mngopherguy

I agree with most of this. I do think Mason had it the worst in many ways. I also questioned his desire at times towards the end. I think if he wouldn't have been so stubborn he would have succeeded even more. I also think Kill would have the team winning 8+ games most years. I question if he would have been able to do more with his recruiting at the level it was. No question in my mind though, these are Minnesota's two best coaches in my lifetime. Fleck had talent left, quality but no quantity. The fact only 54 of 112 kids are soph'sand above. Expecting 18 year old's to beat 20-21 year old's across the board is just not going to happen. Fleck's recruiting has already shown improvement. How can a person not be very impressed with Freshmen like Bateman, Williams, Smith, Faalele, Morgan, Annexstad? I'm assuming you are still also around the program, so are you not excited about Reigelsberger, Dunlap, and Sapp? I'm anxious to see if the two JUCO DT's can fill in Smith;s shoes. What this program needs is three straight years of recruits like this. That builds depth, decreases the chances of freshmen needing to play. Coughlin is a stud, we need a Coughlin recruited every one-two years. Dline is what holds most teams back from competing. Dline is where SEC teams are far superior than most other teams. Fleck is extremely well thought of by many in the business. The only other head coach I've seen who the players love to this level was coach Kill. Practices are effective and well run, which again reminds me of Kill. Actually Fleck reminds me a lot of Kill except for the way the message is stated. Elite instead of aw shucks. The offense is getting better and more consistently looks like a Big Ten offense. Many of the players on offense were brought in by Fleck. Only a few linemen and Johnson are starters he did not bring in. Defense is an issue. Coughlin and Cashman have been great. Barber has been okay, better DT play would certainly help him. The secondary was short on depth to begin with and it shows each week. Terrell Smith is already their best CB. Secondary needs to be addressed in the next two years recruiting. Dungy and Utecht especially are amazing people. You are not going to get Dungy in anyone's living room though. He's not going to do it. Utecht might, although I'm not sure he has the same kind of clout. I will say as a Hastings resident, I'll tell you Ben is truly loved here. Kids grow up wanting to be like Ben on the field or ice, parents hope they grow up like Ben off it.

You've repeatedly shown your ignorance regarding the situation. I've answered all questions about this season, then you change the rules. you wouldn't answer a question on the number of wins for the Twins next year without knowing free agents etc for each team at least in the division, yet you troll me for the same info here. That's insulting.

LOL, keep changing the rules to fit your narrative. How would anyone know what will happen next year now? Injuries, players leaving early, recruiting classes, transfers. Stupid question.

He was a good QB for East Ridge, but I completely agree at this level. Very smart of Seth to embrace his role instead of just sitting on the bench. 2 more wins would be huge for all the extra practice time. I really hate that rule. I said before the season six wins would be a good number for this team.

TV runs the world. The teams's don't have a say, although I suspect a few other here will blame Fleck lol.

I answered your question, they were within ten points against Ohio St. with 2 minutes left. Why does it now matter that they lost to Purdue? Quit moving the goal posts. Since you brought up Purdue, yeah Brohm is an awesome coach and the other top coach everyone was looking at with Fleck. Purdue strangely is 4-4 just like the Gophers. Purdue even lost to a lousy Eastern Michigan team. Interesting you should praise one and rip the other with the same record isn't it? Motives?

Please show me where I said Mason had the same facilities....

How long a leash does he get? 1-2 years?

And could you imagine trying to hire a coach when you didn't even let the last guy have his players reach their upper class men years? They wouldn't get a top coach at all, no one would want to deal with a rebuild and delusional "fans".

Fleck didn't inherit a mess? Then why do we need 53 freshmen on the roster? There's zero depth period. There are 33 upper class men period on the team.Of which 7 are walk on's who never really were in to play. 5 of the 33 are on special teams. 7 are currently unable to play. There's not established team. 33 of 112 are upper class men. It's the opposite. Great economy? So other teams are not in the same economy? Kill and Claey's had the same stadium. Athlete's village just opened lol, and it just put Minnesota on par with rest of the teams in conference. It's not near what Nebraska, Michigan, Penn St., and Ohio St. have.

Seriously? OK I guess I'll play along. Maybe it's suggesting that just about every other coach that's been around rebuilding a new program struggles in the first few years? 4 prime examples related directly and indirectly to the U is not enough? Rose Bowl. I was just trying to be as unrealistic as a few other here.

The Ohio ST. game was within ten points until 2 minutes left. Struggling programs? Ohio St., Iowa, Maryland? lol.

Is improving considered punting, or should we expect a Rose Bowl? Glen Mason had 3 Big Ten wins total in his first two years. Jerry Kill had 4 Big Ten wins total in his first two years. Kirk Ferentz had 3 Big Ten wins his first two years and 4 wins total. Barry Alverez had 2 Big Ten wins total in his first two years. Do I need to continue? None of those coaches had a team as young either. That really shows how poorly Claeys was recruiting.

We also read a few pages back that you would be back after the season...

Did the Polads sell the team?

I'm not a fan of wildcat either at least outside of the red zone. I did like seeing Johnson in the backfield on passing downs to get him different looks. Coughlin is good, if Alex Reigelsperger can play as well next year as the other rush end (at least in passing situations) that would help a lot. We need to recruit a Coughlin yearly to compete. Hopefully Bargy then will be the next Coughlin.Reigelsperger etc. I still think at the end of the day, dline is the hardest spot to recruit. And I like what I see in the DE's they are recruiting. O.J. Smith was a good DT too, that's painfully obvious without him.

Maybe, but breakdowns are not really coaching mistakes either. I think it's hard to say when you are playing a complete backup secondary. Tackling was disappointing.

Really feel the need to troll fellow Twins fans?

Really enjoying this huh? Sad.

My whole point is they ARE special. Not all teams "incorporate" volunteerism or serving. I've personally seen football players at the Children's hospital twice without coaches even being there. They do far more of this than they ever did under Wacker, Mason, Brewster, Kill, Claeys, Gutey etc. Again, I;ve been around the program since 88. I don't know everything, but I know far more than Joe Shmo trolling on Facebook. All college coaches are salesmen, how else do you recruit? My son's JUCO coach sold my son to play for him. It's been this way forever, Holtz was pretty loud in the 80's too. If the expectations were to be mediocre, they could have just kept Claeys, brought in Trestman, hired . The fact that they went after one of the two hottest coaches at the time (Brohm being the other) suggests the exact opposite. There are no mediocre expectations over time, the expectations to have 18 year olds with maybe one year of college workouts beating teams with mainly 21-22 year old's with 3-4 years of training is just being realistic. It's laying the groundwork for a new program. Unlike the Twins, the Gophers actually want to win, they've just failed at it.

I could also turn it around and say if all that matters is wins and losses, just eliminate college football and have a minor leagues. It all matters. I want to win the right way. We should take pride in this. I don't want to be Auburn, Miami, Penn St. win at all costs. .

In fact, when was the last time you saw a butcher at first base? Hmm ... I'd say Austin.

And I couldn't disagree more with what you just said. I'm not making excuses, I'm saying there's something to what's going on off the field. This is not the NFL. I also take exception to the ivy league/Big Ten comment. My oldest son is a 18 year old junior college baseball player who should be held accountable as much as any freshman athlete at the U.

I agree with Mike that they should have the money to do so. It's a risky move though as we all know how relievers fluctuate year to year and so many pieces they need to acquire. Of course if we had owners who actually cared about winning more than the bottom line, we wouldn't have to pick and choose.

It's a guess, I would be very surprised if they are not #1 or close especially at D1. It's part of what they sign up for. The last line is how Iowa gets on TV all the time and people talk about the great tradition they have of waving at the kids in their hospital after the first quarter of games. It's nice and all, don't get me wrong. Part of the Gophers program is giving back, they don't just get on TV waving at a building, they are there spending their free time with kids. And they don't ask for TV time or recognition for it.