BleedGopher
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per Rand:
So would the Gophers have become a national power with Wooden? Would that have been their history? It’s possible. But there are other things to consider.
*When they failed to land Wooden, the Gophers had a pretty good consolation prize: Ozzie Cowles, a Minnesota native who was pried away after just two seasons as Michigan’s head coach – the second of which ended with a trip to the NCAA tournament (which had a field of just eight teams at the time).
Cowles actually had a really good run with the Gophers. In his first seven seasons after being hired in 1948, Cowles led the Gophers to a .686 winning percentage – pretty similar to Wooden’s .713 mark in his first seven years at UCLA after taking that job.
*Wooden was tempted in 1950 to take the vacant job at Purdue – his alma mater. But he decided to stay at UCLA to fulfill a three-year commitment and in reality stayed much longer of course. Maybe if he had taken the Minnesota job, it would have been easier for him to slide back over and take the Purdue job, depending on what the terms were here and how things were going. Then we might be talking about a different kind of regret.
*Wooden had strong seasons from the start with UCLA, but he didn’t win his first national championship until 15 years after taking the job – the 1963-64 season. Would Wooden have lasted that long, to realize ultimate success, in Minnesota considering no coach in Gophers history from 1948-present has lasted more than 11 seasons?
*All that said: It’s entirely possible that the stars might have aligned. Cowles had a lot of talent to work with on those Gophers teams – including Jim McIntyre, Whitey Skoog, Chuck Mencel and Bud Grant.
The Gophers never won a Big Ten title nor did they qualify for the hard-to-crack NCAA tournament field under Cowles, a defensive-minded coach. Perhaps the combination of their talent and Wooden’s coaching acumen would have put Minnesota on a path to greatness and multiple championships.
www.startribune.com
Go Gophers!!
So would the Gophers have become a national power with Wooden? Would that have been their history? It’s possible. But there are other things to consider.
*When they failed to land Wooden, the Gophers had a pretty good consolation prize: Ozzie Cowles, a Minnesota native who was pried away after just two seasons as Michigan’s head coach – the second of which ended with a trip to the NCAA tournament (which had a field of just eight teams at the time).
Cowles actually had a really good run with the Gophers. In his first seven seasons after being hired in 1948, Cowles led the Gophers to a .686 winning percentage – pretty similar to Wooden’s .713 mark in his first seven years at UCLA after taking that job.
*Wooden was tempted in 1950 to take the vacant job at Purdue – his alma mater. But he decided to stay at UCLA to fulfill a three-year commitment and in reality stayed much longer of course. Maybe if he had taken the Minnesota job, it would have been easier for him to slide back over and take the Purdue job, depending on what the terms were here and how things were going. Then we might be talking about a different kind of regret.
*Wooden had strong seasons from the start with UCLA, but he didn’t win his first national championship until 15 years after taking the job – the 1963-64 season. Would Wooden have lasted that long, to realize ultimate success, in Minnesota considering no coach in Gophers history from 1948-present has lasted more than 11 seasons?
*All that said: It’s entirely possible that the stars might have aligned. Cowles had a lot of talent to work with on those Gophers teams – including Jim McIntyre, Whitey Skoog, Chuck Mencel and Bud Grant.
The Gophers never won a Big Ten title nor did they qualify for the hard-to-crack NCAA tournament field under Cowles, a defensive-minded coach. Perhaps the combination of their talent and Wooden’s coaching acumen would have put Minnesota on a path to greatness and multiple championships.
What if John Wooden had taken the Gophers basketball job in 1948?
Outside of the Herschel Walker trade, the most frequent reader request for further investigation off of our "great what-if moments in Minnesota sports history" series happened more than 70 years ago. Talk about rewriting a lot of the past! Writes reader Barry Y.: "Do you know the story of John...
www.startribune.com
Go Gophers!!
