Mason 2.0

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Tater

f.k.a. "Tubtastic"
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Anybody else think that Jerry might turn out to be Mason 2.0? He seems to covet a solid running game with linemen who can pull, like Mason. But, unlike Mason, Jerry seem to not have the same level of complacency.

Glen's undoing to me had a lot to do with his smug attitude and approach that we were never going to be OSU. Jerry seems to embrace a lot of Glen's coaching style accept that Jerry does not seem to be fine playing second fiddle to anyone, institutional hurdles or not.
 

I don't remember Mason having running QBs, but I can see the comparison.
 


They both like the running game quite a bit and they both have some MAC roots, but other than that I don't see a lot of comparisons.

No matter if you're a Mason far or not, I think it's unfair to him to rate a guy like Kill who is 3-9 in his only Big 10 season with a guy with Mason's resume (and I like Kill).

On a side note, I think Mason's undoing was his inability to recruit the State of MN very well (consistently, I know he got some very good players) and possibly more important, it was his inability to have any consistency with the defensive coordinator position. I don't know if that is the Athletic Department's unwillingness to devote resources to the position or if it was something with Mason, I really don't know. But the carousel at the defensive coordinator position under Mason was very Brewster-esque. Brewster had that carousel running on both sides of the ball, and failed on both sides of the ball. Mase had that problem on defense, and I think defense was Mason's undoing.
 

Jerry has to work on squinting at the scoreboard while helplessly giving up first downs before he can ever be considered in Glen's class.
 



beavergopher said:
Jerry has to work on squinting at the scoreboard while helplessly giving up first downs before he can ever be considered in Glen's class.
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:clap: Love this one! I always cringed when I saw him doing that as it usually was occurring during one of the 2nd half collapses. It was almost like he was willing the clock to expire rather than focusing on the game and adapting to stop the bleeding. Ugh...i can still see it in my head.
 

Tubtastic said:
Anybody else think that Jerry might turn out to be Mason 2.0? He seems to covet a solid running game with linemen who can pull, like Mason. But, unlike Mason, Jerry seem to not have the same level of complacency.

Glen's undoing to me had a lot to do with his smug attitude and approach that we were never going to be OSU. Jerry seems to embrace a lot of Glen's coaching style accept that Jerry does not seem to be fine playing second fiddle to anyone, institutional hurdles or not.
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I don't see any similarities except for the pulling linemen. I don't think their "coaching styles" have ANY overlap after that. Kill is defense first, integrated with the offense; Mason offense only, defense because you can't have the ball on every play. Kill is a hands on coach; Mason a delegater. Kill is sincere; Mason was not. Kill is a hard worker; Mason was not. Kill is humble, but driven; Mason was egotistical, lived on meager laurels. In the second half of a game, Kill believes in putting your heel on your opponent's neck; Mason believed in "trying not to lose".

beavergopher said:
Jerry has to work on squinting at the scoreboard while helplessly giving up first downs before he can ever be considered in Glen's class.
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Thus, the first half playbook/second half playbook: trying not to lose.

Didn't mean to turn this into another anti-Mason thread, but the comparison is ludicrous. You started it...
 






Didn't Mason have Corey Sauter try run the option?? That was a head scratcher.

I do recall Cupito running the option for a PAT and that shocked the dome, including the other team.
 

Bayfieldgopher said:
Didn't Mason have Corey Sauter try run the option?? That was a head scratcher.

I do recall Cupito running the option for a PAT and that shocked the dome, including the other team.
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Yes he did. He took one of the best Passing QB's in Gopher history and tried to make him run the option. Same problem Brewster had his first year when Dunbar refused to design plays to have Weber take a direct snap at the line. Mason ran his Offensive Coordinator (came from Kentucky I think) off at the end of the season. Brewster needed another year.

Mason with a whole lot of experience as a Head Coach recovered. Brewster without any, never did.
 



After what we've suffered through recently, I would be pretty happy with Mason 2.0
 

highwayman said:
I don't see any similarities except for the pulling linemen. I don't think their "coaching styles" have ANY overlap after that. Kill is defense first, integrated with the offense; Mason offense only, defense because you can't have the ball on every play. Kill is a hands on coach; Mason a delegater. Kill is sincere; Mason was not. Kill is a hard worker; Mason was not. Kill is humble, but driven; Mason was egotistical, lived on meager laurels. In the second half of a game, Kill believes in putting your heel on your opponent's neck; Mason believed in "trying not to lose".

Thus, the first half playbook/second half playbook: trying not to lose.

Didn't mean to turn this into another anti-Mason thread, but the comparison is ludicrous. You started it...
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I didn't mean to say they are the same. I meant that Kill seemed to me to have some of Mason's more successful traits with additional positive traits that Mason 1.0 lacked.

Anywho, I like Kill's approach to coaching which seems to me to be a modified version of what Mason did successfully, at least on offense. I also like that he is trying hard in areas Mason struggled.
 

I don't see a lot of similarities as far as style, beyond an emphasis on running the ball, which is common for a LOT of coaches. As noted, Kill REALLY stresses defense, and seems to be more inclined to put his best athletes on defense, while Mason seemed to be more about putting them on offense. Also, Kill is putting more focus on Minnesota athletes in recruiting than Mason ever seemed to IMO. I hope Kill can garner a little more success than Mason did, but that's far from a guarantee.
 

highwayman said:
......Kill is sincere; Mason was not. Kill is a hard worker; Mason was not. Kill is humble, but driven; Mason was egotistical, lived on meager laurels......
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So Highwayman; tell us how you really feel.....don't hold back! By the way, your feelings mirror mine exactly.
 

Tubtastic said:
Anybody else think that Jerry might turn out to be Mason 2.0?
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No, I think that Jerry will turn out to be Kill 1.0. Why does everyone have to be compared to Mason or Brewster?
 

Once Kill gets some new shiny pearly whites and a fake orange tan, we can start talking about Mason 2.0. But as they compare right now, Mase and Kill aren't even close.
 




HouseOfHagen said:
Once Kill gets some new shiny pearly whites and a fake orange tan, we can start talking about Mason 2.0. But as they compare right now, Mase and Kill aren't even close.
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You sure about that? I think he's following in old Grinnin' Glen's footsteps more than you're aware.

Look at them fancy pearly whites!

Before
jerrykill.jpg

After
View attachment 1514
 



Tubtastic said:
I didn't mean to say they are the same. I meant that Kill seemed to me to have some of Mason's more successful traits with additional positive traits that Mason 1.0 lacked.

Anywho, I like Kill's approach to coaching which seems to me to be a modified version of what Mason did successfully, at least on offense. I also like that he is trying hard in areas Mason struggled.
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Gotcha. Kill is Mason 13.012.01. ;)
 

MorningCalmBadger said:
You sure about that? I think he's following in old Grinnin' Glen's footsteps more than you're aware.

Look at them fancy pearly whites!

Before
View attachment 1515

After
View attachment 1514
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Cool. Now post the picture where he's so committed to his new school that he had the tattoo of his alma mater lasered off his cankle.

Oh. That doesn't exist. Well, at least post the picture where he got a new tattoo on his other cankle to offset the tattoo of a rival that's on the other cankle.

Oh. He's not committed enough to do that? Really? But he's owned the U. Huh. Well, I guess making some silly mock gang signal with his fingers shows where his true loyalties lie.
 

One major similarity between Kill and Mason is in recruiting. Both of them are guys who recruit to their systems and not to the star rankings. Difference is Kill has systems on both sides of the ball whereas Mason really just had a well defined system on offense.

I think some of the Mason bashing is unfair because he had more success here then anyone else in the dark period since the last time the team was relevant in the 60's. Under Mason we were not great but we were consistent and a sure bet to put up a good fight week in and week out. Mason's downfall was that he couldn't bring things to the next level along with some of the off the field stuff that has been beaten to death.

So while I don't think Kill is Mason 2.0 I do believe that due to the similar way they approach things Kill will get the team back to where it was when Mason was here. What remains to be seen is if Kill's systems are good enough to take that next step that we have all been waiting for and get the Gophers back to being in the hunt for the conference title and a top level bowl game instead of being relegated to middle of the pack and a back end bowl game.
 

If the only comparison is a desire to run the ball, Kill could be compared to many coaches. But to compare Kill to Mason is faulty on several levels. Mason saw the program as all about him, Kill sees the program as being all about Minnesota. Mason turned off the Minnesota High School Coaches, Kill embraced them as being one of them. Mason saw top talent leave the state, Kill has stemmed that. You can bet your letter of intent if Mason was Coaching, Jonah Persig would be in Columbus. Strength and Conditioning was a buzz word for Coach Mason, Coach Kill has brought it front and center as necessity for success. Coach Mason was consistently out coached, made few adjustments, had few tactics or tweaks to get a key first down or stop an opponent. Coach Kill has show the ability to do all that Mason was unable to. There is no legitimate comparsion between these two Coaches.
 

Husker I typically have few issues with your takes but I think in this case you are giving a lot of credit to a coach that went 3-9 last year with a couple of really bad loses to very below average teams. There are always reasons and excuses but the bottom line is Kill like Mason has been very successful at the lower levels. Mason had some level of success at two different BCS conference schools, not saying he was great but given the current state of the program you can't say what Mason accomplished here was not at least a little noteworthy.

Mason certainly had his shortcomings. In recruiting his staff did not work nearly as hard as Brewster's and presumably Kill's. The same could be said for strength and conditioning although nationally I feel like that is something that has evolved a lot in recent years. I think the biggest thing, and I rarely hear it mentioned, is that Mason came to Minnesota with the idea of ending up at Ohio State. When he got here in 1996 he changed the culture of the program, took it from the mess it was under Wacker and brought it back to respectability. In 1999 he led a team to Penn State and upset the #2 team in the country on the road, I believe that year we may have been a missed field goal away from going to the Rose Bowl. In 2000 his dream job opened up and he went after that job hard, I think he even thought he had it in the bag. When he didn't get it he knew his dream of coaching at Ohio State was probably dead given his age and career arc. From that point on he didn't have the same fire and drive as a coach here at Minnesota. I honestly think this is where a lot of the bad relations with the administration and high school coaches started to surface.

Fast forward to today, Kill has to come in and change the culture that existed under Brewster. On the strength front there is very little that Kill is doing that Brewster was not, where Kill will prove he is better then Brewster is on the field coaching up his guys and doing more with less talent on paper. In my mind Kill needs to get back to Mason levels, and then we will find out if he really is a great coach who can win where so many others have failed.
 

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