The worst football coaches in the history of Big Ten teams



If you're going strictly by won-loss record, then Wacker had the worst won-loss percentage. But, if "worst" coach involves more than just the raw numbers, I might be tempted to put Salem in there. Salem's 1983 team (1-10) is arguably the worst team in Gopher history - and the other team in that category is Brewster's 2007 team.

Wacker did not have great teams, but they never sunk to the depths that the team reached under Salem and Brewster. And if Brewster didn't get canned in 2010, that might have been an equally bad team, but Horton stepped in and salvaged something out of the rest of the season.

So, I'm not sure Wacker deserves the "worst" coach label.
 

Interesting that this board's favorite whipping boy/scapegoat/laughingstock Tim Brewster didn't even make the list. That, of course, won't stop a lot of people from pretending that he was the worst head coach in the history of football.
 

Interesting that this board's favorite whipping boy/scapegoat/laughingstock Tim Brewster didn't even make the list. That, of course, won't stop a lot of people from pretending that he was the worst head coach in the history of football.

Agreed and if PJ has a year this year like Brewster did in year 2 (getting ranked as high as 20 in the polls), parts of this board will want him named coach for life.
 


Interesting that this board's favorite whipping boy/scapegoat/laughingstock Tim Brewster didn't even make the list. That, of course, won't stop a lot of people from pretending that he was the worst head coach in the history of football.

Agreed and if PJ has a year this year like Brewster did in year 2 (getting ranked as high as 20 in the polls), parts of this board will want him named coach for life.

Who is pretending? There is a reason Brewster was only a HC at Minnesota and a catholic high school. Why can't he get another HC job?

In 2008 we went 7-6 with a 42-21 loss to Kansas Jayhawks in Insight Bowl. Never ranked again after week 9.

Brewster truly was/is Bear Bryant. Cmon.
 

Who is pretending? There is a reason Brewster was only a HC at Minnesota and a catholic high school. Why can't he get another HC job?

In 2008 we went 7-6 with a 42-21 loss to Kansas Jayhawks in Insight Bowl. Never ranked again after week 9.

Brewster truly was/is Bear Bryant. Cmon.

If your parameters are post-Gopher head coach employment, Brewster is the most successful among former coaches. No former coach except Holtz goes on to be a head coach anywhere. Although not a HC, Brewster stayed employed at BCS powerhouses. Claeys and Kill are the only other ones to do ok post-Gopher tenure.

Brewster was not Bear Bryant nor was he the running joke he has become in hindsight.
 

Joe Pa took over in 1899 and Penn State never looked back


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If your parameters are post-Gopher head coach employment, Brewster is the most successful among former coaches. No former coach except Holtz goes on to be a head coach anywhere. Although not a HC, Brewster stayed employed at BCS powerhouses. Claeys and Kill are the only other ones to do ok post-Gopher tenure.

Brewster was not Bear Bryant nor was he the running joke he has become in hindsight.

I agree with you. He has been very successful as an assistant coach and recruiter since he left. My comment was only about him as a HC.

I'll add in Brewsters case he also was never a college football HC before Minnesota either.
 





If you're going strictly by won-loss record, then Wacker had the worst won-loss percentage. But, if "worst" coach involves more than just the raw numbers, I might be tempted to put Salem in there. Salem's 1983 team (1-10) is arguably the worst team in Gopher history - and the other team in that category is Brewster's 2007 team.

Wacker did not have great teams, but they never sunk to the depths that the team reached under Salem and Brewster. And if Brewster didn't get canned in 2010, that might have been an equally bad team, but Horton stepped in and salvaged something out of the rest of the season.

So, I'm not sure Wacker deserves the "worst" coach label.

Good points. Salem's last year was an agony, worse than Brewster's first year, but both horrible.
 

Interesting that this board's favorite whipping boy/scapegoat/laughingstock Tim Brewster didn't even make the list. That, of course, won't stop a lot of people from pretending that he was the worst head coach in the history of football.

6 Big Ten wins in 4 years, tough to find a Gopher coach worse than that. Probably tough to find any BT coach worse than that. It’s not like he took over a dumpster fire. He followed Glen Mason. Even Wacker had more BT wins in his first 4 years, so did Salem. Brewster sucked bad, plain and simple, can’t dispute his BT record.


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That was year zero for Brewster. Doesn't count against him.
Good points. Salem's last year was an agony, worse than Brewster's first year, but both horrible.

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Who is pretending? There is a reason Brewster was only a HC at Minnesota and a catholic high school. Why can't he get another HC job?

In 2008 we went 7-6 with a 42-21 loss to Kansas Jayhawks in Insight Bowl. Never ranked again after week 9.

Brewster truly was/is Bear Bryant. Cmon.

How many coaches ever get a second chance after failing in their first HC job?
 

If your parameters are post-Gopher head coach employment, Brewster is the most successful among former coaches. No former coach except Holtz goes on to be a head coach anywhere. Although not a HC, Brewster stayed employed at BCS powerhouses. Claeys and Kill are the only other ones to do ok post-Gopher tenure.

Brewster was not Bear Bryant nor was he the running joke he has become in hindsight.

Give us a fricking break. The Brew is a WR coach, not a coordinator, not a QB coach, etc... He is only employed because he is a good recruiter and not what he does as a position coach. He has connections and has been with good programs, but he changed coordinators at the U so fast it made the player heads spin.


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Interesting that this board's favorite whipping boy/scapegoat/laughingstock Tim Brewster didn't even make the list. That, of course, won't stop a lot of people from pretending that he was the worst head coach in the history of football.

Since the criteria for the list is the worst winning percentage, he was not on it. Pretty simple fact. I would argue that Jim Wacker wasn't our worst coach, but he did have the lowest overall win percentage, so he makes the list.

That said, I agree with you that Brewster wasn't the worst coach we've had. The biggest sin Brewster committed was accepting the job that was offered.

I would argue that he was not ready to be a Head Coach when he was hired and I think that showed. That fact is on an AD who couldn't make a hire so we settled for Brewster. My guess is that it is unlikely he'll ever get another head coach offer again because of the results of his hiring, something that might have turned out differently if he'd not taken the Gopher job at the time he did and was better prepared to be head coach when taking his first job as a head coach.
 

Give us a fricking break. The Brew is a WR coach, not a coordinator, not a QB coach, etc... He is only employed because he is a good recruiter and not what he does as a position coach. He has connections and has been with good programs, but he changed coordinators at the U so fast it made the player heads spin.


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It's not like changing coordinators all the time was part of his coaching strategy. Whether it his personality, how he treated his staff, or just bad luck, I do think it was his inability to put together a cohesive staff was what did Brewster in more than anything. I don't remember a lot of boneheaded in game decisions or that kind of thing. He did elevate recruiting here. I also don't recall many off field issues under him.
 

6 Big Ten wins in 4 years, tough to find a Gopher coach worse than that. Probably tough to find any BT coach worse than that. It’s not like he took over a dumpster fire. He followed Glen Mason. Even Wacker had more BT wins in his first 4 years, so did Salem. Brewster sucked bad, plain and simple, can’t dispute his BT record.


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Brewster went to two bowls and had a ranked team.

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I agree with those who didn't think Brewster was ready for the big chair. I think he's a decent guy and all, but he was going through coordinators like crazy. Of course, Mason had somewhat the same problem with a lot of coaching turnover on the defensive side of the ball (although it was spread out over a greater number of years). In both cases, it was probably an administrative decision not to put a higher value on the assistant coaching positions and put more coin into that effort.

"Smoldering Joe" Salem will always have a soft spot in my heart for the 35-31 win against tOSU at Memorial Stadium in one of the most entertaining games I have ever watched.
 

Brewster was 1-2 vs the Dakotas.

I’m not sure anything in the history of Gopher football could be worse than that.
 

Brewster was 1-2 vs the Dakotas.

I’m not sure anything in the history of Gopher football could be worse than that.

And Walker beat Wisconsin the year they went to the Rose Bowl.


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Brewster went to two bowls and had a ranked team.

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Having a ranked team means you’re ranked at the end of the season. Being ranked during the season doesn’t mean anything. What was his best finish? 50th? 60th? Barely made 2 bowls, lost them both.


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Having a ranked team means you’re ranked at the end of the season. Being ranked during the season doesn’t mean anything. What was his best finish? 50th? 60th? Barely made 2 bowls, lost them both.


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How many bowls did Wacker make. Clown post bro

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In the key categories of being a head coach, Brewster was very poor. He was especially lost on game day from my observations, and especially with in game adjustments. He was in over his head everywhere but the recruiting trail.

Team Leadership & Directing: 3/10
Game day Management & Coaching: 1/10
Personnel and Recruiting: 7/10
Overall: 11/30
 

In the key categories of being a head coach, Brewster was very poor. He was especially lost on game day from my observations, and especially with in game adjustments. He was in over his head everywhere but the recruiting trail.

Team Leadership & Directing: 3/10
Game day Management & Coaching: 1/10
Personnel and Recruiting: 7/10
Overall: 11/30

I would say that in-game adjustments were a consistent weakness up until Kill and company, who I thought did a better job with that aspect of the game, especially on defense.

BTW, I mentioned my soft spot for Smoldering Joe for his win against tOSU in 1981. My 98-year-old mother passed away in the past year and I was going through some boxes of my stuff that had somehow remained at her residence over the years and I found the program from that game. I pitched a lot of stuff, but I held onto that. As impaired as I was after the pre-game warm-up and half-time sprint to Stub and Herb's to refuel my brain devastation machinery, I will never ever forget that game. If anyone else on the board was at that game, chime in. I'd love to hear your reflections. The image of Art Schlichter smashing his helmet to the ground repeatedly on the sideline after the Gophers stopped tOSU's last drive is forever etched in my memory.
 

How many bowls did Wacker make. Clown post bro

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Sunny Jim Wacker got to a Bowl Game at TCU but he didn't make a Bowl with the Gophers. Though he did get to 2 National Semi-Final games with NDSU. He also won 2 NAIA Division II National Championships with Texas Lutheran and two NCAA Division II Football Championships with Southwest Texas State, in 1981 and 1982.

Comparing their overall Head Coaching records Wacker comes out way ahead of Brewtster.

Since this thread is suppose to be about Big Ten Head Coaches then Brewster should get the nod.

Forget the "Brewster got to two Bowl Games" stuff. The last year Wacker coached at Minnesota there were 18 Bowl Games. There were 34 when Brewster went in 2008.

Wacker never qualified but who knows if Tim would have gone to any if there were still only 18.
 

Wacker didn't make a Bowl with the Gophers. Though he did get to 2 National Semi-Final games with NDSU. He also won 2 NAIA Division II National Championships with Texas Lutheran and two NCAA Division II Football Championships with Southwest Texas State, in 1981 and 1982.

Comparing their overall Head Coaching records Wacker comes out way ahead of Brewtster.

Since this thread is suppose to be about Big Ten Head Coaches then Brewster should get the nod.

Forget the "Brewster got to two Bowl Games" stuff. The last year Wacker coached at Minnesota there were 18 Bowl Games. There were 34 when Brewster went in 2008.

Wacker never qualified but who knows if Tim would have gone to any if there were still only 18.
I imagine Brew would have sneak into one in 08 with seven wins, though that clunker Vs Iowa may have prevented that. I know Wacker had a good run at NDSU, and was okay at TCU, and beating Wisconsin I'll give him props for, but as a kid I remember some fans being mad that his last team started off 3-0 because they were afraid we wouldn't finish a bad enough record to fire him. I mean you gotta be hated on some sort of level to have even a small group of fans thinking like that.

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And Walker beat Wisconsin the year they went to the Rose Bowl.


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I don't know what compelled me to dig up this thread.....but despite Wacker's lousy time here with the Gophers....he did manage to beat the Badgers in back-to-back years (93' & 94') with those horrible teams.

Up until last year......Wacker's lousy '94 team was the last to beat Wisconsin in Madison.
 

I don't know what compelled me to dig up this thread.....but despite Wacker's lousy time here with the Gophers....he did manage to beat the Badgers in back-to-back years (93' & 94') with those horrible teams.

Up until last year......Wacker's lousy '94 team was the last to beat Wisconsin in Madison.

While wearing those gawd awful unis to boot!
 




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