Gopher Football
GopherHole.com has decided to extend a case of “œMinnesota Nice” to our new head coach in the form of ten things he should do with his new job.
1. Establish ties to the Minnesota high school coaches. Glen Mason failed to endear himself to many local coaches. Tim Brewster made it a priority to visit every high school in the state, something that a new coach should continue. Iowa had eight starters and eight backups on their two-deep that are from the Hawkeye State. Wisconsin has 14 starters that are from the state. Minnesota had eight starters, four on both sides of the field plus their place kicker. There is enough linemen talent from the state each year. You might have to go out-state to get athletes at the wide receiver, running back and defensive back positions, but you need to land the top local talent.
2. Re-recruit the 15 commitments. Tell them that if they liked Minnesota before, that all those things remain (a outstanding school, a new stadium, metro setting, four professional sports teams in the area, Fortune 500 companies nearby) are still here plus what hopefully is a better head football coach. Most of the commits are expected to visit the campus for their official visits this weekend. The weather isn’t likely to co-operate, but the basketball team has a home game and hopefully, the crowd will welcome these recruits Saturday.
3. Re-establish old recruiting hot posts such as Ohio, Illinois and St. Louis. Ex-Ohio high schoolers D.J. Burris, Ryan Collado and Dominic Alford combined for 86 starts. However, they are all seniors and there are no other Ohio natives on the roster. Jerry Kill will likely continue to recruit Illinois hard, something that the previous staff did on an inconsistent basis. There are just four scholarship players from Illinois on the roster. Illinois has just three Division I schools in Illinois, Northwestern and Northern Illinois, so there is plenty of talent available. Laurence Maroney came from the St. Louis area and the Gophers need to re-establish that pipeline, which could be tough with the re-emergence of Missouri as a Top 25 team. The only Missouri natives on the current Gopher roster are Brandon Kirksey, Bryant Allen and Aaron Hill.
4. Recruit commits from programs like Miami, Indiana and Colorado, who have also fired their head coach. Washington State may make a similar move.
5. Find an identity and stick with it. Brewster used the spread offense when he took over, only to switch over to a pro-style. They have produced standout runners like Marion Barber and Maroney. Unfortunately, those two have struggled recently in the NFL, so their names might not mean as much to high school recruits as they once did. The Gophers’ longest rush of the year was 32 yards by Duane Bennett in the season opener versus Middle Tennessee State. Kill’s Northern Illinois team finished eight in the country in rushing with 264.8 yards per game. The Huskies beat the Gophers 34-23 as senior running back Chad Spann ran for a career-high 223 yards and scored two touchdowns in the victory.
6. Make the 2011 recruiting class mean something. Schools will say that they are willing to sacrifice one recruiting class to get the right coach. That is understandable, but Kill will start the job December 6th. Tim Brewster started nearly a month later when he was hired on January, 17, 2007. Brewster signed a 22-man class less than a month later. It is tough to hold that class against him, but only nine players finished their careers with the Gophers. Duane Bennett, Chris Bunders, Ryan Collado, Anthony Jacobs, Collin McGarry, Ryan Orton, Eric Small, Kyle Theret and Ryan Wynn came from that first Brewster recruiting class. However, forgettable names like Clint Brewster, Justin Chatman, Marc Cheatham, Durrell Clark-James, Trey Davis, Serge Elizee, Tray Herndon, Harold Howell, Shane Potter, Andre Tate’, Curtis Thomas, Jimmy Thompson and Logan Uu were also part of that class.
7. The cupboard is not totally bare. There is some talent on the roster. Offensively, you have playmakers like MarQueis Gray, Da’Jon McKinght, Bryant Allen, DeLeon Eskridge and Duane Bennett and linemen like Chris Bunders, Ryan Wynn, Ed Olson, Jimmy Gjere and Brooks Michel. Defensively, there is Matt Garin, Brandon Kirksey, Anthony Jacobs, Mike Rallis, Troy Stoudemire and James Manuel. There are always player defections even without a coaching change, but the Gophers need to keep the top talent here.
8. Be yourself. I might be in the minority, but I was never bothered by Tim Brewster’s talk of Gopher Nation and the Rose Bowl. There has been 40 years of nothing, so I want to hear some enthusiasm. I moved to Minnesota in 1978 from Alliance, Ohio. Mt. Union, which is lcoated in Alliance and will play Bethel this weekend in the Division III semifinals, has won 10 Division III title. They were only 75-76-2 from 1962 to 1978. They landed Larry Kehres as their head coach and have had great success ever since. My old high school, Marlington, has produced two Division I athletes in football and basketball in 50 years. The one basketball player was Luke Witte, who was involved in the infamous Ohio State-Minnesota Brawl. The football team traditionally won one game per year when I was a student and I think we set a some kind of record for being a homecoming opponent in every road game one season. They hired a coach named Ed Miley four years ago and this year, they were ranked #1 in Division III and were 13-0 before losing in the state semifinals. We’ve read plenty of stories of Wisconsin and Kansas State struggling for years before finding the right coach and I’ve seen it in my old hometown. Coach, I can’t tell you, that everyone will be patient. However, if you get this team turned around, they’ll name a street after you.
9. Win trophy games. Brewster was 0-10 in trophy games, which was a big reason he is no longer the head coach. Iowa and Wisconsin are hated rivals. Fans hate losing in-state recruits to these two schools, but they hate losing games to them even more. A win or two over Michigan for the Little Brown Jug and Penn State for the Victory Bell wouldn’t hurt either.
10. Keep your staff intact. Brewster had three offensive coordinators and two on the defensive side in his four years. Northern Illinois defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys has been with Jerry Kill for 15 years back to his Saginaw Valley State days and Matt Limegrover has been with Kill for 12 years. Northern Illinois has hired the Atlanta-based search firm Parker Executive Search to fill the vacancy, so there is a good chance that these loyal soldiers could come to Minnesota.