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

We went the way we went and now we have to back this kid up and let him take his lumps.

I think he will be a fast learner. I'd thought it would be a 3-4 win season, now that has to down grade to a 2-3 win year. It will be humbling for him I'm sure but he may emerge from the fire to be outstanding long term

Youngest coach in D-1 comes with a cost, he will learn on our turf. I'm pulling for the guy now. He's family and we support our own.

I have been a season ticket holder for about 35 years and this has been one of the worst games ever!!!

(09-07-2013 10:43 PM)Dirty Ernie Wrote:  We went the way we went and now we have to back this kid up and let him take his lumps.

I think he will be a fast learner. I'd thought it would be a 3-4 win season, now that has to down grade to a 2-3 win year. It will be humbling for him I'm sure but he may emerge from the fire to be outstanding long term

Youngest coach in D-1 comes with a cost, he will learn on our turf. I'm pulling for the guy now. He's family and we support our own.

Excellent post. Pretty much says it all.

(09-07-2013 10:46 PM)ChuckNorris Wrote:  

(09-07-2013 10:43 PM)Dirty Ernie Wrote:  We went the way we went and now we have to back this kid up and let him take his lumps.

I think he will be a fast learner. I'd thought it would be a 3-4 win season, now that has to down grade to a 2-3 win year. It will be humbling for him I'm sure but he may emerge from the fire to be outstanding long term

Youngest coach in D-1 comes with a cost, he will learn on our turf. I'm pulling for the guy now. He's family and we support our own.

Excellent post. Pretty much says it all.

Being hired to coach at the DI level is not an entry level learn on the job opportunity. Decision making and play calling was horrid.

Lets see...38 years of Gary Fund contributions of $500 a year. Thats $19,000 total for what??

(09-07-2013 11:06 PM)4wmu Wrote:  Lets see...38 years of Gary Fund contributions of $500 a year. Thats $19,000 total for what??

A kick-ass hockey program.

(09-07-2013 10:59 PM)Chipdip2 Wrote:  

(09-07-2013 10:46 PM)ChuckNorris Wrote:  

(09-07-2013 10:43 PM)Dirty Ernie Wrote:  We went the way we went and now we have to back this kid up and let him take his lumps.

I think he will be a fast learner. I'd thought it would be a 3-4 win season, now that has to down grade to a 2-3 win year. It will be humbling for him I'm sure but he may emerge from the fire to be outstanding long term

Youngest coach in D-1 comes with a cost, he will learn on our turf. I'm pulling for the guy now. He's family and we support our own.

Excellent post. Pretty much says it all.

Being hired to coach at the DI level is not an entry level learn on the job opportunity. Decision making and play calling was horrid.

Excellent post. Pretty much says it all.

I used to get really pi$$ed off when Cubit would lose a game he should win. With PJ I'm just very disappointed. Odd reaction. Could be because I expected Cubit could get us to win, and never really had the faith in PJ.

Still hurts just as bad though.

(09-07-2013 09:49 PM)Hiller4Hyz09 Wrote:  BAN ME!!

Settle down Persky

Head Coach P.J. Fleck

Opening statement:

"We didn't earn the victory. We didn't earn it; but whether we win or lose it will not define us. This program will not be defined by one game. We knew this was going to be a tough year; you've heard me say that this is going to be a building year. We have to dig a little deeper in to the foundation now. There are 115 kids in there who are hurting because they didn't want to lose this football game. They fought tooth and nail and scratched and clawed, but we made some mistakes. I am still proud to be their football coach. I love those kids in there. One game will not define this football program, nor the direction that we are going. This football team is going to go in a way that is positive, and We didn't deserve to win that football game. This team has to learn to win they are going to learn and grow from it. There are a lot of young kids in there who have to learn how to win, and it's not going to be easy. We have to give Nicholls credit, they came out and played awesome."

Not one ounce of I could do better. Nothing about how the coaches didn't have them prepared to win. Nothing about how they didn't put the players in a position to win the game. He puts it all on the players. He takes no responsibility in this statement and HE wants to be the face of WMU, not just WMU football.

I know how older players are and all the "buy in" he thought he had will be tested. If he went in there and said the above to the players he will lose them. Bear Bryant used to say that if they won, WE WON and if they lost I LOST the game. Good coaches always take the pressure of a loss off of players. Nick Saban is not blaming players when the lose but what does he know.

Quote:Not one ounce of I could do better. Nothing about how the coaches didn't have them prepared to win. Nothing about how they didn't put the players in a position to win the game. He puts it all on the players. He takes no responsibility in this statement

He's going to lose the team fast if he keeps that up.

For the record. Nichols did not play "awesome", c'mon man.

Is Fleck our RichRod?

Are we West Virginia or Arizona in this scenario?

(09-07-2013 10:22 PM)Kimbosucks Wrote:  Like I said two weeks ago, shut up and coach the team not the fans and the interwebs and the community. He will not get fired KB and Dunn have went all in on this one. They will have to go down with the ship if the time comes a few years down the road. They gave him just enough rope to hang himself with, he is not dead but he is climbing up the chair.

(09-07-2013 10:59 PM)Chipdip2 Wrote:  

(09-07-2013 10:46 PM)ChuckNorris Wrote:  

(09-07-2013 10:43 PM)Dirty Ernie Wrote:  We went the way we went and now we have to back this kid up and let him take his lumps.

I think he will be a fast learner. I'd thought it would be a 3-4 win season, now that has to down grade to a 2-3 win year. It will be humbling for him I'm sure but he may emerge from the fire to be outstanding long term

Youngest coach in D-1 comes with a cost, he will learn on our turf. I'm pulling for the guy now. He's family and we support our own.

Excellent post. Pretty much says it all.

Being hired to coach at the DI level is not an entry level learn on the job opportunity. Decision making and play calling was horrid.

Shouldn't be an on the job learning experience? Correct. But that's not on PJ, that's on the AD and President that hired him.

He's a brilliant young coaching talent and cheerleader, but green as the grass. He is smart, he will learn.

It is a stunning event like this lose that will be a turning point in his life. If he digs deep and responds and improves, it is all good. If he gets frantic and manic everything will go downhill.

I'm supporting the dude. We put him in this slot, he's our family now, but it is on him to dig deep, learn, listen, adjust, etc. we want him to succeed, right?

I trust him when he says one game will not define the program. And it will get worse before it gets better. Next week will be a blowout.

There are an awful lot of assumptions in your post, DE.

I also think that coaches need to share the blame, HC, OC and DC. None were really prepared for Nicholls.

Well the AD and Pres did hire him.

He IS green as grass never even an OC.

It IS a turning point and an opportunity to dig deep and learn.

I agree though, the normal route for a coach is to put a loss like this on their own back and take the heat for the team.

Maybe next week is a chance for him to do that. NW is going to kill us. But that is on the AD too. Talk about having an open week like that and choosing to go with another buzz kill payday like NW for week three?

(09-08-2013 06:42 AM)ghost bronco Wrote:  Are we West Virginia or Arizona in this scenario?

No

I agree, Moe!

(09-08-2013 06:14 AM)moe24 Wrote:  Is Fleck our RichRod?

It's far too early to say, but it's possible. Perhaps likely. RR even had his "singing" video clip (you lift me up) circle it's way around the Internet for mocking too. But that was just before he got canned, not after his first game.

I'll still support the team, of course, even though I/we may need to wear brown bags over our heads if last night was a precursor of things to come. I mean, it's not a Jerry Sandusky/Joe Pa type scandal and cover up here. KB, who's tended to have solid hires especially in hockey lately, really gambled on this one. The boat/oar thing is really risky and she cant be so naive as to not know this had a chance of alienating a good chunk of fans if it blew up. But if Fleck is really our RichRod, it'll be a long few contract years. And it'll be much harder to bounce back up the division than brand-name NFL Lite scUM.