The unofficial online home for fans of the Western Michigan University Broncos. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

(01-11-2017 06:35 AM)Hiller4Hyz09 Wrote:  He lied about Bryson White. Who knows what else he's lied about. I bet he takes that program down through some scandal, but he slimes off scot free.

He gave us the greatest single year in this program's history. I am honestly OK with paying the price of having him leave us high and dry and poaching HIS recruits if it means having had the season we just did. Not many G5 programs will EVER have a season that incredible. Holding onto hate never helped anyone my friend. Let it go.

It's easy to get a top notch class after last year and especially this year.

What still boggles my mind is him getting the top-rated recruiting class in the MAC after that 1-11 season. Spillane's mom begged him not to sign with WMU at the time, but he did anyhow.

If he worked at a major corporation, he'd be the leading sales guy (the Al Pacino in Glengarry Glen Ross), hands down. Whatever one feels about his shtick and all, he's got the charm and motivation factor nailed down.

(01-10-2017 10:43 PM)FourthandLong Wrote:  B10 teams won't poach each others' head coaches. ND is the only other midwest threat I could think of. Is Fleck catholic?

fleck is whatever he needs to be at the moment to do what he needs to do

(01-11-2017 07:28 AM)CincoDosAdios Wrote:  

(01-11-2017 06:35 AM)Hiller4Hyz09 Wrote:  He lied about Bryson White. Who knows what else he's lied about. I bet he takes that program down through some scandal, but he slimes off scot free.

He gave us the greatest single year in this program's history. I am honestly OK with paying the price of having him leave us high and dry and poaching HIS recruits if it means having had the season we just did. Not many G5 programs will EVER have a season that incredible. Holding onto hate never helped anyone my friend. Let it go.

I, too, would take a (hopefully very temporary) punch in the gut for our first bowl win, first MACC since '88, ESPN Game Day, Top 15 ranking, and the Cotton Bowl. True, I see Fleck in a not-so-wonderful light after his ransacking our recruiting class. And using the same hyper slogans and pep talk speeches at Minnesota will grate the ears a bit. But at the same time, those kids he poached don't want to be here. It was for Fleck, and Fleck only, with now the added bonus of getting their mugs on the Big Ten Network.

His larger than life personality is a big advantage when he's our coach, but not so much when he's your competitor.

I don't really care if he succeeds or not at M. But I'll be interested in seeing his career arc there, what things he comes up with, the fan reaction (good and bad), and - as Hiller alluded to - any controversies that might pop up along the way.

(01-11-2017 08:09 AM)Bronc33 Wrote:  

(01-10-2017 10:43 PM)FourthandLong Wrote:  B10 teams won't poach each others' head coaches. ND is the only other midwest threat I could think of. Is Fleck catholic?

fleck is whatever he needs to be at the moment to do what he needs to do

As is Meyer. As is Dantonio. As is Harbaugh. As is Kelly.

Welcome to D-I college football.

(01-10-2017 10:36 PM)FourthandLong Wrote:  What kind of defense did you run under Fleck ... mostly 4-3, or 3-4? A lot of nickel with MAC spread teams? Exotic blitz packages? Strength in front 7 or back 7?

Base defense was a 4-3. I'm not really sure there was a lot of tweaking going on with the overall scheme itself, but Fleck would generally let Pinkham do what was necessary (disguise fronts, bring extra pressure) since he is an offensive guy by trade (former WR coach).

He's had people in place to stop the run or stop the pass, just not all at the same time. For example, if this year's defense had Justin Currie (S) and Ronald Zamort (CB) with Darius Phillips (CB), it would have been a juggernaut.

Up front, he's had guys like Richard Ash (grad transfer from Michigan in 2014) and Cleveland Smith that would have been great to rotate in with Andre Turner and Keion Adams.

They would play nickel when it was necessary, but I'd say the biggest two threats two the 13-0 regular season record this year were the deep ball and mobile quarterbacks.

Since it doesn't appear right now like Ed Pinkham will be following P.J. to the Twin Cities, your guess is as good as mine as to who he hires.

WMU runs basically a zone D. Ferguson going down was big reason Wisc could power our secondary. Wisc players in post game interviews stated they took advantage of the zone. It works at mid major level, at P5 you better have speed and size.

(01-11-2017 08:01 AM)Motown Bronco Wrote:  It's easy to get a top notch class after last year and especially this year.

What still boggles my mind is him getting the top-rated recruiting class in the MAC after that 1-11 season. Spillane's mom begged him not to sign with WMU at the time, but he did anyhow.

If he worked at a major corporation, he'd be the leading sales guy (the Al Pacino in Glengarry Glen Ross), hands down. Whatever one feels about his shtick and all, he's got the charm and motivation factor nailed down.

I think nine wins gets him on the road again. Minny isn't PJ Flecks dream job, coaching in the B10 is Flecks dream, read between the lines. He's got Ohio St tattooed on his ass.

(01-11-2017 08:46 AM)fastbuicks Wrote:  He's got Ohio St tattooed on his ass.

Can confirm. He did not speak much of Jim Tressel outside of playing Ohio State last year (probably due to Tressel's show cause penalty nonsense), however, it has been very evident that he admires Tressel as much as (or maybe even more than) guys like Jerry Kill, Greg Schiano, and his college coach, Joe Novak.

(01-10-2017 10:46 PM)BroncoPhilly Wrote:  As you can see from our forum comments there is more than a little simmering owing to PJ flipping 9 of our recruits-with weeks to go.

Understandable, but I expect your new coach will flip a bunch of guys that had committed to him too, assuming you hire outside the program.

Going to be an interesting new dynamic and likely helpful for all northern schools if the proposed early signing period ever is enacted.

(01-10-2017 10:43 PM)FourthandLong Wrote:  

(01-10-2017 10:40 PM)Potro Wrote:  

(01-10-2017 08:56 PM)FourthandLong Wrote:  I feel for WMU, and wish you the best of luck in maintaining what PJ built. Easier to maintain than build to begin with. My earliest memory as a Minnesota fan was Lou Holtz leaving for his catholic dream school just as he was on the brink of putting us over the top, and taking all our recruits with him who won a national championship a few years later. I'm still bitter 35 years later.

Brace yourself fourthandlong. May very well happen to you again in the near future - if he is successful at Minn.

B10 teams won't poach each others' head coaches. ND is the only other midwest threat I could think of. Is Fleck catholic?

No one said anything about poaching....Fleck will run his butt over to better jobs begging for them when he thinks he is ready and able.

I seem to remember being a head coach in the NFL was on his bucket list.

(01-11-2017 09:46 AM)Nacho Wrote:  I seem to remember being a head coach in the NFL was on his bucket list.

I think he should focus his dream on a big-time college program/national championship.

There's no way Fleck's style would work on millionaire grown-men NFL players he doesn't recruit.

(01-11-2017 09:46 AM)Nacho Wrote:  I seem to remember being a head coach in the NFL was on his bucket list.

Ole Fleckenstein better brush up on his X's and O's if he plans on ANY career beyond position coach in the NFL...

There's two places he likely wants to be before rowing on to chase his ultimate goal of "winning a Super Bowl" - Notre Dame or Ohio State. He may take an upper-level ACC job if it opens up to bide his time if need be.

(01-11-2017 07:28 AM)CincoDosAdios Wrote:  He gave us the greatest single year in this program's history. I am honestly OK with paying the price of having him leave us high and dry and poaching HIS recruits if it means having had the season we just did. Not many G5 programs will EVER have a season that incredible.

Well said. College Gameday, the Cotton Bowl...truly an incredible season!

To put it in some perspective, here's a list of P5 programs that have either NOT been to one of the current NY6 bowls (Rose, Orange, Sugar, Fiesta, Cotton, or Peach) OR (now like us) have made one appearance in a current NY6 bowl since the beginning of the BCS era in 1998:

B1G: NW, Rutgers, Indiana, and Minnesota (none); Purdue (one)
Pac-12: ASU and Cal (none); Oregon State, Colorado, WSU, and Arizona (one)
SEC: Vanderbilt and Kentucky (none); South Carolina (one)
Big XII: ISU (none); Kansas (one)
ACC: BC and NC State (none); Syracuse, Pitt, Wake, NC, and Duke (one)

We got to experience the "dream season" as a program in 2016. That's 20+ P5 programs that, like us, have either rarely experienced it or - like Minnesota - are still waiting to experience it.

FWIW, here's an updated list of current NY6 bowl appearances for G5 schools since 1998: Boise (three), Cincinnati (two), and Hawaii, UConn, NIU, UCF, Houston, and WMU (all once).

Quote:FWIW, here's an updated list of current NY6 bowl appearances for G5 schools since 1998: Boise (three), Cincinnati (two), and Hawaii, UConn, NIU, UCF, Houston, and WMU (all once)

Part of that is due to an auto-bid when they were part of the Big East, right?

Todd, I just watched the video on your bro.coach link: http://bro.coach/

After watching it, I was thinking that P.J. must be ecstatic that...

1. Western gave him the opportunity to develop his vision.

2. Western gave him the support to develop his vision.

3. Western gave him the talent and tools to market his vision.

4. Western gave him the stage to launch his coaching career.

P.J. did a lot for Western....and Western did a lot for P.J.

Quote:Todd, I just watched the video on your bro.coach link: http://bro.coach/

Thanks for the reminder. I just updated the site to have a different video playing by default (and a few words). :)

(01-13-2017 05:53 PM)toddjnsn Wrote:  

Quote:FWIW, here's an updated list of current NY6 bowl appearances for G5 schools since 1998: Boise (three), Cincinnati (two), and Hawaii, UConn, NIU, UCF, Houston, and WMU (all once)

Part of that is due to an auto-bid when they were part of the Big East, right?

Yes, that is correct. Still a current NY6 bowl appearance, nonetheless.