Comparison of relevant Gopher head coaches

[short ornery norwegian]

If you want to hear an interesting discussion about this, listen to the most recent "Pair and a Spare" podcast. Chip Scoggins and Ryan Burns get into a fairly vigorous debate/argument on the state of the program.

in brief, Burns was making the same case as Murray, that Fleck has been the most successful of recent coaches. Scoggins said that Mason and Fleck faced different circumstances, in that Fleck has the benefit of better facilities, more revenue, and plays in the B1G West, while Mason faced the top teams in the conference (OSU, Mich, PSU) more often. If I remember correctly, in his first 6 years Mason played the 'big 3' 12 times. Fleck has faced them 6 times in his 6 years.

another interesting part of the discussion involved coaching salaries. While Fleck and his staff are paid much better than Mason's staff was, Burns claims that MN is among the lower teams in the B1G for the Assistant Coaches salary pool, and said MN has "lost at least 3 ass't coaches" to other teams because of the difference in salaries.

anyway, give it a listen if you want to hear the entire discussion.

 

[GopherVotary]

John Gutekunst
Overall: 29-37-2 — .439%
Conference: 18-28-2 — .391%
Bowls: 1-1 — .500%

Two miserably bad seasons, four respectable seasons.

 

[imthewalrus]

For those of you keeping score at home, for comparison purposes. All records are as Minnesota head coach only, per Wiki...

P.J. Fleck
Overall: 43-27 — .614%
Conference: 26-26 — .500%
Bowls: 3-0 — 1.000%

Tracy Claeys
Overall: 11-8 — .579%
Conference: 6-8 — .429%
Bowls: 2-0 — 1.000%

Jerry Kill
Overall: 29-29 — .500%
Conference: 14-21 — .400%
Bowls: 0-3 — 0.00%

Glen Mason
Overall: 64-57 — .529%
Conference: 32-48 — .400%
Bowls: 3-4 — .429%


Murray Warmath
Overall: 87-78-7 — .527%
Conference: 65-57-4 — .533%
Bowls: 1-1 — .500%

Notes: Warmath is the only 'modern era' Gopher coach to win a Big Ten Title. Warmath also won the National Title in 1960. The Gophers under Warmath went to 2 consecutive Rose Bowls.

Fleck and Warmath are the only modern Gopher coaches with a record of .500 or better in the Big Ten.

These listings omit Gopher coaches from the more distant past, including the great Bernie Bierman, Clarence "Doc" Spears, and Henry L. Williams.

Note of interest: the Vikings franchise was awarded at a nfl owners meeting held in Miami in January of 1960.

The Vikings first season was in 1961.

The rest is pretty much history…

I have agreat barometer of how to rate and rank a Big Ten Football coach at Minnesota. If a coach has at least five years of BT results, the Conference record indicates exactly how successful that coach is as a BT coach at Minnesota.

Murray IS the standard of a successful Minnesota Big Ten coach. Coach Fleck has joined the .500 elite ranking of a modern era BT success rate.

Coach Fleck, after six seasons in the Big Ten is rocking and rolling and is guiding the Gopher program to a position very few Gopher coaches have been able to achieve. The BT .500 mark. Imho, Coach Fleck is doing a great job as the Gopher Football Coach. I greatly appreciate seeing the Gophers on the rise as they have been with Coach Fleck.

The numbers do not lie. Coach Fleck has moved into some pretty select territory when ranking Past Gopher football coaches as Big Ten coaches. It is a pleasure to see a Minnesota football coach pass the five year survival point!

Keep it going, Coach Fleck!

 

[60's Guy]

Jerry only went to 3 bowls… man I forgot that…

But, he only had 4 opportunities. Year one he inherited a mess.
Year 5 he retired mid-season due to health and the team went on to a bowl game.
So every year but the first, but it did seem like at least one more and sorta was.

 

[DrunkDons]

"beat Wisconsin and you'll stay forever"
nuff said

 

[50PoundHead]

Cal Stoll
Overall: 39-39 — .500%
Conference: 27-29 — .482%
Bowls: 0-1 — .000%

Hard to compare Stoll and Warmath to the more recent because in those days, there were so few bowl games. I thought both those guys were really good coaches.

 

[FanSinceTheFifties]

I don't think Warmath gets his due.

His era at Minnesota was ending in the 70s, when the mood on campus was really quite antagonistic toward football.

He was a great, great football coach.

Yes, and by 1970, the Gophers were no longer the biggest sports attraction in Minnesota following the Twins 65 WS appearance and the Vikings 70 SB appearance.

 

[50PoundHead]

Yes, and by 1970, the Gophers were no longer the biggest sports attraction in Minnesota following the Twins 65 WS appearance and the Vikings 70 SB appearance.

And back then, the conference really became the Big 2 and Little 8. The vast array of bowls didn't exist like it does today, so it was difficult to generate excitement in the fan base as there was a cap on the season for everyone other than Ohio State and Michigan.

 

[FanSinceTheFifties]

And back then, the conference really became the Big 2 and Little 8. The vast array of bowls didn't exist like it does today, so it was difficult to generate excitement in the fan base as there was a cap on the season for everyone other than Ohio State and Michigan.

Yes, but the other 7 little markets weren't suddenly overwhelmed by pro franchises.

 

[BilldGopher]

This is good stuff RememberMurray. Thanks for resurrecting the historic stats for context.

It is impossible to fully grasp where we are now compared to Murray's day and in between without fully appreciating how a University Administration's total hostility to revenue sports, especially football, has a hugely negative effect on a program. This impacts every facet of the given sport...from facilities, recruiting, faculty attitude, gameday atmosphere, who will work for you, everything...and Minnesota had this hostility in spades for at least 30 years if not longer.

Probably the most visible evidence for football was the move off-campus to the Metrodome, which took away the most visible historic link to Minnesota's storied past glory. Ironically the main counteroffensive to the hostility...the hiring of Lou Holtz...relied on a flawed individual who jumped ship at the first opportunity...which only fed into the cynicism already permeating the halls of power at Pillsbury Hall.

From this greater historic context, the ship only started to turn in 1996 under President Mark Yudof and the hiring of Glen Mason the next year. That Glen got as far as he did in itself is worthy of a statue given where he started program-wise. Coach Brewster represented a hiccup but the trend line is clear...going up...and Coaches' Kill, Claeys, and now Fleck are advancing both the statistics and expectations, which is a good thing.

No one wants to hear "you've come a long way baby" except maybe Virginia Slims ad teams but the fact is Minnesota football has come a long way. It's fair to say the progress is too slow, but it is progress nonetheless.

 

[Nomellini]

And back then, the conference really became the Big 2 and Little 8. The vast array of bowls didn't exist like it does today, so it was difficult to generate excitement in the fan base as there was a cap on the season for everyone other than Ohio State and Michigan.

Yes, Stoll's 1973 team went 7-4 and did not go to a bowl.

 

[Nomellini]

I don't think Warmath gets his due.

His era at Minnesota was ending in the 70s, when the mood on campus was really quite antagonistic toward football.

He was a great, great football coach.

As an aside, Warmath's son, Murray, Jr., graduated from the Minnesota Med School in 1966. He has been a radiologist for 56 years, and still practices at a prestigious hospital in La Jolla.

 

[BBJones]

Yep.

.482 in the Big Ten. Not bad, though not as good as Fleck.

Barrierro would have almost certainly called it "mediocre".

Stoll faced legitimate non conference opponents every year - Nebraska, UCLA, Washington, etc.

My favorite Cal Stoll story: When Paul Giel fired Stoll, he supposedly told him that he couldn't sell him or his program any more to the fans. Stoll replied that he had never been for sale.