Dear Mr. Maturi: The damage has been done.

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ChemEGopher

ChemEGopher

Section 133 Row 28!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Your window to extend Brewster has closed. Irrepairable damage has been done to this year's recruiting class and the football team's immediate future. This is the second time in your tenure that your inability to make a decision regarding the head coach of a major revenue sport has come back to haunt you. Right now you have two options remaining. Either lguarantee Brewster the last two years of his current contract or fire him and find someone that wants to be here who will bring in assistant coaches that want to be here. The latter is likely the best option. Learn from your mistakes with the Dan Monson situation and please do not extend him now if there is a significant chance (>20%) that he will not make it to 2011.
 

ChemEGopher said:
Your window to extend Brewster has closed. Irrepairable damage has been done to this year's recruiting class and the football team's immediate future. This is the second time in your tenure that your inability to make a decision regarding the head coach of a major revenue sport has come back to haunt you. Right now you have two options remaining. Either lguarantee Brewster the last two years of his current contract or fire him and find someone that wants to be here who will bring in assistant coaches that want to be here. The latter is likely the best option. Learn from your mistakes with the Dan Monson situation and please do not extend him now if there is a significant chance (>20%) that he will not make it to 2011.
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I agree that Maturi has once again twittered around and screwed up what should have been an easy 'paper-only' extension for Brew.

However, I don't think firing him now is the answer. It may have been the answer in November, but again, he waited too long for that. For a school like Minnesota, trying to hire a coach right now is a disaster. That's one reason we ended up with Brewster. While there have been more January hirings then usual this year, we are not USC, Tennesee or even Texas Tech. While a coach like Kevin Sumlin or David Cutcliff might have been willing to consider us in November they aren't likely to bail on thier programs now, 2 weeks before signing day. Therefore, we'd be stuck selecting from assistants or the unemployed. I think what this program desperately needs is a proven head coach.

The last thing I want to see at this point is a real 3-year extension that makes firing Brew next November more difficult should it be warranted. Yet I fear that's exactly what will happen. If it does, I will officially be on the 'Fire Maturi' bandwagon. I'm 90% of the way there already.

At this point, I suppose you have to give him some sort of extension since you've already said you would. Make it one year and be done with it. If Brew doesn't want to take that deal, let him go without. As you said, the damage is done.
 

ChemEGopher said:
Your window to extend Brewster has closed. Irrepairable damage has been done to this year's recruiting class and the football team's immediate future. This is the second time in your tenure that your inability to make a decision regarding the head coach of a major revenue sport has come back to haunt you. Right now you have two options remaining. Either lguarantee Brewster the last two years of his current contract or fire him and find someone that wants to be here who will bring in assistant coaches that want to be here. The latter is likely the best option. Learn from your mistakes with the Dan Monson situation and please do not extend him now if there is a significant chance (>20%) that he will not make it to 2011.
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It sounds like you think any damage done to this year's recruiting class is due to uncertainty over whether Brewster will be here, caused by Maturi's handling of the extension. I would disagree. I think it's due to either 1) the on-field product or 2) uncertainty over whether Brewster will be here caused by Brewster's on-field product.

I think recruits came the first two years based on hope and enthusiasm. Now they want to know that those aspirations will be achieved.
 

I agree with you HM. I blame Maturi for uncertainty part of it. In the ideal scenario, the on-field product would be the only reason for the damage being done. Now recruits have two big reasons to question coming here instead of just one. Maturi has realize that that this waffling only makes things worse. I don't understand his indecision. He has the opportunity to monitor the coaching staff's every move. Obviously they have some pluses and some minuses. As AD he should be able to weigh them against eachother and act. He said himself that the bowl game is the start of the 2010 season. Therefore he should have acted after the Iowa game so that there was no doubt where the athletic department stood in terms of backing or not backing Brewster. People complain that Brewster is learning on the job, I think our AD was given the opportunity to do the same but didn't learn his lesson the first time.
 

Didn't Maturi make similar extension statements prior to the 08 bowl game? I would favor action rather than a bunch of rhetoric. I posted sometime ago that Bruininks needs to put a gag order on the guy and keep his comments to prepared news releases and/or press conferences.

Amongst other things, Maturi stated earlier that two years left on a contract should not hamper recruiting efforts.
 


Paraphrased from the Great Bon Jovi...seemed a fit since the heading of this thread is "the damage is done"

Whoa! Weber's in shot gun (yeah)
Whoa! There's no where to run
No one can save him
The damage is done

Doomed from the start
And Brewster's to blame
He gives football
a bad name
bad name
I play my part
And he destroys our game
He gives Gopher ball
a bad name
He gives Gopher ball
... a bad name
 

wow

relax. Let these guys do their jobs. No doubt there is a plan.
 





Dear Mr Maturi

The damage has been done! The program appears to be on a downward spiral and we can pretend that it is the fault of all the coaches who have left the program. When you have 6 coaches leave in 3 years that falls on the shoulders of the head coach. Maybe it is Brewster who is hard to get along with and not the fault of the coaches who have left. There will be recruits who will not sign with the Gophers in Feb. and we have lost one of the few runningbacks, (Whaley) we have left. The team is a barebones team as it is and now we will have another coordinator. The problems with the past few years has been a lack of continuity. There have been other issues but a team will not have a winning season learning new offensive and defensive schemes every year! These past 3 years have been an experiment and it has failed the young men on the team and all the fans.
 

It seems that Brewster was assembling a decent class even with the on field product he had. The only thing that changed was the uncertainty around Brewsters status. If you want to blame Brewster for that uncertainty fine, but it was pretty clear it was the uncertainty of the program and not the perception of the product.

And still, outside of Huff we haven't had a bad departure. Green was unavoidable as it appears he couldn't get in. We still need to wait to see how Brew fills out the remaining spots to know what impact any of this has really had.
 

"That's what the steerage passengers said on the Titanic when the crew started loading the life boats."

My nomination for idiocy of the year. And to the author goes the Lavender Pixie Cup.
 

This is a circus, and commenting on it is like trying to make a thoughtful criticism of the circus. Asking about the quality of the program is like asking "Do you think that elephant does nice somersaults? No? How do you think they might be done better?"

I don't have a thing to say. Who does?
 



It has been said before by several of us: Brew has made progress on defense and the kicking game, but the offense has been a disaster. Next year is the key - if the offense kicks in, we may be going somewhere; if not, bad news for Brew and all. Let's see what happens next fall before hanging crepe.
 

Maturi has said all along that he'd extend Brewster after the season when he reviews coaching performance for all sports. It's that time opf year and here we are getting it done. I for one am impressed it's a 5 year deal. In the meantime Maturi made it clear to any and all recruits/fans a deal was as good as done. We didn't lose a single recruit due to the lack of an extension. Where's the problem?
 

As for coaches who've left the program.....Withers/Roof both left for better programs/pay. Hard to blame that on Brewster. McDonald left because he didn't get the OC spot.....not a big deal imo. Fisch is leaving for the NFL and the chance to work with Pete Carrol. Bottom line is Brewster has an eye for talented coaches who're in demand.
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
As for coaches who've left the program.....Withers/Roof both left for better programs/pay. Hard to blame that on Brewster. McDonald left because he didn't get the OC spot.....not a big deal imo. Fisch is leaving for the NFL and the chance to work with Pete Carrol. Bottom line is Brewster has an eye for talented coaches who're in demand.
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Do you know for a fact why those coaches left?
 


Costa Rican Gopher said:
Maturi has said all along that he'd extend Brewster after the season when he reviews coaching performance for all sports. It's that time opf year and here we are getting it done. I for one am impressed it's a 5 year deal. In the meantime Maturi made it clear to any and all recruits/fans a deal was as good as done. We didn't lose a single recruit due to the lack of an extension. Where's the problem?
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The 5 year deal has only been rumored on a single website that may or may not be credible depending on which poster you ask. And how do you know that no recruits were lost because of a lack of extension? Its all speculation either way.

Whether or not Maturi said he do this all along doesn't change the folly of the decision. If I say I'm going to drive off a cliff and then follow through does my bad decision suddenly become better? What information about Brew did he collect by waiting this long? The bowl game was the only meaningful event since the end of the season and that was 3 weeks ago.
 

And I'd contend that the bowl game wasn't likely to bring any new info either, even if we would have blown out ISU. Whatever is going to be done, should have been done over a month ago.
 

GopherGod said:
Do you know for a fact why those coaches left?
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You have to connect the dots of course. My dots make a lot more sense than the people who want to convince you there's masive unrest in the coaching staff, which doesn't appear to be the case.

Withers & Roof are fairly obvious they left for greener pastures, I'm sure you'd agree.

It was widely rumored when the OC position came available that McDonald was expecting the promotion since he'd left his previus job as OC to join the staff as WR coach. As soon as he was passed over he left for a lesser position with the Browns. 2 + 2 = 4

Fisch was a hot commodity as witnessed by the amount of NFL teams currently interested despite a less than impressive year as OC at the U. He only had a 2 year contract to begin with and the second year was heavily weighted to entice him to stay. Why do you think that is? Logically it's because he's a high flyer and Brew knew other teams would be after him. What he didn't know is Fisch's buddy Bates was going to get the OC spot under Pete Carrol at Seattle which he couldn't overcome.
 

GoAUpher said:
The 5 year deal has only been rumored on a single website that may or may not be credible depending on which poster you ask. And how do you know that no recruits were lost because of a lack of extension? Its all speculation either way.

Whether or not Maturi said he do this all along doesn't change the folly of the decision. If I say I'm going to drive off a cliff and then follow through does my bad decision suddenly become better? What information about Brew did he collect by waiting this long? The bowl game was the only meaningful event since the end of the season and that was 3 weeks ago.
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* I've read the 5 year deal rumor on several websites and from at least one VERY credible source. We'll find out soon enough, but it sounds like it's actually a 3 year deal, but with the remaining 2 he currently has it's 5 total. Plenty to convince recruits he'll be here for the length of their career.

* There hasn't been one single recruit, parent, coach over the past 6 months quoated as having any reservations about coming to the U because of Brewster's conract....not one. Meanwhile, the people claiming Brewster's lack of contract has cost us recruits have the burden of proof, yet get a free pass. Interesting.

* Why would Maturi change the way he handles contracts just for Brewster? If he breaks his own policy (Bad example for a leader!) and renegotiates Brewster early, then he's got to do the same for every sport at the U or else run the risk of showing favoritism & cuasing bad blood between departments. I just can't get my head around why this is so hard to understand?
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
* There hasn't been one single recruit, parent, coach over the past 6 months quoated as having any reservations about coming to the U because of Brewster's conract....not one. Meanwhile, the people claiming Brewster's lack of contract has cost us recruits have the burden of proof, yet get a free pass. Interesting.
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Didn't Huff say something about Brew's uncertain contract situation when he committed to TCU? I'm not a subscriber to GI, so can neither confirm nor deny that; but I seem to recall him saying something to that effect.
 

I think Huff named uncertainty as his main reason for decomitting. Plus it seemed as if nearly every potential recruit during this time frame went elsewhere.

It's time for Maturi to rethink his approach for the fall sports. Recruits deserve to know who their coach is likely to be before they sign on the dotted line.
 

" I just can't get my head around why this is so hard to understand?"

You're right but:

1. It's a football board. Remember when the public went nuts when the U wanted to cut the Golf and Gymnastics programs? The U wanted the money to support the revenue programs. They ended-up raising the money and adding rowing to keep Men's scholarships. Around here there were a number of people that not only cheered the idea of dumping the programs but volunteered other programs including baseball :eek: to get Mason some more money.

2. Some rationally disagree.

3. Some people, they're just being dicks.
 

Costa Rican Gopher said:
You have to connect the dots of course. My dots make a lot more sense than the people who want to convince you there's masive unrest in the coaching staff, which doesn't appear to be the case.

Withers & Roof are fairly obvious they left for greener pastures, I'm sure you'd agree.

It was widely rumored when the OC position came available that McDonald was expecting the promotion since he'd left his previus job as OC to join the staff as WR coach. As soon as he was passed over he left for a lesser position with the Browns. 2 + 2 = 4

Fisch was a hot commodity as witnessed by the amount of NFL teams currently interested despite a less than impressive year as OC at the U. He only had a 2 year contract to begin with and the second year was heavily weighted to entice him to stay. Why do you think that is? Logically it's because he's a high flyer and Brew knew other teams would be after him. What he didn't know is Fisch's buddy Bates was going to get the OC spot under Pete Carrol at Seattle which he couldn't overcome.
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So what your saying is you have no proof and are just hypothesizing, thanks. In regards to Fisch's contract being heavily waited for the second year, could it not be possible that this was due to the fact that Brewster and Maturi realized how much turmoil it can cause the program having to bring in a 3rd offensive coordinator.
 


Costa Rican Gopher said:
* I've read the 5 year deal rumor on several websites and from at least one VERY credible source. We'll find out soon enough, but it sounds like it's actually a 3 year deal, but with the remaining 2 he currently has it's 5 total. Plenty to convince recruits he'll be here for the length of their career.
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Links and who was the source? Don't disagree that it should quell the "could he stick around" issues for recruits if true.

Costa Rican Gopher said:
* There hasn't been one single recruit, parent, coach over the past 6 months quoated as having any reservations about coming to the U because of Brewster's conract....not one. Meanwhile, the people claiming Brewster's lack of contract has cost us recruits have the burden of proof, yet get a free pass. Interesting.
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As others have noted, Huff said it factored in. Also, you ignore the fact that I clearly said that claims both directions are just speculation without proof. So no, those who disagree with you don't get a free pass (at least not from me).
Costa Rican Gopher said:
* Why would Maturi change the way he handles contracts just for Brewster? If he breaks his own policy (Bad example for a leader!) and renegotiates Brewster early, then he's got to do the same for every sport at the U or else run the risk of showing favoritism & cuasing bad blood between departments. I just can't get my head around why this is so hard to understand?
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It's poor leadership to change a bad policy? The point is that the football recruiting calendar means that the head FB coach's contract might need to (and IMO should) be handled differently than other coaching contracts. What would be so bad about acknowledging that? If logically argued, there is no reason the exception could not be easily defended. Granted, Joel may disagree about the calendar (you seem to as well). And I'll respect your opinion if you don't agree that the recruiting calendar should factor in. But I think it is over the top to argue that an exception in how Joel handles this contract (for what is arguably the most important HC position at the school) could not be defended/justified.
 

ChemEGopher said:
Your window to extend Brewster has closed. Irrepairable damage has been done to this year's recruiting class and the football team's immediate future. This is the second time in your tenure that your inability to make a decision regarding the head coach of a major revenue sport has come back to haunt you. Right now you have two options remaining. Either lguarantee Brewster the last two years of his current contract or fire him and find someone that wants to be here who will bring in assistant coaches that want to be here. The latter is likely the best option. Learn from your mistakes with the Dan Monson situation and please do not extend him now if there is a significant chance (>20%) that he will not make it to 2011.
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Dumb
 


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