The hardest jobs in college football (Other notable P5 vote-getters: Minnesota: They think they can win BTW every year but they’re so far away)

Donate To GopherHole
short ornery norwegian said:
MN fans are bandwagon jumpers. in '91, people were standing in line just for a chance to get standing-room tickets to watch a North Stars playoff game. A few years later, the attendance had dropped to a point that the team was moved to Texas. The Twins have led the American League in attendance - 1st team ever over 3-million fans - and now back to a low season-ticket base and fans who show up just to eat and drink.

If the Gophers can ever put two really good seasons back-to-back, they will get their turn as the "hot" team. but the up-and-down routine won't do it.
Click to expand...
Not the case at all and a long perpetuated inaccurate assumption. North Stars last season of 1992-93 had the highest average attendance since 1983-84.
 

PMWinSTP said:
I would take the Goph's stadium over Viking's stadium every time.
Click to expand...
US Bank Stadium is a beautiful setup. It's just not a college stadium. TCF (it'll always be TCF to me) is just an awesome modern college venue. The open concourses, the way they kept the endzone open in a creative way, to limit seating ... all of it, was really well done.
 


TheCasualGopher said:
US Bank Stadium is a beautiful setup. It's just not a college stadium. TCF (it'll always be TCF to me) is just an awesome modern college venue. The open concourses, the way they kept the endzone open in a creative way, to limit seating ... all of it, was really well done.
Click to expand...
Not saying Vike's not a very nice venue, but there are serious pinch points in the concourses, the actual seats are tiny (narrow), and the bathroom set ups are head scratching in some areas.
 

Couple comments:

University of Washington is in Seattle. University of Colorado is in Boulder, which is basically a suburb of Denver. Both won national titles in the early 1990's. Same with Georgia Tech. Very similar markets to the Twin Cities. Why not us?

Someone mentioned hockey. I had never thought about that until this year. I'm coaching youth football this year. Over the last few weeks, we haven't had a single practice where everyone has shown up. Guess why? Because of hockey tryouts.

We scrimmaged another team yesterday that only had 8 kids at practice, and may not have enough for their game tomorrow. Why? Because of hockey tryouts. And the kids are told you WILL be at tryouts if you want to make a team, and we don't care if you have a football game. If that's the mentality in grade school, then a lot of potentially good football players will drop the game at an early age.
 


State of Football said:
I hate to say it but the Fox River Valley in Wisconsin alone produces more D1 football players than our state. They are considerably better with a similar population.
Click to expand...
Agreed but they don't have hockey being a major sport in their state.
 

TheCasualGopher said:
US Bank Stadium is a beautiful setup. It's just not a college stadium. TCF (it'll always be TCF to me) is just an awesome modern college venue. The open concourses, the way they kept the endzone open in a creative way, to limit seating ... all of it, was really well done.
Click to expand...
Along with the Xcel, TCF is the nicest major sports venue in the state.
 

discochris said:
Couple comments:

University of Washington is in Seattle. University of Colorado is in Boulder, which is basically a suburb of Denver. Both won national titles in the early 1990's. Same with Georgia Tech. Very similar markets to the Twin Cities. Why not us?

Someone mentioned hockey. I had never thought about that until this year. I'm coaching youth football this year. Over the last few weeks, we haven't had a single practice where everyone has shown up. Guess why? Because of hockey tryouts.

We scrimmaged another team yesterday that only had 8 kids at practice, and may not have enough for their game tomorrow. Why? Because of hockey tryouts. And the kids are told you WILL be at tryouts if you want to make a team, and we don't care if you have a football game. If that's the mentality in grade school, then a lot of potentially good football players will drop the game at an early age.
Click to expand...


We have a winner. The parents understand the best way to a pro sports contract is through hockey. We have 205 players in college hockey the most by a large margin. Last I heard we had 30 to 45 percent of players in D1 it's why Augustana is starting a D1 program and why Minnesota State Dragons wanted to. All the new college hockey schools recruit our state and for good reason we are the best at developing hockey players.
 

discochris said:
Couple comments:

University of Washington is in Seattle. University of Colorado is in Boulder, which is basically a suburb of Denver. Both won national titles in the early 1990's. Same with Georgia Tech. Very similar markets to the Twin Cities. Why not us?

Someone mentioned hockey. I had never thought about that until this year. I'm coaching youth football this year. Over the last few weeks, we haven't had a single practice where everyone has shown up. Guess why? Because of hockey tryouts.

We scrimmaged another team yesterday that only had 8 kids at practice, and may not have enough for their game tomorrow. Why? Because of hockey tryouts. And the kids are told you WILL be at tryouts if you want to make a team, and we don't care if you have a football game. If that's the mentality in grade school, then a lot of potentially good football players will drop the game at an early age.
Click to expand...
This is a real struggle. But for my youth football team (along with alignment from varsity hockey and Football coaches) we make clear that a tryout is an excused absence (maybe affects 2-3 practices/yr), but a hockey practice is not. If you miss practices for fb, the in-season sport, for an out of season sport, it will be reflected in playing time.

Once we implemented that policy, we had zero problem with hockey conflicts. And if a kid was going to miss half of youth football practices for hockey, then they aren't going to be a varsity football player anyway.
 



noamfromm said:
💯 If all the Anders Lee's, Zach Budish's, Nick Bjugstad's, Paul Martin's, etc, etc played football we would be dominant. If we counted as a country we would have the fourth most players in the NHL.
Click to expand...
Same can be said if all the California, Florida, Texas kids played football instead of soccer.
 

I think in theory, Minnesota isn't inherently a bad job. Competing for coverage with pro sports teams and not being a "college town" the same way other universities are set up are certainly challenges, but I believe they can be overcome.

I think Minnesota has been a tough job, though, because of its history over the last several decades. Basically, the Gophers somewhat had a late start, if you will, in the modern era. These are the results for Minnesota from 1980-1999, Vs. those with Iowa and Wisconsin.
  • Minnesota had 7 seasons of .500 or better, 1 season with 8 or more wins, 3 bowl appearances, 1 bowl win and 1 ranked finish.
  • Iowa had 15 seasons of .500 or better, 10 seasons with 8 or more wins, 3 conference titles, 14 bowl appearances, 6 bowl wins and 10 top 25 finishes.
  • Wisconsin had 10 seasons of .500 or better, 6 seasons with 8or more wins, 3conference titles, 9 bowl appearances, 6 bowl wins and 4 ranked finishes.
Basically, it's as if the Gophers had to play a lot catch-up, and that's just with its rivals alone. That's not to mention the rest of the Big Ten:
  • Michigan remained a power in the 80s and 90s with Schembechler, Moeller and Carr.
  • Northwestern improved in the 90s with their Rose Bowl berths.
  • Ohio State remained really good in the 80s and 90s.
  • Joe Tiller pulled a quick turnaround at Purdue to make them competitive.
Combine that with playing in a non-college venue at the Metrodome, there was a lot of ground to make up starting in 2000. I think Mason did really good work in making the Gophers competitive and at least building an above average program with the running identity.

He obviously had a ceiling and a change was needed, which is fine, but then Brewster was hired and it basically caused the program to reset. And that just happened to take place right around the time that both Wisconsin and Iowa were finding success.

From 2008-2012, Wisconsin wins three conference titles, has four seasons with eight or more wins, five bowl berths, one bowl win and three ranked finishes.

Iowa, meanwhile, has three seasons with eight or more wins, including their 2009 11-2 campaign. Iowa also went to four bowls, winning three, and finished ranked twice.

So again, the Gophers, this time with Kill, were playing catch-up. Fortunately, while the Kill to Claeys to Fleck transition wasn't entirely pretty, there's been some continued success. Other than last year, where COVID was of course in play, the Gophers have made seven bowls since 2012. A whole decade has now gone by with the New Brickhouse being established as a good college football stadium.

I think the program has been, to an extent, on solid ground and, should Fleck be able to at least having seasons close to 2019, the job will probably be more appealing. That's also more true now with the Athletes Village having been built.
 

TheCasualGopher said:
This is a real struggle. But for my youth football team (along with alignment from varsity hockey and Football coaches) we make clear that a tryout is an excused absence (maybe affects 2-3 practices/yr), but a hockey practice is not. If you miss practices for fb, the in-season sport, for an out of season sport, it will be reflected in playing time.

Once we implemented that policy, we had zero problem with hockey conflicts. And if a kid was going to miss half of youth football practices for hockey, then they aren't going to be a varsity football player anyway.
Click to expand...
I wish it were that easy, but it seems that the hockey and football organizations here are not in alignment. I understand the tryout thing, but when it affects an actual football GAME, that simply shouldn't happen. We started with 16 guys in a league that plays 9 man and are down to 14. Because of weight and rotation limits, if we lose another kid, it totally messes things up. Fortunately, the one kid that thought he'd miss tomorrow will be able to play. But the team we scrimmaged may have to forfeit tomorrow if half the team is at tryouts.
 

And I can't use playing time as a carrot and stick because we already have four kids playing the entire game because we are short players as it is. Plus, it's our last game, so it wouldn't have mattered anyway.
 



discochris said:
You act like that's a bad thing.
Click to expand...
No, about cheese curds. 🥰 Drinking, just name your poison. Something is bound to kill you sooner or later. If you drink and drive, there are consequences. 💀
 


I would like the Atlantic, which is a good sports magazine, to define hardest.
I would put NE up there along with any school in which fan expectations far exceed the potential talent base and the desirability of the location.
AL does have high expectations but are in the middle of high end talent.
Clemson did well, but expectations are now unreasonable.
So it goes.
 

PMWinSTP said:
Target Field is up there too.
Click to expand...
I do not disagree about the physical facilities but the atmosphere during a Vikings game far exceeds that of a Gopher game.
Target field is dead during the games.
 

4four4 said:
Same can be said if all the California, Florida, Texas kids played football instead of soccer.
Click to expand...
I mean I am not going to do the research but I'd be absolutely gobsmacked if the percentage of kids that go d1 in hockey from minnesota is akin to the percent of kids that go d1/high level in soccer from those states
 

hungan1 said:
No, about cheese curds. 🥰 Drinking, just name your poison. Something is bound to kill you sooner or later. If you drink and drive, there are consequences. 💀
Click to expand...
Consequences? 'Sconie is the only state where first offense DUI is a traffic offense - not a crime. And if you spend any time in rural far northern Wisconsin, and you realize how few patrols there are for the number of square miles out there, you'd know that's a joke.
 


discochris said:
Consequences? 'Sconie is the only state where first offense DUI is a traffic offense - not a crime. And if you spend any time in rural far northern Wisconsin, and you realize how few patrols there are for the number of square miles out there, you'd know that's a joke.
Click to expand...
A Whisky Plate is a birthright.

BTW, the best time to speed through Wiscy is when the Packers are playing.
 
Last edited:

Plato said:
I do not disagree about the physical facilities but the atmosphere during a Vikings game far exceeds that of a Gopher game.
Target field is dead during the games.
Click to expand...
Vikes atmosphere is highly manufactured. Baseball atmosphere is different than other sports. There is much more frequent down time. I like it as you can have conversations more easily
 

discochris said:
Overrated. It feels cramped to me.
Click to expand...
I've never felt that way at target field. Great sightlines and you are closer to the action in more seats compared to other ball parks I have been at.
 

Minnesota is at a terrible disadvantage in recruiting. HS football in Ohio and Pennsylvania is a big deal . Lots of D1 talent in those states. Ohio has 8 D1 football schools including 2 who beat the Gophers this year. The base for teams like Ohio State and Cincinnati is composed of local players. The rest are 4&5 stars from Florida,Texas, and California. If you are a stud HS football player where would you rather go? Play in front of 100,000 plus on Saturdays with a shot at a national championship or 50,000 in an ice box struggling to be relevant in the BigWest. Tough sell. Media images of Minneapolis burning isn’t helping either.
 


noamfromm said:
I mean I am not going to do the research but I'd be absolutely gobsmacked if the percentage of kids that go d1 in hockey from minnesota is akin to the percent of kids that go d1/high level in soccer from those states
Click to expand...
Agreed but we are seeing a major tide in the soccer direction in the states I mentioned especially the immigrants and illegal immigrants. Many of them are 5 foot 9 who will never play football on account of being small.
 


fmlizard said:
I can't believe Northwestern didn't get any votes, and Purdue only got one. Both jobs are far harder than Minnesota. At least in Minnesota you are recruiting to a major city and have the state to yourself. Indiana is also fo sho harder in the Big Ten.
Click to expand...
Purdue, yes, but I think Northwestern is pretty east to recruit if the person being pursued can get into Northwestern. Location and prestige make Northwestern attractive to certain athletes and even more so to most parents.

I do give that to Mason, but he wasn't always PR savvy. Though not all of his fault, he contributed to fan apathy.
 


You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom