Oh yes the "actual fan" bit... Because real fans don't care if the team doesn't win until 2011...
As one of the Hole's resident non-Brewster-enthusiast who genuinely wants him to succeed but all too often can't tolerate the man himself, I'll take this bait, Eg9.
Brewsterhater being anybody who isn't all aboard the BrewExpress: He wasn't my favorite candidate for the job, yet somehow he sucked me in with his 'sooner rather than later' rhetoric; he then shat the '07 season down his leg looking utterly amateurish in the process, whilst I had to endure my roommate ( a gopherhole staffer I'll add, and you know who you are, traitor) turn coat for the the damn Bison in one of two of the worst humiliations I've seen in 10 years as season ticket holder (the recent 55-0 spanking being the other, with myriad Masonic collapses all slightly behind)... Lets just say I had a bad start with the man, Brewsterhater being a little to harsh or not. Back on the ranch...
I certainly don't consider anyone who isn't all aboard the "BrewExpress" a "hater", but I don't understand not giving a new coach your full support and every benefit of the doubt for his first few years. None of the losses in Brewster's era have been more embarassing than the collapses against Michigan, the humiliations at Kinnick(with a more talented team), or the epic meltdown against Texas Tech. I will allow that the 55-0 game in which the Gophers did not even show up was absolutely one of my worst moments as a fan, but the season was lost by that point with poor losses to Michigan and Northwestern. I"ve been as critical as anyone over how the team badly underachieved to finish the past season.
Looking at the plagerized rivals chart it really doesn't show much relevance to a first year coach practically losing his entire first recruiting class to attrition, but I assume you will argue he had the deck stacked against him in the scramble to sign anybody, and with attrition in college being part of the game that we should all just chill, leave, die in fiery auto wreck, etc.
Brewster's first recruiting class was a Top 20 class and very highly regarded. Claiming he has responsiblity for a class that was 80% Mason's is a joke and shows a major bias.
Let us all hope that Brewster finds more kids who can get into school and stay there academically and leave it at that and allow me to add that I appreciate what he is up against. It is hard to get the true gems of great academics and athleticism with focus to excel in both for 3 to 5 years; such 17 year olds being as rare as the competition is stiff.
He has been doing exactly that. The APR is on the rise at Minnesota, not on the decline.
Assuming that Brock is gone and discussing his future impact on the secondary bears no more relevance than discussing Bronko Nagurski reborn with Jesus playing free saftey, let me try to find another constructive line of discussion.
Brock is currently at a JUCO attempting to get eligible. His future impact on the secondary would be significant if he was able to get back in to school. Brock and Royston at Safety with Sherels and Simmons at Corner would have the potential to be the best Gopher secondary in a very long time.
What are reasonable expectations for this club between now and the senior year of the 2008 freshmen? I mean Big Ten wins are/were the primary goal in his hiring. So yes "this Brewster" was hired to improve upon 37 percent, that being the raison d'etre of signing him.
Brewster got up to 37 percent in his 2nd year as head coach. I don't think anyone will be happy with 3-5 conference records for long. I am all for high expectations, I think it's realistic to expect a winning Big Ten record by year 4.
I would count this season as progress if we win 6 games and knock off either Wisconsin or Iowa in the process given the stiffening of the schedule. I would appreciate a "signature win" , which I would argue Brewster has failed to really accomplish. 4 or 3 would be a disappointment. 2 or less wins and I might be out to egg his house. 8 or 9 wins would be serious improvement, and beyond that and I might stop quoting "sooner rather than later" on this site...
I think beating Wisconsin or Iowa is a must, going 0-4 against those 2 teams is absolutely unacceptable, so making it 0-6 would be very Mason like. If you think 6 wins is good enough then I certainly don't see why you would consider yourself a Brewster hater.
So what say ye to this non-100%-Brewster-backing Gopher fan, what is a reasonable expectation for the coming season?
