Souhan: Minnesota athletic director faces issues regarding coach Tim Brewster

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Minnesota athletic director faces issues regarding football coach Tim Brewster

By JIM SOUHAN
Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
Published: Thursday, Dec. 17, 2009 - 12:00 am
MINNEAPOLIS -- Joel Maturi gets paid lots of money to make big decisions. At least, that's the working theory. Someday, we may even find out whether it's true.

Or maybe not. It's just a theory.

Today, Maturi, the Minnesota Gophers' athletic "director," faces what, for him, seems to be a tough decision: Whether to fire football coach Tim Brewster, give him a contract extension, or dither.

Dithering is winning the day.

Let's review Maturi's big decisions:

-He fired Glen Mason after he finished the 2006 season with a 6-7 record, including 3-5 in the Big Ten. Three years later, Maturi's chosen replacement for Mason has gone 14-23 and 6-18 in the Big Ten and needs a victory over a mediocre Iowa State team to avoid going 6-7 this season.

-Maturi provided diplomatic immunity to Tubby Smith when he defected from Kentucky. You could say Maturi hired Smith. I'd say Smith hired Maturi, which is why Smith is the most powerful and secure member of the athletic department today.

-When Dan Monson had run a popular basketball program into the ground, had emptied Williams Arena faster than a stink bomb, Maturi dithered and gave Monson one more year to finish emptying Williams Arena.

When he flopped again in the fall of 2006, Maturi accepted Monson's resignation, wasting a season because Maturi didn't fire Monson when he should have. Luckily for Maturi, Smith decided to hire Minnesota a year later.

Brewster has given Maturi every reason to fire him. He has been openly insubordinate, firing offensive coordinator Mike Dunbar against Maturi's wishes and yelling at him in front of witnesses.

After going 1-11 in his first season, Brewster went for a quick fix by recruiting heavily out of the junior college ranks in his first full recruiting season.

Maturi said before the start of the 2008 season, "We know statistically that junior college kids don't always succeed academically, and that's our biggest concern. Our coach knows that, and our staff knows that. But I think the reality is that when you're 1-11, you're looking for some immediate improvement in certain positions."

Now Brewster the renowned recruiter is bringing in more junior college players. If he's such a great recruiter - and his recruiting prowess was the reason for Maturi's infatuation with a salesman who had never been a head coach or coordinator above the high school level - why would he need an infusion of junior college players in his fourth recruiting season?

The answer, if you need it spelled out for you, is this: The players he has already recruited aren't good enough to carry the program.

To summarize: Brewster looked incompetent on the sidelines in the last three games of his third year on the job - against Illinois, South Dakota State and Iowa. He has ruined a productive quarterback in Adam Weber. He has fired a successful offensive coordinator against the wishes of his boss and replaced him with a coordinator, Jed Fisch, who is overmatched.

Brewster has proved otherwise insubordinate to his boss and has resorted to recruiting junior college players after three seasons on the job because his supposedly outstanding recruiting classes might be the product of the fertile imaginations that run recruiting websites. He has recruited one superlative athlete - quarterback MarQueis Gray - and that recruit, after two years on campus, has yet to indicate he can play quarterback in the Big Ten.

Maturi has three choices: Fire Brewster and hope he can hire someone better; extend Brewster's contract to remove the excuse that uncertainty over his future is damaging his recruiting; or dither.

Dithering seems to be the worst of these three options. Even if you think Brewster should be fired, extending his contract at a low wage with a low buyout would give him a chance to succeed on his own terms and would remove any excuses for continued mediocrity.

Firing Brewster, sadly, would raise its own problems. The guy who would be assigned to hire Brewster's replacement would be the same guy who was charmed by Brewster's winning personality and couldn't bring himself to fire Monson.

Go Gophers!!
 


Although I am positive many Gopher fans will say what an idiot Souhan is and how he hates the Gophers, that article is spot on and unfortunately for us Gopher fans is a concise, well-written article. I think we are better off with Brewster than having Maturi find us another coach.
 

Grabbing a JUCO or two is not uncommon. I'm not sure why he's using that as a negative. It's not like they grabbed a bunch like in '08. They got two of them.

And "ruining Adam Weber"...well, he built him in the first place didn't he? If I'm not mistaken, Weber hasn't taken a snap with any other head coach.

I'd argue that Keanon Cooper would qualify as a superlative athlete as well but whatever. Fact is, next year should be pretty telling about where this whole thing is going.
 

Anyone know why Souhan keeps beating this drum

:rolleyes:What article number is this? This reporter spews the same ad nauseum response or request from Maturi
fire Brewster. I will give Mr. Souhan some of his own advice that he dispensed on the the Matt Thomas show this evening "Have an original idea or an original thought for once". We get it, you want Maturi to fire Brewster we do not need to read the fourth column in less than two months on the subject. This has to be more than facts or record based Souhan and Reusse just do not like coach Brewster because he dishes it back and doesn't just sit there and take there crap.
Thumbs down to Souhan for continuing to bang the same drum. Souhan makes me want to dump even my Sunday subsciption now, he is getting beyond tired reading. I say extend Brewster and a big UP yours to Souhan and Reusse, your not Gopher fans in the least anyways.
 


Monty519 said:
Grabbing a JUCO or two is not uncommon. I'm not sure why he's using that as a negative. It's not like they grabbed a bunch like in '08. They got two of them.

And "ruining Adam Weber"...well, he built him in the first place didn't he? If I'm not mistaken, Weber hasn't taken a snap with any other head coach.

I'd argue that Keanon Cooper would qualify as a superlative athlete as well but whatever. Fact is, next year should be pretty telling about where this whole thing is going.
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Yes it will, Monty. I especially agree with your last sentence wholeheartedly.
 

yawn!

:rolleyes:

wow......another factually incorrect and sh!tty article by an over hyped and sh!tty newspaper "salesman". one who is petulant and has an axe to grind with coach brewster. no big surprises here. piss off jim souhan. you are a hack.

p.s. tell your little boy-toy pat reusse that all of us over at the gopherhole say "hello fatty".
 


3 recruits out of 25 are JC guys, each of them at a position of need and in the case of Lewis and Eure, likely slated to be starters come the fall. Yep, that's really heading to the JC ranks.

Oh, and it's one more than last year and half as many as 2008.

I wonder if Souhan writes these in his bathrobe and boxers. I don't mind what he says, but it's just flat-out lazy journalism. Look something up if you are trying to make a strong case.

EDIT: 3 JC guys in Mason's last class as well (Cooley, Robertson, and Callendar).
 



Gold Rush said:
Although I am positive many Gopher fans will say what an idiot Souhan is and how he hates the Gophers, that article is spot on and unfortunately for us Gopher fans is a concise, well-written article. I think we are better off with Brewster than having Maturi find us another coach.
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Ditto that...
 

gophergrad said:
Gray hasn't been on campus for two years.
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ding, ding, ding. we have a winner! there are a couple others in there too. but if he doesn't include his fallacies then jerky jim souhan wouldn't have been able to have as "dramatic" of an effect as he wanted in his latest recycled anti-brewster "hit piece".
 

Is this nothing more than a cut and paste from a previous Souhan article? He must have been up against a deadline so he went back to the "Fire Brewster" well again!

"He has recruited one superlative athlete". I am glad Souhan has such the eye for talent that he already has this figured out. No matter most of Brew's recruits are in their first or second years. Besides Cooper, others such as Jewhan, Carter, Stoudermire, Kirksey, and Wilhite have shown that they could be "superlative"players

"after two years on campus". Perhaps Souhan neglected to notice that Gray was not on the team last year.

And the title makes it look like there is some new "breaking news" issue or scandal. Nope, just Souhan deciding it was time to ride Brew and Maturi again.

Lazy journalism. Same re-hashed story he has written many times before, and will write again. I am sorry I wasted my time reading it. I really am curious what Brewster would need to do to make he and Reusse happy.
 

I quit reading the guy a couple of years ago. Everytime I decide to give him another chance I always regret it. I quit reading him because he just wasn't very good. His click grasping Brewster regurgitating 'Ruesettes' aren't going to make me want to read him again. That I'm sure of.
 



GopherBeef said:
Is this nothing more than a cut and paste from a previous Souhan article? He must have been up against a deadline so he went back to the "Fire Brewster" well again!

"He has recruited one superlative athlete". I am glad Souhan has such the eye for talent that he already has this figured out. No matter most of Brew's recruits are in their first or second years. Besides Cooper, others such as Jewhan, Carter, Stoudermire, Kirksey, and Wilhite have shown that they could be "superlative"players

"after two years on campus". Perhaps Souhan neglected to notice that Gray was not on the team last year.

And the title makes it look like there is some new "breaking news" issue or scandal. Nope, just Souhan deciding it was time to ride Brew and Maturi again.

Lazy journalism. Same re-hashed story he has written many times before, and will write again. I am sorry I wasted my time reading it. I really am curious what Brewster would need to do to make he and Reusse happy.
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honestly, who cares?! i hope brewster never gives those two lame pieces of sh!t a single slice of the "satisfaction" that they want. they are not and never have been friends of the university of minnesota. anyone who thinks otherwise about souhan and reusse are foolish. keep it up brewster. don't change your attitude towards either of these newspaper fools.
 

Wow. I haven't read Souhan in a long time and now I know why. I wonder if he posts on GH under one of several monikers because that's the same crap I've been reading on here lately.
 

Bronko Nagurski Gopher said:
honestly, who cares?! i hope brewster never gives those two lame pieces of sh!t a single slice of the "satisfaction" that they want. they are not and never have been friends of the university of minnesota. anyone who thinks otherwise about souhan and reusse are foolish. keep it up brewster. don't change your attitude towards either of these newspaper fools.
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I really don't care, but I do wonder if these guys will ever see the light if Brew really gets us going. I have a feeling their pride and arrogance will not allow them to do so, and that they will continue to find something to nit-pick even if we are winning ten games per year and going to big-time bowls.
 

I couldn't have said it better Bronko (especially the last sentence...). I agree with the premise of the article but honestly Souhan, how do you call yourself a journalist with that atrociously written and factually incorrect article?

This is yet another pitiful display of our journalistic talent here in the great state of Minnesota (Reusse anybody?).

Go Gophers!
 


The article is intellectual dishonesty at its finest; a clear case of personal indignation untempered by factual substance. He could be the writer most representative of Minneapolis' last major newspaper at the time of its demise.
 


Gopherholefan said:
Anybody care to enlighten me on this story?? Souhan says Brewster was seen yelling at Maturi in front of witnesses.
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It's easier for Souhan to be vague; that way nobody can pin him down when they find out he is just publishing rumors and hearsay in a newspaper.

Bronko, usually I disagree with you...but I think I finally agree with you. This guy is trash and is trying to dredge up a story where there isn't one. Short on facts, heavy on opinions/bitterness/slanted journalism. Souhan and Reusse are incredibly transparent.
 

Gopherholefan said:
Anybody care to enlighten me on this story?? Souhan says Brewster was seen yelling at Maturi in front of witnesses.
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i haven't heard this story from anyone else.

souhan and ruesse seem to be the only ones who know about this.

and brewster ruined adam weber? the same weber who was throwing to ernie wheelwright his freshman year and eric decker the past two? two of the best receivers to wear the maroon and gold. now that he doesn't have a big time receiver and has an atrocious o-line is the real adam weber showing himself?
 

I've got no issues with recruiting JUCO's especially if they can play, if Florida takes some JUCO kids then everyone should look to the JUCO ranks to improve their roster. While Sharpe and Pittman did not work out, Brock, McKinley, Lawrence, and Simmons all were valuable members of the team during their time on campus.

I agree with certain aspects of the article and disagree with other aspects. I don't think it's cut and dried that Brewster should be fired or that he should stay. It appears that recruiting is back on track and that perhaps we can wait until Fall/Winter to make a serious decision on Brewster. I certainly don't understand the "after the Bowl Game" line that Maturi has been spewing. A win over Iowa State does nothing for me, it should happen. If there's something that can happen in the Bowl Game that would lead Maturi towards giving Brewster an extension, then he should have given it to him already.

Next year, Brewster has to beat Iowa/Wisconsin and win 4 conference games. That is showing progress in year 4.
 

It would make it easier if he did win those. The schedule doesn't look good. If Maturi is having a tough time making a decision now, I don't think it'll get any easier next year
 

The only way Maturi's decision doesn't get easier next year is if Brewster wins 7 games including 1 rivalry game, but has some ugly losses. Under any other scenario, 4 years to get to .500 in your own conference and go better than 7-5 overall is an adequate amount of time.
 

You know it's not about numbers. It never gets as easy as you suggest. This team could progress and be well on it's way to where we want it to go and still have the same results as this year. The team is built for 2011/12. It's Maturi's job to decide if we can get there or not. It isn't as easy as a Ruesse/Barriero/Souhan inspired checklist. We all want great things, but are you willing to chuck it all if we've improved and end up 6-6 with our best talent juniors and sophmores finally starting to look like a competitive team but coming up short. This is the likely decision of Maturi next year. Wiscy is just as tough next year and we play them there, Iowa will still be a step ahead of us coming here, we play USC, OSU, PSU. We can end up 6-6 without one bad loss and being decidedly better than this year.
 

Schnoodler said:
You know it's not about numbers. It never gets as easy as you suggest. This team could progress and be well on it's way to where we want it to go and still have the same results as this year. The team is built for 2011/12. It's Maturi's job to decide if we can get there or not. It isn't as easy as a Ruesse/Barriero/Souhan inspired checklist. We all want great things, but are you willing to chuck it all if we've improved and end up 6-6 with our best talent juniors and sophmores finally starting to look like a competitive team but coming up short. This is the likely decision of Maturi next year. Wiscy is just as tough next year and we play them there, Iowa will still be a step ahead of us coming here, we play USC, OSU, PSU. We can end up 6-6 without one bad loss and being decidedly better than this year.
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Some of this would be valid for year 2 or 3, but this is year 4. The end results have to be there and improvement can no longer be a "feel" thing, it has to show in the W's and L's. Most coaches would be thrilled to get a 4th year if they had gone 0-6 against their 2 biggest rivals and 6-18 in the conference. Brewster has got to 3 conference wins each of the past two years and getting to 4 this year is necessary for momentum for the program. A coach doesn't get 5 or 6 years to reach minor goals like .500 in the conference...you don't build towards .500 for years on end. The "schedule" game is meaningless, the way you prove you are a good coach worth investing in is by meeting and then exceeding expectations.

edit: not sure how one of those emoticons got on here
 

It's no difference. Either we're on the path to the promised land or we're not. There's no magical win total must have wins. There is only the question if we're progressing. Maturi's is going to look at the situation and decide. If we're a better team than Wisconsin or Iowa and we lose then you've got something. But it takes some serious Koolaid to think that.

We'll be the underdog in at least half of our games. And rightfully so. This is the reality of growing a program. It's a progression. When we're the favorite in most games we'll win most games.

The only thing that has meaning is if the program is building and growing. Results follow. They don't come before unless you're lucky. When we're the better team, we'll have the better results.
 

Why bother posting anything from Souhan?

Don't waste the bandwidth. He is a miserable human being.
 

Typical dopey negative article presented with a lot of verbal authority and little sense of reality: Take away season one and Brew's won-loss record isn't bad; juco recruiting is perfectly normal, especially when building a new program (see K-State a few years ago - they practically won a national championship with jucos); It is too early to judge Brew's progress - he needs five years; there has been improvement on defense and the kicking game and recruiting is looking up; and why sneer at a perfectly good bowl game in a great winter spot against a Big 12 team that beat Nebraska in Lincoln?
 

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