2017-2018 NCAA Football Season Thread [Archived] Football • Page 9

I like Fleck a lot and would like to see him continue to progress. I'm a little curious about how his development will continue at Minnesota, but he obviously felt he needed to move on from WMU. He's someone I have my on my list for ND consideration down the road.

 

Seems like a weird time for Stoops to retire. Two months before the season starts? The pessimist in me hopes it's not him getting out before some scandal rocks the school, but sadly that's kind of the era we live in now (coaches leaving before shit comes out).

 

I love Fleck and hope he finds great success followed by an immediate departure out of the Big Ten West. Ideally reverse the two.

 

Yeah, I really hate the idea that Minnesota is going to be good.

 

Still fully aboard the Riley/Diaco hype train.

 

I firmly, firmly believe this: PJ Fleck is the next great coach in college football. It might not be an x's and o's thing like with Saban, but kids fucking love him. I know there's a million pieces on how good of a recruiter he is and whatnot, but those don't even do it justice. When I covered WMU for Rivals.com a few years ago, I'd talk with recruits face to face when they would make visits to WMU and I'd ask questions about other coaches -- some kids were getting looks from MSU and Indiana and whatnot -- and then I'd ask them about PJ and their faces would light up. That dude just gets it, he's the most locked-in coach for this current generation of high school athletes.

I think if he stays at Minnesota -- which he won't -- he will make them a Big Ten title contender yearly within five years. I think he's that good.

 

I dunno, he's talked a lot about how he sees Minnesota as a destination job. I know, what else is he going to say, but it's seemed genuine.

 

Wisconsin actually should be a lot more worried than Nebraska. Which please me. Nebraska is trying to get back to former glory while Wisconsin takes guys in their backyard. Fleck will pull from that, not guys from California, Texas, and Florida.

 

That's public persona speak. He talked about staying at WMU and making them Boise State of the midwest. That wasn't ever going to happen and Minnesota is a stepping stone to a blueblood program.

Fleck pulled kids out of Wisconsin who were in line to get/had gotten Wisco offers, so he'll terrorize that program now that he's on equal footing, conference-wise.

 

I completely forgot Brandon Harris transferred to North Carolina lol. That's hilarious for an LSU fan now rooting for his local team. Dave Caldwell does like QBs unaware of their athleticism and receivers...

 

Bruce Feldman got fired, wow

 

I like a lot of what PJ Fleck did at the mid-major level, but I just can't see him getting Minnesota ahead of Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, or Nebraska. They're going to continue to recruit nationwide, while it will be hard for Fleck to pull that off. I mean he made some smart hires, getting some coaches in there with ties to the Southeast, but they aren't going to consistently win those battles against SEC programs like Meyer and Harbaugh do sometimes.

Michigan State and Wisconsin stand to lose the most from him coming into the Big Ten because he'll poach good players out of their backyards.

 

PJ Fleck is one of the only things that I am acutely aware of my bias with. Being in the West, he doesn't have to worry about MSU/U of M/OSU, as those teams will beat up on each other in divisional play. That means, he only has to worry about taking care of business in their conference schedule and then whatever combo of Michigan/Ohio State/whoever else that make it to the B1G title game.

I do agree that he hurts MSU/Wisconsin recruiting-wise more than he hurts Michigan or OSU. I think that could change depending on how long he stays at Minnesota. He'll do more with less than almost any other coach in the country.

 

We have the same exact opinion on this. I'm very interested to see what Fleck does. If Minnesota can improve while Wisconsin get worse, that's a win in my book.

 

Hugh freeze about to get fired

 

and boom

 

WHAT A SHOCKER HOW DID WE NOT KNOW??

 

I remember arguing with some Ole Miss clown on twitter a few years back about the whole supposed Mique Juarez recruiting scandal with Ole Miss and was told that Chris Petersen was dirtier that good ol' Hugh.

Lmao

 

Unsurprising that where there's been five years of smoke, there's fire. That said, every single school in football are breaking recruiting rules. Every single one. Just a matter of to what degree and if they get caught.

 

Hugh freeze is a dope, of course he got caught. I'm glad some kids got their family jobs, a house, money etc. out of it though, that's really all that matters. I just hope it doesn't sting the kids when they interview for NFL teams. I'm not sure their interim could be worse than freeze though, that's for certain.

 

The key part of this is to what degree and if they get caught. I'm obviously a believer in my coach and look upon him as a saint so I my view is probably a bit skewed but I firmly believe that Chris Petersen at UW is one of the cleaner recruiters out there and he puts up with zero shit, if they don't buy into the program right away then they're gone.

Now when Steve Sarkisian was here with his dopes such as Tosh Lupoi and Johnny Nansen, I would have straight up told you that each one of them are dirtbags.

Johnny Nansen (who is now at USC) came and actually pulled the rug out from under UW this past recruiting cycle two days before signing day and nabbed one of the best DTs in the country that was committed to UW for roughly a year or so. He apparently promised Marlon Tuipulotu and his whole family U.S. Citizenship because they are all LPRs right now and I believe someone isn't even an LPR (legal permanent resident). His father, maybe?

As someone who worked for USCIS for a few years recently, that's not that how that works but he got the kid to buy into it and jump ship at 11:58PM essentially. No doubt that recruiting is a dirty ass game.

 

I try not to pay attention to recruiting but it's pretty obvious when someone goes from an awful class to a top 4 class, it's a little weird.

 

Yeah. It is all shades of gray. If it's not recruiting, it's not having institutional control (cough penn state/michigan state cough). Football and basketball at the collegiate level are filled to the brim with slimy scoundrels, often the ones that are touted the cleanest. Maybe I'm just a pessimist (i am) but when it comes to all coaches in college sports it's guilty until proven way beyond innocent, for me.

 

There always seems to be more and more new loopholes. Sometimes it's not technically against the rules but eventually when it's brought up to the NCAA, they'll instate it and they're just as shady as the schools are. It's going to keep happening though, you just have to get the best personnel to play that game. Even if players were to get paid, I think schools would still hand kids checks under the table and gift them luxurious things. It's become a staple. I can't blame the kids for taking it, even if they don't end up committing there. I won't ever feel bad for billionaire boosters.

 

Matt Canada was talking about Guice and other players he's coached and said Melvin Gordon and Michael Turner aren't even in the same league as Guice.