Maturi comment

[bga1]

Found this on SI .com


08:21 AM ET 10.18 | Tony Dungy is not an option to follow Tim Brewster. [AD Joel] Maturi will conduct a national search and look for a coach with similar notoriety to men's basketball coach Tubby Smith. As was the case with Smith, the mid-season move (Dan Monson resigned under pressure from Maturi and others) gives the University time to look for a worthy replacement. "We're out here to find somebody that people can recognize, people have confidence in, and are going to bring instant credibility and notoriety to the football program," Maturi said. ... "You're not following Vince Lombardi here," Maturi said.

He was doing well until the last comment. This is the type of thing a fan says- not an athletic director. It's time for Maturi to go IMO - that's a classless comment that wasn't needed. Considering that Maturi is probably the only AD in the BCS that has had to fire two of his coaches mid season he might want to look in the mirror.

 

[tjgopher]

Found this on SI .com


08:21 AM ET 10.18 | Tony Dungy is not an option to follow Tim Brewster. [AD Joel] Maturi will conduct a national search and look for a coach with similar notoriety to men's basketball coach Tubby Smith. As was the case with Smith, the mid-season move (Dan Monson resigned under pressure from Maturi and others) gives the University time to look for a worthy replacement. "We're out here to find somebody that people can recognize, people have confidence in, and are going to bring instant credibility and notoriety to the football program," Maturi said. ... "You're not following Vince Lombardi here," Maturi said.

He was doing well until the last comment. This is the type of thing a fan says- not an athletic director. It's time for Maturi to go IMO - that's a classless comment that wasn't needed. Considering that Maturi is probably the only AD in the BCS that has had to fire two of his coaches mid season he might want to look in the mirror.

1) he meant the comment in a general way, not in a specific way. in other words this position could be attractive to some because they aren't following a legend

2) considering he wasn't the guy who hired Monson, kind of hard to fault Joel with that one.

 

[MrGopher]

I do believe that it was a mistake for him to say that at the press conference.

On the other hand, it is something which he should be saying in private interviews with candidates for the job. There was probably a lot of thoughts and feelings going on in Maturi's head --- he did seem more honest and emotional than usual.

The thought was in his head, and it came out.

I suppose it is possible, though i doubt it, that the comment was a calculated move. If so, it shows to the fans that he was quite disappointed in Brewster; and also gets the message out to guys who might be interested in the job that the bar is much, much higher than what Brewster brought.

 

[station19]

1) he meant the comment in a general way, not in a specific way. in other words this position could be attractive to some because they aren't following a legend
2) considering he wasn't the guy who hired Monson, kind of hard to fault Joel with that one.

That's the way I took it. Maybe a poor choice of words but I don't think he was trying rip Brewster, especialy if you look at the entire list of comments he made about Brew.

 

[goldengophers]

I do believe that it was a mistake for him to say that at the press conference.

On the other hand, it is something which he should be saying in private interviews with candidates for the job. There was probably a lot of thoughts and feelings going on in Maturi's head --- he did seem more honest and emotional than usual.

The thought was in his head, and it came out.

I suppose it is possible, though i doubt it, that the comment was a calculated move. If so, it shows to the fans that he was quite disappointed in Brewster; and also gets the message out to guys who might be interested in the job that the bar is much, much higher than what Brewster brought.

I thought the Lombardi comment was somewhat refreshing in that Maturi showed some fire and irreverence, we need him to be mad and motivated to make a hire who is more qualified than the last coach.

 

[Too Long in the Wasteland]

I do believe that it was a mistake for him to say that at the press conference.

On the other hand, it is something which he should be saying in private interviews with candidates for the job. There was probably a lot of thoughts and feelings going on in Maturi's head --- he did seem more honest and emotional than usual.

The thought was in his head, and it came out.

I suppose it is possible, though i doubt it, that the comment was a calculated move. If so, it shows to the fans that he was quite disappointed in Brewster; and also gets the message out to guys who might be interested in the job that the bar is much, much higher than what Brewster brought.

I agree it maybe wasn't the best choice of words (although it was freakin' hilarious), and I agree with your analysis. But I think Maturi was maybe sending another message: This isn't a school with psychotic alumni that expect a national championship every year. Or a school where you're going to get run out of town because you're not like the previous legend. How many good coaches got run out of Tuscaloosa because they didn't look, talk, or coach like Bear Bryant? Plenty of other examples of that (tOSU, SCum, UCLA in basketball, etc).

Maturi made the same point with his "statue" crack, but I think he was really trying to drive it home. That message was in large part why Tubby landed here, and Maturi's trying to capture lightning in a bottle a second time.

 

[bga1]

1) he meant the comment in a general way, not in a specific way. in other words this position could be attractive to some because they aren't following a legend

2) considering he wasn't the guy who hired Monson, kind of hard to fault Joel with that one.

He wasn't the guy that hired Monson but he is the guy that managed the Monson and Brewster situations. Both coaches underperformed but he also mismanaged the situations. When you are unable to make decisions and you leave an air of uncertainty then lynch mobs begin to form. If he felt this way about the coaches - then they should have been gone in the off season. To do his job (especially in recruiting) a coach should needs to be given the full support of the University. Firing coaches midyear is a nightmare for the program and doesn't exactly sell the U to coaches around the country. A coach knows coming here that there's a real strong chance of failure. Picturing yourself hung out to dry during midseason is not attractive.

With Brewster, this started with Maturi beginning to waffle over a year ago. You can't leave coaches out there twisting in the wind like that. Did anyone see Maturi out there saying Brewster was doing a great job and that we needed to be patient for the long term? If so I missed it.

 

[MBAGuy]

I thought the Lombardi comment was somewhat refreshing in that Maturi showed some fire and irreverence, we need him to be mad and motivated to make a hire who is more qualified than the last coach.

+1

I had zero problem with the comment. He's too much of a nice guy; I like that he seemed a little pissed, both at the state of the program and himself.

 

[ruralgopher]

When I heard it I thought is was a general comment, not Brew specific. I really didn't think it would get this much attention though. I've made the same point in the past that coaches have egos, and although you can have success at Penn State, no one other than JoePa will ever be associated with PSU, same with Alabama, Michigan, Florida State, Nebraska, Ohio State, etc. The coach who wins big here becomes THAT coach. That has to have appeal to an ambitious young coach, the opportunity to be legendary.

 

[GophersInIowa]

1) he meant the comment in a general way, not in a specific way. in other words this position could be attractive to some because they aren't following a legend

That's how I took it too. Unless the next Penn St. coach wins multiple national championships, he will never be viewed at the same level as JoePa. That's not the case here at all.