Yesterday I chastised Minnesota for letting Tracy Claeys go for, basically, standing up for his law abiding players. I thought when it happened it was wrong, and I still think it is wrong. Today, I am going to double down on crapping all over the University of Minnesota because I do not think that the hiring of PJ Fleck is all that big a deal, for many reasons.

First off, he is a coach from the MAC, that has an overall record of 30-22 in 4 years. That isn't awful, but it is not that great either. Thirteen of those wins came this season, so before that, his overall record in 3 years was 17-21, 4 games below .500. That doesn't scream national power to me.

Sure, Western Michigan had a great, wonderful season, but it was not that impressive if you really break it down. Their schedule was not that hard. The MAC is not a very good conference. There seems to be one team from the MAC every year that explodes like this, but, the very next season, they come crashing back to Earth. I remember a few years ago, Ball State was the talk of college football. They were riding an 11-0 record, but they blew a late conference game, then got crushed by a power 5 team in their bowl game. Same with Northern Illinois. A few years back they made a BCS bowl, then proceeded to get their heads smashed in by a pissed off Florida State team. The MAC does not have a team like Boise State. Boise State takes on all comers, crushes every opponent in their conference, and deserves to be in big time bowl games. That is why Chris Petersen got a big time job at Washington, and has that team in very good shape for years to come. PJ Fleck did not have the resume that Petersen had when he got his first big time job. And Washington football is a much bigger deal than Minnesota football.

Also, Western Michigan's 2 best wins during the regular season came against 6-6 Northwestern and 3-9 Illinois. They pounded Illinois, as did every other decent college football team. But they needed a miracle to beat Northwestern, who I need to remind you, Northwestern lost to a FCS school the week before on a last minute field goal. Had that player from Northwestern just went down, instead of stretching for the goal line, then fumbling, Western Michigan and PJ Fleck would not have been talked about as much as they were all season. But, he did, and WMU won.

Other than those 2 "power" 5 teams, WMU feasted on much lesser opponents all season long. Is it any wonder as to why this team never reached any higher than 15 in the playoff polls? I know these polls are totally arbitrary, and I usually disagree with them, but I feel like they got WMU just right. And, being the one non power 5 team to be undefeated, they did deserve the invite to the Cotton Bowl, but they got a reeling Wisconsin team, that played 2 QB's that whole game. Wisconsin has a great defense, but their offense leaves A LOT to be desired. But, for the most part, they completely controlled WMU all game. I know the final score made it seem closer than it was, but remember, WMU scored a very late TD to pull within 7, and that TD was incredibly lucky. When WMU had to play a real team, you saw how good they really were. They were fine, Corey Davis is a great receiver, but if they were in the Big Ten, Big 12, SEC, ACC or Pac 12, they are, at the very best, an eight win team.

My final reason as to why I do not think Fleck is a great hire, no other big time school, that had a head coaching vacancy, brought him in so much so for an interview. Texas did not call. Oregon blatantly made it known that they had no intentions of bringing him in. Houston chose to just promote an assistant, instead of bringing Fleck in. LSU all but laughed off the assumption that he was a candidate. No major college football program ever really gave Fleck a second thought.

In fact, this hiring made me think of Michigan, 5 years ago, when they hired Brady Hoke. When I heard that Hoke was getting the job, I tried to convince myself that they were doing the right thing. They were giving a guy that paid his dues the chance to coach a major team, to bring them back to prominence. And, he looked like the right hire in his first season, but things went to shit after that. When he had to recruit his guys, which he did a good job of getting good players, and coach them up, which he was atrocious at doing, he failed tremendously. Michigan got worse every year under Hoke.

I think the same thing is going to happen with Minnesota and Fleck. His name is hot right now, but what has he really accomplished, against good opponents? Like I said earlier, props to you for going 13-0 in the regular season, but when you had to play a real team, you were immobilized and outcoached by a million miles. You have great enthusiasm, but that will only take you so far. You have to recruit against the likes of the University of Ohio State, Michigan State, Iowa, Penn State, Nebraska and Michigan, just to name a few. You also have to play these teams every year. You do not have the luxury of being the underdog from the underdog conference anymore. You have to face 9 Big Ten teams a year, and they all aren't Northwestern and Illinois. This job is going to be very, very tough.

Sure, the hiring seems great now, but so did the hiring of Hoke, or when Helfrich took over at Oregon, or when Lane Kiffin took the job at USC. How did all those end up? Not so great. Claeys getting canned was bad, but I feel like this hiring of Fleck is just another misstep in a program that I once respected, but makes me lose respect everyday with each decision they make. Good luck Minnesota, but honestly, I hope this all ends very bad for you.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. His father is a Minnesota alum, and has refused to share any Golden Gopher gear until Ty gets off his soapbox on the football program. Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

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