Could Urban Meyer or Nick Saban win a national title at Minnesota?

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Stan

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I realize this is purely hypothetical and this is not an indictment of Kill as I love the guy. I am just curious, with so much fan fare around Meyer today (and rightfully so) I am curious of GHers think these two guys are good enough to do it at Minnesota? Or is it a product of them coaching at a helmet school, albeit competing against other helmet schools for the big prize?
 

They could do it if they had the same financial freedom they have at OSU and Alabama.
 

Don't think they could due to lack of resources, but I believe Jerry Kill will. We had 20,000 fans in Orlando (I am simply amazed by that). Everything is improving for us. Brick by brick.
 

I think they could, those 4 and 5 star players would follow those coaches here. Some players want to play for the Coach and the opportunity to win and don't care so much about the school or where it's located.
 

Given enough resources I believe a good coach could get it done at Minnesota.
 


Triple D said:
I think they could, those 4 and 5 star players would follow those coaches here. Some players want to play for the Coach and the opportunity to win and don't care so much about the school or where it's located.
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I don't think there is a problem with the U or the location. In the past (lasted for decades) there was a problem with our administrations. The Regents allowed it then too.
 

diehard said:
Don't think they could due to lack of resources, but I believe Jerry Kill will. We had 20,000 fans in Orlando (I am simply amazed by that). Everything is improving for us. Brick by brick.
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I actually heard on the radio (can't recall if it was WCCO or KFAN) that most who would know believe it was closer to 30,000 Minnesota Gopher fans made it to Orlando in one way or another.
 

supadupafly said:
I actually heard on the radio (can't recall if it was WCCO or KFAN) that most who would know believe it was closer to 30,000 Minnesota Gopher fans made it to Orlando in one way or another.
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Heard the same thing. 30k Gooher fans.... Amazing!
 

The biggest challenge for Minnesota is the lack of D-1 prospects in the state. We probably have on average 5-6 per year. Alabama and Ohio probably have north of 70-80.
 



John Galt said:
The biggest challenge for Minnesota is the lack of D-1 prospects in the state. We probably have on average 5-6 per year. Alabama and Ohio probably have north of 70-80.
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Yup, keep bringing them in from out of state.
 

diehard said:
Yup, keep bringing them in from out of state.
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Point being, the best way to improve the Gopher football long-term is for the quality of high school football to improve.
 


diehard said:
Don't think they could due to lack of resources, but I believe Jerry Kill will. We had 20,000 fans in Orlando (I am simply amazed by that). Everything is improving for us. Brick by brick.
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So Meyer and Saban couldn't do it because of lack of resources but Jerry Kill will with the same lack of resources?
 



For any coach to win a national title at MN, everything would have to line up perfectly: an exceptional group of players, get lucky on a few recruits who play above their star rating, avoid injuries, other teams in the B1G being down a little, get a good draw in the playoffs, and get a few breaks along the way with penalties and turnovers.

Is it possible? Yes - but it's a very long shot. The Gophs have to upgrade their facilities, and they have to win a few high-profile games to boost their national profile with recruits.

On the plus side, if the Gophs win a National Championship, they may be able to raise enough $ to expand TCF.
 

John Galt said:
Point being, the best way to improve the Gopher football long-term is for the quality of high school football to improve.
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That is 100% true for the current state of the football program. However, the question is could Saban and Meyer win at UMN. I believe the answer is yes and due to their national name recognition I dont think the in-state HS football would matter one bit. Hypothetically speaking.
 

FWIW Saban had a shot at a similar mid tier B1G program and couldn't do it with MSU.

Meyer had success at Utah then left it to his DC. There are legitimate arguments to be made that the Utah undefeated 2008 squad composed of some of Meyer's players as seniors deserved a shot to be national champions.

I'll say this though. Meyer seems one bad season away from another mental breakdown. You can tell he's one of those coaches that grinds himself away during the season.
I know florida had issues he was running from, but I just think he'd have trouble dealing with the frustrations here. It's about coaching and school support of the program, the U is getting better but there have been instances in the past when the support wasn't there.
Saban has a history of running from bad situations too, aka, his time with the dolphins.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
For any coach to win a national title at MN, everything would have to line up perfectly: an exceptional group of players, get lucky on a few recruits who play above their star rating, avoid injuries, other teams in the B1G being down a little, get a good draw in the playoffs, and get a few breaks along the way with penalties and turnovers.

Is it possible? Yes - but it's a very long shot. The Gophs have to upgrade their facilities, and they have to win a few high-profile games to boost their national profile with recruits.

On the plus side, if the Gophs win a National Championship, they may be able to raise enough $ to expand TCF.
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Why expand? Autzen Stadium is only 54k seats and the Ducks seem to do just fine.
 

cjcarter8 said:
Why expand? Autzen Stadium is only 54k seats and the Ducks seem to do just fine.
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As ABBA said, Money, Money Money. We could just increase seat license fees to pay for building more seats with more license fees. Then we could give the entire athletic department a 20% across the board raise...
 


short ornery norwegian said:
For any coach to win a national title at MN, everything would have to line up perfectly: an exceptional group of players, get lucky on a few recruits who play above their star rating, avoid injuries, other teams in the B1G being down a little, get a good draw in the playoffs, and get a few breaks along the way with penalties and turnovers.

Is it possible? Yes - but it's a very long shot. The Gophs have to upgrade their facilities, and they have to win a few high-profile games to boost their national profile with recruits.

On the plus side, if the Gophs win a National Championship, they may be able to raise enough $ to expand TCF.
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You mean like the last 7 times we were National Champions... ;)
 


John Galt said:
You mean like the last 7 times we were National Champions... ;)
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Hey - here's an idea - let's get the southern schools to bring back segregation so the Gophs can snap up the best african-american athletes again. The circumstances are completely different from the Gophers glory days. Different era - different rules. I submit that winning a national championship is a lot more difficult today than it was in the 60's - and even more so than in the 30's and 40's.

Hamline was a national power in college basketball once - think that's going to happen again, too?
 

afurry91 said:
Only expand if you're selling out the whole stadium to season tickets.
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Exactly. I was disappointed at first when I heard TCF would be 50K... but reality is that we don't even sell that out. The only way TCF should get expanded is if we are selling out season tickets and a waiting list is created to get them.
 

Sparlimb said:
As ABBA said, Money, Money Money. We could just increase seat license fees to pay for building more seats with more license fees. Then we could give the entire athletic department a 20% across the board raise...
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Wow- never thought I'd see an ABBA reference on this board. Not sure how I feel about it now that it's there!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Sparlimb said:
As ABBA said, Money, Money Money. We could just increase seat license fees to pay for building more seats with more license fees. Then we could give the entire athletic department a 20% across the board raise...
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Brilliant! Someone should tell Teague ;-)
 

supadupafly said:
I actually heard on the radio (can't recall if it was WCCO or KFAN) that most who would know believe it was closer to 30,000 Minnesota Gopher fans made it to Orlando in one way or another.
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We flew to Atlanta and rented a car and drove from there. Ran into a lot of people who drove the whole way. Sat at the game between a guy who drove from Arkansas by himself to cheer them on and another group who flew in from Pittsburgh. Sat on the shuttle next to a guy who brought his daughter who came from Idaho. Flew home on the way back and there was a family with 5 small children who also did the 'fly to atlanta, drive from there' route, same with the older couple we ran into at baggage claim at the Humphrey terminal.

Just amazing to see how many people who did whatever they could to attend the Citrus Bowl.. don't tell us we don't have a traveling fan base!
 

John Galt said:
You mean like the last 7 times we were National Champions... ;)
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That was prior to this period of global cooling. :)

Kill is the one guy that I believe can get it done. It will take a few more years to get there. The U support has got to continue stepping up. They are trending well for us.
 

Yes, both coaches could do it, but they'd demand a lot (this being hypothetical, they'd get it). Getting back to reality, as for conference titles, it's Schembechler/Woody Hayes again. It will be very difficult for anyone else to elbow in - Buckeyes got this national title with loads of freshmen and sophomores - wait 'til the recruiting dividend lifts them even higher.
 

Great Plains Gopher said:
Yes, both coaches could do it, but they'd demand a lot (this being hypothetical, they'd get it). Getting back to reality, as for conference titles, it's Schembechler/Woody Hayes again. It will be very difficult for anyone else to elbow in - Buckeyes got this national title with loads of freshmen and sophomores - wait 'til the recruiting dividend lifts them even higher.
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Didn't read the entire thread so someone said this already, I apologize. I don't think they could with the present facilities. Sure, Meyer or Saban would get better kids than we are now, but they would lose more kids than they do now to whichever is not here (and other top coaches and programs) due to lack of up to date facilities and amenities.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
For any coach to win a national title at MN, everything would have to line up perfectly: an exceptional group of players, get lucky on a few recruits who play above their star rating, avoid injuries, other teams in the B1G being down a little, get a good draw in the playoffs, and get a few breaks along the way with penalties and turnovers.

Is it possible? Yes - but it's a very long shot. The Gophs have to upgrade their facilities, and they have to win a few high-profile games to boost their national profile with recruits.

On the plus side, if the Gophs win a National Championship, they may be able to raise enough $ to expand TCF.
Click to expand...

TCF should never be expanded in my opinion, it is well sized the fan base. Even if we win the national champ somehow, the average crowd will be around 45k. I would hate to have expanded the stadium to accommodate a larger swell in fans that is temporary and then have to deal with Hawkeye and Badger fans in the tens of thousands again when it settles down again.
 

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