Recruiting FromThe Hot Seat

[Duluthguy]

Almost everyone agrees that recuiting took a dip last year and that Brewster is on the hot seat this year - though everyone has their own ideas of how many games Brew has to win to save his job. My question is: How will Brew being on the hot seat affect recruiting? Is it likely to take another step backwards (possibly a huge one), and if recruiting is not going real well by near the end of the season, how much pressure will/should this add on Brewster?

 

[gophmeister]

I bet he won't get as many early commits as last year.

 

[Maroon]

I think the big thing is that if Maturi has a number of wins in his mind right now that Brewster needs to reach to save his job, then they better have Plan B ready to go ASAP if Brewster is fired so there won't be a huge void in the program during a key recruiting period.

 

[Rog]

A little different thought

I agree recruiting probably did skid some (time will tell) but I"m not sure it is that the recruits thought or knew Brewster was on the hot seat, but rather his talk about "come to Minnesota because we are going to the Rose Bowl and join a winner" is getting thin. The results of his first 3 years doesn't indicate that things are going in the direction he preaches.

 

[AhliBobwa]

It's all going to come down to how the Gophers play this fall. If, halfway through the season the Gophers are 5-1 (with a win over Wisconsin), or dare I dream 6-0, beating the Badgers and USC recruiting will likely be just fine.

Win 7 or more and the 2011 class will be ranked well higher than 2010's. If the Gophers win less than next year's class will have the same solid but unspectacular Masonesque feeling of this year's.

 

[gophmeister]

I think the big thing is that if Maturi has a number of wins in his mind right now that Brewster needs to reach to save his job...

The sense I get is that there isn't a line being drawn in the sand regarding wins. I would imagine it would take a number of factors to cost Brew his job at this juncture, among them of course would be wins. If the team gets embarrassed this fall (2-10, hug blow out losses) Brewster will lose his job. However, if the team skates in at 5-7 with close loses and the team stays out of trouble, Brew will probably keep his job. The only scenario I see is if someone prominent (Bruinicks) wants to get rid of him. I know very little about the boosters behind the program, so I'm not sure the level of influence they wield. If there is someone (or group of someones) out there willing to put up a ton of cash to lure a big name coach here, it could be the end of the Brew Crew.

 

[Costa Rican Gopher]

It's all going to come down to how the Gophers play this fall. If, halfway through the season the Gophers are 5-1 (with a win over Wisconsin), or dare I dream 6-0, beating the Badgers and USC recruiting will likely be just fine.

Win 7 or more and the 2011 class will be ranked well higher than 2010's. If the Gophers win less than next year's class will have the same solid but unspectacular Masonesque feeling of this year's.

I agree with the sentiment of your post but take exception to calling olast years class Masonesque. If Mason could have recruited athletes, like last years recruiting class he´d likely still be the coach.

 

[AhliBobwa]

I agree with the sentiment of your post but take exception to calling olast years class Masonesque. If Mason could have recruited athletes, like last years recruiting class he´d likely still be the coach.

I think I agree with you. I meant Masonesque purely in where it was ranked nationally. The Gophers last class was ranked 50th, which would have been one of Mason's best classes.

Brewster's previous two classes (17th and 30 something) were far better.

 

[Monty519]

I think almost more important than team success is having his own recruits have some big time success. Show that players in his system truly become gamebreakers, not just average to good players. If he can get some stud-like contributions from a guy like Carter, Cooper, Edwards, or Kirksey, that can go a long way to selling your program to a recruit as well. McKnight having a true breakout year, one of the TEs bustin out, MarQueis Gray suddenly emerging to take over the team. Stuff like that can help you sell your program even in a 5-7 type year.

 

[WAGopher]

Unless the team has a disastrous season, Brewster won't be on the hot seat and thus recruiting won't be affected - and I don't think he's not going to have worse than an average season. I agree with some of the other posters that think it's the number of wins that will determine how successful recruiting is. In addition, to reach the 30's or better, we'll have to win a bowl game this year.

 

[gophergrad]

I'll echo what others have said in a slightly different way. Brewster said himself that recruiting the first couple years is easier because you can sell a new program and playing time. Now that Brew's recruits are hitting the field the playing time promise for current recruits is a harder sell and he's got to win to attract attention to his program instead of benefiting from being a new coach and having potential.

I've always believed that if Brew can get a kid to make an official visit he's got a good shot at landing him. This years home schedule (night games vs OSU etc game against USC) should make it hard for any kid visiting not want to play for the gophers if we can play competitive football.

The thing that worries me about Brewster being on the hot seat is less about it effecting recruits but what effect his dismissal could have on attrition. The players all say they love Brew and that's a major reason why they came to Minnesota, if he leaves they could too and we'd be right back where we started 4 years ago.

 

[Maroon]

They'd have to really dislike the new coach, though, to be willing to go sit out a year.

 

[spermophilus]

Maturi

I think the big thing is that if Maturi has a number of wins in his mind right now that Brewster needs to reach to save his job, then they better have Plan B ready to go ASAP if Brewster is fired so there won't be a huge void in the program during a key recruiting period.

1. Make no mistake. Maturi and Brewster are shackled together at the ankle. If Brewster goes down, Maturi will too. Or at the least - should.

2. As an AD, the hire you make for your head football coach - in the 6 BCS conferences, anyway - is your signature hire, and is much a statement about you as it is the HC.

3. Maturi is 65-ish. I believe (and have said before in this forum) that Brewster was Maturi's last FB HC hire as AD.

4. In any event, does anyone really trust that Maturi has "the list" in his top bureau drawer for possible replacements? After firing Mason after the '06 season, and in the interim period while we were waiting for colored smoke to come out of the Bierman complex, I was absolutely convinced that the only way that Maturi would pull the trigger, was that one of the marquee up-and-coming active head coaches, or A-1 top coordinators, on "the list" was ready to come to Minnesota. Upon hearing that Brewster was the pick, I was thunderstruck and it demonstrated to me that inexplicably, there never was a list, or detailed extrication or work-out plan. This is especially perplexing when it was obvious that the Mason move was well in the works - and as early as the game which put us at 3-6 that year (and prior to the 3-game sweep to end the year).

If Brewster flames out, and spins out into terra firma, his co-pilot Joel Maturi must not be given a "chute" or be allowed to eject prior to impact.

 

[Schnoodler]

Gopher grad nailed it. Brew predicted this. It is the ebb and flow of recruiting. Right now he can't sell playing time or success. The plan is for the youngsters to mature and have a good outcome. The next two years are the ones he has been building to. Success is determined by top shelf talent like OSU and USC get, or the 2nd tier teams with a mature team that has played together for three years. With success and a large graduating class he can sell playing time and success, maybe even land some of the top tier kids who don't need to gamble.

That of course means down years as we repeat the process.

Of course if you don't win, you have nothing to sell and cannot out recruit your position, at best you can only hover where you have been without getting lucky. This is why you have coaching changes, so you can sell hope again. If Brew can't win in the next two seasons he'll have a difficult time recruiting above the teams percieved position and Maturi (or new AD)will have no choice but to move on.

 

[littlebigboy]

Snoodler, exactly!