Minnesota’s Spring Game Strategy Should Be Understood And Accepted

The Minnesota Golden Gophers Football team has decided to not hold a “Spring Game” once their spring practice sessions wrap up. Some fans aren’t happy about the decision, but honestly, they should be. 

Coach PJ Fleck says he’s opting to have two “exclusive” practices, one of which will welcome members of the “Dinkytown Athletes” which is the collective that supports Minnesota’s Name, Image and Likeness funding for student athletes.  

N-I-L has become a major focus on college campuses across the country and making sure that those donors feel the love has become a top priority. 

Now I don’t know Coach Fleck, but I’m willing to bet these two “exclusive” practices are a compromise to not having a spring event at all. 

Coach Fleck said he wants to keep what the Gophers plan was in house as much as possible until the regular season kicks off on Thursday August 29th against North Carolina.  

Don’t forget, the Gophers have a new Defensive Coordinator, Corey Hetherman, so keeping his plan, and scheme under wraps is very important.  

Combine that with the fact that spring games are usually very basic in what Coaches show in an open forum setting. Coach Hetherman and the rest of the defensive staff need to assess how the team is grasping the new plan and identity and that’s harder to do when you’re not able to call all the plays and schemes. 

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Spring Games aren’t really for the team anyway, they’re more for the fans. It does allow the players to have a final “who-rah” to wrap spring ball, but otherwise this is just a way to drum up excitement for the upcoming season. 

Prior to coming to Minnesota, I broadcast games for two NCAA college football teams and during that time, I learned most coaches don’t like Spring Games.  

Coaches spend the spring “holding their breath” hoping their team doesn’t suffer a serious injury that could derail their plans for the upcoming season. 

Teams will practice “good on good” as some coaches call it, meaning the starting unit of the offense goes head-to-head with starting defense on a select number of plays during a practice session. 

The rest of the time practice is about the players understanding where they’re supposed to be, and how they make the play once they get where they’re supposed to be. 

For fans who don’t like Coach Fleck, they’ll use this as another excuse to diss their coach. But another thing I’ve learned in my years covering college athletics, Coaches are going to do what they feel is best for the team, and not worry so much about how it makes the fan base feel. As they should.