A Gopher wins Reusse's 2020 Turkey of the Year award

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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Lots of nominees, but Mark Coyle is the 2020 Turkey of the Year:

Mark Coyle, athletic director, University of Minnesota: The decision to eliminate three men’s sports — tennis, gymnastics, indoor track — has done so little to improve the athletic department’s financial predicament with the pandemic that it is absolutely folly.

As Fleck and football fritter away millions ($38 million-plus expended in 2019 and ever-increasing), Coyle is saving a couple million and allegedly addressing a Title IX problem that could be fixed with much less gore on his hands.

Sadly, in this one-person operation, the best the chairman could come up with as a token for claiming the TRUMP Award for Coyle was a secondhand MyPillow that was donated. Good shape, and those tear stains should come right out.

www.startribune.com

Patrick Reusse's annual Turkey of the Year was done. But then 2020 happened ...

The annual tradition started in 1978 lives on after reports of its demise last November.
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!
 




Mark "Heating" Coyle

Reusse didn't mention it, but Coyle also slapped our nationally competitive softball team in the face by denying them the ability to offer (additional) scholarships to returning seniors who gained an extra year due to covid, as nationally competitive teams in the PAC, SEC, and ACC will surely do.

Dick move at the time.
 


Reusse is a POS. Considering the wealth of sports in the state....he seems to specifically target the University of Minnesota. Let's take a look back at his TotYs since 2003.

2003: Glen Mason, Gophers

2004: Red McCombs, Vikings

2005: Bob Naegele, Wild

2006: Pam Borton, Gophers

2007: Charlie Weis, Notre Dame

2008: Marian Gaborik, Wild

2009: Tim Brewster, Gophers

2010: Brett Favre, Vikings

2011: Zygi Wilf, Vikings

2012: Tubby Smith, Gophers

2013: Terry Ryan, Twins

2014: 25 Years of the Wolves

2015: The Grim Reaper

2016: Men’s Athletics at the University of Minnesota

2017: Patrick Reusse, Turkey Chairman

2018: P.J. Fleck, Gophers

2019: Nobody

2020: Mark Coyle, Gophers


I don't read his columns. Only see them when they are posted here. But it's really not worth taking seriously. The Wild spent a bounty to bring Parise and Suter here and managed to do nothing. The Timberwolves have been forever horrible. The Twins have the longest playoff losing streak in major sports history. He's even managed to sprinkle in a few non picks just so it's not a Gopher related pick every other year.

Lots to go around here. But for some reason....it's like he was slighted by the UofM at one point in time and it shattered his fragile ego.

And Fleck embarrassing him and his choice in 2018....by going out and winning the axe back 37-15....two days after naming him the turkey was fitting. After taking a year off last year....right back to hating on the University. It really doesn't matter much....since the column is in a playful nature....but Reusse doesn't leave an opportunity to criticize the Gophers on the table.
 

it's like he was slighted by the UofM at one point in time and it shattered his fragile ego

I think he just enjoys trolling us the most. Probably loves coming on GH and reading these threads.
 

MplsGopher said:
it's like he was slighted by the UofM at one point in time and it shattered his fragile ego

I think he just enjoys trolling us the most. Probably loves coming on GH and reading these threads.
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Have you never been on a Vikings message board? If his main purpose is trolling....there's plenty there.
 

In the real world, if you have to cut your budget - you start with the largest items on the budget - not the smallest. because that's where the most money is.

a 10% cut in the football budget would have saved much more money than the Gophers will save by eliminating multiple non-revenue sports.

that is Reusse's point.

It's an opinion.

And yes, Reusse likes messing with Gopher fans - because they always respond the same way. If Gopher fans quit taking the bait, Reusse would move to other targets. But, Gopher fans give him no reason to change.

Actually, this was one of the tamest "Turkey" columns in recent years.
 



To be fair, the Gopher sports that really matter- Men's basketball and football have mostly sucked for 50 years. Least B10 titles for those two sports combined vs. any B10 school.
 

LesBolstad said:
To be fair, the Gopher sports that really matter- Men's basketball and football have mostly sucked for 50 years. Least B10 titles for those two sports combined vs. any B10 school.
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Like it or not, men's hockey "matters" at the U as much as men's basketball does. I understand it is a niche sport with far fewer schools that take it seriously. But it has its own, special arena, and donors/boosters that care greatly about it.

Also I understand that men's hockey likely contributes far less to the school in terms of TV dollars, though men's basketball contributes far less in that regard than football. Probably something like 80/15/5 percent contribution by those three sports, in regards to the total dollars sent to the U athletic dept from the Big Ten conference for overall TV money.

To a significantly smaller amount, yet relatively higher than a lot of schools in the country, a similar thing can be said about wrestling and (women's indoor) volleyball.

After that, I think I am safe to say it drops off quite a bit.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
In the real world, if you have to cut your budget - you start with the largest items on the budget - not the smallest. because that's where the most money is. A 10% cut in the football budget would have saved much more money than the Gophers will save by eliminating multiple non-revenue sports.
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In the business world, you cut the divisions that are losing money and boost the ones that are making money. Cutting 10% across the board is a gov't approach to solving cash flow, not a business approach.
 
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stocker08 said:
Reusse is a POS. Considering the wealth of sports in the state....he seems to specifically target the University of Minnesota. Let's take a look back at his TotYs since 2003.

2003: Glen Mason, Gophers

2004: Red McCombs, Vikings

2005: Bob Naegele, Wild

2006: Pam Borton, Gophers

2007: Charlie Weis, Notre Dame

2008: Marian Gaborik, Wild

2009: Tim Brewster, Gophers

2010: Brett Favre, Vikings

2011: Zygi Wilf, Vikings

2012: Tubby Smith, Gophers

2013: Terry Ryan, Twins

2014: 25 Years of the Wolves

2015: The Grim Reaper

2016: Men’s Athletics at the University of Minnesota

2017: Patrick Reusse, Turkey Chairman

2018: P.J. Fleck, Gophers

2019: Nobody

2020: Mark Coyle, Gophers


I don't read his columns. Only see them when they are posted here. But it's really not worth taking seriously. The Wild spent a bounty to bring Parise and Suter here and managed to do nothing. The Timberwolves have been forever horrible. The Twins have the longest playoff losing streak in major sports history. He's even managed to sprinkle in a few non picks just so it's not a Gopher related pick every other year.

Lots to go around here. But for some reason....it's like he was slighted by the UofM at one point in time and it shattered his fragile ego.

And Fleck embarrassing him and his choice in 2018....by going out and winning the axe back 37-15....two days after naming him the turkey was fitting. After taking a year off last year....right back to hating on the University. It really doesn't matter much....since the column is in a playful nature....but Reusse doesn't leave an opportunity to criticize the Gophers on the table.
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Post of the year candidate. Effectively his last 3 real selections have been Gophers.
 




I mean, the Vikings are ripe to win a turkey this year....I heard they let go most of their game day operations team. LOL. Reusse is the absolute worst! I have never figured out how he is a significant contributor to as a Minnesota sports journalist. He should stick with the MIAC stuff or whatever division Hamline is in these days.
 

MplsGopher said:
Like it or not, men's hockey "matters" at the U as much as men's basketball does. I understand it is a niche sport with far fewer schools that take it seriously. But it has its own, special arena, and donors/boosters that care greatly about it.

Also I understand that men's hockey likely contributes far less to the school in terms of TV dollars, though men's basketball contributes far less in that regard than football. Probably something like 80/15/5 percent contribution by those three sports, in regards to the total dollars sent to the U athletic dept from the Big Ten conference for overall TV money.

To a significantly smaller amount, yet relatively higher than a lot of schools in the country, a similar thing can be said about wrestling and (women's indoor) volleyball.

After that, I think I am safe to say it drops off quite a bit.
Click to expand...

So to summarize, you agree with my assessment. ;)
 


upnorthkid said:
How the hell Fenton for the Wild never won is beyond mind boggling. These articles become worse and worse every year
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Huh? Fenton has been GM for 2 years and one of them was the pandemic year.
 


I don't see a single Vikings head coach on that list. No Timberwolves head coach. In fact....the only Timberwolves call out is an obvious one that doesn't even take aim at a single person.

On the other hand....every Gophers football head coach of the past twenty years. Except of course....Jerry Kill (I'm not counting Clayes). Even Reusse realizes that choosing the coach who's fought against adversity and had to step away from the program due to seizures would be a bad look. I wouldn't doubt that he tried and was shot down by the editors at the strib.

I'm sure if he decided to buck tradition and pick multiple....Pitino would have gotten one. However, he did pick the entire Men's Athletic program in 2016....so I'm sure some shots were taken there.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
In the real world, if you have to cut your budget - you start with the largest items on the budget - not the smallest. because that's where the most money is.

a 10% cut in the football budget would have saved much more money than the Gophers will save by eliminating multiple non-revenue sports.

that is Reusse's point.

It's an opinion.

And yes, Reusse likes messing with Gopher fans - because they always respond the same way. If Gopher fans quit taking the bait, Reusse would move to other targets. But, Gopher fans give him no reason to change.

Actually, this was one of the tamest "Turkey" columns in recent years.
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My working theory is that SON is Ruesse because he A) discusses every Ruesse post, with clarifications, B) gets offended when people make fun of him, and C) SON got a callout in Ruesse's column a couple years back when he said that the Gophers were gonna suck and then they sucked.

You don't cut the budget of the only sport that makes real money. Killing the Golden Goose does not keep the rest of the farm alive. It's like companies that respond to down sales years by firing their sales staff. It never works. If anything they should have cut women's basketball. That sport costs like $300K per athlete, absolutely ridiculous amount of money.

Ruesse is basically a Gopherhole poster with a state-wide column. I don't get why the Strib keeps him around.
 
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Winnipegopher said:
Huh? Fenton has been GM for 2 years and one of them was the pandemic year.
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yeah i see someone already addressed this. but he was GM for about a year and went down as an absolute abomination of what he did as GM. The terrible Zuccarello contract, the Niedereitter for Rask trade, brought in many guys who didn't fit here. He was fired after 1 season for effectively destroying his relationship with management.
New GM is now Bill Guerin. Seems to be cutting the fat that we have. We'll see if he can ever move the Parise and Suter contracts that are now crushing this team who is trying to rebuild (personally hated the decision to go after those 2 when they did with how long they had to pay them; window was far too short for how much of a tail-end of their career's you were going to get that would hamstring the years to come).
 


I thought he wasn’t doing it this year? Wasn’t that the whole point of last years column?
 

Speaking of Reusse - he just tweeted a photo of Tracy Claeys. Claeys has apparently lost 125 pounds. He's still on the large side, but definitely a lot smaller than his days in MN.
 






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