Gopher Football Weekly w/ PJ Fleck 12-18-25

Gopher Football Weekly w/ PJ Fleck 12-18-25

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
This guy you Ma and Browns parents Tell the sun
ten Tuxton, Minnesota Golden Gophers.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
The as is in hand, it stays where it belongs
in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Speaker 3 (00:22):
Welcome to the Rate Bowl Preview Show presented by CUB.
The official poster of Gopher Athletics, also broke to you
by alumni own True North family of companies. Visit the
True nort family dot com and buy Tipsy Steer in
Hyphines located at County Road Sea in Snelly, proud sponsor

(00:42):
of Gopher Football No.

Speaker 4 (00:47):
The Voice of the Gophers my him ah.

Speaker 5 (00:50):
Yes, an exciting time of year. It's bowl season.

Speaker 6 (00:54):
It's the Bowl Football Preview Show sponsored by CUBB and
a host of others.

Speaker 5 (00:59):
We thank them for.

Speaker 6 (01:00):
Their support as always of go for football postseason bowl trip.

Speaker 5 (01:04):
It's the Rate Bowl.

Speaker 6 (01:05):
It's December the twenty sixth, It's Minnesota and New Mexico.
It is a kickoff of three thirty Minnesota time. We'll
take care at one thirty and we have the man
of the hour, the head coach PJ. Fleck with us
here on campus. And always fun this time of year
and busy this time of year.

Speaker 7 (01:21):
For you, Busy this time of year yeah, not much
going on. You know, it's kind of interesting.

Speaker 8 (01:26):
Now. We were talking to our press conference today and
we were.

Speaker 7 (01:28):
Talking a little bit about just how I think a
lot of people don't understand like what actually happens right
now in college football and what's happening in college athletics,
let alone people who are still playing in like the
CFP and hunting for a national championship.

Speaker 8 (01:40):
You got the portal right around the corner.

Speaker 7 (01:41):
We're dealing with contracts with our players and agents, you're
Bowl prepping, you're getting ready to go on the recroad recruiting,
and then the portal opens.

Speaker 8 (01:47):
I mean, it's unbelievable.

Speaker 7 (01:50):
It's like having a whole NFL offseason in like a month,
you know what I mean, it with not many rules,
so you can imagine how busy you are and how
many things that every day come up. You're like, wow, okay,
I haven't seen that one before, which makes it really
exciting as well.

Speaker 6 (02:08):
Part and we could probably do this entire hour program
on portal and retention and who's coming, who's going, And
we won't do that, but I do have a couple
of questions because I'd make.

Speaker 8 (02:19):
For great radio.

Speaker 6 (02:20):
It would be it would it would, And I know
there's been some coaches that have talked about you know,
I think part of the part of the some people
thought the solution was, let's just make it a one
one window in January and everyone will wait till January.
But there's ways that word gets out, there's ways that
agencies get a hold of people, and so that hasn't
solved that part of the issue has.

Speaker 7 (02:41):
I mean, it's kind of like saying that, hey, now
that you have a zone, when you line up for
the airport for the for the plane, you'll stay in
your seat till the zone. That doesn't make any sense.
All that makes you want to do is get on
the plane even faster. If I'm in zone zone two,
then shoot, I'm gonna I'm gonna get up when its
zone one. If it zoned three, I'm getting up on
its own four or went up in zone four, of

(03:01):
getting up in zone three, that's all it's done. So
we've always known there's always been those types of things
going on, especially since agents have been involved. I think
there's a lot of things that are already set up
by the time the player already goes in there. But
I do love the one portal system.

Speaker 8 (03:15):
Yeah, I really do.

Speaker 6 (03:16):
It's basically one window January window in January that you're.

Speaker 7 (03:20):
Set your set, and you know there's always some changes
here and there. But like other than that, like you
know your roster, which we couldn't even know our roster
till the summer last year. So talking about building teams,
and I've learned this though, is that you have to
keep adapting. There's no sense ever complaining about it because
the one thing that's always stayed the same in college
football is everything's changed, and everything keeps changing and it

(03:42):
will keep changing, so you better be able to adapt
to it. And especially when you've been somewhere going on
ten years, it's not what you did when you first
got here, and it's not like you're a new staff
over the Alice last year or two where it's always
just started as new. This is something that you have
to continue to adapt to. And I'm really proud of
our staff off and especially losing nine guys to the
NFL last year who are an NFL rosters and and

(04:04):
this year being able to be seven and five and
be a game or two away from being nine wins,
and uh, we'll learn from those experiences. But when you
look at us across the board, pretty young, pretty inexperienced,
at a lot of key positions that with a lot
of guys retained that we retained and signed, and we
should be way more experienced.

Speaker 6 (04:19):
Next year in general terms, because I know you've even
with all this stuff, you can't talk maybe specific and
I know you asked about this in your in your
news conference as well this week. Retention wise, that that's
one of the the the things that can happen. Now
you can say, hey, so and so can you come back?
Can you come back? You want to have that idea
of what your roster is going to look like as

(04:39):
you head into this portal window. So how has that
generally gone for you? If you can comment at all.

Speaker 7 (04:44):
Yeah, recruit, develop, retain, develop, repeat, Yeah, that's what you
have to be able to do. I think we've done
a really good job of retaining a lot of our
key players.

Speaker 3 (04:54):
Uh.

Speaker 7 (04:54):
We're almost there, uh to where I can feel really
confident about who's coming back and and who There's a
few up in the air that we're working on right
now to get done. But I think everybody in the
country has I think we're ahead of the game A
little bit, just in terms of the retention piece. Recruiting
has gone really well, signing our first top twenty five class,
which was huge for us. That was a huge success

(05:14):
for us in the high school ranks. And then as
we get to the portal, we'll know exactly what we
need once we kind of finish up here in the
next few days with some retention. But I feel really
good about where we're at, and it's taken a lot
of people working incredibly hard to get to this point,
that's for sure, Garrett Marcus, their whole staffs our coaching staff.
You just had to be able to do a lot
of things that maybe the job description didn't have in

(05:36):
there a few years ago.

Speaker 6 (05:37):
Yeah, and again we have to talk in general terms,
but in regard to all the different things at hand.
Discussions with players, I suppose can involve, well, you may
have an NFL future, do you know, maybe some kid
wants to try that now, and then you have to
talk to him about that. Maybe there's a kid who's
on the depth chart that is looking at it and saying,
I don't know if I'm going to get on the field.

(05:58):
Maybe now you have a discussion about that. Is this
is it a conversation that has to be one that
there's a reason there's a portal there, maybe that's for you.
And then there's a guy that you know, guys that
we need this guy back. We have to have a
conversation about that. How does how do you as a
coach handle And maybe there's more options than just the
three I presented, but it seems to me that those
are the general ones, and how do you handle that

(06:19):
as a head coach and a staff.

Speaker 7 (06:21):
Everybody's treated fairly, not equally in this program because we're
all different. We all learn differently, we all have a
different rate of how we learn, we all have a
different vision and goal for our own lives.

Speaker 8 (06:31):
We all come from a different place.

Speaker 7 (06:33):
So everybody has a conversation with me and we sit
down and talk about what their goals are, what they
want to do. A lot of guys we know or
it's between NFL and here, It might be between here
and dropping down a level, might be from here, and
just they're going to stay no matter what they might
hear and want to transfer because maybe they won't play.
It's very transparent, honest communication and conversations which are very

(06:56):
difficult to have they're just very difficult to have because
everybody wants the truth until you get the truth. And
the great thing about it, though, is, you know, going
on ten years being here, I always tell our players too,
this is you don't ever have to worry about You
don't have to pay me anything. There's no percentage head
coaches take from their players. And so at the end
of the day, like, we're going to tell you what

(07:17):
we hear, what's best for you, what we can provide
for you, how we can make that all work, and
if it fits within what you want, then let's make
that work. But the great thing about it is there
used to be this old saying of like, oh, of
course they want you to come back, or of course
they want you to stay. Why wouldn't the coach. Of
course coach gets another job and the coach makes it.
We've been here a long time and it's not about

(07:39):
they're making our lives better. It's about us making their
lives better. And when you look at it, even on paper,
there's nothing that they're doing to make our lives better
when it comes down to like winning or losing, or
paying us a percentage or having to make us feel
like they made the right decision. We just want to
give them all the information possible that they can be
able to say, hey, you know what, at the end
of the day, ten years from now, when they look

(07:59):
back on that and say, you know, they didn't lie
to Viye to me, they told me exactly how it
was and whether it turned out that way or not,
they gave me that type of opinion, And I think
that's what as a coach.

Speaker 8 (08:08):
You should be able to take.

Speaker 7 (08:09):
Them to where they are and where they want to
be and give them the best advice possible and hope
that not only do they listen to that, but they
take it back to their surrounding family support system that
they've chosen and those people truly truly what's best for
that student athlete as well, because we know as you
go through this, there's a lot of factors that can
start coming into play that can maybe sway some of

(08:32):
those decisions, and you just hope that everybody truly keeps
the focus on the student athlete.

Speaker 6 (08:37):
And now things have changed to the point where maybe,
as you mentioned six years ago, when you first got here,
at kids says I want to be in the NFL,
and then you give him advice you give him your opinion,
maybe he gets advice from scouts or whatever, and so
you'll be a fifth round pick. Just make it up
sixth round pick. Well maybe for that situation, that's the
best for you.

Speaker 3 (08:56):
Will.

Speaker 6 (08:56):
Now there's money in a in a pot of money
that a college can make it attractive to say, I'm
going to pass up being a fifth round pick because
I can make sometimes closer more than that kind of
money staying and enjoying college and being part of a
program for another year or what have you.

Speaker 5 (09:12):
So how has that changed the dynamic as well?

Speaker 7 (09:14):
Well, I think it's changed a dynamic a lot, because
the amount of money that gets thrown around in college
athletics right now is massive, and I don't know, we
do everything we possibly can to educate in our off
season program, during our life program, especially during our finance classes,
of what the average American makes. Okay, you want to
be Okay, you want to be a teacher, here's what

(09:35):
you're going to start out making. Okay, And there's not like, Hey,
I can go to this school and make a million
dollars teaching, Yeah, because this school pays more. Let's just say,
on an average, what a teacher salary makes right, Okay,
And let's say here's what a beginning lawyer makes, or
here's what a beginning you know, here's all the years
of being a doctor it takes, or here's what being
you know, an engineer is. Right, So we give them
all these like this is what it's going to take

(09:56):
the start, because I don't know if every student a
understands how much money they're being presented with and how
that can change the rest of their life, because they're
still eighteen to twenty two.

Speaker 8 (10:08):
If I gave you, if I told you how much.

Speaker 7 (10:10):
Money, like three hundred thousand dollars, let's say just that,
But when you're eighteen years old, you'd be like, wow,
that's a lot of money. I don't even know how
much money that is until you have it or don't
have it, or have to give half of it to taxes,
Like you don't know until.

Speaker 8 (10:20):
You have it.

Speaker 5 (10:20):
I'd take it now if you want to.

Speaker 8 (10:22):
But that's my point. You would take it now exactly.

Speaker 7 (10:24):
So you're taking this whole experience of life and education
of life that you and I both have, and you're saying, okay, well,
we got to speed all that education up over the
course of twenty thirty years of education, of making good
financial decisions and not making good financial decisions, appreciating the dollar,
what it takes to make a dollar, and if it's
all gone tomorrow, how you can take that money and

(10:45):
still use it for the rest of your life, investing
that money, saving that money, and because there's a lot
of things in life that we are unpredictable, but if
we do everything we can to make sure that they
understand those things and then hopefully they're making good decisions
from that.

Speaker 8 (11:00):
So that's all you can ask for.

Speaker 7 (11:02):
But I think that when we're talking the amount of
money we're talking about, I think people just throw it
around to throw it around like it's just monopoly money,
and I don't know if we have and when you
get it that early. That's why I think three out
of four, almost three out of four NFL players three
years removed from the NFL or bankrupt. And they're older
than these student athletes, so we have to work incredibly hard.

(11:25):
And whether they want to hear that or not hear that,
it's education and what you do with your education is
a choice. So our guys are very educated and for
the most part, make really, really good decisions, but we
got to continue to find creative ways to keep educating,
that's for sure.

Speaker 6 (11:39):
How would you split up? What would you guess this
month of December, preparing for the Bowl game? Retention, high
school signing day, recruiting, how does how would you put
your percentages on? How your time's divided?

Speaker 8 (11:51):
Now?

Speaker 7 (11:53):
All of it deserves all of it. Even before we
had our radio show, we're kind of getting ready to
come in here, right and meet with a player for
an hour unexpectedly right, And again it's not Hey, coach,
you know my girlfriend broke up with me. There are
other conversations and that was not planned. But those are
the things that can not derail you but take you

(12:13):
down a different path throughout the day. You have to
have amazing people around you. Garrett turn Off, Marcus Henderson,
our coaches. They've done a really good job of compartmentalizing
what we are going to do right now, but not
saying we're not willing to adapt that if something comes up.

Speaker 8 (12:30):
And I think that's where you have to really be
fluid through.

Speaker 7 (12:32):
This process, that you're not like, hey, we're only doing
this today and this doesn't matter. You just said a
typical day, whether it's the you know, whether it's the
agent contracts with our players, whether that's the bowl game,
whether that's our development, whether that's recruiting, getting ready for
the portal.

Speaker 8 (12:47):
We do all of that every day.

Speaker 7 (12:50):
Just I can't give you a percentage of what it
is because those percentages lean a different way depending on
which day it is.

Speaker 8 (12:55):
And some days you.

Speaker 7 (12:56):
Walk in here and think it's going to be one
percentage and it goes the complete opposite. And we're before
maybe you'd be like, I'm not going to do that. Yeah,
Now you you roll with it and you allow that
to happen. Or you can be a head coach that
says my coach is only coach and they only recruit
high school player and that's the only thing they're going
to do. Forget relationships, forget transformational, forget life program. They're

(13:17):
going to do football. These people are just going to
deal with the students. There's people doing that. We are
not going to do that. We are a true life
program where there's just more added to it and you
just have to be able to will be willing to
adapt a little bit.

Speaker 8 (13:30):
But nothing's more relevant than the sign of my office.

Speaker 7 (13:33):
It talks about this job it says this job is
constant crisis interrupted by brief success, and that is exactly
what we're doing right now. And it's not, you know this,
this constant success interrupted by you know, by by brief chaos.
It's opposite and crisis. So it's very unique. It's really
it fits my personality really well.

Speaker 6 (13:54):
Yeah, you're you're right on it. I didn't know if
we'd ever see the day and I'm not even making
a judgment on it. And I don't know if you
guys as will do this or not. But yesterday there
was a couple of schools that I saw in my timeline.
They tweeted out players, current players that they had signing
contracts and it said resigned. And we've seen that in
the NFL, right a draft pick signs the contract or

(14:14):
whatever the agentice free agent. In essence, everyone, I guess
for you is a free agent at some point during
you know, a time of year, at any point.

Speaker 5 (14:23):
And again, I'm not making the judgment.

Speaker 6 (14:25):
I just didn't know if we'd ever that, I'd ever
see that become part of a deal where you're showing
pictures of college kids saying sign resign. Here they are
they're part of the you know, part of the deal.
It's pretty pretty amazing to me.

Speaker 7 (14:37):
I think there's a good piece of that, and then
there's also this dangerous piece of that, and I think
that just depends on the individual of what they're willing
to take on expectation wise, because I think that, you know,
when we share your life socially, people want to have
privacy and they don't want that to be criticized, but

(14:59):
they put it socially well, just like our media. Whatever
I say right now on the radio shows going out there, right,
it's not oh, you know, let's just keep that piece private.
When I just said for I was not put that
out there. It's out there, and I think that there
are some advantages of that, and then there's also some
dangerous roads that were going down that maybe we haven't
just seen yet, that have a lot of responsibility behind

(15:19):
it in a lot of different ways, from safety, to
the financial piece, to the expectation piece, from the betting piece,
from the gambling piece, Like there's there's a lot of
tentacles on this thing. That again, that's why I just
I feel like the NFL has this great feel and
grip of this and that there's this reason it's systematically

(15:43):
designed from the calendar and the rules perspective that it
has and from every.

Speaker 8 (15:49):
Detail, and Colls football just doesn't have that. NFL's regulated.

Speaker 7 (15:53):
We're kind of regulated, I guess, but are we So
it's it's it's really a unique time. And I'm not complaining, yeah,
because I think behind anything that's new that you're adapting to,
there's education behind it. As long as you're just not
throwing your hands up. I think it's great education for
our players. But when you're creating something as fast and

(16:13):
as big as we're creating it, it's like ai AI
is a.

Speaker 8 (16:17):
Great tool, but it's also dangerous.

Speaker 7 (16:19):
It is if you're not using it for all the
right things and there's not an education behind it. The
Internet when it first came out, it's a great tool,
but if you use it the wrong way, there's a
lot of things. It's the same thing we're doing here,
because this is a this is a monster of how
big this is, and if there's not educating backing it up,
education backing it up and keeping it at the foundation,

(16:40):
there's a lot of lives who are going to be ruined.
And it's it's unfortunate because these are still student athletes
and young people.

Speaker 6 (16:47):
Yeah, no doubt about it. All right, let's take our
first break. We're going to talk about the ballgame. We'll
do that when we come back. It's the Rate Bowl
Preview Show. It's Gopher Football Weekly with PJ. Fleck from Learfield.

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(21:06):
Minnesota Pork Board, and the University of Minnesota's College of Food,
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Speaker 6 (22:05):
It's more Gopher Football Weekly with PJ Fleck the Rate
Bowl preview Show. And we want to thank CUB, the
official grocer of Go for Athletics, for their sponsorship of
the Rate Bowl broadcast here on the Gopher Sports Network.
CUB has been a proud supporter of Gopher Athletics for
over twenty years and Coach you always, I know, like
to tip your cap to the great folks at CUB.
They helped with the Turkey Drive amongst all the other

(22:27):
things the you know, the CUB Cares program over the years.
Every now and then I'll walk into a CUB and
I see a cardboard cutout of PJ Flex.

Speaker 5 (22:34):
Standing there, you know, asking for a.

Speaker 6 (22:37):
One in a while, I don't think, but I've seen
it before at the CUB. But they do a great
job and big supporters for sure.

Speaker 7 (22:43):
Yeah, Kerry Higgs at a CUB is just a huge
supporter of Gopher athletics, especially go for football and anytime
we ever need anything, especially for our turkey drive. Gave
over six hundred plus turkeys, yeah, and meals. You know,
the week of Wisconsin. You know, I think that's just
show is like we're talking about. You know, you're in
the most important week of the season, You're in rivalry week.
It's cold, it's snowing, the entire teams out there on

(23:07):
the street here throughout our complex here and handing out
turkeys and singing Christmas songs and holiday songs and spreading
joy and this is a game week, in the middle
of game week, after practice. I mean that is just
says everything. And then Kerry Higgs and Cup Foods and
their sponsorship of us and them just anytime we ever
ask them for anything, they're.

Speaker 8 (23:26):
Just like, yes, yes, how many.

Speaker 7 (23:28):
And I just think that's so powerful when you have
partners that way and can't thank them enough.

Speaker 6 (23:32):
Yeah, it's never a bad night when you see Jackson
Howard in a turkey costume.

Speaker 8 (23:36):
Right, they got all types of costs. They got turkey costumes.

Speaker 7 (23:38):
They were dressed as like peach cobbler, they were dressed
as pilgrims. We had we had like like a mashed
potatoes I think too.

Speaker 8 (23:47):
Yeah, there was all types of stuff.

Speaker 5 (23:49):
It was fun for sure.

Speaker 6 (23:49):
Well, it was pretty fun winning that Wisconsin game two
on your birthday for a second straight year.

Speaker 7 (23:54):
Yeah, you know, after last year two years ago at
Wisconsin it was my birthday. Yeah, and it was like okay,
you know, and there's like, well next year it won't
be because we're playing on Saturday. We usually play them
on Friday. Well this year we played them on Saturday
and it happened to be my birthday again. Yeah, and
I was like, oh, you know, because it really depends
on what kind of birthday you have, you know, do
you you get the acts and does a birthday great

(24:16):
that night or is birthday just miserable you know, where
you feel like empty, you know. So it was not
to let the circumstance dig that our behavior. But that's yeah,
it's my birthday and I get to pick how I
want to spend it, right, Yes, exactly, it's.

Speaker 8 (24:30):
My party and I'll yeah cry if I.

Speaker 6 (24:33):
Want to, or in this case it is yeah, absolutely
absolutely it is.

Speaker 8 (24:38):
But we didn't have to worry about it. You celebrate,
and we celebrate.

Speaker 7 (24:41):
We had a great night that night and had they
brought a bunch of them and there after the game.
People don't know this, but she brought in a few
of my friends from just different places. They don't live here,
a few of my friends. And I was like, but
what if we didn't win? Because they ran up to
me on the field store, But that's what they surprised me.
And I was like, but what if we didn't win
and you brought all these people here? You know me

(25:01):
after a game, I'm not necessarily like the greatest hang
after the game if we don't win, I'm not.

Speaker 8 (25:07):
It's fun. I'm just not.

Speaker 7 (25:09):
It's like that's the risk out or risk I was
willing to take. And I was like, that's why I
married her.

Speaker 5 (25:13):
She had confidence. She had confidence.

Speaker 8 (25:15):
She willed it to happen.

Speaker 6 (25:17):
Four or five in that series, which is I know
a great thing and we're as we're on the show
here we're in the football complex. You walk into that
entry way down there, and you see that acts in
that trophy case. So that never gets old. Not a
day does that get old.

Speaker 8 (25:30):
Ever.

Speaker 7 (25:31):
I coming through that door and when I'm doing different
media stuff and going over to the other building and
come back through that door, and it's a it's a
great sight to see every time you walk in there,
for sure.

Speaker 6 (25:41):
And I think we talk about You've talked about it
during even that week. The rivalry is only a rivalry
if you can win it a few times, and now
four out of five that makes it an even fiercer
rivalry because you know, the folks to the east now
are hey, we got to get that thing back. So
you know, another year here and hopefully more after that.
But that that that what makes that Thanksgiving a week

(26:03):
pretty fun?

Speaker 8 (26:04):
Yeah, it does.

Speaker 7 (26:04):
And then when you look at the history of the rovalry,
it's sixty four, sixty three and eight, I think eight. Yeah,
all right, so sixty four, sixty three at eight, So
take out the eight ties, sixty four and sixty three.

Speaker 8 (26:16):
Think about that like one game off.

Speaker 7 (26:18):
I mean, there's no way that can be possible of
one hundred and twenty seven of those games that are
one hundred and thirty five of them, Yeah, one hundred
and twenty seven of them. Yeah, were almost split right
down the middle and one and eight were eight were tied.

Speaker 8 (26:30):
Incredible. I mean think about that, That truly is incredible. Yeah.

Speaker 7 (26:33):
I'm just very grateful every day to be a part
of that. Robvaly and never take that for granted.

Speaker 6 (26:38):
Yeah, fun fun day with the snow, and especially when
it's snow, when it snowed.

Speaker 5 (26:42):
And then the fourth quarter.

Speaker 6 (26:43):
I know I asked you about this on recruiting day
the because you were you had you were busy, you
had things going on there in the fourth quarter. But
once it was pretty apparent that the golfers are going
to keep the acts. They were playing music in the
commercial or you know, in the in the TV timeouts,
and the whole stadium it's like a big karaoke bar,
you know, forty thousand people singing piano. Man, it was
this uphoric sense. It was just incredible.

Speaker 8 (27:04):
How great was that? Yeah, that's what you know.

Speaker 7 (27:07):
It was funny because you know, I got a chance
to watch some football, you know, the later on in
the day, and there's a lot of people that had
the same type of weather and there's nobody in the stands.

Speaker 8 (27:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (27:18):
And our fans fifty thousand State all the way to
the very end.

Speaker 13 (27:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (27:22):
And the students were incredible, incredible, I mean incredible the
whole game.

Speaker 8 (27:27):
And I'm just so proud that.

Speaker 7 (27:29):
You know, when we first got here, we said, this
is what type of environment we want to continue to
create and keep, and they have come through all year.
Our students all year were exceptional, Our band was exceptional
all year, our fans, our season ticket holders, incredible all year,
and we end up being seven and zero at home.

Speaker 8 (27:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (27:46):
And it takes them to create that home field advantage
that you want to have. That it's a very difficult
place to play. We know all the difficult places to
play that if somebody asked you of all the experience with.

Speaker 5 (27:57):
The head coach, PJ.

Speaker 6 (27:58):
Fleck, and we want to thank are great friends at
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and A serves business owners with companies generating up to
two hundred fifty million dollars in revenue, and they should
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understand your options and maximize your results. Quietly and confidentially
visit TNMA dot com and they've been a season long

(28:19):
supporter of our show and great sport supporters of Go
for Athletics and then the football team as well. With
our buddy Brian Slipka in company.

Speaker 8 (28:27):
He's awesome.

Speaker 5 (28:28):
Yeah.

Speaker 7 (28:29):
We usually have a meeting me and me and Slipka
probably once every two weeks in season, you know, and
it's almost like a therapy session for both of us.
And I just kind of sneak out for about twenty
thirty minutes see him his offices right down the road
so they can come on back. And I think it's
good for both of us. But he's a what an
amazing guy that's got his hands seemed to be in everything. Yeah,

(28:49):
and all types of companies and businesses. And it's taking
care of a lot of our a lot of our
former players and who are doing very well for him
right now too.

Speaker 8 (28:56):
So that's a great connection for the future as well, Yeah,
no doubt.

Speaker 6 (28:59):
All right, let's talk about the rate bull December the
twenty sixth day after Christmas. We'll start with that because
you guys leave on Sunday and so you guys will
be you know, technically away from home. For the holidays,
so to speak. But I know that there's also an
aspect that the team wants to be together over the holidays.
A lot of the families of the coaching staff come
down as well and kind of take us through.

Speaker 8 (29:21):
That part of it.

Speaker 7 (29:22):
Yeah, I mean, I think it's really important one that
everybody knows, like, we love playing in bowl games and
this is going to be tremendous for our football program.
And I'm looking at the weather right now, which is great.
So I mean we leave Sunday at seventy eight, Monday
seventy nine, Tuesday seventy four, Wednesday seventy three.

Speaker 5 (29:36):
Nothing wrong with that.

Speaker 7 (29:37):
I think it's both the rain and the rest of
the week. But we're indoors, so halls. We don't have
any parachuters that have roof close.

Speaker 8 (29:44):
Or feel free to throw it open. Yeah, don't care.
Yeah that's true. Put it open.

Speaker 5 (29:47):
Yeah that's true.

Speaker 7 (29:48):
But I think they learned from their past, right deathing closed.
But I think it's such a great time. I love
when the bowl games are on the twenty sixth because
we all get kind of the holiday together the day
before the game and everybody's already had their the bowl
festivities and activities, and now you're kind of focusing on
the game where it's you know, Christmas morning, and everybody's
kind of together throughout Christmas Day, nobody's alone. The families

(30:11):
are there, the kids are there, our players are there,
their families are there. I think it's just a wonderful
bonding experience. Then you play the next day and you know,
then you're on at twenty twenty six. But we're very
thankful to be back in the Rape Bowl, just because
they take such good carry you when you're there.

Speaker 6 (30:23):
Yeah, I'm asking you this question. I didn't ask ahead
of time, so I'm in danger of maybe not for
sure what the answer is going to be here. Not
that I always know your answer, but I saw it
firsthand in New York when you were out there, when
you and Heather gave the coaching staff kids and the
kids that were on the trip over Christmas and the
holidays presence, and we had kids riding scooters around in

(30:45):
the lobby, We had NERF basketball hoops up in the lobby.
It was so cool. And so I'm assuming you still
do that. I probably should have asked before I.

Speaker 7 (30:52):
Asked if you asked it, I didn't boy, what a
grit over here.

Speaker 8 (30:56):
Screwge.

Speaker 6 (30:56):
But I thought that was one of the honestly, and
I mean this in all sincerity, watching those kids and
they weren't like little trinket presents. These were like nice
gifts and their their eyes light up there on the road.
It's one of the coolest things I've seen in my
time covering GO for Athletics.

Speaker 7 (31:11):
Well, as I said before, you know, we're all in
this together. We're all rowing the boat together. And whether
it's the coaches, whether it's our support staff, administration, or
all of our families, everybody's involved in this thing.

Speaker 8 (31:21):
And this is our livelihood.

Speaker 7 (31:24):
This isn't a hobby, and so everybody has to sacrifice
something to do this job. And Heather and I believe that,
you know, we not only have our own four children
right to be parents too, but also we look at
all of our players as part of our family. And
then are a lot of our coaches families. Some Coach
Nickel has been with us the whole time, and you've
got four daughters and we've known them. Coach Nickel before

(31:46):
they didn't have any kids, and now you're seeing his daughters.
So it's a tradition Heather and I love to do
great Now everybody's gonna expect ye, and we like to
make it a surprise, but no, you're okay.

Speaker 8 (31:56):
But what we do is we always ask the parents too.

Speaker 7 (31:58):
Like it's not Heather and I saying, you know what,
I think little Johnny would like a scooter, and I think,
you know, a little Susie would like a doll. You know,
we're not Sannah, but what we are is we always
ask our coaches, hey, you know, what does your son
or daughter want? Let us, you know, help you out
with that, and let's go get them that gift. And
it's so fun because on Christmas, these are players.

Speaker 8 (32:19):
This is part of football.

Speaker 7 (32:20):
But the young kids that have to kind of do
football or do the holidays a little different, they can
still have Christmas, they can still have that holiday that morning,
and I think we all we all do it together
as a team, which is great. And they all open
it at once, and it's hilarious because you have forty
some little kids who some are patient, some are not patient,
and they are ready to rip into these gifts and

(32:42):
we all kind of do a little countdown and our
players are there. The kids rip into the gifts and
it just it brings that sense of that that holiday
spirit into that room and into something that you have.

Speaker 8 (32:52):
To adapt a little bit, but you can still have
it on that day.

Speaker 5 (32:55):
Yeah, it's pretty cool.

Speaker 8 (32:56):
It's a lot of fun, no doubt.

Speaker 6 (32:58):
All Right, the game itself, you know, in terms of
getting ready, we spent most of the show talking about
all the other stuff that you're dealing with. Let's talk
about the game, game prep, Bowl prep. You've talked about
it in the past that some of this is a
celebration of twenty twenty five, some of it's a precursor
to what you're going to see in twenty twenty six
with springball. Just you know, mere months away. How has

(33:18):
the bull prep been going now as you're you know,
a little less than a week away from kickoff.

Speaker 7 (33:22):
Yeah, right now, we're we're in kind of we're all
New Mexico all the time. So we've got four total
practices right now, and we kind of do a group
practice which is more of a walk through practice then
a practice than a walk through practice then a practice,
and then we leave and we have a rule that
all cards, all practice scripts, everything is done prior to
going out to the Bowl trip. So our coaches have
been working the last few weeks. Once we knew our opponent,

(33:44):
we went on to New Mexico or New Mexico, And
when you look at the whole week, the week one
is always Minnesota versus Minnesota. Week week two we start
bringing our other players back. Sorry, Week one, young guys,
We two Minnesota versus Minnesota. We bring our older guys
back in. And then week three we're in and that's
New Mexico planning and getting ready for that. And then
we always do the bull site just like we normally

(34:06):
do during the week. So we're going out there Sunday,
which is technically the player's day off Monday of gaming
because we play on a Friday. So then we just
go ahead and plug and play from there.

Speaker 6 (34:14):
Yeah, very into the routine you always have then on
once you get down there.

Speaker 7 (34:18):
Yeah, our administration has been tremendous are allowing us to
go down there two days early, which allows us to
stay in the You know, Monday is travel day, technically
the player's day off you don't practice anyway, and then
that Monday is technically a Tuesday that next day, so
we're using Monday as at Tuesday, and that Tuesday is
a Wednesday, and.

Speaker 8 (34:34):
Then we're in game week. So it's.

Speaker 7 (34:38):
It keeps it keeps like the schedule as close to
a game schedule as you can possibly have.

Speaker 5 (34:43):
We talked there, I did.

Speaker 6 (34:44):
I was able lucky enough. Drake Lindsay was on my
podcast last week and he talked about his growth and
different things, and I'll ask you about that, but the
first thing I want to ask you about is he
said that one of the areas he grew the most,
he thought in his time was that week where it
was young guys and he got all the reps of
Bullpris before Max then kind of got back in it.
And the importance of that, he said he that was

(35:05):
the week he kind of said, all right, this is
kind of a baton passing off. I'm paraphrasing a little bit.
Basically he talked about that, So take me through the
theory on that. Obviously it paid off because Drake had
a nice year and all of that stuff, but of
getting the young guys that week and then letting the
guys who just beat their brains out for thirteen weeks
kind of decompress, right.

Speaker 7 (35:23):
It really is, you know, and we have some guys
playing in the game we have some guys not playing
in the game, but you want to give everybody a
little time to just kind of relax.

Speaker 8 (35:30):
A little bit.

Speaker 7 (35:31):
They've earned that right by going to a Bull game Nember.
Going to a bowl game is a good thing. Yes,
it's earned. You know, it's fun. You don't want them
to be like, oh, I got to go to a
Bull game. Our guys have never done that, which I
give him credit. There's a lot of guys who have
NFL aspirations and you know, have decided not to do that,
But I don't blame them for that.

Speaker 8 (35:47):
That's their decision.

Speaker 7 (35:47):
That's why it's a celebration of twenty five, but it's
the start of twenty six. So there's a lot of
guys who maybe didn't play in the twenty five season
that will play that Bull game in twenty six. Well,
play in the Bull game, which is their start of
twenty six. And that was kind of where Drake was
where that first week of last year's bullprep was so
important for his twenty five season, and that was it

(36:09):
was priceless for us because he got you know, eight
to ten days where it was his offense and that's
where you saw I think the most growth in terms
of being able to capture everybody in January, even though
he hadn't played yet, it was, Hey, this is I'm
going to be the leader of this football team and
work really hard at it.

Speaker 8 (36:27):
Now.

Speaker 7 (36:27):
He's gonna be a way better leader in twenty six
than he wasn't twenty five. But that kind of got
it started.

Speaker 6 (36:31):
Yeah, and he did in the podcast mentioned he's back
next year, which I know is good news, and he's
obviously going to play in the Bowl game and all
those things, so you know, I know you it's still
a process with the rest of the roster, but in general,
that's good news. Right, Your quarterback from twenty fives back
for twenty six.

Speaker 7 (36:49):
The hell of a lot better than I'm saying I'm
not coming back. But he's just such an amazing young man. Incredible,
he truly is. And he's so mature beyond his year.
I'm not saying he doesn't have to keep maturing, but
he is very mature past his years, and he's done
it in a short amount of time. Where there's a
picture on our patio where you see him and I

(37:09):
and his dad when his recruiting visit, and you're looking.

Speaker 8 (37:12):
At that picture, and you're like, is that even the
same kid?

Speaker 7 (37:14):
And that was just a year and a half to
two years ago, and physically, mentally, emotionally, he's just matured
so much and you feel really good about you know,
you're looking at these as you know, these aren't just
it's not just year in, year out, you're just gonna play.
These are deals too, right, So you got to feel
good on your end as a coach, and they got
to feel good on their end as a feel good
on their end as a player. And when the deal

(37:35):
is done, you feel like, you know what, if we're
gonna do that deal, thank goodness he's getting that deal
because it it couldn't happen to a better kid, better family.
And that's what you find a lot of like peace
in this is like, all right.

Speaker 8 (37:48):
Has happened to a really good kid.

Speaker 7 (37:50):
It's kind of when it goes the other way that
I know a lot of people on the outside struggle
with So I'm glad we don't have a lot of
those issues. So it's he's a tremendous leader for a football.

Speaker 6 (37:59):
Team, yeah, and that this is the place he wants
to be. He likes the culture, he likes his coaching staff.
He likes the offense. He thinks that's the offense that's
going to help him develop, not just for Minnesota, but
you know, his potential possible pro career down the line too.

Speaker 7 (38:13):
Yeah, we just listened to Drake, and whatever Drake wants,
he gets. But when you think about it, like I
said this weeks ago, somebody asked me, I think it
was in area of presidentaid. Yeah, he has a lot
of input. Of course, your quarterback should have input. When
the type of responsibility we're putting on these young people,
they should have even more of a voice than they

(38:36):
had before, especially if we're going to be talking these
contracts and the money they're having, because what much is
earned or given as much as expected. So I want
to help them develop that way where they can have
those hot conversations, they can be open and talk to
you about how they feel. But Drake's a great fit here,
and I think that's where at the end of the day,
it's not about the money. I'm certa people would have
probably paid him more, but it was the fit here

(38:59):
where he could grow on field, he could grow off
the field.

Speaker 8 (39:01):
His family's a great fit here.

Speaker 7 (39:02):
He's being developed in the system that he wants to
be able to create an NFL quarterback. When you look
at all the quarterbacks that we've had here in different systems,
this system's produced the one that you know got an
NFL start. You know, when you look at it right now,
I know it wasn't as good as what people wanted,
but that was the first start of his career. He
has the top three defense in the NFL. So, but
it's when you look at it. This is the type
of system that allows Drake within his skill sets, to

(39:25):
maximize that to his ability.

Speaker 8 (39:27):
And he won the most games and as a.

Speaker 7 (39:29):
Freshman or and go for history as a freshman right
or freshman record of how many wins a freshman has won.

Speaker 8 (39:35):
That's a huge accomplishment.

Speaker 7 (39:36):
And to keep watching him develop within this, within this
offensive system that works complementary with our defense and special teams,
I think watching him coach Harbo really grow together has
been fun to watch.

Speaker 8 (39:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (39:47):
Absolutely, all right, we're going to talk about New Mexico
the opponent. We'll get a bot a scouted report from
the head coach PJ. Fleck on that stay with us.
It's the Rate Bowl preview show. It's Go for Football Weekly,
with PJ Flex sponsored by cub from lear.

Speaker 9 (39:59):
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Speaker 5 (40:04):
Oh what fun it is to drive.

Speaker 9 (40:06):
A new Toyota to day.

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Speaker 11 (40:22):
The other inventory may vary. Toyota than ends January fifth.
See your participating dealer for details. Toyota Let's Go places.

Speaker 18 (40:30):
The game against Rutgers on September twenty seventh recognized the
thirteenth annual Celebrate Egg and Food Day a Huntington Banks Stadium.
Both the game broadcast and the presentation inside the stadium
celebrated the tireless efforts in the agriculture industry. The Gophers
would like to thank the following participating sponsors, ag Country
Farm Credit Services, Minnesota Biofuels Association, Minnesota Corn Growers' Association,

(40:52):
Minnesota Pork Board, and the University of Minnesota's College of Food,
Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences for their continued support.

Speaker 19 (41:01):
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when you sell your business with sun Belt Business Advisors.
Sun Belt is a local alumni owned company and proud
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Speaker 8 (41:32):
It's fine, tell me week the trust not say.

Speaker 13 (41:41):
Anything everything time.

Speaker 9 (41:44):
Holiday trees, happy, happy, happy, happy, gristless, be happy, happy,
happy Christmas.

Speaker 14 (41:50):
This season, don't you shop shop, come and shop Happy
Holidays shops, Shop Shop Shop.

Speaker 6 (42:04):
Get our in studio producer Paul Rovnak with Go for Communications,
Garrett Chernoff and Chandler Bunning with Goper Football.

Speaker 5 (42:11):
And this time of year, there's always.

Speaker 6 (42:12):
Moving part, so we appreciate everybody's hard work and getting
the show put together and on the air. The New
Mexico Lobos are your opponent. PJ Flex So what do
we know about the Lobos.

Speaker 7 (42:23):
Yeah, Coach X had a heck of a season with
this team, nine wins, and I'm sure they want their tenth.
And you know, they blew out UCLA, played Michigan really
tough one to one possession games, blew out a lot
of guys in their conference. So this is a team
that playing really really well, really hard. They play together,
They do a lot of the small things really well,
but they run the football a ton.

Speaker 8 (42:43):
In a really creative way.

Speaker 7 (42:45):
They always keep you off balance, and they tried to
out number you and they do a really good job
of that.

Speaker 8 (42:49):
And when they have to throw it, they throw it.

Speaker 7 (42:50):
And they got really good receivers and a good quarterback
and he can throw it and he can run it.
So you got to be really honest. And on defense,
they just swarmed to the football all eleven. Understand how
they all fit on you fit with each other and
special teams is that bridge. So they got a really
good football team, that's for sure. And I know they're
fired up to play us in the bowl game.

Speaker 6 (43:07):
As you kind of dive into it, because it was
really proud, you know, you're thinking you're probably for when
it looked like it was going to be this bowl game,
the Rate Bowl. You're thinking Big twelve, you know, Iowa State,
Kansas State, maybe maybe TCU, who knows where it all
trickles to, and then all of a sudden, boom, it's
New Mexico.

Speaker 5 (43:23):
As you've now dived into the prep.

Speaker 6 (43:25):
What it's been a fairly quick turnaround for them to
go from not being that relevant for a while to
being in this bowl game against a Big ten team.
What do you think Coacheck has done there?

Speaker 7 (43:34):
Well, I think they've He've done a great job of
connecting that football team.

Speaker 8 (43:37):
I think he brought a lot of guys in through
the transfer portal.

Speaker 7 (43:39):
When you look at their two deep, a lot of
guys came in, a lot of guys are new. Did
a great job connecting that team, got a lot of
really good players from all over the country, some from Idaho,
some from other places that he was at.

Speaker 8 (43:49):
So brought a ton of guys.

Speaker 7 (43:51):
With and implemented into their systems and executed at a
really high level and gotten to play as a team.

Speaker 8 (43:56):
And beliefs a really powerful thing.

Speaker 7 (43:58):
Now, once you can get that thing go, and beliefs
really really powerful, and you could tell they really love
playing form and they believe.

Speaker 5 (44:04):
And now you know, it's kind of regional for them, right.

Speaker 6 (44:06):
I think it's from Albuquerque to Phoenix, maybe six hour drive,
so you'll and I know there's a lot of goal
Forer fans that one will travel over the holidays to
get down there, and there's some snowbirds down there, so
this could be a pretty good atmosphere.

Speaker 8 (44:19):
I think it's gonna be a great atmosphere.

Speaker 7 (44:20):
I think it's going to be one of the most
well attended Bowl games we've had from both opponents. So
it's going to be a lot of fun to see
what the atmosphere is like, that's for sure.

Speaker 6 (44:28):
As you have the week now, when you get down there,
you've got a spot where you go practice. Take me
through the logistics there and how you try to make
that a smooth operation.

Speaker 7 (44:37):
That's funny because we're having a staff meeting all about
that you're coming up. So I'd love Garrett to be
able to tell us all the things that we're going
to be able to do. But once we get down there,
it's all about having time for the bowl piece, where
that's the fun piece. Celebrate, also do stuff that the
bowl has you do, especially the surveying and giving piece.
I think that's really critical and the bull prep. But

(44:58):
being down there for all the rate roll Rap Bowl responsibilities,
but then also practicing, so we're practicing at a junior college,
so there's some different things logistically We've got to be
able to work with that, and then you know, having
our meetings like we normally do, but then also having
time to enjoy the Phoenix area and I think our
players there, you know, we're staying at the Wild Pass,
the Wild Horse Pass, and that's a beautiful it's a

(45:20):
great hotel and anybody that's going out there, it's a
great hotel if you're staying there.

Speaker 8 (45:24):
And it's kind of off the beaten path a little bit,
which I love.

Speaker 7 (45:27):
They got a golf course right there, which is great,
and then there's a you know, there's a little casino
down the town the way as well, but there's a
lot of things to do around that area. But I
do like because it's off the beaten path a little
bit where you don't get that hustle and bustle. You
really feel like you're in the desert. Yeah, and I
like that feeling.

Speaker 6 (45:43):
I did ask Drake if he was going to try
to get around the golf in and he said he
was not, so he's going to stick to football all week.

Speaker 7 (45:51):
I have a hard time believing that a guy who
owns golf courses and who is a scratch golfer.

Speaker 8 (45:56):
I have a really hard time.

Speaker 7 (45:57):
And when he sees that course is right there across
the street, I think he's going to have a hard time.

Speaker 6 (46:01):
Is there.

Speaker 8 (46:01):
He'll there be time, though, legit, he'll be I put
it this way.

Speaker 7 (46:04):
There was one time last year or last time we
were there that literally we got back in time for
like another hour and a half of light.

Speaker 8 (46:12):
I think Gary if you remember this.

Speaker 7 (46:13):
And then Garrett we somehow called the pro shop. I
got a cart through my clubs on the back and
I got a round in like through heather in the
pasture seat. We just went and there was nobody on
the course at that time. Yeah, so but it was
a little bit chillier, yeah, And I must have got
the whole round done in an hour and a half
before it before it was dark.

Speaker 5 (46:29):
So well, when you only take like seventy one shots, that.

Speaker 8 (46:32):
Could have been just the front.

Speaker 7 (46:34):
So especially this time of year, you know, it's funny
when people talk about all the golf erzer, how much
you play in Minnesota?

Speaker 8 (46:41):
That too much?

Speaker 13 (46:42):
Not too much? No, not too much? Well, how did
you play too much? You see all that white stuff
out there? Yeah, exactly exactly your golf ball. Well, maybe
he'll play, maybe not. Maybe he'll get a ninety minute
session in at some point too.

Speaker 7 (46:53):
I don't know. I don't know about this one. I
think they were going to enjoy some other things. So
we'll see. But it's a it's a great bowl game.
They do it for minute shop.

Speaker 8 (47:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (47:00):
Well, safe travels. We'll see you out there. Looking forward
to it. The Gophers and New Mexico. It is December
twenty sixth, that's a week from Friday. We take are
at one thirty. Kickoff Minnesota time is three point thirty. Again,
thanks to everybody for the head coach, PJ.

Speaker 5 (47:14):
Fleck.

Speaker 6 (47:14):
This has been Mike Grim. This has been the Rate
Bowl preview show. It's Gopher Football Weekly with PJ. Fleck
from Deerfield.