He was terrible at Minnesota. Hill cant justify hiring someone who was like 15-31 as HC
Greetings NinerNation! Iām a lifetime Minnesota Golden Gopher fan and I just wanted to voice some support for Tim Brewster and add my thoughts on his Minnesota tenure.
Who did Coach Brew replace? Glen Mason was fired after 10 years following an Insight Bowl loss to Texas Tech after leading 35-7 at halftime. Mason went 7-5, 7-5, and 6-7 in his final 3 years with a roster headed in the wrong direction.
How did Brewster do at Minnesota? 1-11 in year 1, 7-6, 6-7 and then 1-6 in 2010 before getting fired.
Year 2 & 3 were similar to many Mason years and similar to 5 of 8 P.J. Fleck years at Minnesota with 7 or fewer wins.
Who followed Brewster? Jerry Kill. Kill went 3-9, 6-7, 8-5, 8-5 over the next 4 years before health reasons had him step away in 2015. As we have seen with Killās success at various stops including 10 wins last year at New Mexico State and his impact on Vanderbilt this year heās a heck of a ball coach. Kill wouldāve made Mason, Fleck, and most other coaches look bad in comparison.
Why did I like Tim Brewster?
-
He was different than Glen Mason. Mason played a cupcake non-conference every season without a Power 5 opponent. Schedules were locked up the first two years, but he immediately signed deals with Power 5 opponents for the non-conference like Cal and USC in years 3 and 4. He wasnāt trying to pad his record.
-
He was great with the fans, spent an hour at the restaurant after his weekly radio show answering questions and firing up the fan base.
-
He was always full of positive energy, never tossed players under the bus, took accountability for his mistakes.
-
He educated that the key to taking Minnesota to the next level was recruiting, his first full class in 2008 was a Top 25 class, better than any class Glen Mason or Jerry Kill brought to Minnesota.
What went wrong?
-
Minnesota was still feeling the pain of the Clem Haskins basketball academic scandal at Minnesota, President and administration derailed our recruiting class with higher academic standards than any coach before or after had to endure. Brewster lost recruits and faced a higher bar for admission than he had faced in his recruiting years under Mack Brown.
-
Pro sports media quickly turned on him for saying things like his goal was to take Gopher Nation back to the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1962.
-
He brought the spread offense to Minnesota vs. sticking with the ground and pound recruiting base. Not he been able to get his recruits in, it might have worked.
-
Coordinator turnover and lack on staff continuity were the next big issues. He hired Jedd Fisch who bailed after 1-year for the NFL, now the Washington HC so maybe he did have an eye for talent. He hired Thomas Hammock as OC for his final year. Hammock has lasted 6 years as HC at Northern Illinois so once again maybe he did have an eye for talent. He hired Ted Roof to be his DC but he bailed after 1 year for a huge pay raise to be the Auburn DC.
The Gophers hired an inexperienced Tim Brewster to coach in the Big 10 against Jim Tressel, Kirk Ferentz, Bret Bielema, Mark Dantonio, Joe Paterno, Pat Fitzgerald, Rich Rodriguez.
Did he fail? Yes. Have I been waiting for him to get another shot? Yes, Iām guessing that he still has the qualities that earned him the Minnesota job and Iām guessing he is a much wiser coach at this point in his career and wonāt make some of the same mistakes that he did at Minnesota.
I hope that Coach Brew gets his opportunity to redeem himself.
14 Likes
clt says the vikings should play outside. the season at the gophers stadium was real, bud grant football
Why would you hire a head coach with a below .500 record???
This reads as a recruiting commitment 
2 Likes
Yes, 14 years ago an inexperienced head coach had a below .500 record in the Big 10 before expansion when you played Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State on an annual basis. Minnesota football has been so bad since the 1960ās that Lou Holtz going 10-12 at Minnesota earned him the Notre Dame job. Lou Holtz went below .500 at Minnesota and then won a National Championship three years later.
Going from the Big 10 to the AAC is a little different and this time around he has experience.
Look at current head coaches and some past failures. Some of them learn from experience:
Luke Fickell was 6-7 at Ohio State, then went 57-18 at Cincinnati
Rich Rodriguez was fired at Michigan & Arizona, now 26-9 at Jacksonville State
Hugh Freeze was fired at Ole Miss, went 34-15 at Liberty
Lane Kiffin was fired at USC, went 26-13 at FAU
Steve Sarkisian was fired at USC, Texas is pretty happy with him
Clay Helton was fired at USC, Georgia Southern is pretty happy with at 5-2 in the Sun Belt
Butch Jones was fired at Tennessee, Arkansas State is happy with him at 5-2 in the Sun Belt this year
Guz Malzahn got fired at Auburn, did well at UCF while in the American
Bret Bielema got fired at Arkansas, early returns at Illinois look good
Manny Diaz got fired at Miami, early returns at Duke look promising
Bill OāBrien failed in the NFL, early returns at Boston College look promising
Matt Rhule failed in the NFL, early returns at Nebraska are encouraging
Greg Schiano failed in the NFL, he has Rutgers back to respectable
Jim Mora was fired in the NFL and at UCLA, he has UConn back to respectable
5 Likes
4 Likes
Damn do I love that answer.
Iāve been. Purdie fan since the spring game. He still has some things he needs to work on, but there is so much potential there. I hope we can find a way to keep him.
7 Likes
clt asks why did we not bring our background for the fau postgame? #mickeymouse
Clem Haskins - hadnāt heard his name in quite some time! Last season at WKU was Jeff Mullinsā first with the Niners. Hilltoppers swept us 1985-86. Didnāt remember the home game being in the Mine Shaft, but apparently it was. Of course, at 8-20, a mostly forgettable year though it would be the last of single digit wins for decades. Just happy to no longer see the index cards on the sidelines!
As for Haskins, the academic scandal at Minnesota had ousted him by the time ex-Niner Vincent Grier arrived to help the Gophers to the 2005 NCAAT. Ironically, that season ended in Charlotte when Minnesota lost to Iowa State in the opening round of the Big Dance.
1 Like
I donāt think that a record some 14 years ago has that much meaning. Brew has been with a lot of high-profile teams and surely, he has absorbed much knowledge since then.
Also, good coaches that had terrible early records:
Barry Alvarez, Wisc, 1996, 1-10
Frank Beamer, Va Tech, 1987, 2-9
Bobby Bowden, Fl. State,1976, 5-6
Mack Brown, NC, 1988, 1-10
Matt Campbell, Iowa St, 2016, 3-9
Kirk Ferentz, Iowa, 1999, 1-10
Mark Stoops, Ky, 2013, 2-10
And maybe the best coach ever,
Bear Bryant, Texas A&M, 1954, 1-9
Thus, I canāt buy into the fact that Brew was bad at Wisc. (especially with the team and conference he had at the time) that he is not qualified to coach here
1 Like
Brew may be the best dude everā¦ But we need a fresh start.
I would also like someone who isnāt Medicare eligible during his 1st season as HC.
1 Like
Tulsa job is now assumed to be coming availableā¦. We dont stack up well as a good job even in our own conference at this stage.
Glad we won. FAU not good. Guys are playing for the portal and NIL. Talent is there, but our coaches failed to lead when the season mattered. Tim Brewster is apart of that and very much on the back end of his career. Should not be in consideration and I doubt Hill will do that, especially after hiring Fearne that way. A holdover from previous HC.
Which, off topic, if Fearne has a bad season this year, you have to think Hill starts to go scorched earth with some of these coaches. Next five years are critical for school and sports to make significant strides in giving and recruitment of talent and school branding.
Hill canāt miss with this hire.
1 Like
TB has been with the program for 11 months. Also, to your last statement, you had one, Will Healy.
Iāll be shocked if Brew even gets serious consideration. Huge difference with Fearne having the team for an entire year and Brew having last two games against poor teams.
NC, I am not indicating not looking outside at all for a new HC. I wanted Hill to look at other options to see what was available before hiring Fearne and he should do that now. I think any decision you make should look at all options. My question here is why was the knee jerk reaction so negative when TB was named interim HC on this board? All i have read here is (not from you), he had a bad record 14 yrs ago, he was part of the āprevious administrationā, and heās on Medicare. Those seem a little silly to not consider someone in your pool of candidates.
3 Likes
Guess us Medicare eligible types should just slink off to the old folks home. That and making sure to write a big olā check to Niner athletics before doing so, right?
6 Likes
Heās got a lot of energy. (Biff had zero)
He knows how to recruit in the Carolinaās (biff had money and connections to Maryland)
He knows the landscape of college football (biff had no clue)
He knows how to coach a game (biff was clueless)
He is an excellent communicator (biff was awful at this)
He reminds me of Jeff Mullins who was our best hire ever after the Hal Wissell disaster.
No more gimmicks please.
5 Likes
Certainly ironic with Jeff Mullins being a gimmick hire too. He just ended up working out for the most part.
4 Likes