Brewster was about gimmicks by changing offenses. More like let's try this let's try that. Fleck has a plan underneath which is about recruiting guys who match the process and working the process to make improvements. Like all the vocab words and acronyms, he's got a whole learning plan set out in advance for the team.
Brewster is like a teacher who just shows up and yells "you're going to get straight A's" throws out textbooks to the kids, and then just changes text books each year. PJ seems more of the type who wrote his own workbook and is going to have them read it, read them it, then make them watch it on video and only recruit kids who are begging to see the workbooks.
Oh Brewster had a plan. He thought he could get all the "speed guys" he wanted to come-up here. Gonna run a pass happy attack and on defense was gonna throw speed at them. Kind of Joe Tiller light. Didn't really care if most of the local kids wanted to come to the U or not.
He thought he was going to able to recruit them up here the way he did at North Carolina and Texas. He got a small number of them (Skyline Five?) after that disastrous first season. He sold some of those kids on getting immediate playing time. Probably why he wasn't as concerned with his record as everybody else was. Then some of his Assistants started to look elsewhere. Mason told everybody that the Gophers were going to have to rebuild and people ripped him for it. Injuries particularly to their running game and on defense, made that rebuilding year into a horrible one for Brewster.
That throw-first Offense started working for him in his 2nd season, but injuries exposed the lack of depth. Both on offense and defense.
After that Brewster gave-up on his plan to recruit Southern players up here. He decided that the only way he could win was going the Wisconsin route. Get the big, beefy local boys and grind it out. But by then it was way to late. Heard that local H.S. Coaches who were blown-off earlier weren't real happy to see him. Some of his Assistants had good runs in the college game but that was at other schools not here.
Brewster recovered and went on to be a successful assistant himself at Mississippi State and Florida State.
When he was at Mississippi State, someone asked him about recruiting to Starkville. He laughed a little and said that it was easier for him to recruit there than it was up in Minnesota.
Gopher fans online ripped him for saying that, but for him it was absolutely the truth. He rightly gets criticized for his lack of Head Coaching experience, but it was his vastly misplaced confidence in his ability to get players from the old Confederate states to head to Minnesota that did him in. Sure they bought into Brewster at UNC and TX, but they bought into the school first and foremost.
Fleck certainly isn't Brewster. Fleck can coach. He's proven that, and he's not gonna waste a lot of time trying to out recruit Texas, A&M, UNC or Clemson for guys that they want. P.J. is also coming after a 9-4 season, and previous seasons of 6-7, 8-5 and 8-5.
Despite the few voices that keep telling people that it's gonna be another "rebuilding "year, Fleck isn't gonna let this season devolve into a 4-8 or 5-7 season let alone a 1-11 one.
He's not Brewster.
