Maturi's Other Options

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Duluthguy

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Most posters seem to be in one of two camps: (1). Fire Brewster now so you can get a jump on hiring the next coach. Possibly, but it's doubful any interviews could be done before the season is over, so you could argue that all that matters is Maturi is ready to start interviewing his top candidates at that time. (2). Wait until the end of the season so you don't kill recruiting or send a bad message to possible candidates. Possibly, but by almost all accounts recruiting has all but completely stopped already, and the last three home games of the season could be before a half-filled stadium with angry fans doing nothing but chanting "fire Brewster." What a terrible way for the few seniors to end their careers and a terrible way to end the second season at the Bank.

I've never expected for Maturi to do anything until a bowl game is mathematically out of reach, but once the team passes that milestone, there are a few other options he could take: (1). Fire Brewster, but let him coach out the season, saying the players need to be able to play out the season without the inevitable hanging over their heads. The players could then concentrate on playing and the fans would be more enthusiastic about supporting them. (2). Let it be know that the team will have to show great improvement the rest of the year or changes will have to be made. Not much benefit here, except it might make the fans feel a little better, and Brewster would be forced to confront reality - if that's at all possible for him. He would also have a slim chance to save his job.

Do either of the above two options make any sense?

By the way, note to Maturi: This time around reverse your priorities, make experience and credentials 90% of the equation and the interview 10%. If you need a good interview to sell you on a candidate, he's the wrong guy! The interview should merely reinforce that you've got the right guy.
 

I'm guessing things will be done during the bye week. A field of candidates will be in place by early December and, if possible, the offer will go out by mid-December.

I honestly don't think Brewster has a chance at saving his job.
 

My opinion is that we should let him finish out the season, only because there are no certifiably better alternatives. Firing Brew and having an 'interim' coach finish out the season would just seem pointless and serve to only disrupt the team that much further, and we're not going to be able to hire a long term replacement mid-season either.

So I say to let him finish it out. We're already about as far down in the dumpster as can be, so it really can't get much worse, or can it? **shudder**:eek:
 

I'm not suggesting he be voted off the island during the bye week. I just think he'll be told, "You're done at the end of the season."
 

Chance Brew is done at end of year? 100%. Chance he is replaced by a coach who can transform us into a winning program? 0%.

The U's football culture has got to change first. TCF has meant nothing to changing our ability to field a football program.

We can't hire a good coach, and if we accidently did, he would be gone at the first opportunity to go to a school that wants a football program. One with a fan base and with local media that is not hostile. Our only possible hope (Dungy) is not going to happen.
 


diehard said:
Chance Brew is done at end of year? 100%. Chance he is replaced by a coach who can transform us into a winning program? 0%.

The U's football culture has got to change first. TCF has meant nothing to changing our ability to field a football program.

We can't hire a good coach, and if we accidently did, he would be gone at the first opportunity to go to a school that wants a football program. One with a fan base and with local media that is not hostile. Our only possible hope (Dungy) is not going to happen.
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Ridiculous. TCF Bank Stadium hasn't been given the opportunity to change the football program yet.

Cincinnati hired two good coaches. Northwestern hired multiple good coaches. Utah has hired two straight good coaches. Purdue hired a good coach in 97.
 

Get to work on Dungy. Make him an offer he can't refuse. Throw money at him. Do whatever it takes. Then fire Brewster immediately and bring in Dungy the next day (he's available right now). Keep the staff until season's end. At that time Dungy will evaluate and retain those he wants. He will then complete to staff with outstanding personnel with money being no object. This will accomplish much. Present players will get to know what they're in for and can stay or leave as they wish. Recruits will get a chance to know what's up and stay committed or leave (Dungy may ask some to do that) Remaining scholies will be filled with four and five star recruits salivating to play for the legendary coach. Dungy will request that the StarTRibune, SPPP, KFAN, et. al. immediately fire all scumbags like Reusse, Bairriero, etc. The stadium will sell out for next year. I think this is what diehard means by a change of attitude at the U. This is very close to what it will take for me to renew my tickets for next year after 39 years of frustration.
 

You guys need to recognize that the U is one of the most liberal public universities in the U.S. A large percentage of the U's Administration and Faculty couldn't care less that the Gopher football team sucks. Many of them are still pissed about all of the money that was spent to build Gophers Stadium. Whoever is hired to replace Brewster is going to have to be politically correct in all of the politically correct ways. Number 1 among them is that the new coach's salary cannot be more than what is politically correct. Always remember - this is the U that we are talking about.
 

The problem with this is it shouldn't be Maturi's decision. He needs to go more than Brewster does, and Brewster really, really needs to go.
 



Maturi is a lame duck. The longer Brewster stays, the less fan support, booster support, and experience for next years players (see Gray) we have. Sure, we'll lose some cash on his payout -- but the loss of that money is insignificant to the future loss.

Problem is, there's really no one available who's respectable.
 

UpnorthGo4 said:
You guys need to recognize that the U is one of the most liberal public universities in the U.S. A large percentage of the U's Administration and Faculty couldn't care less that the Gopher football team sucks. Many of them are still pissed about all of the money that was spent to build Gophers Stadium. Whoever is hired to replace Brewster is going to have to be politically correct in all of the politically correct ways. Number 1 among them is that the new coach's salary cannot be more than what is politically correct. Always remember - this is the U that we are talking about.
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Yeah. It's like downtown Havana over there at Bruininks office. We may not get a good football coach next time out, but it won't be for the reasons you state.

Egads, Madison is about ten times more liberal than the Twin Cities.
 

Does anyone really think Brewster would willingly accept a lame duck role? The second he is told he isn't coming back, he will have his office packed, find the fastest flight out of Minnesota, and have his agent begin tracking assistant coaching openings for next year.

No way he would finish out the season knowing he won't be brought back, IMHO. And, frankly, he shouldn't want to. If we choose to cut him loose, the quicker he's out of the building, the better it will be for all parties involved.
 

After listening to Sid this morning I get the impression that Brewster is comming back next year and it has already been decided.
 



This mainly boils down to the almighty dollar. The tickets sales are pretty much done for this season. Firing or retaining Brewster won't affect that. Unless the guys can win a game or two, no shows will probably be what we see.

What is important is season ticket holders having the interest to renew for 2011 and then a good single game sale. If Brewster continues to fail and is retained, good luck with that. If Brewster is canned in favor of a name coach ticket renewal should come in at a decent rate and Maturi will be happy.

Recruiting will suffer either way and transfers will occur as well no matter who is the coach.
 

Bayfieldgopher said:
This mainly boils down to the almighty dollar. The tickets sales are pretty much done for this season. Firing or retaining Brewster won't affect that. Unless the guys can win a game or two, no shows will probably be what we see.

What is important is season ticket holders having the interest to renew for 2011 and then a good single game sale. If Brewster continues to fail and is retained, good luck with that. If Brewster is canned in favor of a name coach ticket renewal should come in at a decent rate and Maturi will be happy.

Recruiting will suffer either way and transfers will occur as well no matter who is the coach.
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I can say this for my group. We will renew if Brewster is the coach next season, but we will probably sell our tickets with 4 schools that travel well on the home schedule (Nebraska, UW, Iowa and NDSU).
 

jovs said:
After listening to Sid this morning I get the impression that Brewster is comming back next year and it has already been decided.
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Is this the same Sid who on Wednesday morning at 8:40am was telling Dave Lee on WCCO that it was less than 50-50 that Randy Moss was going to come to the Vikings "despite what these geniuses at ESPN and FOX are trying to tell us. This is probably not going to happen!" You mean that Sid?

Because about ten minutes later I turned on ESPN and Adam Schefter was reporting it was a done deal (and it was).

The sooner most of you realize that Sid just simply doesn't have the connections he used to, the better. He occasionally gets something right because he still works hard and tries, but he doesn't break stories like he used to because most of his contacts have retired or have died.

Bottom line...I don't care what Sid says, if things stay as they are (team losing and playing like crap), Brewster will not be back next year, IMHO.
 

Bayfieldgopher said:
This mainly boils down to the almighty dollar. What is important is season ticket holders having the interest to renew for 2011 and then a good single game sale. If Brewster continues to fail and is retained, good luck with that.
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That's only one large part of the equation. The other large parts that will suffer if Brewster is retained after continuing to struggle this year is large booster donations, which are extremely important and many boosters are presumedly pissed; the selling of premium seats, club seats, luxury suites, loge boxes, sponsorship money on radio, stadium signs, game programs, coach's shows, endorsements, etc.; recruiting, institutional reputation, etc.
 

Bayfieldgopher said:
This mainly boils down to the almighty dollar. The tickets sales are pretty much done for this season. Firing or retaining Brewster won't affect that. Unless the guys can win a game or two, no shows will probably be what we see.

What is important is season ticket holders having the interest to renew for 2011 and then a good single game sale. If Brewster continues to fail and is retained, good luck with that. If Brewster is canned in favor of a name coach ticket renewal should come in at a decent rate and Maturi will be happy.

Recruiting will suffer either way and transfers will occur as well no matter who is the coach.
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Under the current contract, it would only take 2000 season tickets to buy out Brewster. The equation for break-even would suggest that if tix sales are down by that many, the price of maintaining Brew became too expensive. It is a simple calculation. Ticket price per game, parking reciept, food and beverage, and other sales and receipts. A small downtick and you then need to add more marketing expense, adding more visitor ticket sales, increasing the student service fee, and looking for more donations to cover the stadium long-term liabilities and expenses. Then, those 2000 season ticket buyers look like a much bigger loss than just a coach. It might cost the school over a $100 per seat to replace those fans for the season. That is quite the charge on the books. Firing Brewster has many advantages mid season. It posts the position before the candidates become generally available giving them a chance to review their options. It provides for a chance to recruit before the signing deadline in February. It would give us time to plan the right play and not be rushed into a snap judgement. Waiting only improves the chances of going 1-11 with no upside. Making the change now might mean still going 1-11 but the impact is mitigated because we know change is coming.
 

I got a call from a fund-raiser at the U of M this evening.

Interestingly enough, this person indicated that the majority of contacts made today deferred their willingness to contribute money until something has been done to rectify the crisis in the football program. This person indicated that the reasons given for not making contributions were noted and that the information was passed on to the ad's office. Well, when I heard that, I was sure to be very specific about my complaints.

I made no bones about the fact that I am extremely angry about the administration's role with the football program during the past six or seven seasons. I specified that I felt Maturi has done a horrible job in handling the revenue sports in general and football coaches contract extensions/non-extensions, the process of hiring and now the process of firing a non-performing and underachieving football coach, specifically.

Based upon what this person indicated, for today and this evening, the list of past contributors to the athletic scholarship funds contacted were overwhelmingly in a "show me with action" kind of mindset.
 

I hope more donors start to take your attitude (as it appears they are I guess). It's likely the only thing that will convince them.
 

tjgopher said:
Is this the same Sid who on Wednesday morning at 8:40am was telling Dave Lee on WCCO that it was less than 50-50 that Randy Moss was going to come to the Vikings "despite what these geniuses at ESPN and FOX are trying to tell us. This is probably not going to happen!" You mean that Sid?

Because about ten minutes later I turned on ESPN and Adam Schefter was reporting it was a done deal (and it was).

The sooner most of you realize that Sid just simply doesn't have the connections he used to, the better. He occasionally gets something right because he still works hard and tries, but he doesn't break stories like he used to because most of his contacts have retired or have died.

Bottom line...I don't care what Sid says, if things stay as they are (team losing and playing like crap), Brewster will not be back next year, IMHO.
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I think you are wrong about the U. I think Sid has stronger connections than anyone else. He said some things Sunday morning that I've never heard from him before. He was almost pleading to stay with Brewster. He said that the next administration should be the one that decides. Obviously money is the big denominator but if the current administration has its say, it will be decided in 2011 and not this year. That way whoever takes over for Bruinicks will be making the decision. If it gets to bad they might have to make the decision but I don't think they want to do that.
 

jovs said:
I think you are wrong about the U. I think Sid has stronger connections than anyone else. He said some things Sunday morning that I've never heard from him before. He was almost pleading to stay with Brewster. He said that the next administration should be the one that decides. Obviously money is the big denominator but if the current administration has its say, it will be decided in 2011 and not this year. That way whoever takes over for Bruinicks will be making the decision. If it gets to bad they might have to make the decision but I don't think they want to do that.
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I don't believe Sid has any clue including insider knowledge and he fails to realize the huge PR disaster of keeping coach with Brewster's record both this year and the previous three years.
 

If Brew could've made this season respectable, yes they would push it off until the next administration. No way they can wait after this season ends 1-11 or 2-10.
 

UpnorthGo4 said:
You guys need to recognize that the U is one of the most liberal public universities in the U.S. A large percentage of the U's Administration and Faculty couldn't care less that the Gopher football team sucks. Many of them are still pissed about all of the money that was spent to build Gophers Stadium. Whoever is hired to replace Brewster is going to have to be politically correct in all of the politically correct ways. Number 1 among them is that the new coach's salary cannot be more than what is politically correct. Always remember - this is the U that we are talking about.
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Nice boogeyman. Conservatives are as likely to oppose public money for stadiums as are liberals. And there are plenty of liberals sitting in the stands at football games. This has nothing to do with liberalism or conservatism.
 

jovs said:
I think you are wrong about the U. I think Sid has stronger connections than anyone else. He said some things Sunday morning that I've never heard from him before. He was almost pleading to stay with Brewster. He said that the next administration should be the one that decides. Obviously money is the big denominator but if the current administration has its say, it will be decided in 2011 and not this year. That way whoever takes over for Bruinicks will be making the decision. If it gets to bad they might have to make the decision but I don't think they want to do that.
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Do you believe me now? When Cory Roufs beats Sid out on a story, doesn't that pretty well confirm that Sid has lost any true connection. Anyone with any connection whatsoever with the university knew this was a probability. Yet, here was Sid, proclaiming it wouldn't happen. He's lost it.
 

tjgopher said:
Do you believe me now? When Cory Roufs beats Sid out on a story, doesn't that pretty well confirm that Sid has lost any true connection. Anyone with any connection whatsoever with the university knew this was a probability. Yet, here was Sid, proclaiming it wouldn't happen. He's lost it.
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I would bet most of Sid's sources are 6 feet under or in the nursing home. Hard to have an inside source in Bierman working from a wheelchair.

I didn't listen to him on 'CCO this morning, was listening to KFAN instead. Hopefully they podcast this morning's show so I can hear Sid losing his marbles on air.
 

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