Minnesota Football Keeps Making Bad Choices with the Hiring of PJ Fleck

The Golden Gophers Football Plan

Yesterday I chastised Minnesota for letting Tracy Claeys go for, basically, standing up for his law abiding players. I thought when it happened it was wrong, and I still think it is wrong. Today, I am going to double down on crapping all over the University of Minnesota because I do not think that the hiring of PJ Fleck is all that big a deal, for many reasons.

First off, he is a coach from the MAC, that has an overall record of 30-22 in 4 years. That isn't awful, but it is not that great either. Thirteen of those wins came this season, so before that, his overall record in 3 years was 17-21, 4 games below .500. That doesn't scream national power to me.

Sure, Western Michigan had a great, wonderful season, but it was not that impressive if you really break it down. Their schedule was not that hard. The MAC is not a very good conference. There seems to be one team from the MAC every year that explodes like this, but, the very next season, they come crashing back to Earth. I remember a few years ago, Ball State was the talk of college football. They were riding an 11-0 record, but they blew a late conference game, then got crushed by a power 5 team in their bowl game. Same with Northern Illinois. A few years back they made a BCS bowl, then proceeded to get their heads smashed in by a pissed off Florida State team. The MAC does not have a team like Boise State. Boise State takes on all comers, crushes every opponent in their conference, and deserves to be in big time bowl games. That is why Chris Petersen got a big time job at Washington, and has that team in very good shape for years to come. PJ Fleck did not have the resume that Petersen had when he got his first big time job. And Washington football is a much bigger deal than Minnesota football.

Also, Western Michigan's 2 best wins during the regular season came against 6-6 Northwestern and 3-9 Illinois. They pounded Illinois, as did every other decent college football team. But they needed a miracle to beat Northwestern, who I need to remind you, Northwestern lost to a FCS school the week before on a last minute field goal. Had that player from Northwestern just went down, instead of stretching for the goal line, then fumbling, Western Michigan and PJ Fleck would not have been talked about as much as they were all season. But, he did, and WMU won.

Other than those 2 "power" 5 teams, WMU feasted on much lesser opponents all season long. Is it any wonder as to why this team never reached any higher than 15 in the playoff polls? I know these polls are totally arbitrary, and I usually disagree with them, but I feel like they got WMU just right. And, being the one non power 5 team to be undefeated, they did deserve the invite to the Cotton Bowl, but they got a reeling Wisconsin team, that played 2 QB's that whole game. Wisconsin has a great defense, but their offense leaves A LOT to be desired. But, for the most part, they completely controlled WMU all game. I know the final score made it seem closer than it was, but remember, WMU scored a very late TD to pull within 7, and that TD was incredibly lucky. When WMU had to play a real team, you saw how good they really were. They were fine, Corey Davis is a great receiver, but if they were in the Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, ACC or Pac 12, they are, at the very best, an eight win team.

My final reason as to why I do not think Fleck is a great hire, no other big time school, that had a head coaching vacancy, brought him in so much so for an interview. Texas did not call. Oregon blatantly made it known that they had no intentions of bringing him in. Houston chose to just promote an assistant, instead of bringing Fleck in. LSU all but laughed off the assumption that he was a candidate. No major college football program ever really gave Fleck a second thought.

In fact, this hiring made me think of Michigan, 5 years ago, when they hired Brady Hoke. When I heard that Hoke was getting the job, I tried to convince myself that they were doing the right thing. They were giving a guy that paid his dues the chance to coach a major team, to bring them back to prominence. And, he looked like the right hire in his first season, but things went to shit after that. When he had to recruit his guys, which he did a good job of getting good players, and coach them up, which he was atrocious at doing, he failed tremendously. Michigan got worse every year under Hoke.

I think the same thing is going to happen with Minnesota and Fleck. His name is hot right now, but what has he really accomplished, against good opponents? Like I said earlier, props to you for going 13-0 in the regular season, but when you had to play a real team, you were immobilized and outcoached by a million miles. You have great enthusiasm, but that will only take you so far. You have to recruit against the likes of the University of Ohio State, Michigan State, Iowa, Penn State, Nebraska and Michigan, just to name a few. You also have to play these teams every year. You do not have the luxury of being the underdog from the underdog conference anymore. You have to face 9 Big Ten teams a year, and they all aren't Northwestern and Illinois. This job is going to be very, very tough.

Sure, the hiring seems great now, but so did the hiring of Hoke, or when Helfrich took over at Oregon, or when Lane Kiffin took the job at USC. How did all those end up? Not so great. Claeys getting canned was bad, but I feel like this hiring of Fleck is just another misstep in a program that I once respected, but makes me lose respect everyday with each decision they make. Good luck Minnesota, but honestly, I hope this all ends very bad for you.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. His father is a Minnesota alum, and has refused to share any Golden Gopher gear until Ty gets off his soapbox on the football program. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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Being Loyal to His Unpaid Players Cost Tracy Claeys His Job At Minnesota

How will Coach Claeys live without the Minnesota Spring

The University of Minnesota Golden Gophers football team just recently fired their head coach, Tracy Claeys. They fired him for standing by his players after they threatened to sit out the Holiday Bowl after 10 players were suspended for alleged sexual assault.

First things first, those players that got suspended one hundred percent deserved to be suspended, if they were proven to have done the heinous acts they were accused of doing. There is no place for these type of actions to continue to happen in football. It is disturbing and disgusting, as I wrote yesterday, and have touched on many times on the site. The players that were accused, deserve their punishments, and they should not be allowed on the football team.

With that being said, I understand why Claeys stood by the other players that threatened a boycott. The rest of the team was going to sit out their bowl game, until the suspended players were reinstated, or they got the full story on why they were suspended. These kids had little to no idea why their teammates were suspended. That is on the university and the AD, not the coaches, to explain to these kids why these players got in trouble. But, in typical NCAA fashion, the players were left in the dark, and when they threatened to sit out, they were roasted on social media, by former players and by all the major sports networks. They were called childish and were deemed as spoiled jocks. And Tracy Claeys was not immune to the disrespect. Now, as I said before, the suspended players deserve the punishments, but the current players, and the head coach, do not deserve the blame.

Imagine if this same situation happened at Florida State when Jameis Winston was accused of the same thing. If the players and Jimbo Fisher threatened a boycott, I guarantee that outlets like ESPN and Fox Sports 1 would be calling them brave, and say how proud they are of them for standing up for one of their teammates. But, this happened at Minnesota, and they are not a blue blood in the college football world.

This situation actually reminds me a lot of what happened at the University of Missouri a few years back. Now, the thing at Missouri was much worse. I mean, racial insensitivity in this day and age is very, very scary. But, people roasted the kids that boycotted, again calling them names and calling them spoiled. I was one hundred percent on the side of the players at Missouri when they boycotted, and their coach at time, Gary Pinkel, joined the boycott. But, no one called him names and raked him over the coals. They praised him for standing with his kids. Like I said, the situation at Missouri was worse, but it still reminds me a lot of what happened at Minnesota this year.

After the Golden Gophers inexplicably beat Washington State in the bowl game, after they ended the boycott by finally get a fully explained response as to why the kids were suspended, Minnesota decided a few days later that Tracy Claeys time as the head coach there was done. This is completely baffling to me. He is clearly a players coach. The kids there loved him when he was the defensive coordinator, and they seemed to like him even more when he was the head coach. After Jerry Kill had to step away, due to all the seizures, he hand picked Claeys to take over. He was one of Kill's guys all along, and he seemed like the perfect fit for Minnesota. The team was also competitive with him at the helm. They were a 7 win team his first full season as head coach, and they won 9 games this year. For Minnesota football, that is quite impressive. But, the AD decided that he needed to get rid of a guy that stands by his players. They figured that he had enough time as a head coach, and they let him go.

I ask, what exactly did he do that was so wrong and bad enough for him to lose his job? He stood by his non suspended players. He won enough games to be in bowl games. The non suspended players loved him. The rest of the coaching staff loved him. Jerry Kill picked him to take over. None of this sounds like he deserved to be fired. And if Minnesota is expecting someone like Chip Kelly or Mark Helfrich to come there and coach, they are out of their god damn minds. I would bet all the money I had, if I were a betting man, those guys would rather take a job as an assistant at a big time program, than come into Minnesota as the head man. Kevin Wilson, who seems like a miserable human being, took a job at the University of Ohio State rather than another head coaching gig. Mike Debord took a different coordinator job, rather than a head coaching job. Same thing for Matt Canada. There is no one, at least not a big name person, that aches for that Minnesota job. So, if they are expecting a big name, they have another thing coming. They'd be lucky to get a guy like Brady Hoke right now. Hell, maybe Glen Mason will take over, but those are their best options.

I have read today that some former players and coaches, mainly Jerry Kill, are crushing the AD right now, and I love that. I also love the shots that Claeys fired while being interviewed after he was fired by a local TV station, saying, "at least I won't be freezing my ass off in Minnesota anymore". He was clearly upset, and angry, as he should be. This firing was unjust, and I personally hope it sets Minnesota football back. Claeys did not deserve this. This is ridiculous.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He has also taken his name out of the Minnesota coaching search and has opted to keep coaching his 4 year olds team. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.