When did you know?

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GophersInIowa said:
This is it for me with brew. I wanted to stay positive, I wanted to think he would turn things around. Even after the USD debacle, I thought there was a chance after last weeks ok performance. He's just not the guy for the job, and he should be gone by the end of the year, if not earlier.
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Glad to see you came around. Now let's work together in getting a "kill shot" coach.
 

Frankly, I thought he was a comical, snake-oil dufus from his initial news conference.
However, am willing to cut him some slack during these difficult times, which he created himself, if the players are still erect.
Next time, please, hire a real coach.
 

Goldmember said:
Someday, when everyone decides to be honest, they will admit that Glen Mason deserved 2-years to show what he could do with the stadium he helped to get built.
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A 20 year head coaching career without once winning a conference title...yeah, two more years would've made the difference.
 


For me it was this year's signing day. From the bottom of my heart I hope each one of those kid's does well but for a coach who was brought as a great recruiter I was severely underwhelmed with this class.
 



charlesbenjamin7 said:
I must admit, that I never believed Mason should have been fired. Whatever the case, I am wondering: At what point did you know that Brewster had to go? Was it a play? Was it a game? Was it a press conference remark?

For me, I had some deep suspicions when Brewster could not articulate an offensive philosophy in his opening press conference after he was hired. Red flags were waving in my head. I was willing, however to give him the benefit of the doubt. It always bothered me, though: How can you become a head coach without some clear idea what you want to do on offense?

What sealed it for me was the very first drive in the very first game against Bowling Green. The man was hired because of Mason’s lapses on defense. However, in his very first defensive drive as a head coach, he somehow was unable to put a defensive back within 20yds of a receiver. Sheehan carved us up like a hot knife through butter all game long. At that point, I knew that Brewster was in way over his head and that we had made a terrible mistake.
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...When he lost 55-0 to Iowa by letting his players give up, that was a bad sign. When he refused to replace a completly inept QB with his star recruit, when he went to a "run-first offense" nary two years after trying to install a spread offense, and when he lost to Iowa State in the bowl game (blowing it was poor coaching decisions), the end was obvious.
 

When did I KNOW? When he came in to be introduced.
 

I've always been in support of Brewster because his first year here, 2007, was my first year as a Gopher fan (I'm a young'un), and so I guess I sort of associate him with my Gopher fandom.

Really, I don't think Brew has done too bad up to this point. He has brought in some decent recruiting classes, and, other than the 1-11 2007 season, had gone .500, including starting out 7-1 in 2008, and getting the team up to #20 after a road win against Purdue. And actually, in remembering the relatively magical 2008 season, I decided to look it up on Wikipedia just to see the scores of the games. A pick six in the fourth quarter lost the game against Northwestern, which a single tackle could have perhaps prevented. The Gophers also gave up 18 points in the 4th quarter to Wisconsin. They also lost to a Michigan team that went 3-9; just showing up probably could have won the game. Minnesota was tantalizingly close to 9 or 10 wins that year. 9 or 10 wins! In Brewster's 2nd year!

My support has only just started to seriously waver after this most recent loss to Northern Illinois. The South Dakota loss I forgave because it was a hiccup. Yes, it was a bad loss, but it's not representative (or at least I didn't think so at the time) of how the Gophers will play this year, just like how Ohio State losing to Purdue last year doesn't mean Ohio State is a worse team than Purdue or belongs at the bottom of the Big 10 (though I will relish every moment that Ohio State will ever spend at our current level). It was also only a 3 point loss; a play or two and the game could have (and should have) gone the other way.

But this loss to Northern Illinois is the second game this season that Minnesota shouldn't have lost, but did. I'll continue to cheer the team on, but now more than ever, I'm really looking forward to basketball season.
 



Same reaction

WAGopher said:
For me, things like this is a progression. The first hint I had that Brewster may not be the guy for the job was when Ted Roof was here. The defense was looking good and on the radio Sid asked him something like "And what about that Ted Roof? He seems to be doing a heck-of-a job with the defense." And instead of Brew extolling the very good job Roof was doing, he said something like "Well you know Sid, we have some very good players on defense, they work hard every day and it shows in the games." Brew never mentioned Roof or the coaching when Sid gave him the softball opening to do so. At the time I thought that there must be some conflict between Roof and Brewster and sure enough Roof bolts after just one season.

Over time there were other signs that were tipping the scale against Brewster, but coming into this year, I still had hope that the team would move forward. I somehow could forgive the SD game because I know let downs can happen with a young team. The team was also respectable against USC, but last night shredded all hope I have for Brewster.
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I was listening that day and felt the same as you did. I made the comment to my wife in the car that something was off between Brewster and Roof or Brewster was jealous or something was wrong with that answer. Like you say, Roof bolted.

There were a million signs with Brewster all along but not letting Gray play quarterback last year for drives instead of plays was the clincher.
 

Those of you claiming "you knew" in his first year are full of it. In Brewster's 2nd year, when the team started out 7-1, that was the most together Gopher fan base since the 1999 Sun Bowl year. At that point, we were favored to win our last 4 games, and many poster here saw ten regular season wins coming (I was hoping we could just get to 9). At this same time, Brewster was pulling in big time recruits like Hageman (who had a Florida offer among others) and it looked like he was on his way. The Northwestern game was a disaster from losing Decker to injury to the terrible decision to try to score and not go to overtime. The rest of the season completely killed all momentum for the program...I was as furious at Brewster at 55-0 for letting his players quit somewhere in the first quarter as I was at Mason during times in his tenure.

Here's when I knew: The loss to Illinois at home last year. A 4-4 Big Ten season accomplished with our star playing missing huge portions of the year, would have represented some improvement. Their was no momentum going in to Brewster's fourth year. I knew the moment they couldn't beat Illinois at home that we were wasting time giving Brewster another year. The program had no momentum as evidenced by lagging fan interest and a horrible finish to the recruiting period. The question Maturi/President Bruininks should have asked themselves after the Gophers finished 6-6 (before the bowl game) was: Do we think there is ANY chance Brewster gets 8 wins next year? 8 was the bare minimum number of wins that would have restored interest in the program and some belief in Brewster. I think most of us knew it was unlikely to happen, but that's why I chose 8 wins as my expectation (not my prediction) for this year.
 

Here was my progression:
-At halftime against Illinois....I was extremely annoyed
-After the SDSU game...........I was officially "skeptical"
-During the USD game............I was on the "he has to go" bandwagon
-Northern Illinois............. Nail in the Coffin
 

60's Guy said:
I was listening that day and felt the same as you did. I made the comment to my wife in the car that something was off between Brewster and Roof or Brewster was jealous or something was wrong with that answer. Like you say, Roof bolted.

There were a million signs with Brewster all along but not letting Gray play quarterback last year for drives instead of plays was the clincher.
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I can't tie it down to specifics like these two have, but I just have had a gnawing feeling over the past year or so that things just weren't going to get any better. I had the same feeling with Mason.

I kept hoping for Brewster because he gave it his all, but if trying was all that mattered, I would have played in the NBA instead of winning the "Mr. Floorburns Award" during my undistinguished career as a benchwarmer in high school (but oh, how the first string hated me during practice). The only difference in the end of these careers is that I had come to have a strong distaste for Mason and his arrogance. I don't have that for Brewster.
 




Here is my time line:

-I didn't agree with the firing of Mason. Whatever his faults, I believed we could get back to the 2003/1999 levels more easily with him then someone else. The timing was awful, but that's on Bruinicks/Maturi.

-The decision to fire Mason aside, there was no home-run Tubby Smith-esque hire. I was indifferent to Brew versus the other options, though I would have liked Shula from Alabama to get a shot, but the options in mid-January are not going to be great. The over-the-top PR manner didn't thrill me, but I appreciated how hard he worked to promote the program.

-2007: His insistence on running the spread and the 'aggressive' D with Withers, regardless of personnel, was immediately concerning. This insistence made 2007 a wash-out. He was trying to jam a square peg in a round hole and it showed coaching immaturity. I was marginally impressed that we hung in the Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin games under the circumstances though. The inability to show humility after defeats and 'turn off' the BS machine was a problem too.

-2008 started well. Roof seemed like a good hire. The late fade wasn't totally unexpected, but 55-0 is when the red flag officially went up for me. That simply should not happen unless the talent is a total mis-match, which it wasn't. I was officially pessimistic about how it would turn out for Brew, but obviously he'd earned a 3rd year.

-2009: Through the Purdue game things were OK. There were still concerns about the many off-field issues and the poor game day sideline. This officially become a major issue for me during the Michigan State game, ironically. The Illinois game was awful. The game that sealed it for me was the SDSU game. It was an sad all the way around. It was then that I knew the man was over-matched and couldn't cut it at this level. I was on the Fire Brew bandwagon from that day on. His blathering about how proud he was after the Iowa game only confirmed it.
 

When she was committed enough to memorize the entire Gopher football roster. Wait, that was my wife. Brewster though...when he "Harolded" his prize late-signing recruit following his initial truncated recruiting class with too many gushing superlatives that no 5'8" 160 pound human could live up to I figured we had a BS'er on our hands. I just was hoping he was a BS'er of the Lou Holtz coaching ilk - one that wins.
 


Very fair

EG#9 said:
Those of you claiming "you knew" in his first year are full of it. In Brewster's 2nd year, when the team started out 7-1, that was the most together Gopher fan base since the 1999 Sun Bowl year. At that point, we were favored to win our last 4 games, and many poster here saw ten regular season wins coming (I was hoping we could just get to 9). At this same time, Brewster was pulling in big time recruits like Hageman (who had a Florida offer among others) and it looked like he was on his way. The Northwestern game was a disaster from losing Decker to injury to the terrible decision to try to score and not go to overtime. The rest of the season completely killed all momentum for the program...I was as furious at Brewster at 55-0 for letting his players quit somewhere in the first quarter as I was at Mason during times in his tenure.

Here's when I knew: The loss to Illinois at home last year. A 4-4 Big Ten season accomplished with our star playing missing huge portions of the year, would have represented some improvement. Their was no momentum going in to Brewster's fourth year. I knew the moment they couldn't beat Illinois at home that we were wasting time giving Brewster another year. The program had no momentum as evidenced by lagging fan interest and a horrible finish to the recruiting period. The question Maturi/President Bruininks should have asked themselves after the Gophers finished 6-6 (before the bowl game) was: Do we think there is ANY chance Brewster gets 8 wins next year? 8 was the bare minimum number of wins that would have restored interest in the program and some belief in Brewster. I think most of us knew it was unlikely to happen, but that's why I chose 8 wins as my expectation (not my prediction) for this year.
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This mirrors my thinking.

1) Anybody who says they "knew" in '07 is full of beans, and is dogpiling.
2) 55-0 was terrible, but in context I viewed it as a statistical outlier.
3) I turned the corner on my opinion of the "Brewster Era" during the 16-13 SDSU win last November. That's when my gut feeling turned negative about his tenure as head coach at the U.
4) I KNEW when I got off a plane and checked the score of the USD game a few weeks ago.

*I don't blame the agony of the Brewster Era on Brewster himself. These four years have shown that being a head football coach at the D-I level requires some certain core competancies that Brewster lacks. These might include inconsistent game planning, widely varying approaches when hiring assistant coaches, and very poor clock management. There may be an "it" factor involving what makes a great college coach, but if there is, that "it" factor makes the difference between "good" and "great," NOT the difference between "remedial" and "competent."
 

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