My short list of candidates

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It is too bad Bruinicks didn't make the effort to meet with Gary Patterson during the last search. We might be in this situation.
 

drunkenMNgopher said:
This is the new low for the program. The coaching staff and players need to prove themselves here. If they can't, well, I don't know because we need a coach that will make sure defense and running the ball is key. Remember that phrase. DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS. When the Gophers get a top 25 defense, you'll see results. Until then, mid to lower half of the conference every year.
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This is why I like Venables from Oklahoma. He's a defense guy from a Midwestern school. Besides Oklahoma owes us one for Bud Wilkinson. Pay him!

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brent_Venables?wasRedirected=true
 


Viperman69 said:
Yea. That would cause a bunch of excitement. A DII coach, right. How about Steve Johnson from Bethel. Yawn
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we just had our asses handed to us by a guy who was coaching DIII a few years ago.

a good coach is a good coach. i don't care where he comes from.
 

Another guy that would atleast be worth gauging his interest would be Pat Hill from Fresno State. He has been there a long time so would probably be difficult to get to leave and has been mentioned for other jobs in the past.
 


Chryst

Badger_inohiovalley said:
Two pages and no one has mentioned Paul Chryst? You guys don't know your own AD at all.

Les Miles? Mark Richt? Last time you hired, you had a new stadium to sell and ended up with a TE coach. Do you really think the TE coach falling flat on his face makes anyone think they really can win in Minnesota?

The Duluth guy is on line 2. Probably much, much more realistic then the names you guys have tossed around thus far.

Go find your Jim Tressel or Bo Ryan. Some guy who loves the state of Minnesota and has had a lot of success a lower levels. I don't know anything about the Duluth guy or anyone else across your state....but that would be a good scenario. And much, much more realistic than the names you mentioned. People don't want to go to the graveyard that is the Minnesota program unless they have no other options (Brewster) or they just love it (some guy like Tressel).
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Four years ago I would have puked if we hired Paul Chryst. Now, I might actually be open to it.
 

Why not hire the whole group of coaches

Why not bring in Mike Shannahan as HC, Mike Hohensee as OC, and Tony Dungy as DC?
 






Richt is #1 if he gets fired. I wouldn't say it's a pipedream. Georgia is going to lose 4-5 games this year, so it's 50/50 he'll be out. If he is, Minnesota is about at the level he can expect to land. It would be almost as big a get as Tubby, less the ring on his finger. Miles is a similar situation, but I am bit more scepitcal of him. That said, you take him if you can get him.

Failing the two big fish, I would still vastly perfer someone who's been a D-1 head coach. Edsall, Cutcliff, Sumlin, Calhoun, Jagadinsky, etc. June Jones is too old, IMO.

As for going the D-II or coordinator route, please no. I'm sure the UMD coach is a great guy, but it's a huge leap. For every Jim Tressel there's a lot more that tank. As for guys like Josh Heuppel, that's a huge reach. He's barely 30 and never been a head coach. His old man didn't exactly set the world on fire at Northern State either. I'd have loved Josh as OC, but not as Head Coach.
 


Ole said:
The 2 young killshots may be worth checking into. Heupel and Applewhite, probably Applewhite moreso. Though Heupel has more ties here. He grew up in SD loving Foggie.IQUOTE]

If a change is made these 2 names I am sure would come up. Also probably a few FCS coaches with proven track records.

Though I think younger would be better a few other names probably in the mix would David Cutcliffe, Art Briles and Bill Cubit.

May as well face the fact that a big name coach is not taking the football job if it does open up.
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Neither Richt or Miles will be coming here (we dont want Miles). Both will get better offers somewhere south of I-80. We should look toward and head coach at a smaller school with a history of having them build a program...like Turner Gill did in Buffalo (hes taken though), especially if its not in an easily recruited football heavy area. Or since the Gophers dont pay much, an OC or DC of a successful program...but if successful here he will leave without more $$$.
 

Defense

Tom Kelly was all about the D

at least DC or OC experience is a must THIS time, hopefully
 

If only Turner Gill were available. He'd be my first recommendation.

Les Miles would be a terrible hire. Absolutely terrible. Take all things Gopher fans don't like about Brewster and magnify them. That's Les Miles.

Since we're just throwing names out there, if Minnesota could throw everything AND the kitchen sink at Peterson to get him away from Boise State, I think that'd be a great hire. I'm not sure if it's possible or not, but he'd be my first somewhat realistic choice if it were possible.
 

wouldn't mind a a service academy coach or OC, at least they can teach fundamentals and discipline. You'd have to open up the O a bit though.

If we need help recruiting we could contact the Hopkins BBall coach, just kiddin
 

Another option would be to go with a guy like Terry Bowden who is getting back into coaching now at University of North Alabama after a long time off but did a nice job at Auburn and still has the famous name.
 

go4rob said:
Another is GOOD COACHING! I'd be more inclined to think like you if I saw even a small inkling that things were improved and the players were being coached properly, but that is far from the case.

Why not bring Jim Harbaugh back to the Big 10. did you see what Stanford did to UCLA over the weekend. He gets my vote.
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Who the f#ck do you think we are!?! Why in god's name would anybody leave Stanford (a program every bit as storied in the first half of the last century as ours--- and that has been to the Rosebowl since the proliferation of poly-chromatic film)?

We are going to get a coordinator at best from a BCS AQ'd team. Not their head coach, for Christ's sake! We do not offer nearly enough to risk them running their career into the ground!

I would like to see more of a Chryst type, as I don't think the pure spread advocate has a future in the Big Ten, especially in our future division. We have the nucleus of a decent group of young running offense oriented line, and flushing them all away for a return to the spread offense again is not something I want to suffer through again in less than half a decade.

I don't know if success at places like Houston or Texas Tech will translate at all to Minnesota. Both schools have horrible academic standards and have rosters full of kids who couldn't get in here. Further they have even more kids who didn't want to leave Texas. University of Texas leftovers still have a dozen viable options to drive past on their way up I35 to visit the U.

I'd take SEC-washout any day. I don't think I would be too happy with Richt's power-of-christ-compels-us routine, but he would be an upgrade in respectability immediately.

As toward Tony Dungy:
GreatPumpkin-771480.jpg
 

ulfr said:
Who the f#ck do you think we are!?! Why in god's name would anybody leave Stanford (a program every bit as storied as ours in the first half of the last century as ours--- and has been to the Rosebowl since the proliferation of poly-chromatic film)?

We are going to get a coordinator at best from a BCS AQ'd team. Not their head coach, for Christ's sake! We do not offer nearly enough to risk them running their career into the ground!

I would like to see more of Chryst type, as I don't think the pure spread advocate has a future in the future Big Ten, especially in our future division. We have the nucleus of a decent group of young running offense oriented line, and flushing them all away for a return to the spread offense again is not something I want to suffer through again in less than half a decade.

I don't know if success at places like Houston or Texas Tech will translate at all to Minnesota. Both schools have horrible academic standards and have rosters full of kids who couldn't get in here. Further they have even more kids who didn't want to leave Texas. University of Texas leftovers still have a dozen viable options to drive past on their way up I35 to visit the U.

I'd take SEC-washout any day. I don't think I would be too happy with Richt's power-of-christ-compels-us routine, but he would be an upgrade in respectability immediately.

As toward Tony Dungy:
GreatPumpkin-771480.jpg
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Goddamn it, you're good today. If I could use this entire post as a signature, I would. Well done.
 

A couple things to consider with the hiring of the new coach...

1) Cost- all you with pipedreams of bringing in Peterson from Boise, Les Miles, Mark Richt or any other big name have to realize that the athletic department does not have the money to throw at these guys. That is why we need to go with a coach with a proven track record of success such Nielson at UMD or the UW-Whitewater coach. These are guys we can hire and would be affordable. I believe these guys can be successful because they have proven they can coach. They have won year in and year out at smaller programs in lower divisions with limited resources.

2) Head Coach Experience - We need to hire someone who has been a head coach before not an OC or DC or heaven forbid a TE coach from the Denver Broncos. Any head coach will tell that there is a tremendous difference between being responsible for critical decisions versus someone who just provides insight. Evidence of the need for a head coach comes directly from Brewster. He stated that the 4th down pitch debacle was his call. Coaching is much more than recruiting the star athletes and having massive playbooks filled with multiple plays for any situation. If you can't call the right play at the right time your big playbook is worthless...(look at the Jed Fisch experience) Granted, many of you will be able to find examples of OC's and DC's who have moved up to head coach and had success. Taking an OC or DC is still too big of a risk. Many of the OC's and DC's that have been mentioned have been successful at implementing the head coaches philosophy, and they may not be the same guy without their current head coach. Ron English's name was tossed around the "Hole" a fews ago as a possibilty for the Gopher job. Look up his record last year.

3) Recruiting is Overrated- we don't need a guy with connections in Texas, Florida, Ohio, or Cali to be successful. We tried that already... Jim Whacker, Tim Brewster and Glen Mason. Where was that great Texas speed against USD? We have four players from Skyline in Dallas and they got outplayed by a bunch of bigtime D1 program rejects that play for USD. Recruiting is important but not as important as coaching. 4.2 speed is great but when your speedy DB can't find the ball or misses his assignment his speed is worthless. Look at our performance against the the Dakota schools the last couple of years. Without a doubt we had the best athletes but not the best football players. Many of kids on the Dakota rosters were overlooked by the great recruiter Tim Brewster.

4) Philosophy - we need a coach with a legit gameplan not talking points like brewster. What is his offensive philosophy, it keeps changing every year? We went from the spread to the pro-style and we can't run either one effectively. Who knows what the defensive philosophy is. Our defense has historically been awful outside of a few years. I think a big reason why we have a revolving door with our coordinators is because they and Brewster have no idea what they want to do.

5) Last but not least coaching- we need someone who can coach, who can make the players better. Someone they can believe in and trust. I don't think the players trust Brewster nor do they believe in him. I think we saw evidence of that after the USD game when players left the field right after the game. I feel awful the players, especially Adam Weber. Brewster has not made these kids better and he has not put them in position to win. When I watch the gophers play I see confused gopher players. I don't see confidence. Brewster gets outcoached in every single game. Football is a game of adjustments. Every other teams seems to be able to adjust to stop us, but Brewster fails to make the right adjustments on consistent basis.

All things considered, this is why we need to hire Nielson up at UMD. Give him a shot he has earned it. Let him bring his guys in, recruit the state of MN and start turning the program around. Anyone who thinks there isn't enough talent to win with MN, WI, IA, SD, or ND kids is clueless. Coaching trumps talent any day of the week. Big time recruits will come once we start winning, and the only way that is going to happen is if we hire the right guy, Nielson.
 

What about Gary Barnett? He had Colorado on the right track before some dumb blonde female kicker pretended like she belonged on a football team full of a bunch of lifted out, testosterone filled, college FB players.

Knows what its like to take a lowly big 10 school and win, he's going to be cheap and hasn't been in the mix lately but still can coach.
 

Here are my outside thoughts on some names that have been tossed around and a few that haven't been yet.

If Miles or Richt are fired you have to after them if you are Maturi, you would be crazy not to, if you don't get them then you move on. I will go 51% at least one of them gets fired. Like the idea of Jagodzinski as well. All three are have been successful HC in the past so it would be crazy not to atleast talk to them.

I also like Major Applewhite out of Texas, many thought he would be the guy when Mack Brown left but then Muschamp came in and that changed. He would be a good choice. Kirby White won't leave Alabama and Wilcox is still might be a little young as us Heupel. Both Tommy and Terry Bowden are also available. Carl Pelini could be a good hire but it is hard for me to see him going up against his brother. I also don't think you are going to get Pat Hill out of Fresno State, same think with Chris Peterson at Boise, Gary Patterson at TCU, Bronco Mendenhall at BYU, and Kyle Whittingham at Utah.

One name I am going to toss out there is Ed Orgeron. He was Pete Carroll's lead recruiter at USC for many years then became the HC at Ole Miss where he was fired and has been working for Lane Kiffen for the past two years. He may want another shot at being a HC and he can recruit better than pretty much anybody.

I'm also going to toss out Robb Akey who has turned around a 1-11 Idaho program in only 3 years.

I would stay away from Mangini and Leach simply because they both bring along baggage that Minnesotan's won't tolerate.
 

HavaGo4 said:
1) Cost- all you with pipedreams of bringing in Peterson from Boise, Les Miles, Mark Richt or any other big name have to realize that the athletic department does not have the money to throw at these guys. That is why we need to go with a coach with a proven track record of success such Nielson at UMD or the UW-Whitewater coach. These are guys we can hire and would be affordable. I believe these guys can be successful because they have proven they can coach. They have won year in and year out at smaller programs in lower divisions with limited resources.
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You are aware of the fact that Minnesota has the smallest football budget in the B10. And that factor alone is about 1/3 of the problem facing Gopher's football. If the athletic department main reason for hiring a certain coach is because he fits the budget one of three things needs to happen:
1. Some boosters step ups and come with money to hire who the athletic department can get
2. Everyone in the athletic department should be removed from there jobs yesterday for not having th right mindset
3. Shut down the entire program because it wasn't going anywhere anyways(not going to happen)
 

mnboiler said:
You are aware of the fact that Minnesota has the smallest football budget in the B10. And that factor alone is about 1/3 of the problem facing Gopher's football. If the athletic department main reason for hiring a certain coach is because he fits the budget one of three things needs to happen:
1. Some boosters step ups and come with money to hire who the athletic department can get
2. Everyone in the athletic department should be removed from there jobs yesterday for not having th right mindset
3. Shut down the entire program because it wasn't going anywhere anyways(not going to happen)
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Exactly, there are definitely successful athletic departments out there that get all of their funding from boosters/outside sources. The U of M is one of the 3 largest universities in the country and cannot afford to do anything. Plain and simple it is a failure at the fund raising and marketing level. They clearly need to turn over marketing activities to an outside company because they are not equipped to do it themselves. They also need to hire a new a
AD in charge of fundraising. I will say however that you can still get a good coach for a million like Brewster makes. This is roughly what Pelini started at when Nebraska hired him. He has now been given raises since then because he earned them.
 

josh087 said:
PLEASE NOT LES MILES!

There is no way I could stand the atrocious clock management mistakes. His intelligence is below-average at best.
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Is this a serious statement? The Ole Miss debacle was bad, yes but come on. He is 53-15 at LSU with a National Championship. Minnesota would quickly turn the corner with Les Miles at Head Coach.
 

mnboiler said:
You are aware of the fact that Minnesota has the smallest football budget in the B10. And that factor alone is about 1/3 of the problem facing Gopher's football. If the athletic department main reason for hiring a certain coach is because he fits the budget one of three things needs to happen:
1. Some boosters step ups and come with money to hire who the athletic department can get
2. Everyone in the athletic department should be removed from there jobs yesterday for not having th right mindset
3. Shut down the entire program because it wasn't going anywhere anyways(not going to happen)
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All you have to do is win and the boosters and their money will come pouring in.
 


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