Who set Gopher Football back the furthest?

[Rescooter]

Time for the flip side of Minnesota Nice. Which one of these clowns put Gopher Football in the stinker the longest?

 

[Stan]

This list is incredibly short sighted. The program sucked WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY before Maturi or Brewster came here. You have to put Paul Giel and his move to the Dome on top of the list.

 

[wait!what?]

Paul Giel did more for the U than all of us combined.

 

[station19]

This list is incredibly short sighted. The program sucked WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY before Maturi or Brewster came here. You have to put Paul Giel and his move to the Dome on top of the list.

The move to the Dome wasn't the problem, it was a symptom of the problem. The real problem was the administration and president's refusal to support and fund the athletic dept.

 

[RodentRampage]

Jim Wacker.

1992 2-9 overall, 2-6 Big Ten
1993 4-7 overall, 3-5 Big Ten
1994 3-8 overall, 1-7 Big Ten
1995 3-8 overall, 1-7 Big Ten
1996 4-7 overall, 1-7 Big Ten

Lou Holtz took the Gophers out of a ditch and left them a middle of the road team. He handed Gutekunst a team that would have been bowl eligible 4 out of 6 years had their been as many bowl games. Gutekunst had one of our rare Big Ten seasons with 5 wins, so I think Holtz didn't leave the Gophers in terribly bad shape.

 

[Killjoy]

I hate this time of the year

We seem to need to invent things to talk about during "dead" periods. The good news is that there is only about three week until spring practice begins!

 

[Parski1]

We seem to need to invent things to talk about during "dead" periods. The good news is that there is only about three week until spring practice begins!

Saturday's are coming!!

 

[MNfootballfan]

I dont think any of the three options are viable. Lou Holtz took a program that was 1-10 and two years later had seven wins. Vast improvement was shown there on paper, I was only 1-2 years old at the time, but I am sure I was excited

Brewster was the car salesman that people loved to hate. His first year was horrible and his last year was shaping up to be horrible. His two years in the middle were very par for the course. He was 7-6 and 6-7. They were almost identical to Mason's last three years. Mason did a good job of building the program out of the garbage and made some very good teams and a majority of respectable teams. I don't know if it is fair to peg the past 40+ years on one person. Everyone has played a small part in it.

 

[husker70]

Where is Malcom Moos in this poll? Ken Keller? How about Harvey Mckay. Yes, Harvey was instrumental not only in sacking Cal Stoll for Coach Salem, he tried to cover his tracks by recruiting Lou Holtz. And then of Course Maturi. Those would be my top 4. And my father-in laws old saying is appropriate, if you wonder why something is the way it is, its because its just the way somebody wants it.

 

[Rescooter]

We seem to need to invent things to talk about during "dead" periods. The good news is that there is only about three week until spring practice begins!

I'm feeling the love guys.

This is your opportunity to let out some of your pent up passive aggressiveness. It's the Minnesota way.

 

[imthewalrus]

This list is incredibly short sighted. The program sucked WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY before Maturi or Brewster came here. You have to put Paul Giel and his move to the Dome on top of the list.

Who the h was in charge of the University of Minnesota when the PREXY and Board of Regents decided to abandon Memorial Stadium because it was the CHEAPEST thing to do?????? It wasn't Paul Giel's call stan.


It is the ADMINISTRATION at the highest levels. The prexy's are ALWAYS the ones making the calls and the prexy ALWAYS gets exactly what the prexy wants... What happens...happens because that is what the prexy wants. What doesn't happen...happens because the prexy does not want it to happen.

Paul Giel basically was fund-raising just to keep the programs afloat. The prexy at the U of M wanted a free ride in the damn dome. He really didn't give a rip about football or the Big Ten Football Standings or what would happen if the Gophers were thrown into the mix as the 3rd tenent in the damn dome with those billionaire jerk owners of mlb and nfl franchises calling ALL the shots.

Crucify the prexys of the U of M for setting the policy and the tone for football at the U of M.

I also blame prexy b for having an idiot like badger joel macturi to be his scape-goat . prexy b was the force that drove Gopher Football toward their challenge to Indiana for the absolute bottom of the Big Ten Standings during the brewball failed experiment.

The prexy ALWAYS gets exactly what the prexy wants...NO athletic director makes major moves on his/her own...

; 0 (

 

[dinkything]

Paul Giel did more for the U than all of us combined.

This would be correct.

btw, the fire marshall was fixin' to boot the gophers out of memorial stadium in the early '80's.

Many millions were needed to bring dear, old memorial stadium up to code...and there weren't any millions available to do the job...

whatcha gonna do?

 

[Killjoy]

You are a trouble maker Rescooter!!

I'm feeling the love guys.

This is your opportunity to let out some of your pent up passive aggressiveness. It's the Minnesota way.

Now look what you done! You woke up that druken idiot wren again! I hope you are feeling our pain. Bill certainly would.

 

[Nate]

I think everyone knows it's a tie between the Vikings and Weber.

 

[HopHead]

The answer has to be Brewster.

Wait, it has to be Maturi since he hired Brewster.

Wait, it has to be the guy that hired Maturi.

Wait, it has to be the guy who hired the guy who hired Maturi.

AHHHH!!! This could go on forever!!

Suffice it to say, it may be interesting to debate, but it really doesn't matter. One of my favorite sayings (and I use it often in work situations) is "Fix the problem, not the blame". Hopefully we are in the process of doing just that so eventually we can have polls on who deserves the most credit for making Minnesota football relevant again at the national level.

 

[mnsports1]

The parents and coaches of our youth who do not "produce" enough in-state talent!

 

[Unregistered User]

No option to vote for "Gopherhole"?

 

[Parski1]

No option to vote for "Gopherhole"?

LOL - Nice!

If you are going to post this poll you need Wacker!

 

[Weddings and Steak Frys]

Where is Malcom Moos in this poll? Ken Keller? How about Harvey Mckay. Yes, Harvey was instrumental not only in sacking Cal Stoll for Coach Salem, he tried to cover his tracks by recruiting Lou Holtz. And then of Course Maturi. Those would be my top 4. And my father-in laws old saying is appropriate, if you wonder why something is the way it is, its because its just the way somebody wants it.

If you really look at the havoc wreaked on the University's athletic program it is astounding. Then you look at the cast of characters and say "Huh, not so astounding". Each in his/her own right deserves some blame in my opinion. My list and why:

Saboteurs:

Malcolm Moos- University of Chicago wannabe. Starve the Beast mentality. Should have kept working against the military industrial complex with Ike rather than the military-athletic complex in Dinkytown. Moos would have liked to see us go to the U of Chicago model athletically. Academically, he introduced a ton of fringe CLA departments (before you sling arrows- I am a CLA alum myself so I have a certain affinity for the school) that brought expense, small enrollments in said departments and internal political dissent. Unfortunately he was born in St. Paul and was an alum so I can't blame an out of state conspiracy. He was athletic public enemy #1.

Nils Hasselmo- Amiable Swede who spent his teaching career in one of fringe CLA departments before an admin stint at Arizona led him back to the "U". Hasselmo deserves our ire for his hiring of Chris Voelz and subsequent promise to her that she would one day lead a combined department. His promise likely emboldened her and allowed her to get a close cabal of women's athletic donors to support her with a maniacal devotion. He is closely behind Moos as enemy of athletics. On his watch Memorial Stadium met the wrecking ball.

Chris Voelz- Darth Vader. The "Ms" logo. Enough said. Possibly the single most devisive person to ever set foot on the University campus. A champion of women's sports and women's issues- she appeared to be equally hated by women and men in Bierman. Established a small kingdom with a loyal cabal of donors and minions working for her. Fought tooth and nail for her own interests and agenda over those of the University in my opinion.

Lou Holtz- Lyin' Lou. Left us high and dry and himself one step ahead of the NCAA posse. Cemented our school as a stepping stone job in the eyes of the national coaching fraternity and the casual Minnesota football fan. Ripped the heart out of the Gopher fan base and left the casual football fan unable to trust the University. Laid the groundwork for Pat Reusse and Dan Barriero to riducule the program as a hapless joke. May not have intentionally sabotaged the program, but doesn't fit anywhere else IMO.

Bumbling Incompetents/Do Nothings:

C. Pete Macgrath- About the best thing you can say about his leadership is that it was undistinguished (and he spared the alumni the disgrace of having a President who went by Claude). The physical University fell into disrepair and became a commuter campus under his watch. Allowed outside interests ala Mackay to call the shots for the athletic department and had a devoted but weak leader there in Paul Giel.

Ken Keller- Short tenure, main accomplishment was getting a nice desk for Eastcliffe. Keller's main quality was that he didn't suck as bad as Malcolm Moos. Oversaw further deterioration of the physical University and the completion of the commuter campus of the 1980's.

Paul Giel- A great legend and player. Over his head as an AD, he was not a business guy but wanted to be so he found a group of successful folks in that community and pretty much let them influence his decisions. Oversaw the move to the dome and the firing of Cal Stoll as mentioned in another post. To his defense, he was AD during a transitional period of athletics where growth made having a businessman a better fit than a former jock. Could have been a great leader in the 50's and 60's.

Joel Maturi- Discussed ad nauseum here so I will simply say. Good man, over his head. Reminds me of a sales manager who spends so much time nurturing his non-performers that his performers go soft. A feel-good department killer.

Jim Wacker- Geezo beezo. A wonderful human being and decent football coach. No clue how to run a D1 program. Established an identity of defensive futility that continued through last year (excepting the Karon Riley era).

Tim Brewster- Like Maturi too much has been said already. I think Brew worked hard and meant well. A classic case of a guy who just didn't get it though. Will leave it at that.


Kinda Did Alright but Nothing Special to Help Group:

Mark Yudof- Yudof seemed to be interested in improving athletics, but in the end was mostly interested in improving his own career. He did his best to steer the department through the Clem debacle and was at the start of the behind the scenes push for TCF Bank Stadium. He did work to improve the U physical facilities and started the push towards getting our student body back on campus. In the end, Yudof set a lot of the right things in motion, but wasn't around long enough to see them through to fruition.

Rick Bay- Ohio State guy who took the job thinking one thing then got a reality dose. Couldn't get to the door quick enough. Like Glen Mason later- seemed to spend a lot of time telling people what was right at Ohio State and what was wrong here- which is fine unless all you do is talk, not try to improve things. Couldn't leave quick enough.

Special Mention Mostly Positive:

Prexy Bruininks- A master of saying the right things while not doing much to accomplish them. Still, he gets credit for TCF Bank Stadium. While some want to say that Glen Mason (see Wrendahl, Wayne) got the thing done singlehandedly by playing golf with Bill Cooper, it was a full court press from the President's office that got it done. People at the legislature and the business community will tell you this if you ask. It was a team effort, but without Prexy B, we'd be sitting in the 'Dome to this day. Sadly for his legacy, he was saddled with Maturi and really didn't have any plan for athletics beyond building the stadium. In the end, it was huge, but not a singular solution to the department's problems.


That said, we have had some folks who've done right or not further screwed up our football program (or at least tried to): Tom Moe, Glen Mason, John Gutekunst to name a few. Still, when confronted with the list above, its easy to see why we are where we're at. Not all the culprits were intentional sabateurs, but even the bumblers deserve our disdain. Individually, they could have been overcome, but as a group and a largely consecutive, concurrent one at that, they've been a disaster.

 

[Firejumper]

prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy prexy

I'm so insightful !

 

[GopherInPittsburgh]

Awesome post WASF. Not being from the area, and being young, I have no idea of the U's history besides football coaches.

 

[imthewalrus]

Now look what you done! You woke up that druken idiot wren again! I hope you are feeling our pain. Bill certainly would.

So, what are you trying to do now killjoy?????? Am I supposed to be like you and start making up some trash about what you are drinking, smoking, shooting up or in any other way shape or form abusing? No, that's not my style. Should I just tell you to shut the f,?k up? No...I won't bother to do that either. I'll do something that will get your goat even more than that. I'll just continue to write about what I see happening with Golden Gopher Football and the things that impact it. I won't change a damn thing that I write just because you act like a jerk and call me names. You are a pathetic little boy...or...are you a pathetic little girl, killjoy? You certainly are not a man and you certainly don't act like a man. You can call on your few little minions to join you in name calling. That's just fine. So be it...if you are that pathetic and that small.

For your information, killjoy: I decided that using alcohol was not a good thing for me over 33 years ago. You have some problem with that? Do you think you are hurting me, getting under my skin or are somehow putting me down? Ironically, coming to the realization that NOT drinking would be better for me than drinking is probably my greatest strength and has allowed ALL KINDS of wonderful things to happen in my life. I guess you are free to say anything you might choose to say about me...but...since you aren't anyone who knows me, I guess I'd just have to say that your put-downs are really just your impotent way of trying to hurt my feelings. But, I'm one pretty damn tough long-term recovering person. I'd never let someone who presents himself/herself the way that you do take ANYTHING away from me. You just aren't person enough to do that killjoy...

Well, IF that's the way that GopherHole wants you to act toward me...so be it. I'm not going anywhere. I won't let it alter anything I have to say. I'll stand my ground...have my say and let the chips fall where they may.

So, killjoy: I think you are acting as if you are full of crap and that you are acting in a crass and immature way. There MUST be something more to you than the way you present yourself when you constantly try to follow my posts around on this site. But...remember this killjoy: NOTHING you can say...no lies you may try to tell...can back me off...back me down...or in any way, shape or form alter anything that I believe needs to be said on this forum.

My life is really good. The past thirty three plus years just keep getting better and better.

I do highly encourage you to look me up and speak your piece to my face. I would welcome that very much. I think you would be changing your tune mighty fast when you see what a damn nice guy I am, face to face.


IF you don't look me up, it will be your loss...not mine...but, I can live with that...

; 0 )

 

[Heffelfinger-of-fate]

Whoever treated Bud Wilkenson like dirt when he interviewed.

 

[mplsbadger]

Whoever treated Bud Wilkenson like dirt when he interviewed.

+1

Also, whoever failed to recognize the opportunity - when Michigan sucked for ten years in the late fifties & early sixties - to double down on football and put our boot on their throat!!

 

[josh087]

The administration's failure to want to compete with the Vikings once they entered the same media market, combined with the de-segregation of the south are the two biggest reasons Gopher Football went from a national powerhouse to a powder puff. One they couldn't do anything about - one they most certainly could.

 

[DL65]

Go Gophers!!

 

[supadupafly]

Whoever treated Bud Wilkenson like dirt when he interviewed.

i am not sure that is how it went down, my friend. that sounds like a lot of fiction. in fact, i think there was this little known, 5-time national champion head coach named bernie bierman, coaching the gophers at the time (1947) when bud wilkinson took the oklahoma head coach job. bud wilkinson was the top assistant coach at oklahoma for one whole season (1946) when he was asked by OU regents to replace OU head coach jim tatum who had unexpectedly left them to coach at maryland.

yes, bud wilkinson was a U of M alum and 3-time national champion while a player at minnesota so there were definitely some strong ties between the two. wilkinson was supposedly courted and rumored as a potential head coach at minnesota, but to my understanding was never formally interviewed for the minnesota job between bierman retiring (1950) and murray warmath starting (1954).

 

[MNGoldenGophers1]

Who set back Gopher Football the furthest? As others have pointed out, it's a bit complex with plenty of blame to go around. That said, Strange-Brew (thanks to Joel) put an exclamation (!) mark on all of it. But thankfully with Kill & Co., that's all in the review mirror!!!

Go Gophers!

 

[Bob_Loblaw]

Who set back Gopher Football the furthest? As others have pointed out, it's a bit complex with plenty of blame to go around. That said, Strange-Brew (thanks to Joel) put an exclamation (!) mark on all of it. But thankfully with Kill & Co., that's all in the review mirror!!!

Go Gophers!

I'm not a Brew guy but Brew was by far the best of the worst. I realize there are a trillion bowl games, but we went to 2 bowl games in Brew's 4 seasons, had a better Big 10 record than Wacker. Now, i'm not saying that Brew was good, because he was clearly in over his head and I much prefer having our coach now to Brew. However, unfortunately for us, the Brew regime was not the lowest point in Gopher football. He's just the most recent guy to fail.

 

[Unregistered User]

I'm also going to throw William Watts Folwell under the bus for not pushing hard enough with his original vision of placing the campus on the shores of Lake Minnetonka. That would have been awesome.