Doogie: The "U's" real problem: Average Joel (Maturi)

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ruralgopher said:
The problem isn't just the tubby comment. Combine the Tubby comment with publicly saying that they could pay top 25 money, and given a 51 day search, with many interviews, never trying to manage expectations. Not once. Instead he said stupid things like, 'I can't believe he is interested!' and adding to this perception by telling regents 'the pool is very strong'.

All of these lead to many of us reasonably hoping for a big name hire. I'm behind coach kill 100%, we are keeping our tix and tailgate passes and think he has the bonefides to be successful here. That in no way means that Joel and Bob didn't screw the pooch on the PR side of this. And they hired a PR guru to boot? Unbelievable.
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Agreed on all points. My issue is with the journalism side of things. The context-free quote is front and center in this article. There are supporting points, but Doogie has shaded the truth a little bit in order to build the anger that the supporting points then feed. While this is effective writing in that it conveys emotion, it is not fully accurate journalism.

The problem with columnists is that they operate in the gray area between journalism and opinion. People take what they say to be fact, when in reality it is just an opinion with a motive. It is the same thing we all do when arguing with our buddies, just with a bigger audience. If you dislike the Souhan, Sansavere, Reusse, Walters, etc. columns because you don't think they take into account all the facts, then Doogie is no different. I guess it is just the nature of columns, but if I want opinion I can just ask my neighbor. He has plenty of them and can also skew the facts with the best of them.
 

Sir Tipsy: Thanks, I think. Anyone? Hmmm. There are at least two local sports guys who have approached me, wanting a Strib blog. I put them in contact with the right people, and so far, no luck for them. All of us actually do that blog for free. It's great exposure, and the Strib folks are rock-solid. But that's why my entries have been limited since joining Ch. 5. I had a bit more free time all of last year, so would do 2 per week... now, maybe 2 per month. As for editing, not that mine won't have a mistake or two on occasion, but I have a good friend, who teaches a law writing class at William Mitchell edit them for me. He is fantastic.
I also wrote for cbssports.com last year, covering the Vikings... and help Tom P. out at 1500espn.com. Admittedly, feel a lot more comfortable in the electronic area, but enjoy writing.
 


The 12th Man said:
You completely ignored the context of the statement and conveniently left out the part where he talked about needing to see if there was that type of interest. Seems to me, that is the important part.

He talked about what they were trying to do - find a Tubby Smith - while admitting that he needed to gauge the interest. It has since been spun into Maturi guaranteeing the football version of Tubby. You lamented the fact that Maturi wasn't being real with the fans. I argue that being real is exactly what he was doing and people just didn't want to listen.
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Kill wasn't Maturi's 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or likely even 4th choice. Not sure what you think he meant by the Tubby-type quote, but he was swinging for the fences, which he should've, but ended up with an infield single. Those who know Kill, really like him. He has a chance to win, certainly is far better than Brew, and deserves a shot. But trust me, he was not on the "U's" radar on Sun. Oct. 17 when Brew was let go.
 

ruralgopher said:
I don't think they are 'bad losses' though, most of them were in his first year, when turned NIU from 2-10 to 6-7.
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That's the thing most are ignoring. N. Illinois was going through a rebuilding stage. Can't expect them to be winning all those game right away. But in year 2 and 3, they were pretty competitive in those games and even won two. As bad as MN is this year or Purdue was last year, beating a Big Ten team is still a pretty big deal when you're a rebuilding MAC team.
 


GophersInIowa said:
That's the thing most are ignoring. N. Illinois was going through a rebuilding stage. Can't expect them to be winning all those game right away. But in year 2 and 3, they were pretty competitive in those games and even won two. As bad as MN is this year or Purdue was last year, beating a Big Ten team is still a pretty big deal when you're a rebuilding MAC team.
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Another good point.
 

Guys Maturi already admitted he f'ed this up so please stop trying to defend him.
 


Doogie said:
Admittedly, feel a lot more comfortable in the electronic area, but enjoy writing.
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Now, if we can only get you to stop using "efforting" as a real word we will be making some progress.

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Everthing Language and Grammar

Effort is a noun, meaning (for this discussion) an exertion of strength or power either in a physical or mental sense. Examples include it was an effort to mow the lawn and solving that math problem was quite an effort. Effort is not a verb meaning to exert an effort, so statements such as I’m efforting to get the project done on time is an incorrect way to use the word effort.
 



Well aware that it's not a word... someone on ESPN Radio planted it in my mind a long time ago... so, when Hartman used to ask what the progress was on a guest, would say, "Efforting" ... no biggie.
 


I would think the local media should be privately thanking Maturi. I would certainly imagine he's kept a few of them employed with as much as he's given them to write about.

I mean look at the sh-t storm he's conjured up this time. Would a better hire have given these guys as much to write about as they have now?
 

glovedgopher said:
So we just forget about it and leave it at that? Give him another free pass? Zero consequences?
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I'll say the same thing I said when everyone was calling for Brewster's head. What good does complaining about him constantly on a message board do? Should we go egg Maturi's house? Boo him everytime we see him? Get out the pitchforks?
 



GophersInIowa said:
I'll say the same thing I said when everyone was calling for Brewster's head. What good does complaining about him constantly on a message board do? Should we go egg Maturi's house? Boo him everytime we see him? Get out the pitchforks?
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Well did they fire Brewster? Did public pressure have anything to do with that? How did Chilly get fired? External and internal pressure maybe?
 

MNSpaniel said:
Don't say things you can't back up Doogie. Just trying to make a name for yourself. Maturi made a bad hire in Brewster. No doubt about that. If you look at his body of work he has done a good job as Athletic Director. I also think he made a solid hire in Kill. You have no idea of what went on in the hiring or search process. He never promised a Tubby Smith hire. He said he would like to get someone of that caliber. Maybe he did ... time will tell.
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All the Maturi quotes in today's articles make pretty cleat that Maturi screwed the pooch. He made the Tubby comment despite never believing he could get a BCS level coach. So why let that comment sit out there? Why not retract it or try to temper it? All he did was cut the legs out from under his new guy.

Also, he asked BARRY EFFING ALVAREZ to be the coach. WTF? Like that is going to happen. The man has a statue outside Camp Randall. But yea, he's going to coach UW's biggest rivals...
JM: Yeah, I did. I offered it to Barry Alvarez, and he didn't take the job.
BS: I've heard you say that three times now. Did you truly say, "Barry, do you want to come here and coach the Gophers?"
JM: Yeah, I did.
BS: And his response?
JM: He said, "I like what I'm doing. And my days of coaching are done."
BS: So you were sincere when you asked?
JM: Well, I know Barry pretty well now.
BS: But it was a serious offer?
JM: Oh, yeah. Heck, yeah. I said, "If we could make this work."
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I'm sorry, but it is beyond clear that Joel screwed up the search from the get-go. Adam Kelly and the SGF idiots didn't help. But Joel needs to go. Period.
 

I'd note that the "Joel offered Barry" meme is going nationwide right now between college FB writers on Twitter. The local derision of JM will become national soon enough.
 

GoAUpher said:
I'd note that the "Joel offered Barry" meme is going nationwide right now between college FB writers on Twitter. The local derision of JM will become national soon enough.
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I doubt it, people generally don't even know who other schools ADs even are.
 

GoAUpher said:
I'd note that the "Joel offered Barry" meme is going nationwide right now between college FB writers on Twitter. The local derision of JM will become national soon enough.
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Great now the Badger fans are going to start posting over here in a few hours.
 

RodentRampage said:
I doubt it, people generally don't even know who other schools ADs even are.
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Except Barry isn't just an AD. He's an iconic FB coach for UW. I'm not saying Joe Schmoe is going to know or care. I'm saying that Joel is a walking PR disaster who now has this stupid fact circulating amongst the national writers. It means absolutely nothing overall. But it adds to the image of bumbling Joel. This is the equivalent of Michigan State trying to hire Bo. It is epic stupidity.
 

UpnorthGo4 said:
The 12th Man nailed it because that is what the local sports media does pretty much all of the time. Maturi never promised a "Tubby hire". He only said he was going to try for one.
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Even if you believe this then Joel still messed up. Why? Because he never believed himself that he'd get that level of guy. So why say it? Why not walk it back after saying it? Why let it hang out there for months, fueling speculation and rumor that ultimately undercuts the guy you hire? The man doesn't understand or care to understand the PR implications of his job. I personally think he's done a pretty good job of managing the whole department. But the revenue sports should take the largest percentage of his time and effort. And those sports require you to be at least decent with PR. Especially with a fan base as fickle as ours. And Joel just doesn't have that skill.
 

Former Mac. Coach Urban Meyer Bowling Green 11-5 Conference record

Jerry Kill 18-6
 

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