A lot of good stuff here.
From the St Paul Pioneer Press:
Iowa’s timeouts in 2020 win over Gophers ‘didn’t offend me one bit,” P.J. Fleck said
By ANDY GREDER | agreder@pioneerpress.com |
St Paul Pioneer Press
July 23, 2021
INDIANAPOLIS — Last November, P.J. Fleck sidestepped a question about Kirk Ferentz calling three straight timeouts at the end of the Hawkeyes’ 35-7 blowout win over the Gophers.
Trailing 35-0 with 19 seconds left, Minnesota’s coach called a timeout as the Gophers tried to stave off a shutout. Ferentz followed that up by calling all three of his timeouts in a row. It was quite a statement from the usually mild-mannered Iowa coach.
“We figured we’d take Floyd with us and leave the timeouts here,” Ferentz said postgame. That quote went viral immediately, and a version of it just might appear on black-and-gold T-shirts when Minnesota travels to Iowa City for a Nov. 13 rematch.
In his news conference after last year’s game, Fleck was tight-lipped. “They called three timeouts; I have no idea what happened,” he said.
At Big Ten Media Days on Thursday, Fleck was asked to reflect on that incident last fall. He was direct this time, returning to his loquacious self.
“It’s OK. That doesn’t affect me one bit,” Fleck said. “You know what: We haven’t beat them. They can do what they want to do. They have Floyd of Rosedale. They have the pig. They have something that we really want, that they have in their trophy case. But the timeout thing does not bother me one bit. How (Ferentz) said it doesn’t bother me one bit. That’s rivalries. I have a ton of respect for him, his program, the University of Iowa.”
Ferentz shed more light on his string of timeouts on Friday. His first response was that it was strategic in that Minnesota presented a matchup the Hawkeyes didn’t like. He was then asked if it was anything more than that.
“The first one was a curious time to call one, so I figured I would do something maybe more curious,” Ferentz said. “Sometimes I act immaturely. I don’t know if I’m proud of it. I don’t know. One of those spur-of-the-moment things. You get into your 60s, you get a little impulsive every now and then.”
Fleck and Jim Harbaugh had at least one thing in common Thursday: Both were asked about their poor records against their rivals. But they differed in how they answered.
On his 0-5 record against Ohio State, the Michigan coach said: “I’m as enthusiastic, excited as I ever am, always am, even more, to have at it, to win the championship, to beat Ohio, your hometown there,” he said to a reporter who covers the Buckeyes. “Our rival is Michigan State, everybody, that’s what we want to do. And we’re going to do it or die trying.”
Fleck, who is 0-4 against Iowa and 1-3 versus Wisconsin, didn’t have trouble saying the names of his rivals as he continued to answer the question about the Hawkeyes game a year ago.
“I’ve been asked, what’s the toughest environment you’ve ever played in or coached in,” Fleck added. “I said the University of Iowa at night. I said that is the hardest environment. … (Fans) are all up all the time. It’s not like this side over here sits down and they’ve had season tickets for 40 years and they are quiet. They expect that. Everybody is loud and they are right on top of you. And that is our rival I’m talking about. I’m not afraid to admit that. I’m not going to not say that because they are our rival.”
Fleck wasn’t done. Given his own time volunteering with the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital, he touched on Iowa’s tradition at Kinnick Stadium. At the end of the first quarter, they wave to the patients and families in the windows of children’s hospital across the street.
“My favorite tradition is the wave … and that is their tradition,” Fleck continued. “I’m a college football person and fan at heart. I love it and I love those things and I love the rivalries. I have a ton of respect for the Iowa program, and that doesn’t bother me one bit. He can use his timeouts any way he wants to use his timeouts. That didn’t offend me one bit.”
In a separate interview Thursday, Fleck was asked how his 1-7 combined mark against Wisconsin and Iowa motivates him. The one win against the Badgers came in 2018 at Camp Randall Stadium; it ended a 15-year drought in the Battle for Paul Bunyan’s Axe.
“We’ve had some close games with (Iowa) and didn’t find a way to win, and some close games with Wisconsin and found one way to win and lost the others,” Fleck said. “But I think our players are embracing their past to create their future. They are learning from the losing of the rivalry games and how that feels to actually go do it. The good thing is we do have one. We have that one that hadn’t been done in 15 years. We got that one, but there is a process to that, being able to flip that at some point. We work really hard to win every single game we play, rivalries are no different, and we are going to continue to focus on that.”
Nebraska isn’t considered a rivalry game for Minnesota, and Fleck is 2-1 versus Cornhuskers coach Scott Frost.
Fleck was the first of seven coaches to take the main podium inside Lucas Oil Stadium. He shared the program’s new acronym: TGIF, “being together, being grateful, having an identity, and focusing on each other.”
Maryland’s Mike Locksley was next and shared his own acronym, BCE, “no (expletive), complaining, or excuses.”
Nebraska’s Scott Frost followed them, and was asked if he has a mantra. “I’m not into sloganeering. If the players need me to motivate them all the time or come up with a unique slogan to get them to play harder, I probably don’t have the right players,” he said. “I played for a coach at Nebraska in Coach (Tom) Osborne. He didn’t need all the sayings and slogans, he just taught us the right way to do things and we went to work.”
Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck spoke during Big Ten Media Days on Thursday, July 22, 2021, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)
From the St Paul Pioneer Press:
Iowa’s timeouts in 2020 win over Gophers ‘didn’t offend me one bit,” P.J. Fleck said
By ANDY GREDER | agreder@pioneerpress.com |
St Paul Pioneer Press
July 23, 2021
INDIANAPOLIS — Last November, P.J. Fleck sidestepped a question about Kirk Ferentz calling three straight timeouts at the end of the Hawkeyes’ 35-7 blowout win over the Gophers.
Trailing 35-0 with 19 seconds left, Minnesota’s coach called a timeout as the Gophers tried to stave off a shutout. Ferentz followed that up by calling all three of his timeouts in a row. It was quite a statement from the usually mild-mannered Iowa coach.
“We figured we’d take Floyd with us and leave the timeouts here,” Ferentz said postgame. That quote went viral immediately, and a version of it just might appear on black-and-gold T-shirts when Minnesota travels to Iowa City for a Nov. 13 rematch.
In his news conference after last year’s game, Fleck was tight-lipped. “They called three timeouts; I have no idea what happened,” he said.
At Big Ten Media Days on Thursday, Fleck was asked to reflect on that incident last fall. He was direct this time, returning to his loquacious self.
“It’s OK. That doesn’t affect me one bit,” Fleck said. “You know what: We haven’t beat them. They can do what they want to do. They have Floyd of Rosedale. They have the pig. They have something that we really want, that they have in their trophy case. But the timeout thing does not bother me one bit. How (Ferentz) said it doesn’t bother me one bit. That’s rivalries. I have a ton of respect for him, his program, the University of Iowa.”
Ferentz shed more light on his string of timeouts on Friday. His first response was that it was strategic in that Minnesota presented a matchup the Hawkeyes didn’t like. He was then asked if it was anything more than that.
“The first one was a curious time to call one, so I figured I would do something maybe more curious,” Ferentz said. “Sometimes I act immaturely. I don’t know if I’m proud of it. I don’t know. One of those spur-of-the-moment things. You get into your 60s, you get a little impulsive every now and then.”
Fleck and Jim Harbaugh had at least one thing in common Thursday: Both were asked about their poor records against their rivals. But they differed in how they answered.
On his 0-5 record against Ohio State, the Michigan coach said: “I’m as enthusiastic, excited as I ever am, always am, even more, to have at it, to win the championship, to beat Ohio, your hometown there,” he said to a reporter who covers the Buckeyes. “Our rival is Michigan State, everybody, that’s what we want to do. And we’re going to do it or die trying.”
Fleck, who is 0-4 against Iowa and 1-3 versus Wisconsin, didn’t have trouble saying the names of his rivals as he continued to answer the question about the Hawkeyes game a year ago.
“I’ve been asked, what’s the toughest environment you’ve ever played in or coached in,” Fleck added. “I said the University of Iowa at night. I said that is the hardest environment. … (Fans) are all up all the time. It’s not like this side over here sits down and they’ve had season tickets for 40 years and they are quiet. They expect that. Everybody is loud and they are right on top of you. And that is our rival I’m talking about. I’m not afraid to admit that. I’m not going to not say that because they are our rival.”
Fleck wasn’t done. Given his own time volunteering with the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital, he touched on Iowa’s tradition at Kinnick Stadium. At the end of the first quarter, they wave to the patients and families in the windows of children’s hospital across the street.
“My favorite tradition is the wave … and that is their tradition,” Fleck continued. “I’m a college football person and fan at heart. I love it and I love those things and I love the rivalries. I have a ton of respect for the Iowa program, and that doesn’t bother me one bit. He can use his timeouts any way he wants to use his timeouts. That didn’t offend me one bit.”
In a separate interview Thursday, Fleck was asked how his 1-7 combined mark against Wisconsin and Iowa motivates him. The one win against the Badgers came in 2018 at Camp Randall Stadium; it ended a 15-year drought in the Battle for Paul Bunyan’s Axe.
“We’ve had some close games with (Iowa) and didn’t find a way to win, and some close games with Wisconsin and found one way to win and lost the others,” Fleck said. “But I think our players are embracing their past to create their future. They are learning from the losing of the rivalry games and how that feels to actually go do it. The good thing is we do have one. We have that one that hadn’t been done in 15 years. We got that one, but there is a process to that, being able to flip that at some point. We work really hard to win every single game we play, rivalries are no different, and we are going to continue to focus on that.”
Nebraska isn’t considered a rivalry game for Minnesota, and Fleck is 2-1 versus Cornhuskers coach Scott Frost.
Fleck was the first of seven coaches to take the main podium inside Lucas Oil Stadium. He shared the program’s new acronym: TGIF, “being together, being grateful, having an identity, and focusing on each other.”
Maryland’s Mike Locksley was next and shared his own acronym, BCE, “no (expletive), complaining, or excuses.”
Nebraska’s Scott Frost followed them, and was asked if he has a mantra. “I’m not into sloganeering. If the players need me to motivate them all the time or come up with a unique slogan to get them to play harder, I probably don’t have the right players,” he said. “I played for a coach at Nebraska in Coach (Tom) Osborne. He didn’t need all the sayings and slogans, he just taught us the right way to do things and we went to work.”
Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck spoke during Big Ten Media Days on Thursday, July 22, 2021, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Doug McSchooler)
How a benign act of calling a timeout fueled the Gophers-Hawkeyes rivalry in 2020
Editor’s note: This story was originally published in July. INDIANAPOLIS — Last November, P.J. Fleck sidestepped a question about Kirk Ferentz calling three straight timeouts at the end of t…
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