Reusse column: Enduring latest dud reinforces Day 1 take on hire of Brewster

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Gee, I hope our next coach is sincere and a really nice guy. Give me a break.
 

I've come to terms with the fact that Reusse rips most coaches and teams in this town. It's his job and he's good at it, I'll admit. However, I do take issue with the ''I call it as I see it'' cop out. This is the same guy who called future Hall of Fame coach Bud Grant, ''Horseshoe Harry'' because he was so ''lucky''. He and Souhan absolutely ripped Mason to no end when he was coach only to admit years after he was fired that his teams were ''respectable'' and ''competitive.''

Criticize and second guess the teams and coaches of this town all you want but don't claim to be objective or neutral.
 

I thought it would be a total victory lap, but it was really well done and only had a victory paragraph. All columnists are going to be tough on the local coaches. They wouldn't stay employed long just giving them the Sid treatment. But how often do you see him ripping Gardy or Tubby a new one? The coaches who know what they're doing are treated pretty fair and only called out for specific things.
 


That's not how you treat people. If Reusse knows when someone is sincere and insincere, then he should be making millions playing poker, not writing a bad sports column. The new head coach of the University of Minnesota deserved a warm welcome and an opportunity to prove himself on the field. Whether it was Reusse or the "Brother Brewster" comments by Tom Powers, I was embarrassed as a Minnesota fan that our media seemed eager to make the new coaches job that much more difficult.
 

EG#9 said:
That's not how you treat people. If Reusse knows when someone is sincere and insincere, then he should be making millions playing poker, not writing a bad sports column. The new head coach of the University of Minnesota deserved a warm welcome and an opportunity to prove himself on the field. Whether it was Reusse or the "Brother Brewster" comments by Tom Powers, I was embarrassed as a Minnesota fan that our media seemed eager to make the new coaches job that much more difficult.
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I'm sure they might that treatment in Madison or Iowa City, but to say that that every columnist was obligated to run to their computers and write a 'warm welcome' column is silly. They're still supposed to do their job. When Dan Monson was hired Reusse did write a 'warm welcome' column because he thought he was a good hire. He later admitted he was wrong. What more do you want really?

Powers gave him a chance. Just calling him 'Brother Brewster' is not really an insult. If Brother Brewster was anywhere close to the 'Right Reverend' tonight wouldn't be happening. Besides, any criticism is offset by the fact that Sid will slobber over every Gopher coach and has for 67 years.
 

Didn't Reusse put out a column before the presser that said that he might turn out ok? It was probably a nod to the criticism here, in true Reusse contrarian fashion.
 

Ruesse sounds so sincere in this article, he's more of a phony than Brewster.

Make no mistake about it, Ruesse is pleased that Brewster failed.
 



I remember listening to Reusse on Garage Logic only a few months after Brew had been hired. Even then he was saying that Brew is all bluster and that it was time for him to just shut up and coach. At that point he got it right - he took the cheerleading thing too far and he made a clown out of himself with it. Yeah, Reusse and Souhan are savage. But we read them because they are entertaining. If you want ass-kissng we always have Sid (dot, dot, dot)
 

TrapperDoo said:
I remember listening to Reusse on Garage Logic only a few months after Brew had been hired. Even then he was saying that Brew is all bluster and that it was time for him to just shut up and coach. At that point he got it right - he took the cheerleading thing too far and he made a clown out of himself with it. Yeah, Reusse and Souhan are savage. But we read them because they are entertaining. If you want ass-kissng we always have Sid (dot, dot, dot)
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He's savage when he covers Gopher football. I can't comment on their radio show, I'm guessing they're not savage toward the Twins since they're on am 1500 ... I'm sure they kiss Gardy's @$$ eventhough he's lost 9 consecutive playoff games ..
 

Shielder said:
Ruesse sounds so sincere in this article, he's more of a phony than Brewster. Make no mistake about it, Ruesse is pleased that Brewster failed.
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Reusse and Barreiro are absolutely giddy. They have another scalp to put on their lodge poles. Reusse didn't like Brewster from Day 1 and the reasons had absolutely nothing to do with whether he could actually recruit and coach. Ruesse simply didn't like Brewster's personality and he has been hoping against hope that Brewster would fail so that he can claim that he saw through him right from the start. Barreiro, on the other hand, doesn't judge coaches and players on their personality or performance. Far more important to him is whether or not they are good guests for his radio show.
 

"Career assistant Tim Brewster got in front of athletic director Joel Maturi and his committee members and dazzled them as if they were a collection of two-star recruits." That about sums it up.
 



EG#9 said:
That's not how you treat people. If Reusse knows when someone is sincere and insincere, then he should be making millions playing poker, not writing a bad sports column. The new head coach of the University of Minnesota deserved a warm welcome and an opportunity to prove himself on the field. Whether it was Reusse or the "Brother Brewster" comments by Tom Powers, I was embarrassed as a Minnesota fan that our media seemed eager to make the new coaches job that much more difficult.
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A columnist's job is to sell papers...and Reusse roils up people and gets them to talk about his articles. He's doing exactly what he's paid to do. You may not like how he calls it but he gets a reaction from those of you...good, bad, and indifferent.

As for Brewster -- A guy who never was a head coach or coordinator above the high school level comes into Minneapolis and talks like he's going to lead the Gophers to the promised land like Moses? He hadn't been in the college game in five years when he was hired and he had the audacity to go in and blow smoke about the Rose Bowl and Gopher Nation when he had a grand total of zero wins as a head coach in college or pro football? There was plenty of reason for writers to be skeptical...and wonder what the hell was going on when Brew sold the snake oil to Maturi.
 

On this matter it's difficult for me to know whether Brewster would have been this big of a failure (in terms of winning football games) if Reusse had or had not existed. Much of me thinks that the U programs are hampered by excessively negative sports media in the TC area. It certainly does not help what good local recruits think of the team, and it can't help prospective out-of-state recruits. It also cannot help with general fan apathy. In each of these area, I see the TC media as large contributors to killing the Gopher football program.

Can you imagine what they'll dig up on, for example, Mike Leach if he would happen to be brought in here?

That said, true Gopher fans seemed to largely support Brewster for at least a couple of years. I know I did, because he brought a fire and intensity that we have not seen around here for a long time (since Holtz?). However, certainly Brewster's gusto disappeared after we saw the team absolutely quit in that 55-0 drubbing at home to the Hawkeyes a couple years back, and that started to make us wonder, IMO, if Brewster really had control of the team.

In the end, Reusse was right. But it remains unclear how much Reusse and the rest of Reusse's media cohorts played a part in the whole matter. We'll see in the next couple of years how the TC media plays out with the new HC.
 

Well at least we know who the Turkey of the Year winner is this year.
 

The world will be a better place when Reusse no longer draws breath from it.
 

I know. Just an honest scribe doing his job calling them as he sees it. First news conference and he knows Brewster is a phony who is in over his head because Reusse is so astute. Couldn't be because he's a lifelong cynic who has demonstrated his dislike of the Gophers time and time again; and he's just reacting to the optimism and enthusiasm of someone who honestly thought he could do the job.

Gutsy calls them as he sees them? He had a column a couple of weeks ago on how the Twins baby their players. His poster boy for that was J.J. Hardy, an average shortstop who is new this year. Gee, Gutsy Pat, there was nobody else you had in mind but were too chicken*&^!#*&^!#*&^!#*&^!# to even mention? I'm sure you never thought of Mauer or Morneau but decided not to touch them because of their stature. Not to mention the fact the Twins are on the station you work for.

He has writing talent even if he's gotten lazy. He romanticizes it now, but I'm not too sure you should overlook the effects of him growing up in a mortuary with an alcoholic father.
 

ulfr said:
The world will be a better place when Reusse no longer draws breath from it.
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Hands down winner of the dumbest comment I've ever read on the hole.
That column today was spot on regarding previous coaches, and how many of us got hooked on Gopher football at an early age.
So let's hope Reusse passes for printing the truth? There are some, and I'm one of them, who thought Brewster's introductory news conference was way over the top. He smelled like a used car salesman and proved to be one. There are others, the suddenly invisible Schnoodler for example, who wanted to extend this guy for reasons that made very little sense.
Brewster won the lottery here, talking himself into a job for which he was unqualified and collecting a salary well beyond the pay scale of a tight ends coach. Call it a win-lose.
While I disagree with you, the world is never a better place when someone draws their last breath. Ridiculous.
 

hudson14 said:
Hands down winner of the dumbest comment I've ever read on the hole.
That column today was spot on regarding previous coaches, and how many of us got hooked on Gopher football at an early age.
So let's hope Reusse passes for printing the truth? There are some, and I'm one of them, who thought Brewster's introductory news conference was way over the top. He smelled like a used car salesman and proved to be one. There are others, the suddenly invisible Schnoodler for example, who wanted to extend this guy for reasons that made very little sense.
Brewster won the lottery here, talking himself into a job for which he was unqualified and collecting a salary well beyond the pay scale of a tight ends coach. Call it a win-lose.
While I disagree with you, the world is never a better place when someone draws their last breath. Ridiculous.
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I agree. lIke or don't like what he writes, but to laud his eventual demise?

Reusse is a good writer. I still think he's by far the best columnist in this market as a writer, but he was like a hungry dog with an unending supply of fresh steak when it came to Brewster. Like I used to tell my kids when they were little "Do it once, it's cute. Twice, it's amusing. Third time? It's getting on my nerves."

Reusse had an initial impression and that rode it into the ground. He could have departed from it once or twice over the past three-and-a-half season and tried to develop a fresh take, but he chose not to.
 

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