My short list of candidates

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gophmeister

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Sorry if I am replicating another thread, but here we go. I make no apologies for these suggestions other than we're all pretty down and what would make us feel better than a little speculation. Brewster isn't dead yet, but he's on life support after yesterday. I have compiled this list off the top of my head and have tried to avoid completely unrealistic candidates. Also, I left off assistant coaches and lower division coaches and NFL guys.

Jim Grobe: He beat us and has won a ACC championship at Wake Forest.

Gary Pinkel: Another guy who made a career jump off a season where he beat our beloved gophers. Not my first choice, but he would manage well enough.

Troy Calhoun: Air Force is solid every year. He has a great reputation.

June Jones: He left his alma mater Hawaii for SMU, so if we can make the job 'intriguing' enough for him he might take it.

Mike Leach: He's available. I've heard he's a lock for Maryland though. If he were hired, ever seat in the stadium would be sold out, no problem.

Kevin Sumlin: Former gopher assistant who has made the stop at several successful programs since his departure.

Les Miles: He's the Tubby Smith hire we might see-- a coach disenchanted with the limelight.
 

If Mark Richt gets fired at Georgia then I would love to have that guy. I don't think he should be fired there but they have some unrealistic boosters there. Another guy to consider might be Dave Christensen if they are going to go cheap. He was the OC on all those Mizzou teams and was Pinkel's right hand man and is now in his 2nd season as head coach at Wyoming. He would definitely not be my first choice however.
 

I love Troy Calhoun--- I think he'd bring a traditional Big Ten style of football here and could win. There were strong rumors he was a candidate for the Tennessee job and was actually offered but rejected the position after Lane Kiffin bailed. So, getting him might be tough.

I question if Jim Grobe would leave Wake for Minnesota.

I'm in the camp Brew has to go, it's all about finding the cash to make a big splash with this hire. The athletic department is turning a profit and with the right coach, tripling (or more) what we pay for a head coach would be well worth it.
 

GopherGod= I also like Pinkel, that's a good call on somebody who may not be high on a lot of lists but has made an impression with what he's done with the Cowboys.
 

Les Miles and Jim Grobe are unrealistic. June Jones and Mike Leach are very close.
 


People complain about Brewster's coaching, wait till they see Les Miles, especially at the end of games.
 

I would love to see June Jones on our sideline. He can do more with the talent he has than any coach in D1, in my opinion. We will never have the best talent in Gopherland, but we can get a coach who is smart enough and demanding enough to get everything he can from the talent he has.
 

Glen Mason-he's rested, tanned and his teeth are as bright as ever:)
 

wels0081 said:
GopherGod= I also like Pinkel, that's a good call on somebody who may not be high on a lot of lists but has made an impression with what he's done with the Cowboys.
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First of all, Pinkel coaches the Tigers, not the Cowboys.

Secondly, why on earth at his age would he leave a program he built from nothing into a perennial division title contender to come re-build Minnesota?

If he leaves Mizzou, it ain't gonna be for another re-building job, it will be for a higher level job.
 



GopherGod said:
If Mark Richt gets fired at Georgia then I would love to have that guy. I don't think he should be fired there but they have some unrealistic boosters there.
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Yes, this.

Two coaches currently on the hot seat are Richt and Miles. If either gets fired, then we should put an all out assault to get one of them. Of course, Miles is a Big Ten guy having played at Michigan so he might be more realistic. He's rebuilt Okie State and won a national title at LSU. I think he could win at Minny. He would be Gopher football's version of Tubby Smith.
 

Al Golden- he has built Temple up from nothing. Penn State grad so he has learned from some good coaches.

Norm Parker -DC Iowa. He was 1997 SEC DC of the year at Vandy, and Broyles Award finalist in '04 and '05..he can recruit this area.

Bill Cubit-Western Michigan...been at a smaller school for 6yrs with good success. May flourish with better resources that a Big Ten team can provide.
 

I do not want Les Miles, he is a nut job. Mark Richt is a different story. I like Al Golden but I think is waiting to see if he gets the Penn State job.
 

The gophers need to go after the Nielson the coach at UMD... the guy can coach and has a proven track record. If not Nielson then Bohl and NDSU. Another option is Liepold at Whitewater We don't need a big name coach, we need someone who can coach period, end of story. These guys have had success, they know the region, and you can hire them for less money than any one of the candidates on your list.
 



GopherGod said:
I do not want Les Miles, he is a nut job. Mark Richt is a different story.
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We just might need a nutjob to get the job done. Seriously. We need a no non-sense fanatic and he's it. I'd love it. Nebraska's guy is a nutjob, but no one is complaining there (you should know that).
 

chubbygopher said:
Norm Parker -DC Iowa. He was 1997 SEC DC of the year at Vandy, and Broyles Award finalist in '04 and '05..he can recruit this area.
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Norm Parker is about 1-2 years from retiring. He's 68-years old and been in poor health. In fact, he missed last weekend's game and was in the hospital. Still might be there, in fact.

That said, he is an amazingly simple-minded defensive coordinator that has been a perfect fit at Iowa.
 

tjgopher said:
Yes, this.

Two coaches currently on the hot seat are Richt and Miles. If either gets fired, then we should put an all out assault to get one of them. Of course, Miles is a Big Ten guy having played at Michigan so he might be more realistic. He's rebuilt Okie State and won a national title at LSU. I think he could win at Minny. He would be Gopher football's version of Tubby Smith.
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I agree completely would instantly give us some crediability.
 

HavaGo4 said:
The gophers need to go after the Nielson the coach at UMD... the guy can coach and has a proven track record. If not Nielson then Bohl and NDSU. Another option is Liepold at Whitewater We don't need a big name coach, we need someone who can coach period, end of story. These guys have had success, they know the region, and you can hire them for less money than any one of the candidates on your list.
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no thanks on bohl. from what i understand he struggles with recruiting and was ranked 3 times #1 in the fcs polls and still hasnt been able to take the bison to the playoffs.

i would consider nielson

my pipe dream is jon gruden. he is a midwest guy. yes he is "mr nfl" but i think he is a huge name and he would be able to recruit off of merit alone. plus that look on his face when he is upset is classic
 

This list of coaches really would really help recruiting-NOT. None have Minnesota ties except Sumlin and then we switch our offense again. What do winning programs have in common?

CONSISTENCY!!!!!!!!!!
 

Although I don't want Brewster fired, it's interesting to see some specific names being tossed around. None of these guys are going to take the job in-season, though, and trashcanning Brewster in the middle of a season would mean throwing away his recruiting work to-date as well as bad publicity and a total writeoff of ticket sales for this year.

As Abraham Lincoln said during the Civil War when a senator Wade was demanding that he fire General McClellan and replace him with anybody, "Anybody may be good enough for you, Wade, but I must have somebody."
 

PLEASE NOT LES MILES!

There is no way I could stand the atrocious clock management mistakes. His intelligence is below-average at best.
 

tap said:
What do winning programs have in common?

CONSISTENCY!!!!!!!!!!
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Why do people keep bringing up this argument? It makes no sense. The reason winning programs have consistency is because they are winning games, there is no need to change the current coaching regime. Teams that aren't winning games change coaches because they want to stop losing.

Do you really think keeping Mason for another 20 years would bring Minnesota to prominance after he already got 10 years? Would Brewster?

The reason the Gophers aren't winning isn't because we have shown the willingness to dump coaches before they reach Joe Paterno's current age.
 

Casey Bradley- DC Seattle Seahawks

He was the DC/assistant head coach for NDSU in 2006 when the Bison played the Gophers. After that he got a job with Tampa Bay as an LB coach, he then quickly moved on to D-Cord in Seattle. He is a guy that Monte Kiffen called a future NFL head coach.

Not sure if the Gophers could land him, but he is young and really knows how to develop talent. Great recruiter as well, he played a huge role in building those 2006 and 2007 NDSU teams.
 

josh087 said:
Why do people keep bringing up this argument? It makes no sense. The reason winning programs have consistency is because they are winning games, there is no need to change the current coaching regime. Teams that aren't winning games change coaches because they want to stop losing.

Do you really think keeping Mason for another 20 years would bring Minnesota to prominance after he already got 10 years? Would Brewster?

The reason the Gophers aren't winning isn't because we have shown the willingness to dump coaches before they reach Joe Paterno's current age.
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Totally agree. It is simply a matter of eventually finding the right guy. Wisconsin went through several before finding Barry. Iowa went through even more before finding Fry. Northwestern went through even more before finding Barnett. None of those guys had any connection to the school prior to their being hired at that school. Fry went to the Rose Bowl in year three. Barry and Gary went in year four.

Minnesota will eventually find their guy. No reason to think it couldn't be someone who has no particular ties to the school. Fry stayed for 20 years at Iowa. Barry is still at Wisconsin. Once you start winning, you keep consistent, as you said.
 

tjgopher said:
We just might need a nutjob to get the job done. Seriously. We need a no non-sense fanatic and he's it. I'd love it. Nebraska's guy is a nutjob, but no one is complaining there (you should know that).
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Speaking of Nebraska, how about Carl Pelini?
 


Marc Trestman has had success in the the CFL. He is from here and went to the U. He signed a new contract with Montreal thru 2012 ...but...I wonder if he would consider a move back home to Minnesota.
 

Maroon said:
Speaking of Nebraska, how about Carl Pelini?
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I was told by two different people with "very loose" ties to the school that Carl has picked a baby or two from servers on the recruiting trail. Even if its true hes not married, but hes had a number of miscues that have him walking on thin ice with his brother.

Again, I can't say this is 100% true.
 

A note on Norm Parker; he has already said he's retiring after this season. If Breewster is fired after this season, Maturi will need to go to the boosters to raise the money, because the buy out money just isn't there otherwise. After last week that just might be doable. The only coach mentioned so far that I like and is realistic is Richt. I don't think that Calhoun, Grobe, Trestman or Pinkel are realistic given their situations.
 

Get off the Les Miles and Mark Richt bandwagon. They are not coming to MN under any circumstance. Even if they are on the hotseat and might be out of a job next year. These guys are going to leave top SEC programs that are always in national title conversations to come coach our gophers. Come back to reality. Maturi got lucky once when Tubby Smith fell into his lap it is not going to happen again. The coach you want is a couple hours north of cities in Duluth. Maturi needs to lock him up right now.
 

tjgopher said:
We just might need a nutjob to get the job done. Seriously. We need a no non-sense fanatic and he's it. I'd love it. Nebraska's guy is a nutjob, but no one is complaining there (you should know that).
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Brent Venables looks absolutely nuts. The guy looks like Skelator when he's screaming at his defense. I think that his players when he becomes a head coach will do things "the right way, every time". It would be nice to see that kind of discipline on defense. It is the one thing I've always admired most about Iowa.
 

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