Provide 1 reason why the 2013 Gopher football season will be better than 2012.

Donate To GopherHole



One reason why I feel a great sense of optimism is because we have got a rock-solid and stable group of coaches, a staff which appears to be excellent teachers in the fundamental art and science of how to actually play the game of football. And then of course there's Kill's track record and history in years three after taking over teams which had fallen upon hard times.

2001 Southern Illinois 1-10
2002 Southern Illinois 4-8
2003 Southern Illinois 10-2

2008 Northern Illinois 6-7 (after going 2-10 the season prior to his arrival)
2009 Northern Illinois 7-6
2010 Northern Illinois 10-3

2011 Minnesota 3-9
2012 Minnesota 6-7
2013 Minnesota ???

To me this would seem to indicate that once Kill and Co. have had a couple of seasons in which to fully establish their systems and institute their style of play, that's when things tend to really start clicking for their teams, and it is for these reasons I foresee a continuing progression upward for our boys.
 

Because I plan to cheer harder this year...
 


I beleive the year will be better due to healthier; stronger; faster; linemen on both sides of the ball
 

You guys have renewed my faith in this years squad. we all have periods of doubt and mine came in Aug. I am on board with the team playing with more consistenecy at all positions. Thanks! these were some outstanding posts!
 

Jeshurun said:
Another off-season under the same coordinators and systems.
Click to expand...

Agreed completely.

This season will do a lot to shape my post-mortem opinion of Brewster. We'll find out just how big an issue his coordinator carousel was to the on-field product. To me, it's not necessarily how long the coaches have been together, it's how long the athletes have been exposed to the playbook and mentality the coach tries to instill in them.

Look at most high school and youth programs in the U.S. They take a high school system and start putting it in place when kids are just 10-12 years old, even if it is a dumbed down, the good programs find a way to build the fundamentals of their "brand of football" early.

From the outside looking in, Kill has done a great job of instilling Minnesota pride in the team without acting too over the top like some accused his predecessor of and I'm excited to see what happens this year.
 

wait!what? said:
You guys have renewed my faith in this years squad. we all have periods of doubt and mine came in Aug. I am on board with the team playing with more consistenecy at all positions. Thanks! these were some outstanding posts!
Click to expand...

Welcome back!:cheer:
 



wait!what? said:
You guys have renewed my faith in this years squad. we all have periods of doubt and mine came in Aug. I am on board with the team playing with more consistenecy at all positions. Thanks! these were some outstanding posts!
Click to expand...

Hey, being a Gophers fan pretty much breeds a natural-born sense of fatalism and doubt, and though I am not a Chicago Cubs fan, I imagine that's very akin to being the same thing (though we have not been starved for nearly so long as they have, aye yi yi). But it's all a matter of degree, and I will be turning 47 years old this September, and haven't seen diddly-crud from Gophers football in my lifetime. Well, to amend that statement, I have seen an awful lot, a ton of great games, an equal amount of heartbreaks, thrills, chills, and always the ultimate disappointment, and RE: having not seen crap, that would refer to the fact I've not seen the Gophers win a Big 10 championship in my lifetime, nor seen them ever play in a January 1 bowl game, whilst every other member of our conference has, and multiple times, and therein lies the frustration and fatalism of a fan, when from the time you've been cognizant enough to actually follow and care, it has always and inevitably ended up in disappointment, to where you begin to expect the worst to always happen, if only to minimize your future disappointment, and I have been to the point of wondering, after all these years wandering dry in the desert, will I see this team do anything of significance at all before I am fricken dead and buried in the ground?

So I can understand and fully relate to any Gopher football fan harboring doubts, because if all one has ever known is disappointment, then what the hell else is there to expect? That's just natural.

However, I will refer to all the posts above in this thread as reasons for optimism and hope, as well as the fact we've not quite seen a coaching staff like this in Minnesota for a long, long time, and I would go so far as to say as not in my lifetime. This is not the clown show of Brewster, nor the complacency and laziness of Mason. It wasn't Wacker (RIP), who despite his eminently kind nature and massive decency, was simply under-qualified for the job, and it wasn't John Gutekunst, who despite showing some real promise, was ultimately torpedoed by the fact that he wasn't quite Lou Holtz and never could be, and that all leads back to the architect of this cluster-f*ck within my football caring lifetime, the song and dance man himself, and the build-up of massive hope he wrought, all the while planning to leave, and how I will never forget him doing so, and how it crushed me, but how that was just my own naivete at such a young age, I actually believed in him.

It all comes down (and goes back) to coaching, in my opinion, and this crew seem hardly mercenaries like Holtz (though in fairness, NIU fans might want to argue otherwise given how he left their team), but given their track record of grinding and relentless success at every stop, I absolutely believe in this staff, and I don't know that we've ever had a finer one. So God yes, I do believe in them completely, and at this point just pray for Coach Kill's health, as it made me weep seeing him seizing there on the sidelines.
 


Seany said:
Hey, being a Gophers fan pretty much breeds a natural-born sense of fatalism and doubt, and though I am not a Chicago Cubs fan, I imagine that's very akin to being the same thing (though we have not been starved for nearly so long as they have, aye yi yi). But it's all a matter of degree, and I will be turning 47 years old this September, and haven't seen diddly-crud from Gophers football in my lifetime. Well, to amend that statement, I have seen an awful lot, a ton of great games, an equal amount of heartbreaks, thrills, chills, and always the ultimate disappointment, and RE: having not seen crap, that would refer to the fact I've not seen the Gophers win a Big 10 championship in my lifetime, nor seen them ever play in a January 1 bowl game, whilst every other member of our conference has, and multiple times, and therein lies the frustration and fatalism of a fan, when from the time you've been cognizant enough to actually follow and care, it has always and inevitably ended up in disappointment, to where you begin to expect the worst to always happen, if only to minimize your future disappointment, and I have been to the point of wondering, after all these years wandering dry in the desert, will I see this team do anything of significance at all before I am fricken dead and buried in the ground?

So I can understand and fully relate to any Gopher football fan harboring doubts, because if all one has ever known is disappointment, then what the hell else is there to expect? That's just natural.

However, I will refer to all the posts above in this thread as reasons for optimism and hope, as well as the fact we've not quite seen a coaching staff like this in Minnesota for a long, long time, and I would go so far as to say as not in my lifetime. This is not the clown show of Brewster, nor the complacency and laziness of Mason. It wasn't Wacker (RIP), who despite his eminently kind nature and massive decency, was simply under-qualified for the job, and it wasn't John Gutekunst, who despite showing some real promise, was ultimately torpedoed by the fact that he wasn't quite Lou Holtz and never could be, and that all leads back to the architect of this cluster-f*ck within my football caring lifetime, the song and dance man himself, and the build-up of massive hope he wrought, all the while planning to leave, and how I will never forget him doing so, and how it crushed me, but how that was just my own naivete at such a young age, I actually believed in him.

It all comes down (and goes back) to coaching, in my opinion, and this crew seem hardly mercenaries like Holtz (though in fairness, NIU fans might want to argue otherwise given how he left their team), but given their track record of grinding and relentless success at every stop, I absolutely believe in this staff, and I don't know that we've ever had a finer one. So God yes, I do believe in them completely, and at this point just pray for Coach Kill's health, as it made me weep seeing him seizing there on the sidelines.
Click to expand...

Great great post! I agree 100%
 

wait!what? said:
read every word. nice post!
Click to expand...

Just keep the faith, brother, and pray, just like all the rest of us. Pray for an end wandering lost and singing dirges in the desert, eating of nettles and honey. Pray an end the drought seems might never end, and RE: us, pray (and dream) success.

And how contrary to all those other charades and illusory dreams before, this time, this time, this time, it is real, and if there is ever a doubt (which of course and naturally there always is), look up the history of this coach and his coordinators, and just pray, and allow yourself to dream.

I am, and I absolutely do believe, and I will quite say based off years bitter experience, I have never felt such certainty as this, as it is not a matter of 'if', but rather 'when', and I love this staff and love this coach we have, and may God please bless and keep them all.
 



You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom