The philosophical two-year differences of Jeff Brohm and P.J. Fleck

On Saturday, two head coaches with two distinctly different approaches will shake hands at midfield of TCF Stadium in Minneapolis.

The contrasting philosophies of Jeff Brohm and P.J. Fleck as they rebuild their respective Purdue and Minnesota programs are naturally being evaluated day-by-day, game-by-game, and year-by-year as both men entered the Western Division of the Big Ten with the same goal: To build a consistent winner.

Brohm made it clear from the moment Purdue athletics director Mike Bobinski hired him that his style would be to work toward a win-now culture. Brohm believes you turn around a program by being able to establish credibility early. The Boilermakers and Brohm's staff have buy-in following a 2017 season in which they went from Big Ten doormat to a winning first season. The credibility that came from playing a ranked Louisville competitively in Brohm's first game and finishing his first season with a 7-6 record and a bowl game win is a big reason Brohm has the attention of his locker room, the local community and recruits he's pursuing. While 2017 may have been unexpected by many, Purdue has defeated three ranked teams in Brohm's second season, likely in part due to the confidence and stability the Boilermaker program already had in place.

"It's important no matter where you're at as a coach or a player that you've got to try to win now," Brohm said. "The players on your team want to hear that. They want to build to win the next game and that's another reason we treat this thing as a one-game season. Hey, I don't know how the season is going to play out but if you just work hard to try to win this next game, you can have a chance."

Purdue's players have said Brohm's immediate eye toward developing the 2017 roster allowed for immediate buy-in from the leaders in the Boilermaker locker room.

"He came in and treated the guys on this team like they were the most important thing to him and we immediately realized Coach Brohm was in it for us and not always preaching about playing down the road or the future," center Kirk Barron said in August. "I wanted to win and I was damn tired of going 3-9 and 2-10 here at Purdue. Coach Brohm said everything you wanted to hear if you were an older guy just wanting to believe."

Fleck will publicly lobby for patience and a long-term view from players, recruits and school administration. The Gophers' second-year coach, who currently has a Big Ten record of 3-12, publicly labeled his first season at Minnesota "Year Zero." Minnesota was coming off a 9-4 season in 2016 but Tracy Claeys was fired after one season as the permanent head coach following his support of a player's right to lead a team-wide boycott in response to suspensions of 10 football players accused of involvement in a sexual assault case. After going 5-7 in his first year last season, Fleck opened the 2018 campaign with 32 redshirt freshmen or true freshmen on the opening-week depth chart, including both quarterbacks listed.

"We started 18 true freshmen in our second year at Western Michigan and that was the same group that led us to the Cotton Bowl," Fleck said at Big Ten media days this past August. "This is very similar (at Minnesota). Now I will say, playing freshmen in the Mid-American Conference compared to playing freshmen in the Big Ten is a major difference in the mental, physical and emotional development of players."

What Fleck has been resolute about is not letting outside opinions and skepticism of others determine his course of action. And you can assume there already have been skeptical looks after Minnesota has been outscored by an average of 13.5 points per game in his first 15 Big Ten games.

"We're not going to get off our process of becoming a champion," Fleck said in reference to the program's three head coaches in the last five years. "No matter what anybody says about having to win right away, we're going to go through this process that we know how to do to build this culture of sustainability."

Fleck's "culture of sustainability" took a hit Sunday night when he dismissed defensive coordinator Robb Smith with three games remaining in this season.

"This is not something that you just decide to do,” Fleck said with a quick snap of his fingers Monday morning. “This is something that you do everything you can to fix it for as long as you can because he’s a very good football coach.”

Brohm has said he doesn't believe short-term goals of building a program have to be at odds with long-term wishes as well. While down 42-14 at halftime to No. 1 Alabama on Oct. 20, Tennessee head coach Jeremy Pruitt reportedly told CBS sideline reporter Jamie Erdahl that his message to his team in the locker room was one of the future and not the present.

"I made them one promise. We have a few guys that are playing the game the right way and doing all the right things," Erdahl quoted Pruitt as saying coming out of the locker room. "And I promise you that I will recruit 25 other guys that will play the right way, so we don’t have to play in another game like this."

Brohm says his philosophy is rooted in being a former three-year starter at quarterback at Louisville and what he would've wanted to hear from a new coach inheriting a new roster for the first time. It may be safe to say player Jeff Brohm might not have responded as well to Fleck's or Pruitt's long-term motivational philosophies.

"I definitely don't believe in that (philosophy), being a former player and a coach, that's the last thing I want to hear," Brohm said, generally. "But I get it. Everyone is different and I'm not saying anything negative about anybody. But if you're always looking down the road, it's going to affect the games you're currently playing. It'll affect the people in your locker room and how they view you."

The response from Brohm's first two Purdue teams is a 12-10 record and an 8-7 Big Ten mark. More importantly, Saturday's contest represents the program's first opportunity to be bowl-eligible in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2012.

"I want our guys to understand, this is an extremely important week," Brohm said Monday. "We've got to do everything in our power this week to be the hungrier team in practice (and) prepare like we've never prepared before. Do that by giving just a little bit more effort from all of us, head coach, coaches, and players, so that when we take the field, we feel like we're prepared to go, and then we can just cut it loose and see what happens."

Membership Info: Sign up for GoldandBlack.com now | Why join? | Questions?

Follow GoldandBlack.com: Twitter | Facebook

More: Gold and Black Illustrated/Gold and Black Express | Subscribe to our podcast

Copyright, Boilers, Inc. 2018. All Rights Reserved. Reproducing or using editorial or graphical content, in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited.