Quiet before the announement

[gophermartin]

Maybe the next 2 weeks will be relatively quiet ahead of a presumed announcement the 1st full or partial week of Dec for our new coach. As the team goes deep cover in selecting someone.

It would a refreshing change over the Edsall, Kill, Sumlin, Hoke or Bowden rumors that have been going on lately.

I would be ok with Hoke BTW....he really seems to coach his guys up. Great perf against a much better TCU H-Frog team.

Still pulling for Jim H.

GM

 

[gophmeister]

I read Tom Deinhart's chat replay and he said the search Maturi is having a hard time getting any interest from the big name candidates. He said Indiana will probably snatch up Hoke or someone comparable. I cannot believe we're interested in Bowden. If we pass on people like Hoke or Leach and go with Bowden we'll live to regret it.

 

[gophergrad]

I read Tom Deinhart's chat replay and he said the search Maturi is having a hard time getting any interest from the big name candidates.

See Maturi. This is why you don't promise the Moon until you've figured out if the Moon is interested.

 

[gophermartin]

Interesting....i would think the facilities and clean slate would be attractive. Hope he is wrong...but maybe Tom D is right. If he is..that may mean we need to overpay for a coach by some amount. They can't afford to not have the place packed with season tickets.

No thanks on Terry B. His teams didn't get better or even stay as good.

GM

 

[misplaced cornerback]

See Maturi. This is why you don't promise the Moon until you've figured out if the Moon is interested.

He actually didn't promise the moon. His quote when prompted by a question

"...I've asked Tubby Smith if he wanted to coach football, but he's declined, but we're out here to find a Tubby Smith. We're out here to find somebody that people can recognize, people have confidence in, and people are going to bring instant credibility and notoriety to the football program.

That is my goal. Whether there is that interest, remains to be seen, but I'm excited about the time line that we have."

If people want to sling arrows because Maturi tried to get a top tier HC, so be it. But he didn't promise, just showed a commitment to trying.

As far as Dienhart goes - I have no idea what he knows. He was wrong on our which firm we retained for the search and when we retained them. I'm not certain anyone knows much of anything right now.

 

[The 12th Man]

Interesting....i would think the facilities and clean slate would be attractive. Hope he is wrong...but maybe Tom D is right. If he is..that may mean we need to overpay for a coach by some amount. They can't afford to not have the place packed with season tickets.

No thanks on Terry B. His teams didn't get better or even stay as good.

GM

1983 Salem 3–7
1984 Salem 8–3
1985 Salem 8–3

Samford Bulldogs (Independent) (1987–1992)
1987 Samford 9–1
1988 Samford 5–6
1989 Samford 4–7
1990 Samford 6–4–1
1991 Samford 12–2 NCAA Division I-AA Semifinal
1992 Samford 9–3 NCAA Division I-AA First Round

Auburn Tigers (Southeastern Conference) (1993–1998)
1993 Auburn 11–0 8–0 1st (West)‡ ‡ ‡ 4
1994 Auburn 9–1–1 6–1–1 2nd (West)‡ ‡ ‡ 9
1995 Auburn 8–4 5–3 2nd (West) L Outback 21 22
1996 Auburn 8–4 4–4 3rd (West) W Independence 25 24
1997 Auburn 10–3 6–2 T–1st (West) W Peach 11 11
1998 Auburn 1–5* 1–4* 6th (West)

North Alabama (Gulf South Conference) (2009–present)
2009 North Alabama 11–2 8–1 1st NCAA Division II Quarterfinal
2010 North Alabama 6–1 3–1

His teams sometimes got better and sometimes stayed as good. The 1998 Auburn season was, as discussed in previous threads, predicated by things other than wins and losses. You don't have to like Terry Bowden, but his record as a head coach is pretty good.

 

[husker70]

Bowden is the only candidate who has built a team, taken it to the top. Has coached an undefeated team, ok it was in the South East Conference. If we get him, everything will change. We will win instantly.

 

[Duluthguy]

First, let's remember Maturi did not promise the moon. He said we might even end up with a lower division coach or coordinator.

Secondly, there's absolutely no reason to believe Dienhart knows squat about the search.

Despite the fact that half of this board panics whenever some media type pretends he knows what he's talking about, so far Maturi is doing a very good job of keeping everything quiet. That's very important right now if we are going after an active coach - espcially a good one. One slip to the press and he might be gone.

 

[CentralGopher]

I read Tom Deinhart's chat replay and he said the search Maturi is having a hard time getting any interest from the big name candidates. He said Indiana will probably snatch up Hoke or someone comparable. I cannot believe we're interested in Bowden. If we pass on people like Hoke or Leach and go with Bowden we'll live to regret it.

Maybe it is just my opinion but I can't see why anyone would be more interested in coaching Indiana over Minnesota. Anybody have an idea why Indiana would be a more desireable job? In a year where it couldn't get much worse the gophers still have a better conference record than Indiana. I heard many times before the season and early in the season how good Indiana was and yet they seem to be as bad as they have always been. I just don't see how any coach would rather coach there than here.

 

[Silvio]

Bowden is the only candidate who has built a team, taken it to the top. Has coached an undefeated team, ok it was in the South East Conference. If we get him, everything will change. We will win instantly.

He could get advice from his father, unless it was Terry who make those 5 dadgum charges at Miss Priss's Cat Emporium.

 

[gophermartin]

Bowden is the only candidate who has built a team, taken it to the top. Has coached an undefeated team, ok it was in the South East Conference. If we get him, everything will change. We will win instantly.

What did he build there other cleaning up the program? Certainly worse names out there....just not convinced he is better than Frank Solich or Larry Coker (ok maybe anyone is better than Larry).

GM

 

[Silvio]

Maybe it is just my opinion but I can't see why anyone would be more interested in coaching Indiana over Minnesota. Anybody have an idea why Indiana would be a more desireable job? In a year where it couldn't get much worse the gophers still have a better conference record than Indiana. I heard many times before the season and early in the season how good Indiana was and yet they seem to be as bad as they have always been. I just don't see how any coach would rather coach there than here.

I think people were optimistic on Indiana this year because they had some offensive passing fire power and that would steal them a BigTen game or two. However their defense is terrible and for the second year in a row they let Iowa off the hook.

 

[Silvio]

What did he build there other cleaning up the program? Certainly worse names out there....just not convinced he is better than Frank Solich or Larry Coker (ok maybe anyone is better than Larry).

GM

I think a lot of high school coaches could have lead Coker's first two teams to National Titles, they were that loaded with talent.

 

[CentralGopher]

I think people were optimistic on Indiana this year because they had some offensive passing fire power and that would steal them a BigTen game or two. However their defense is terrible and for the second year in a row they let Iowa off the hook.

So that still doesn't explain to me why Indiana would be a more desireable job than Minnesota. They have been to one bowl game since 1993. Not saying the gophers are a powerhouse but most years we have been respectable in the past 10 years.

 

[gophergrad]

I know this has been discussed ad nauseum here so I'll be brief.

It's the kind of situation where he should have given a boring answer about doing his due diligence, he got specific and is behind the 8 ball. He's since tried to walk the quote back talking about ending up with a lower division coach or coordinator, but no one is going to remember that, everyone's going to remember him talking about finding a Tubby Smith.

I've got no problem with raising expectations or going after top tier coaches, in fact I expect him to. But in typical Maturi fashion he screwed it up and whoever we get now will be compared immediately to Tubby Smith, fairly or un fairly.

 

[Silvio]

So that still doesn't explain to me why Indiana would be a more desireable job than Minnesota. They have been to one bowl game since 1993. Not saying the gophers are a powerhouse but most years we have been respectable in the past 10 years.

I agree, I was just telling you why people thought Indiana might be good. I think a lot of people thought that program was trending the right way and this may have been a break out year for them. It wasn't, but they did look good in their non conference games.

 

[Seany]

Maybe it is just my opinion but I can't see why anyone would be more interested in coaching Indiana over Minnesota. Anybody have an idea why Indiana would be a more desireable job? In a year where it couldn't get much worse the gophers still have a better conference record than Indiana. I heard many times before the season and early in the season how good Indiana was and yet they seem to be as bad as they have always been. I just don't see how any coach would rather coach there than here.

I don't think that Indiana is considered to be more desirable, especially given our new stadium. TCF Stadium in my opinion is a game-changer that should and would easily vault us over a program like Indiana's so far as desirability goes, and beyond that with the type of money we supposedly may be willing to dish out for the 'right guy' (2.5M), I would consider the Gophers job to be well above Indiana's and I'm not sure that anyone would disagree with that.

 

[BleedGopher]

I read Tom Deinhart's chat replay and he said the search Maturi is having a hard time getting any interest from the big name candidates. He said Indiana will probably snatch up Hoke or someone comparable. I cannot believe we're interested in Bowden. If we pass on people like Hoke or Leach and go with Bowden we'll live to regret it.

It's Maturi's word vs. Deinhart's word as Maturi was quoted last week in the STrib saying that we are getting great interest in our job including one name that even he was surprised was showing interest.

Maturi has raised the bar with his continued comments (this last one is a few weeks after the Tubby comment, so he's had plenty of time to consider toning it down, but he didn't). So if surprising names are interested in our job, it's Joel's job to put a package and sales job together to finish the deal.

Go Gophers!!

 

[howeda7]

I don't think that Indiana is considered to be more desirable, especially given our new stadium. TCF Stadium in my opinion is a game-changer that should and would easily vault us over a program like Indiana's so far as desirability goes, and beyond that with the type of money we supposedly may be willing to dish out for the 'right guy' (2.5M), I would consider the Gophers job to be well above Indiana's and I'm not sure that anyone would disagree with that.

Minnesota was a better job then Indiana in the Metrodome. It certainly is now. Small stadium. Poor fan-base that only cares about basketball. It's so bad they're playing a 'home' game against PSU this week at FedEx Field. Gee, I wonder who'll have the crowd there. That would be like MN playing a 'home' game with Wisconsin at Lambeau. Pathetic. There's zero reason anyone would take the Indiana job over MN unless it was personal.

 

[2727Gopher]

Minnesota was a better job then Indiana in the Metrodome. It certainly is now. Small stadium. Poor fan-base that only cares about basketball. It's so bad they're playing a 'home' game against PSU this week at FedEx Field. Gee, I wonder who'll have the crowd there. That would be like MN playing a 'home' game with Wisconsin at Lambeau. Pathetic. There's zero reason anyone would take the Indiana job over MN unless it was personal.

Yes, moving that game to Maryland is the ultimate example of how Indiana is BY FAR the worst job in the conference. I can't see any other school being willing to move a home game out of state to make a few extra bucks. In fact, the Big Ten should not have allowed Indiana to do that with a conference game - it sets a terrible precedent and it gives Penn State a HUGE advantage because they have 4 home games, 1 virtual home game and 3 road games this year. Fortunately, PSU isn't good enough to take advantage of it this year.

 

[Seany]

Minnesota was a better job then Indiana in the Metrodome. It certainly is now. Small stadium. Poor fan-base that only cares about basketball. It's so bad they're playing a 'home' game against PSU this week at FedEx Field. Gee, I wonder who'll have the crowd there. That would be like MN playing a 'home' game with Wisconsin at Lambeau. Pathetic. There's zero reason anyone would take the Indiana job over MN unless it was personal.

Yep, I agree with you. As relatively bad as things have been for Gophers football for what seems like forever, they've been even worse at Indiana. I kind of feel badly for that team and their long-suffering fans because of that, but the good thing is, Indiana football actually makes me feel fortunate to be a Gophers fan, cause there is no question but that we've got it better than them, no matter how crummy things can seem around here at times.

 

[Silvio]

Yep, I agree with you. As relatively bad as things have been for Gophers football for what seems like forever, they've been even worse at Indiana. I kind of feel badly for that team and their long-suffering fans because of that, but the good thing is, Indiana football actually makes me feel fortunate to be a Gophers fan, cause there is no question but that we've got it better than them, no matter how crummy things can seem around here at times.

The one advantage that Indiana would have would be relatively no pressure to win. The next coach will have to elevate the Gophers to a level past were Mason had them. That isn't terribly high, but will prove more challenging (IMO) with the new conference structure.