RE: John Bacon interview regarding Flecks move
I don't agree with the guy's POV.
1. WMU wasn't a dormant team, with him going in, and we did have that dormant year and a couple recent less-than-potential years. We were sliding, and we were no Akron or EMU -- we weren't going to be tolerable of a down season, even with key injuries. We were basically a team around .500 over the last several years, capable here and there, but sub-par to be in the upper-tier of G5. That, and rumors of Cubit in the latter years not meshing so well, made him get the boot due to our greater ambition.
2. Leaving WMU making A Lot of money for a G5 (not understood or mentioned) requires Less of a reason to stay. It wasn't "time to go" because they wouldn't be 13-0 next year. That's ridiculous. Neither will any other G5 (or most likely P5 for that matter). He'd have plenty of time to establish WMU in at least the upper-tier -- and to get a nice P5 HC job whenever he'd like If he kept things up... and a better one when opportunities came up (ND in 3 years?).
3. Minnesota's a graveyard? No. Jerry Kill's squad made them not a graveyard. Nothing to ooh-and-ahh about, but not a graveyard. PJ can make them be a 9W team several years, and get an occasional 10W squad going. I think if someone took Minnesota to make them compete at the top of the B1G West Division year after year, they could get hired elsewhere for a more opportunistic HC position, at some point... but it's not Ideal, tho. I think the main thing is -- it's not a graveyard, but it's not an opportunistic resevoir... and you have a good chance of being Stuck there (and happy with it) if you don't break free. So do you Really want to live Way up north in the cold? If so, that's great. Otherwise, I think it would have been best to make comparable money at WMU if you adored Kzoo so much, and to ride that out for a bigger/better opportunity position years down the road when one would open up.
IMO, Minnesota, despite not being a graveyard, brings its Risk for the extremely ambitious folk like PJ -- to be the next Glenn Mason, having a quality football program for years, and hanging your hat on that and that alone... good enough to stay for their expectations (and OCs/DCs leaving to other places over time), but not Great enough to be picked up by the top-tier P5s if the wind doesn't blow your way. His best bet would be to turn WMU into a Consistent G5-power that NIU established itself to be... and to take over a squad that carries less risk due to its history of maxing out as "quality program".
(This post was last modified: 01-10-2017 03:04 PM by toddjnsn.)
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