Gopher and Viking legend Bud Grant dies at age 95

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

that supposedly goes back to his Gopher days. I think the story is in Sid's book. The Gophers had a big game coming up and Bierman apparently put the players through a long, grueling series of practices. By the time the game rolled around, the players were all beat up and tired, and they lost. Grant never forgot that and when he became a coach, he made it a point to not overwork his players in practice - as long as he got their best effort on game day.

Did they try rubbing some dirt in it?

 

[Nomellini]

I think you are referring to the 1949 team. It had 13 NFL draftees and Bierman later called it his best team. He also took responsibility for their late season collapse. After thrashing Ohio State by a score of 27-0 in Columbus, they went on to lose back-to back games, 14-7 at Michigan and the crusher was a 13-7 loss at home to a Purdue team that finished at 4-5. Ohio State and Michigan shared the Big 10 Championship and OSU went on to win the Rose Bowl. Bierman's 1950 team won one game and he was unceremoniously canned. Wow.

 

[cheeseheadgophfan]

A sign of how times have changed....Bud used to play town-team baseball kind-of as a hired gun to supplement his income during the summers. He pitched several times for my town in Western WI. It was way before my time, but my Dad occasionally played on the team when they were short players. One night when Bud was supposed to pitch (and they had paid him pretty good $$$) the catcher had to work late and they didn't know if was going to make it for the first pitch (you gotta love town ball). My Dad was asked if he could catch. He was literally crapping his pants (he said Bud could really throw hard). My Dad was getting his equipment when the real catcher showed up. Crisis averted. LOL