Patterson was never coming here. He would have been the best candidate, but there was no way we had the money to land him.
Hard to know what is legitimate and what isn't in the rumor mill, but if Brewster gets an offer, he'll take it. Gopher head football coach is a really tough job. The only two years when there was genuine excitement regarding the team in the last 30+ years is when Holtz was here. Brewster comes in and, admittedly he was an unknown quantity, tries the same "get 'em excited" approach and is met with derision and scorn.
Further, I don't sense the institutional support is all that strong for the football program. Sure, we got the new stadium, but I don't sense it has made the Gophers either a hotter ticket or something that the average fan is even going to consider. People can come with the old "win and they'll come," but that's a lame excuse. Mason actually won at a reasonable clip and although the team was playing in a mausoleum, the only time the Metrodome filled up was for Wisconsin and Iowa and only then because the visitors knew there were plenty of seats available.
A major college football team should be able to pack 50,000 plus into a stadium in a market this size. There's no excuse that it doesn't.
Brewster is a better coach then when he got here, but his first season was pretty rough so the bar was low. But in Minnesota, the coach has to be both coach and promoter. The reason Mason isn't here anymore is because he failed so miserably at the latter. I think Brewster realizes this job is a graveyard.