Kill on Sport Huddle this a.m.

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gophergrad said:
I can't remember where I saw it but I vaguely remember reading that B. Michel had to take the semester off because of his head injury. Pretty sure I saw him at the Iowa game though. Hopefully he can get healthy.
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Michel was at every game and every Victory Walk, but he didn't dress.
 

Redbird said:
These are all excellent points Mulligan; I would add that it was extremely unlikely that any D1 coach we were interested in would have been able to make any sort of commitment prior to the end of the season with their current team, which is why I have never bought into the "dithering" criticism of Maturi. Kill left NIU after the MAC conference championship game but before their bowl game, neither he nor Maturi can or should be criticized for the timing of the hire. The only candidate that could have been hired sooner was Leach, and even now nobody has touched him. And keep in mind Leach does not have an existing staff and would be starting from scratch which to me means that any success will be delayed by at least a year or two while they go through the startup process. Not sure whats going on in Maryland but it looks like a debacle with the ACC coach of the year fired, and the AD apparently unable to come to terms with Leach. Not saying whose fault it is, but it looks ugly.
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Now that we are post hire I can post this--I think Kill was "hired" the day after the Iowa game. A surreal quote from Maturi that Sunday: "We wil have a solid hire, but we are not going to win the press conference."

That is all.
 

Mulligan said:
It's amazing how someone can be so sure of himself when he actually hasn't a frickin' clue about what really might have happened. God, where to start.

-Maturi extends Brewster to lower his buyout? Wow! Ya, Maturi had this plan to save a few 100,000 dollars by causing this chaos, opening himself up to a hell of a lot more criticism, and setting the program back yet again. Couldn't be that he was following SOP after a season that merited an extension for the usual reasons? Couldn't be that Maturi wanted Brewster to succeed because he was tied so closely to Brewster and bent over backwards to keep him?

-Proof is how the staff and players responded when the pressure was relieved? How about the players had gotten tired of the BS and had quit on Brewster? Then they finally got tired of being a laughingstock and played inspired football the last one and a half games of their season. But don't let the simple explanation of what could motivate athletes stop you from throwing out your more complicated theories.

-Maturi somehow drove all the name coaches away? I don't doubt that he contacted people who are considered on the A List and they all turned him down. Fact is, none of the big names went anywhere, not even the noted Pirateophile that everyone was lusting after. Over a half dozen other schools must also have awful AD's also if Harbaugh, Patterson, Bellotti, Peterson, etc weren't hired by them. That's the only obvious conclusion to make. Nobody else hires abig name coach, but people here keep claiming it's got to be because of Maturi.

-Then Kill should have been the first Tier II coach offered? And you know this how? Sitting in front of your computer and watching cable undoubtedly makes your more knowledgable than somebody who has the contacts and resources that Maturi does. Kill might have been the first guy actually offered. We have no way of knowing, but Maturi, contrary to the version some people like, didn't just dick around for 7 weeks doing nothing. It's obvious he was thorough and I think ran a good search after the "Tubby type of hire" opening blunder.

-And Kill is the best coach we've hired in 40 years? Again, you know this how before even one game has been played? I love the hire and hope to hell it works, but there's a whole lot of luck involved here. The best coach hired in 40 years might take a few seasons; it'll be determined on the field and not because you say so. Just sort of the way things really work.

-So Maturi in a panic hired Kill as a last resort and lucked into a good hire in the last 24 hours? Hires and contracts don't get done that quickly, not even in your world. Kill said something like, "He (Maturi) knew more about me than I knew about myself," at his introductory press conference. The preliminary work had been done in those 7 weeks of dicking around. Maybe Edsall backed out at the last minute after his team won or maybe he didn't. So what? Hell, if he did, that's even more credit to Maturi. He had a backup plan in place and immediately executed it. Hardly the type of thing a "dithering Joel", as people like to call him, would be able to do.

-Then finally. Bruininks has an extension on his desk for Maturi as you type? Yep, that's exactly how things work at that level. A new president has been hired but the old one is going to extend a very visible and very scrutinized administrator right before he leaves. Ya, nothing wrong with that plan because Bruininks is too dumb to realize what a firestorm that would cause. For someone who is so quick to call people stupid when they don't see the same black and white world as you do, that's really a exceptionally dumb-ass thing to say.
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You know DH well..............:clap:

Excellent post Mulligan.
 

highwayman said:
Now that we are post hire I can post this--I think Kill was "hired" the day after the Iowa game. A surreal quote from Maturi that Sunday: "We wil have a solid hire, but we are not going to win the press conference."

That is all.
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Interesting thought.
 



highwayman said:
Now that we are post hire I can post this--I think Kill was "hired" the day after the Iowa game. A surreal quote from Maturi that Sunday: "We wil have a solid hire, but we are not going to win the press conference."

That is all.
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When Maturi and Bruininks flew to Illinois to interview Kill for the first time they brought a fully negotiated and finalized contract ready for signing. I heard Kill tell Sid Hartman on his Sunday radio show that the U had been dealing with his agent for some time before he ever spoke to Maturi. Kill was in no way a last second panic hire by Maturi. He was one of Joel's primary alternatives if it turned out he was not going to be able to deliver a Tubby hire.
 

highwayman said:
Now that we are post hire I can post this--I think Kill was "hired" the day after the Iowa game. A surreal quote from Maturi that Sunday: "We wil have a solid hire, but we are not going to win the press conference."

That is all.
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That explains why Maturi and Mona were in San Diego. It was a smoke screen to keep everyone else from finding out about Coach Kill.
 

Coach Kill has been candid about the fact that he wasn't our first choice. Not a bad trump card hire, 11-3 at NIU, a tipped pass away from 12-2 and a top 25 finish.

-I'd like to know who the Bruininks "surprised he is interested" candidate was.
-After the Patterson, Harbaugh class I think Hoke headed the Plan B list.
-I still believe we thought we had someone else, I think Edsall was the guy.

That said, thank goodness we didn't hire Bohl or Linehan. Looking at the other hires around the nation, I think we did good with Coach Kill. It would look like a damn good hire if that Miami pass hit the ground and NIU was 12-2 and in the Top 25. I think our guy's resume is comparable to Calhoun and Hoke's.
 

The more I see of Kill, the more I think he's a solid hire.
 



diehard said:
That explains why Maturi and Mona were in San Diego. It was a smoke screen to keep everyone else from finding out about Coach Kill.
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People kept asking Kill when the first time he talked to Maturi was. The question that should have been asked is when his agent talked to Maturi. Kill was always in the mix. Maturi was doing what all AD's need to do. A full process of meeting and investigating all options. Kill wasn't the first choice, but he was no lower than 4-5.

Brewster and Rodriquez are in the same mold. They came in and destroyed progams in the first year telling people that their people weren't there yet and the players didn't fit the system. What they really showed was that they are not flexible or very good coaches. Brewster is out and will probably never be a head coach again and Rodriquez will be out soon. Good coaches that stand the test of time can coach from day one and use the talents of the players to the fullest.
 

diehard said:
That explains why Maturi and Mona were in San Diego. It was a smoke screen to keep everyone else from finding out about Coach Kill.
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Maturi met with Hoke before the Iowa game. I have to believe Maturi thought Hoke was going to sign, otherwise he and Mona wouldn't have flown to San Diego. After that it seems Edsall was next and when that fell through, they went after Kill. Those are they guys that were closest to accepting the job. It seems all other candidates turned us down before there were any serious negotiations.
 

WAGopher said:
Maturi met with Hoke before the Iowa game. I have to believe Maturi thought Hoke was going to sign, otherwise he and Mona wouldn't have flown to San Diego. After that it seems Edsall was next and when that fell through, they went after Kill. Those are they guys that were closest to accepting the job. It seems all other candidates turned us down before there were any serious negotiations.
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This could very well be. I guess we will never know.

Of Hoke, Edsall and Kill, is Coach Kill really the worst of the three? Only time will tell.
 

The best part of this whole thing is that Kill & company have a system they believe in and they know how to coach it. Let's not forget that they beat a team that had out recruited them every year. That'd be Minnesota.

I can't imagine that we'll be in the top tier of the Big10 next year but I do expect we will win the games we should and maybe have a surprise or two along the way! Could spring practice be any more intriguing?
 



ncgo4 said:
The best part of this whole thing is that Kill & company have a system they believe in and they know how to coach it. Let's not forget that they beat a team that had out recruited them every year. That'd be Minnesota.

I can't imagine that we'll be in the top tier of the Big10 next year but I do expect we will win the games we should and maybe have a surprise or two along the way! Could spring practice be any more intriguing?
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I can't wait for the day that we field a team that is as prepared as it can be on both sides of the ball and special teams. It's been a long, long time since we've seen this in Minnesota. Is coach Kill the guy that can finally do it? I think he's the best shot we've had since before Wacker.
 

station19 said:
This could very well be. I guess we will never know.

Of Hoke, Edsall and Kill, is Coach Kill really the worst of the three? Only time will tell.
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Personally, I'd rather have Kill than either of the other two.
 

EG#9 said:
I don't see anyone apologizing for Brewster, he didn't get the job done in 4 years. Brewster's failure does not make Mason's tenure look any better. I don't care about degrees of failure, both failed in almost every regard.

Terrible records against Iowa and Wisconsin? check.
Terrible records in trophy games? check.
Failure to ever finish even 3rd in their own conference? check.
Failure to go to a decent bowl game? check.
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You are crazy to compare the two. Mason won at Penn State, at Michigan, at Ohio State. Mason beat Alabama and Arkansas in bowl games. Mason had a 5-3 big ten record in a season where they lost one of the three games in overtime.

If these differences aren't noticeable to you, that one can only conclude that you group coaches into two strata, that which contains Nick Saban & Urban Meyer, and the everybody else group.
 

badgergopher said:
You are crazy to compare the two. Mason won at Penn State, at Michigan, at Ohio State. Mason beat Alabama and Arkansas in bowl games. Mason had a 5-3 big ten record in a season where they lost one of the three games in overtime.

If these differences aren't noticeable to you, that one can only conclude that you group coaches into two strata, that which contains Nick Saban & Urban Meyer, and the everybody else group.
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Mason was an average coach while Brewtser was terrible. Those that put Mason and Brewster in the same category don't understand football.
 

Maybe with Kill, and having Brewster as the immediate previous coach, we can finally stop bringing up Mason's name...please...
 

Mason and Brewster were both below average BigTen coaches, however the former was much closer to average than the latter. Let someone coach for a decade and they are bound to get a couple of upsets.
 

station19 said:
This could very well be. I guess we will never know.

Of Hoke, Edsall and Kill, is Coach Kill really the worst of the three? Only time will tell.
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What have Hoke or Edsall accomplished that has made them better candidates then Kill? It sounds to me that Kill may have been the best option for MN at this moment of coaches that would come to the U.
 

calminnfan said:
What have Hoke or Edsall accomplished that has made them better candidates then Kill? It sounds to me that Kill may have been the best option for MN at this moment of coaches that would come to the U.
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That could very well be true.
 

WAGopher: "...Maturi met with Hoke before the Iowa game. I have to believe Maturi thought Hoke was going to sign, otherwise he and Mona wouldn't have flown to San Diego...

Maybe they flew to San Diego to talk to him about saying "YES" when he first said "Maybe"?
 

loki said:
Mason was an average coach while Brewtser was terrible. Those that put Mason and Brewster in the same category don't understand football.
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Who do you love more - the person who tries and fails, or the person who never even tries? I will ALWAYS have better feelings about Brewster because he cared more about Gopher football and put more effort into it than Mason ever did. Mason was an underachiever of monumental proportions. If he had put out the necessary effort Mason could have easily have made the Gopher program the equal of the Badgers and Hawkeyes and we would have won a Big 10 Championship by now. Because he didn't get it done when he could have Mason was a bigger failure than Brewster. I will always despise Mason for what he didn't do when he was the Gopher's coach. For me Brewster will be just a minor blip in the 43 year history of Gopher football failure.
 

IF you keep bashing Mason, of course he will be praised just to offset your bias...

against him. He was the BEST coach the University of Minnesota had in a hell of a long time. Wins over iowa, wisky, Purdue, Illinois, NU, Indiana, PSU, MSU, Michigan, The Ohio State University, Arkansas, Alabama, Oregon, et al means one heck of a lot. Turning out All Big Ten players and All-American players and players of distinction means one heck of a lot.

So, as long as some would continue to bash the BEST coach we had in such a LONG time, I most certainly will contrast your bashes with the praise that is due to Coach Mason. Even maturi and prexy b KN EW that they needed to finally extend him to get the stadium. Coach Mason made Minnesota Golden Gopher Football relevent enough once again to make the concept of the U getting a stadium a possibility.

Those of you who continue to try to spin against Mason certainly can say what ever you wish. And I can certainly present the other side of the story. If you bash, it is mandated that the other side of the story MUST be told...and it WILL be told.

I hope Coach Kill can elevate Gopher Football beyond the level Mason was able to bring it to. Of course, Coach Kill has this beautiful new stadium to help him. However, before Coach Kill can surpass the level of football achieved by Coach Mason, he will have to raise the level of football at the U BACK UP to the Mason level. brewster ran this thing into the ground. For that, I will always scorn maturi and prexy b for the mismanagement of the football program under their watch. The ONLY right thing they did after failing to fire Mason after letting his contract to tick away down nothing for three years was to extend Mason's contract just in time to get the stadium deal ok'd. Then they wasted millions and millions of dollars on the buy out and they hired a totally inadequate replacement for Mason in brewster. They totally destroyed the positive impact of the new stadium by the 2nd year of play there by having brewster at the helm. They had to fire the incompetent brewster less than half way through the Big Ten season in 2010.

I am cheering for Coach Kill to overcome all the damage done by maturi, prexy b and brewster to this football program.
 

imthewalrus said:
against him. He was the BEST coach the University of Minnesota had in a hell of a long time. Wins over iowa, wisky, Purdue, Illinois, NU, Indiana, PSU, MSU, Michigan, The Ohio State University, Arkansas, Alabama, Oregon, et al means one heck of a lot. Turning out All Big Ten players and All-American players and players of distinction means one heck of a lot.

So, as long as some would continue to bash the BEST coach we had in such a LONG time, I most certainly will contrast your bashes with the praise that is due to Coach Mason. Even maturi and prexy b KN EW that they needed to finally extend him to get the stadium. Coach Mason mad Minnesota Golden Gopher Football relevent enough once again to make the concept of the U getting a stadium a possibility.

Those of you who continue to try to spin against Mason certainly can say what ever you wish. And I can certainly present the other side of the story. If you bash, it is mandated that the other side of the story MUST be told.
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You are obsessed with Glen Mason
 

badgergopher said:
You are crazy to compare the two. Mason won at Penn State, at Michigan, at Ohio State. Mason beat Alabama and Arkansas in bowl games. Mason had a 5-3 big ten record in a season where they lost one of the three games in overtime.

If these differences aren't noticeable to you, that one can only conclude that you group coaches into two strata, that which contains Nick Saban & Urban Meyer, and the everybody else group.
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32-48 in conference games, baby!
 

That certainly beats 6-21 in Big Ten play...

baby!
 

UpnorthGo4 said:
Who do you love more - the person who tries and fails, or the person who never even tries? I will ALWAYS have better feelings about Brewster because he cared more about Gopher football and put more effort into it than Mason ever did. Mason was an underachiever of monumental proportions. If he had put out the necessary effort Mason could have easily have made the Gopher program the equal of the Badgers and Hawkeyes and we would have won a Big 10 Championship by now. Because he didn't get it done when he could have Mason was a bigger failure than Brewster. I will always despise Mason for what he didn't do when he was the Gopher's coach. For me Brewster will be just a minor blip in the 43 year history of Gopher football failure.
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Well said! Couldn't agree more!
 


Holy Jesus Martha. Both Mason and Brewster are gone. Can we please dwell on the future instead of arguing about the past?
 

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