walrus,
What assumption did i make about you? Your own post states that you view coaching at minnesota as an impossible job.
For one thing, you took my post about WHAT we did to Murray Warmath and tried to make a MASON post out of it. That was a big mistake clark g. Murray was run off by the time he was around 55 after having won a NC, a couple Big Ten Titles and an 18 year .520 Big Ten winning percentage at Minnesota. So THAT is the standard for running coaches off at MN. Most last ONLY 4 to 5 sesons. NONE have come any where NEAR matching the record that Murray was run off for. At the age of 55 or 56, do you SUPPOSE that Murray wouldn't have had some GREAT years of coaching left in him. HOW did the administration at the U of M EVER think they were going to get a better coach than Murray Warmath???
I think winning BIG and consistantly (being in a top 3 in the Big Ten position virtually every year and going to a Rose Bowl 2 or 3 times a decade) IS impossible with the administration types that we have had at Minnesota for the past 60 years or so. Also, with the fan base we have. They are more into the stinking vikings and the wimpy twins than they are into Gopher Football. And we fans have ALLOWED the incompetent administrators to make CHUMPS out of us by tossing out a new coach every four or five seasons. Then we shut up again for a while, continue to renew our season tickets and give to the scholarship funds...all the while ad's like badger joel maturi continue to run our revenue sports of hockey, basketball and football into the ground.
You say you can't stand to listen to someone who says it is unrealistic to think ANY football coach at the University of Minnesota can achieve greatness...or even be highly competetive year in and year out?????
Just look what we did to Murray Warmath who was STILL in his prime. Bernie Bierman was FIRED and forced out in 1950...He was 60 years of age. He lived to the ripe old age of 87. Certainly he would have had a few good seasons left when the administration and WE the fans ran him off. HE should have been the one to pick his own time. Murray should have been given that honor as well.
We HAVE to be realistic about our expectations for our football coaches clark g. You are NOT being realistic. When is the LAST time we had a football coach who was able to do what you expect our coach to do????? That's right: 1950 AND 1970. And we ran BOTH of those coaches off while the still had some potentially GREAT years of coaching left in their tanks. Howcan we expect the incompetent administrations at the U of M to EVER get it right????? And we, the fans are just out of touch with reality.
Since 1950, Michigan State, Penn State and now Nebraska have all joined the Big Ten Conference. The conference is TOUGHER than it was back when Bernie and Murray coached.
I think it is possible for Minnesota Football to be a GREAT experience for our student athletes, the students at the U of M, we the fans and Greater Minnesota. However, I have NEVER seen adequate administrations doing the RIGHT things at the U of M during my life time. And, I fear that during the past 25 years, the incompetence has tended to slide even further with the administration at the U of M.
We NEED to be realistic with our expectations for Coach Kill. He will give us all he has got. Will we...and our new administrator at the U do the same? Being realistic is NOT a negative thing. It is NOT a bad thing. Facing facts and being REAL is a GOOD thing clark g. We are where we are. We are how we are. We must continually strive to improve. But we must be realistic too. After abandoning our on campus home, it took us 27 years to return to campus. We have the newest and most modern stadium in the Big Ten. It is also one of the smallest stadiums. That is fine because we don't have the student support or fan base support to fill a larger stadium. However, we got back into the "arms race" SO late in the game that we will never catch up with Ohio State, Michigan, PSU, Nebraska, iowa, wisky, MSU, Purdue and probably Illinois. We are right there with Northwestern, Indiana and ... Minnesota. Can we win some important games...some great games...can we win a Big Ten Title some year? Sure. Can we finish in the top 3 in the Big Ten Conference most years? (say 8 out of 10 years?) Probably not. With OSU, PSU, Michigan, Nebraska, MSU, iowa, wisky, Purdue, Illinois ALL wanting and EXPECTING to either win or finish in the top 1/3 or the conference? (Sure we have divisions now...but...finishing in the top 3 in the division in a 6 team division just doesn't mean quite the same thing. That would just be in the top half of the division most years? That is more realistic. With Michigan, MSU, Nebraska, iowa in our division...that would be a good goal. But it is a tough conference that is just full of demands, expectations and negative consequences for coaches who don't quite deliver. How realistic is it for ALL the programs in the Big Ten to expect a top three finish MOST years?????
I love Gopher Football. I always have and always will. However, I CAN look at things realistically. I CAN appreciate a coach who brought our program back to respectability. And I can appreciate what I hope Coach Kill will bring to the program. I can also be angry with the administrations...the ad and I can be pretty disgusted with the behavior of some of our fans and the unrealistic "expectations" some have and the way that their disappointment and frustration spills out on our wonderful young student athletes and some of our coaches. Yes, I have the ability to do ALL of those things clark g.
; 0 )
