Watching the replay. PJ Fleck singing the praises of Joe Rossi. . . .
Fleck on why Minnesota improved so much in November and December
"We made a change at defensive coordinator. I thought that was necessary. I'm not going to say that was the biggest -- and the reason why we changed. I think when you had such a young football team -- and you look at us, we had eight freshman starting on offense at one point. And you are the youngest team in America, to have success and to become a champion, I feel like you need both spectrums. You have to fail enough to be successful and you have to go through some of those positive shining moments."
Fleck on why Joe Rossi is the right choice at defensive coordinator
"Joe Rossi just as well as all of our coaches -- the number one thing I look for when I hire a coach is are they an elite teacher, are they an elite educator. And I'm a sixth grade social studies teacher at heart. And Joe Rossi is exactly that. When you can get people to respond to you immediately by how you teach and what you say and the gap of the learning curve is way smaller by how you teach, that's efficiency. It's efficiency in your teaching and your coaching, and I want that guy on my staff.
Robb Smith did a really good job for us in a lot of areas, but I felt the leadership was needed in a different way, and I thought Joe Rossi came in and did a fantastic job. And especially being able to capture everybody in a tumultuous time. Just came off the Illinois game, a big loss, and it wasn't pretty at those times in the Twin City area. Made sure that the grass was cut back in our home and said hey just make sure you keep all the beds full of mulch because this thing could go on the market pretty quick. End of the day, ended up turning the corner of that year, but Joe Rossi is a big part of it. But again, it has a lot to do -- and he'd say the same thing -- we matured and got better as the season went on, and that's what you want to see, especially from a young football team."
Fleck on why Minnesota improved so much in November and December
"We made a change at defensive coordinator. I thought that was necessary. I'm not going to say that was the biggest -- and the reason why we changed. I think when you had such a young football team -- and you look at us, we had eight freshman starting on offense at one point. And you are the youngest team in America, to have success and to become a champion, I feel like you need both spectrums. You have to fail enough to be successful and you have to go through some of those positive shining moments."
Fleck on why Joe Rossi is the right choice at defensive coordinator
"Joe Rossi just as well as all of our coaches -- the number one thing I look for when I hire a coach is are they an elite teacher, are they an elite educator. And I'm a sixth grade social studies teacher at heart. And Joe Rossi is exactly that. When you can get people to respond to you immediately by how you teach and what you say and the gap of the learning curve is way smaller by how you teach, that's efficiency. It's efficiency in your teaching and your coaching, and I want that guy on my staff.
Robb Smith did a really good job for us in a lot of areas, but I felt the leadership was needed in a different way, and I thought Joe Rossi came in and did a fantastic job. And especially being able to capture everybody in a tumultuous time. Just came off the Illinois game, a big loss, and it wasn't pretty at those times in the Twin City area. Made sure that the grass was cut back in our home and said hey just make sure you keep all the beds full of mulch because this thing could go on the market pretty quick. End of the day, ended up turning the corner of that year, but Joe Rossi is a big part of it. But again, it has a lot to do -- and he'd say the same thing -- we matured and got better as the season went on, and that's what you want to see, especially from a young football team."