If only we could get the U of M Marching Band to march down University Avenue again
Personally, I don't believe it is just a football problem. Look at the Barn and Mariucci arena it seems we see the same thing. Empty seats here, empty seats there,I believe the U has a problem every where.
1. In response to Nadine Babu’s post in the StarTribune and Patrick Reusse’s article, I feel compelled to repost the following. My apologies for recycling an old post, but some of it is new.
2. In the annals of NCAA Division 1A athletic directors, Joel Maturi’s leadership, decision making, and stewardship of the University of Minnesota revenue sports programs begs comparison and runs parallel with Herr Generalfeldmarschall Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst Paulus’ leadership, decision making, and stewardship of the much vaunted German Sixth Army.
3. Paulus suffered from fatal character flaws. His unwillingness or inability to defy Hitler’s idiotic orders to attack Stalingrad prematurely was then followed with an even weaker display of character and integrity through failing to protect his remaining troops in The Kessel (19 November 1942 – 31 January 1943) by breaking out of the Kessel. It meant defying Hitler’s idiotic order to hold Stalingrad at all cost. The result was total decimation of the German Sixth Army, which started out with some 300,000 troops of which only 6,000 survived the war.
4. In the case of the University of Minnesota Department of Intercollegiate Athletics (or whatever they are called today), it matters little whether the idiotic order to fire Glen Mason came from Robert Bruininks, Kathryn Brown (per Sid Hartman 10/01/2011), The Regents of the University of Minnesota, or whether this was a brain f@rt specially conjured up by Joel Maturi himself. What matters are the results. The results remind me of dropping ordnance on our own troops and killing them through “friendly fire.” We fragged ourselves through this horrible display of leadership.
5. Paulus likely would have been courts martialed by Hitler and probably executed for breaking out of “The Kessel,” but he would have saved tens of thousands of good German soldiers. A good leader puts the interests of those under his / her charge ahead of his / her own personal interests and personal safety. In Paulus’ case, he made two bad decisions, the first agreeing to prematurely attack Stalingrad, followed by an even worse one which would seal the fate of the German Sixth Army.
6. Joel Maturi’s horrible decision making, and his stubborn steadfast refusal to hold himself accountable for the irreparable damage he has perpetrated on University of Minnesota revenue sports, and the general reputation of the University of Minnesota is stupefying. If Robert Bruininks, Kathryn Brown (per Sid Hartman 10/01/2011), or The Regents of the University of Minnesota ordered Joel Maturi to fire Glen Mason, then Joel should have had the character and integrity to stand up to them, refuse the order, and tender his own resignation in protest. If the decision to fire Glen Mason was Joel Maturi’s and Joel’s alone, he should have resigned before he fired Tim Brewster, in acknowledgement of his own personal mistakes. He did neither.
7. Whose interests has Joel Maturi really been representing? The parties who have financially benefited the most from Joel’s actions are the owners of the NFL Vikings, sports gambling (organized crime), NBA Timberwolves, NHL Wild, MLB Twins, and WNBA Lynx in that order. The collapse of University of Minnesota revenue sports effectively emasculated and nullified ticket sales competition from the University of Minnesota. However, the suicidal decision by our Dear Leader (Joel Maturi, not Kim Jong-Il) to fire Glen Mason has set our football program back at least a decade, perhaps more. Perceptions are very important. If the football team loses 0 – 58, people remember that. They won’t remember that we have a great Chemical Engineering department. After enough humiliations, good students who want to be chemical engineers will choose a university that either has no football team, or a football team that is not a national embarrassment. Nobody, I repeat, nobody wants to be associated with a loser. Right now, the entire University is perceived as born losers by association with our revenue sports programs.
8. I don’t blame Tim Brewster like other people on this board do. He took the opportunity to earn 7 figures Joel handed him on a silver platter. Tim did not make a decision to be a poor football coach. He made a decision to take advantage of a once in a lifetime opportunity to become a millionaire.
9. I am sick and tired of people blaming the football coaches. Isn’t it Einstein who declared that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results? The problem is not with our football coaches. The problem has been with Morrill Hall, The Regents of the University of Minnesota, and most recently their decision to select Joel Maturi to lead us into The Kessel. Thank God Joel did not go through ROTC at Notre Dame and did not lead men in battle in Vietnam.
10. Will Jerry Kill be able to “break out” of The Kessel, despite the “help” he has received from Morrill Hall, The Regents of the University of Minnesota, and Joel Maturi? I pray he will succeed.
11. Getting back to what might help game day atmosphere on Football Saturdays, try marching the University of Minnesota Marching Band down University Avenue again like they did when we had Memorial Stadium. This will be a very very tough fight, for the City of Minneapolis, owned and operated by corporate sports (a.k.a. organized crime) will do everything within their power to prevent anything which will result in a resurgence of interest in University of Minnesota revenue athletics which poses a direct threat to their revenue streams. They will use “noise pollution, traffic safety, proliferation of child pornography, etc.” as justification for banning a resumption of sending our U of M Marching Band down University Avenue again before the games. If we could win this huge battle, this is one tradition which would help the game day atmosphere, even when the team is losing. I don’t look for this to happen. Ziggy Wilf just got off the telephone with the mayor and his assistants called all the Minneapolis aldermen (does Minneapolis have aldermen?) instructing them to vote against this even before I finish typing and posting this.
12. While I am at it, the reason Joel Maturi continues to receive several hundreds of thousands of dollars in perks from the U of M is no doubt because he has Morrill Hall and the Regents blackmailed. He should have been thrown out the door. He made his millions and destroyed our respectability. This has to be “hush” money or “protection” money.
