Coaches on Hot Seat

[Ole]

Hit the Nail on the Head! Although I am not a Brewster hater his seat will get a little hotter with a 5 win season this year.

I Listened to the interview with Maturi on 1500 this morning with Doogie.
We all know how Doogie feels about the current coaching staff, not much.

He plainly laid out the classic anti-brewster argument reciting the win/loss record, big ten record, games against top opponents/rivals, mentioned the lack of O late last year. I actually give him credit for asking a tough question. Maturi's answer struck me with a few thoughts.
-He wants to let Brewster coach the players he recruited. I think this points to a 2 year leash in 2010 and 2011. No breakout by then, move on. IMO it's the right mindset for a coach who's known more for his recruiting than his coaching.

-He mentioned the really marquee home opponents, this means he expects an upset in one of those games. A strike out would be another mark against Brewster for 2012.

-He basically said the program is where it was when Brewster was hired, and mentioned the lack of success since the 60's, again, demonstrates to me he is willing to let Brewster play his guys for 2 more seasons, no breakthrough, next coach in.

-He mentioned fans and media will look primarily at win/loss records, as they should. He as an AD needs to consider other factors including how the team reacts to the coaches, he mentioned there aren't any players quitting on coach Brewster. A good sign, I kinda took it as an explanation of what would cause a kneejerk firing, if the coaches seem not to care about losing, or if the players don't care about playing for the coaches, it's a huge red flag and would be time to move.

Overall a good interview, though Doogie's seething slipped a bit, I actually feel really good about last season and Brewster for this reason: We have a solid, not amazing, but solid defense and special teams. Gone are the days of losing games on extra points and punt returns, gone are the days of racking up 300+ rushing yards and losing. We played almost every game close last year, our defense let us down only twice to my count(wisky and Cal). If we go into every half within 7 points this year we have a chance to win every game, to me that is a nice place to start, and a much better place than we've been in, I no longer fear meltdowns and dramatic unbelievable losses. Just one Gopher fan's opinion.

 

[Sportsfan24]

+1--The Offense has to be better and the Defense needs to overcome its collective inexperience by forcing TOs and being as athletic as advertised. I think Minnesota has to go 3-1 in the OOC season and start out the Big Ten schedule 2-0 (over Northwestern and Wisconsin) for Brewster to really feel safe. 7-5 regular season keeps him his job while any lesser result will point Maturi back to what schnoodler already said to make a determination.

Luckily, I think 7-5 is exactly the record the Gophers will achieve this fall.

If the Gophers go 7-5 with their schedule and replacing 9 starters on defense he should be the Big Ten coach of the year. By the way I think that is exactly what will happen but if it doesn't, he still should be brought back for the next season.

 

[Doogie]

Thanks Ole! I hope many can throw my negativity right back into my face ... I hope they find a way to win 7 or 8 games with that daunting schedule ... have heard even more great stuff about Horton recently ... just would like to have more reasons to believe.

 

[Ole]

Thanks Ole! I hope many can throw my negativity right back into my face ... I hope they find a way to win 7 or 8 games with that daunting schedule ... have heard even more great stuff about Horton recently ... just would like to have more reasons to believe.

I get ya. Love 1500 BTW, I haven't turned KFAN on since the switch.

I guess for me, I love the Brewster optimism that bugs you, I love the emphasis on recruiting defense and special teams, and I just am willing to let this thing play out.

Personally, I was extremely upset with the last coaching staff, the lack of defense and grit was upsetting, the final straw for me was against the buckeyes when we racked up like 500-600 yards against AJ Hawk and their defense, and lost handily without doubt at home, because we couldn't even touch Ted Ginn and Troy Smith.
Then the close call against NDSU in 06, along with the coach calling out students as "drunk" and claiming to be rebuilding in year 10. Then the TT meltdown. I was ready for a change, I was ready for an overhaul no matter how painful it was, and I'm willing to ride out the staff til year 5 as i was the day they were hired.
I love that you publicly stated on the radio your passion for the gophers, those words have never been uttered by a sports radio personality in this town ever. I just am not willing to write Coach Brewster off yet. The only thing that hurts and burns for me is the rivalry record, as it does every true gopher fan. Brewster needs to win one this year, and if he does, he'll have a win against a ranked opponent too. I dunno, just keepin the faith that this program will turn it around soon, looking forward to serving alot of crow when it does, and willing to eat it myself if it doesn't.

 

[WHB Brewer]

Several great posts here.

Looking at the schedule, 6-7 wins should be expected. But, I feel Brewster has to put at least one trophy in the case to retain his job. This has my biggest concern about Brewster's program. All the enthusiasm and talk about recruiting better players if fine, but if we cannot defeat our rivals, it's all a moot point. Even Coach Wacker managed to pull of a win over them a few times. We cannot go another season without beating either WI or IA.

 

[mplsbadger]

Pretty simple: He has to go .500 in the B10 and beat Wisky or Herky.

This is probably true. I think he gets fired if the Gophers lose to USC, tOSU, PSU, Iowa, Wisconsin, and the bowl game, even if they go .500 in the big ten.

Agree with others that it's hard to come up with a formula. I think that 6-7 or worse with less than two wins against the six listed above, probably gets the coach fired.

 

[denguegopher]

Personally, I was extremely upset with the last coaching staff, the lack of defense and grit was upsetting, the final straw for me was against the buckeyes when we racked up like 500-600 yards against AJ Hawk and their defense, and lost handily without doubt at home, because we couldn't even touch Ted Ginn and Troy Smith.
Then the close call against NDSU in 06, along with the coach calling out students as "drunk" and claiming to be rebuilding in year 10. Then the TT meltdown. I was ready for a change, I was ready for an overhaul no matter how painful it was, and I'm willing to ride out the staff til year 5 as i was the day they were hired.
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I think that both the record and how the record manifests will count. For instance, if Mason had fallen behind Texas Tech by 18 or 21 points and then rallied before losing in OT, he would not have been fired. But blowing a huge lead and losing in OT resulted in too much fan frustration and he was gone. So Brewster's record and how it comes about will both matter - ending the season on a 4 or 5 game winning streak will save anyone's job.