Teague talks recruiting, casual fan, Wisconsin's success, administrative changes

[BleedGopher]

Teague was on KFAN yesterday, here is a recap - I typed as I listened so this is not 100% verbatim, but it is close:

Teague on football recruiting: I trust Jerry and his staff’s evaluation ability. I’m not going to sit here and say this will be the best class ever but you never know. This class will turn out to be solid as a rock. The classes that are great are the ones that stay as a big group through 4-5 years. He’s recruited a long time. I’ve seen him back off players for background reasons. I trust him.

We lost one kid who played fairly well in an All Star game and a school an hour from us offered him. His classes at Northern Illinois were in the 100s and they went to the Orange Bowl.

Teague on in-state talent: The staff has got to have connections in pockets throughout the country and these guys have proven that. We have kids from Texas, Georgia. They have connections. That is key. Our talent in state is going to ebb and flow. When we have them we have to keep them at home. That’s a must. It makes it easier when you have connections throughout the country. It’s about relationships. If you have relationships you’ll be ahead.

Teague on taking stuff off Kill’s plate: David Benedict and I have spent a lot of time with Jerry and the program. The longer we’re here the better it gets. We have a great support under Jerry. We’re progressing big time. Jerry is hard core and he wants to handle a lot. We’re making progress and we’ll continue to make progress.

Teague on Northwestern and Wisconsin’s success: I’ve studied the Wisconsin thing and the Northwestern deal as well. You have to have a committed President and an AD that wants that and is here for a while and a head football coach that is aligned. You have to be able to stick together through the thin years as well. The leadership has to be good, consistent and dynamic. I was told that Wisconsin in the late 80s and early 90s that Wisconsin has more obstacles than we have here now and that’s encouraging. We have the leadership in place.

Teague on the casual fan: They are going to take longer to sell than Wisconsin or Northwestern fans. It’s been 45 years here. I was two years old last time we won a Big Ten championship. I don’t expect people to totally jump in yet. We need a little time.

Teague on staff/administrative changes in the athletic department: When you believe in the decision and know it’s the right thing you are 90% even if people call you Darth Vader. I’ve been OK with that. I’m not going to separate anyone from the organization or make a change if its not in the best interest. In some ways some of the change needed to be made in that area. Our coaches needed more support. We needed to be more aggressive in fundraising and new marketing ideas. The areas where I’ve made the changes I think we can produce some good results quickly. We need to do extraordinary things, not good things but extraordinary things. Change needed to be made to achieve that.

Go Gophers!!

 

[Iceland12]

Nice job. I heard part of that followed by the facilities discussion. Teague and Barrerio did a good job. That killed me typing that about Barrerio..

 

[justthefacts]

Teague on the casual fan: They are going to take longer to sell than Wisconsin or Northwestern fans. It’s been 45 years here. I was two years old last time we won a Big Ten championship. I don’t expect people to totally jump in yet. We need a little time.

I'm guessing he's never been to a Northwestern home football game. No one cares about Northwestern football and they win 8 or 9 games every year.

 

[MaxyJR1]

No one cares about Northwestern football and they win 8 or 9 games every year.

Slow down there buddy. Fitzgerald did not go to a bowl until year three and has only won 8 or more games 3 out of 7 years. Let's give it some time with Kill before we get too worked up. We draw better than Northwestern and we are worse at this point.

Fitz is 26-30 in the big ten over 7 season. He was 5-11 after two and Kill is 4-12.

Northwestern is a national team. Alums all over the country and I believe the show up for Bowl games.

 

[MNVCGUY]

There is that Orange Bowl comment again....man they are going to beat that into the ground as some kind of proof that Kill can recruit high level talent. Yes those were mostly his recruits out there in the Orange Bowl playing like a bunch of guys that should not have been on the field against FSU.

Thanks for the writeup. Seems like everytime I hear NT speak I walk away feeling like he said a lot of words with little to no content.

 

[e.bigelow]

Thanks for the summary Bleed! Those of us who miss these types of interviews/programs really appreciate the write-ups! Well done, as always!

 

[Gopher Bandanna Guy]

Slow down there buddy. Fitzgerald did not go to a bowl until year three and has only won 8 or more games 3 out of 7 years. Let's give it some time with Kill before we get too worked up. We draw better than Northwestern and we are worse at this point.

Fitz is 26-30 in the big ten over 7 season. He was 5-11 after two and Kill is 4-12.

Agree with this. The love-fest Fitzgerald receives is a bit much. Yes, he's done well with what NW has, but he's not getting to Rose Bowls yet either. Maybe he will, but as was pointed out, his Big Ten record sub-0.500 (Mason-esque at this point, but still a decent acheivement for NW).

Pretty safe to say that NW does NOT show up in droves for bowl games though. They do have a national alumni base, but their enrollement is so much smaller than other, public Big Ten schools (5-6K undergrads I believe). Hell, attendance at their home games is half road fans as it is.

 

[Gopherprof]

There is that Orange Bowl comment again....man they are going to beat that into the ground as some kind of proof that Kill can recruit high level talent. Yes those were mostly his recruits out there in the Orange Bowl playing like a bunch of guys that should not have been on the field against FSU.

It's the best argument they have. They can only talk about what Kill's recruiting has accomplished at lesser programs because he hasn't accomplished much here yet. That's neither praise nor criticism, it just is what it is. Mentioning "Orange Bowl" is better than saying "be patient and we'll talk in 3-4 years" from a marketing standpoint.

 

[Gopherprof]

Agree with this. The love-fest Fitzgerald receives is a bit much. Yes, he's done well with what NW has, but he's not getting to Rose Bowls yet either. Maybe he will, but as was pointed out, his Big Ten record sub-0.500 (Mason-esque at this point, but still a decent acheivement for NW).

Fitz has won 46% of his BT games, Mason won exactly 40%. The difference might not seem that stark, but it's almost a game per year.

That said, he also took over a better job than Mason got, and I agree that the love for him is way overboard sometimes.

On the issue of bowl game attendance, however, I've read that their attendance for bowl games is actually pretty solid because their alumni network is so national (same reason why their home attendance is terrible). I've never looked at the numbers, however.

 

[MaxyJR1]

They can only talk about what Kill's recruiting has accomplished at lesser programs because he hasn't accomplished much here yet. That's neither praise nor criticism, it just is what it is.

I know you were not criticizing, but we just don't know what he has accomplished recruitingwise because his recruits are all 1-2 years into the program. On the field we have not accomplished much but in recruiting, that's debatable.

 

[Gopherprof]

I know you were not criticizing, but we just don't know what he has accomplished recruitingwise because his recruits are all 1-2 years into the program. On the field we have not accomplished much but in recruiting, that's debatable.

Yeah, fair enough, but the point still stands that you can't put that on a bumper sticker.

 

[MNVCGUY]

I know you were not criticizing, but we just don't know what he has accomplished recruitingwise because his recruits are all 1-2 years into the program. On the field we have not accomplished much but in recruiting, that's debatable.

As Prof said they are using what is available. Just as the #12 recruiting ranking in the Big Ten doesn't tell the whole story neither does saying his recruits played on an Orange Bowl team. Both are misleading because the #12 class is very comparable to many in the back half of the confernece and the team playing in the Orange Bowl was there do to a weak conference and a BCS loop-hole.

Casual fans get worried about the #12 and are impressed by the Orange Bowl comments because they just see the surface info. Again as Prof stated "it is what it is" I just feel like they are going to that card a bit to much trying to make it seem like something it isn't.

Right now we know he can recruit at a MAC level now time to find out if his recruits can win at the Big Ten level.

 

[matt]

Fitz has won 46% of his BT games, Mason won exactly 40%. The difference might not seem that stark, but it's almost a game per year.

It's slightly less than half a game per year.

Mason: 8 x 0.40 = 3.20 Big Ten wins per year.
Fitzgerald: 8 x 0.46 = 3.68 Big Ten wins per year.

 

[justthefacts]

Slow down there buddy. Fitzgerald did not go to a bowl until year three and has only won 8 or more games 3 out of 7 years. Let's give it some time with Kill before we get too worked up. We draw better than Northwestern and we are worse at this point.

Fitz is 26-30 in the big ten over 7 season. He was 5-11 after two and Kill is 4-12.

Northwestern is a national team. Alums all over the country and I believe the show up for Bowl games.

Did you even read what I posted? Even the part you quoted? All I'm saying is that Northwestern has the worst fans in the Big Ten, even though their team is pretty good. Not sure why Teague would think their fans are easier to get onboard than Gopher fans. How you interpreted that as a slight against Kill is not clear to me.

 

[MaxyJR1]

You said they win 8-9 games every yr. That simply is not true. That's really all I was going on. It's just frustrating if people do not compare apples to apples.

 

[justthefacts]

You said they win 8-9 games every yr. That simply is not true. That's really all I was going on. It's just frustrating if people do not compare apples to apples.

Ok you are right. I concede. Northwestern fans are WAY better than Gopher fans.

 

[Tim Riggins]

Did he talk about the facilities master plan and how it relates to the football practice facility?