Souhan column: Teague must sell hope, not snake oil

[BleedGopher]

Teague must sell hope, not snake oil

Let's ignore for the moment that Norwood Teague left a school without a football program to help a school with only a rumor of one, and that his name is an anagram for "We (U) Are Not Good."

Let's ignore decades of mediocrity in football and basketball and presume that Teague has a chance to succeed as the University of Minnesota's new athletic director.

Even if you believe Minnesota should not be a graveyard for coaching careers and a punching bag for the rest of the Big Ten, Teague is going to need some help. Or at least some advice.

Here it is, Mr. T:

• Scrub pessimism from the office walls.

Fine anyone on your staff who whines, or even shrugs.

The U is an excellent school in the heart of one of the country's best metro areas. The U boasts a beautiful new football stadium and a basketball arena that, until Tubby Smith arrived, was considered an advantage, not an albatross.

If you can persuade excellent high school students to spend tens of thousands of dollars to attend the U, you can persuade elite high school athletes to accept a scholarship there. To change the mentality at the U, you're going to have to eradicate pessimism. That will not be easy.

• Hire an assistant to worry about nonrevenue sports.

Your job is not to attend cross-country meets or build a boat house. Your job is to create a financial tide that raises all ships.

Major-college athletics is big business, and it is the rare case of trickle-down economics actually working. If you win in football and basketball, the minor sports will be well-funded. If you lose in football and basketball, you will wind up cutting minor sports.

Plus, the minor sports don't need much help. You've got an excellent bunch of coaches, from baseball's John Anderson to wrestling's J Robinson to volleyball's Hugh McCutcheon. They'll be fine if you aren't sitting in the stands. You've got more important things to do, like raising money, and raising money.

• Take a hard look at Tubby Smith.

You face a tough decision. Smith has failed to elevate the basketball program, but he has an intriguing group of players returning next season.

Smith's Big Ten record is 38-52. While rumors persist that Smith will soon receive an extension, there's no reason to give a failing coach with two years remaining on his deal any more guaranteed money. Make him earn it, and if he doesn't, move on. You hired Shaka Smart. Don't be afraid to hire another promising young coach.

• Remove the excuses.

Build Smith a practice facility. Your expertise is fundraising, and this is your chance to show off.

Give Smith and football coach Jerry Kill whatever they ask for in terms of facilities and support. You need to remove any potential excuses. Building a practice facility would advertise to high school recruits and future coaching hires that the U is ready to operate in the big time.

• Excuse Eric Kaler from the table.

Kaler might be a good university president, but he's not an athletic director and shouldn't pretend to be one. His decision to extend Kill's contract when Kill had won one game at the U was silly. You, Mr. Teague, will be judged on the record of your revenue teams, so take charge of the decision-making process, and let Kaler be a fan.

• Be optimistic yet credible.

Minnesotans need to hear that they can build major-sports winners, but you've got to be careful about bluster. We've been burned by Lou Holtz and had our ears singed by Tim Brewster. Take a lesson from Kill: You can inspire optimism without selling snake oil.

Any Gophers fans who still care about the football and basketball programs have already proved their staying power. They can be patient, if you offer a hint of promise.

If you can support and lead winning football and basketball programs, you'll become a local hero.

It's about time the U had a hero.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/150107675.html

Go Gophers!!

 

[zambam]

This was a surprisngly decent column for Souhan.

 

[XMan]

Yes but still started out with his snarky BS comments. Souhan has been selling nothing but snake oil for years. We have the laziest sports writers in the US.

 

[EG#9]

The start and the end were horrible, but the meat of the column is excellent (though hardly ground breaking). I don't understand the need to go to great lengths to mock the Gopher athletic department when the record of the revenue sports speak for themselves. Gopher fans have seen terrible performance for over a decade and making up a very weak anagram does nothing to illustrate that point.

The end of the article was equally horrible because Minnesotans have to get over this idea that their is only one acceptable way to do things. The "one of us" crowd has been completely unsuccessful in choosing leaders for Minnesota sports teams. Lou Holtz, to my understanding, was very close to turning around Minnesota and would have had Tony Rice (among others) wearing Maroon and Gold if he did not leave for Notre Dame. If Minnesotans are only willing to hear one type of message from one type of person who "gets it" (from their perspective), that makes it so much more difficult to succeed. Let Norwood Teague be Norwood Teague and choose to promote and network in whatever way (and using whatever words) works for him.

 

[SelectionSunday]

Am not a fan of Jim Souhan but I gotta' say, this easily is one of the pieces he's written. I don't agree with everything he writes here, but most of it I think he's pretty much dead on. He covers it all: for the overall good of the program the importance that the big-money sports step it up; the quality of our non-revenues (noting some of the highly successful, respected coaches we have); removing excuses (making excuses is too many Gopher fans' greatest pastime), etc.

I especially liked his reference to Williams Arena. I completely understand that the U will have to address a new arena in the not too distant future -- The Barn is getting up there in years -- but I've grown nauseous of the inference (including from Tubby) that it's one of the things holding us back.

Hogwash.

When the Gophers start producing teams that consistently finish above .500 in the Big Ten while protecting their home court, all that BS about The Barn being a detriment will vanish. ... pronto.

 

[WanderingGopher]

"Hire an assistant to worry about nonrevenue sports. Your job is not to attend cross-country meets or build a boat house."


Amen to that!!

 

[WanderingGopher]

Agreed regarding football and basketball.

The U is never likely to be a consistent power in football. Being consistently competitive with an occasional shot at the Big Ten title would be a successful program. Unfortunately our days of national dominance passed when the southern schools started keeping their own recruits at home, 40 years ago.

Basketball is another story though. We are the only D-1 program in a state that produces more than enough 4 and 5* recruits, has a great AAU program, we have a long history of success (unfortunately, each time followed by a scandal that basically put the program back at square 1), and a big name coach. This is a program with inherent advantages to most if not all of its neighboring midwest schools, and should regularly be competing for the title in what's often the best conference in the country.

 

[station19]

Agreed regarding football and basketball.

The U is never likely to be a consistent power in football. Being consistently competitive with an occasional shot at the Big Ten title would be a successful program. Unfortunately our days of national dominance passed when the southern schools started keeping their own recruits at home, 40 years ago.

Basketball is another story though. We are the only D-1 program in a state that produces more than enough 4 and 5* recruits, has a great AAU program, we have a long history of success (unfortunately, each time followed by a scandal that basically put the program back at square 1), and a big name coach. This is a program with inherent advantages to most if not all of its neighboring midwest schools, and should regularly be competing for the title in what's often the best conference in the country.

And the fact football went from a power game to speed game over the years.

 

[GoFerit]

Focusing only on the basketball matters expressed by Souhan…

First, we need the facility issue taken care of. But, it is not to remove excuses from the equation but to provide something that helps the program no matter who the coach is or is in charge of the program. Even if the facility issue can be exploited as an excuse, it is largely the record plus the future prospect that determine who stays at the helm no matter what the excuses are.

It is not about semantics. We just don’t need another pointless debate between the pro-Tubby and anti-Tubby folks to determine if or not the facility is good for us. It is undoubtedly good for the program in itself and therefore should be done. Bringing Tubby into the matter will only muddy the issues up. Again, the facility issue is not a Tubby issue, and making it so may only undermines the whole process of getting it done.

Second, the decision on the contract extension should be made not to ensure Tubby earning his money fair and square but to do what is best in our interest given the situation right now. The 2013 class is a relevant factor, but the 2014 class is arguably a most important thing for us to consider right now. A coach without a contract to cover the recruits' playing years with us, or at least part of them, is severely disadvantaged in the game.

Without a longer term contract right now, Tubby or his successor (in case that Tubby screws up the 2012-2013 season and gets fired) will most likely face only one “effective” year (possibly the recruits’ senior year) to shape the class. If one believes that a coach can recruit without a contract covering the recruits’ playing years or that one effective year (while a few may be ahead of us in the recruiting trail for them) should be enough to get the 2014 class done favorably, then postponing the contract extension for another year may make sense. I do not believe so, however, such that I want to see the contract extension done this year not because Tubby has earned it fair and square -- he has not because his record for the last 5 years confirms that he has done a mediocre job at best -- but because it may give us the best chance for a long term success. Of course, it does not mean that Tubby should get an outrageous contract. Just a reasonable one based on record, future prospect, on-going rate plus other factors (i.e., facility, living condition, whatnot) into consideration.

The fact that we will have a better team next season favors Tubby and the extension because one successful season can clear up a lot of huddles for the program in terms of recruiting and therefore will improve Tubby’s long term viability.

If Tubby fails again next season and misses the opportunity for the 2014 class, the extension may cost us in the long run. But, I am of the opinion that Tubby is capable of taking us to the Tourney every other year. If the contract terms are reasonable, we will still survive Tubby years. Denying him a reasonable contract extension at this point, however, will compromise our future success even if Tubby proves that he deserves the money and gets an extension or a new contract after the 2012-2013 season. Hence, I am in favor of extending him right now.

At any rate, people like Souhan keep on bringing Tubby into the matters. The reason appears to be to facilitate their personal agenda. Souhan’s rhetoric regarding basketball does not help to clarify the issues. It just unnecessarily complicates the matters because they are not about Tubby but about what is best for us given the situation.

Souhan should start looking at the bigger picture instead of myopically focusing on whether or not Tubby deserves the money or trying to turning everything into a Tubby circus. Even then, he can arrive at the same conclusion that Tubby should go without an extension next season. Though I would not agree with the conclusion, I will at least give him more respect then.

 

[GoFerit]

BTW, we should consider replacing Tubby right now if his camp does not favor a contract extension on reasonable terms. Replacing Tubby will cost the U in the short term. However, if he refuses a reasonable contract extension, the long term cost of not replacing him and the opportunity cost of it may outweigh the short term one.

Well, although it is all too academic at this point to argue in depth since we seem to be heading into aye for a contract extension for Tubby, if Flip is available and willing, we should even more seriously consider replacing Tubby right now if he does not agree to a reasonable contract extension.

Flip may not be an ideal candidate but is a viable option to have. In other word, we will do no worse than Flip assuming that he is willing. IMO, he will defend our backyard in recruiting and may be able to bring in at least one top 150 prospect from out of state every year (with some of them proven to be legit top 100 every other year or so), which is the basic formula for back to respectability for us (and then we can proceed to the next step). In other words, we at least will not be back to the ground zero with Flip available. A luxury option that we may not be able to afford in future. Of course, it will be great if we can do better than Flip.

Though all academic at this point, replacing Tubby, when the extension fails, may not be implausible.

 

[go4rob]

Agreed regarding football and basketball.

The U is never likely to be a consistent power in football. Being consistently competitive with an occasional shot at the Big Ten title would be a successful program. Unfortunately our days of national dominance passed when the southern schools started keeping their own recruits at home, 40 years ago.

Basketball is another story though. We are the only D-1 program in a state that produces more than enough 4 and 5* recruits, has a great AAU program, we have a long history of success (unfortunately, each time followed by a scandal that basically put the program back at square 1), and a big name coach. This is a program with inherent advantages to most if not all of its neighboring midwest schools, and should regularly be competing for the title in what's often the best conference in the country.

I think the article was basically a good one as well, but the idea that we can never be a power in football is, IMHO, why we have sunk so low over the years. This attitude has permeated the fan base as well as the U's administration and athlethic dept. There should be NO reason why we cannot be a power. Sure we don't have all the D1 H.S. recruits that Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Michigan has, but we don't have 10 other D1 Programs in the State to compete with either. With this metropolitan area, and the factilities that we now have, I honestly don't think there is any reason why we can't compete in this conference. Just at Souhan says, give the two major sport's coaches, everything they need to succeed and eliminate all the excuses. Let's get her done!

 

[station19]

"Hire an assistant to worry about nonrevenue sports. Your job is not to attend cross-country meets or build a boat house."


Amen to that!!

Not to pile on JM, but that is what we have had the last 10 years. JM has also been a 'tremendous' bean counter. He would be a terrific asst AD at any major program.

The U needs an AD that can raise funds, promote the program and see the big picture. Teague seems to have those qualities. Will he succeed? Time will tell.

 

[FanSinceTheFifties]

How long will this myth that UM football faded because southern athletes started staying in their own states' schools? Do you really believe that? If that's so, then explain the success of Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas State? There's a much more credible reason for the decline of MN football since 1961, but I've gone Purple in the face trying to explain it.