- Sep 8, 2014
- 25,449
- 59,476
I really like PJ Fleck - and he should have held out for a better job than Minnesota:
The lesson P.J. Fleck learned from Jim Tressel in the loss to Florida
http://coachingsearch.com/article?a...arned-from-Jim-Tressel-in-the-loss-to-Florida
Two of the biggest moments of P.J. Fleck’s career came when he was cut as an NFL player, and when he experienced a loss in the national championship game with Ohio State.
Fleck opened up Tuesday’s Big Ten Media Days and was asked about the influences in his life. His first coaching experience came as a graduate assistant at OSU in 2006. That year, the Buckeyes reached the national title game, and it was there Fleck learned the most about Jim Tressel’s coaching style: Poise, and that nobody's perfect
“Here I am, my first year of coaching. You’re 5-0, 6-0, 8-0, 10-0, 12-0. I’m like, this coaching thing is pretty easy,” Fleck said. “You go to the national championship, this ain’t bad. Then it was against Florida, on the headset, and I remember Jim Tressel saying in the first quarter, ‘Boys, if we don’t get this first down, it’s over.’”
In that game, OSU returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, but the Gators took a 14-7 lead later in the quarter. The Gators would go on to win 41-14.
“I’m sitting there thinking, this is Jim Tressel. This is incredible,” Fleck said. “But it was one of the biggest teaching moments of my life, because I put him on such a pedestal, he’s so perfect, and then we played Florida and got beat. To watch him handle the loss was incredible. With poise, with dignity, with integrity, complimenting Florida. First class in everything he did. Those are the things and moments you remember. You want to be like the people that shaped your life.”
Fleck also pointed to the moment his coaching career started, which was right when his playing career ended. Mike Nolan cut him as a 49ers wide receiver, but offered him a job spending time in all aspects of the 49ers organization. Instead, Fleck took the OSU job.
Now a Big Ten head coach, he credits his coaches and educators along the way.
“When you have coaches like that who believe in you, you need that,” he said. “The only reason I’m the head coach at the University of Minnesota are guys like Greg Schiano, Mike Nolan, Joe Novak, Jim Tressel. That’s who got me interested. My high school coaches, my track coach, those are the people I remember.
“I remember my third grade teacher, Miss Jacob, who got me interested in reading and called me out because I couldn’t read. We remember our educators, our teachers, our coaches. Those are the people that have influenced my life.”
The lesson P.J. Fleck learned from Jim Tressel in the loss to Florida
http://coachingsearch.com/article?a...arned-from-Jim-Tressel-in-the-loss-to-Florida
Two of the biggest moments of P.J. Fleck’s career came when he was cut as an NFL player, and when he experienced a loss in the national championship game with Ohio State.
Fleck opened up Tuesday’s Big Ten Media Days and was asked about the influences in his life. His first coaching experience came as a graduate assistant at OSU in 2006. That year, the Buckeyes reached the national title game, and it was there Fleck learned the most about Jim Tressel’s coaching style: Poise, and that nobody's perfect
“Here I am, my first year of coaching. You’re 5-0, 6-0, 8-0, 10-0, 12-0. I’m like, this coaching thing is pretty easy,” Fleck said. “You go to the national championship, this ain’t bad. Then it was against Florida, on the headset, and I remember Jim Tressel saying in the first quarter, ‘Boys, if we don’t get this first down, it’s over.’”
In that game, OSU returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown, but the Gators took a 14-7 lead later in the quarter. The Gators would go on to win 41-14.
“I’m sitting there thinking, this is Jim Tressel. This is incredible,” Fleck said. “But it was one of the biggest teaching moments of my life, because I put him on such a pedestal, he’s so perfect, and then we played Florida and got beat. To watch him handle the loss was incredible. With poise, with dignity, with integrity, complimenting Florida. First class in everything he did. Those are the things and moments you remember. You want to be like the people that shaped your life.”
Fleck also pointed to the moment his coaching career started, which was right when his playing career ended. Mike Nolan cut him as a 49ers wide receiver, but offered him a job spending time in all aspects of the 49ers organization. Instead, Fleck took the OSU job.
Now a Big Ten head coach, he credits his coaches and educators along the way.
“When you have coaches like that who believe in you, you need that,” he said. “The only reason I’m the head coach at the University of Minnesota are guys like Greg Schiano, Mike Nolan, Joe Novak, Jim Tressel. That’s who got me interested. My high school coaches, my track coach, those are the people I remember.
“I remember my third grade teacher, Miss Jacob, who got me interested in reading and called me out because I couldn’t read. We remember our educators, our teachers, our coaches. Those are the people that have influenced my life.”
