Who set Gopher Football back the furthest?

[dpodoll68]

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.

The Gophers football program needs to purify itself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka. Bitches.

 

[Killjoy]

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. ; 0 )

LOL - It is always interesting to read how you perceive yourself wren and then completely ignore what other people say about you. I will let your friends the prexy, Brewster, and Matura meet with you first and they can tell me "what a damn nice guy" you are. If they say that you are a damn nice guy I will accept that. Until then I will have to continue to believe that you really are not that nice. What is so ironic is that have no problem in criticizing other but when anybody question your behavior you go nuts. What a delusional phony person you are.

 

[Halsey Hall]

Wonderful essay Weddings!

How about the AD who didn't hire Bud Wilkinson?

My coach nominee is Gutey with 12 men on the field, 10 men on the field, 13 men on the field. With 12 assistant coaches and a slew of grad assistants, can't we get 11 on the field???

 

[TrapperDoo]

Its a Minnesota cultural thing, and that culture gets reflected in the UM Administration. Everything has got to be "fair". The women's sports and non-revenue mens sports have to be given equal priority. Hogwash! Those other sports will thrive in the shadow of a great football team. But nooooooo....we've got to be politically correct and cater to everyones esteem directly. We can't stand to be prosperous here for fear that someone might not get an equal helping. We got Mark Dayton, Al Franken, fireworks that don't explode or move, liquor stores that are closed on Sunday, and an unfamiliar population of victims that freaks out whenever a snow storm is in the forecast (this is Minnesota - it snows here!). In short the culture of our state has been pussified - and pussies never win. I think the administration sees this. Hopefully they will have the ands to stand up to the complainers who are sure to come out of the woodwork as soon as the Basketball Arena discussion starts to get legs. Whew! Got that off my chest. Go Gophers!

 

[highwayman]

Here's your list:

Mark G. Yudof, 1997-2002
Nils Hasselmo, 1988-1997
Kenneth H. Keller, 1985-1988
C. Peter Magrath, 1974-1984
Malcolm Moos, 1967-1974

All five HATED the football program. End of story.

 

[Heffelfinger-of-fate]

Remember Pat Ruesse's bio of Sid Hartman? It was mostly a transcription of Sid speaking into a tape
recorder, but that's where I got the stuff about Bud Wilkinson, and the interview was after Bernie was forced to retire. I know he was already successful at Oklahoma, but you'd think there was still some loyalty to his alma mater left.

 

[Kuato Lives!]

Jamal Harris set back the Gopher program more than anyone else. If you saw him play you'd have to agree.

 

[gopher_alum_2005]

Jamal Harris set back the Gopher program more than anyone else. If you saw him play you'd have to agree.

I will never forget this play:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pjGpy26-lg&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[Kuato Lives!]

I'll never forget Jamal Harris sliding on his belly as Mario Manningham strolled untouched into the end zone.

 

[TrapperDoo]

I will never forget this play:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pjGpy26-lg&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Its the funniest thing ever. And the announcer is just so matter-of-fact. No emotion in his voice at all, as though he was watching a replay.

 

[Parski1]

Oh wow - I have not seen that play since it happened. Sometimes it feels like Gopher football is jinxed with some many strange\bad plays\games in the last 15 years.

 

[Formo]

I'll never forget Jamal Harris sliding on his belly as Mario Manningham strolled untouched into the end zone.

I don't remember him for some reason.. Maybe my mind washed itself clean? This is actually bugging me that I don't remember any of this stuff. lol

 

[Great Plains Gopher]

You'd think Wacker - but it took Mason only three years to field a really good, competitive team, post-Wacker. I would say the administration in the '70s - they let things slide and provided no support, especially in terms of facilities, for Cal Stoll and the other '70s coaches.

 

[Heffelfinger-of-fate]

Bud Wilkinson won the national championship at Oklahoma in 1950, the same year Bernie got pushed out.
After the 1951 season Bud almost quit after having an operation, losing a testicle. He also said he wanted to go into business. Tatum quit because Oklahoma wouldn't pay him, so that could've been what was happening with Wilkinson. So . . . if the so-called fictious interview didn't happen after Bernie was fired when Wilkinson was the biggest catch in the country, it happened in 1951 when the new Ohio State retred wasn't exactly setting the world on fire at Minnesota. AD Ike Armstrong was an ex-football coach at Utah, a pretty good one, too; Sid says he made Wilkinson wait for an hour. Wilkinson did coach at Minnesota (as an assistant) for a while after his playing career, so there apparently wasn't any ill will between Bernie and Bud. Bud played quarterback and guard for the Golden Gophers from 1934-1936, described as a coach on the field.

 

[imthewalrus]

Sid also claims that lou hoax was kept waiting for an hour and walked out. Our prexy's must be some real jerks when it comes to being punctual with their appointments. Also,our coaching candidates must be pretty impatient. And, if it works for one story it must work just as well for another story for our sports journaists and beat writers...

Marc Trestman is the name that prexy k needs to focus upon as he searches for a real AD to fix the mess that the old ad has made...

; 0 )

 

[50PoundHead]

I will never forget this play:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pjGpy26-lg&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I had totally forgotten that play. Was that the same game when Dorsch kicked the tying field goal at the end of regulation with < no time on the clock?

Josh087, really good takes on the whole situation that go well outside the box in the discussion. Once Wilbur Jackson enrolled at Alabama, the era of great Grambling teams and the mass migration of a lot of African-American kids northwards pretty much ended.

 

[josh087]

I had totally forgotten that play. Was that the same game when Dorsch kicked the tying field goal at the end of regulation with < no time on the clock?

No, that was 6 years earlier in 2001

 

[Deleted_User]

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 true villain is that clown, Prexy Ken Keller. Paul Giel was following orders.

 

[imthewalrus]

lou hoax, when he cut, ran and bagged for Notre Dame at a time when the vikings were also near rock bottom, did MORE harm than any other individual possibly could have done. When hoax bolted for South Bend, it ripped the heart and soul out of the new, band-wagon jumping fan base at the U of M. When hoax bagged...the damn dome collapsed on the Golden Gopher Football Program. The vikings ditched their joke of a coach...Les Steckle... and brough Bud Grant back to reclaim the fan base. The vikings narrowly averted a real HIT from the Gopher Program. hoax could have been a savior of the program...but...became the greatest single destructive individual ever associated with the program. He did MORE harm by going away the way he did and at the time that he did than any other single event other than the abandonment of the campus for the dome. The prexys had already bagged on Gopher Football and then lou hoax bagged on Gopher Football. Those few years were disaterous for Golden Gopher Football's Future. Those events drove Golden Gopher Football into the WILDERNESS that they wandered through from 1982 through 2008...which became, of course: "...the damn dome era..."

Ironically, right now Coach Kill can really do the Golden Gopher Cause a lot of good with a solid Big Ten season of at least 3 Big Ten wins and 4 early season wins over the cupcakes. THAT is the correct formula for becoming a respected and respectable Big Ten Conference Member. This would insure a bowl game. Bowl games are a MUST...at least 75% to 85% of the time. Virtually EVERY year.

Once again, the vikings are on VERY shakey ground from the lack of football knowlege of the owner who is also willing to sell his soul for a state/county contribution to build his new stadium to the weak coaching staff to the team that pretty much needs to be rebuilt from the ground up to an over-paid, aging, injured star and no proven quarterback. It is going to be quite a few years before the vikings will be competetive within their own division. The Packers...the Bears...the Lions will all beat up on the vikings on the playing field for an extended period of time.

SO, with a bowl season, the Gopher Football Program, led by Coach Kill can begin to establish themselves in the Greater Metro area and within the state of Minnesota. The vikings really will suck for quite a long time...so...IF administration will provide adequate support, make a good AD hire...(a FOOTBALL MAN must be hired to replace mactur)i...and the student section finally gets on board, gets off their dead butts, gets out of bed and shows up at the games ON TIME and turns into a REAL Big Ten student section...TCF BANK STADIUM will be the BEST Fall ticket in town!

I think Coach Kill will hold up his end of the bargin.I don't know about the administration, the new AD hire OR the students. Time will tell. But, there is a GREAT opportunity for the Gopher Football Progrm to make some progress as a Big Ten Football Program...

It's time for prexy k to bring in a REAL football man for the AD job...It's Marc Trestman time! Put a real football man in the AD's Office. Then, Pound the rock and stop the run!

; 0 )

 

[RodentRampage]

After Holtz left here's what we had under Gutekunst:

1986: 6-6 overall, 5-3 Big Ten
1987: 6-5 overall, 3-5 Big Ten
1988: 2-7-2 overall, 0-6-2 Big Ten
1989: 6-5 overall, 4-4 Big Ten
1990: 6-5 overall, 5-3 Big Ten
1991: 2-9 overall, 1-7 Big Ten

With today's bowl system, the Gophers would have gone to bowl games in four of Gutekunst's six seasons. The Gophers had two winning Big Ten seasons, and hadn't had a winning Big Ten season since 1972.

 

[mplsbadger]

After Holtz left here's what we had under Gutekunst:

1986: 6-6 overall, 5-3 Big Ten
1987: 6-5 overall, 3-5 Big Ten
1988: 2-7-2 overall, 0-6-2 Big Ten
1989: 6-5 overall, 4-4 Big Ten
1990: 6-5 overall, 5-3 Big Ten
1991: 2-9 overall, 1-7 Big Ten

With today's bowl system, the Gophers would have gone to bowl games in four of Gutekunst's six seasons. The Gophers had two winning Big Ten seasons, and hadn't had a winning Big Ten season since 1972.

Correct me if I am wrong, but had the 1990 team won thier penultimate game @ MSU they would have gone to the Rose Bowl by virtue of finishing in a four way tie for the league title. I believe the old rule of 'who hasn't been there the longest' would have applied with that many teams tied.

 

[highwayman]

The true villain is that clown, Prexy Ken Keller. Paul Giel was following orders.

You are dead on. Giel wanted Memorial rehabbed, Keller didn't want to spend a dime. Everyone was required to fall in lock-step.

 

[mnsports1]

Soccer??

 

[corcoran1]

In my mind maturi gets both his and Brewster's points, so he leads the field entry 38 to 37.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

Walrus - even if the Vikes do go into the tank, I honestly don't see that helping Gopher FB attendance/interest all that much. I think you're talking about two almost separate fan bases, with very little overlap. The Vikes tend to draw a younger crowd that is more into drinking; the Gophs have an older and somewhat more sedate fan base.

If there is an opportunity for the Gophs, I think they need to focus their marketing on the younger fan base - but they also have to find a way to improve the entire game-day atmosphere. The younger fan wants bells and whistles - they want more of a "party" experience. If the Gophs want to grab a bigger slice of the local fan base, they need to find a way to make the Gopher game-day experience much more attractive to the younger fan without alienating the older die-hard fans (like you.)

Bottom line- nothing puts butts in the seats like winning. To win back fans, the Gophs have to win games - and ideally win games in an exciting manner.

 

[imthewalrus]

short ornery:

This is where I addressed the need to win: right away...

"Ironically, right now Coach Kill can really do the Golden Gopher Cause a lot of good with a solid Big Ten season of at least 3 Big Ten wins and 4 early season wins over the cupcakes. THAT is the correct formula for becoming a respected and respectable Big Ten Conference Member. This would insure a bowl game. Bowl games are a MUST...at least 75% to 85% of the time. Virtually EVERY year..."

As far as attracting huge numbers of fans, that isn't such a large task with a 50,000 seat stadium. The major problem is with the student section though. The students just don't appear to have a lot of heart and when they are really noticably absent is for the Big Ten games...when the weather starts getting a bit cooler and they appear to start getting a bit more lazy and are mostly absent. Perhaps it is too easy for them to get tickets. Perhaps they are offered tickets too cheaply. Perhaps they are offered too many tickets. It would appear that the students just plain don't value the chance they have to attend Big Ten Games. Maybe they should only be offered 3,000 tickets next season. Then, IF they fill the seats they are given...and IF they show up on time and stay for the whole game, perhaps, they could be offered 4,500 tickets for sale the next season.

It really does appear that they don't appreciate or value the opportunity they have to attend Gopher Football games on the cheap and in a LARGE, POWERFUL section of the statdium specifically designated the STUDENT SECTION.

Perhaps they should be shown what the STUDENT SECTIONS at Michigan, iowa, PSU, Ohio State, Nebraska, wisky and some other Big Ten stadiums look like on Game Day Saturdays during the Big Ten Football Season.

Advertise to the students? I think they would just act offended and all pi$$ed off, short ornery one. Perhaps it's time to criticise them, chastize them and give them less opportunity because they have not been responsible with their attendance when they have been given so many great opportunities to be a REAL Big Ten STUDENT SECTION in their beautiful new on campus stadium.

Sometimes youngsters as well as old timers don't really know what they've got until it's gone. Maybe it's time to make the opportunities harder to come by so that students will start valuing what has been right there for their taking...USE IT OR LOSE IT! Take the joint over students. Show up in numbers and CLAIM your section. Make it YOUR section. OWN it when you go there. Be a FORCE...don't be a farce, students!

So, win enough Big Ten games to qualify for a bowl game. (the ooc cup-cake games MUST all be wins.)

Sell a lot of the typically empty student section seats to any resident of the state of Minnesota or any alumni of the University of Minnesota who is willing to pay the going rate.

Make a push to sell corporate tickets to any of the premium seating options that are currently not sold.

Make a BIG PUSH to sell tickets to the bowl game and to encourage any and all Gopher fans to travel to that bowl game and to take over the city that hosts the bowl game. THAT is the event starter. IF enough people go to the bowl game and have a great time...they will decide that they can start recreating their bowl blast right back home in Minneapolis, on campus every time the Gophers host a Game Day Satruday...ESPECIALLY for Big Ten Games!

Our stadium is BEAUTIFUL. It only holds 50,000 fans. Selling out to Minnesota Fans should NEVER be a problem. We do have to get the message across to the students that they need to either be a real STUDENT SECTION or to lose the GREAT opportunity that they currently have to build themselves into the BEST damn STUDENT SECTION in the Big Ten. Sure, winning will help a whole bunch...but they don't have to wait for anyone or anything to just decide to become the BEST just because THAT is what they WANT to do! THEY can be their own form of entertainment...excitement...and fun and they can just decide to do it because they WANT to be the best in the Big Ten. No ad-campaign can convince them of that. They just need to decide to do it! AND: when they decide to do that...just stand back and watch it happen! I KNOW that those students can OWN their stadium...but...they need to CLAIM their stadium and THEIR STUDENT SECTION!

2012 could be a pretty fun season short ornery!

P.S. SHORT ORNERY: the vikings are IN the tank. It will help a great deal...

; 0 )

 

[okobojiblu]

All of the past University President's! Ladies and Gentlemen, it all starts at the top. Let's not let the new President, Dr. Kaler off the hook. Let's place all of the progress of the football team on his shoulders. And let's give him the credit when/if they succeed! We can not rely on a new AD or Jerry Kill. we have had some good coaches and one or two good AD's. The administration has failed the football program. Let's hold them accountable.

 

[imthewalrus]

All of the past University President's! Ladies and Gentlemen, it all starts at the top. Let's not let the new President, Dr. Kaler off the hook. Let's place all of the progress of the football team on his shoulders. And let's give him the credit when/if they succeed! We can not rely on a new AD or Jerry Kill. we have had some good coaches and one or two good AD's. The administration has failed the football program. Let's hold them accountable.

The prexy ALWAYS gets EXACTLY what the prexy REALLY wants. prexy fawcette, together with Woody Hayes at Ohio State decided that they NEVER would let the alumni and the faculty at the Ohio State University vote to turn down an invitation to the Rosebowl again. (That happened in 1960 for the 1961 Rosebowl game. Ohio State won the Big Ten Title. Minnesota finished 2nd. There was a close vote at Ohio State considering whether the Buckeyes should accept the invitation or not. In an effort to "de-emphasize" the reputation that Ohio State was building as a football factory/football dominated University, Ohio State rejected the invitation and it was issued to Minnesota. Minnesota accepted, but, in many ways, some at the the University of Minnsota felt that it was, indeed time to de-emphasize football at Minnesota. Minnesota went on to face...and defeat UCLA in the Rosebowl Game.

Meanwhile, back at the Ohio State University, prexy Fawcette and Woody Hayes brought the situation back under control and vowed to pursue excellence in ALL things, not the least of which would be football. They did just that!

At the same time, Michigan decided that a decade in the football dumps...being left in the wake of it's younger cousin...Michigan State's entrance and immediate success in the Big Ten Conference was just too heavy a load to carry and hired one of the Woody Hayes coaching tree descendents...one Bo Schembeckler. And...the BIG TWO...little eight concept was born. With committments from their respective university prexy's, Bo and Woody brought EXCELLENCE to Michigan and the Ohio State University on the football field, while their schools continued to thrive academically...especially Michigan. From the latter half of the 60's on...it was the Ohio State and Michigan...Michigan and the Ohio State and the little eight in Big Ten Country...The Ohio State University and the University of Michigan forged one of the truely GREAT football rivalrys in all of college football. All across the land most folks knew who had won...or lost...THE GAME.

What a prexy wants...a prexy gets...and...IF a prexy is NOT committed to excellence in EVERY area the University competes in, there will be MANY areas that are NOT too excellent. Unfortuntley, Minnesota had a long string of prexy's who were NOT committed to excellence in ALL areas that the Univrsity competes in...By the early 1990's even the campus at the U of M was looking neglected.

Prexy Y then came to the U of M and promptly decided to save the campus...restore the luster to the campus...and fix the place up. He raised several billion dollars, rehabbed a number of buildings...built some more and I believe did a very good job at the University of Minnesota. He was subjected to the aftermath of the haskin's scandal. He basically saved Men's Hoops with his actions. I have a great deal of respect for Prexy Y. Because he had put some of the "shine" back on the physical appearance of the U of M campus, it was possible to tackle some other problem areas, including bringing football back to the campus. Without the 2 billion that he raised to rehab the physical aspects of the U of M and to add to endowments, there is NO WAY that a campaign to raise money for the stadium could have happened. Prexy Y was a Prexy who had a vision...wanted something...and, what he wanted...he GOT.

That's the way it ALWAYS goes, you know: "What a prexy REALLY wants...a prexy always gets..." The problem is that some prexy's just don't have the "vision thing" going on. Too many of them don't really know what they really want...they just kind of put their time in. They figured that out at the Ohio State and Michigan a long time ago. There have been bumps in the road for both recently. I wonder what the prexy in Columbus and the prexy in Ann Arbor REALLY want now? I wonder what the prexy in Minneapolis REALLY wants right now, too. I wonder about that VERY much. I hope it is more than just creating a pay-back mechanism for a failed athletic director left over from the previous administration. That old prexy...that prexy b may have wanted a football stadium back on campus...but...he certainly didn't want EXCELLENCE in all things...including FOOTBALL the way they wanted it at Michigan and the Ohio State back in the latter half of the 1960's...What prexy b wanted was to get a new stadium...at any cost...even extending...then buying out a coach so the stadium process would proceed. The problem was...he settled for brewball to show the world when that beautiful new stadium was opened to the public. prexy b didn't REALLY want excellence...he will ALWAYS be remembered for the brewball that he opened the beautiful new stadium with. I hope prexy k REALLY does want EXCELLENCE in all things...including football...time will tell...only time and the Big Ten Record will tell us exactly what prexy k wants...

; 0 )

 

[corcoran1]

Actually has been a good thread. I was wrong! As much as I can't stand Maturi, the poster who said Ken Keller was right, and most of the rest of the Presidents have not been much better. I will give Bruininks a break because he got the stadium built, not maturi. Ken keller guy was clueless about anything more than his own academic area. Not a clue about the legislature, remember the zillion dollar fence? The guy was a PR disaster right from the start.
He was probably railroaded into approving going downtown by sid, Lou H, and the business community that wanted the dome, and did not have enough spine to resist.
Actually, is some ways Sid belongs on the list. His support of going down town, his desire to make the Gophs share a stadium with the Vikes when TCF was built, and his constant whining that no one can win here have all been destructive, no matter what his intentions are.