Rittenberg: Signature Win or Else!

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gophmeister

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Brian from Minneapolis writes: Love the blog and I have to say you do a great job of spreading the wealth to all the teams in the conference. I wanted to gauge your opinion on the chances that Tim Brewster finishes out his current contract at Minnesota. What record will he need this year to keep his job? What names come to mind as replacements if he does get fired?

Adam Rittenberg: Brian, it's no secret that 2010 is huge for Tim Brewster and the Minnesota program. Despite a contract extension in January, Brewster needs to show tangible progress this fall. What does that mean exactly? Minnesota has to start beating its rivals, Wisconsin and Iowa, and playing better in the month of November rather than regressing as the season goes on. The Big Ten's best coaches, namely Ohio State's Jim Tressel, have excellent records in November, while Brewster has yet to win a Big Ten game after Nov. 1. Minnesota's schedule is no picnic, and I could see the Gophers being a better team with a similar record to the last two seasons (7-6 and 6-7). The key for Brewster is quality wins, beating Wisconsin or Iowa or Penn State or USC. Those are the wins that tell the athletic director and the fans that progress is being made. If things don't work out, Minnesota should look for a guy with Midwest ties who can also recruit elsewhere. Houston head coach Kevin Sumlin, an Indianapolis native and a Purdue alum, would be a potential candidate. I don't know if Temple's Al Golden would be interested, but he has done a great job with the Owls.
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On a personal note, I had the opportunity to have beers with Sumlin once. The guy is really fun to talk/listen to. He told some great stories about recruiting with Wacker.
 

Brewster's seat may be getting hot, but the only real speculation that could matter is what decision Maturi would make.
 

Considering our performance last year, our schedule this year, and everyone's expectations...

I'd say at least 6 wins is an acceptable (not special) season.
5 wins (including a win vs. Iowa or wisconsin) would also be acceptable.
4 wins (including wins over both Iowa and wisconsin) would be fine by me too. ;)
 

No way that Sumlin or Golden would be interested in the job.
 




It doesn't appear that Rittenberg said anything about a signature win, just beating rivals. The Gophers have 2 attempts at a signature win in Ohio State and USC, I don't think they have to win either game for Brewster to keep his job.

As for Sumlin or Golden being interested in the job...I remember a lot of people claiming Charlie Strong (and Lane Kiffin) would never be interested in the job and both were interviewed (and passed over) for the job. The Golden/Sumlin situations are different in that they are already head coaches of minor programs as opposed to assistant coaches, but the last time the Gophers job was available it was found to be significantly more attractive than many vocal posters thought.
 

Brewster can go 7-5 and lose to USC, OSU, PSU, Wisky and Iowa. Still no signature W's over rivals or name competition but he will still be the coach.
 

It was a rather stupid response by Ritt all the way around. Uncharacteristically so but inane non-the-less.

The coach of OSU has a great record in the month of Novermber?? Really who would have guessed.
 



The bar for beating Iowa or Wisconsin keeps getting set lower. We seem to be at the point where winning 1 out of 10 is a lot more respectable than winning 0 out of 10.

A reasonable goal is to go .500 against them over the span of a decade.
 

Once the program is built I would agree studwell. It's a reasonable expectation of the administration to maintain competitiveness so that it can happen. It is not reasonable to hold Brewster and the football team accountable for the administrations failure. It's not his fault the program was behind and is not competitive at that level. It will be soon however as I believe that the inputs are being made to get us there. But it takes time. I blame the 90's administration.
 

The Admin. with help got the stadium which is critical to moving forward. The bar has been raised Studwell as Brewster was hired to be more productive than Mason. That is not an easy thing considering the past 45 years.
 

Bayfieldgopher said:
Brewster can go 7-5 and lose to USC, OSU, PSU, Wisky and Iowa. Still no signature W's over rivals or name competition but he will still be the coach.
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It's possible, but unlikely. It would mean we swept road games from MTSU, MSU, Illinois and Purdue. That's not a signuture win, but would impressive nevertheless. Either way, 7-5 means Brew stays.
 



EG#9 said:
It doesn't appear that Rittenberg said anything about a signature win, just beating rivals. The Gophers have 2 attempts at a signature win in Ohio State and USC, I don't think they have to win either game for Brewster to keep his job.
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I think you're splitting hairs. Beating either the trojans, badgers, buckeyes, nittany lions or cockeyes this fall could be called a signature win. All have high expectations going into this season. Brewster doesn't need to beat OSU or USC specifically, but he needs to win one of these games since they represent more than half of our home schedule. If he comes out of the non-conference slate 3-1, beats northwestern, but then loses the next 7 games, he might very well survive, but he might not. The afterglow of beating the Hawkeyes would save his job. Had Gutie beat Wisconsin in '91 he'd have lasted at least one more year. This isn't a make or break year, but a significant step backwards cannot happen.
 

7-5 keeps Brewster his job.

6-6 if he beats Penn State, Wisconsin, Iowa, USC, or Ohio State.

I think Brewster should receive another year regardless of what happens this season, as I think continuity is a big part of building success, and I like the staff he now has assembled (let´s hope he can keep it in place).

That said, I´ve been saying for awhile I think Brewster wins no less than 6 games this year. My money is on 7 or, if things break right, 8.
 

AhliBobwa said:
7-5 keeps Brewster his job.

6-6 if he beats Penn State, Wisconsin, Iowa, USC, or Ohio State.

I think Brewster should receive another year regardless of what happens this season, as I think continuity is a big part of building success, and I like the staff he now has assembled (let´s hope he can keep it in place).

That said, I´ve been saying for awhile I think Brewster wins no less than 6 games this year. My money is on 7 or, if things break right, 8.
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Well I think most of us have given predictions for record before and who knows what formula causes activation of the Trap Door. I say as long as the Program shows PROGRESS, we will invest another year in the perk of continuity; it really is the only real tried and true formula that increases likelihood of success. So whether the record at the end onf the season is 2-10 (which I seriously doubt), 7-5 (likely) or 9-3 (less likely), the team and Program as a whole just has to be easily perceived as moving forward.
 


Bayfieldgopher said:
Brewster can go 7-5 and lose to USC, OSU, PSU, Wisky and Iowa. Still no signature W's over rivals or name competition but he will still be the coach.
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What are the chances of going 7-0 against the rest of the schedule. It seems to me that if he loses those five games a 5-7 record is all that can be hoped for with 4-8 or worse a possibility. A win against MTS and one of those five will go a long way to making the season a success.
 

"Success" is not 6-6, the bar is already low enough around here, please don't just put it on the ground.
 

EG#9 said:
"Success" is not 6-6, the bar is already low enough around here, please don't just put it on the ground.
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agreed. I was talking about keeping his job, not having a successful season.

To me 7 wins is workmanlike. 8+ is true success with wins over either bucky or the pigeyes
 

Schnoodler said:
Once the program is built I would agree studwell. It's a reasonable expectation of the administration to maintain competitiveness so that it can happen. It is not reasonable to hold Brewster and the football team accountable for the administrations failure. It's not his fault the program was behind and is not competitive at that level. It will be soon however as I believe that the inputs are being made to get us there. But it takes time. I blame the 90's administration.
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I blame the administrations from Moos to Hasselmo. When Yudof became president, he began the process of turning the U from its traditional commuter campus to a more residential campus. It is not a coincidence that the private dorm building boom happened during the late 90's and early 00's.

Mark Yudof was one of the U's great presidents, that's why Texas, and then Cal wanted him.
 

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