PJ Fleck

[NDRock]

Still waiting for NDCrusader to tell us why Fleck is on Notre Dame’s Do Not Hire list...

I thought it was infidelity stuff. Could be wrong.

 

[Rogue219]

The funny thing I think he should stay an MN-TC long term. He could probably build something there while if he goes to a higher tier I feel confident he will flame out because hes such a goober.

Also labeled "goobers": Coach O and Dabo.

 

[Rogue219]

My biggest fear is that PJ Fleck is actually the next big thing and that doesn't seem like a stretch... And he ends up at Michigan to start the 2021 season.

If Michigan loses to Washington and OSU, and either 1 other regular season loss or bowl loss, there's no way Harbaugh stays one way or another.

That's a great job and one where Fleck has mad history in the state.

I don't know. Michigan hiring Fleck is like when the mob hired the Joker to help them take down Batman in The Dark Knight.

They'd be turning to a man they don't fully understand, as Alfred told Bruce Wayne.

I guess you could say the same about Notre Dame if they chose the same route down the line.

 

[Pops Freshenmeyer]

Cool, I could be misremembering or could have simply read the post wrong or some such...

I believe it was the friend who hates ND but said Fleck wanted the ND job.

 

[condoms SUCk]

My biggest fear is that PJ Fleck is actually the next big thing and that doesn't seem like a stretch... And he ends up at Michigan to start the 2021 season.

If Michigan loses to Washington and OSU, and either 1 other regular season loss or bowl loss, there's no way Harbaugh stays one way or another.

That's a great job and one where Fleck has mad history in the state.

Michigan arrogance will not allow themselves to hire Fleck, they know the old donors would flip their sh!t over his antics.
I an not 100% sold on Fleck as a great next can't miss coach. I think he is very good, not the next Urban (which is what UM wants).
Next season will be very telling.

 

[NDRock]

Michigan arrogance will not allow themselves to hire Fleck, they know the old donors would flip their sh!t over his antics.
I an not 100% sold on Fleck as a great next can't miss coach. I think he is very good, not the next Urban (which is what UM wants).
Next season will be very telling.

Everyone wants the next Urban. Guy literally has the 3rd highest winning % all time. Not sure we'll see another like him for awhile.

 

[condoms SUCk]

Everyone wants the next Urban. Guy literally has the 3rd highest winning % all time. Not sure we'll see another like him for awhile.

Totally agree, just saying that Mich will still try to find that next UM and pass over good coaches in order to hire that next home b/c "They're Michigan, they deserve it"

 

[Pops Freshenmeyer]

Michigan arrogance will not allow themselves to hire Fleck, they know the old donors would flip their sh!t over his antics.
I an not 100% sold on Fleck as a great next can't miss coach. I think he is very good, not the next Urban (which is what UM wants).
Next season will be very telling.

A bit off topic but UM has a rough schedule next year.

@ Washington
Wisconsin
PSU
@MSU
@Minnesota
Purdue [those last five in five consecutive weeks]
Indiana
@OSU

Winning half of those games gets them an 8 win season.

 

[NDRock]

Totally agree, just saying that Mich will still try to find that next UM and pass over good coaches in order to hire that next home b/c "They're Michigan, they deserve it"

I hope they get everything they deserve.

 

[irishandy]

I don't know. Michigan hiring Fleck is like when the mob hired the Joker to help them take down Batman in The Dark Knight.

They'd be turning to a man they don't fully understand, as Alfred told Bruce Wayne.

I guess you could say the same about Notre Dame if they chose the same route down the line.

But Batman captures Joker...bad comparison dude! Fleck doesn't= Dark Knight Joker.

If Flecko wants to be mentioned for a bigger name job, keep winning at Minnesota.

Batman would easily take down his boat.

 

[Rogue219]

Gophers football coach P.J. Fleck hired former Kent State head coach Paul Haynes as cornerbacks coach, the team announced Monday.

Haynes, who has 25 years of coaching experience, replaces Rod Chance, who left earlier this month to become Oregon's cornerbacks coach. Fleck and Haynes first worked together in 2006 when Haynes was on staff and Fleck was a graduate assistant at Ohio State. Haynes left the Buckeyes five years later and stopped at Arkansas before spending five seasons at Kent State.

He spent the past two years as Michigan State defensive backs coach. He inherits a deep cornerbacks room, including All-Big Ten honorable mentions Benjamin St-Juste and Coney Durr.

.

 

[NDohio]

Michigan arrogance will not allow themselves to hire Fleck, they know the old donors would flip their sh!t over his antics.
I an not 100% sold on Fleck as a great next can't miss coach. I think he is very good, not the next Urban (which is what UM wants).
Next season will be very telling.

Good call...

 

[Luckylucci]

I think it’s be very interesting to see how well he could recruit at a big time program. Because, UM, under Harbaugh, recruits well because they recruit numbers, for the most part. Could Fleck get them to perennial top 5 classes? And, how would that translate to the field?

 

[zelezo vlk]

It's too bad Minny fell off so much. Otherwise he might be in-line for the scUM job

 

[Irish du Nord]

I think it’s be very interesting to see how well he could recruit at a big time program. Because, UM, under Harbaugh, recruits well because they recruit numbers, for the most part. Could Fleck get them to perennial top 5 classes? And, how would that translate to the field?

Fleck strikes me as more James Franklin than Ryan Day. Not sure if the schtick alone is strong enough to recruit much better than Harbaugh did. Though in all fairness, Michigan is probably an easier school to recruit from than PSU, and clearly Minnesota

 

[phork]

I'm still willing to give Fleck the benefit of the doubt for now.

 

[Rogue219]

Rushing to judgement on Fleck or anyone else this season, of all seasons, might not be prudent.

 

[Irish#1]

Rushing to judgement on Fleck or anyone else this season, of all seasons, might not be prudent.

True, but he better get that hole in the hull fixed.

 

[Irish du Nord]

Rushing to judgement on Fleck or anyone else this season, of all seasons, might not be prudent.

Fair enough, though I would say the same to everyone who rushed to judgement based on his season in 2019. Even putting this season aside, he's 12-15 in B1G play.

And for the inevitable "that's a good record for Minnesota in the B1G", recall that the team he inherited went 9-4 (5-4 in conference) and his "success" has coincided with the B1G West being pretty lackluster.

 

[NorthDakota]

Fair enough, though I would say the same to everyone who rushed to judgement based on his season in 2019. Even putting this season aside, he's 12-15 in B1G play.

And for the inevitable "that's a good record for Minnesota in the B1G", recall that the team he inherited went 9-4 (5-4 in conference) and his "success" has coincided with the B1G West being pretty lackluster.

Even if the B1G West is lackluster, Minnesota's peak is probably about .500 or .600 in conference.

Wisconsin is a better program.
Iowa is, Nebraska generally is.

Minnesota is pretty isolated. Minneapolis isn't a college town thats going to lure anyone. Minneapolis is big enough though that big boys like Notre Dame and Ohio State will come recruit though.

They are in a bind. Plenty of good coaches would struggle at UM-TC. I'm not a Fleck superfan or anything, MN is just a really tough P5 to win at.

Tough to keep the best kids at home. Tough to go out of state to poach elite players from other states. NDSU/SDSU steal their kids who would be preferred walkons.

 

[Rogue219]

Fair enough, though I would say the same to everyone who rushed to judgement based on his season in 2019. Even putting this season aside, he's 12-15 in B1G play.

And for the inevitable "that's a good record for Minnesota in the B1G", recall that the team he inherited went 9-4 (5-4 in conference) and his "success" has coincided with the B1G West being pretty lackluster.

You're supposed to be excited in Year 3. He inheirited a team that had some off the field turmoil which led to the firing of his predecessor.

I'm speaking stricitly in terms of Covid with regards to this year. This season is not normal by any means, no matter how hard anyone wishes it to be or chooses to ignore what is blatantly obvious. It's hard to know what to make of most programs right now. This is obviously disappointing for them considering how they finished last year, and their remaining schedule isn't a picnic, but let's see where it goes.

Fleck has had a couple of assistants peeled away from him already, and for Minnesota that's not as easy as it is for a program like Ohio State or Penn State. His margin for error in replacing those guys with equal or better hires is a fine line.

Post Covid, whenever that is, he's going to need to demonstrate some consistency if he gets to stay or leapfrog to the next gig. I still like the guy, but he's just another clown who could get fired and paid to go away only to land on feathers and marshmellows at this next stop.

Hell, Illinois or Northern Illinois would probably take him in a second if he fails at Minnesota. Illinois couldn't do much worse.

 

[Irish du Nord]

You're supposed to be excited in Year 3. He inheirited a team that had some off the field turmoil which led to the firing of his predecessor.

I'm speaking stricitly in terms of Covid with regards to this year. This season is not normal by any means, no matter how hard anyone wishes it to be or chooses to ignore what is blatantly obvious. It's hard to know what to make of most programs right now. This is obviously disappointing for them considering how they finished last year, and their remaining schedule isn't a picnic, but let's see where it goes.

Fleck has had a couple of assistants peeled away from him already, and for Minnesota that's not as easy as it is for a program like Ohio State or Penn State. His margin for error in replacing those guys with equal or better hires is a fine line.

Post Covid, whenever that is, he's going to need to demonstrate some consistency if he gets to stay or leapfrog to the next gig. I still like the guy, but he's just another clown who could get fired and paid to go away only to land on feathers and marshmellows at this next stop.

Hell, Illinois or Northern Illinois would probably take him in a second if he fails at Minnesota. Illinois couldn't do much worse.

You're certainly right about all of this and I'm not trying to say he's been a complete failure. I do think that people were very quick to rush and anoint him as the next big thing when his performance hasn't really warranted it. Living in Minnesota with plenty of Gopher fans as relatives has really soured me on Fleck.

Regarding his performance in the B1G West, its worth noting that his conference record isn't just worse than Iowa and Wisconsin, but also Purdue and Northwestern. Minnesota has been roughly on par with those two for the last 20 years, you'd think if a coach was really ready for the big time he would be able to pull ahead of them.

 

[mango4]

It's too bad Minny fell off so much. Otherwise he might be in-line for the scUM job

They lost a TON on defense and it's clearly showing

 

[Rogue219]

You're certainly right about all of this and I'm not trying to say he's been a complete failure. I do think that people were very quick to rush and anoint him as the next big thing when his performance hasn't really warranted it. Living in Minnesota with plenty of Gopher fans as relatives has really soured me on Fleck.

Regarding his performance in the B1G West, its worth noting that his conference record isn't just worse than Iowa and Wisconsin, but also Purdue and Northwestern. Minnesota has been roughly on par with those two for the last 20 years, you'd think if a coach was really ready for the big time he would be able to pull ahead of them.

The work he did at Western Michigan was pretty impressive, and by the time he left he took them to the Cotton Bowl and left behind a cupboard with three star recruits who should have been at Big Ten schools like Illinois, Indiana, etc. at the time. That program was garbage when he got there and you have to wonder how many people actually wanted the damn job.

Maybe he peaked too early. I don't even think he's 40 yet, which is where Mike Gundy became a man and told the press to come after him, but he's also never been a coordinator (Like Jim Harbaugh) which I think could be to his detriment. He's never called plays on either side of the ball and if he burns out he could fade away.

To a high playing Television gig.

Winning at Minnesota is hard, and I don't think that is any big secret to anyone who follows college football. If he fails, he'll get paid. If he does well, he'll get paid by Minnesota or somebody else. If he can't turn things around this year, 2021 is going to be huge and who knows what kind of circumstances those will be.

I think the guy has two big things going for him: he can recruit effectively and the kids respond to him. That gets you half way there.