Another Perspective

Donate To GopherHole
H

Husker94

New member
Joined
Feb 15, 2009
Messages
7
Reaction score
0
Points
1
Dear Minnesota Fans,

As you can tell by my screen name I am a Nebraska fan and I have two things to say to you all:

1. I'm excited at the opportunity my school has in joining the Big 10. I look forward to the Huskers playing your Golden Gophers every year as a future divisional rival.

2. All the problems you guys are having right now begin and end with Kevin Cosgove.

Note: I'm not here to rag on you, gloat or rub salt into your wounds; I'm here to offer you guys another perspective based on my first hand knowledge and experience.

First though some numbers for you to consider:

In 2002 Nebraska ranked 55th in total defense (thanks to Craig Bohl who took over when Charlie McBride retired following the '99 season.)

http://web1.ncaa.org/d1mfb/2002/Internet/ranking_summary/2002000000463.HTML

In 2003 enter Bo Pelini in his only year as DC and the Huskers finished the season ranked 11th in total defense.

http://web1.ncaa.org/d1mfb/2003/Internet/ranking_summary/2003000000463.HTML

Then in 2004 enter Bill Callahan and your current "Co"-DC Kevin Cosgrove:

Nebraska's total defense category ranking from 2004-2007 respectively:

2004: 56th

http://web1.ncaa.org/d1mfb/2004/Internet/ranking_summary/2004000000463.HTML

2005: 26th

http://web1.ncaa.org/d1mfb/2005/Internet/ranking_summary/2005000000463.HTML

2006: 56th

http://web1.ncaa.org/d1mfb/2006/Internet/ranking_summary/2006000000463.HTML

And the complete collapse...

2007: 112th

http://web1.ncaa.org/d1mfb/2007/Internet/ranking_summary/2007000000463.HTML

_________________________________


The moral of the story here is that Minnesota's woes begin and end with Kevin Cosgrove.

I watched the Minnesota vs Middle Tennesse State game and I saw your defense doing exactly the same things I saw Nebraska's defense doing under Cosgrove:

* Blown assignments
* Missed tackles (and sloppy tackling technique when they did make the tackle)
* Lack of effort
* Zero intensity

You guys have a decent QB, a VERY good RB and some WR's that are capable of scoring some points. But it doesn't matter if your offense scores 31-35 points per game if your defense is giving up 41 to an FCS school. There's no real reason why you guys should allow one incompetent hack to drag your entire program down into the cold abyss of college football dormats.

If head coach Tim Brewster is smart, and wants to save his job, he'll do what he needs to do: fire Kevin Cosgrove immediately.

Because I see you guys starting to slip and fall down the same hole Nebraska did with Cosgrove being the defensive coordinator.

Good luck the rest of the season.
 


A buddy of mine is a lifelong Husker fan and has echoed the same sentiments about Cosgrove from day 1.
 

Husker94 said:
Dear Minnesota Fans,

As you can tell by my screen name I am a Nebraska fan and I have two things to say to you all:

1. I'm excited at the opportunity my school has in joining the Big 10. I look forward to the Huskers playing your Golden Gophers every year as a future divisional rival.

2. All the problems you guys are having right now begin and end with Kevin Cosgove.

Note: I'm not here to rag on you, gloat or rub salt into your wounds; I'm here to offer you guys another perspective based on my first hand knowledge and experience.

First though some numbers for you to consider:

In 2002 Nebraska ranked 55th in total defense (thanks to Craig Bohl who took over when Charlie McBride retired following the '99 season.)

http://web1.ncaa.org/d1mfb/2002/Internet/ranking_summary/2002000000463.HTML

In 2003 enter Bo Pelini in his only year as DC and the Huskers finished the season ranked 11th in total defense.

http://web1.ncaa.org/d1mfb/2003/Internet/ranking_summary/2003000000463.HTML

Then in 2004 enter Bill Callahan and your current "Co"-DC Kevin Cosgrove:

Nebraska's total defense category ranking from 2004-2007 respectively:

2004: 56th

http://web1.ncaa.org/d1mfb/2004/Internet/ranking_summary/2004000000463.HTML

2005: 26th

http://web1.ncaa.org/d1mfb/2005/Internet/ranking_summary/2005000000463.HTML

2006: 56th

http://web1.ncaa.org/d1mfb/2006/Internet/ranking_summary/2006000000463.HTML

And the complete collapse...

2007: 112th

http://web1.ncaa.org/d1mfb/2007/Internet/ranking_summary/2007000000463.HTML

_________________________________


The moral of the story here is that Minnesota's woes begin and end with Kevin Cosgrove.

I watched the Minnesota vs Middle Tennesse State game and I saw your defense doing exactly the same things I saw Nebraska's defense doing under Cosgrove:

* Blown assignments
* Missed tackles (and sloppy tackling technique when they did make the tackle)
* Lack of effort
* Zero intensity

You guys have a decent QB, a VERY good RB and some WR's that are capable of scoring some points. But it doesn't matter if your offense scores 31-35 points per game if your defense is giving up 41 to an FCS school. There's no real reason why you guys should allow one incompetent hack to drag your entire program down into the cold abyss of college football dormats.

If head coach Tim Brewster is smart, and wants to save his job, he'll do what he needs to do: fire Kevin Cosgrove immediately.

Because I see you guys starting to slip and fall down the same hole Nebraska did with Cosgrove being the defensive coordinator.

Good luck the rest of the season.
Click to expand...

I've heard this from others, and frankly, I can't disagree on any of the points you've made. Cosgrove hasn't impressed me in his time here, and I hope that the (in my view inevitable) purge at the end of this season sweeps him out with the rest of the staff.
 

I've heard similar things from other Husker and Badger fans about Cosgrove as well. Its a tough call for me - frankly, the defense was the strength of our team last year down the stretch, and I had felt it was in no small part due to Cosgrove coaching up our senior laden group. Keep in mind Minnesota has 'Co-defensive coordinators', whatever that means, and Cosgrove's counter-part is Ronnie Lee.

This year, I'm not sure what to think - 11 new starters this year for the first 2 games, how much of our problems are youth and inexperience and how much are scheme and coaching. I'm certainly not qualified to make that determination, but one thing is pretty certain - Brewster can't and won't remain head coach of this team if he continually replaces coordinators on an annual basis. Therefore, I don't believe there's any 'saving his job' to be had by firing his coordinators again. He played that card last year with our offensive coordinator (okay he actually bolted for the Seahawks, but the writing was on the wall). I think Brewster and Cosgrove will have to go down with the ship, if it is indeed sinking as perceived.

Oh, and BeerBibleBullets - Cosgrove was here last season. Try cracking open a media guide sometime.
 



Gopher Bandanna Guy said:
I've heard similar things from other Husker and Badger fans about Cosgrove as well. Its a tough call for me - frankly, the defense was the strength of our team last year down the stretch, and I had felt it was in no small part due to Cosgrove coaching up our senior laden group. Keep in mind Minnesota has 'Co-defensive coordinators', whatever that means, and Cosgrove's counter-part is Ronnie Lee.

This year, I'm not sure what to think - 11 new starters this year for the first 2 games, how much of our problems are youth and inexperience and how much are scheme and coaching. I'm certainly not qualified to make that determination, but one thing is pretty certain - Brewster can't and won't remain head coach of this team if he continually replaces coordinators on an annual basis. Therefore, I don't believe there's any 'saving his job' to be had by firing his coordinators again. He played that card last year with our offensive coordinator (okay he actually bolted for the Seahawks, but the writing was on the wall). I think Brewster and Cosgrove will have to go down with the ship, if it is indeed sinking as perceived.
Click to expand...

Just something you should consider: In 2007, Cosgrove's 4th (and thankfully) final season, when the Huskers should have been at the apex, four years into his "system" they were absolutely the worst.

There was a strong trend line downward in total defense through 2005, 06 and 07.

You guys will follow that same path (probably) if something isn't done.

And as for your assertion that Brewster might not be able to save his job...possibly. Admittedly I don't know a whole lot about what's going on inside the Minnesota AD department.

I do however wish you guys all the best this season.
 

yeah... the coordinator revolving door has been bad enough that Brewster is out of cards to play when it comes to replacing coordinators. Regardless if the original post is correct about all the Gopher woes being traced to Cosgrove... it doesn't matter. Unless the head coach is able to claw his way out of the deep, deep hole that has been dug (regardless of who dug it), everyone on the coaching staff will be in limbo by late fall.

Ironically, nobody was complaining about Cosgrove last year. His poor defense was hanging on by its collective finger nail all year after watching all the three-and-outs, and missed third down conversions. Everyone was saying "if only we had an offense". Well, the offense looks to be improved but now the team is sporting a Wacker era, or 2007 style defense. Maybe it is Cosgrove's fault, maybe it isn't. Either way the vultures are circling.
 




i brought this up last year and was destroyed by the posters here. fact is cornhusker fans knew what we would need a year to find out: cosgrove is awful.
 


Fair enough... let me change that... the complaining about Cosgrove was down the list a bit compared to other items (Weber, offense, Fisch, Brewster, etc.).
 

The Huskers have always been my #2 team and I try to watch as many of their games as I can and follow them fairly closely.

I agree with the OP. Cosgrove is terrible and I was totally baffled when he was hired by the Gophers.
 



Schnauzer said:
Fair enough... let me change that... the complaining about Cosgrove was down the list a bit compared to other items (Weber, offense, Fisch, Brewster, etc.).
Click to expand...

I'm sure you're right there.
 


I was not onboard with the Cosgrove hire from the start. I have seen enough of his defenses over the years and his inability to adapt to make me concerned. He is a really nice guy from everything I have been told but his ceiling is so low. You have to ask why two different HOF coaches showed him the door and one even made the decision to turn his team over to Bielimi versus Cosgrove. The other HOF coach commented about how Cosgrove could not reach his team and they gave up on him.
 


Oh and one more point that I neglected to mention in my OP: Cosgrove plays players based on the favoritism scale. It's this favoritism that literally tore the Nebraska locker room apart.

What I mean by that is he'll play the players that he likes regardless of how they perform on the field.

At Nebraska in 2007, our Mike LB, Corey McKeon, was the awful focal point of an even worse defense.

But McKeon was one of Cosgrove's favorite players and played the majority of the snaps regardless of how poorly he played.

There were stories, 2nd/3rd hand, about how the attitude of McKeon and some of the other defensive starters, who were also well liked by Cosgrove, put forth almost no effort because they knew they'd never be benched or lose their #1 starting spot.

And while I can't substantiate the stories they make sense because when McKeon took over at middle LB as a sophomore in 05 the defense became worse both successive seasons '06 and '07.
 


FreakyDeke said:
Do you mean Everett Withers? Ted Roof had the best D under Brewster.
Click to expand...

How so? Cosgrove's defense gave up fewer yards against tougher competition. And he didn't have the benefit of an excellent defensive end.

Remember the Northwestern, Michigan, and Iowa games from '08?
 

I'm not trying to start anything, I'm just trying to get a full understanding of Cosgrove. My wife went to UNL, and I'm still down there at least once a year, have clients in Omaha, etc. They all have echoed similar thoughts on Cosgrove, but when we looked deeper, even some of the die-hard fans thought that-at least- some of the blame was that Callaghan put an emphasis on getting the best players on the offensive side of the ball, and really gave Cosgrove a short deck to work with.

Personally, I thought that the defensive staff (last year, mind you) did an admirable job in making halftime adjustments, and considering the amount of time they spent on the field performed above what I expected.

With all that being said, Saturday threw all that out the window.

I'm trying not to be delusional and act like it was impossible for this to happen, it was like watching a magician, only this time, he stole my soul.
 

Plinnius said:
How so? Cosgrove's defense gave up fewer yards against tougher competition. And he didn't have the benefit of an excellent defensive end.

Remember the Northwestern, Michigan, and Iowa games from '08?
Click to expand...

Sorry, let me rephrase. When you said "Could be worse, could be Ted Roof" I didn't understand why you used Roof instead of Withers. I'm pretty sure he was the worst, and a better example of who we're lucky not to have. Roof vs. Cosgrove is debatable, although, giving up 41 to USD is a huge argument against you no matter how 2008 and 2009 compare.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom