Bayfield: Here is the deal... For Bayfield's eyes only...too long for others...
When Nebraska Football hit hard times, the University of Nebraska turned to Tom Osborne to save the program. The University of Nebraska and the state of Nebraska valued their football program too much to see it turn into a tarnished, laughing stock of a program. They were headed in the wrong direction and all too soon might have found themselves wandering in the wilderness. But, they called upon the Moses of Lincoln...their great, still living, legendary football coach who had brought them National Championships to lead them and to keep them from faltering. He has brought them into the Big Ten Conference. Husker Football still reigns supreme in the state of Nebraska. They put football above all other sports played by the University of Nebraska. The administration at the U of Neb was not foolish enough to let football slip too far. Great waves of Nebraska fans will travel anywhere and everywhere to watch their Huskers play.
Or, look to the east: in Madison, wisky football was lost in their wilderness. They hired a Chancellor who realized just how important the football program could be to a great University. Donna S. was a smart enough administrator to go out and bring in a Badger legend who had played a big part in the last era of success that Badger Football had experienced. She brought Pat Richter back home to Madison. He had been a beloved Badger Football hero. He had been a successful busisness exec. She brought him home to FIX FOOTBALL. He cut some non-revenue sports, including baseball and he hired Barry Alvarez. And, the administration at the University of Wisconsin got on board behind the football program. They poured a lot of financial resources into making Camp Radall the "other" football palace in Wisconsin. The Football Stadium and the Football Program fit hand and hand in the branding of the Univrersity of Wisconsin as an academic institution and a Big Ten Game Day Saturday EVENT. The administration at the Unviersity of Wisconsin first loved Badger Football...then the students and alumni loved Badger Football....then the entire state of wisky loved Badger Football AND Packer Football. They will travel to any corner of the country to watch their badgers play.
In Iowa, they have committed time, resources and and a lot of state pride into Hawkeye Football. It started with Hayden and when he got too old and tired, they transferred their passion to the Ferentz version of Hawkeyeism. For the past quarter of a century or longer,they have put passion, resources, contributions and travelling where ever their team went on the high priority level through out the state of Iowa. And the administrations at the Unviersity of Iowa have not been ashamed of the passion for the University that football has created. Right now, they have agreed to pay Ferentz 3.75 million a year to run their football program.
And you are satisfied with what prexy b and maturi have done once the stadium has been built? Bayfield: they thought the new stadium would sell itself for four or five years. They had the gall to hire a totally inexperienced coach to bring Gopher Football back to the campus????? They had NO love of the passion football could instill upon the students of the U of M. They watched on as their coach ran countless offensive and defensive coordinators through the program...year after year once the shovels broke ground for the nerly 300 million dollar stadium. Position coaches came and left. The program was run in utter chaos. There was inadequate coaching leadership and there was inadequate administrative leadership for those who were in charge of the coach. They even extended their failing coach after the collapse of the second half for the 2009 season.
What should have been a unifying, building and very exciting return to the campus ended up being a real nightmare for student athletes, coaches, students at the U of M, alumni, fans and the general public through out the state of Minnesota. Iowa, Wisconsin and Nebraska conducted administrative clinics in "HOW TO KEEP FOOTBALL VITAL" to their great universities, the administration at the Unviersity of Minnesota turned this last great chance into a fiasco and terribly sad, comedy of errors.
What is the image that has been created for the University of Minnesota as a result of this terrible showing by the administration at the University of Minnesota? What kind of excitement, hope, passion and unity has the return to the campus for football game day Saturdays caused in Minneapolis vs. Lincoln, Iowa City and Madison? In those places the administrations of each university have a love for their football program...have a passion for their football program. It moves along to the students...the alumni...the fans...and the people of the state or people who have a connection with the state. At the U of M no administrators have had that same passion and that same desire to make football the number one non-academic priority for their tenure as prexy or ad. At Minnesota, the administration wants to be the king or queen of "olympic sports..." NOTHING sells the school like football. And we don't have administrators who will sell football above all the other sports. It is not good to pay a hoops coach two to two and a half times as much as a football coach...that is a DEAD give away of where maturi and prexy b value the football program...even after just investing 300 million into a new stadium...they just ASSUMED people would be happy to just see and be in a new stadium. They didn't care who they hired to build a program to give the fans, students and alumni a good enough reason to come to the stadium. They didn't hire a teacher, builder and coach...they hired a guy with a line ...a regular high-energy b.s. machine. They just DON'T get it Bayfield.
Most people have NO confidence in our athletic director to pull a "Pat Richter" type of hire for the football program to try to clean up the mess his brewster hire created? prexy b has overseen this entire mess. Thank heavens he will soon be gone. May Prexy K understand how important football is to the unviersity and may he understand that his football program MUST be able to compete and win their share of games against Nebraska, Iowa and Wisconsin, or there will be severe consequences to the image of the football program and even the institution in the eyes of the citizens of the state of Minnsota the alumni, the students and the youngsters growing up in the state of Minnesota.
No, Bayfield, I really do not have much confidence that any hire maturi and prexy b oversee will take us beyond the 5-3 Big Ten mark for a very long time...if ever. But, I will always hope for better.
So, this one's for you Bayfield. I certainly wouldn't advise anyone else to read it. You wanted me to tell you what I think...so, I have. Please, no one else read this. It will be too long for you. I have confidence that Bayfield can survive even the length of this response to him...
