nystateofmind
C'est la vie
- Joined
- Dec 30, 2012
- Messages
- 16,264
Wow.
Did not see that coming. Thought he'd wait for a bigger gig.
Did not see that coming. Thought he'd wait for a bigger gig.
Good hire for Minnesota. Maybe he can get them to start competing with Michigan and Ohio State in the Big10.
Smart move by Fleck. Make the move to a Power 5 team now while his stock is sky high. There's really no other high profile gigs out there.
Minnesota is such as mess if he can turn it around and make it respectable he can upgrade in a couple years.
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Smart move by Fleck. Make the move to a Power 5 team now while his stock is sky high. There's really no other high profile gigs out there.
Minnesota is such as mess if he can turn it around and make it respectable he can upgrade in a couple years.
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Completely agree. He played it perfectly too. Had they won the bowl game, I probably could have seen him come back for another year, but Minnesota is a solid gig. No way he duplicates what he did at WMU again so definitely smart to make the jump. He could win 8-9 games a year and parlay into a better job.
Living in B10 country my whole life, it becomes pretty apparent that most of these MAC coaches are waiting for B10 offers has opposed to some of the other P5 conferences just because they already have recruiting ties with the Midwest HS's and many of them run similar schemes. You can add in Pitt and some of the B12 schools too. For that reason I think Fleck made a really good choice heading to Minny.
It's a much better job than recent MAC defectors such as Matt Campbell (Iowa St), and that scrub that ended up at Purdue from Kent St. I'd also argue it's a slightly better job than what Babers took when he went to Syracuse. Iowa St, Purdue, and Cuse have been fighting with MAC schools for recruits for at least a decade now. I don't see Minny fighting with MAC schools quite as much for recruits. They are currently ranked 67 on 247. Western is 64 right now, but I would assume this drops after Fleck leaving, and it is also somewhat of an outlier for the MAC. The next highest ranked MAC programs are Toledo at 69 and then a big drop off with BG at 82 and CMU at 85. Fleck obviously being a pretty good recruiter, I think he improves Minny's talent considerably.
In addition, people forget that Minny went 9-4 this year. There is obviously some talent on this team. Fleck's first task is going to be convincing those considering transferring not to do so. If he can be successful in this I think he has a solid foundation that could lead to success in the future.