If Baylor, why not Minnesota?

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Gopher in Dixie

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I was reminded last night about how other seemingly historically terrible programs improve and actually make an impact and win big games.

Case in point with Baylor winning at Texas last night and having a real shot at winning the Big 12 South Title. If programs like Oregon State, Kansas State, Baylor, Temple (although they had to drop to the MAC), etc. can do it, there is no reason that this program can't.
 

Correct...we did it with Mason...we can do it again & take it to another level. It's almost like we forgot we were a constant Bowl team less then a decade ago...
 

thailleagle said:
Correct...we did it with Mason...we can do it again & take it to another level. It's almost like we forgot we were a constant Bowl team less then a decade ago...
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Do not say anything positive about Mason on here. it is sacriledge.
 

We did "it" with Mason? WHAT?

What we did with Mason was to rise up to mediocrity with cakewalk non-conference scheduling. Then we managed to find previously unimaginable ways to lose big games and huge leads with approximately zero defense. No, thanks. We need to aim higher...MUCH higher, with this next coach. Carpetbagging Mason was properly shown the door, albeit 3-4 years too late.
 

Carlson 79 said:
We did "it" with Mason? WHAT?

What we did with Mason was to rise up to mediocrity with cakewalk non-conference scheduling. Then we managed to find previously unimaginable ways to lose big games and huge leads with approximately zero defense. No, thanks. We need to aim higher...MUCH higher, with this next coach. Carpetbagging Mason was properly shown the door, albeit 3-4 years too late.
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We went from averaging 3 wins (3 wins...the Wacker Era was horrible for me I don't know about you) for 6 years to averaging 7 when Mason was here. That *IS* an upgrade & I don't know if you were a Gopher fan during the 1999-2006 seasons but we were getting a LOT of national attention because we had become competitors again. So yeah, Mason brought us a level above where we were & we needed someone after him who could step it up one more level then he could & we blew it by hiring Brewster...

Go ahead and act like we're used to Ohio State type seasons...I appreciated what Mason did while he was here. We were always in the national spotlight...he was a decent coach but his time had come...
 


thailleagle said:
We went from averaging 3 wins (3 wins...the Wacker Era was horrible for me I don't know about you) for 6 years to averaging 7 when Mason was here. That *IS* an upgrade & I don't know if you were a Gopher fan during the 1999-2006 seasons but we were getting a LOT of national attention because we had become competitors again. So yeah, Mason brought us a level above where we were & we needed someone after him who could step it up one more level then he could & we blew it by hiring Brewster...

Go ahead and act like we're used to Ohio State type seasons...I appreciated what Mason did while he was here. We were always in the national spotlight...he was a decent coach but his time had come...
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Wha?
 

Plinnius said:
Wha?
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The National Media spotlight yes...we had good ESPN coverage, we were known as Rush Central & we put back after back after back in the NFL & were always praised about having the best disciplined Offensive Line in the country. In games on ESPN there were always 3 or 4 players being recognized as being possible high draft picks.

Even on the internet you could go on message boards from teams like Michigan & Wisconsin & Minnesota was never a "GIMME" victory. Even on boards that had nothing to do with us we'd get mentioned & praised for our Offense & running game. We won 3 bowl games in a row against Oregon, Arkansas & Alabama. Mason brought a lot of attention to zone blocking schemes in the Big Ten as well...

And to now see how we're pretty much a joke & it's reminding me more & more of the early 90's when nobody cared about Minnesota, not even in the Big Ten. We're early 2000's Indiana status right now & it sucks...
 

thailleagle said:
The National Media spotlight yes...we had good ESPN coverage, ...
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For every good thing about "Running Back U" we had our monumental losses displayed just as much if not more. We only had maybe 3 real ESPN highlight-worthy wins, Michigan State in 1998, Ohio State in 2000, and Michigan 2005.

We can all rattle off the losses that made the national news - typically with "record breaking comeback" somewhere in the headline. We could never get over the hump.

By "averaging" 7 wins you guy realize that 4 of those were against cupcakes every year, right? Tying for 4th one time in the Big Ten does not strike me as the goal for this University.

Brewster sucked, but lets not kid ourselves, Mason was not the 2nd coming of Murray Warmath. Complacency gets you fired, too.
 

Zales04 said:
For every good thing about "Running Back U" we had our monumental losses displayed just as much if not more. We only had maybe 3 real ESPN highlight-worthy wins, Michigan State in 1998, Ohio State in 2000, and Michigan 2005.

We can all rattle off the losses that made the national news - typically with "record breaking comeback" somewhere in the headline. We could never get over the hump.

By "averaging" 7 wins you guy realize that 4 of those were against cupcakes every year, right? Tying for 4th one time in the Big Ten does not strike me as the goal for this University.

Brewster sucked, but lets not kid ourselves, Mason was not the 2nd coming of Murray Warmath. Complacency gets you fired, too.
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My point was he took us to another level...as has Baylor this year but whose to say they suck next year or even finish this year on a winning streak? They beat a bad Texas team but got hammered by a good TCU team...they haven't done anything Mason hadn't done with us...
 



thailleagle said:
My point was he took us to another level...as has Baylor this year but whose to say they suck next year or even finish this year on a winning streak? They beat a bad Texas team but got hammered by a good TCU team...they haven't done anything Mason hadn't done with us...
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I agree with you that he took us to another level, sad thing is that we'll be able to say that about the next coach too.
 


thailleagle said:
Imagine if Brewster got hired right after Wacker...
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Then I think we all would be fans of another D1 program since the U of M would have to drop football. I would imagine Hasselmo would have gone the U of Chicago route then.
 

Whatever Mason did to raise the average number of wins certainly were helped by his non-conference scheduling. These were the games Mason had a hand in picking from 97 to 07:

96 - Mason's first year...Wacker was responsible for the entire schedule
97 - Hawaii, Iowa St, Memphis, Houston
98 - Arkansas St, Houston, Memphis
99 - Ohio, LA-Monroe, Illinois St
00 - LA-Monroe, Ohio, Baylor
01 - Toledo, LA-Layfette, Murray St
02 - SW Texas St, LA-Layfette, Toledo, Buffalo
03 - Tulsa, Troy St, Ohio, LA-Layfette
04 - Toldeo, Illinois St, Colorado St
05 - Tulsa, Colorado St, Florida Atlantic
06 - Kent St, Cal, Temple, NDSU
07 - Bowling Green, Miami(OH), FL Atlantic, NDSU (Brewster's first year but schedule was set by Mason)

So...the tally:
- 38 NC games set mostly by Mason during that time frame
- 3 scheduled against a major conference team, 2 of which were Baylor and Iowa St (bottom feeders to say the least)
- 1 ranked opponent out of 38 (Cal in 06)

That Ladies and Gentlemen, is one weak arse NC schedule year after year. Seriously, look at 99 thru 05. That's cupcake after cupcake.

Mason was certainly an upgrade over Wacker but his average win total was CERTAINLY inflated by his NC scheduling.

Give Mason a typical NC schedule for a BSC conference team and he's got many more losses on his resume.
 



Pewterschmidt said:
That Ladies and Gentlemen, is one weak arse NC schedule year after year. Seriously, look at 99 thru 05. That's cupcake after cupcake.
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Cupcake after cupcake is exactly what we need until we start competing for BCS spots and/or the RPI system starts getting used in college football.
Mason was certainly an upgrade over Wacker but his average win total was CERTAINLY inflated by his NC scheduling.
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All B10 coaches' win totals are inflated by their NC scheduling.
Give Mason a typical NC schedule for a BSC conference team and he's got many more losses on his resume.
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Mason most years played a pretty typical NC schedule for a BCS conference team.
 

Pewterschmidt said:
Whatever Mason did to raise the average number of wins certainly were helped by his non-conference scheduling. These were the games Mason had a hand in picking from 97 to 07:

96 - Mason's first year...Wacker was responsible for the entire schedule
97 - Hawaii, Iowa St, Memphis, Houston
98 - Arkansas St, Houston, Memphis
99 - Ohio, LA-Monroe, Illinois St
00 - LA-Monroe, Ohio, Baylor
01 - Toledo, LA-Layfette, Murray St
02 - SW Texas St, LA-Layfette, Toledo, Buffalo
03 - Tulsa, Troy St, Ohio, LA-Layfette
04 - Toldeo, Illinois St, Colorado St
05 - Tulsa, Colorado St, Florida Atlantic
06 - Kent St, Cal, Temple, NDSU
07 - Bowling Green, Miami(OH), FL Atlantic, NDSU (Brewster's first year but schedule was set by Mason)

So...the tally:
- 38 NC games set mostly by Mason during that time frame
- 3 scheduled against a major conference team, 2 of which were Baylor and Iowa St (bottom feeders to say the least)
- 1 ranked opponent out of 38 (Cal in 06)

That Ladies and Gentlemen, is one weak arse NC schedule year after year. Seriously, look at 99 thru 05. That's cupcake after cupcake.

Mason was certainly an upgrade over Wacker but his average win total was CERTAINLY inflated by his NC scheduling.

Give Mason a typical NC schedule for a BSC conference team and he's got many more losses on his resume.
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So explain Brew's NC Schedule this year sir...
 

thailleagle said:
Correct...we did it with Mason...we can do it again & take it to another level. It's almost like we forgot we were a constant Bowl team less then a decade ago...
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We were a constant bowl team as recently as last season. The gophers have been in a bowl for 9 of the past 12 seasons.
 


thailleagle said:
Brewster can thank Decker...
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Decker only played in a little over half of the two seasons in which the gophers made a bowl. If Decker catches that ball against Northwestern in the dome instead of deflecting it and it going pick-6, Brewster is probably still the coach right now.

Mason can thank Barber and Maroney. Paul Johnson can thank Dwyer for his ACC title. Gary Barnett can thank Pat Fitzgerald for his Big ten title. Tiller can thank Brees.

What is your point? Every team and coach has players that are usually responsible for wins and losses.
 

Rosemountian said:
Decker only played in a little over half of the two seasons in which the gophers made a bowl. If Decker catches that ball against Northwestern in the dome instead of deflecting it and it going pick-6, Brewster is probably still the coach right now.

Mason can thank Barber and Maroney. Paul Johnson can thank Dwyer for his ACC title. Gary Barnett can thank Pat Fitzgerald for his Big ten title. Tiller can thank Brees.

What is your point? Every team and coach has players that are usually responsible for wins and losses.
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Please don't start...Mason won without Barber & Maroney because he knew how to find good RB's...

Mason was a better coach then Brewster as well. Brewster was an experiment that failed & I can only imagine how much worse it would have been with no Decker...

We're not gonna play the "What If" game but don't sit here & act like Mason didn't bring us a notch higher then where we were & Brewster has turned this program into a joke regardless of what you personally think...
 

I appreciate what Mason did...

but all Mason did was install an offensive and defensive scheme (run the ball and play a base, sit-back-type defense and hope the other team isn't good enough to execute down the field) that was fool-proof against bad teams and fool-hearty against good teams. Then, he played a bunch of cupcakes in the NC which got the confidence of the team up, but as soon as they faced any sort of adversity in a BT game the walls came tumbling down, many times in spectacular fashion. Then once the confidence was gone after one loss, usually there were more to follow. There were a couple of good wins mixed in along the way because Glen was good at coaching his players in the system - but at the end of the day the whole act was exactly how he tried to play defense - with smoke and mirrors.
 

thailleagle said:
Please don't start...Mason won without Barber & Maroney because he knew how to find good RB's...

Mason was a better coach then Brewster as well. Brewster was an experiment that failed & I can only imagine how much worse it would have been with no Decker...

We're not gonna play the "What If" game but don't sit here & act like Mason didn't bring us a notch higher then where we were & Brewster has turned this program into a joke regardless of what you personally think...
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I didn't say thatBrewster was as good as Mason. It is called "selective reading" and you just did it.
You said that Brewster can thank Decker for his bowl teams. And I stated that every coach can thank every player for every team. All teams rely on players for success. Regardless of your personal feelings for Brewster, you cannot take the fact that he made 2 bowls away from him. He made 2 bowls regardless of if you think Decker is 100% the reason.
 

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