ESPiN article on Jerry Kill's thoughts on U of M football today

[Anonymous Coward]

It doesn't look like my opinion will have any allies here, but if you can have a favorable opinion about a famous stranger you don't really know (applies to most opinions about coaches), then I really like Fleck. And for however authentic you can say a famous stranger is or isn't, my sense is that he falls on the more authentic end of the spectrum. What's wrong with intense enthusiasm, anyway? Especially if it was inspired because you had a child who died.
The dude's reputation is a world away (in terms of nastiness) from where it deserves to be, IMO.
He may not look or talk like the cookie cutter leaders of movies or novels, but that's neither a bad thing nor evidence he isn't one of the good ones. And yet that's where the negative opinions about him start, emotional reaction to a stranger whose enthusiasm seems weird.

[FearlessF]

the proof is in the pudding

time will tell

[Anonymous Coward]

No doubt. Not to cop out, but I should say I was never predicting him to be a big winner in MSP. He may be, but that's separate. For this thread, I'm just guessing he's a respectable guy and that his kids are being well led in terms of healthy life perspectives.

[FearlessF]

I really hope you are correct.  I think the more than winning piece is much more important than winning

the life skills part is where I'm concerned it's mostly snake oil

Kill and Claeys speaking against Barnum give me more concern

[Anonymous Coward]

I like Kill (have not formed an opinion about Claeys), but obviously he's more gruff/low key, so I like him for different reasons. But I like him, so his take is worth something. Even then, I'd trust Kill's take more easily if he didn't have a conflicted interest. Here, he and his buddy got burned. I'm not saying he's scheming, but "being bitter" and "not seeing this one clearly" have to all be on the table.

Either way, Fleck did deliver some wins last year that Kill and Claeys never could. It's not much to celebrate, especially if the Gophers canned Glen Mason to go on a long painful journey to an even better program, but beating UW and winning a bowl game has to be some kind of milestone.

[FearlessF]

not seeing this one clearly is possible

if it was shots at the U of M then the bitterness would be expected

this is personal - I don't think it serves much purpose

[GopherRock]

Plus Kill did the exact same thing when he got here (trashed the culture of the previous administration, shirts that stated I LET MY TEAMMATES DOWN and LOAPHER to flush out weaklings). For him to talk smack about the succeeding coach doing the same thing he did is not only bitter but hypocritical. 

[847badgerfan]

To be fair, he was coming in after Brewster. Of course the culture was in the dumpster.