TGR spoke in-depth with Andy Pepper, Sports Director at WWMT in Grand Rapids, about his past experience covering new Gopher head coach PJ Fleck.
TGR: What was the initial reaction to the news of Fleck’s departure from Western Michigan?
Pepper: I think just, looking at my timeline on Twitter, it’s just sadness mostly. Not much bitterness. People knew it was coming. We felt like we dodged a bullet when there weren’t many power-five jobs opening this off season. There were a few, but he never gave a legitimate sniff at any of them. Then the Minnesota job just opened up after the bowl. If it hadn’t, you know, pretty much 99% we would’ve had PJ Fleck for another year. But it opened up, and he found it enticing. You can’t really blame him.
TGR: What does the media think of Fleck?
Pepper: He seems to be pretty well liked. Both media and fans alike. He treated us incredibly well. He gave us incredible access at my station. We were the only TV station right in Kalamazoo. The other station is an hour away in Grand Rapids. We had a really good relationship with him. He gave us a lot of unprecedented access and really opened up. He’s favorable with the media.
TGR: How have your personal interactions with him been?
Pepper: It’s been pretty exciting. He’s a high energy guy. Never boring. I don’t want to say stunts, because stunts sounds like a derogatory term, there was always something that drew attention to the program. Are you familiar with the surprise scholarships given out, and the manner in which he gave them?
TGR: I’ve seen the onside kick one, where he gave the scholarship to the walk-on whom recovered, but no more.
Pepper: He did the onside kick one, and he did another one. There was a local guy who was a lineman, and he had him see if he could catch a punt. The guy just doesn’t do that, big guy not a skill position player. He caught the punt and wrapped on it was the message. The big one here was when he awarded a scholarship. We have a major booster that used to go to Western, Alec Gores, he’s the brother of Tom Gores. Alec is in California now and knows Sylvester Stallone. They had a video board, and they basically had Sylvester Stallone announce that one of our walk-on’s was being awarded a scholarship. That was one of our more buzz worthy ones. There’s a lot of stuff like that. It’s very high energy, very upbeat. Covering him was great, he’s a guy you just can’t duplicate. The next coach can come in and win at the same level, but he’s just different. Very unique in that regard personality wise. High energy, focused; that’s just the way he conducts everything.
TGR: That’s how he’s perceived around the country as well. Very upbeat and energetic, but he is also seen as kind of corny with the mantra and all the metaphors he uses. Did that ever get old in Kalamazoo?
Pepper: Yeah. It’s been well received here. It was not initially. I can understand from afar how things could be perceived. He truly is like that all the time. We did ‘A Week in The Life’ where we sat in on team meetings. Again, ‘Row the Boat’, was mocked his first year. They were 1-11, and it was literally mocked. Eventually it took hold. I mean, you should have heard the ‘Row the Boat’ chants at Ford Field in that (MAC) Championship game. Late in the Cotton Bowl game, when they needed a stop that they couldn’t get, the left side of the stadium was chanting, ‘Row the Boat, Row the Boat’. The merchandise in the bookstore. Everybody uses it, it’s almost like a passing, ‘Hey, Row the Boat’, you know? Kind of like the ‘Roll Tide’ thing. I can understand how people would perceive it in a way like that, but I can say that it’s who he is. It’s not cheap motivational ploy, it’s not corny in the sense of how he’s delivering it, or his beliefs in it. The guy’s buy into everything they said. They’re like little robots, and I don’t mean that in a derogatory way. They’ll use his sayings. They talk about being ‘Elite’, they’ll talk about ‘Changing Their Best’, they say things like, ‘Hey, we’re not looking ahead, it’s a one game season, we’re focused on x, x, insert team here’. I don’t think so. Everyone seems to buy in. We haven’t heard negative things about it. The university and fan base, has definitely bought in, starting with year two when they turned the corner and went 8-4. They lost the bowl game, but they started to gain steam.
TGR: There were some reports the night of his decision to sign with Minnesota that there were some hard feelings from some of the players. Have you seen any of that?
Pepper: There was a couple tweets that I wondered what they meant. I think I understand that stuff, when you have eighteen and nineteen year old kids who really bought into coach and maybe feel, I’m not saying it’s not fair, they may feel betrayed. The guy who brought them here is leaving. It’s kind of like getting broken up with. That’s the way I always look at it. I thought he handled it very well with us. When all the job rumors came up he just said, ‘Hey, I’m focused on the here, and the now. I’m the Western Michigan head coach and that’s what it is, I don’t know what the future holds.’ I think he handled it very well, and I’m sure he did with his kids. I think when it passes, people will be happy for him, I think they kind of understand the idea of climbing the coaching ladder.
