Cal Stoll

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IronRanger91

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Any thoughts on Call Stoll...just curious...I heard from some people in the know that he did more with less...just wondering if anyone was around during his tenure and what they remember...he had some nice wins (Michigan, Washington, UCLA).
 

IronRanger91 said:
Any thoughts on Call Stoll...just curious...I heard from some people in the know that he did more with less...just wondering if anyone was around during his tenure and what they remember...he had some nice wins (Michigan, Washington, UCLA).
Click to expand...

As a candidate for the current coaching position, I'd say even in his present state that he'd be better than Brewster or Trestman.
 

Cal Stoll was a fine coach, and an even better man.

He took over from Warmath in 1972 when everyone wanted new AD Paul Giel to choose
and 'M' man for the job. Basically, he had nothing to work with- no meeting rooms, film
rooms, weight room...nothing. How he was able to recruit players like Rick Upchurch,
Larry Powell, Tony Dungy, Marion Barber and others to come to the U is a testament to
him personally.

His first season he went 4-7, but it featured a strong finish. In 1973, despite having trouble
keeping his qb's healthy, he went 7-4 overall, and 6-2 in the Big Ten. That was a young team
but one with ability. They didn't really blow away teams as much as found a way to win.

Much was expected in 1974 with Dungy, Powell, and Upchurch- among others- back for 1974.
However, Larry Powell contracted French Polio and never played again. Injuries set in, and they slumped to 4-7.

In 1975, they rebounded to 6-5 with Dungy and the defense having solid years. With a ton
of people back, 1976 was expected to be a big year.

The Gophers started 5-1 in 1976, losing only to Washington in Seattle. However, before the Iowa
game the athletic department was put on probation, which meant no bowl game for the
Gophers. They were leading Iowa 12-0 before losing 22-12. They got crushed by Michigan
in AA on National TV the next week, but rebounded to beat Northwestern to go to 6-3.
They lost a nail-biter to Ohio State at the Brickhouse, 9-3, and then lost to Wisconsin
to finish 6-5.

With Dungy gone, many expected the Gophers to struggle ion 1977, but they beat UCLA
and Washington out of conference, and beat #1 Michigan 16-0 at home enroute to a 7-4
record and the Hall of Fame Bowl, where they lost to Maryland.

In 1978, they came home 5-6, ending in a route at the hands of Wisconsin. Giel fired
Stoll, and gave as the reason his inability to compete successfully against the Vikings.
That's how screwed up things were.

Many thought the firing was shameful given what little he had to work with. With even
decent support from the U, you can add two wins each season and get a good idea
of what his records could have been: 6-5, 9-2, 6-5, 8-3, 8-3, 9-2, and 7-4. He would
have stayed at the U another 10 years.

Stoll was a fine coach who came along at a difficult time.
 

stoll

metrolax pretty much nailed it with his response. I liked Stoll. He got absolutely crap support and still managed to field competitive teams. Paul Giel, on the other hand, had to be the absolute worst AD Minnesota ever had.
 

Cal Stoll was a good football coach, there was virtually nothing left on the roster when he took over. Murray was a great coach, but never a great recruiter, couldn't remember kids names. I think a lot of his out of state recruits were really recruited by almni. At the end of Murrray's tenure the recruiting part cmpletely got a way from him about the time DeVaney was making NB a powerhouse.
Stoll ran the veer at the start, and was successful with it. Had to to hide tha talent deficit like the Service academies. Had a very good staff, I don't remember them all, but the one I can remember was Norm Parker, the current Iowa DC. He was a terrific d-line coach.
Football had crap support, bad weight room, no training table anywhere in the BigTen, while NB for example was spending big bucks on all their facilities. I think there were something like 85 scholarships so the helmet schools were really loaded. Basically hurt everyone in theBigTen but OSU and scUM who were loaded. The BigTwelve could have unlimited walkons and I think they had more scholarships. At one point Johnny Majors borught in 75 freshmen in one year to Pitt, anyway the BigTen gave the BigTwelve and independents incredible advantages for a decade.
Stoll had been on Duffy Daugherty's staff at MSU and had good recruiting contacts in Michigan when that state produced a ton of players. He got Dungy, Marion Barber, Larry Powell(best running back in Gopher history that no one has heard of due to contracting Guillaume -Barre syndrome.), George Washington, and a lot of other good kids from Michigan. Came here after winning the ACC at Wake Forest with equally little. At one point there was a story he almost got TonyDorsett, but took Bubby Holmes the supposed other great prep back in PA. Bubby was quick but had no power, and never grew. Stoll got fired when he had a ton of injuries and went 5-6 or 4-7 and Giel cracked under the criticism, and pulled the plug. Bad mistake. Stoll was the closest thing to a total coach we have had here since the early 60's, would have done well with a little more support, IMO. (Lou doesn't count.)
Good man and very good coach, and recruiter. If he had held out for a helmet school job, or a job where they cared about football he would have been really successfully.
He overcam a lot here with terrible support, really bad support. A really fine guy the Resusse's of the world had a great time ripping. The fact he did not get better support by Giel was a shame, but in fact Giel was a good guy who was mostly a salesman, agood one, and did not know just how good a coach he had.
 


Cal Stoll gave us our last 6-2 Big Ten season. He was 4-4 in the Big Ten in his last three seasons. We haven't had more than two consecutive seasons at .500 or better in the Big Ten since. Firing Stoll was quite possibly the beginning of the Gophers problems.
 

Stoll was a good coach. Came in and installed the Veer-Option (when the option was pretty much run by everyone). I remember Bob Morgan was his first QB in 1972 and it was always fun to watch Morgan operate. Good player.

He did well here. One of the things I recall about Giel is that there was this impression that the M Club basically ran the athletic department and Giel just went along with it. Giel, like Stoll, was a really nice guy, but it was a different, less cut-throat era (for the most part) and guys like these two were heading up athletic departments on a lot of campuses.
 

50PoundHead said:
Stoll was a good coach. Came in and installed the Veer-Option (when the option was pretty much run by everyone). I remember Bob Morgan was his first QB in 1972 and it was always fun to watch Morgan operate. Good player.

He did well here. One of the things I recall about Giel is that there was this impression that the M Club basically ran the athletic department and Giel just went along with it. Giel, like Stoll, was a really nice guy, but it was a different, less cut-throat era (for the most part) and guys like these two were heading up athletic departments on a lot of campuses.
Click to expand...

Stoll had an Non-Conference Schedule that would later make Holtz scream and would have killed many bowl game appearances in the last few years. Yet Cal still put together solid seasons. Stoll's main problem was, in following Warmath, he was coming after a guy who may have been hated at the end, but still had a National Championship and two Rose Bowls in his not so distant past. If Stoll had the Non-Conference slate that Mason and Brewster had Cal would have coached until his retirement. There would have been no Salem. Maybe no Holtz, Gutey or Wacker era either, I just don't remember when Cal's heart trouble started.

The M Club thought about those Golden years and wanted Stoll out and wanted to replace him with a former player. A guy who didn't make much of an impression as a Gopher player, but who had some coaching success and would listen to M Club members.

Sounds pretty familiar doesn't it?

I'm sure an embellished history lesson is on the way..
 

Iceland, the other thing is that there are a lot more bowl games now. I believe we played in the initial Hall of Fame Bowl. An easier non-conference schedule and a steady diet of bowl appearances as a result and you're likely right; Stoll would have been here a long time.

Stoll was .500 or above in the Big 10 five times in seven years. Mason was .500 or above in the Big 10 in four out of ten years.

In defense of the M Club of that era (although they could be overbearing), they did a lot to help the program in terms of internship opportunities, summer jobs, and helping graduating players get started in the business world. It was a greatly different era and with the world becoming more mobile and the business environment changing so much, a lot of the things they did back then are more difficult to do now.
 



Its a different landscape now than then.

When Stoll took over, only ONE Big 10 team was allowed to go to a bowl game-
the Rose Bowl. From 1972-74, Michigan had records of 10-1, 10-0-1, and 10-1
and stayed home all three years.

In 1975, they finally loosened up on that, and Michigan went to the Orange Bowl.
1977 was the first three-bowl season for the Big 10, and after that the flood gates
opened. The opening up of bowl games ended the "Big Two-Little Eight" era.

When you did not have a chance at bowl games, there was no reason to not schedule
hard OOC games- if it would help prep you for conference play. the risks were
nonexistent, and the reward POSSIBLE. That's why you saw teams like Nebraska,
Kansas, Washington and UCLA on Minnesota's schedules back then.

They key now isn't as much to be bowl-eligible, as to avoid NOT being bowl eligible.
You really don't miss being in a bowl game with the benefits that come from it UNTIL
you go a year or two without it. That's when the pinch gets felt.

So, the game now is to get the necessary wins and build from there (for most teams
anyways)
 

Forgot all about the bowl limitation metrolax. Thanks for reminding me.
 

metrolax said:
Its a different landscape now than then.

When Stoll took over, only ONE Big 10 team was allowed to go to a bowl game-
the Rose Bowl. From 1972-74, Michigan had records of 10-1, 10-0-1, and 10-1
and stayed home all three years.

In 1975, they finally loosened up on that, and Michigan went to the Orange Bowl.
1977 was the first three-bowl season for the Big 10, and after that the flood gates
opened. The opening up of bowl games ended the "Big Two-Little Eight" era.

When you did not have a chance at bowl games, there was no reason to not schedule
hard OOC games- if it would help prep you for conference play. the risks were
nonexistent, and the reward POSSIBLE. That's why you saw teams like Nebraska,
Kansas, Washington and UCLA on Minnesota's schedules back then.

They key now isn't as much to be bowl-eligible, as to avoid NOT being bowl eligible.
You really don't miss being in a bowl game with the benefits that come from it UNTIL
you go a year or two without it. That's when the pinch gets felt.

So, the game now is to get the necessary wins and build from there (for most teams
anyways)
Click to expand...

All very true. I think that Cal's 1977 Hall of Fame team was the first 3rd place team in play in a bowl game, but I was wrong :eek: They finished 3rd the year before. Don't know if it was the first Hall of Fame Game.

Cal was the last guy to get two big timers on his Non-Conference schedule. The era of at least one big non-conference team didn't end though until 1997, Mason's first year. Wacker and the A.D. wanted to end it during his term. Wacker never made it that far and contracts were actually HONORED back then. :eek:Prior to that there was always a Nebraska, OK, ranked Colorado, Pittsburgh or Syracuse teams etc. on the schedule.

Brewster and Matui brought it back. Who's to say how long it will last now that Nebraska is an every year opponent and the 9-game schedule is on the way.
 

I am a bit too young to recall anything of substance regarding his time as HC, but I can attest to the fact that he was a good human being. Had the opportunity to meet him a few times in the mid to late 90's at a sports bar we each frequented during that time. Always gracious to a young Gopher fan. What I remember most was how much respect (and pride) he felt for Tony Dungy.
 



cal stoll

Not only a great coach and person but also attracted great asst coaches like Norm Parker and Tom Moore. If he had played a Mason Non conference schedule you could have added 1 or 2 wins a year. Should never have been fired.
 

1977 was the first time a third Big 10 team went to a bowl game. Michigan went to the
Rose, Ohio State to the Orange, and Minnesota to the Hall of Fame.

However, Minnesota wasn't the THIRD PLACE team that year. With the opening of bowl
invites to the Big 10 "masses", the cracks were already starting to form on the
Big Two stranglehold of the Big Ten that had lasted since 1970. Michigan State
actually finished third with a 6-1-1 Big 10 record, 7-3-1 overall. However, the Spartans
were on probation and stayed home.

In fourth place were the Hoosiers of Indiana, coached by Lee Corso. They were having
a sort of resurgence at the time, and finished 4-3-1 in the league, but only 5-5-1
overall. So...when the Hall of Fame bowl extended an invite, it was to the Gophers, who
placed 5th at 4-4, 7-4 overall.

By 1978, Michigan State had won a share of the title (while still on probation) with a very
strong team featuring Kirk Gibson. Michigan went to the Rose, and Woody had his Waterloo
at the Gator Bowl. Purdue went 9-2-1 also that year, and competitive balance was
restored to the Big 10.

Sadly, while everyone else in the Big 10 was jumping on this new-found opportunity,
the U continued in its ways, undoing Stoll and his successor, Salem.
 

metrolax said:
Its a different landscape now than then.

When Stoll took over, only ONE Big 10 team was allowed to go to a bowl game-
the Rose Bowl. From 1972-74, Michigan had records of 10-1, 10-0-1, and 10-1
and stayed home all three years.
Click to expand...

Wow, I had no idea. Now THAT'S harsh. 10 wins and nothing to show for it. :eek:
 

Best thread I've read in a long time, thanks for all the history metrolax/iceland.
 

Cal Stoll talked to our service club about life in the 90's. He being a transplant survivor at that time gave a great speech about enjoying and making the most of your life. I was at the U when he coached and I remember him being a solid coach with some great players such as Upchurch. Those years are a little fuzzy for me as we drank a lot at the games!
 


I too think that Cal Stoll was an outstanding coach. I also liked that in addition to having several metro area athletes on his teams, he also included scholarship players from communities, such as Waseca, Ortonville, Rochester, St. Cloud, Hastings, Red Wing, Moorhead, Mankato, St. Peter, Norwood-Young America, Duluth, LeSeur, Grand Rapids, Glencoe, Fairbault, Cloquet, and Wisconsin towns of Dallas, Manitowoc, Hudson, Rice Lake, Superior, Eau Claire, and Osceola.
 

Glad I started this thread...I think it is important to discuss the history of the program...I also think we all agree that Cal Stoll was a solid coach and an even better person...It is a shame that some folks at the U did not realize that as well.
 

Yes, thanks for starting the thread.

And thanks to the poster who mentioned the recruiting then. As has been pointed out, it was an entirely different era, but the Stoll era seems to be the last extended period (can't count the two-year Holtz tenure) when a vast majority of the top Minnesota kids not only stayed home, but actually longed to play for the Gophers. It helped that Wisconsin and Iowa were down a bit during that era, but Stoll got a ton of Minnesota (and from the rest of the Upper Midwest) kids to play for him.
 

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