reeeeelax

[harrys ghost]

I think a new coach is almost always a bit of crap shoot ...

For example, Pete Carroll was USC's fourth choice in 2000. They took a huge amount of heat for the hire (lack of college experience) and it got worse when USC started out 2-5. In 2008, ESPN.com named Carroll's hiring #1 in a list of the Pac-10's Top 10 Moments Of BCS Era. Now, this may not be applicable to our situation (recruiting in Southern California has to be a little easier than Minnesota) but who knows?

How about Nick Saban? Got the gig as head coach at Toledo in 1990 and went 9-2 before jumping to the NFL. In 1995 he took over a Michigan State team that had gone 5-6, 6-6 and 5-6 in the previous three years. His record was then 6-5-1, 6-6, 7-5, and 6-6 before going 10-2 and jumping to LSU. At LSU, he was 8-4, 10-3 and 8-5 before winning the National Championship in 2003.

I think from the U's perspective, once they make the hire that have to make a commitment to make things work. They seem to be doing this. I don't think anyone can predict how this is going to turn out -- yet. IMO, the previous regime left the program in worse shape than a 6-7 season in 2006 would indicate so I'm willing to be a little patient. Heck, I gave Mason seven years before I bailed (although I sure would like to have those seats for the new stadium ).

 

[GopherGod]

For example, Pete Carroll was USC's fourth choice in 2000. They took a huge amount of heat for the hire (lack of college experience) and it got worse when USC started out 2-5. In 2008, ESPN.com named Carroll's hiring #1 in a list of the Pac-10's Top 10 Moments Of BCS Era. Now, this may not be applicable to our situation (recruiting in Southern California has to be a little easier than Minnesota) but who knows?

How about Nick Saban? Got the gig as head coach at Toledo in 1990 and went 9-2 before jumping to the NFL. In 1995 he took over a Michigan State team that had gone 5-6, 6-6 and 5-6 in the previous three years. His record was then 6-5-1, 6-6, 7-5, and 6-6 before going 10-2 and jumping to LSU. At LSU, he was 8-4, 10-3 and 8-5 before winning the National Championship in 2003.

I think from the U's perspective, once they make the hire that have to make a commitment to make things work. They seem to be doing this. I don't think anyone can predict how this is going to turn out -- yet. IMO, the previous regime left the program in worse shape than a 6-7 season in 2006 would indicate so I'm willing to be a little patient. Heck, I gave Mason seven years before I bailed (although I sure would like to have those seats for the new stadium ).

All good points but the one things all those guy had that Brewster did not was previous head coaching experience and familiarity putting together a staff. I would have felt more comfortable if he atleast had previous coordinator experience where he was the one responsible for putting together a game plan.

 

[WAGopher]

All good points but the one things all those guy had that Brewster did not was previous head coaching experience and familiarity putting together a staff. I would have felt more comfortable if he atleast had previous coordinator experience where he was the one responsible for putting together a game plan.

Every situation has positives and negatives. I think nearly all of us agree there were holes in Brewster's resume. However, if we had hired a $2 million head coach, do you think we'd still be spending top dollar for coordinators and an OL coach?

Brewster's negatives are:
1. No coordinator experience at any level.
2. Only high school HC experience.
3. Sometimes gets caught up in his own enthusiasm (like "we are now the bear").
4. May not be a huge negative, but he sometimes gets testy with reporters.

Brewster's positives:
1. Highly motivated and energetic. (not many can keep up with this guy).
2. Has nearly all Minnesota high school coaches behind him.
3. Is closing the borders better than anyone since I can remember.
4. Knows his limitations and hires to compensate.
5. Has the best back to back recruiting classes since Holtz, or maybe ever.
6. Is willing to make personel changes.

I'm sure there are more for each category, but I think the positives outweigh the negatives. One thing that I like about him is that he seems to be constantly evaluating and looking for ways to improve. I think the very good coaches do this and that's why they get to the top and stay there.

 

[GopherMac]

I think you have to look at the facts and remember that Brewster has (1) recruit, (Theret) of his own from two years ago playing and only a handful from last year's group played meaningful minutes. He showed improvement with the tail end of mediocre recruits from Mason's era and that includes a Freshman QB, a Freshman RB, an inexperienced OL, and a very weak defense. I don't have any problem with what Mason did for our program after Lil' Wacker had us at the bottom. I think the dreaded word, "potential" is what we are banking on with Brewster.

There are too many kids on this site that get way too high and way too low based on the day's activities. Show some maturity, give it some time, and if the recruiting classes get less and less and the wins don't increase after a handful of years, then we can call this coaching hire a mistake. Until then, show some support, remember that we are not a strong college town, (so many pro teams and culture in Minny) and that Brester has veteran coordinators to handle the game planning and he has shown a strong ability to travel the USA for recruits that in past years wouldn't have even consisdered the Gophs.

 

[harrys ghost]

All good points but the one things all those guy had that Brewster did not was previous head coaching experience and familiarity putting together a staff. I would have felt more comfortable if he atleast had previous coordinator experience where he was the one responsible for putting together a game plan.

You're correct. If he were, things may be going smoother (not that they there are terribly rough now). But, the wins may be the same and they are not paying him as if he were an experienced coach with a track record. Maturi put the emphasis on recruiting and Brewster did have a track record as a recruiter. I am not at all sure that one could build a BT champion (or better) here without being able to pull top level talent from other parts of the country. There is just not enough talent locally (although one can clearly build a middle of the road program with local talent).

 

[dayjoh]

The title of this thread is aptly named. The expectations of some of you are absolutely ridiculous! I don't get why every conversation on this board has to do with Mason or why Brewster isn't the right fit? Can't we just let this thing play out a little bit? We shouldn't have to get excited about the Music City Bowl every year. There's more out there! We've discussed ad nauseum the records of coaches in their first years taking on a program. It is well established that the man has little coaching credentials, but he can recruit. He's doing fine, please relax.

 

[6 Nov 1999]

Disagree - 2009 is the Money Year!

KU started two RS freshman at tackles. QUOTE]

Yes and they started three seniors on the interior that had 100 starts between them and started the last 25 games together.

And a RS FR 4* is a hell of big difference from the RS 2* or the true FR 3* that we started this year with the two sophomores and a junior and the other So and the other Ju and the other RS FR.

We had 9 different starting O-Lines in 13 games and lost at least one starting O-Lineman during a game for at least a quarter on more than 5 occassions.

Basically, we started games or halves with something like 14 different combinations this year.

You can't win with all seniors with that lack of continuety, much less win with babies that were middle of the road to begin with.

Brewster needs at least 3 years of O-line recruiting and another for development before we will know whether the guy can coach and whether this offense is any good.

2011 is a make or break year for us...next year is still going to be tough, but I believe we will be better.

GopherinPhilly,

1. I disagree. The honeymoon is now over. Any repairs to any facet of the team should have been rectified as this coach has been at the helm for 24 months and two full seasons now. 2009 is the money year. Tim Brewster needs to deliver wins in 2009. When he was first hired, the antiMason zealots on this board assured us that in 2009 we would rock. I sincerely hope they were clairvoyant and correct. We shall see.

2. If there were gaping deficiencies, then three recruiting classes, including JUCOs for quick fixes, have been made available. I hope to see significant improvement in 2009. If there is no significant improvement in 2009 and national ranking, be it #25 or #24, then we will have a very tough time recruiting 12 months from now, as potential recruits will be hesitant to commit to a team that has been horse$hit to mediocre three years running.

3. We need wins in 2009. 2009 is the money year. It will tell us if we took 2 steps back and 3 steps forward or whether we took 3 steps back and only 1 step forward. Right now, I am feeling like the latter but I beg and pray to be proven wrong. I admit to being a pessimist.

SKI-U-MAH!

 

[GophersInIowa]

Brew has a new stadium and Big 10 playing time to sell. This sure is shaping up to be one mediocre recruiting class for a coach billed as a "recruiter".

Why is it mediocre? Right now in the Big Ten, only Ohio St., Michigan, and Michigan St. are clearly ahead of everyone else in the recruiting rankings. We're ranked 6th by rivals but we're virtually the same as Illinois and Penn St. Also, if you look at the commit list on rivals, we have 8 guys who have a "rivalrank" of 5.7. Just .1 higher at 5.8 makes all of those guys a 4 star recruit. Say just two or three of those guys are given a 5.8 and we have the fourth best class in the Big Ten. We don't have a lot of 4 star recruits this year but we have a bunch of high 3 star guys.

And don't forget that we have commitments from 6 of the top 10 players in the state of Minnesota. Wisconsin potentially only getting one from MN is a big change from normal. The two guys committed out of state are guys that Brewster had little chance of getting so you really can't blame him. McNeal wanted to get out of the area and Dehn has a lot of family that go/went to school in Madison.

 

[Gopherjer]

No matter what anyone says you have an agenda to attack Brewster. To claim he this will be his third recruiting class is both laughable and proves your agenda. For his first recruiting class he was hired a little over two weeks before signing day, hardly enough time to recruit his players. Most of the players he signed that year were actually Mason recruits, thats right another poor recruiting year. Whatever guys he recruited that year were players that were left over and he needed to fill spots.

6 Nov 1999, why do you even post here if you want Brewster to fail? Guys like you Wren, and Loon love to find the negative if it does not fit your agenda, your gig is over and come back here after our guy gets ten years as Mason did.

 

[TruthTeller]

6 Nov

GopherinPhilly,

1. I disagree. The honeymoon is now over. Any repairs to any facet of the team should have been rectified as this coach has been at the helm for 24 months and two full seasons now. 2009 is the money year. Tim Brewster needs to deliver wins in 2009. When he was first hired, the antiMason zealots on this board assured us that in 2009 we would rock. I sincerely hope they were clairvoyant and correct. We shall see.

2. If there were gaping deficiencies, then three recruiting classes, including JUCOs for quick fixes, have been made available. I hope to see significant improvement in 2009. If there is no significant improvement in 2009 and national ranking, be it #25 or #24, then we will have a very tough time recruiting 12 months from now, as potential recruits will be hesitant to commit to a team that has been horse$hit to mediocre three years running.

3. We need wins in 2009. 2009 is the money year. It will tell us if we took 2 steps back and 3 steps forward or whether we took 3 steps back and only 1 step forward. Right now, I am feeling like the latter but I beg and pray to be proven wrong. I admit to being a pessimist.

SKI-U-MAH!

What was your response to Mason "rebuilding" in year 10??

After 10 years, he was not able to have the pieces in place to ensure consistency, improve recruiting, show more than he did?

You are really showing your anti Brewster colors.