Interview with Gophers legend Karl Mecklenburg | Gopherhole



I think I remember, as a kid, hearing Jules Perlt growl...

"MECKlenburg with the tackle..."
 

We had some great players in the past but yet somewhat poor records with coaches such as Salem etc. You think we would have done much better as a team if we just had better coaching? I'm guessing that we would, but how much better?
 

We had some great players in the past but yet somewhat poor records with coaches such as Salem etc. You think we would have done much better as a team if we just had better coaching? I'm guessing that we would, but how much better?

I think the coaches weren't bad; they all had proven track records albeit at lower levels.
It was a time when the U admin provided little to no support for football.
 


Karl Mecklenburg just became one of my favorite Gophers! Honest, nice, articulate, what is not to like?
 

I think the coaches weren't bad; they all had proven track records albeit at lower levels.
It was a time when the U admin provided little to no support for football.
+1000

Cal Stoll may have been the best coach between Warmath and Fleck. In ‘77 he went 7-0 at home, shut out #1 Michigan and beat Washington, who both were in that season’s Rose Bowl.

Joe Salem, won big at all levels until he hit Minnesota. His first year showed promise with piling up 264 points in 11 games with the Run-and-Shoot offense and under Mike Shanahan. But the U didn’t pay enough to keep the talent on the coaching staff. Other NFL great coaches in the ‘Salem Tree’ are Tony Dungy and Mike Marty.

Lou Holtz, He could coach, and had the charisma to open the boosters pocket books. Lou had great players heading to Minnesota, but Notre Dame came calling and scooped up Holtz and some fine players. The UM admin didn’t put up any fight to keep him, and they may have already known about bag man Darville and other infractions.

John Gutekunst had a surprisingly decent record 27-39-2 when compared to the other coaches in this era. However, old timers still wonder what would have been if AD Paul Giel would have chosen Bobby Ross instead. When Ross didn’t get the Minnesota job, he went to Georgia Tech and won a National Championship.

Jim Wacker was by all accounts a Saint of a man. It’s too bad the saying about nice guys was doubly true for Jim.

Glen Mason had all the attributes of a great coach. He was smart, charismatic, good football lineage, and new the game better than most. When he got to the U he quickly determined he was going to live and die by the offense. Most of the teams energy and resources went to recruiting and coaching for offense, as the administration wasn’t spending much on football. There are two things I wonder that if they were different, things would have been spectacular for Mason’s teams. The first is if Mark Deinhart wasn’t let go in 2000 after the Clem Haskins scandle. Deinhart had a vision, seemed to have the administrations respect and did a great job recruiting Mason to Minnesota. Maybe if he was allowed to stay longer, he would have found some more money for Mason to shore up the defense, which leads into the 2nd question. What could have been if we would have had one or two more talented defenders to shore up the right side of the defense to protect our lead in the 4th quarter of that game in 2003 that shattered so much promise.

Tim Brewster. Yeah, he was in over his head, couldn’t keep coordinators, and was despised by the local media goons. But, I still liked the guy. He brought us “Get your dad gum chili hot,” “You wanna get some, you better bring some,” Rose Bowl turf, M&Ms with the Minnesota M, some very good players, and a great attitude.

Jeff Horton beat Iowa. Nuff said.

Jerry Kill turns boys into football players and football players into men, or something like that! Good fundamental coach. I still remember in his first season as coach running through a tackling dummy to show how it’s done. I think Jerry had a lot more to give Minnesota if he didn’t have the medical problem. Too bad he ended up with bitter feelings towards Minnesota, but I wish him success and an 11-1 regular season.

Tracy Claeys is a great defensive coach. I still can’t believe he is out of coaching. He’s not a company man, which I respect, but he was naive to not immediately return home to fix the deteriorating situation between the players and administration. He still won 9 games in 2016 and coulda-shoulda beat Michigan.
 
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