Fleck said the decision to fire Smith was made with athletics director Mark Coyle. He told his staff and then players during a 30-minute team meeting Sunday. “We talked … about the decision-making,” Fleck said. “We talked about that it wasn’t because of them, it was for them.”
“Sometimes in life, you have to make some of the hardest decisions that maybe you even create on your own,” Fleck said of his message to his players. “If you want to be in a leadership role, you’re going to have to make very difficult decisions. It’s not about being popular, it’s about doing what’s right and what needs to be done.”
Fleck said he assesses performances based on three factors: coaching, schemes and players. While he defended the schemes after the Illinois game, and stood up for all of his assistant coaches after the Nebraska game, he didn’t say Monday when coaching becomes the primary reason for poor play.
“This is over a long period of time as you evaluate that,” Fleck said. “I’m the one that does that. I’m the one that keeps the notes and the books on all of that, about how I feel at that particular time and what are our issues and what do we have to fix?”
These are quotes from P.J. Fleck from here (lots of ads).
Fleck sure is a contemplative kind of guy. He is unique on the sideline with his tie and gymnastics wear. The helmets say "Row." I think he is not for everyone.
Jeff Brohm is more popular these days. On the sideline during the Michigan State game he was relentless in his yelling at quarterback David Blough. There are plenty of rah rah, chair-throwing motivational videos of him if you want to watch them.
That is another thing: Fleck speaks in the second person a lot. And, speaking of videos, he conducts the most polite post-game press conference you have ever seen if you care to watch them. He is a completely likeable guy for the university community.
But will he win? This is almost the end of year two and a 3-12 Big Ten record is cold, even in Minnesota.
Harbaugh can be pretty convincing and Michigan will pay a whole lot more, but Ed Warinner left. A strength of last year's Minnesota team was a decent ground game.
In the games I have seen this year Minnesota has looked slow and unathletic. Who the heck is Reggie Corbin? He is the Illinois running back who ran for 213 yards on 13 carries against Minnesota. Fleck's recruiting has been okay, certainly not exceptional. Brohm is doing a little better there too although Rondale Moore is still an outlier.
Minnesota is still Nebraska's sole FBS win in 2018 and with games against Purdue, Northwestern, and Wisconsin there is a good chance Minnesota will not win another game this year. If so, Indiana will be Fleck's only Big Ten win this year. After 3 out of conference wins to start the year, they will not be bowl eligible.
P.J. can ponder and ruminate all he wants, but I tend to agree with Brohm on this one. No one wants to be told they are not good enough now, or even worse, the team will be better next year when they have graduated. As a football coach, I think you need to be a little more in the moment.
He seems like a considerate and compassionate guy. Will he survive? I am going to watch the Big Ten record, and the Purdue game. For the Golden Gophers I do not know where it will come from...
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