It's interesting how differently people see things. I am terribly concerned with what I observed this year. More so it seems than most of the other members on here. First of all, Coach Brewster absolutely means well and has the best intentions for this program. Unfortunately, if you observe his manner and communication style, it is easy to tell that he does not have the personality to be a successful head coach and is really "play-acting" the part by trying to be positive and say the right things. He's read one too many "leadership" and/or positive thinking books and has obviously bought into that philosophy. He lacks independent and critical thinking skills, has less than adequate judgment, is more concerned with perception than reality, and sounds like a robot that has been pre-programmed by Tony Robbins. (It would actually be interesting to learn how/when he developed this odd and unnatural personality.) He claims he has very strong and deep viewpoints/convictions on certain subjects, yet in reality he changes his mind constantly and inconsistently applies these convictions. It would take way too much time and effort to provide examples for what I'm saying, but for anyone that truly pays close attention to everything that comes out of his mouth (whether it be in the paper, on the Sid Hartman show on Sunday mornings, or during his radio and television show) and to the decisions he's made, you well know that this man is currently in a position for which he is ill-suited and untrained. In addition, if you've observed Brewster interacting with his players, he seems to vacillate between trying to be a hard-ass and trying to be a "cool and hip" friend to his players. Again, the guy can't decide who he is as a man, as a coach, as a leader, etc. Is it any wonder why he couldn't determine, early on and from his own observation, how flawed and ineffective the offense was and how unbelievably unsophisticated, predictable and almost child-like the play-calling was for substantial portions of many games. How many times did I see them run a screen play where Weber threw the ball to a running back or the tight end who was standing in the middle of the line of scrimmage next to two, three or four defenders? I've watched football for almost 40 years and not only have I never seen this play before, I can't imagine anyone ever dreaming up such a play. It never, and I repeat never, worked for the Gophers. Yet, somebody kept calling it (in some cases up to three times a game) and was stubborn enough to insist that it had to work. Which brings up another point; Coach Brewster is a very stubborn man who hired a very insecure, immature, stubborn and unorganized offensive coordinator. A coordinator who devised (whether on his own or with others) game plans that, for the most part, were ill-conceived and haphazard at best. And this is a man that Brewster referred to as a "Dead Shot". Why would any intelligent and thoughtful coach ever go out on a limb and say that? Because it sounded good, it made Brewster seem like a genius and it helped Brewster to believe that what he did was right even though deep down he knew he was taking a big risk (and just think if Brewster didn't realize that he was taking a big risk...again, question the man's decision making and judgment). In closing, I ask that each and every one of you go back and look at the offensive production from each and every game. Don't just look at the SDSU game or the Iowa game, or the Illinois game, or the Penn St. game (39 yards at half-time). Please look carefully at each and every game. Look at the games we won and how we won them. Look at how we would've lost several of those games had the defense not made a miraculous play or had the opposing team not made a huge end-of-the-game blunder. Look at how our offensive statistics stack up in the Big Ten and in the nation at large. Look at all the "3 and outs". Look at the drive-spoiling penalties. Look at the 3rd down conversion ratio. Look at the red zone failure, especially from within five yards. Look at the dropped balls. Look at the poor passes. Think to yourself, really think hard, why did this happen? It happened because the players on offense weren't happy, weren't comfortable, weren't relaxed, weren't prepared and had no confidence. Do you think our wide receivers dropped those kind of easy passes when they were in high school? Of course not, because they played with confidence and swagger and knew that they were being put into situations where they could succeed. We all know Weber is not as good as Northwestern's, Indiana's, Iowa's, etc quarterback. We've all watched those guys methodically pick apart our and other teams' secondaries hitting 4,5,6 and 7 different receivers during a drive. But Weber certainly was better as a freshman and sophomore than he is now. Everyone saw that. It's clear as water. Why did this happen? And why won't Brewster acknowledge it? And why did Brewster say in Youngblood's column that the fans and observers don't have a clue what they're talking about (yes he said that...go look). You want to know why? Because the coaching staff negligently destroyed the young man's confidence and put him in a position to not succeed. So, what's Brewster going to do? Admit it and throw himself and Fisch under the bus? Of course not. Many of you want to blame the offensive line That's understandable but not the answer. We've all witnessed plenty of plays by many teams where the offense keeps in seven blockers, rolls the quarterback out, and the quarterback is still able to find an open receiver in a seam somewhere within the zone. If not, he keeps the ball and runs. It's happened against the Gophers year in and year out. Weber didn't have to face the pressure he did. It was our stubborn and unintelligent coaches who insisted on doing it their way and subjecting Weber to constant pressure to the point where the kid was shell-shocked and developed a terrible case of happy feet. And Weber is just the tip of the iceberg. They killed the confidence of the receivers too by constantly saying "someone has to step up now that Decker is out...without Decker we lose almost all our weaponry...." That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Do you think Sidney Rice, Bernard Berrian and Visante Schianco all of the sudden "stepped it up"? Of course not. What happened is they finally got a quarterback who had a fricking clue how to play Childress' game. That's all. These guys didn't change over night. The same thing is true for Brandon Green, DaJon McKnight, Stoudemire, Allen, Tow-Arnett, Kuznia. These guys were ready and more than capable of making plays and getting open, etc. The problem was that the plays were poorly designed, called at the wrong time against the wrong coverage and were run by a quarterback who rarely had time to make a throw and whose confidence had been destroyed by the coaching staff by the third week of the season. Each and every one of these receivers could've caught 25 to 30 passes this year and would have had they been in Northwestern's, Purdue's, or Indiana's offense. Folks, the reason for this abysmal season-long offensive performance (sans Michigan State) lies 95% on the coaching staff. And for that, there is no excuse. If the Gopher offense is not in the top 6 of the Big Ten next year, then we must conclude that this hire was an abject failure, we must let Brewster go and Maturi should be fired for taking such an unwarranted risk with the most important hire of his career. I truly can't take this anymore. It's got to stop. I guarantee that each and every one of you on this website could've interviewed and selected a better head coach than Maturi did. That is not meant to be funny, sarcastic or whimsical. I know that all of you would have made a better choice. How in gods name have we come to this point? The Gopher football program reminds me of Vietnam and Iraq. Quagmires that never had to happen. It makes me want to cry.
