Nadine (@nadinebabu) was kind enough to answer some of our questions about Tim
Brewster and what happened at Minnesota. She is a manager and editor
for GopherHole.com and writes for the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s blog.
GopherHole.com is the leading fan site for the University of
Minnesota’s athletic programs and has been around since 1996.
Jack: I don’t know if you are aware of this or not, but
our field at Texas State is named after former Gopher coach Jim Wacker.
He left Minnesota with a similar record to Tim Brewster’s, a top
candidate for our vacant head coaching position. Why is it so hard to
win in football at Minnesota? You have a beautiful new stadium and one
of the highest university enrollments in the country. The Twin Cities
are certainly more appealing than Iowa City, for example. Tubby Smith
is your basketball coach so it can’t be money.
Nadine: I actually
did not know that, Coach Wacker seemed like a very good man, and was
well liked and respected as a person in Minnesota. Coach Wacker had a
.291 winning percent in his 5 seasons, Brewster had .333 in his 4
seasons. You may be asking the wrong person the question regarding why
it’s so hard to win at Minnesota – as I don’t think it’s that hard…even
though history proves me wrong. We live in a fantastic city, and I
think when you have recruits visiting here and getting to see all the
city offers, vs. just a college town, they are very impressed. Top that
off with a great campus, good academics, and one of the most beautiful
stadiums I’ve ever seen (if your readers aren’t as familiar with The
Bank, here are some great photos: http://www.gopherhole.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1013)
– you’ve got a a formula for winning. I think that there does need to
be more support to make the football program be successful from both the
athletic department as well as the community, but it can happen, and
should happen. Many say that we are hindered by the fact that there are
so many other things to do in Minneapolis/St. Paul, from the Vikings to
the Wild, the Timberwolves, Twins, etc, but in an area of over 3
million, I think there are plenty of spectators to go around.
Jack: What were your personal dealings with Brewster like?
Nadine: I didn’t have much of a personal relationship or dealings with Tim Brewster.
Jack: What went so badly wrong to warrant a midseason dismissal?
Nadine: A
lot went wrong, dating back much further than this season, but I will
focus on this year. When you begin your 4th season with a 1-6 record,
after you’ve had a chance to recruit your own players, and form your
staff over the past three years, people expect more than the one win you
had during your first year. Losing to the University of South Dakota
(a 1 AA team) had everyone up in arms after the home opener at TCF
Bank…obviously the NIU loss (where our current coach Jerry Kill camed
from) was another rough one, but I think what put the nail in the coffin
was the Wisconsin game. Obviously, we all thought we’d lose to WI, but
we didn’t expect 23-41 game against our biggest rival, it was like the
players had given up on him. After that, it seemed like the decision
was made to fire Brewster before the Purdue game, as it was leaked to
the press. I think the biggest issues were losing a fan base that were
all calling for his head, booster that were calling for his head, and
the fact that in 4 years, we were not improving, but were getting
worse. We had fired Glen Mason, who brought us to medicocrity and made
us a contender in the Big 10, only to hit rock bottom. Now we all hope
Coach Kill will take us back to that Mason level, and beyond.
Jack: I watched the TCU-Wisconsin game (I live in Fort
Worth) and realized I’ve never seen Minnesota in the Rose Bowl. Google
told me your last appearance was in 1962. We have a fairly miserable
history ourselves but nothing like that. What keeps you coming back?
Nadine: Haha
– you’d be surprised at how many times I’m asked that! Some call me
crazy, I consider myself loyal to the school I attended and loved. I
guess it’s about the Journey. For example, this past season, going into
the Iowa game a 2-9 team vs. a decent Iowa team at 8-4, I doubt there
were more than a handful of Minnesota fans that thought we would win
that game. Personally, I wanted to just have a decent showing, and go
into next season with a respectable loss. I’d say about 1/2 of the
Gopher fans I knew either gave away or sold their tickets, as it was
Thanksgiving weekend, it was cold, and above everything else, they
thought there was no chance we’d win. If you only go to games as a
Gopher fan that you think we’re going to win…you will miss a lot of
games. I actually skipped going home for Thanksgiving and attended the
game, we tailgated in the cold for hours ahead of the game, and made a
day out of it (as always)…and then we won. We beat Iowa and got the
Floyd or Rosedale trophy back, this was the 1st trophy game we’d won in
the Tim Brewster era, and it was actually the Jeff Horton short, but
sweet, era. I remember thinking that the season was an absolute wash –
and I couldn’t have been more wrong. That game meant so much, for the
fans, the players, the coaches. It felt like we had won the Superbowl!
That’s why I keep coming back, the wins feel that much sweeter after
enduring the losses that we’ve had through the years.
Jack: What did Brewster do right at Minnesota, and what
does he need to improve upon to become a successful head coach?
Nadine: I really liked that he sold
Minnesota. He didn’t make excuses as to why we couldn’t win here, he
said that could recruit here, we could win here, and we could go to the
Rose Bowl. He actually even had grass from the Rose Bowl flown in to
motivate the players and see that it was attainable. Granted, he fell
short with his promises, but I do believe he thought we could do it, and
we can. He also did a good job recruiting, his 1st year, he brought in
a #17 ranked recruiting class, in 2009 that dropped to #39, and last
year we dropped out of the top 50, which were still decent classes. I
think what he needs to do to be successful is become more consistent,
and develop his own strategy and plan, vs. what his coordinators bring
in. Many of our players were recruited to run the spread, then we
switched to a NFL offensive style with Jedd Fisch, and then Jeff Horton
came him and changed up the offense again this year, and was the most
successful. Brewster had a great deal of turnover on his staff, as you
could probably expect with a 1st time head coach, hopefully he can keep a
core group of talented people around him in his next position, which
will help to develop players and the team as a whole.
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