If Brewster CAN"T Turn It Around

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Iceland12

Iceland12

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Nobody asked for it, but here's why I'm one of those guys that is troubled by Brewster's tenure but fervently want him to succeed. I understand why trolls want him to fail. That's easy. I understand that guys like Studwell and Maroon want him to fail. They don't think he can do it long term anyway, so they just want the cord cut and get on with it. I even understand the Masonites who keep coming back here using moniker after moniker to spew their hatred of Brewster and Maturi because they will never get over their feeling that Mason was treated incredibly unfairly. They may be convinced they will never get to beat a big time program again. They may just want revenge pure and simple. All that I can understand.

Me?

I'm afraid we're in for a lot more lousy years and a great stadium will mean nothing. Somebody posted about the USC fans who were good guys but lost $500 because the took the 11.5 point spread. We must have been walking in front of them while passing in front of the McNamara Center. They were talking about how the coach "wouldn't know a good playbook if it was shoved-up his ass", followed by "how he couldn't even beat the worst team in the Big Ten by more then 11". That's not just arrogant USC thought, that could be the National perspective.

If by some stroke of strange luck they could find a proven guy, like the Weasel, he'd take off at the first opportunity. You looking for a hotshot Coordinator from a program like Florida, OK or Alabama? Why should they come here? They'll wait for an easier job.

You probably need a guy from within. B.B. and K.F. came from that route didn't they?

Pros:
-Great stadium
-Kid impressing locker rooms
-Big Ten Football
-Big City location
-Generally friendly people
-Pent-up devotion to the program particularly outstate.

Cons:
-Weather. Rail all you want about averages and how "comparative" studies show it's not that bad. People think it's always cold here and you know what, during Second Semester in particular it's damn cold.
- You're a long way from recruiting hot beds. Even Chicago ain't THAT close. Something that Wacker, Mason and Brewster all found out. They all had plenty of contacts in Texas, Ohio, New Jersey and Carolina. They all found out that translating that to Minnesota was mainly a non-starter. Sure they got some kids but probably not many on the top of their wish lists.
- You play Nebraska, Michigan, MSU, IA and WI every year. Some of those schools will take a step back, but all of them?
- You're going to a state where both political parties reveled in taking millions away from the school over beer drinking? Where every TV, radio and newspaper has made a cottage industry of digging-up dirt on the U. It's not a good thing, but in College towns informants are shunned, newspapers burned and windows broken over those things. Here people volunteer to snitch and Peabodys are rewarded.
- You will NEVER be the main show in town. Get a big victory on Saturday and the odds are it's lost in Vikings or even Twins hoopla by Monday morning. A Rose Bowl win will certainly bring crowds and followers back. A National Championship will never happen, and even if it did a Super Bowl or World Series triumph would take it of the Front Page and maybe out of people's heart for months if not years. You might laugh at or abhor the idea of living in Iowa City, Gainesville or Corvallis but ego is a big part of being a Head Coach and that ego can easily be damaged around here.
- Imagine the tens of thousands of Iowa, Notre Dame, Wisconsin and small colleges fans around here. Taking the Badgers out of mix and most of those people are Twins and Vikings fans to be sure. Most of them aren't Gopher fans and won't be converted. This isn't a "I hope the Vikings leave" point I'm watching them now. Geography and winning combined make this point.
- 50 years of futility broken up occasionally by Stoll, Holtz and Mason doesn't change the fact that the Gophers haven't even been in the hunt for a Big Ten title more then a handful of times during that period. That means that not only is it difficult to get highly recruited kids to come here from out of state, it means that few of the small number of highly recruited kids in the state itself think about coming here.
- That all means that if you want a proven coach you have to buy him. After the millions raised for TCF and the amount needed for Tubby's practice facility how much money do you think is going to be available? They're not paying-off Mason anymore and Brewster's buyout was lowered last year so there will be money available, but will it be enough to get and keep a good coach.
- You're not just competing for coverage with the Twins, Vikings, Wolves and Wild your competing for entertainment dollars. This means being the traditional "Imperial Head Coach" that Mason in particular wanted to be, won't work. You're going to every VFW, bean feed and parade to get that done and in the end you still won't be the main thing in town.
-If you're an upcoming or proven coach who's going to take that job if they have other options and if he does take the job what stops him from taking a better job as soon as he can?

Pick this apart if you're one of the few who don't have me on your ignore list:eek:. The problem will remain that most successful coaches will be troubled by many of them and will only need two or three to stop them from taking the job. No Brewster's got to make it or someone with strong ties to the U or Minnesota has to get it, oh and not Tony Dungy.
 

These are word-for-word the same concerns Mason fans had before he got canned. Clearly, being successful at the U is not a cakewalk. I am too lazy to comment on these one-by-one, but my overall feeling is that it is perfectly realistic that we reassume our rightful position as a middle-of-the-pack B10 team, with occasional cracks at the upper level, which is what we were until some decided that it was time to go to the "next level." You can't tell me we can't bring in a coach at least equal to Mason.
 

SickAndTiredOfLosingToWI said:
These are word-for-word the same concerns Mason fans had before he got canned. Clearly, being successful at the U is not a cakewalk. I am too lazy to comment on these one-by-one, but my overall feeling is that it is perfectly realistic that we reassume our rightful position as a middle-of-the-pack B10 team, with occasional cracks at the upper level, which is what we were until some decided that it was time to go to the "next level." You can't tell me we can't bring in a coach at least equal to Mason.
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Maybe but three items stand out:

- Shooting for mediocre is a sad fact for a lot of Gopher fans. I've heard that from Masonites and casual fans again and again during Brewster's tenure. It's what a big Gordy Shaw fan told me before yesterday's game. I wanted Mason re-signed also so maybe I'm a small part of that forlorn group.
- Mason did take the job hoping to use it as a stepping-stone to a better job. Unlike Holtz and Notre Dame, LSU, MSU and tOSU all failed to come through for Mason.
- If by occasional cracks at the upper level you mean finishing in the Top Three in the Big Ten then no that isn't part of the Mason or Gopher tradition. That's happened three times since 1969, twice under Stoll and once under Gutey. Never under Salem, Holtz, Wacker, Brewster or Gutey.

You're on to something though, with Brewster's record, mediocre is what a lot of people now aspire to. "Just don't lose to Dakota" is now the mantra.
 

- I supported Mason. There were just too many who wanted him gone. It was hard to defend him after the Texas Tech debacle.
- I was never on the Brewster bandwagon. At his first press conference he struck me as a typical big-talking sh1t-for-brains from Texas. I was wrong -- he's from New Jersey.
- All I ask is for a well-coached, competitive team. I realize we're never going to be Ohio State. Frankly I wouldn't want to be them. It would be nice to beat WI & IA roughly 50% of the time. They are only strong right now because we're weak. IMO they both offer textbook examples of how once-lesser programs can become not-so-lesser in the Big Ten.
- I remember the 2005 season. We weren't a Big Ten Title contender but we were decent and respectable, and we played in some close games against respectable opponents that were fun to watch. Sometimes you can't appreciate what you have until it's gone.
- I can't blame any coach for wanting to take those jobs over ours.
- We are a proud Big Ten university and I don't agree with the "woe is us" mentality regarding the weather, recruiting, media, fan support, etc. I watched the USC game on ESPN and it seemed to me we have everything but the football team. Order of magnitude improvement compared to only 4 years ago. Patrick Reusse isn't the one who told Brewster to run the spread, no wait pro-style, no wait power running offense. Sellout crowds are waiting in the wings if we could just beat a damn decent team once in a while. As far as the media, thick skin is required of any coach anywhere.
- We are now right back where we started under Wacker. Like Mason, Brewster is frustrating because he does so well in some, but not all, aspects of the job. I want him to succeed, but at some point you've got to see something like USD and realize, hey, coach, this isn't working out... we love you, but we're not "in love" with you. I think we should be friends.
 

"and I don't agree with the "woe is us" mentality regarding the weather, recruiting, media, fan support, etc." Facts can be pesky things to be sure.

Hoping for a possible fourth place finish and beating a team we shouldn't beat once a year while losing to a team or two that we should that's not "woe is us"? Talking about 2005,a year when they had Maroney, Pinnix, Russell, Payne, Wheelwright and Spaeth and finished 7-5 and 4-4 in the Big Ten as "Sometimes you can't appreciate what you have until it's gone" isn't self-pity? Your claims of "woe is us" should be more self-directed.

Why don't you just go ahead and finish it. "We should schedule four gimmes, find a coach who can win those games and hope he can win enough Big Ten games to get us to a Bowl game." Taking your posts literally, the only thing you should have against Brewster is his losses to the Dakotas, not turning the blocked punt against Wisconsin into a TD and getting Decker hurt before last year's Michigan game.

Gees, why are your expectations so damn low. There's no real reasons for it are there? Your reasons are? Yeah why do you think Minnesota will always be mediocre with everything they have going for them?

Welcome back though. :clap:
 


I've been following this program since the 70's and my expectations haven't changed, and that is we can become a top notch program, I know I have been waiting along time for that to happen. But the fact is you get the right coach in here you can win and win big and I know there are other factors such as budget and what not and I do believe Brew has to be above .500 to keep his job here.
 

We were almost a 5-3 team in 2005 outside of that Dreadful Wisconsin Game...not to mention we were Ranked nearly half the Season. Hell, even in 2006 we were 1 blown Pass Interference call & one Cupito pass away from beating both Purdue & Penn State...that would've been an 8 win Season...but we can't play that game, what happened happened, Mase is gone, we are now living in Dakota thomping Brewville...
 

thailleagle said:
We were almost a 5-3 team in 2005 outside of that Dreadful Wisconsin Game...not to mention we were Ranked nearly half the Season. Hell, even in 2006 we were 1 blown Pass Interference call & one Cupito pass away from beating both Purdue & Penn State...that would've been an 8 win Season...but we can't play that game, what happened happened, Mase is gone, we are now living in Dakota thomping Brewville...
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And a blocked Field Goal away from that most dreaded cancer of all a loss to Dakota!!!:pig:

Would Mason still be getting all the tongue kissing if that had taking place!:eek:

Oh yeah, what the f-bleep does this have to do with the original post?

Now let's see what I actually posted:

Nobody asked for it, but here's why I'm one of those guys that is troubled by Brewster's tenure but fervently want him to succeed. I understand why trolls want him to fail. That's easy. I understand that guys like Studwell and Maroon want him to fail. They don't think he can do it long term anyway, so they just want the cord cut and get on with it. I even understand the Masonites who keep coming back here using moniker after moniker to spew their hatred of Brewster and Maturi because they will never get over their feeling that Mason was treated incredibly unfairly. They may be convinced they will never get to beat a big time program again. They may just want revenge pure and simple. All that I can understand.

Me?

I'm afraid we're in for a lot more lousy years and a great stadium will mean nothing. Somebody posted about the USC fans who were good guys but lost $500 because the took the 11.5 point spread. We must have been walking in front of them while passing in front of the McNamara Center. They were talking about how the coach "wouldn't know a good playbook if it was shoved-up his ass", followed by "how he couldn't even beat the worst team in the Big Ten by more then 11". That's not just arrogant USC thought, that could be the National perspective.

If by some stroke of strange luck they could find a proven guy... etc. etc.

Yeah, I thought so. My post was about why I wanted Brewster to succeed, not in any way a defense of his performance or a plea for his continued employment but because hiring a great coach here is a pipe dream or wishful thinking of monumental proportions.

Then an old re-posting Masonite first tried to pretend he cared and how good things were around here and then decided to turn the thread into another "We shouldn't have fired Mason because all we can hope for is to just mostly suck" followed now of course, by Thaileagle's "would have, could have" defense of Mason" (maybe because of my mockery of the same thing:confused:) ending with "HE CAN'T EVEN BEAT DAKOTA!!".

Little or none of it relevant to the original post of course. None of it changes the fact that hiring a proven coach or highly touted Coordinator who isn't already here or has Minnesota connections, is the equivalent of a junkie hoping to go straight and win the lottery. Possible but highly unlikely.

Maybe it would be easier if we just had a "BREWSTER MUST BE FIRED" icon that could be added to every thread on every board so the bitter, drunk, or obsessive compulsive among us wouldn't feel the need to shoe horn it in anytime they feel a possible Brewster defense coming on.

Better yet put me on your ignore list so you won't be so "compelled".
 

thailleagle said:
We were almost a 5-3 team in 2005 outside of that Dreadful Wisconsin Game...not to mention we were Ranked nearly half the Season. Hell, even in 2006 we were 1 blown Pass Interference call & one Cupito pass away from beating both Purdue & Penn State...that would've been an 8 win Season...but we can't play that game, what happened happened, Mase is gone, we are now living in Dakota thomping Brewville...
Click to expand...

32-48 over 10 years. Over ten years you win some you should lose and you lose some you should win. We were basically 3-5 for 10 years under Mase. Go ahead and pine for those days, but not me. I want more. If Brew isn't the guy, bring in the next guy, but please stop with the Mase stuff.
 




minngg said:
32-48 over 10 years. Over ten years you win some you should lose and you lose some you should win. We were basically 3-5 for 10 years under Mase. Go ahead and pine for those days, but not me. I want more. If Brew isn't the guy, bring in the next guy, but please stop with the Mase stuff.
Click to expand...

10 years with an Identity was nice though...you could go on any sports forum on the web & ask about the Gophers & people talked about how they can put up yards against anyone in the country...now we've become cupcake status...
 

Many of your Cons are really opportunities. The real problem is that we have so far to go. It's a huge process. Not saying Brewster can do it, but there are a few steps to getting to the top. There is no one thing, it's everything. And it will take a while. Sure we can get lucky, but in the end until the program gets built there can be no consistency (think illinois).

Really until we're close, no high profile coach will touch us. Why risk your career when all you have to do is wait for a spot at an established institution.

We can whine all we want and get our collective undies in a bunch, but no slick talking head with a golden playbook is going to turn this program around in a hurry.
 

thailleagle said:
10 years with an Identity was nice though...you could go on any sports forum on the web & ask about the Gophers & people talked about how they can put up yards against anyone in the country...now we've become cupcake status...
Click to expand...

Pretty selective memory ... true about the offense. Defense we also had an identity:)
 



I think that we could get a 'high profile' coach. But we need to pay him like a top flight program.

I think that a coach and his wife would enjoy MPLS, and as coaches are egomaniacs, I think the lure of being able to be Minnesota's Paterno or Bowden and get a statue outside the building must have some lure.

First comes the $ though.
 

If we land a high profile coach, we're likely to wind up with someone who is washed up. There's no "killer hire", there's no sure thing. We can't play it too safe. It is not the "name" that wins games. Ohio State hired from the I-AA ranks: it raised eyebrows, but they landed a good coach. The coach most likely to come here is somene young enough to bounce back if it doesn't work out here.

And no, I'm not talking about Brewster 2.0. The Brewster Experiment was based on the hope that recruiting could trump everything. We knew he could recruit, but he didn't have a track record for actually coaching. Scout the I-AA coaches, and get someone know knows how to coach, and how to get the maximum out of the players.
 

Interesting thread Iceland12.

I work with a lot of school districts and talk to a lot of superintendents, ADs, activities directors, principals and the like, and none of them who ever had anything to do with a Glen Mason recruiting visit to their school have a good thing to say about the guy. Arrogant. Snide. Entitled. Name your adjective. Mason was pretty much reviled by the high school football establishment in Minnesota and his failure to land the top-tier kids in Minnesota is evidenced by that.

Brewster is whiffing on top kids (McNeal, Henderson) as well, but people seem to like him. I know. I know. Not enough and I agree.

If I were Maturi, I would have fired Mason a year earlier when he was dinking around with the contract talks. But Maturi is hardly a "rock the boat" guy and so he caved.

And Mason's teams did have an identity. A lot of 1,000 rushers, a Pop Warner passing attack, and a defense that would have trouble stopping the club team from the local Elder Hostel. Further, a team that always found ways to beat themselves. Mason was clearly a better gameday and prep coach than Brewster is, but that's like hailing him as the tallest midget in the state. The one thing that hasn't improved under Brewster that I hoped would is the team's penchant for stupid penalties, which always seemed to happen at the most inopportune times in the Mason years.

Rodent Rampage sums up a lot of my feelings. I like Brewster (but again, liking isn't enough) and recruiting has improved. But he's never put a foundation underneath his program. He's in his fourth season and I still don't know what to expect week-to-week. He came into a bit of an uncomfortable situation because while Mason was mediocre, the program wasn't in a complete and total shambles. Hence, Brewster felt some pressure to win bigger, earlier and I think most of his bad decisions (or indecision) is a result of that. Too many JC guys who are being replaced with other JC guys or true freshman leads to teams that simply aren't well coordinated on either side of the ball. That, along with the co-ordinator carousel, has really hurt Brewster. But, he has no one to blame but himself.

Whoever walks into Brewster's job is going to have a bit of an easier time than Brewster did. I sense expectations are low, so someone with an identity, energy, and "coach 'em up" ability could do well here. Look to Iowa and Wisconsin as the models. We have some advantages they don't have in terms of recruiting and I would argue that our recruiting under Brewster has been on par with those programs. It's what happens after the recruiting that has to change.
 


Don't confuse guessing with knowing. Just because you didn't like the new coach, and the coach didn't do well, that didn't mean you knew he wouldn't do well.
 

First off, what a well thought out post.

Second, this is what you do if you want a program that will win and be competitive on a winning basis................................ leave Brewster alone and in place. We are on the cusp of being the program that everyone wants us to be. Starting over is not the answer, we are almost there.

Do not let a broken leg and a dui make us have to start all over again. If neither of those two things would have happened we would be 2-1 coming off of a competitive game against USC. Folks would be talking about what quality of a bowl game can this team play their way into. Folks would be speculating on what trophy game does this team have the best opportunity to win.

But asside that horrible loss to SD and get back to where everyone hoped we would be at the end of the season after playing an incredilbe difficult schedule.

We may have gotten the coaching staff we need to be successful later than people would have hoped but we now have them. We are almost there, while I understand where people are coming from....now is not the time to be starting over. We are almost there.
 

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