Progress

[ncgo4]

I am pleased with our progress under Brewster (spelled correctly this time, I turned off spell check that thought I meant Brewer). Considering what we did when we got him.

We went low (but not on the cheap) when we hired Coach B. Not because Joel wanted it that way, I'm sure, but because Minnesota boosters don't put the same kinds of $$$ into the football program that Tennessee, Texas, etc. do with their huge stadiums and rabid boosters. Let's face it, we were not in the running for a Coach Saben or Spurrier. Given the compromises he had to make Maturi chose a proven recruiter and someone with the energy level to sell the program. The hope, I believe, was that he would learn to be a good D-1 coach. We did the same basic thing when we hired a new OC. Great potential but short experience.

How has it worked out? Pretty well. Coach B's proven to be the best recruiter we've ever had (in my opinion even better than Holtz). He has certainly sold the program. In the beginning he over sold, but seems to have learned to ratchet his silly energy back into control.

As a coach he's learning well. First of all he was well prepared under his previous coaches. Secondly, he's smart and is willing to make tough decisions as shown by his OC decision last year and the suspensions this year. Is it a proven that he'll be the next Joe Pa? Not yet. But if we toss him out we are right back where we were and may not come away with even a good recruiter. Let's face it, Minnesota is not going to spend SEC money for a proven coach.

I say we all calm down a bit and enjoy the progress we are making. The team this year is a whole lot better than last year's, even if we fail, say by one, to equal last year's W-L record. We have another real good recruiting class coming in and the program is clearly moving in the right direction.

Are there mistakes? Sure. But they are getting fewer and fewer and the team is looking better and better.

All, of course, IMHO.

 

[Rotundo]

OK. Progress? Learning well? Working out well? Do you attend games? How many Big Ten wins have you seen?

I just don't get this idea of progress. From what starting point? I don't want to fire him because I know how tough that will be but I want to understand this notion that progress is being made. Please point out the progress.

 

[ncgo4]

We're 3-2 against a much tougher schedule than we've faced in years. In both of the losses we were in the game until the end. We've got depth that has kept us from getting blown away when we've had injuries or suspensions. The defense has proven to be significantly improved over any D that Mason put on the field, and I'm not a Mason basher. We are clearly in the middle of the B10 now and that's an historic improvement. Again, all IMHO.

Am I satisfied? No. We've got a long way to go, but I see real progress.

 

[Schnoodler]

Rotundo you're welcome to your opinion. You don't beat teams until you're better than them unless you get lucky. Even if you're improved. If you haven't gotten over that hump you're still at a disadvantage even though the gap has closed.

You have to be able to look deeper than the record. Maybe you don't see it, but clearly we've improved our athleticism and depth. The teams conditioning and strength has improved as well. I'm sorry you don't see it. If you could you could still find enjoyment in the journey. You'd still be excited for the future.

 

[Go Gophers Rah]

We live in a world where people seemed to fe forced to take an extreme position. Either you are a "kool-aid drinker" or are a "masonite." I, for one, am somewhere in the middle.

I'm not going to talk much about Mason (because he is past history), except to say that his recruiting was routinely ranked in the high 50's to mid 60's by rivals. On the plus side, he picked up a few diamonds in the rough (Eslinger, Spaeth, Decker, etc.). Revisionist history says that the fans were never happy with him. In reality, he was considered a savior until the Michigan Meltdown in 2003 (7 years into his tenure) and even after that, people weren't really calling for his job until late 2005.

With Brewster, no-one can deny that he has lured in better talent - although I wish more of them actually panned out for us. No one can deny that he brings an energy to the program. Unfortunately, no-one can deny that he has yet to beat a Big Ten team with a winning conference record.

Mason was fired for 4 reasons in my mind:
1) Failure to finish higher than #4 in the conference;
2) Failure to ascend beyond the Sun Bowl/Music City Bowl/Insight Bowl;
3) Embarrasing lapses in good playing/playcalling (epitomized by the 2006 Insight Bowl);
4) A personality that tended to blame everyone other than himself for the above.

I give Brewster credit on #4. He doesn't make excuses and when he sees a problem he implements an attempt at a solution. Regarding #3 above - I can live with 1 Iowa-type performance every few years, so that means we shouldn't get a beatdown like that this year or next. Regarding #1 and #2, I'll give him until at least the end of next year to achieve those.

We are still in a very good position this year if we win the games we're supposed to (Purdue, Illinois and South Dakota State and maybe Michigan State) and pull out an upset in the Ohio State, Penn State or Iowa game. If we did that, 2010 would be just as good as anything Mason accomplished in his tenure. That should tell us that Maturi made a good hire.

 

[NewEngland_Gold]

On the issue of "progress"...here's my qualitative take on year-to-year trends from afar:

Brew-dom Years.............2008 vs 2007......2009(to date) vs 2008

W/L Record....................+++..................-............
Schedule Difficulty...........0.....................+++........
Talent Level....................+.....................+............
Team Work Ethic.............+++.................+++.........
Program Enthusiasm.........+.....................+++........
Recruiting Results............++...................+(?).........
Offensive Performance......+.....................0............
Defensive Performance......+.....................+...........
STs Performance..............+....................+++........
Coaching/Offense.............0....................+............
Coaching/Defense............++...................0(?)........
Coaching/ST...................+.....................++..........
Coaching/Head................++...................+(?)........
U/State Facilites/Support..+++.................+++++....
Alumni Support................+.....................+++++.....
Fan Support/Interest.........+.....................+++++.....
National Attention/TV etc..+.....................++++.......

Clearly, I'm not in the camp that measures program progress by simply one metric, but obviously some metrics have larger weighting and importance to the overall success of the program than others. Individual GHers will certainly have strong opinions on how important each of these metrics (and perhaps others not listed) are to their personal assessment of GG fb and its future outlook.

Seems to me a lot more "qualitative pluses" in the most recent comparative years means a fair amount of real world "progress" in absolute terms. However, I realize all of this progress is coming from a modest level and must also be measured relative to the GGs BT opponents. Most of them are not "sitting on their hands" waiting for Minny to improve and overcome their "progress"...that makes the climb up Mount BT quite daunting.

Maybe local GHers closer to the action might have a more informed view!

 

[Maximus]

29 games into the Brew Crew regime, the signature win is over a 5 win Illinois team in 2008.

5 games into the Steve Sarkasian regime, the signature win for an 0-12 team is over No. 3 USC.

I see progress on the depth chart. I don't see much progress on the field.

 

[WAGopher]

29 games into the Brew Crew regime, the signature win is over a 5 win Illinois team in 2008.

5 games into the Steve Sarkasian regime, the signature win for an 0-12 team is over No. 3 USC.

I see progress on the depth chart. I don't see much progress on the field.

I follow the Huskies and the situations were completely different. First, second and third, the Huskies have much more talent on both sides of the ball than the 2007 Gophers. We still don't have the talent the Huskies do, but we're getting there. Steve is turning out to be a good coach with other quality coaches wanting to work for him, the players love him and his staff can put together and execute a good game plan.

 

[gopherrising]

Maximus - Washington lost there QB last year in game 1 or 2, he is healthy this year and is easily one of the top 2 in the Pac Ten and will be a early NFL pick. Not even close to a good comparison.

 

[dpodoll68]

29 games into the Brew Crew regime, the signature win is over a 5 win Illinois team in 2008.

5 games into the Steve Sarkasian regime, the signature win for an 0-12 team is over No. 3 USC.

I see progress on the depth chart. I don't see much progress on the field.

Taking the exception and holding it up as the rule. Ialwayslovethatone.

There is one reason that Washington was 0-12 in 2008: Jake Locker got hurt. Period. Yes, he is that good of a player that he is the difference between a bowl team and a winless squad.

And USC has shown, four straight years running, that they always lose to a conference opponent that has no business beating them. This year, it was Washington. So what?

I bet Wisconsin wishes it would've fired Barry Alvarez after he went 11-22 his first three years at Madison. Or the same for Ferentz after he went 11-24 his first three seasons. Or Mack Brown at UNC (8-24-1). Or Mark Mangino at Kansas (12-24). Or Bill Snyder at Kansas St. (13-20). I could keep going for quite some time, but I think you get the point. Brewster will likely be 14-24 or 15-23 after this season, so by your (asinine) logic, he will be a better coach than all of them.

Of course, there are always coaches like Urban Meyer, who has never won fewer than 8 games in a season (despite coaching at 2 low-level schools) and has a career record of 87-17. By the Meyer standard, Brewster is a failure. But, then again, if you are expecting Tim Brewster to be Urban Meyer, you are an idiot.

 

[RedPoo]

29 games into the Brew Crew regime, the signature win is over a 5 win Illinois team in 2008.

5 games into the Steve Sarkasian regime, the signature win for an 0-12 team is over No. 3 USC.

I see progress on the depth chart. I don't see much progress on the field.

From the point of view of a big fan of what Brewster's done so far, I agree. The progress we're making is in the depth chart, and in the character of the team (we're seeing a lot of games where past Gopher teams would have collapsed on themselves that this team continues fighting, especially these last two Wisconsin games). Not as much in the box scores and record. And that's frustrating, but it's not the end of the world.

This is where lasting progress starts. Where Mason piled all his talent into a few key positions and pulled out some games with one dramatic strength (running) against teams that were more talented, Brewster is building up strength across the board. This is how you get to sustained success. I don't know if it will pan out, but I take a lot of solace in the fact that right now we have young, promising players all over the field that we can look forward to developing, and a system where they could become game changers.

Maybe, in a year or two, we'll start getting great contributions from these young quarterbacks. Or linebackers. Or receivers. And maybe one or two of them will become the identity of the team and we can pull out some games and pull an Illinois/Northwestern/Wisconsin and sneak our way into a Rose Bowl.
But maybe, if we're lucky, ALL of these players (i.e. Grey, Cooper, Carpenter, Green, Carufel, Alipate, et al) will pan out. And if they do, they'll be in a system where their strengths will make a difference in the game (i.e. not in a one-dimensional offense, or on a defense so devoid of talent that the great players can't support the rest of the squad) and we'll actually BE one of the best teams in the Big Ten. That's the kind of success a team can sustain, and that's exactly what Brewster brings, and what we haven't had in the past.

 

[Art Vandelay]

Progress???? (in a Jim Mora like voice)

I guess progress is defined by an 0-5 record vs. your closest rivals, including a 55-0 debacle AT HOME. Unlike most folks, I'm not going to count Michigan as a rival because it's not a rivalry with them anymore. When you beat a team only once in like 25 years, they are not a rival. Pretty soon, Wisconsin won't be a rival anymore for the same reason. Depth and recruiting are nice and could lead to progress, but I don't see a cloumn in the standings for "depth" nor do I see teams get New Year's Day bowl bids simply because of their recruitng. At the end of the day, the only measurement most fans (except some here) care about is wins and losses.

Is the defense improving? Hardly.

2008 Defense: 24.8 ppg and 383 ypg (3 opponents held under 10 points) 7-6 record
2009 Defense: 24.6 ppg and 377 ypg, 3-2 record

Almost identical numbers but I guess 0.2 ppg and 6 ypg is progress to some

 

[RedPoo]

I guess progress is defined by an 0-5 record vs. your closest rivals, including a 55-0 debacle AT HOME. Unlike most folks, I'm not going to count Michigan as a rival because it's not a rivalry with them anymore. When you beat a team only once in like 25 years, they are not a rival. Pretty soon, Wisconsin won't be a rival anymore for the same reason. Depth and recruiting are nice and could lead to progress, but I don't see a cloumn in the standings for "depth" nor do I see teams get New Year's Day bowl bids simply because of their recruitng. At the end of the day, the only measurement most fans (except some here) care about is wins and losses.

Is the defense improving? Hardly.

2008 Defense: 24.8 ppg and 383 ypg (3 opponents held under 10 points) 7-6 record
2009 Defense: 24.6 ppg and 377 ypg, 3-2 record

Almost identical numbers but I guess 0.2 ppg and 6 ypg is progress to some

If on the field results are all that matters, why come here to talk about the team? Just watch the games on TV on Saturdays, and be pleasantly surprised when we develop some shiny 'new' rivalries in 2010-11 and into the future.

 

[Iceland12]

29 games into the Brew Crew regime, the signature win is over a 5 win Illinois team in 2008.

5 games into the Steve Sarkasian regime, the signature win for an 0-12 team is over No. 3 USC.

I see progress on the depth chart. I don't see much progress on the field.

Maximus;

I don't disagree with you often and you're certainly right about the degree difference in those to wins. The talent level difference in what Willingham left Sarkasian and what Brewster inherited is light years apart. The number of injured players alone coming back this year put Sarkasian is a very fine position. Hell, the QB ALONE could be worth 7 wins this year!

Yeah, that's an exaggeration but not a very big one and yep, Brewster has been able to add an extra year of players too.

The only real sign of progress in this Gopher team is one I can't quantify. I no longer have the enveloping sense of impending doom that I've had in the past anytime the Gophers fall behind on the scoreboard.

It certainly seemed as if nearly everyone picked this team to get 6 -8 wins. If you read this board many people must have had the impression that along with THE AXE a victory over Wisconsin was going to count for at least FIVE wins!