Response to Izaty's questions
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The long and the short of it...
I am replying knowing I will likely be dubbed a "chowder head with an agenda", but here goes.
Let's all forget about Mason. While I didn't support the decision, it does not influence my opinion about Brewster's ability. Judge my comments with that caveat in mind...
1) Brewster has not demonstrated that he has the ability to surround himself with top notch coaching talent. His first DC was a disaster and he fired his first OC. Supporters say he has shown a strong resolve to make changes when necessary. I say that had he done his job in the first place, he wouldn't have to make such changes. Coordinators aren't usually fired when things are going well. Some would say they're often the scapegoats that allow head coaches to keep their jobs...
2) Everyone has admitted that Brewster is learning how to be a head coach. That we gave him training wheels and allow him to learn on the job bugs me to no end. There are no guarantees that he'll become an effective game day coach and based on what I've seen the last two years, he's got a heck of a long way to go.
3) Recruiting is where the Brewster-backers hang their hats. I've seen virtual abacuses rolled out here to explain why this year's class is ranked 7th IN THE BIG 10... Someone suggested that we shouldn't worry too much because the other schools have stepped it up this year. Uh... Why shouldn't that scare the heck out of us? Even if I was ready to concede that every one of Brewster's recruits is going to live up to his potential, that still puts us well behind the rest of the Big 10 in another 2-3 years. WHAT AM I MISSING HERE...
4) Another point about recruiting. If Brewster is going to extoll his personal commitment and passion for recruiting (as well as those of his staff), then I don't want any excuses from him or any of his supports for landing a class that's been universally judged to be in the bottom half of the B10. EVER! Are my expectation unrealistic? Perhaps. But Brewster himself set my expectations. Put up or shut up!
You say he's great, I say he's already been found wanting. Bottom line, however, is that we all want what's best for the Gophs and disagree over how we are going to get there...
Peace out.
I am replying knowing I will likely be dubbed a "chowder head with an agenda", but here goes.
Let's all forget about Mason. While I didn't support the decision, it does not influence my opinion about Brewster's ability. Judge my comments with that caveat in mind...
1) Brewster has not demonstrated that he has the ability to surround himself with top notch coaching talent. His first DC was a disaster and he fired his first OC. Supporters say he has shown a strong resolve to make changes when necessary. I say that had he done his job in the first place, he wouldn't have to make such changes. Coordinators aren't usually fired when things are going well. Some would say they're often the scapegoats that allow head coaches to keep their jobs...
2) Everyone has admitted that Brewster is learning how to be a head coach. That we gave him training wheels and allow him to learn on the job bugs me to no end. There are no guarantees that he'll become an effective game day coach and based on what I've seen the last two years, he's got a heck of a long way to go.
3) Recruiting is where the Brewster-backers hang their hats. I've seen virtual abacuses rolled out here to explain why this year's class is ranked 7th IN THE BIG 10... Someone suggested that we shouldn't worry too much because the other schools have stepped it up this year. Uh... Why shouldn't that scare the heck out of us? Even if I was ready to concede that every one of Brewster's recruits is going to live up to his potential, that still puts us well behind the rest of the Big 10 in another 2-3 years. WHAT AM I MISSING HERE...
4) Another point about recruiting. If Brewster is going to extoll his personal commitment and passion for recruiting (as well as those of his staff), then I don't want any excuses from him or any of his supports for landing a class that's been universally judged to be in the bottom half of the B10. EVER! Are my expectation unrealistic? Perhaps. But Brewster himself set my expectations. Put up or shut up!
You say he's great, I say he's already been found wanting. Bottom line, however, is that we all want what's best for the Gophs and disagree over how we are going to get there...
Peace out.
grunkiejr
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As far as the recruiting this year, we don't have the number of scholarships to give out that we did last year or that the other teams in the conference have to use. For whatever reason the scholarships have become lumped in the the freshman/junior class (using this year's class) so once again next year we will have a big class and 2011 will be a small class. That will impact our rankings. This stuff happens, PSU only took 14 commitments last year.
I don't disagree about him not having experience as a head coach but the reality is that anybody we hired was going to be inexperienced. Lane Kiffin was the most commonly mentioned name. His experience was as a recruiting coordinator and 1-2 years of being an offensive coordinator at USC. It would have been the same learning for Pellini, Strong, or any other hot coordinator that we brought in. If we would have opted for someone that had experience as a head coach we would have been promoting someone from a conference like the MAC and there is no guarantee that moving from a lower caliber conference to the Big Ten would have ensured success. What I'm getting at is that regardless of who we hired, there are risks that would go with it.
Personally, I was the most excited about the prospects of having Kiffin as our head coach. For whatever reason Maturi liked Brewster more. I got over it and threw my support behind the new staff because I support the Gophers. I recommend that you do the same and if you don't that's fine but please don't come on here and annoy the crap out of everyone by bitching about something that is in the past. In 2008 Brewster won more games with a team dominated by underclassman than Mason was able to win in 2006 with a team dominated by upper classman. To me that signals progress and moving in the right direction. Either get on the bus or get off and stop yelling at the people on the bus.
Excellent post, I could not agree more. People can talk about us having fewer scholarships this year, but the fact of the matter so do some other schools in the big ten. I think kiffin or pelini would have been less risky choices as they atleast had coordinator experience and were responsible for making critical gametime adjustments and being responsible for putting together a gameplan. the other perk with a guy like pelini is that he obviously had a strong bond and connection with a good group of assistants he knew and knew him. All but 2 assistants he retained from callahan's staff were guys he brought with him from his previous stops. As a result, I don't believe you will see the turnover there like we did here, which is always disruptive to a team. It is hard to move forward and perfect things when every spring you are having to learn new terminology.
GophersInIowa
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Do you actually look things up before you post? Every Big Ten team ranked higher than us has more commitments. That's a fact. If you look at the Rivals rankings, our recruits star average is higher than Penn St. and Wisconsin, and the same as Illinois, but because all three have more commitments, they are ranked higher. Therefore, when people say our ranking is affected by us having less scholarships to offer, it's pretty obvious that is the case.
How many times to you have to bring up Kiffin or Pelini? They are not our coach. Get over it.
I will keep bringing it up until we get a coach that can actually coach. There are plenty of guys we could get know that are more qualified that I believe could do a better job. You are correct that the teams that are ranked higher than us have more commits, I stand corrected. If you read the majority of my posts and I know you do because you comment on them all, I have actually given very little criticism to Brewster on his recruiting, mostly his coaching and ability to hire a staff.
Grunk -
Riddle me this. How many commitments does USC have and where are they ranked? How many commitments do we have here and what is our ranking? Is it really all about the number of scholarships available?
As for your last point, were you less of a fan at the end of Mason's tenure than you are now? If yes, shame on you. I only have an opinion on Brewster because I care about the program. I will continue to be a loyal fan, faithful season ticket holder, and contibutor to the U for the rest of my life, regardless of who the football coach is. That doesn't mean I'll accept anything and everything served up by the coach, AD, or the glee club.
My hublest apology for having caused you so much grief with my contrarian view of the program...
Go Gophers!
GoAUpher
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You probably don't want to try making this argument. As the recruitniks here will tell you, the ranking systems are skewed towards the power programs. I.e. the star rankings for a prospect always jump when a USC pursues them. Thus, while USC does bring in ridiculous amounts of talent, some of that talent becomes overvalued. Number of scholarships does play into it but so does "prestige" of your school and the prestige of the schools offering your recruits.
I cannot wait to see how we do against Air Force as that will be a good test for Brewster. I looked and Air Force has had 2 3-star recruits since 2005, no 4 and 5-stars and too many to count zero stars. If we get beat by them it will be hard to say they have more talent than we have or what Mason left Brewster.
GoAUpher
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I swear to god, I think you are giddy at the thought of this...make sure to carry a towel with you to the AF game. I don't think your neighbors will appreciate the puddle of drool that is sure to appear if the game is tight at halftime.
I get you don't like the man but it honestly seems like you are skirting the line where you wish ill on the program so you can be right and Brewster will be gone. I mean, I understand the feeling. In my days of really hating Mason in '06 I got pretty pissy myself. But I never wished we would lose. I'm not accusing you of that b/c you haven't. But your beginning to take your agenda to ridiculous new levels.
I mean, as long as we're playing hypotheticals...what IF we lost to AF but rallied and finished 6-2 in the Big Ten? Would you still hate on Brewster then? Losing to AF would suck but its ONE game. It wouldn't be the end of the world (though I think it might feel like it). It takes more than one game to determine a season.
Jike Spingleton
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Personally, I cannot wait to see how the Gophers (not just Brewster) do against Syracuse. That's the game before Air Force, btw. Playing a BCS team on the road while breaking in new systems on both sides of the ball will be interesting.