1982


I was looking for something and came across this link:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...F--M8n0uD-mw9SFww&sig2=8uI7MwfIAWpR7hs4xJGqmQ

Lots of big names from our past are included. Don't miss paging through the entire document!

What might have happened had that first team in the dome not cratered?

Thanks for posting that. Brings back a lot of memories. That 82' team was pretty good on paper- hard to believe they tanked with 8 straight B10 losses. The following year was a disaster as well. Also, our last "real" B10 hoops title- great squad.
 

Wow. Thanks for posting. I graduated high school in '82 and these Gophers were like gods to me. I truly enjoyed reading this stuff.
 

Wow. Thanks for posting. I graduated high school in '82 and these Gophers were like gods to me. I truly enjoyed reading this stuff.
 

So - depending on the day, in 1982 I was either 1 or 2 years old but from those articles was the addition of Mike Martz to football staff that same Mike Martz that we know today? I had no idea.
 


So - depending on the day, in 1982 I was either 1 or 2 years old but from those articles was the addition of Mike Martz to football staff that same Mike Martz that we know today? I had no idea.
Mike Shanahan was also on Salem's staff at one point.
 

The 1982 was when the real shortcomings in the Gopher program at that time were starting to show.

Salem was working with a very low budget and was stringing things together the best he could. They
were a good 6-5 team in 1981 with wins over Iowa and Ohio State, which lent optimism for 1982 going into
the Dome.

The season started out well, going 3-0 and getting national recognition. Then, a home game with undefeated
Illinois was the turning point. After a very competitive first half, the Gophers collapsed in the second half and
injuries began to pile up. The lack of depth was showing and the curtain was pulled on the Gopher program.
The Gophers tanked after that, and hot deep rock bottom the next year, prompting the hiring of Lou Holtz.

Rough time for Gopher football.
 

So - depending on the day, in 1982 I was either 1 or 2 years old but from those articles was the addition of Mike Martz to football staff that same Mike Martz that we know today? I had no idea.

Mike Shanahan was also on Salem's staff at one point.

It would be fun to think about what the Kill/Claeys offense would have looked like with these two guys on the staff.
 

Salem was a good guy. He absolutely hated Iowa. During the week before the Iowa game he would conduct practice in bib overalls and a old plowing hat. The kiss of death was the billboards plastered around the Twin Cities of him with a rose in his mouth.
 



I recall that 1982 season well. I remember being at Memorial Stadium the previous year with Hohensee throwing the TD to TE Jay Caroll to beat Ohio State the year before and there was a lot of momentum going into the season.

I went to the Washington State game at the Metrodome with three others from our all small town and we won, but we all thought the Metrodome was not so great and felt very strange. I remember seeing some of the road win at Purdue on TV as well and was sort of excited.

I went to the Illinois game with my dad, and we were sitting up in the corner of the upper deck past the right foul "pole" area and it was a very odd night. The crowd was thick and again t seemed like a very plastic and sort of "off" environment to me despite the early lead and active crowd.

The wheels came off and Illinois stormed back. I think this was one of the crooked Mike White Illinois teams that went to a Rose Bowl, though. After losing 24-42 ?, and blowing a big early lead, the team went into a huge slide, leading to Lou Holtz. I do not think I went to another game until Glen Mason was hired in 1997, although I did work a lot of Saturdays in those years, so it was hard to get to the games. I had high hopes for Wacker, but that did not materialize.

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