Norwood Teague Press Conference Notes Regarding UNC Games

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I know I missed a few points, typing as he spoke, but this is what our AD said to the media:

• This is something Coach Kill talked to me about in April. It is expensive, and it's a hit financially, but it really felt like when we talked about it, and you look at his winning formula over the years, he felt that to go after where he's going, the kids need to have confidence, and you can't take on this BCS opponent in the first few years.
• I appreciate the passion and feedback from everyone. We don't want to be over the top with the decisions we make. We haven't exactly won at the highest level of football in the last 45 years. This is going to happen occasionally, and we'll have to make tough decisions.
• I look at our books everyday, financially. We're going to work to offset these costs, to have a game here or there. This decision wasn't made overnight.
• As an athletic director, I have told people know. I have a tremendous respect for Kill, he's won everywhere he's gone. I trust him.
• You still have the Big 10 schedule, it's the toughest league in the country. You could say the SEC has won more titles lately.
• Things in the Big 10 are tough, we're building a program here. We're behind in a lot of ways at Minnesota, we've got a lot of room to make up. We have TCF Bank, it's the greatest thing in the world, but we have a lot of make-up work to do. If we want to win, we have to do some things that squeeze us.
• One thing that Jerry believes strongly in, is building confidence in his team, and with his NC opponents. I don't think you can put a value on that. We all think we know football, but these guys that coach here, know it better than all of us combined. They talk to us about things that we never even think of.
• I think that you can do a lot of things when you're playing at a high BCS level.
• We can debate, if we're playing moderate opponents.
• This is part of building a program. We'll tell donors that we'll make decisions that don't look good at times. On paper, some decisions look crazy - I can understand why you'd think this would look goofy. It doesn't always settle right with our fans. We're not going to donors and say "we're going to need 100K to pay this buyout out" we'll find a way to cover it.
• We have to sort it out (as far as off setting the costs). It's amazing the revenue you can generate, when you sell an extra 3000 tickets at a game.
• I don't want to comment on it too much - because fees for playing are still negotiable.
• Scheduling is tough. It's a hard battle and it's part of what we do. Here's the problem in college football - we schedule too far out, and programs change. Certainly, we're going to look for quality
• Jim Delany is fine with this, he is dealing with other issues right now, he certainly operates at 30,000 feet, we're lucky to have him as our commissioner.
• We thought long and hard about this. We made the decision this summer.
 

Thanks for giving us the transcript.

My response at this time is: roll of the eyes. I am not buying it. Jerry Kill was not afraid of BT programs when at SIU and NIU, but now get gets to the BCS level and is a coward? I find it odd. I realize he HAD to play those games to generate revenue for his schools at the time.

Another way to instill confidence in your players and team is to not lower the standards and always try to make things easier for them.
 

Thanks GL - I appreciate this!

So this shows that this is all on Kill: "This is something Coach Kill talked to me about in April. It is expensive, and it's a hit financially, but it really felt like when we talked about it, and you look at his winning formula over the years, he felt that to go after where he's going, the kids need to have confidence, and you can't take on this BCS opponent in the first few years."

I wish Teague would have stood up to Kill though. We've now seen two big issues (Tubby's extension and running away from a mid-pack ACC team) that were in motion before Teague got here and he did not change the course of the decision.

This also shows that Kill does not believe that in years 3 and 4 that we'll have a team that can gain confidence by playing UNC. That is sad.

I feel like the U has more self-inflicted wounds than most, it's really frustrating.

Go Gophers!!
 

It's amazing the revenue you can generate, when you sell an extra 3000 tickets at a game.
Click to expand...

Scheduling more non-BCS and FCS teams doesn't help you sell those extra 3,000 tickets.
 

Could Kill/Teague explain how paying $800K to not play an average ACC opponent helps give the kids confidence?

"Hey guys, I don't think we can compete with UNC, but you played a hell of a game against NMSU!"

Give me a break, Kill. Kill and Teague should be ashamed. I can honestly say this is the first time I've ever been embarrassed of the Gopher football program.
 


Stan The Caddy said:
Jerry Kill was not afraid of BT programs when at SIU and NIU, but now get gets to the BCS level and is a coward? I find it odd. I realize he HAD to play those games to generate revenue for his schools at the time.
Click to expand...

I agree with most that the U shouldn't back out of the game with UNC, but I don't find this as a valid reason. There's a big difference between playing 8 MAC teams & 2 Big Ten teams a season compared to playing 8 Big Ten teams & 2 MAC teams.

2013 & 2014 don't worry me as much if this is the scheduling philosophy....it's 2015, 2016 & beyond & the lack of somewhat name opponents that is more troubling to me....hopefully that will change.
 

Yikes. The only positive is that Teague was honest about it.

My estimation of Kill goes way down. How hard would it be to play NC and then avoid scheduling any more BCS teams?

This is not the way to build reputation in a crowded sports market.
 

After reading the transcript I feel like our powers at be have given up on the football program, I feel like I just got beat up because gopher football is something I truly have fallen in love with. I want to see success more than anything but at what cost? We may not have a fan base by 2017
 

Any talk about this being done to build a winning program and for the players to gain confidence by beating third rate teams from second rate conferences is complete BS. Just the opposite is true. What Kill is telling his players is that they aren't good enough to compete with middle of the pack and lower BCS teams. Kill is saying the reason they can't play in those games is their lack of talent rather than his poor coaching. This is exactly the wrong message to be giving players who grew up wanting to play in big time college games on national TV rather than 11:00 am games on the Big 10 Channel.
 



I would love to hear more from Teague on how they will cover the buyout if not with booster donations, will this be another dip into the university general fund? If so, good luck Kaler with the legislature when it comes time for you to go asking for more money. It seems like more of an indictment of Kill's coaching if this is so fragile in years 3 and 4 of his tenure that they cannot handle potentially losing to UNC. If I was a big time donor, this is when I would close my checkbook because they clearly don't need the money for facility upgrades if they can afford to do this.
 

GopherLady said:
I know I missed a few points, typing as he spoke, but this is what our AD said to the media:

• This is something Coach Kill talked to me about in April. It is expensive, and it's a hit financially, but it really felt like when we talked about it, and you look at his winning formula over the years, he felt that to go after where he's going, the kids need to have confidence, and you can't take on this BCS opponent in the first few years.
• I appreciate the passion and feedback from everyone. We don't want to be over the top with the decisions we make. We haven't exactly won at the highest level of football in the last 45 years. This is going to happen occasionally, and we'll have to make tough decisions.
• I look at our books everyday, financially. We're going to work to offset these costs, to have a game here or there. This decision wasn't made overnight.
• As an athletic director, I have told people know. I have a tremendous respect for Kill, he's won everywhere he's gone. I trust him.
• You still have the Big 10 schedule, it's the toughest league in the country. You could say the SEC has won more titles lately.
• Things in the Big 10 are tough, we're building a program here. We're behind in a lot of ways at Minnesota, we've got a lot of room to make up. We have TCF Bank, it's the greatest thing in the world, but we have a lot of make-up work to do. If we want to win, we have to do some things that squeeze us.
• One thing that Jerry believes strongly in, is building confidence in his team, and with his NC opponents. I don't think you can put a value on that. We all think we know football, but these guys that coach here, know it better than all of us combined. They talk to us about things that we never even think of.
• I think that you can do a lot of things when you're playing at a high BCS level.
• We can debate, if we're playing moderate opponents.
• This is part of building a program. We'll tell donors that we'll make decisions that don't look good at times. On paper, some decisions look crazy - I can understand why you'd think this would look goofy. It doesn't always settle right with our fans. We're not going to donors and say "we're going to need 100K to pay this buyout out" we'll find a way to cover it.
• We have to sort it out (as far as off setting the costs). It's amazing the revenue you can generate, when you sell an extra 3000 tickets at a game.
• I don't want to comment on it too much - because fees for playing are still negotiable.
• Scheduling is tough. It's a hard battle and it's part of what we do. Here's the problem in college football - we schedule too far out, and programs change. Certainly, we're going to look for quality
• Jim Delany is fine with this, he is dealing with other issues right now, he certainly operates at 30,000 feet, we're lucky to have him as our commissioner.
• We thought long and hard about this. We made the decision this summer.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the summary Gopherlady. As usual, a job well done.

Now, on to the comments. What a joke. See nothing but fear and deflection in these comments. And a newsflash for Teague, the Big Ten ISN"T the toughest league in the country. In fact, it's not even close. So thanks for that bit of hollow conference cheer-leading.

Don't want to be "over the top" with decisions, but somehow forking over a small fortune to avoid playing a mediocre ACC team isn't over the top? Okay, thanks for the insight on how things will be done now and in the future.

Building a program means sometimes doing things that squeeze us? What the heck are you talking about? Does this mean you want to squeeze the quality of our non-conference schedule or squeeze our budget? Beacuse right now, you're doing a fantastic job on both fronts. I guess doing both at the same time somehow represents progress.

And to finish up, we can debate whether we're playing moderate opponents? No, you can't. You're playing crap opponents, but nice PR move by throwing the word "moderate" in there.

Bottom line Mr. Teague (and let's not forget Kill): You fail. And rather miserably may I add.
 

BleedGopher said:
This also shows that Kill does not believe that in years 3 and 4 that we'll have a team that can gain confidence by playing UNC. That is sad.

I feel like the U has more self-inflicted wounds than most, it's really frustrating.

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...

I think it's more the road game next year than the home game the following year. I think he just is a big proponent of playing as many home games as you possibly can while building a program. I question whether the PR hit of taking away this series is worth the gains of not playing it though. I mean, there is something to be said for confidence, but you also don't wanna come off like you're running from challenges, which you essentially are.

Let's just say, for Kill's sake, this better work out for the better cause he's kinda putting himself out there a little bit with this one. And honestly, to me it sounds like Teague was reluctant, but is willing to trust his coach to make the right decision. In the end, this is so miniscule in the grand scope of this program, like I said in the other thread, win enough conference games and no one will care, at least for a little while.
 




Monty519 said:
I think it's more the road game next year than the home game the following year. I think he just is a big proponent of playing as many home games as you possibly can while building a program. I question whether the PR hit of taking away this series is worth the gains of not playing it though. I mean, there is something to be said for confidence, but you also don't wanna come off like you're running from challenges, which you essentially are.

Let's just say, for Kill's sake, this better work out for the better cause he's kinda putting himself out there a little bit with this one. And honestly, to me it sounds like Teague was reluctant, but is willing to trust his coach to make the right decision. In the end, this is so miniscule in the grand scope of this program, like I said in the other thread, win enough conference games and no one will care, at least for a little while.
Click to expand...

Thank god we look like we are going to win 2-3 big ten games this year! So next year we will be so fresh and healthy that we should win 4-5 big ten games and after that our confidence will be sky high we will go undefeated for years to come in big ten play....what a joke of a theory. Glen mason had this program respectable and we still weren't winning more than 3 big ten games a year. We are to expect anything different?
 

Had really hoped the comments from NT would make me feel better about this decision. Sadly that is not the case at all. Basically you are telling your fans and team that you don't feel you can compete with BCS schools and that your players egos are so fragile that a loss to a team on a level playing field with them would crush their confidense. Far better to play a weak team so that they can feel good about themselves.

Brew had his flaws, but he used the concept of playing tough comeptition as a way to motivate his players. It was a challange a chance to prove themselves against the best. He also used it as a recruiting tool. Talk about setting the bar low.
 


Someone explain it to me because I don't get it:

How does LOSING to New Mexico State, North Dakota State, and South Dakota build confidence amongst the players?
 


GopherGod said:
I would love to hear more from Teague on how they will cover the buyout if not with booster donations, will this be another dip into the university general fund? If so, good luck Kaler with the legislature when it comes time for you to go asking for more money. It seems like more of an indictment of Kill's coaching if this is so fragile in years 3 and 4 of his tenure that they cannot handle potentially losing to UNC. If I was a big time donor, this is when I would close my checkbook because they clearly don't need the money for facility upgrades if they can afford to do this.
Click to expand...

I wonder too, but that got me to thinking more...

Let's be conservative with the assumed extra home game we'll get next year.

Let's say we continue to lose STH and only have 25,000 in '13. 25000 x $35 is $875,000 in ticket sales only from STH. Let's figure there are 4 to a car, that's 6,250 cars. Multiply that by $15 per spot for the game (some less $10...some spots more $25). That's another $93,750 only from STH.

That's a Gross of $968,750 before any $ is spent on anything else for an extra game. We likely have to pay the other team as it won't likely be a home/home.

This makes me feel as though there's not a lot of the 800k that won't be coming back. It likely makes money when you figure the travel costs saved in not making a trip to UNC.
 


They may be sincere in their philosophy of what is needed to build a winner, and one decision like this is not the end of the world, but I still think overall they would have been better off playing the games, even if they had lost rather then not going forward with this.
 

They make North Carolina sound like a top 10 opponent. North Carolina is not that good of an opponent. Using his confidence building logic, we should have been a very confident team coming out of a 4-0 start. But then we played an absolutely flat-footed half against Iowa and followed it up with a mistake filled game against NU. If anything, we might have been too big for our britches going into B1G.
 

tato2001 said:
Someone explain it to me because I don't get it:

How does LOSING to New Mexico State, North Dakota State, and South Dakota build confidence amongst the players?
Click to expand...

Excellent question!

Respect for Kill takes a major hit. This is gutless.
 

Not sure if you guys have noticed that we are not beating BCS school this year and probably won't be next year. I know we beat a Big East school but in reality they are only BCS in title only. Backing out of this game bothers me just like it did when Baylor and Iowa State did it to the Gophers years ago. Getting a winnable game on the schedule is fine by me. We beat 4 ordinary teams this year and the pulse of Gopher Nation picked up. It will again next year no matter who the team beats. The Gophers are simply not ready to beat most BCS schools when they are I am sure we will see some tougher scheduling. Non-Coference is starting to look Mason like.
 

OddStack said:
I wonder too, but that got me to thinking more...

Let's be conservative with the assumed extra home game we'll get next year.

Let's say we continue to lose STH and only have 25,000 in '13. 25000 x $35 is $875,000 in ticket sales only from STH. Let's figure there are 4 to a car, that's 6,250 cars. Multiply that by $15 per spot for the game (some less $10...some spots more $25). That's another $93,750 only from STH.

That's a Gross of $968,750 before any $ is spent on anything else for an extra game. We likely have to pay the other team as it won't likely be a home/home.

This makes me feel as though there's not a lot of the 800k that won't be coming back. It likely makes money when you figure the travel costs saved in not making a trip to UNC.
Click to expand...

Or how about we don't spend the 800k and go to UNC-it doesn't cost 800k to travel, and then after we beat them and have a solid season we have UNC return the favor and come to Minneapolis where we have momentum in the program, it sells out and we thump the tarheels and make 2-3 million on tickets and food and beer sales en route to winning the big ten title.

Ya it's a fantasy but I like it!
 

WolfontheProwl said:
Not sure if you guys have noticed that we are not beating BCS school this year and probably won't be next year. I know we beat a Big East school but in reality they are only BCS in title only. Backing out of this game bothers me just like it did when Baylor and Iowa State did it to the Gophers years ago. Getting a winnable game on the schedule is fine by me. We beat 4 ordinary teams this year and the pulse of Gopher Nation picked up. It will again next year no matter who the team beats. The Gophers are simply not ready to beat most BCS schools when they are I am sure we will see some tougher scheduling. Non-Coference is starting to look Mason like.
Click to expand...

If we can't beat teams like UNC we can't beat anyone in conference play pure and simple. *&^!#*&^!#*&^!#*&^!# down the program if that is how we are going to approach scheduling
 

OddStack said:
I wonder too, but that got me to thinking more...

Let's be conservative with the assumed extra home game we'll get next year.

Let's say we continue to lose STH and only have 25,000 in '13. 25000 x $35 is $875,000 in ticket sales only from STH. Let's figure there are 4 to a car, that's 6,250 cars. Multiply that by $15 per spot for the game (some less $10...some spots more $25). That's another $93,750 only from STH.

That's a Gross of $968,750 before any $ is spent on anything else for an extra game. We likely have to pay the other team as it won't likely be a home/home.

This makes me feel as though there's not a lot of the 800k that won't be coming back. It likely makes money when you figure the travel costs saved in not making a trip to UNC.
Click to expand...

Pretty sure that the team does get the parking revenue, that goes straight to parking and transportation services on campus. That aside in the end they won't lose much money if any on this deal. But that isn't the issue.

This decision was not made for money reasons. It was made because Jerry doesn't feel his team can compete and apparently losing to a BCS team would just crush their confidense in the non-conf season. Just pathetic and not a great way for Teague to start his tenure as AD with this chicken bleep decision.
 

"• You still have the Big 10 schedule, it's the toughest league in the country. You could say the SEC has won more titles lately."

OK, Norwood. OK.

Wonder if Jerry wants to leave the Big Ten & join the MIAC.
 

WolfontheProwl said:
Not sure if you guys have noticed that we are not beating BCS school this year and probably won't be next year. I know we beat a Big East school but in reality they are only BCS in title only. Backing out of this game bothers me just like it did when Baylor and Iowa State did it to the Gophers years ago. Getting a winnable game on the schedule is fine by me. We beat 4 ordinary teams this year and the pulse of Gopher Nation picked up. It will again next year no matter who the team beats. The Gophers are simply not ready to beat most BCS schools when they are I am sure we will see some tougher scheduling. Non-Coference is starting to look Mason like.
Click to expand...

Pulse went up because we went for 1-3 to 4-0 this year. That won't be the case next year. Next year everyone will rightly and justifiably expect 4-0 in the non-conf schedule based on the garbage there. Assuming the UNC replacement is a home game and on par with the other three non-conf opponents currently scheduled Kill and Co better make damn sure they don't lose any of those games.
 

Gopher Warrior said:
"• You still have the Big 10 schedule, it's the toughest league in the country. You could say the SEC has won more titles lately."

OK, Norwood. OK.

Wonder if Jerry wants to leave the Big Ten & join the MIAC.
Click to expand...

Haha. Yeah, playing in the Big Ten must really bug the heck out of Jerry. Then again, maybe we can find a way to buy our way out of games with Michigan, Ohio State, Nebraska and anybody else with a pulse. After all, we need to build our kids' confidence...
 

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