Jeff Horton Press Conference Notes, October 19

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alltimetwinsfan

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Jeff Horton began the press conference by thanking everyone for coming. Gone were the two leather chairs in the press conference room that Tim Brewster used for his press conferences, as well as the table he sat at. Instead, Coach Horton stood at a podium and spoke to the media.

Horton began the presser by announcing some changes in the coaching schemes...

-Kevin Cosgrove will now coach from the field

-Ronnie Lee will now coach from the press box

-Coach Horton will now coach from the field, with Thomas Hammock coaching from the box and will initiate the call of the plays

-Coach Horton mentioned that it was a very emotional day on Sunday, and mentioned again that he felt it was partially his fault for not getting the job done, which caused the firing of Tim Brewster

-Said that Penn State is Penn State, and that Joe Paterno is a legend

-Mentioned that the pressure is now off the players, and that should help the players relax, and allow everyone to just do what they need to do

-Implored for the fans to get behind this team and rally behind it on Saturday

-Usually in transition, you have seven months...they have five days

-Said that the coaches owe it to the players and the university to do the best they can to compete the last five games and rekindle the energy for this team

-As the head coach, it's now his job to be the calm of the storm, and to provide some leadership to move this team in the proper direction

-Said that it's everyone's expectation to win on Saturday against Penn State, and it's their job to make it happen

-Said that he has sent a few texts to coach Brewster, and that he advised coach Brewster to get out of town and relax for a while

-Horton mentioned that he has had success as a head coach, and has had failures as a head coach. Reiterated that there's only five games to work with, so they won't have all the time in the world to figure things out, and that there's no magic formula

-Said that he's looking forward to getting on to the defensive side of the football and follow them

-Horton said that he believes their best chance to win is with Adam Weber at quarterback and Gray at wide receiver. Said that they are both among the top two or three players on the team as far as talent

-Coach Horton said that he has no "visions of grandeur" in regards to this job or the possibilities of being a candidate, and that he hopes to make it hard on the administration by going 5-0

-Said we're not going to be doom and gloom over the last five weeks, and that they're going to have fun and hopefully the team will feed of that energy

-On opening the playbook, his reply was that he spent "18 years in Nevada...I like to gamble," and that if it doesn't work, "What are they going to do...fire me twice?"

-Said they canceled Sunday's practice, since they weren't going to get much done that day anyways

-On being on the Detroit Lions last year, and trying to get out of a rut of losing, he mentioned that "that's a big rut in Detroit" to get out of. He then said that this a great opportunity here in Minnesota, and there is a lot of good things going on here, with the new stadium and some great young players.

-Said there would be a lot of great candidates for this job, and that there are a lot of people that would love to come here

-Mentioned that continuity and stability are paramount in college football, referring to the turnover in coaches during the Brewster era

-Horton said they have to eliminate mistakes that will kill them, citing the Tinsley interception-turned-fumble last week vs. Purdue

-Said that coach Brewster talked to the team privately, and that there was nobody with more passion than him, and it just didn't work out

-Mentioned that he was probably the kiss of death, since he was part of a mid-season change in St. Louis, when Scott Linehan was fired as coach of the Rams. He said it was a little different, however, because of the difference between college and the pros.

-Said they have tried to call every recruit and commit since Sunday to try and convince them to maintain their commitment, citing the reasons they came here in the first place, including the new stadium, the city, and the great university. Mentioned that they all seemed solid in their commitments from his point of view, and that for now they all seemed to be standing to their commitment

-Said that Rallis would play as much as he can, but he's definitely still slowed by his injury

-Mentioned that Troy Stoudamire would start at cornerback and would return kicks on Saturday

-Said they need to get Weber more high-percentage throws and get into a more fluid throwing motion. Said that was partially his fault

-Mentioned they would be turning up the tempo in practice and see who can pick up the pace

-Horton doesn't believe the negativity surrounding the program was a problem on the field, but did say that it hasn't been fun because the team hasn't been winning

-On Weber needing to make another transition to a new offensive coordinator in Thomas Hammock, Horton doesn't think it was a problem since it was the same system

-His most important goal right now is to have the kids have success, and that he's not worried about himself

-Nevada was cited as an example of teams that can turn things around, and that Horton said if you look around the country, it happens everywhere and it will eventually happen here as well

-Said he's excited an honored to be named the interim head coach
 


-On opening the playbook, his reply was that he spent "18 years in Nevada...I like to gamble," and that if it doesn't work, "What are they going to do...fire me twice?"
Click to expand...
hahaha that rules
 


I like this guy...I hope he goes 5-0.
 


I like this guy, too, but I don't know if I'd consider him a viable long term solution.
 

TS is starting at CB? Are there a bunch of injuries there? what's up with Collado and Carter?
 

Our new coach will have a staff to fill. I think this is a very important consideration in the hire. It is my hope that some of the current staff like Coaches Horton and Davis and others are given some consideration under the new HC.
 





alltimetwinsfan said:
-Nevada was cited as an example of teams that can turn things around, and that Horton said if you look around the country, it happens everywhere and it will eventually happen here as well
Click to expand...

Pffff, Nevada was playing for national championships when the Gophers program was stuck in the suckhole .
 

I hope that some of the coaches on staff do get consideration. I think its important you give them a chance. Continuity is a good thing in the college game.

When the non-Lombardi took over, he never gave one thought- not one- to retaining any of Mason's staff. I don't know whether it was arrogance or what, but apparently it was about buying into his new program. In doing so, he set himself up for a bunch of rapid turnover, instability, etc. It really reminded me of Callahan at Nebraska.

That first season, the 1-11 season, cast a very long shadow over the program. Despite going to
bowl games the next two seasons, that 1-11 season was always there, looking over the
shoulder of the program.

Basically, he hired people who he felt could recruit, but I wonder if he actually thought they
could coach. We know Shaw could, as could Browning, and maybe a few others. But its
very obvious now that the main reason Brewster was able to get to two bowl games was because
of the efforts of Mason recruits, and now that most of them have been flushed through the
program, 1-6 is what we have.

I've stayed silent on all the posters who claim that "Mason left the cupboard bare" because
it never made sense to me. The events of this season, when compared to the last two
and who the juniors and seniors on those teams were, pretty much discredits that
position. Who were the recruiters really? Who were the coaches really?

I like Horton because he is a COACH. He's probably a pretty good one. For the next five
games, our Gophers will be led by a down-to-earth coach. If these five games are all
he gets as HC, I hope he at least has a winning record. I'd be ecstatic if he won
all five and earned a 6th!
 

metrolax said:
That first season, the 1-11 season, cast a very long shadow over the program. Despite going to
bowl games the next two seasons, that 1-11 season was always there, looking over the
shoulder of the program.
Click to expand...

Ya, I'm sure Mack Brown still has to explain his first two years at UNC when going into recruits homes.

The fact is that Brewster wasn't a good enough all around coach on the BCS level. He also plugged to many holes from Mason's recruiting with JUCO kids, in effect kicking the can down the road to this year. This year the defense has been either too inexperienced, too void of talent, or too poorly coached to secure wins for an average offense. You can pine for Mase and his coaches all you want, but the fact is those overall teams were average at best on the overall college landscape. They put up impressive offensive numbers in one aspect of the game thanks in large part to a tremendously easy non conference schedule.
 




fej said:
It's true, and it's really sad that TS can already cover better than Collado, and tackle better than Carter.
Click to expand...

Didn't Stoudermire come in as a corner? Pretty sure he did, so it's not like he's doing it for the first time.
 

metrolax said:
I hope that some of the coaches on staff do get consideration. I think its important you give them a chance. Continuity is a good thing in the college game.

When the non-Lombardi took over, he never gave one thought- not one- to retaining any of Mason's staff. I don't know whether it was arrogance or what, but apparently it was about buying into his new program. In doing so, he set himself up for a bunch of rapid turnover, instability, etc. It really reminded me of Callahan at Nebraska.

That first season, the 1-11 season, cast a very long shadow over the program. Despite going to
bowl games the next two seasons, that 1-11 season was always there, looking over the
shoulder of the program.

Basically, he hired people who he felt could recruit, but I wonder if he actually thought they
could coach. We know Shaw could, as could Browning, and maybe a few others. But its
very obvious now that the main reason Brewster was able to get to two bowl games was because
of the efforts of Mason recruits, and now that most of them have been flushed through the
program, 1-6 is what we have.

I've stayed silent on all the posters who claim that "Mason left the cupboard bare" because
it never made sense to me. The events of this season, when compared to the last two
and who the juniors and seniors on those teams were, pretty much discredits that
position. Who were the recruiters really? Who were the coaches really?

I like Horton because he is a COACH. He's probably a pretty good one. For the next five
games, our Gophers will be led by a down-to-earth coach. If these five games are all
he gets as HC, I hope he at least has a winning record. I'd be ecstatic if he won
all five and earned a 6th!
Click to expand...

Absolutely not true.
Where are our 5th year seniors leading the charge like every other good program has?
Weber, Alford, Ellestad, Burris. That's it. God PLEASE let us never mention Mason ever again after our new coach is hired. He rotted this program from the inside out with his pathetic recruiting in 05 and 06, Brewster just didn't know how to fix it. NOW LET IT GO!
 

Good stuff as always, thanks. I agree with the part about the players feeling less pressure now. Hopefully that will result in a few wins.
 

I wonder if FSN with super hottie Natalie Kane is going to change the name of the show to "Gopher Football with Jeff Horton" tomorrow night? Are they going to redo the intro since Brew is all over the intro to the show?

Sorry, random thought.
 

I've got no problem if Davis and Horton are considered by the next regime.
 

Ole....

It was the coaching change and changes that degraded Mason's last recruiting class.
 

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