Rate and rank our Head Coaches

Donate To GopherHole
Fleck- I've never been more excited for.the program as I am now

Kill- inherited a **** pile, Was able to give gopher fans hope.

Mason- beat some.of the B1G best during his tenture, however... that Michigan game still irks me

Doesn't matter from late 70s till mason... Holtz was the exception. Wish he would of stayed but he was a cheater, then again... just win baby
 

Ski U Master said:
I'm genuinely curious why Kill is the only person in the world that would've gotten the facilities done. Would Fleck not be able to glad hand enough to help kick-off a major capital project? I think a little too much credit is being given for that effort, not that is wasn't great work but that it is a differentiator between coaches.
Click to expand...

Because Jerry Kill is a relentless bulldog. His personality will not rest until the task is accomplished. All the rest of the people accepted no for an answer. Obviously, there was a lot of resistance or unwillingness from administration or it would have happened years ago. Fleck surely is capable of glad handling people as was Brewster.

The difference is most people say I wanna keep my job, I'm not going to continue down this path and tick my bosses off by constantly coming into their office telling them what I need. Jerry put the blinders on and kept coming at them. Not many people are willing to do that. He generated the momentum and then dragged everybody along to get it off the ground.

For instance, Fleck said he was going to expand TCF. How much progress have you heard on that? All the coaches work hard. Not many are willing to make waves with their bosses. They wanna protect their salaries.
As a coach there is lot you ask administration for ... equipment, travel arrangements, support personnel, food, etc To add facilities on top of the things you feel are essential, it's pretty easy to take what you can get and fight instead for meal money for your team or whatever is an immediate critical need in your eyes.
 

Let me put in a word for John Gutekunst. Little-known fact, but his first game as head coach was the Independence Bowl (after Holtz bolted), and he won.
Gutey generally had competitive teams - in an era when the Gophers played much stronger non-conference opponents. He went 5-3 in the B1G twice and 4-4 another season (with 11 game schedules). If the Gophs had played cupcake non-conf schedules, he could have had a much better overall record. Also remember, that was the era of fewer bowl games. In today's expanded bowl universe, Gutey would have gone to bowl games in 4 of his 6 full-time seasons.

I know the overall record wasn't great, but as I said, I remember those teams as tough and competitive.

And - in trophy games: '86 won Axe and Jug. '87 won Axe. '89 Won Axe and Pig. '90 won Axe and Pig. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
 

If you are taking Fleck that seriously that you expect him to expand the stadium to 70-80k anytime soon, I don't know what to tell you.
If that would ever happen, it would be 15 years out at the soonest.



Regarding Gutey... No one took more excitement out of a program than what Gutey was able to do.


In his last season, after their opening win against San Jose St., they spent the next 10 games scoring a total of 78 points for the remainder of the season.

That lack of scoring led to Wacker-ball.
 



short ornery norwegian said:
Let me put in a word for John Gutekunst. Little-known fact, but his first game as head coach was the Independence Bowl (after Holtz bolted), and he won.
Gutey generally had competitive teams - in an era when the Gophers played much stronger non-conference opponents. He went 5-3 in the B1G twice and 4-4 another season (with 11 game schedules). If the Gophs had played cupcake non-conf schedules, he could have had a much better overall record. Also remember, that was the era of fewer bowl games. In today's expanded bowl universe, Gutey would have gone to bowl games in 4 of his 6 full-time seasons.

I know the overall record wasn't great, but as I said, I remember those teams as tough and competitive.

And - in trophy games: '86 won Axe and Jug. '87 won Axe. '89 Won Axe and Pig. '90 won Axe and Pig. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
Click to expand...

Those Axe wins don't count. College football only began in 1993. Or so I heard in Wisconsin.
 

1- Bierman
2- Warmath
3- Holtz
4- Fleck
5- Stoll
6- Kill
7- Mason
8- Salem
9- Claeys
10- Horton
11- Wacker
12- Brewster
13- Gutekunst
 

Halsey Hall said:
1- Bierman
2- Warmath
3- Holtz
4- Fleck
5- Stoll
6- Kill
7- Mason
8- Salem
9- Claeys
10- Horton
11- Wacker
12- Brewster
13- Gutekunst
Click to expand...

Whattya got there? It's not alphabetical, not chronological, and not by wins or losses. If it was by weight Claeys is too low or too high. If it is by height, I think Fleck might be #2? Least hair is the best I can do... Gutekunst might of had the most...not sure. Whattya got there?
 

Surprising how well Holtz is regarded.

Guy had a losing record and barely lasted two years.

(and was a cheater).


Holtz is probably the #1 reason we as fans are always paranoid about the coach leaving. That's weighed over some of us for 30 years now.

Do we like him that much more because we perceived him as being that good because he went somewhere else? Or for the two years he spent here?
 



I think people overrate how much Kill had to do with upgrading our facilities.

It's like saying we'd never had gotten a stadium if it weren't for Glen Mason.

Or we never would have gotten an athletic village if it weren't for Norwood Teague or Beth Goetz as AD. (Pick whichever AD you want to give the credit to).
 

Halsey Hall said:
1- Bierman
2- Warmath
3- Holtz
4- Fleck
5- Stoll
6- Kill
7- Mason
8- Salem
9- Claeys
10- Horton
11- Wacker
12- Brewster
13- Gutekunst
Click to expand...

Not a bad ranking of coaches. I would probably put Salem a little lower, but the rest look good. There were some painful years in there. If social media was around in the Gutekunst days, it wouldn't be pretty.
 

West Fargo Gopher Fan said:
Nobody is saying he is the only one that could have gotten it done. Just that he is the one who did.

There is no right or wrong answer here. Opinions are subjective.
Click to expand...

But then that shouldn't differentiate one coach from another and be used as criteria for ranking them. The facilities upgrade was going to be done at some point regardless.
 

I can't believe more people do not have Claeys #1. How quickly we forget he WON 9 GAMES last year! 9 GAMES!! 9!!! :rolleyes:
 



One of the things I find really comical in this thread is the comparison or ranking of Brewster under Wacker. I will give you that Brewster took the program south, but Wackers teams were awful. In 5 years he won 8 Big 10 games and never won more than 4 games total. Brewster at least got to 6-6 twice.

I mean, the big selling point of the Ball State game was the punter trying to hit the ceiling, and I believe that was the season opener. That is just flat out sad. It was bad under Brewster, but Wacker was catonic.
 

grumps said:
I think people overrate how much Kill had to do with upgrading our facilities.

It's like saying we'd never had gotten a stadium if it weren't for Glen Mason.

Or we never would have gotten an athletic village if it weren't for Norwood Teague or Beth Goetz as AD. (Pick whichever AD you want to give the credit to).
Click to expand...

Overrate, exaggerate and completely make up how much Kill had to do with the new facilities getting built.
 

gotomn said:
One of the things I find really comical in this thread is the comparison or ranking of Brewster under Wacker. I will give you that Brewster took the program south, but Wackers teams were awful. In 5 years he won 8 Big 10 games and never won more than 4 games total. Brewster at least got to 6-6 twice.

I mean, the big selling point of the Ball State game was the punter trying to hit the ceiling, and I believe that was the season opener. That is just flat out sad. It was bad under Brewster, but Wacker was catonic.
Click to expand...

Wacker had the best culture. Coyle would love that...
 

grumps said:
I think people overrate how much Kill had to do with upgrading our facilities.

It's like saying we'd never had gotten a stadium if it weren't for Glen Mason.

Or we never would have gotten an athletic village if it weren't for Norwood Teague or Beth Goetz as AD. (Pick whichever AD you want to give the credit to).
Click to expand...

I don't disagree on Kill but I highly disagree on Mason. There was ZERO thought of a new stadium for the U before Mason. He was the one that brought it front and center. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the Gophers would now be playing in US Bank Stadium or in a common stadium on campus that still somehow absolutely did not work for the Gophers had it not been for Mason. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if they owned the Dome and the Vikes built US Bank stadium elsewhere. I highly doubt they have their own on campus stadium had it not been for Glen Mason.

I am not a Mason apologist at all, but that is one thing I will credit him for all day long.
 

BleedGopher said:
I rated them:

Fleck
Mason
Kill
Claeys
Horton
Brewster

Go Gophers!!
Click to expand...

I don't agree with counting Horton, and Fleck it's way too early to say yet. Of the remainder, I think this list is reasonable.
 

gotomn said:
One of the things I find really comical in this thread is the comparison or ranking of Brewster under Wacker. I will give you that Brewster took the program south, but Wackers teams were awful. In 5 years he won 8 Big 10 games and never won more than 4 games total. Brewster at least got to 6-6 twice.

I mean, the big selling point of the Ball State game was the punter trying to hit the ceiling, and I believe that was the season opener. That is just flat out sad. It was bad under Brewster, but Wacker was catonic.
Click to expand...

Beating Wisconsin in Madison one year and crushing their national title hopes in another matter.
 

bemidjigopher said:
Beating Wisconsin in Madison one year and crushing their national title hopes in another matter.
Click to expand...

As much as I like to think the Gophers killed their chance for a National Championship I don't think it would have happened even if they won that game. They were ranked well behind FSU and Notre Dame (not to mention Nebraska and Auburn who both ended the regular season unbeaten) at that point, would have stayed behind them for the next couple weeks, then the week of 11/13 when FSU lost to Notre Dame, Wisconsin had a bye week which wouldn't have helped them jump FSU. Both had cupcakes the following week, then WI beat #25 MI State where FSU beat #7 Florida. FSU also beat #2 Nebraska (then undefeated) in the Orange Bowl where Wisconsin beat #13 UCLA. I just don't see where they would have jumped FSU, Nebraska, Notre Dame or Auburn with who they played and when they played them based on being unranked to start the season and having too far to climb.
 

Mason
Kill
Stoll
Holtz
...

Too early to put Fleck on there anywhere. I think it’s comical he’s listed as a top, or poor, coach yet. It’s just too early. If you ranked him just on this year, how could he be above anyone? Hopefully in 3-4 years he is, but to this point he’s accomplished nothing - less wins, average recruiting class, and likely decrease in ticket sales next year.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom