Silly question: Is there any chance at all that Brewster...

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cncmin

cncmin

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...swallows his pride and gets Gordy Shaw and Mitch Browning back to help run the Gopher offense? Maybe he can give Mason a few hundred grand a year to run the offense? :D

Seriously, with a decent offense this team could compete for the conference championship. And they certainly have better athletes to coach nowadays. Just sayin' that, IMO, Brewster's main fault early on was getting rid of coaches who were so instrumental in running a scheme in which the Gophers were one of the very best.

That said, I think we could have a decent line next year with some good recruits starting to come into the program, and perhaps a second year of Davis' coaching.
 

Until the talent level is high enough at the U for both sides of the ball, there will be bumps in the road. Brewster is taking a total different approach from Mason in putting the best athletes on Defense which has really hurt the offense. Things will be much better on the offense next year.
 


Even if he did, we've gone 3 years without recruiting the kind of personnel needed for that offense. The type of o-line play that they used required small, quick lineman - we've been recruiting the standard jumbo-tron lineman for a pro-style offense (even in the "spread coast" years).

I understand looking for a silver bullet, but I don't think Shaw/Browning are it.
 

...and then we can hand the ball to Maroney instead of Russell behind that "quick line" on 3rd and 2 versus Sconnie...

...yes, I'm still bitter.
 



No, those two will not be coming back.

My HS coach is still sore about Brewster letting Shaw go.
 

Say what you want

but in Masons glory days of rushing---when the chips were on the line---even the Maroney Barber Russell combo couldnt get the crucial first down against conference opponents when one first down could have won the game for them. They did run wild against lesser opponents . How quickly we forget.
 

I don't think it's fair to say Brewster should have kept Mason's offensive staff. That's just not done. Coaches feel the need to show they are the new sheriff in town. He certainly could have kept the same scheme instead of trying to go to the spread. In hindsight that would have been much better. But to say he screwed up by not keeping the coaching staff is not fair. And trying to bring them back in year 4 would simply reek of desperation, even if it was somehow a good idea.
 



Shaw was a guy with a bad attitude and I don't want him back. I'd take Gary Shannahan back as our offense coordinator.
 

gold04 said:
Shaw was a guy with a bad attitude and I don't want him back. I'd take Gary Shannahan back as our offense coordinator.
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Wasn't there alot of serious bridge burning by Shaw? People need to let the Mason offensive production fade into history, that's what it is now. Move on, we are better off in the long run without it.
 

Go Gophers Rah said:
Even if he did, we've gone 3 years without recruiting the kind of personnel needed for that offense. The type of o-line play that they used required small, quick lineman - we've been recruiting the standard jumbo-tron lineman for a pro-style offense (even in the "spread coast" years).

I understand looking for a silver bullet, but I don't think Shaw/Browning are it.
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Are you saying Jeff Wills can't pull?
 

I am sure if there are two people who are saying, "I told you so" to their friends right now it would be Shaw and Browning. I agree that we just need to move on. We can remember all the fun offensive displays they helped orchestrate, but those days are long gone. Right now everyone who cares about this program including coaches, players and fans have to pin their hopes on Fisch and hope he can get this thing turned around.
 



Gordie Shaw was an excellent coach that made himself very available to all the coaches in the state. One call and he would have any tape set up for you to come see and he would walk you through the drills and teaching progression. I'm not saying bring him back nor am I saying we should prop Murray Warmath up on the sideline to coach again. I am simply saying that every interaction I had with Gordy Shaw was positive in manner.
 

Maybe we can run that jump ball play to Logan Payne or Jared Ellerson eight times a game once again.
 

eag35 said:
Gordie Shaw was an excellent coach that made himself very available to all the coaches in the state. One call and he would have any tape set up for you to come see and he would walk you through the drills and teaching progression. I'm not saying bring him back nor am I saying we should prop Murray Warmath up on the sideline to coach again. I am simply saying that every interaction I had with Gordy Shaw was positive in manner.
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Once again, I seem to remember some rather ugly bridge burning by Shaw after he was let go.
I can't remember, but it would seem to be alot of revisionist history going on here today, your personal interactions with the guy excluded. We did have a nice offense when these guys were around, but they're tenor is over, we have a entirely new set of coaches, quite frankly, an entirely new set of players, and it's time to turn the page on some of these names and move on.
 

Ole said:
Wasn't there alot of serious bridge burning by Shaw? People need to let the Mason offensive production fade into history, that's what it is now. Move on, we are better off in the long run without it.
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Gen. Sherman going through Georgia didn't burn as many bridges as good old Gordie did.

He probably still shows up on the board using one moniker or another, taking pot shots at the University. Why he may have been gracious taking calls from coaches he certainly didn't make a lot of them.

People around here whine about Brewster not getting all the best local kids. They scream when he doesn't get the top player. How many of the top local players or their coaches every even SAW Shaw, Browning or Mason?

Yeah, it was a silly question.

You want the same success as Mason and his crew got? Throw out their respective first years and give Brewster Mason's Non-Conference Schedule for the next five seasons. You'll have all the 8 win seasons you can handle.
 

Its a fun thought, but not likely

Remember Gordie's track record: Early in the Mason years, it was the DEFENSE that
was stronger than the offense. How many remember that? It was the defense that
produced DL like Sclecht , Williams, and the others. Shaw was coaching the DL at the time.

Then, they moved him to coach the OL, and the star players and OL began emerging from the
offense. I don't think this is coincidence. I do believe he was a highly, highly
effective unit coach. If it had been me, I would have kept him. But, that's just me.

There was little wrong with the Gophers offense that a little tweaking couldn't fix.
Browning and Shaw had much to do with that. Its a fun though to think about that
offense with this defense, and frankly I would be very optimistic if those were paired.
However, it remains in the realm of fun thoughts.....
 

Shaw said that with the new offensive scheme in 2007, the Gophers wouldn't win a single game. he was almost right.
 

eag35 said:
Gordie Shaw was an excellent coach that made himself very available to all the coaches in the state. One call and he would have any tape set up for you to come see and he would walk you through the drills and teaching progression. I'm not saying bring him back nor am I saying we should prop Murray Warmath up on the sideline to coach again. I am simply saying that every interaction I had with Gordy Shaw was positive in manner.
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The high school football coaches here in Minnesota that I know have a similar high regard for Gordie.

Not only was he a great offensive/OL coach, but he was (and I am sure still is) an equally great guy.

I'm not sure where the negative stuff originated?
 

Good defenses shut our running game down, especially late in games. If the Gophers could have run for 7 or 8 crucial first downs in 2004-2006 they would have won 7 or 8 more games and Mason and his whole crew would still be here. Don't talk like that was the world's greatest running game. Looked good against the directional schools though.
 

ConferenceChamp said:
The high school football coaches here in Minnesota that I know have a similar high regard for Gordie.

Not only was he a great offensive/OL coach, but he was (and I am sure still is) an equally great guy.

I'm not sure where the negative stuff originated?
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From many postings and quotes after Brewster's first summer on the job. Numerous Coaches talked about how it was good to hear from the Gopher Staff. How nobody had talked to them before. How the previous Staff had ignored many Minnesota recruits. He appeared to be a good postion coach though, just a lousy recruiter.

Brewster's record that first year was horrendous and there are big questions on whether he can coach at this level but to talk about Shaw and Browning as if they were universally loved is quite a stretch. The reports of Shaw's Press Box antics alone make the idea of a comeback for him laughable.

They both semed like good men but if they did such a great job at Minnesota the rest of the College Football world didn't seem to jump at hiring them.

Shaw tried to get the St. Thomas job in 2008 and was passed over. Where were all the High School Coaches pushing for him to get that job?

" Former Gophers offensive line coach Gordie Shaw said he is waiting to hear from Colorado State as to whether or not the Rams will add him to their coaching staff. Meanwhile, Shaw is very interested in the St. Thomas coaching vacancy"

He finally got a job as Offensive Coordinator at South Dakota and then a year ago was hired as the Offensive Line Coach for Hawaii.

Mitch Browning had it a little better. He was hired as the Offensive Coordinator at Syracuse in December of 2007 and dumped the following year. He's now a "Graduate Assistant" Coach at Tennessee.

"Browning, who spent 2008 as the offensive coordinator at Syracuse, turned down other opportunities during the offseason and instead chose a job as a graduate assistant at Tennessee."

You have to take his word on passing up other jobs. That of course is contingent on wether you believed Cosgrove when he said he wanted to take the year off.

Any "Tennessee versus High School" posts?
 

I can't believe what I'm reading

Everyone knows that Ankney was the real genius on that coaching staff.
 

Doc1001 said:
but in Masons glory days of rushing---when the chips were on the line---even the Maroney Barber Russell combo couldnt get the crucial first down against conference opponents when one first down could have won the game for them. They did run wild against lesser opponents . How quickly we forget.
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Exactly. Thank you.
 

actually

I have been thinking. If Browning and or Shaw were available, they could contribute. Davis is a good coach and I think will get it done but to have Browning back if possible would be a benefit. The guy did produce some solid offense. The thing would be if he could work with Brew. Another O coordinator might be a big hassle in the media but Browning does know the college game and the transition would be very minimal since his offense is relatively simple to run. Could be good for Grey when its his turn.
 

I have a lot of respect for our offenses of the past, but what sort of parallel universe are we talking about?
 

ConferenceChamp said:
The high school football coaches here in Minnesota that I know have a similar high regard for Gordie.

Not only was he a great offensive/OL coach, but he was (and I am sure still is) an equally great guy.

I'm not sure where the negative stuff originated?
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I think that much of the negative stuff was after he was let go. Brewster, like almost every new head coach, wanted to go a different direction with his assistants. Then Shaw went around making a lot of bad comments about Brew and the team. Pretty much acting like a 5-year old who's mom told him he couldn't get the candy bar at the grocery store.
 

When Brewster got here I sent him an email asking that he strongly consider keeping Shaw. It didn't take long to figure out what a mismatch that would have been. Brewster expects his staff to multi task. He expects them to recruit. Shaw would have been a slacker in that regard. It was the right thing for Brewster to shed the staff and start over as painful as it might have been.
 

Doc1001 said:
but in Masons glory days of rushing---when the chips were on the line---even the Maroney Barber Russell combo couldnt get the crucial first down against conference opponents when one first down could have won the game for them. They did run wild against lesser opponents . How quickly we forget.
Click to expand...

Oh man -- don't take that away from us -- those were the best memories us Gopher fans have had over the last 15 years! They might have run wild vs. the lesser opponents, but don't YOU forget running the ball down teams' throats even when they knew it was coming or even on 3rd and 8 -- and picking it up! They were running on teams that excelled at stopping the run - and running for 200-300 yards on them, too. I don't know how many times fans from Alabama, Arkansas, Oregon or the Big Ten itself came onto our message board saying -- "You might have run against all those teams, but you won't be able to run on us!!" And then a week later coming on and saying........"Oh -- sorry -- you guys can REALLY run the ball."

It is true -- there were crucial times when a first down would have sealed more wins and somehow we didn't pick it up, but how about the Ohio St. win when we had the lead, got the ball and Ohio St. couldn't get it back and lost? I rarely faulted the offense for the losses though - inevitably it would be that porous defense that could not stop anyone that would lose it for us.

Since I have been a fan of the Gophers from the late 1970's, my three favorite offenses of ours:

3) Wacker ball with Cory Sauter throwing all over the place
2) Lou Holtz's option attack
1) Mason's rushing attack

I will NEVER get tired of watching that offense on highlight films because they put the beat down on teams time and time again!
 

Wasn't Shaw the only member of Mason's staff who was interviewed by Brewster? Seems to me that he was, but my brain goes soft periodically.

I have heard that Shaw had a fairly good rapport with the Minnesota high school football coaches and athletic directors, but he was the only one on Mason's staff who seemed to. Mason himself was pretty much reviled from the stories I've heard, but what I've heard may have been isolated to a few instances. We sure didn't seem to do well in Minnesota as far as recruiting goes when Mason was at the helm.

It will be interesting to see where Mitch Browning ends up next season. He's scuffled a bit since leaving Minnesota, not coaching in 2007, then taking the offensive coordinator position with Syracuse in 2008 (where the coach was fired again), and then serving as one of the oldest graduate assistants in history this past season with Tennessee.
 

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