Dunbar resigns

[cduff]

http://www.forums.gopherhole.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=928

[norman dale]

and we'll run the A11 offense.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=weinreb/080811

Belated Merry Christmas Studwell.

[Inigo Montoya]

he was lying through his teeth when asked about Haislet's comments that the St. Louis Rams offensive coordinator was offered the Gopher job before leaving for the Tennesseee Vols job.

[NateDawgUM]

I hear Mike Shanahan is looking for a job. ;)

[tjgesquire]

ALLELUIA!

[sonnygarcia]

Does anyone know if there are any names being tossed around at the moment??

[Bayfieldgopher]

Brewster's mojo with his coaches is show results or you are gone. I am OK with that especially considering how poorly our O performed this year and the D in 07. A lot can be said about putting quality players out there too; something we don't have across the board.

Dunbar and Brewster were not a match. Brewster always impressed me as wanting to play tough physical football and Dunbar went 100% with the Suzy Spread Offense. Enter Davis. Brewster and Davis are in the same mold along with Roof.

There will come a time when Brewster will face the same scrutiny. In the meantime, we need to be patient and give him at least two more years to show significant improvement.

So will Brewster promote Davis? Or find someone else who shares his philosophy?

[PlayHosea]

I hate the spread offense, even when you have the right personnel to run it. It's just not my brand of football. Grind it out, control the clock and keep your defense fresh. It's not sexy, but it works.

[GopherGod]

he was lying through his teeth when asked about Haislet's comments that the St. Louis Rams offensive coordinator was offered the Gopher job before leaving for the Tennesseee Vols job.

That is sure what it sounds like and at what point do you question Brewster and hold him accountable for the ridiculous amount of turnover in his staff. The most successful programs have stability and longevity in their coaching staffs and it is hard to move forward when the players have to learn a new terminology and offense and or defense every year. The other thin that concerns me is that Brewster appears more than willing to throw his staff under the bus at a moments notice and lets hope it doesn't hurt him from getting good assistants to come here in the future. Coach Dunbar whether you liked him or not had a record of success prior to coming here and I wish him well. If Brewster didn't want to run the spread fine, but he should have had an idea on this before hiring Dunbar because he is running the same offense he has run for years so it shouldn't have been a surprise to Brewster. If the issue is truly that all these coaches relieved of their duties were bad coaches(which I do not believe across the board), then what does that say about Brewsters evaluation of coaches and his hiring decisions and what faith should we put in his future hires. He appears to be grasping at straws in my opinion.

[nasa35]

thank goodness. We finally get a better defense and our offense is pukey.

[minngg]

I hate the spread offense, even when you have the right personnel to run it. It's just not my brand of football. Grind it out, control the clock and keep your defense fresh. It's not sexy, but it works.

What offense do the two teams playing for the national championship run?

[GVBadger]

Have to seriously question Punky's ability to pick assistants. After recruiting for the spread for two years, is he going full circle now? Seems like Punky is a little wishy washy. No wonder Roof may be looking to leave. He may be trying to get out before he is told to resign and pursue other interests.

[NateDawgUM]

You have your own mess to worry about, GV.

[dbaldrich1]

I'm neither happy nor sad at Dunbar's departure. He's a good coordinator who had less success than I expected, but it wasn't totally his fault. He had a young QB, a young and thin OL, a young and relatively thin WR corps, and young RBs due to injury. He also made some questionable play calls, especially given his personnel.

I think the offense would have been better next year under Dunbar, simply because we would have a better OL, and more talent and experience at every position.

That being said, I think that Brew will find a new OC who better fits his view of football. I don't thiink we'll see Brew abandon the Spread's 4 & 5 WR sets, but that will be mixed with I formation, Ace, and multiple TE sets as well. A more balanced offense, where we can beat teams in multiple ways.

Brew has shown that he can make good hires to replace outgoing coaches (see Roof and Davis), and I'm guessing he'll do the same with the new OC.

I wish coach Dunbar the best of luck.

[DCGopher]

...it is tough for ANY offense to be effective with a bunch of underclassmen. Especially when they only have two years of learning and playing in a complex system like Dunbar's "spreadcoast". Hopefully, this change in offense does not alter recruits opinions about the U.

I have a feeling Davis will be promoted to OC. I don't know if the job will be appealing to many other big name coordinators because it will be a rebuilding project now and it may appear that Brewster is a revolving door for coordinators.

Oh well....let's hope for the best.

[GopherGod]

I'm neither happy nor sad at Dunbar's departure. He's a good coordinator who had less success than I expected, but it wasn't totally his fault. He had a young QB, a young and thin OL, a young and relatively thin WR corps, and young RBs due to injury. He also made some questionable play calls, especially given his personnel.

I think the offense would have been better next year under Dunbar, simply because we would have a better OL, and more talent and experience at every position.

That being said, I think that Brew will find a new OC who better fits his view of football. I don't thiink we'll see Brew abandon the Spread's 4 & 5 WR sets, but that will be mixed with I formation, Ace, and multiple TE sets as well. A more balanced offense, where we can beat teams in multiple ways.

Brew has shown that he can make good hires to replace outgoing coaches (see Roof and Davis), and I'm guessing he'll do the same with the new OC.

I wish coach Dunbar the best of luck.


I don't think we can say yet that Davis was a good hire, I think he will be but one game does not tell us for sure.

[GVBadger]

You have your own mess to worry about, GV.

That is true. But it is much more fun following this mess. :)

[ilovethebarn]

Does anyone worry that Brewster is gonna get the rep that at the first sign of trouble you are done?

[NateDawgUM]

That is true. But it is much more fun following this mess. :)

We were lining up in the shotgun at 3rd and inches, it doesn't get any messier than that.

[dbaldrich1]

I don't think we can say yet that Davis was a good hire, I think he will be but one game does not tell us for sure.

It's possible that he'll do poorly here, but Davis' track record as an OL coach is successful. That's really what I was referring to, although I admit it wasn't clear in my first go at it.

[sanowai]

My money says we will still run a spread offense with some power formation sprinkled in. I just dont see Brewster abandoning it. Brewster seems to be all about recruiting and I believe a spread offense makes it easier to pull in the top offensive talent these days.

[WolfontheProwl]

I cant see the Gophers getting to far away from multiple WR sets especially after recruiting what seems like 10 of them the past 2 years. I do think we will see an offense similar to the early 90's version of the Redskins and the Vikings that used the 3 WR set. Its a style that will fit our current players pretty well and can be used in different ways to include the option or straight ahead power blocking. Brewster is a guy who coaches TE's for years and you would think and offense that uses a TE more would make sense. As long as we can win I dont care if we run wishbone.

[oleboy41]

First off many of you are overreacting. I'm betting Brew is staying with the spread but wants it to be more diverse. Teams like Texas and Oklahoma run the spread with multiple formations and a running game. Dunbar's playcalling frustrated everyone and he was very uncreative and the offense was overly complex. We have a lot of young guys and newcomers and it shouldn't take young WRs a month of camp then 10 weeks of the season to be able to grasp the offense.

[tjgopher]

I'm betting Brew is staying with the spread but wants it to be more diverse.

This is correct, given the guy he apparently offered the job to was Jim Chaney, a known spread offense guru under Tiller.

[GophersInIowa]

he was lying through his teeth when asked about Haislet's comments that the St. Louis Rams offensive coordinator was offered the Gopher job before leaving for the Tennesseee Vols job.

What was he supposed to do? It happens all the time.

[Studwell55]

http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff299/Miss_Elainious/champagne.jpg

[WAGopher]

Dunbar's play calling is what finished him as a Gopher.

[gopher7]

Isn't this why Dunbar left Cal? From what I remember reading they brought him in there to help implement the spread, but then differences arose on just how often it would be run. Dunbar wanted all, and the coach wanted just some.

[WAGopher]

Have to seriously question Punky's ability to pick assistants. After recruiting for the spread for two years, is he going full circle now? Seems like Punky is a little wishy washy. No wonder Roof may be looking to leave. He may be trying to get out before he is told to resign and pursue other interests.

When you come posting here, leave the crappy nicknames off, or don't ever come back. Your posts will never be good enough for us to put up with you dissing our coach.

[SelectionSunday]

All the stuff going on smells of red flags. Eventually, Brew will run out of coaches to pin the blame on, and the only guys who will want to work for him will be inexpensive "yes" men. I hope he knows what he's doing. Two years in and I still think he's quite naive about what it takes to build a winning program in the Big 10. Mostly talk so far, moreso than results. Perception-wise, the Gophers really need to beat Syracuse in the opener next season or the floodgates are really going to open.

[GophersInIowa]

That is sure what it sounds like and at what point do you question Brewster and hold him accountable for the ridiculous amount of turnover in his staff. The most successful programs have stability and longevity in their coaching staffs and it is hard to move forward when the players have to learn a new terminology and offense and or defense every year. The other thin that concerns me is that Brewster appears more than willing to throw his staff under the bus at a moments notice and lets hope it doesn't hurt him from getting good assistants to come here in the future. Coach Dunbar whether you liked him or not had a record of success prior to coming here and I wish him well. If Brewster didn't want to run the spread fine, but he should have had an idea on this before hiring Dunbar because he is running the same offense he has run for years so it shouldn't have been a surprise to Brewster. If the issue is truly that all these coaches relieved of their duties were bad coaches(which I do not believe across the board), then what does that say about Brewsters evaluation of coaches and his hiring decisions and what faith should we put in his future hires. He appears to be grasping at straws in my opinion.

Ridiculous turnover? How many coaches have resigned or been fired? The Packers just let go five coaches at one time. I don't think he's throwing his assistants under the bus at all. Brewster was brought in here to recruit, Dunbar was brought in to run the offense. Dunbar was not doing it as well as he should by most accounts. To me it shows that Brewster wants to win and expects nothing less. If you're not doing your job, then he's not afraid to get rid of you.

I still think Brewster wants to run the spread offense a lot but still have the ability to pound the ball from time to time.

[oleboy41]

Also remember that we don't see whats going on behind the scenes. Dunbar was supposedly inflexible with his offense at Cal and Tedford took the reigns from him before he resigned. Its possible Brew wanted more diversity or some sort of change and Dunbar wouldn't adhere

[tjgopher]

Writing out a check for $330,000 for Dunbar to NOT coach your team next year has to be a tough pill for the administrators and bean counters to swallow. I'm guessing Maturi didn't exactly do cart wheels when Brew told him he wanted Dunbar gone, knowing he was under contract. Joel just spent the past two years paying head coaches (Monson/Mason) who don't coach at the U and now he's paying an assistant coach big dollars to not coach at the U.

[Monty519]

People will always try to find a negative about everything Brewster does. Personally, if Dunbar refuses to do what Brewster wants, he needs to go. The coordinators need to do what the head coach wants. You can't have clashes and expect to have success. As far as the alleged ridiculous turnover, two coaches isn't what I consider very much at all. When things aren't working, you make changes to make it better. If Brewster saw something wrong with the offensive playcalling philosophy, he should do something about it, not just sit there and do nothing. I think if Dunbar was more flexible, he'd still be here.

[UST82Gopher]

Writing out a check for $330,000 for Dunbar to NOT coach your team next year has to be a tough pill for the administrators and bean counters to swallow. I'm guessing Maturi didn't exactly do cart wheels when Brew told him he wanted Dunbar gone, knowing he was under contract. Joel just spent the past two years paying head coaches (Monson/Mason) who don't coach at the U and now he's paying an assistant coach big dollars to not coach at the U.

Unless there is some unusual contract language, coaches that resign are NOT paid their salary for the remaining years on their contracts.

They only get paid if they are fired. The story clearly says Dunbar resigned.

[denguegopher]

[QUOTE=Bayfieldgopher;14510]Brewster's mojo with his coaches is show results or you are gone. I am OK with that especially considering how poorly our O performed this year and the D in 07. A lot can be said about putting quality players out there too; something we don't have across the board.

Dunbar and Brewster were not a match. Brewster always impressed me as wanting to play tough physical football and Dunbar went 100% with the Suzy Spread Offense. Enter Davis. Brewster and Davis are in the same mold along with Roof.


I am pretty sure that at the time of Brewster's hire he clearly stated that he would run a spread offense. Thus enter Dunbar. I don't like the move, but hope that it pans out. Best of luck to Dunbar.

[GopherGod]

Ridiculous turnover? How many coaches have resigned or been fired? The Packers just let go five coaches at one time. I don't think he's throwing his assistants under the bus at all. Brewster was brought in here to recruit, Dunbar was brought in to run the offense. Dunbar was not doing it as well as he should by most accounts. To me it shows that Brewster wants to win and expects nothing less. If you're not doing your job, then he's not afraid to get rid of you.

I still think Brewster wants to run the spread offense a lot but still have the ability to pound the ball from time to time.

First off this isn't the NFL and you can look and see that most successfult COLLEGE programs have stability and tenure in their coaching staff. If you honestly think that Coach Meyer and Dunbar left on their own to pursue other opportunities then pass me some of the Kool-Aid you are drinking. Why is it that Brewster gets a pass from everyone for not winning because he inherited terrible talent but the same courtesy is not given to the coordinator that has to use that talent. When you jettison coaches the second you start to feel the smallest little bit of heat rather than saying you believe in them and the system then you are throwing them under the bus. Should we get rid of Brewster then for not doing his job as he is one the hired all these coaches he is not getting rid of.

[NC 2 MN]

I hate the spread offense, even when you have the right personnel to run it. It's just not my brand of football. Grind it out, control the clock and keep your defense fresh. It's not sexy, but it works.

And watch the Southeast and Big 12 run you silly.......

[gold04]

Norm Chow new OC!

[lawrence21]

Dunbar would have done just fine as our talent level began to catch up. We still need to run the spread to get the recruits. If Davis becomes OC it will be a disaster, we will lose out on all the best talent. As far as some one said about hating the spread and wanting to grind it out and win with your defense, we see how good that has done for OSU. They get their arses kicked on the National scene more often than not (moral victory last night) not to mention I would rather watch paint dry than watch Ohio State play football. We need a another spread guy, like a Texas spread, not a Purdue spread

[tjgopher]

Unless there is some unusual contract language, coaches that resign are NOT paid their salary for the remaining years on their contracts.

They only get paid if they are fired. The story clearly says Dunbar resigned.

Don't fool yourself. He was fired. For professional courtesy they call it a resignation. No way Dunbar walked away from that money. Now, there may have been a buyout clause that means Minnesota isn't on the hook for the entire $330,000, but Dunbar will get paid by the U for not coaching here.

[GVBadger]

When you come posting here, leave the crappy nicknames off, or don't ever come back. Your posts will never be good enough for us to put up with you dissing our coach.

Touchy, touchy.

Wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?

I am sure that Punky can take the heat.

If Punky isn't careful, the next one he will fire will be himself. Actually, he doesn't fire anyone. He will just move on because he is pursuing other job interests.

I hear Mase is available. Maybe he will come back as offensive coordinator.

[anonymous]

tjgopher is correct. There seems to be little chance that this was a true "resignation." It's the constant spin by schools to make it look like there is stability in a program when there really is none.

Unless someone resigns to immediately take another job, it's non-voluntary. And they are getting paid.

[Schlic Daddy]

I hope we stick with the spread, with variations of traditional sets in short-yardage situations. There's a reason at 75 percent of the teams in BCS bowls run the spread.

Also, if for some reason we don't stick with the spread, does Marqueis Gray stick around?

[Studwell55]

Count the legitimate touchdown drives we had the in B10 season. Speaking from experience, I advise you don't do this at work. The uncontrollable weeping which will result may alarm co-workers.

I repeat myself ad nauseum: We spread out the field only to make opposing defenses cover about 6.5% of the field. Does any team in the country--year in, year out--make defenses cover less of the field? Hello?

I have no problem, in principle, with the spread so long as it involves the capacity to run the ball effectively--and 50% of the time if need be.

[tjgopher]

Count the legitimate touchdown drives we had the in B10 season. Speaking from experience, I advise you don't do this at work. The uncontrollable weeping which will result may alarm co-workers.

I repeat myself ad nauseum: We spread out the field only to make opposing defenses cover about 6.5% of the field. Does any team in the country--year in, year out--make defenses cover less of the field? Hello?

That was Dunbar's biggest weakness. His unwillingness to call plays that meant we could throw the ball downfield. Way, way, way too many 6-yard routes. The Michigan game was the absolute worst. He basically allowed Michigan to defend about 7 yards beyond the line of scrimmage and that was it. Dunbar seemed to get in his head that when things got tough he was going to call short passes to get something going. All that did was ensure an easier time for the defense. That meant unless we could go 13 or 14 plays without a mistake we weren't scoring. Well, no team can consistently do that and that is where our trouble was.

Any successful offense has to have a way to on occasion eat up yards in bunches. Dunbar's never could.

That said, the spread works if done properly and with the right personnel.

[UST82Gopher]

I guess we need to agree to disagree.

I am betting that Brewster redefined Dunbar's role and Dunbar quit just like he did at Cal. If you Google search, it looks like Cal did not pay him off. I am betting we don't either.

Dunbar has a pretty healthy ego and I am sure figures that he is still a pretty attractive hire. Money was not going to stand in his way. I am betting he also has a job lined up - expect him to be hired within a couple of weeks. He saw the hand writing on the wall. He was not going to stay.

[tjgopher]

I guess we need to agree to disagree.

I am betting that Brewster redefined Dunbar's role and Dunbar quit just like he did at Cal. If you Google search, it looks like Cal did not pay him off. I am betting we don't either.

Dunbar has a pretty healthy ego and I am sure figures that he is still a pretty attractive hire. Money was not going to stand in his way. I am betting he also has a job lined up - expect him to be hired within a couple of weeks. He saw the hand writing on the wall. He was not going to stay.

Cal didn't pay him off because he left to take this job. They allowed him to leave. If they fired him, they would have had to pay him off. He will be cashing a check from the U, I promise you.

[GophersInIowa]

First off this isn't the NFL and you can look and see that most successfult COLLEGE programs have stability and tenure in their coaching staff. If you honestly think that Coach Meyer and Dunbar left on their own to pursue other opportunities then pass me some of the Kool-Aid you are drinking. Why is it that Brewster gets a pass from everyone for not winning because he inherited terrible talent but the same courtesy is not given to the coordinator that has to use that talent. When you jettison coaches the second you start to feel the smallest little bit of heat rather than saying you believe in them and the system then you are throwing them under the bus. Should we get rid of Brewster then for not doing his job as he is one the hired all these coaches he is not getting rid of.

Where did I ever say that Meyer and Dunbar left on their own? We have had two coaches let go in two years. The Packers example was just to show that this is not a "ridiculous amount of turnover" that you said in your previous post. You know absolutely nothing about what happened behind the scenes. It's been known that Dunbar in the past was not willing to change his offense and has been stubborn. If he was not on the same page as the head coach, then it's a good thing he is gone. That's just how it works. If I refuse to do the things my boss wants me to do, more than likely I will be fired, not him. Looking back at it now, Dunbar and Meyer were probably not a good hire and Brewster deserves blame for that. But he has a plan and if some of the coaches are not on board then they need to be gone. If Brewster's plan doesn't take us to the next level, then he deserves to be fired. We'll just have to see. I do know that Brewster was brought here because he can recruit and so far he has been very successful at doing that.

[Gopher4life15]

I think Brew needs to take some of the blame for these two years and not just dump it on his coordinators. That being said you are only as good as your talent around you and he has had none. Brew is also doing a great job recruiting and in a year or two we will know a whole lot more about what kind of coach we have here in the Brewmaster.

As far as the new OC is concerned, we need a spread guy to keep our promise to recruits who came here expecting to run the spread. Let's keep Davis as line coach/assistant head coach and bring in someone with a fresh perspective of the spread. We need to reach for the stars and open the pocket books again because if this program is going to keep moving forwords we need someone with serious recruiting ability, experience and credibility.

GO GOPHERS!

I believe in the good Brew

[GopherGod]

Where did I ever say that Meyer and Dunbar left on their own? We have had two coaches let go in two years. The Packers example was just to show that this is not a "ridiculous amount of turnover" that you said in your previous post. You know absolutely nothing about what happened behind the scenes. It's been known that Dunbar in the past was not willing to change his offense and has been stubborn. If he was not on the same page as the head coach, then it's a good thing he is gone. That's just how it works. If I refuse to do the things my boss wants me to do, more than likely I will be fired, not him. Looking back at it now, Dunbar and Meyer were probably not a good hire and Brewster deserves blame for that. But he has a plan and if some of the coaches are not on board then they need to be gone. If Brewster's plan doesn't take us to the next level, then he deserves to be fired. We'll just have to see. I do know that Brewster was brought here because he can recruit and so far he has been very successful at doing that.

And you do know what happened behind the scenes?

[RodentRampage]

I'd like to see the Gophers be able to run the spread or line up in a more traditional formation. Keep the defense guessing, and make them burn their time outs.

[Monty519]

People keep saying Brewster needs to take some of the blame for the problems and not dump it on coordinators, but isn't firing a coordinator that you hired a way of doing that? I mean, what is he supposed to do, fire himself? Name himself both the offensive and defensive coordinator? If you're expecting Brewster to go to the mic and say "It's all my fault", that ain't gonna happen. He's already said in the past that he has to get better as a coach, as well as the entire coaching staff. I don't know what else the man is supposed to do.

[UpnorthGo4]

GophersInIowa Quote: "Where did I ever say that Meyer and Dunbar left on their own? We have had two coaches let go in two years. The Packers example was just to show that this is not a "ridiculous amount of turnover" that you said in your previous post. You know absolutely nothing about what happened behind the scenes. It's been known that Dunbar in the past was not willing to change his offense and has been stubborn. If he was not on the same page as the head coach, then it's a good thing he is gone. That's just how it works. If I refuse to do the things my boss wants me to do, more than likely I will be fired, not him. Looking back at it now, Dunbar and Meyer were probably not a good hire and Brewster deserves blame for that. But he has a plan and if some of the coaches are not on board then they need to be gone. If Brewster's plan doesn't take us to the next level, then he deserves to be fired. We'll just have to see. I do know that Brewster was brought here because he can recruit and so far he has been very successful at doing that. "

MOST PERCEPTIVE POST OF THE YEAR

[Ozzy&Ray]

Some of you act like this never happens. If you take the time to truly look, it happens more than you think in all levels of programs, and among those who are successful.

Also, some of you are accusing Brewster of laying the blame on the coordinators. I haven't heard one such word out of his mouth. While you could say that is what his actions are showing, taking another view it could be as simple as the two have a different philosophy regarding next steps and you need to go in a different direction. I know that I've hired an assistant who I thought the world of, was highly respected in the field, and we both thought from our conversations over time that we were on the same page regarding the vision of the organization. We were for a couple of years, but when we had to make some changes we saw things differently. There wasn't any bitterness, just a recognition that there are different roads to take and we are not on the same page regarding the road.

Things change with time - even in just two years. We don't know what Dunbar told Brewster regarding his philosophy when he was hired. Maybe he thought he was more willing to be flexible and less pure to his design. Brewster is obviously not the first head coach who has had this issue with Dunbar. A pretty successful guy at Cal did as well.

[lawrence21]

"I know that I've hired.....blah blah blah."
Reading that post is time I will never get back.

[Ozzy&Ray]

I was just trying to state an example, that's it. Sorry to have offended you - if it sounded like trying to blow my horn that was not my intent. No need to be such a jerk.

You haven't said anything other than Dunbar should stay for recruiting. I agree with you we shouldn't totally abandon the spread and if we did it would impact recruiting. Yet, Brewster has said repeatedly he wants to keep the spread. If you are the coach and you do not feel your coordinator is utilizing the talent you are recruiting as you would like - operating from the same philosophy for the future - do you keep him anyway?

Miami let go of their offensive coordinator after just two years. The coordinator, Patrick Nix, said, "he and Shannon simply had different styles on how to best run an offense."

UCLA fired their offensive coordinator last year. Louisville coach fired his defensive coordinator. Wisconsin fired their defensive coordinator last year - Hankwitz for Doeren. Virginia fired their offensive coordinator after two years. And Nick Saban and Major Applewhite parted ways at Alabama after one year as well.

It happens and programs don't fall apart because of it.

[Ozzy&Ray]

Well stated. A coach with any kind of self-confidence isn't going to think, "My god, he went a different direction with Dunbar. I can't go there, he might dump me." No, he's going to share his philosophy with Brewster and if they are on the same page they will give it a shot. Obviously, Dunbar and Brewster were not on the same page. We don't know what was said at the time of hiring, but it is where it is today. You don't just stick with it if it's not working because you thought it was going to at the front end.

[grunkiejr]

Have to seriously question Punky's ability to pick assistants. After recruiting for the spread for two years, is he going full circle now? Seems like Punky is a little wishy washy. No wonder Roof may be looking to leave. He may be trying to get out before he is told to resign and pursue other interests.

We're not abandoning the spread. Even when Brewster hired Davis he said that he still wants to run the spread but with the added wrinkle of having a power running game.

Bielema let his DC go after 2007 when Wisconsin was a top ten team. Good call, that Northwestern defense looked poorly coached and the only reason they had a better ranked defense is because NU must have been recruiting better talent.

[idagopher]

USC is a highly successful program that has gone through a lot of assistant coaches (one is now here) and they also showed you don't need to run a spread to win, they ran over PSU with a pro-I. I doubt we'll have trouble getting an OC, he just needs a similar mindset to Brew and be able to bleed recruiting as well. Not sure Dunbar was a great recruiter, it looks like others did most of the offensive recruiting. I suspect Dunbar will do well elsewhere, he wasn't a fit at Cal either.

[GophersInIowa]

And you do know what happened behind the scenes?

I thought it was pretty obvious that Brewster was not happy with how Meyer was running the OL and how Dunbar was running the offense.

[sanowai]

I am happy Brewster doesnt sit back and let the coaches on his staff dictate how this team is going to be run. Would any of you rather have him just sit back and let Dunbar keep running the show offensivly even though its not running the way or as efficently as he wants? I really hope Brewster succeds here, he is exactly the kind of coach we need. He knows this might be his only shot at a big time head coaching gig if he fails and he will not let Dunbar or anyone else dictate the outcome of his carrer.

[FiveStarFan]

This happends to the best of teams/coaches...USC just lost their OC to Wash as head coach which I can see, but they also just lost their DC to the same position at Wash

[Ozzy&Ray]

"Dunbar would have done just fine as our talent level began to catch up." Can I please see your crystal ball?
"We still need to run the spread to get the recruits." Hasn't Brewster said we will continue to run the spread numerous times in recent weeks?
"If Davis becomes OC it will be a disaster, we will lose out on all the best talent." I don't have a clue if Davis would be a disaster or not, but how would that lead to our missing out on the best talent?

That Texas spread is totally different than the Purdue spread - that would be called talent! Purdue's spread has worked pretty well in the past with the right talent in place.

All that being said, I agree with you that we need to keep the spread. However, I'm not as confident as you that Dunbar had any willingness to be flexible with it at all.

[minibeaver]

Have to remember Brewster is new at this head coaching gig and still maybe finding his groove. He may have also realized that we are not going to be able to recruit the kind of players needed to run Dunbars offense effectively and successfully, and decided to change to something that could be more succesful quicker.