Rittenberg's take on Brew ESPN Blog

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Ole

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•Tim Brewster's eternal optimism annoys some people up in Minneapolis, but his outlook is, for the most part, what the Minnesota program needs. You've got to love his aggressive approach to scheduling and his openness to change in the Big Ten. Brewster must make his mark on the field this fall, which won't be easy, but Minnesota needs a guy who dreams bigger than seven wins and a minor bowl game every year.

Great take, couldn't agree more.

I gotta say, Rittenberg's probably one of the best columnist types that i've read, he's thoughtful, insightful, gets good interviews and digs inside the programs as much as possible. He might have a bright future.
 


Really

Ole said:
•Tim Brewster's eternal optimism annoys some people up in Minneapolis, but his outlook is, for the most part, what the Minnesota program needs. You've got to love his aggressive approach to scheduling and his openness to change in the Big Ten. Brewster must make his mark on the field this fall, which won't be easy, but Minnesota needs a guy who dreams bigger than seven wins and a minor bowl game every year.

Great take, couldn't agree more.

I gotta say, Rittenberg's probably one of the best columnist types that i've read, he's thoughtful, insightful, gets good interviews and digs inside the programs as much as possible. He might have a bright future.
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I'd prefer a guy that doesn't just dream big, he delivers:
On signing day.
When the players show up.
In Stemming attrition of his own recruits for whatever reason (academics, playing time, etc). When hiring a staff.
In game preparation.
On the sidelines on game day.

So far, Brewster is 1.5 for 6. Minnesota needs someone who can deliver 6 of 6.
 

CaliGopher, give it a rest. Everyone else is excited about the upcoming season (10 days til practice!) and you continue to post negative crap on here. Go back to 2002 and the Music City Bowl if you thought those were such great times. Your stance is tired just like Mason's recruiting drive.
 

caliGopher said:
I'd prefer a guy that doesn't just dream big, he delivers:
On signing day.
When the players show up.
In Stemming attrition of his own recruits for whatever reason (academics, playing time, etc). When hiring a staff.
In game preparation.
On the sidelines on game day.

So far, Brewster is 1.5 for 6. Minnesota needs someone who can deliver 6 of 6.
Click to expand...

Minnesota also needs All-Americans at every position.
 


caliGopher said:
I'd prefer a guy that doesn't just dream big, he delivers:
On signing day.
When the players show up.
In Stemming attrition of his own recruits for whatever reason (academics, playing time, etc). When hiring a staff.
In game preparation.
On the sidelines on game day.

So far, Brewster is 1.5 for 6. Minnesota needs someone who can deliver 6 of 6.
Click to expand...

Ok I'll bite, so you want a coach like our last one who:
Didn't dream big OR deliver anything worthwhile in a decade
Quit recruiting because it required actual effort. And when signing day came we never heard anything about any of the players.
Had horrendous attrition for many reasons including MANY academic casualties.
Went through how many defensive coordinators for all the wrong reasons(bad results) and never really had a defensive philosophy besides outscoring/running out the clock to protect the D
Was average at best at preparation for games, especially rivalry games
Had a serious reputation for losing big time games in the final minutes of the contest, who was fired because of it
Bottom line Brew is an UPGRADE which is what a new coach should be.
Brew is still an unknown quantity in many respects, with your 6 point scale according to my count he's at least 3 for 4(first 4) and 2 TBD

Sorry, but if you can't get on board and get excited about the programs future I just really feel sorry for you.
 

The Big L said:
Minnesota also needs All-Americans at every position.
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If he could do that I might bump him up to a C-grade. As it is, he gets a Z minus. He should have won at least 17 games last year with the schedule we had.
 

Actually, I laid out what I'd like in a coach and it wasn't Mason, who I assume you are referring to. Believe it or not, there are more coaches out there than Tim Brewster and Glen Mason. Somehow, outside of these two there are still 116 employed D-1 coaches.

I'm excited to be back in the upper midwest. I'm excited to have tickets in the inaugural season in the new stadium. I'm excited for when Gopher football gets back on track. After 2 seasons, I just haven't seen enough from the current coach to believe he'll deliver on that.

I hope I'm wrong. Year one wasn't as bad as it looked, although Brewster's inability as a coach contributed. Year 2 wasn't as good in the first half, and not as bad in the second half as it seemed. There was limited improvement everywhere except the W-L record. With new coordinators, I'm not sure what to expect. Roof was a big surprise last year. I hope I am surprised this year, but all of the data suggests this won't be the case.
 

I like Rittenberg's stuff too. I have also noticed folks from other Big 10 schools shower praise on him as well. He offers good insight, great balance, and good timing. He does drink the ESPN SEC love-fest kool aid on occasion but ESPN probably demands that. :) I'm just being nit-picky when I mention that. Rittenberg is great and I look forward to reading his stuff every day.
 



If you have not noticed a distinct change in attitude on the Gophers sideline the past 2 seasons you haven't been watching Gopher football. These kids are starting to play with a little attitude and jump in their step. I'm not going to sugar coat the second half of the season last year but let's be honest....we were not a deep team and injuries took their toll. Campbell, Decker, Bennett, Tow Arnett, Sherels all were injuried at key points to the season and their backups were just fine but not at the same level.
 

caliGopher said:
Actually, I laid out what I'd like in a coach and it wasn't Mason, who I assume you are referring to. Believe it or not, there are more coaches out there than Tim Brewster and Glen Mason. Somehow, outside of these two there are still 116 employed D-1 coaches.

I'm excited to be back in the upper midwest. I'm excited to have tickets in the inaugural season in the new stadium. I'm excited for when Gopher football gets back on track. After 2 seasons, I just haven't seen enough from the current coach to believe he'll deliver on that.

I hope I'm wrong. Year one wasn't as bad as it looked, although Brewster's inability as a coach contributed. Year 2 wasn't as good in the first half, and not as bad in the second half as it seemed. There was limited improvement everywhere except the W-L record. With new coordinators, I'm not sure what to expect. Roof was a big surprise last year. I hope I am surprised this year, but all of the data suggests this won't be the case.
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I think it depends on the leash Brew has, is it 1 year, 2 years? For me it's 4 or 5, you can't judge a college coach until his first two recruiting classes are upperclassmen.

As for other D1 coaches besides Mason or Brewster, I'm not clueless, there were other good choices out there, but we rolled with this one, and when the next coach is hired whether that be next year or in 30 years, I'll roll with that choice, maybe it will be a stoic, hard nosed, no nonsense Bud Grant clone, I'll roll with that, just might not be as much fun as gettin your chili hot!
:D Cheers
 

Schnauzer said:
I like Rittenberg's stuff too. I have also noticed folks from other Big 10 schools shower praise on him as well. He offers good insight, great balance, and good timing. He does drink the ESPN SEC love-fest kool aid on occasion but ESPN probably demands that. :) I'm just being nit-picky when I mention that. Rittenberg is great and I look forward to reading his stuff every day.
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Funny there was a Ritterberg thread just started today, I was thinking of starting my own because I think so highly of his blog. I subscribe to the blog's RSS feed (every story comes strait into my Outlook inbox) and Rittenberg just brings the heat every day. Probably 5 interesting and insightful articles a day. He's also unbiased (as far as I can tell) and fairly clever. It won't be long until ESPN promotes him.

I also don't think ESPN would demand any of their employees to drink the SEC kool-aid. If it were CBS, it could be a possibility, but not for ESPN. Besides, the SEC has the best teams and players in College football - Period.
 

Ole said:
I think it depends on the leash Brew has, is it 1 year, 2 years? For me it's 4 or 5, you can't judge a college coach until his first two recruiting classes are upperclassmen.

As for other D1 coaches besides Mason or Brewster, I'm not clueless, there were other good choices out there, but we rolled with this one, and when the next coach is hired whether that be next year or in 30 years, I'll roll with that choice, maybe it will be a stoic, hard nosed, no nonsense Bud Grant clone, I'll roll with that, just might not be as much fun as gettin your chili hot!
:D Cheers
Click to expand...

Yes, yes, and yes
 



KoolAid said:
Funny there was a Ritterberg thread just started today, I was thinking of starting my own because I think so highly of his blog. I subscribe to the blog's RSS feed (every story comes strait into my Outlook inbox) and Rittenberg just brings the heat every day. Probably 5 interesting and insightful articles a day. He's also unbiased (as far as I can tell) and fairly clever. It won't be long until ESPN promotes him.

I also don't think ESPN would demand any of their employees to drink the SEC kool-aid. If it were CBS, it could be a possibility, but not for ESPN. Besides, the SEC has the best teams and players in College football - Period.
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How do you subscribe to the feed? I know nothing about RSS or anything but when I clicked on the subscribe button I just got a page with a bunch of HTML code
 

oleboy41 said:
How do you subscribe to the feed? I know nothing about RSS or anything but when I clicked on the subscribe button I just got a page with a bunch of HTML code
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In your Microsoft Outlook:
Go to Tools
Click on Account Settings
Go to the RSS Feeds tab
Click on New
Enter in the feed web address (http://myespn.go.com/blogs/feed?blog=bigten)
and click Add

You can do that for any RSS feed. My workday has gotten a whole lot better since I figured this RSS thing out. If you are a Twins fan, you can get Joe C's, LaVelle's, and Howards blogs all delivered to your inbox. So anytime the twins don't trade anyone, you will be the first to know.
 

I have to agree with Caligopher. The big talk does nothing for me. It does annoy me and makes me question the intelligence of our head coach. A lot of you seem to like hearing about hot chilli, never ending tremendousness, and rosebowl trips followed by 1-11 seasons. I don't.

This year I expect the best gopher team since 2003. I am concerned that we will be outmatched on the sidelines but I hope I am wrong. Exactly what good did all that rosebowl talk do? Talking is easy, meaningless and has proven quite hollow to this point. This year the wins/losses will matter far more than all the upbeat talk.
 


GoGophers2005 said:
If you have not noticed a distinct change in attitude on the Gophers sideline the past 2 seasons you haven't been watching Gopher football. These kids are starting to play with a little attitude and jump in their step. I'm not going to sugar coat the second half of the season last year but let's be honest....we were not a deep team and injuries took their toll. Campbell, Decker, Bennett, Tow Arnett, Sherels all were injuried at key points to the season and their backups were just fine but not at the same level.
Click to expand...

Yes, we were decimated at the end of the year. I watched the Wisconsin replay on BTN recently and our starting O for that game consisted of the following:

Sr: 1
Jr: 2
So: 2
Fr: 6

3 of the freshman & 1 soph were on the OL.

I'm no happier than anyone else about the way the season ended but when you're starting 8 underclassmen you are a bit disadvantaged. You don't go from a untalented no depth 1-11 team to being stocked with talent in one year.
 

Rotundo said:
I have to agree with Caligopher. The big talk does nothing for me. It does annoy me and makes me question the intelligence of our head coach. A lot of you seem to like hearing about hot chilli, never ending tremendousness, and rosebowl trips followed by 1-11 seasons. I don't.

This year I expect the best gopher team since 2003. I am concerned that we will be outmatched on the sidelines but I hope I am wrong. Exactly what good did all that rosebowl talk do? Talking is easy, meaningless and has proven quite hollow to this point. This year the wins/losses will matter far more than all the upbeat talk.
Click to expand...

Wren, why do you find it so impossible to stay away from this board?

I know you're retired, so you have a lot of free time, but seriously - get a hobby or something.
 

Rotundo said:
I have to agree with Caligopher. The big talk does nothing for me. It does annoy me and makes me question the intelligence of our head coach. A lot of you seem to like hearing about hot chilli, never ending tremendousness, and rosebowl trips followed by 1-11 seasons. I don't.
This year I expect the best gopher team since 2003. I am concerned that we will be outmatched on the sidelines but I hope I am wrong. Exactly what good did all that rosebowl talk do? Talking is easy, meaningless and has proven quite hollow to this point. This year the wins/losses will matter far more than all the upbeat talk.
Click to expand...

Honestly it got us talking about gopher football being relevent again after a long time, it got us out of a rut. It got us some national press and Brewster put all of those Rose Bowl sound bytes out there acting crazy to get the Gopher Football name out there to recruits and the media.

Brewster hasn't proven he can outcoach any big time coach yet, but he's at least giving this program a new flavor. He honestly reminds me of Hank Stram personality-wise, time will have to tell whether he proves as adept a coach.
 

Rotundo said:
I have to agree with Caligopher. The big talk does nothing for me. It does annoy me and makes me question the intelligence of our head coach. A lot of you seem to like hearing about hot chilli, never ending tremendousness, and rosebowl trips followed by 1-11 seasons. I don't.

This year I expect the best gopher team since 2003. I am concerned that we will be outmatched on the sidelines but I hope I am wrong. Exactly what good did all that rosebowl talk do? Talking is easy, meaningless and has proven quite hollow to this point. This year the wins/losses will matter far more than all the upbeat talk.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the newsflash. I honestly had never considered that winning more games might be important. I'm sure Brewster has never thought of it either so you mail want to e-mail him. :p
 

Rotundo said:
I have to agree with Caligopher. The big talk does nothing for me. It does annoy me and makes me question the intelligence of our head coach. A lot of you seem to like hearing about hot chilli, never ending tremendousness, and rosebowl trips followed by 1-11 seasons. I don't.

This year I expect the best gopher team since 2003. I am concerned that we will be outmatched on the sidelines but I hope I am wrong. Exactly what good did all that rosebowl talk do? Talking is easy, meaningless and has proven quite hollow to this point. This year the wins/losses will matter far more than all the upbeat talk.
Click to expand...

Motivating your players and your fanbase is nothing to scoff at. At all.
 

Motivating players is nothing to scoff at.


True. Neither is a 3-14 record vs bcs teams or a 55-0 loss vs Iowa at home on senior day. Distracting yourself by focusing on intangibles like motivation (ie yelling about chilli) or an upbeat attitude is a nice coping mechanism but it doesn't work at all for me. I tend to focus on the W-L and the nature of the wins and losses.
 

Rotundo said:
True. Neither is a 3-14 record vs bcs teams or a 55-0 loss vs Iowa at home on senior day. Distracting yourself by focusing on intangibles like motivation (ie yelling about chilli) or an upbeat attitude is a nice coping mechanism but it doesn't work at all for me. I tend to focus on the W-L and the nature of the wins and losses.
Click to expand...

Then you must realize that the U of M has been in thte TWILIGHT ZONE since 1960...almost 50 years

And if you figure that out, you may realize that 50 years of ineptness is not solved/resolved overnight

And if you figure that out, you may realize that maybe, just maybe this coach has the right attitude to lead us out of the wilderness

And if you figure that out, you will give him time to do it

And after five (minimum) or seven or eight years (more reasonable since Mason got ten), if he hasn't accomplished "progress towards the goal of becoming a relevant football power again", you get rid of him and try again...

Remember, Urban Meyer was a nobody too at one time..., so was sweater vest guy, and Joe Paterno....
 

Rotundo said:
I tend to focus on the W-L and the nature of the wins and losses.
Click to expand...

Since we know your focus... will you be on this board praising Brewster if the team goes 7-5 with the 5th toughest schedule in college football this year?
 

caliGopher and Rotundo reflect one of the major problems we have in society....we want what we want and we want it NOW! No one has the patience to build anything any more. Have you guys ever heard of the saying "Rome wasn't built in a day."? Well neither will the Gopher's return to national prominence. It starts with recruiting. So far I think we can say Brewster is on his way to bringing in higher caliber players than the previous regime and ones we can say are better than we might expect given the last 40 years of Gopher football history. Some times you have to tear it down to rebuild it better than what you previously had. I am fine with saying the jury is still on Brewster long term. But give it a rest! How can you judge him and say he cannot deliver the whole package when he has had 2 years on the job. That is a joke! But then again, these guys probably know more than the rest of us schmucks that are okay with giving Coach Brew some time before we indicted, sentence and convict him! That is why people like them lose me at HELLO.
 

Golden Shower said:
caliGopher and Rotundo reflect one of the major problems we have in society....we want what we want and we want it NOW! No one has the patience to build anything any more. Have you guys ever heard of the saying "Rome wasn't built in a day."? Well neither will the Gopher's return to national prominence. It starts with recruiting. So far I think we can say Brewster is on his way to bringing in higher caliber players than the previous regime and ones we can say are better than we might expect given the last 40 years of Gopher football history. Some times you have to tear it down to rebuild it better than what you previously had. I am fine with saying the jury is still on Brewster long term. But give it a rest! How can you judge him and say he cannot deliver the whole package when he has had 2 years on the job. That is a joke! But then again, these guys probably know more than the rest of us schmucks that are okay with giving Coach Brew some time before we indicted, sentence and convict him! That is why people like them lose me at HELLO.
Click to expand...

Bravo, Golden Shower.
 


Golden Shower said:
caliGopher and Rotundo reflect one of the major problems we have in society....we want what we want and we want it NOW! No one has the patience to build anything any more. Have you guys ever heard of the saying "Rome wasn't built in a day."? Well neither will the Gopher's return to national prominence. It starts with recruiting. So far I think we can say Brewster is on his way to bringing in higher caliber players than the previous regime and ones we can say are better than we might expect given the last 40 years of Gopher football history. Some times you have to tear it down to rebuild it better than what you previously had. I am fine with saying the jury is still on Brewster long term. But give it a rest! How can you judge him and say he cannot deliver the whole package when he has had 2 years on the job. That is a joke! But then again, these guys probably know more than the rest of us schmucks that are okay with giving Coach Brew some time before we indicted, sentence and convict him! That is why people like them lose me at HELLO.
Click to expand...

This coming from a guy with the moniker Golden Shower.
 


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