OK...according to most Holers
as a U alum, I'm a fool for liking Brewster's unbridled enthusiasm re GG fb. No question that his boundless energy has revived my interest in the team from my Eastern perch. Generally, I follow the GGs live on BTN/ESPN/ABC or DVR if live is not possible. The national TV exposure is impressive, TCFB looks great (especially at night) and all the media has to help his recruiting across the country which Minny obviously needs to field a competitive D1 BT team.
Last year I traveled to Syracuse (I was disappointed the BT did not expand East) and this year I will be at the Bank with TC family for the NIU night game. Looking forward to it.
My distant take on Brewster after the team's SDU egg-laying and outright local/national humiliation?
Personality-wise, TB seems to be an over-the-top "pleaser". He seems to unable to restrain himself from telling all who will listen (mostly fans and media) that everything is just peachy and on track for a championship season sooner rather than later. In fact, for all the obvious reasons stated on the Hole, the reality is that it is likely to be later, and if the team doesn't show more competitive drive and effort, probably not on his watch.
In my humble view, he needs to become more of a demanding bastard in his role as field general in order to balance his intense desire to please all of Gopher Nation. He can't please everyone and he doesn't seem to understand that aspect of the job. One of his favorite phrases is "I couldn't be more pleased with...", we've all heard this from him repeatedly to the extent that it seems that he is either never "displeased" or afraid of offending someone in Minny if he expresses that he is "displeased". About all we get in his pressers is that he is "disappointed".
As a fan, I would be very pleased to see him become very pissed-off by lack of intellingent in-game coaching adjustments, bone-head drive-killing penalties, lack of player effort/execution and failure of Captain leadership. Obviously, he should not call out his charges in the media, but based on the results we see on the field, Brewster is not doing this behind closed doors because the same problems keep re-emerging. He seems addicted to pleasing and he doesn't believe in "pointing fingers". That's a failure on his leadership ability as a head coach. If he doesn't hold his coaches and players accountable for poor performance, who will? Unfortunately, he seems to be taking Minnesota Nice to an extreme. In big-time BT fb, nice guy coaches generally finish last and that's exactly where most seem to feel Minny will reside this season.
A good place for Brew to start getting pissed-off is with his staff. When the assistant coaches failed to line-up their players for "Hail Minnesota" after the game and would not take the heat along with the head coach, that was a huge Red Flag that there needs to be a big attitude adjustment on the part of his direct subordinates. Brewster will get nowhere until he demands that these D1-paid coaches start taking responsibility and are held accountable for their hand in the SDU egg-laying and possibly future fiascos. Now into his fourth year, he should have made this clear to his coaches and it should be part of team culture. Like many, I am disturbed that apparently he has not got this message out and if it takes being a bastard to do it, so be it.
As a spin-off of this, in my view, TB needs to have a wake-up meeting with his Captains telling them what he expects and demands from them as mature leaders of the team. Yes, the Theret DUI was a kick in the balls, but the "Hail Minnesota" fiasco and the failure of Captain leadership in this area was something that should never happen to a coach in his fourth year. If he hasn't had this meeting and doesn't get the desired results, that's simply another nail in his coffin for the Brew Haters here and elsewhere. Somehow he seems to think he has to be a martyr for the team and absorb all of the Minny fan hostility and humiliation. Hey Brew, it's a team...everyone gets the glory and everyone takes the heat. If they can't take the heat, do they belong in the kitchen?
Finally, I'm really dumbfounded that TB doesn't expect more of AW as a 5th year senior, one of the most...if not the most...experienced qbs in all of D1 fb. Yes, he had a decent game, but putting the ball on the turf twice was simply unacceptable. Apparently, now in his last year, he never learned to slide even after making a first down. This is on Brewster. NW has and have had qbs that make running and sliding a specialty. They are very good at it. AW is not a stupid young man. Is he just bull-headed? Or has Brewster failed to see that he understands the importance of moving the chains by sliding? I certainly don't know, maybe someone else here does.
All that said, I still like Brewster's enthusiam and promotion of Minny, but without some real bastardly, demanding teeth in his pleasing persona, I doubt that he will survive the BT head coaching meat grinder.
