In fairness, Maturi and Brewster were at the helm for a fairly substantial percentage of Minnesota's 0-8 B1G seasons during that stretch. Not going 6-2 for 33 years is depressing. Going 0-8 even once is sheer, unbridled incompetence.
Fairness? The Gophers twice zeroed out in the Big Ten from 1983 to 1988 before either of those guys got to the U. The Gophers went Zero for 9 and 0-6-2. Thus making those A.D. and Coaches
sheer, unbridled incompetents? Going from 1981 to 1997 they had a
single B.T.W.
sixth times. So that would make those A.D. and Coaches just "unbridled incompetents?" Even Mason had one of those single win Big Ten Seasons in 1997. Heck he had a couple of two wins seasons also and he was a GOOD Coach.
- Mason
was a good Head Coach. You can't look back on his overall coaching records or his record here and say that he wasn't a good coach. He might have even been a
very good coach considering how Kent State, Kansas and yes Minnesota performed before he got there and after he left. It was all the things he did and didn't do that last season that got him fired but we've went through that again, and again, and again...
- Brewster turned-out to be a lousy head coach and it was a bad hire. His lack of head coaching and play calling experience jumped right out at you. He tried to
hire his "experience". That didn't work.
- Salem had head coaching experience albeit at a much, much lower level. Injuries, lack of depth, relatively inexperienced Assistants and not being much of a recruiter led to his firing. The last of the "M Club" hires by the way, for the "we only hire Minnesotans" crowd.
- Holtz was "a winner" as we've heard a 100,000 times. Overall he was a GREAT coach and maybe he could have won here; but when he was a loser he quit on the Jets DURING the season and here. He had an overall record of 10-12. He did though go 6-5 and 4-4 in the Big Ten his second year. The TEAM went 7-5 after winning the Bowl Game. Yeah, Lou had a chance. The thing is for Lou "when the going gets tough, he gets out."
- Gutey was a solid Assistant Coach but turned out to be a pretty lousy recruiter, so he didn't work out.
-Wacker had solid experience at lower levels. He wasn't a bad recruiter either. He just couldn't make it against the "big boys'. Maybe he was to concerned about recruiting only "Choir Boys"? He needed to win 5 games in 1996 to keep his job. A lot of Gopher fans were pretty worried when he won his
fourth game in week 10. They got "Good News/Bad News" the next week. They got rid of Wacker but they lost to Iowa.
Kill? He had a lot of Head Coaching experience but like Wacker and Salem at lower levels. Unlike them, but like Mason before him, he brought his staff with him. No one knows yet what kind of recruiter he is. He may be getting the kids he wants but not highly talented ones. Much to his and the staff's credit they readily admit that they'd love to have some 4 and 5-Star kids but can't get them to even listen, at least not
yet.
Is Jerry a solid, good or very good coach? We don't know. He's had two back-to-back 2 B1G win seasons. Not good, but not unexpected. History says that he'll need to be a
good coach to get 3 and a
very good coach to get 4 or 5.
Keeping it positive, the upcoming 9 Conference Game Seasons will give him an extra shot at that win.
Holtz, Gutey and Mason got us to 4. Gutey and Mason even got us to 5. It's been already been noted that you have to go all the way back to Stoll to get us to 6. Cal WAS a good coach. Looking at the schedules he played can't come to any other conclusion. In 1973 he may have been a
very good coach.
Here's to hoping that Kill gets there too.
