The 5 worst firings over the past 10 years in college football (Mason/Minnesota #2)

[mplsbadger]

Minnesota CAN do better than Mason, but firing him at that moment was self-destructive and led to the much worse Brewster hiring. The whole episode was a fiasco, following as it did an expensive renewal of his contract. Overall, it was a huge mistake.

It seemed the equivalent of throwing your putter in a pond on the front nine on the final day at the US Open. You may not have liked your putter, and it may have let you down, and it may have felt good to throw it in the pond, but you didn't have a backup plan. As many have said, the subsequent hire made it worse. If Maturi was connected, had control of the alumni, and had Gary Patterson up his sleeve it wouldn't have been such a big problem. As it was, I think he started thinking, "now just how would I go about hiring a coach?", about ten minutes after he hung up on Glen.

 

[MRJ]

It seemed the equivalent of throwing your putter in a pond on the front nine on the final day at the US Open. You may not have liked your putter, and it may have let you down, and it may have felt good to throw it in the pond, but you didn't have a backup plan. As many have said, the subsequent hire made it worse. If Maturi was connected, had control of the alumni, and had Gary Patterson up his sleeve it wouldn't have been such a big problem. As it was, I think he started thinking, "now just how would I go about hiring a coach?", about ten minutes after he hung up on Glen.

+ 20. Sums up the Maturi era rather nicely

 

[Unregistered User]

I think one could make a case he did O.K. ...

There is not enough of this view on this board. It seems you either have to be 100% pro or anti Mason. I thought he did O.K. but I truly expected more from him. He would create some upsets from time to time, pretty much take care of business, and would almost always end the season with the same stump speech "Man, it's hard to win here, it just it". Every year, that would indicate surrender to me. If it's tough to win here, that just means you need to work harder. Hell...it's only hard work, so work hard.

I don't hate the guy, he did fine, but I expect more, and I don't think he was the person to deliver.

Now I hope that Kill and staff are the men that will work that hard. And I'll support them (as I supported Mason while he was coach) for as long as they are coach here. If this staff can't break through that ceiling, then it's time to move on.

 

[Unregistered User]

So, now we have this situation in which this killjoy is attempting to engage me to counter his funny little things that he tries to do. (well. he's really not funny...but he is attempting to draw some sort of response from me.,. I of course find this killjoy to be no one worth even responding to...so of course, I won't. I'll merely laugh at him and his henchmen. They are not worth being voted off the island again for. However, I will ask you to think before you post material that will lead to this rampant Mason bashing that some of your posters are allowed to do. It really is pretty demeaning to this site and is very disrespectful on their parts.

So I'll write an entire paragraph engaging him while speaking out of the other side of my mouth describing how I'm not engaging him.

Please ban wren again. He has now been allowed to post for a while, and he's on his typical path.

It's almost Easter, wren, there is only one true martyr that I'm thinking about this weekend, and it ain't you wren, so get off your high horse.

 

[Ski U Master]

As many have already said, the mistake was not firing Mason it was hiring Brewster.

 

[Rescooter]

There were three incidents, one that I saw, two that I saw the collateral damage.

#1 was at Nashville in 2005. We were at the rally at the stadium club room. Mason was supposed to come out at fire up the legions. 15 minutes go by, then 30. They brought out Darrell Thompson to tell some stories to fill the time and I think we sang the rouser three times. Finally, after about 40 minutes, Mase, Maturi, and Bruininks come out of a side room. Mason and Bruininks are beet-red and it was obvious that there had been some shouting that had been going on. Mase spoke for about a minute and left. This was in the midst of his contract negotiation.

#2 was at Tempe/Phoenix the next year. We went to a rally downtown the day before the game. Mase gave the strangest, rambling speech. He touched on everything from lack of support from the fans and administration, to bad press and crappy Arizona weather. A lot of us thought he was drunk.

#3 was the next day at the rally on the Minnesota Plaza at Sun Devil stadium. Bruininks and other U luminaries spoke, lastly Harvey McKay. McKay gave his usual go-go spiel, but talked of Mason in almost past-tense. I distinctly remember him saying the line "new leadership" at least twice. A lot of us thought he was referring to a new coach. That was bizarre. I figure Mase had crapped on Harvey.

Highwayman, I will add one more:

The relationship with the Students. College Football is for Students, Alumni, and the General Public (in that order). Alienating students and lowering yourself to the point of insulting them because they don't seem to be "on board" is not the way to move a program forward. He worked for Maturi which could put anyone over the edge, but you suck it up and do your job. I agree that Mason was better than Brewster, but that is not saying much.

 

[imthewalrus]

Highwayman, I will add one more:

The relationship with the Students. College Football is for Students, Alumni, and the General Public (in that order). Alienating students and lowering yourself to the point of insulting them because they don't seem to be "on board" is not the way to move a program forward. He worked for Maturi which could put anyone over the edge, but you suck it up and do your job. I agree that Mason was better than Brewster, but that is not saying much.

Why, in your opinion was there such a poor response for student ticket sales as recently as the past two seasons? Does Coach Kill have a poor relationship with the students? They just don't seem to show up for the Big Ten Games...when the weather gets a little colder they are pretty much no-shows. I know there have been a lot of tickets given away to try to put butts in the seats with very limited success...nothing to count on. What has alienated the students now? Were they spoiled by being sheltered from the elements at the dome? Ten years ago they used to fill a LOT of the sections in the dome. Now that we have our beautiful new stadium right on campus, the numbers are pitifully low. What do you think Rescooter? Some Game Day Saturdays if it weren't for the Band Members and about 100 to 200 students, their end of the bowl would be about empty. Why isn't our administrative team, our new norwood, the expensive consultant the prexy hired who used to be the ad, and the rest of the gang over there finding the answer to the disappearing Student Section? Whether they know it or not, it is a real problem.

; 0 )

 

[GeniusGopher]

I don't really fault the timing of the Mason firing, it was time for a change. The Brewster hiring on the other hand, not good. Where would we be now had Charlie Strong gotten the job instead of Brewster?

We'd be looking for a coach again, as Strong would have probably used a job like this as a springboard to an SEC position, like Arkansas or Auburn.

 

[mkAz]

We'd be looking for a coach again, as Strong would have probably used a job like this as a springboard to an SEC position, like Arkansas or Auburn.

If that's the case, why is he still at Louisville?

 

[Monty519]

We'd be looking for a coach again, as Strong would have probably used a job like this as a springboard to an SEC position, like Arkansas or Auburn.

Even if that were the case, I think the position our program would have been in would be quite a bit stronger than it is now.

 

[corcoran1]

Given that we did not have an AD who got it and could work with GM to improve the program the firing was the only thing JM know how to do, but it was incredibly mismanaged. The timing was terrible (no time to recruit), the guy who ran it had no clue, and with both the AD and Pres being lame ducks only an idiot would take the job. Hello Tim.

 

[GophersInIowa]

Even if that were the case, I think the position our program would have been in would be quite a bit stronger than it is now.

No pun intended

 

[GophersInIowa]

As others have said, I think Brewster's lack of success made the firing seem worse.

I could be way off base, but I think part of the reason Brewster was hired because he's almost the complete opposite of Mason. No matter how much you hate him, you have to recognize that Brew did work hard at recruiting, he did develop good relationships with the local high schools, and he tried to create excitement around the program. Mason did a much better job of developing talent and if he could have done the few things Brewster did well, he might still be coaching at the U.

 

[Bayfieldgopher]

As others have said, I think Brewster's lack of success made the firing seem worse.

I could be way off base, but I think part of the reason Brewster was hired because he's almost the complete opposite of Mason. No matter how much you hate him, you have to recognize that Brew did work hard at recruiting, he did develop good relationships with the local high schools, and he tried to create excitement around the program. Mason did a much better job of developing talent and if he could have done the few things Brewster did well, he might still be coaching at the U.

So does Mason + Brewster = Kill?

 

[bleedsmaroonandgold]

I hate this "Minnesota can't do well" mentality. Wisconsin was at about rock bottom leading into the Alvarez hire, they won 9 total games from 1986-1990. They had not won the conference since 1962 (at that time, that was longer than Minnesota's drought). I am sure that if Wisconsin would have said that they would win 6 conference titles over the next 22 years, anyone would have said that they are crazy. I am sick and tired of being stuck behind Wisconsin in football and basketball and assuming that it is just because it is tough to recruit good players to come to the cold. Madison isn't exactly San Diego.

 

[imthewalrus]

So does Mason + Brewster = Kill?

Only a few more years and the number of Big Ten wins, bowl invitations and bowl wins vs losses will tell us for sure Bayfield. I certainly hope Kill can get it done. I'm older now than I was when I was having fun, feeling as though any time my Gophers went anywhere on the road for Big Ten games or to the bowl games, we had a shot or better in the games...watching some All-Americans...All-Big Ten players getting some recognition during the Mason years. And then came that brewball experiment. It was a time I focused solely on the kids on the team, their efforts and the fact that they were laying it all out there on the field and EVERY single positive thing they did on the field...AND my growing awareness of and displeasure with the administrators at the U of M and their incompetence in running a football program at the Big Ten level. My heart broke for the players
during brewsters first season and last season. But with the coaching change and the ensuing wins over Illinois and Iowa, a new era had begun. That win over Iowa will ALWAYS stand out as one of my all-time favorite BORDER BATTLE wins. And what a BEAUTIFUL sight it was to see the way the field was rushed by Gopher Fans. Contrary to what that reuse character said about that: if I could have a portrait of a GREAT GOPHER Moment, I think I would take that moment! I knew Golden Gopher Spirit had prevailed a most difficult period of time.

Coach Kill a combination of the two? Maybe...maybe not. I think Coach Kill is very much his own man...and I like the way he presents himself. I like his blunt honesty coupled with that little spin he has that shows he can laugh at himself...does not appear to be totally ego-driven. He's a salesman. He can be a tough, hard-nosed, do-it-his-own-way-good-old-fashioned- ball coach! I like that part a LOT. He has many moving parts. The Big Ten is still a tough conference week in and week out. It's a pretty brutal grind that takes a lot of depth for a team to survive the season. And with the addition of Nebraska it is more difficult than it ever has been.We will hope for the best for all involved and see what we shall see!
I hope Coach Kill keeps doing things in exactly the way he does things...the HONEST WAY, I believe. And, I hope he, his staff and all the Gopher Players during the next years burst through to new heights we have not seen in a very long time. I hope the Students at the U of M discover how GREAT GDS is on their campus and that lifelong Golden Gopher Fans will be made during their years as students at the U of M.But, I think we both know it will take an incredible effort by all involved, a team that will start finding ways to win football games...to beg, borrow, steal and just flat-out once in a while to take over ball games and to find ways to finish, hang-on some times, and come from behind sometimes. May they learn to defend their home field. And...my last wish is that they have a few of those magical, mystical break through, lucky, hard-earned
SPECIAL seasons when everything with the team and for the team falls into place. Being along as a fan for that journey will be worth anything and everything that has made the journey a little tough at times.

We shall see Bayfield...but...I think we will have a lot of fun as fans along the way...

wren

; 0 )

 

[Lakeville Goldy]

I think (or at least I have the perception) that Mason's biggest problems were off the field. He just didn't seem to be interested in promoting the program. He refused to take calls on his WCCO radio segment; he seemed to disappear in the off-season; and he didn't seem to have very good relationships with the local media (outside of Sid.)
I've also heard rumors over the years about some kind of an incident at that final bowl game - don't know the details - where Mason had some kind of an argument with some boosters and/or administrators.

Compare that to Kill, who seems to be much more open about promoting the program - doing speaking engagements; interacting with students on campus; and he's been doing a short segment with Sid every Sunday morning. It may not be that informative, but at least he's on the radio talking about Gopher FB.

In retrospect, I think the off-field and personality issues have colored how people perceive Mason. A coach with the same on-field results, but a more engaging personality, would still be coaching here.

A relative of my brother in law stated that every year they would invite Mason to a conference of MN HS coaches and every year he would send a low level assistant instead of meeting with the coaches himself. Just an example of how he didn't work to make relationships.

Regarding the Insight Bowl thing, I heard from a player that was there that Mason basically disrespected a senior exec from TCF on the plane and at the Sota Social and that was right after TCF agreed to be the title sponsor of the stadium. Apparently Bruininks was LIVID.

It seemed the equivalent of throwing your putter in a pond on the front nine on the final day at the US Open. You may not have liked your putter, and it may have let you down, and it may have felt good to throw it in the pond, but you didn't have a backup plan. As many have said, the subsequent hire made it worse. If Maturi was connected, had control of the alumni, and had Gary Patterson up his sleeve it wouldn't have been such a big problem. As it was, I think he started thinking, "now just how would I go about hiring a coach?", about ten minutes after he hung up on Glen.

The problem is that it is rare to really have that coach out there you know will take the job. The only time that usually happens is if there's a guy who is out of work or an alumnus who is at a lower tier institution that still has major ties to the school. Otherwise you usually have to fire the guy first then find a replacement. Most coaches do not want to entertain any conversations for jobs that aren't open. I mean, if some guy from a competiting company called you and said "we'll hire you at this rate but you have to give us time because we won't fire the guy you're replacing if you don't say yes", would you pursue it? Especially when you have a contract and relationships you need to maintain if something doesn't work out.


That being said, overall I think Mason was a pretty good coach. He took a bad program and made it good (not great). Losing to MI in spectacular fashion that fateful Friday night was a huge blow to him that I don't think he ever recovered from. The time had come to move on. It was unfortunate they hired Brewster, but it is what it is.

 

[gopherdudepart2]

If Bruininks got his underwea in a wad over the Insight Bowl incident

"Regarding the Insight Bowl thing, I heard from a player that was there that Mason basically disrespected a senior exec from TCF on the plane and at the Sota Social and that was right after TCF agreed to be the title sponsor of the stadium. Apparently Bruininks was LIVID."

Without coach Mason's relationship with Bill Cooper the University never get's in the room with TCF and the stadium discussion would have ended. I would have liked to have seen coach Mason at least get the chance to coach in TCF.

Bruininks, he was a bigger fool than I even thought if he thought that rinky dink incident at the bowl game mattered.

Mason and Bill Cooper and the executives at TCF had worked it out on the golf course previously that TCF would be the title sponser for the stadium( that was happening even if coach Mason was bing a drunk Dink) . If the president of the mortgage unit complained to Bruninks and Maturi they were fools for believing anything that happened there would effect the title sponsorship of the stadium from TCF. TCF was doing the deal whether they fired Glen Mason or not.

This just gave Bruininks an "OUT" scapegoat and specifically Maturi a reason to show they were not Unicks and were indeed in charge. Maturi had been chomping at the bit to make his mark and hire a football coach being an old ball coach himelf.
The mistake may have not been firing Mason(this could be an endless debate), but ever trusting AD Maturi to make the football coaching hire in the first place proved to be a disaster. Tim Brewster will always be Joel Maturi's hiring legacy at Minnesota as AD.
That and spending a ton of worthless money in the pursuit of little to no results. For a bean counter Joel sure spent a lot of University dollars on coaching hires like John Harris, et all.

 

[tinyarch]

I'm surprised that the firing of Lloyd Carr and hiring of Rich Rodriguez isn't on this list of worst firings and hirings. Michigan is just starting to turn the corner on that debacle.

 

[magpie]

I hate this "Minnesota can't do well" mentality. Wisconsin was at about rock bottom leading into the Alvarez hire, they won 9 total games from 1986-1990. They had not won the conference since 1962 (at that time, that was longer than Minnesota's drought). I am sure that if Wisconsin would have said that they would win 6 conference titles over the next 22 years, anyone would have said that they are crazy. I am sick and tired of being stuck behind Wisconsin in football and basketball and assuming that it is just because it is tough to recruit good players to come to the cold. Madison isn't exactly San Diego.

Re-read this.

 

[mplsbadger]

I'm surprised that the firing of Lloyd Carr and hiring of Rich Rodriguez isn't on this list of worst firings and hirings. Michigan is just starting to turn the corner on that debacle.

I don't think Carr was fired. I think he resigned.

 

[RodentRampage]

I hate this "Minnesota can't do well" mentality. Wisconsin was at about rock bottom leading into the Alvarez hire, they won 9 total games from 1986-1990. They had not won the conference since 1962 (at that time, that was longer than Minnesota's drought). I am sure that if Wisconsin would have said that they would win 6 conference titles over the next 22 years, anyone would have said that they are crazy. I am sick and tired of being stuck behind Wisconsin in football and basketball and assuming that it is just because it is tough to recruit good players to come to the cold. Madison isn't exactly San Diego.

Before Alvarez was hired, Wisconsin was in the same boat that Minnesota was. Their drought of conference titles was longer than ours. At that point, you couldn't have predicted which team would have done better. If they can win, so can we. There are people who insist that Minnesota hit a ceiling under Mason, but they can't come up with any reason to think this. Oh, they mention the weather, but that's nonsense, there's no significant difference between the weather in Minnesota and the other Big Ten schools. The weather doesn't get balmy just because you crossed the border into Wisconsin. Bad decisions caused the Gophers problems, good decisions can fix them.

 

[FreakyDeke]

I don't think Carr was fired. I think he resigned.

Yes, he "resigned."

 

[Lakeville Goldy]

Yes, he "resigned."

Agreed, "resigned" before he was "canned". Although honestly he looked so beaten down by the end of the season I think he may very well have been ready to walk away. He seriously looked like he was just barely even going through the motions the last couple games before he "resigned".

 

[Go4Broke]

Before Alvarez was hired, Wisconsin was in the same boat that Minnesota was. Their drought of conference titles was longer than ours. At that point, you couldn't have predicted which team would have done better. If they can win, so can we. There are people who insist that Minnesota hit a ceiling under Mason, but they can't come up with any reason to think this. Oh, they mention the weather, but that's nonsense, there's no significant difference between the weather in Minnesota and the other Big Ten schools. The weather doesn't get balmy just because you crossed the border into Wisconsin. Bad decisions caused the Gophers problems, good decisions can fix them.

Madison was a great college town waiting for a great college football coach, a President and AD with foresight, a Board of Regents and Alumni base with commitment, and a fan base with little else to do on Saturdays but go to a college football game.

Minneapolis is a below average college town still waiting for a great college football coach, a Board of Regents and Alumni base with commitment, and a fan base with little else to do on Saturdays but go to a college football game.

 

[50PoundHead]

I'm surprised that the firing of Lloyd Carr and hiring of Rich Rodriguez isn't on this list of worst firings and hirings. Michigan is just starting to turn the corner on that debacle.

Not that it should be mentioned, but I think you have Lloyd Carr, who resigned, confused with Gary Moeller, who was fired. Moeller's record at Michigan was 44-13-3 with 3 top ten national rankings in five years. So, off-season alcohol-induced rantings aside, Moeller had a lot more success than Mason (and only two less Big 10 wins in five less seasons) and still got bounced. Tough crowd in Ann Arbor. Of course, Moeller was, like Mason, an tOSU grad, so they probably wanted an M man, but settled for Carr.

 

[imthewalrus]

Not that it should be mentioned, but I think you have Lloyd Carr, who resigned, confused with Gary Moeller, who was fired. Moeller's record at Michigan was 44-13-3 with 3 top ten national rankings in five years. So, off-season alcohol-induced rantings aside, Moeller had a lot more success than Mason (and only two less Big 10 wins in five less seasons) and still got bounced. Tough crowd in Ann Arbor. Of course, Moeller was, like Mason, an tOSU grad, so they probably wanted an M man, but settled for Carr.

Carr's record was totally outstanding with one exception: he could NOT beat the Ohio State University once "sweater-vest" took over. If you think about it: while Bo Schembeckler was KING in Ann Arbor...he NEVER won a National Championship there. But, he and Woody kept the Ohio State University vs Michigan gave a VERYcompetetive series that captured the attention of all of America. At one stage of their rivalry, the annual battle was referred to as the: "...Ten Year War..." on some occasions it was #1 playing #2 for the Rosebowl Rights. When Lloyd Carr won his National Championship, it had been darn near fifty years since Michigan had won a NC. They won a NC in 1948 and didn't win another one until Carr's team won the NC in 1997. Carr was a great coach who unfortunately for him and the Corn/Blues was unable to beat Tressel nearly often enough to stay on as the HC at Michigan. They haven't been able to replace him though. First the rich-rod disaster and now Brady Hoak is a pretty fair coach with all the advantages they have in Ann Arbor...but his fate will ride on his ability...or inability to compete with The Ohio State University and their urban renewal project following their own little Tressel scandal and punishment...

Coop couldn't beat Michigan and then Carr couldn't beat Tressel. What will the story on Hoak vs. Urban M be? Time will be on the side of the coach who takes control of that series...

; 0 )

 

[mplsbadger]

...There are people who insist that Minnesota hit a ceiling under Mason...

If they did, it was made of Teflon. I'd have liked it if Grinnin' Glen had a chance at TCF. I felt he deserved it. But by the anecdotes shared here, it sounds as if he may have been at least in part to blame for his dismissal. Some guys just have personalities that are never going to make them favorites with the home fans.

Bielema's winning % may go unmatched at UW but 2 out of 3 UW fans hated the guy and said good riddance when he left. We'll see how it works out. The new guy so far says he's instituting the read option and a 3-4 defense. That's a lot of change to a very good and time tested approach.

 

[50PoundHead]

I should have made it clear in my post that the +/- Moeller-to-Carr wasn't an issue, as Carr was an excellent coach. I've just always found it funny that Moeller got canned for being drunk and disorderly in public in an industry where most guys do that at least once or twice. I guess it's a matter of degree.

 

[Rescooter]

If they did, it was made of Teflon. I'd have liked it if Grinnin' Glen had a chance at TCF. I felt he deserved it. But by the anecdotes shared here, it sounds as if he may have been at least in part to blame for his dismissal. Some guys just have personalities that are never going to make them favorites with the home fans.

Bielema's winning % may go unmatched at UW but 2 out of 3 UW fans hated the guy and said good riddance when he left. We'll see how it works out. The new guy so far says he's instituting the read option and a 3-5 defense. That's a lot of change to a very good and time tested approach.

Ok badgergopher; you invoked the name of Brett Bielema. Here is your punishment: