding and tepid support....despite a deliberate attempt to put football simply on a maintenance level by the administration,
Gopher football has delivered many winning teams and bowl games. Despite a couple of decided multi-year down periods during the Salem
and Wacker eras, Gopher football has at least been competitive and often on the plus side of winning seasons. That is a testament to the
players, coaches, and support staff who have made something from nothing. I have often wondered what Gopher football could have been
like had they maintained the level of support for the sport they long enjoyed before. How successful could Stoll have been....even Salem.
What that would have meant to Holtz or Gutey. Mason would have added a couple of wins per year and coached here 20 years.

Finally....finally.....the U is ponying up the money to take being successful in football serious. Not competitiveness....success.

This is not a very big gamble, imho. All one has to do is look at the number of 6-5 & 7-4 teams Stoll had.....the 6-5 seasons Gutey had......
the winning and bowl teams Mason and Kill/Claeys have had.....to know that if we only started to give this thing the resources it needs the U
would win big consistently.

Iowa, Wisconsin, and Nebraska might be getting a bit wary right about now. If not, they should. They have feasted on this prolonged
nap that the U has taken with football like remora around a shark. If the resources that the U, the Twin Cities, and the state of Minnesota
are applied towards having a highly successful program, they have to believe that they would not be able to keep up. They can't. Those same
resources do not exist in WI, IA, or NE. Minnesota would return as the leading program in this part of the country, and they could stay there.

The present tends to create a prism through which the past is viewed. The Gophers haven't "sucked" these last 50 years, although listening
to some people you would think they did. They have been competitive and have created a boatload of stories. However, that view is largely
reflective of the average fan's view of the program and the lack of support from the U. If/when the Gophers start to reassert themselves
as the dominant program in the BIG West, people will reflect more on the positive things from the past 50 years than the negative. the entire
conception of the Gopher program and its recent past will be changed. National Championships will not seem so distant in the past, and
division and BIG Championships will be in the conversation every year.

That is Minnesota's rightful place in the College Football world. It was built by Williams, maintained by Spears, brought to amazing levels
by Bierman, and grabbed onto the best he could by Warmath. No matter who the coach is at the U, and I hope its Fleck, if the U continues
thsi level of support the Gophers will win. Its simple math, history, and everything else we learned in school.

Ski-U-Mah!
 

Metrolax- nice!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 



ncgo4 said:
We've made a great move with our HC. We've made several stellar moves with assistants. We've had very good news with recruits. Most importantly our Admin has put the money where their mouths are.

What's next? Well first, we get through NSD. If we can add just 1 or 2 key additions to what is now a pretty good group we will move up in the class rankings. Then we'll see Fleck in the community to open the wallets of all of these Fortune 500 companies. I believe that this could be THE most amazing surprise of all. Hell he raised money in Kalamazoo, for gosh sake, whadda ya think he could do here? I really think our own version of Elmer Gantry could really bring around some very serious cash.

I also think he will do everything in his arsenal to fill our stadium for the Spring scrimmage. By all reports he's got a hell of an arsenal. If we could get, say, 40,000 fans in the stadium all hell could break loose. Especially for recruiting and donations. Next few months is going to be fun.
Click to expand...

If Fleck can get that noted booster unicorn, T. Denny Sanford, to finally open up his wallet for a fat donation, that will prove there's nothing he can't do.
 

Thanks for posting that Metrolax! Great information that connects a lot of the dots for many of us.
 

metrolax said:
That is Minnesota's rightful place in the College Football world. It was built by Williams, maintained by Spears, brought to amazing levels
by Bierman, and grabbed onto the best he could by Warmath. No matter who the coach is at the U, and I hope its Fleck, if the U continues
thsi level of support the Gophers will win. Its simple math, history, and everything else we learned in school.

Ski-U-Mah!
Click to expand...

It's as if you channeled the spirit of Mussolini as he waxed poetically about the return of the Roman Empire... [emoji41] [emoji57] [emoji8]
 

metrolax said:
Some history is needed here.....

For the first half of the 20th century, Minnesota was regarded as among the giants of the sport, right along with Notre Dame, Michigan, Yale,
Army, and a small select handful of others.

Nebraska had always been good, as had Wisconsin and Iowa for the most part.

It was about at the early 1950's when an anti-football sentiment began to slowly creep into consciousness at the U. The Gophers remained competitive
in the Big Ten through the 1960s with everyone else, but academic pressures coupled with budget cutbacks slowed down the Gopher program a bunch.
It wasn't just the U, either. Going into the 70s, only Ohio State and Michigan really amped up their commitments to football success. What had been an
historical "Biggest Three" of the Big Ten (Minnesota, Ohio State, Michigan) had become a Big Two and Little Eight.

As Minnesota waned, Nebraska filled the void and really benefited from the vacuum caused by apathy at the U. They emerged strong under Devaney in the
60s, and reached epic levels of success in the 70s, 80s and 90s.

When Hayden Fry took over at Iowa, Iowa once again made the commitment to be strong in football, and Rose Bowls followed. They returned to the levels
of Howard Jones and Forrest Evashevski. Minnesota waned further, and Iowa helped Nebraska fill the void in the northern plains.

In the 90s, Wisconsin decided to amp up their commitment as well, and the U fell behind them as Alvarez rebuilt the Wisconsin program.

An argument could be made that the great successes of the Nebraska, Iowa, and Wisconsin programs had been built, in part, with the help of
the waning influence of Minnesota. Its as though this once great football giant had fallen asleep, and our neighbors reaped the benefits.

Don't believe me? Go look at conference titles and national titles through 1969. Take a good look at the series records between Minnesota
and those teams through 1969. Minnesota was the true Goliath of the northern plains. Iowa, Wisconsin and Nebraska were just in the U's
shadow.

Here's what I find admirable about the coaches and players at Minnesota for the last 50 years or so.......

Despite minimal funding and tepid support....despite a deliberate attempt to put football simply on a maintenance level by the administration,
Gopher football has delivered many winning teams and bowl games. Despite a couple of decided multi-year down periods during the Salem
and Wacker eras, Gopher football has at least been competitive and often on the plus side of winning seasons. That is a testament to the
players, coaches, and support staff who have made something from nothing. I have often wondered what Gopher football could have been
like had they maintained the level of support for the sport they long enjoyed before. How successful could Stoll have been....even Salem.
What that would have meant to Holtz or Gutey. Mason would have added a couple of wins per year and coached here 20 years.

Finally....finally.....the U is ponying up the money to take being successful in football serious. Not competitiveness....success.

This is not a very big gamble, imho. All one has to do is look at the number of 6-5 & 7-4 teams Stoll had.....the 6-5 seasons Gutey had......
the winning and bowl teams Mason and Kill/Claeys have had.....to know that if we only started to give this thing the resources it needs the U
would win big consistently.

Iowa, Wisconsin, and Nebraska might be getting a bit wary right about now. If not, they should. They have feasted on this prolonged
nap that the U has taken with football like remora around a shark. If the resources that the U, the Twin Cities, and the state of Minnesota
are applied towards having a highly successful program, they have to believe that they would not be able to keep up. They can't. Those same
resources do not exist in WI, IA, or NE. Minnesota would return as the leading program in this part of the country, and they could stay there.

The present tends to create a prism through which the past is viewed. The Gophers haven't "sucked" these last 50 years, although listening
to some people you would think they did. They have been competitive and have created a boatload of stories. However, that view is largely
reflective of the average fan's view of the program and the lack of support from the U. If/when the Gophers start to reassert themselves
as the dominant program in the BIG West, people will reflect more on the positive things from the past 50 years than the negative. the entire
conception of the Gopher program and its recent past will be changed. National Championships will not seem so distant in the past, and
division and BIG Championships will be in the conversation every year.

That is Minnesota's rightful place in the College Football world. It was built by Williams, maintained by Spears, brought to amazing levels
by Bierman, and grabbed onto the best he could by Warmath. No matter who the coach is at the U, and I hope its Fleck, if the U continues
thsi level of support the Gophers will win. Its simple math, history, and everything else we learned in school.

Ski-U-Mah!
Click to expand...

There is an old joke about a man who walks into a jewelry store in a Friday afternoon with a beautiful woman on his arm and lets her pick out the biggest most expensive diamond necklace she wants.

She is ecstatic and clearly eager to demonstrate her appreciation for this gift.

The man produces a check to the salesman, who explains that they will have to wait until the check clears before they can take the necklace. He informs them he will personally go to the bank to handle the transaction and that they should be able to pick up the necklace on Monday afternoon.

On Monday afternoon, the Man. Ones into the store alone and the salesman turns bright red and starts screaming at him:

"I DIDN'T EXPECT TO EVER SEE YOU AGAIN! WHAT KIND OF A CHARLATEN ARE YOU! THERE WASN'T ENOUGH MONEY IN YOUR ACCOUNT TO PAY FOR ONE QUARTER OF THAT NECKLACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The man calmly replied, "I'm sorry about that. I had no intention of ever buying that necklace or coming back here, but it just wasn't right to not come back and that I you for giving me the most amazing weekend of my life."

I'm glad the U has made the noise to change the game and actually support the athletics department and football. What I don't overlook is the character of the men involved, the reason I believe they've made the moves and how they've handled the scandal, the firing and everything in between except throwing enough money at Fleck to get him to come.

I don't believe that Kaler has any concern or commitment to the football program beyond covering his ass and trying to get his contract renewed. I've been unimpressed with Coyle although I thought he was a good hire. His mishandling of this situation, and apparent willingness to let the ends justify the means concerns me if and when something will go wrong. His total lack of professionalism at the press conference was Alarming. The regents response - we spent too much/how we gonna pay for this? -- the cultural bias against football that remains rampant within the faculty.

Aside from Flecks optimism and energy, nothing substantive has changed. The culture is bad at the U, but not just in athletics and the only thing that's changed is a bigger check was written to cover an even bigger mess. Given the new BTN revenue, what looks like a step up may actually be a decrease in support relative to where we've been in terms if budgetary commitment.

Without strong leadership and a sustained demonstration of support we won't take the next step. Right now, Kaler and Coyle are the guy faking he's going to buy something in order to get what they want and we are the store salesman, excited at our good fortune. The difference is we have the exposure to know before the check is written that it's fake.

Understanding this may make me less than Elite in PJ Flecks assessment. If he was in charge, I'd feel differently. But he's just the coach. An important part, but ultimately, if he tries to hold the admin's feet to the fire to do what it takes to become Elite, who really believes we won't see Mark Coyle making an ass of himself in the we need a change conversation because PJ wouldn't row the boat the way Mark Coyle told him to.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 



Kalamazoo Money

ncgo4 said:
We've made a great move with our HC. We've made several stellar moves with assistants. We've had very good news with recruits. Most importantly our Admin has put the money where their mouths are.

What's next? Well first, we get through NSD. If we can add just 1 or 2 key additions to what is now a pretty good group we will move up in the class rankings. Then we'll see Fleck in the community to open the wallets of all of these Fortune 500 companies. I believe that this could be THE most amazing surprise of all. Hell he raised money in Kalamazoo, for gosh sake, whadda ya think he could do here? I really think our own version of Elmer Gantry could really bring around some very serious cash.

I also think he will do everything in his arsenal to fill our stadium for the Spring scrimmage. By all reports he's got a hell of an arsenal. If we could get, say, 40,000 fans in the stadium all hell could break loose. Especially for recruiting and donations. Next few months is going to be fun.
Click to expand...

Kalamazoo may not be as big as Minney but we have some Fortune500 companies too, Stryker headquarters here 6500 employees, Pfizer has major manufacturing and research in our town, 6000+ employees and just announced more manufacturing plants coming this spring.

We took 30,000 fans to the cotton bowl, you should hear them when the all yell in "Row the Boat" our team went crazy!
 

Don't underestimate Fleck, he can get things done, the only thing he couldn't get our fans to do is some silly "arm motions to music" when it was third down.

He did fill our stadium, hell we went on the road this year on Tuesday nights, MacAction and out numbered the home teams crowds. Fleck is amazing motivator for you team and fans,.....Enjoy him you will only have him till a bigger job opens!
 

caliGopher said:
There is an old joke about a man who walks into a jewelry store in a Friday afternoon with a beautiful woman on his arm and lets her pick out the biggest most expensive diamond necklace she wants.

She is ecstatic and clearly eager to demonstrate her appreciation for this gift.

The man produces a check to the salesman, who explains that they will have to wait until the check clears before they can take the necklace. He informs them he will personally go to the bank to handle the transaction and that they should be able to pick up the necklace on Monday afternoon.

On Monday afternoon, the Man. Ones into the store alone and the salesman turns bright red and starts screaming at him:

"I DIDN'T EXPECT TO EVER SEE YOU AGAIN! WHAT KIND OF A CHARLATEN ARE YOU! THERE WASN'T ENOUGH MONEY IN YOUR ACCOUNT TO PAY FOR ONE QUARTER OF THAT NECKLACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The man calmly replied, "I'm sorry about that. I had no intention of ever buying that necklace or coming back here, but it just wasn't right to not come back and that I you for giving me the most amazing weekend of my life."

I'm glad the U has made the noise to change the game and actually support the athletics department and football. What I don't overlook is the character of the men involved, the reason I believe they've made the moves and how they've handled the scandal, the firing and everything in between except throwing enough money at Fleck to get him to come.

I don't believe that Kaler has any concern or commitment to the football program beyond covering his ass and trying to get his contract renewed. I've been unimpressed with Coyle although I thought he was a good hire. His mishandling of this situation, and apparent willingness to let the ends justify the means concerns me if and when something will go wrong. His total lack of professionalism at the press conference was Alarming. The regents response - we spent too much/how we gonna pay for this? -- the cultural bias against football that remains rampant within the faculty.

Aside from Flecks optimism and energy, nothing substantive has changed. The culture is bad at the U, but not just in athletics and the only thing that's changed is a bigger check was written to cover an even bigger mess. Given the new BTN revenue, what looks like a step up may actually be a decrease in support relative to where we've been in terms if budgetary commitment.

Without strong leadership and a sustained demonstration of support we won't take the next step. Right now, Kaler and Coyle are the guy faking he's going to buy something in order to get what they want and we are the store salesman, excited at our good fortune. The difference is we have the exposure to know before the check is written that it's fake.

Understanding this may make me less than Elite in PJ Flecks assessment. If he was in charge, I'd feel differently. But he's just the coach. An important part, but ultimately, if he tries to hold the admin's feet to the fire to do what it takes to become Elite, who really believes we won't see Mark Coyle making an ass of himself in the we need a change conversation because PJ wouldn't row the boat the way Mark Coyle told him to.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

So we going to get some!
 

Many factors contributed to the overall decline in Gopher football--the Civil Rights Act and desegregation in the south--the Gophers pulled a lot of great players north due to segregation. Vikings pulling Tarkenton back in 67 and actually becoming dominant in the NFL.

But, time and again, scandal has killed football despite the support of the administration. The '72 incident with tOSU's Luke Witte killed donations and crippled the football program in the process. Mason came to the U with the understanding that the administration was "all in" and his funding got cut off at the knees due to the drying up of donations because of the basketball academic scandal. (BTW, I think Mason is the most underrated coach in Gopher history and his firing was a far greater disgrace than Claey's. He stayed and did everything he could when he would have been perfectly justified in leaving. He deserved better.)

If the rumors I hear are right, Coyle wanted Claeys gone and Kaler resisted letting him go for whatever reason (I'd be willing to bet the Win-Loss ratio to salary would have been a big factor.) As rumor has it, corporate donors pushed the issue by basically saying, "Fire Claeys and clean-up the football program or you're not seeing another dime." (Couldn't say I blame them, either--who wants their business name associated with this kind of scandal?)

The difference now is this: TV money is off-the-charts crazy right now and allows a decisive albeit expensive move. Yes, there are the anti-athletics people who'll scream bloody murder about the numbers--and they have a valid point IMO--but the long term health of athletics going forward is more important than Claeys et al.

This cycle of scandal after scandal has got to stop. I hear the rumors coming off campus. It's my understanding that Kill was pressured to keep players better disciplined off-the-field and Kill took it as a personal attack rather than aggressively and decisively taking charge. Claeys basically walked into a storm--and being the old fart I am, I blame Maturi. If he hadn't hired Brewster the Rooster and let the program degrade, none of this would have happened.

Fleck is the right move at the right time. Clean the culture to the ground floor and start over.

On a personal note: I was a fat little 10 year old guy, a little lard ball, and my parents sent me to Lake Geneva Bible Camp. Doug Kingsriter was a counselor there. I wasn't in his group, but for whatever reason, he took an interest in me. I'd run the stopwatch when he did sprints. I'd never seen anyone work so hard without someone making him work that hard. He told me I could play football, too. (If you've ever been the fat kid, you know that's the last thing people tell you. Fat kids don't go to hell--they are in hell.) He was generous, and kind, and an all around decent human being and representative for the Gophers.

Every Saturday I would be glued to the radio listening to the Gophers, and six-seven years later I was Star-Tribune All-State Football player. I wasn't really D1 material, but I did an NAIA scholarship before transferring back to the U.

I've followed Gophers football through all the ups and downs because Kingsriter made me Gopher, in my heart and soul if not on the field.

That's the power of culture. And that's why I support this change so strongly. Hope it works.
 

TruDomGopher said:
On a personal note: I was a fat little 10 year old guy, a little lard ball, and my parents sent me to Lake Geneva Bible Camp. Doug Kingsriter was a counselor there. I wasn't in his group, but for whatever reason, he took an interest in me. I'd run the stopwatch when he did sprints. I'd never seen anyone work so hard without someone making him work that hard. He told me I could play football, too. (If you've ever been the fat kid, you know that's the last thing people tell you. Fat kids don't go to hell--they are in hell.) He was generous, and kind, and an all around decent human being and representative for the Gophers.



Every Saturday I would be glued to the radio listening to the Gophers, and six-seven years later I was Star-Tribune All-State Football player. I wasn't really D1 material, but I did an NAIA scholarship before transferring back to the U.

I've followed Gophers football through all the ups and downs because Kingsriter made me Gopher, in my heart and soul if not on the field.

That's the power of culture. And that's why I support this change so strongly. Hope it works.
Click to expand...

I must tell you, that is quite a good story.
 


TruDomGopher said:
Many factors contributed to the overall decline in Gopher football--the Civil Rights Act and desegregation in the south--the Gophers pulled a lot of great players north due to segregation. Vikings pulling Tarkenton back in 67 and actually becoming dominant in the NFL.

But, time and again, scandal has killed football despite the support of the administration. The '72 incident with tOSU's Luke Witte killed donations and crippled the football program in the process. Mason came to the U with the understanding that the administration was "all in" and his funding got cut off at the knees due to the drying up of donations because of the basketball academic scandal. (BTW, I think Mason is the most underrated coach in Gopher history and his firing was a far greater disgrace than Claey's. He stayed and did everything he could when he would have been perfectly justified in leaving. He deserved better.)

If the rumors I hear are right, Coyle wanted Claeys gone and Kaler resisted letting him go for whatever reason (I'd be willing to bet the Win-Loss ratio to salary would have been a big factor.) As rumor has it, corporate donors pushed the issue by basically saying, "Fire Claeys and clean-up the football program or you're not seeing another dime." (Couldn't say I blame them, either--who wants their business name associated with this kind of scandal?)

The difference now is this: TV money is off-the-charts crazy right now and allows a decisive albeit expensive move. Yes, there are the anti-athletics people who'll scream bloody murder about the numbers--and they have a valid point IMO--but the long term health of athletics going forward is more important than Claeys et al.

This cycle of scandal after scandal has got to stop. I hear the rumors coming off campus. It's my understanding that Kill was pressured to keep players better disciplined off-the-field and Kill took it as a personal attack rather than aggressively and decisively taking charge. Claeys basically walked into a storm--and being the old fart I am, I blame Maturi. If he hadn't hired Brewster the Rooster and let the program degrade, none of this would have happened.

Fleck is the right move at the right time. Clean the culture to the ground floor and start over.

On a personal note: I was a fat little 10 year old guy, a little lard ball, and my parents sent me to Lake Geneva Bible Camp. Doug Kingsriter was a counselor there. I wasn't in his group, but for whatever reason, he took an interest in me. I'd run the stopwatch when he did sprints. I'd never seen anyone work so hard without someone making him work that hard. He told me I could play football, too. (If you've ever been the fat kid, you know that's the last thing people tell you. Fat kids don't go to hell--they are in hell.) He was generous, and kind, and an all around decent human being and representative for the Gophers.

Every Saturday I would be glued to the radio listening to the Gophers, and six-seven years later I was Star-Tribune All-State Football player. I wasn't really D1 material, but I did an NAIA scholarship before transferring back to the U.

I've followed Gophers football through all the ups and downs because Kingsriter made me Gopher, in my heart and soul if not on the field.

That's the power of culture. And that's why I support this change so strongly. Hope it works.
Click to expand...

TrueDom, thanks for the great post.

Was the 72 scandal with OSU you mention the basketball one?
 

It was. I was five. Musselman had created a basketball culture that, well ,seemed as weird as PJ Fleck seems now. Pre game Globetrotter show. Musselman had a kid on scholarship that played two minutes a night, but ruled pre game.

That fight was the cover of Sports Illustrated.

In 1990 I sat at the Big Ten restaurant with Winfield and Reggie Jackcson , and got to overhear Winfields side of the story. For the record Reggie is not the best listener.
 

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