I started watching Gopher football when I first came to town in 1968. I was dead broke but my mother-in-law was undergoing a career change and was a student at the U. so I would buy her tickets to attend the games in old Memorial Stadium. As my financial situation improved I upgraded my tickets and got out of the student section. Some years I should not have spent the money but I did anyway. I was a hard-core fan. Unfortunately for many years being a hard-core fan also meant being somewhat of a masochist. I have watched loss after loss. Some were heartbreakers, some were expected, none were easy. To make a long story short, Brewster will be my last coach. If Brewster cannot turn this program around I plan to move on.
For those of you who "don't want to settle for mediocrity" or think that Brewster is a "blowhard" and want to see Brewster fired I would say good luck. My father was a hard-core Iowa state fan and I have followed that program closely throughout the years. Since the mid-50s Iowa State has had 12 coaches and Minnesota has had 8 coaches. Of those 20 coaches only three had winning records; Warmath, Earle Bruce and Mason. That is a 15% success rate or a 10% success rate if you don't want to count Mason's creampuff schedule. Everybody thinks they're a coaching genius and know just whom to hire. Take the time to look at Dan Hawkins, Colorado's coach. In five years at Boise State coach Hawkins was 53-11 over all and 37-3 in conference games. How has he done at Colorado? I'll leave that as a homework exercise.
Has Brewster made mistakes? Of course! What did you expect? He had no head coaching experience. Tim Brewster has, however, dramatically upgraded the talent on this team. Moreover coach Brewster has shown the ability to recognize his mistakes and to correct them. The defensive coordinator left after the first year presumably with coach Brewster's encouragement. Dunbar and the line coach were fired when the offense proved unable to run the ball. Brewster has since hired two good defensive coaches - Roof and Cosgrove. All Brewster needs now is a good offensive coordinator and I assume if Fisch does not dramatically improve the offense next year he will be replaced as well. In the meantime the overall talent level will continue to improve. Will there be good years and bad years? Of course, to expect otherwise is naïve. Never-the-less the overall direction of the program is up. Brewster is clearly learning. He is a better head coach now than he was when he was hired. How good can he become? I don't know and I don't think anyone will know for at least a couple of years, maybe even 5 years. I would hope we would give him at least 5 more years but if we don't give him enough time to succeed and he is forced out then I'm out with him. I'm tired of watching the beatings and that 15% success rate doesn't bode well for a happy future.
For those of you who "don't want to settle for mediocrity" or think that Brewster is a "blowhard" and want to see Brewster fired I would say good luck. My father was a hard-core Iowa state fan and I have followed that program closely throughout the years. Since the mid-50s Iowa State has had 12 coaches and Minnesota has had 8 coaches. Of those 20 coaches only three had winning records; Warmath, Earle Bruce and Mason. That is a 15% success rate or a 10% success rate if you don't want to count Mason's creampuff schedule. Everybody thinks they're a coaching genius and know just whom to hire. Take the time to look at Dan Hawkins, Colorado's coach. In five years at Boise State coach Hawkins was 53-11 over all and 37-3 in conference games. How has he done at Colorado? I'll leave that as a homework exercise.
Has Brewster made mistakes? Of course! What did you expect? He had no head coaching experience. Tim Brewster has, however, dramatically upgraded the talent on this team. Moreover coach Brewster has shown the ability to recognize his mistakes and to correct them. The defensive coordinator left after the first year presumably with coach Brewster's encouragement. Dunbar and the line coach were fired when the offense proved unable to run the ball. Brewster has since hired two good defensive coaches - Roof and Cosgrove. All Brewster needs now is a good offensive coordinator and I assume if Fisch does not dramatically improve the offense next year he will be replaced as well. In the meantime the overall talent level will continue to improve. Will there be good years and bad years? Of course, to expect otherwise is naïve. Never-the-less the overall direction of the program is up. Brewster is clearly learning. He is a better head coach now than he was when he was hired. How good can he become? I don't know and I don't think anyone will know for at least a couple of years, maybe even 5 years. I would hope we would give him at least 5 more years but if we don't give him enough time to succeed and he is forced out then I'm out with him. I'm tired of watching the beatings and that 15% success rate doesn't bode well for a happy future.
