Teague touts Kill's success, says Gophers progress won't be measured by wins alone

[BleedGopher]

per Joe Christensen:

Asked to describe his vision for a successful football program, Teague said it’s a team that’s “in the upper half of the league and competing for championships, and one that there’s an incredible amount of hope each year for our success and people seeing improvement. Not only the way the program is managed, but seeing improvement in recruiting and also -- this is very big for football -- seeing improvement in player development, and also your retention."

Asked how excited he is for this fall, knowing Kill’s track record for success in Year 3, Teague said: “I’m real excited, but I think we’ve all got to be careful about putting a number on how many games we think we should win to see progress. Building a football program is an art. And as long as I’m excited about what I see, which is what I am excited about -- his management of the program, his building of the program, doing all the right things behind the scenes, recruiting really well, developing our kids and making retention a big priority -- then we’re growing.”

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/203229371.html

Go Gophers!!

 

[Monty519]

I agree. I mean, the obvious minimum is making a bowl game again. But I don't think another 6-6 season means instant plateauing either. I think this season, what I need to see is true competing with the better teams in the league. That's been sorely lacking since Kill's been here, just the ability to compete with the good teams in our conference. 31-13, 38-13, 35-13, 38-14...that's gotta stop.

We may not win any more of those games, but I'd like to see more competitive games at that level. That's my measuring stick. I wouldn't even necessarily expect, with the same schedule as last season, that we win any more games than we did last year (maybe like an Iowa or NW), but I want to see this team consistently compete week in and week out and make teams fight and scratch to get W's over us, even on the road. If I see that, I'll know we're moving up regardless of the record.

 

[imthewalrus]

I agree. I mean, the obvious minimum is making a bowl game again. But I don't think another 6-6 season means instant plateauing either. I think this season, what I need to see is true competing with the better teams in the league. That's been sorely lacking since Kill's been here, just the ability to compete with the good teams in our conference. 31-13, 38-13, 35-13, 38-14...

We may not win any more of those games, but I'd like to see more competitive games at that level. That's my measuring stick. I wouldn't even necessarily expect, with the same schedule as last season, that we win any more games than we did last year (maybe like an Iowa or NW), but I want to see this team consistently compete week in and week out and make teams fight and scratch to get W's over us, even on the road. If I see that, I'll know we're moving up regardless of the record.

Then you may be one of the truly great...and...truly rare Minnesota Golden Gopher Fans on the face of the earth.

I have seen more hatred emerge from the fan base by having the team being truly competitive with some of the better teams in the conference...in the nation that ended in defeat by being not quite as deep as those teams...as skilled in all positions on the field as those teams...and losing on the scoreboard.

You will make my "fan of the century club..." IF you truly manage to do what you say you will do.

And, if you get a coach who manages to do what you want...to "keep it close...", and once in a while to beat one of the bigs out there, you had better hang on to that coach, even if most of the others around you are calling for his head...

I certainly hope Coach Kill can get us more competitive than we have been since moving into our new stadium...
Go Gophers!

; 0 )

 

[zman]

No coaching story would be complete without the word tremendous.

"They trust their own judgment and I think that’s tremendous."

 

[highwayman]

I agree. I mean, the obvious minimum is making a bowl game again. But I don't think another 6-6 season means instant plateauing either. I think this season, what I need to see is true competing with the better teams in the league. That's been sorely lacking since Kill's been here, just the ability to compete with the good teams in our conference. 31-13, 38-13, 35-13, 38-14...that's gotta stop.

We may not win any more of those games, but I'd like to see more competitive games at that level. That's my measuring stick. I wouldn't even necessarily expect, with the same schedule as last season, that we win any more games than we did last year (maybe like an Iowa or NW), but I want to see this team consistently compete week in and week out and make teams fight and scratch to get W's over us, even on the road. If I see that, I'll know we're moving up regardless of the record.

From my personal standpoint, I see major positives from last season. 2012 was the first time since 1999 and only the second time since 1964 that the Gophers didn't give up at least 40 points in a single game or lose at least one game by 30 points or more.

That's freaking amazing. And sad.

 

[Monty519]

Then you may be one of the truly great...and...truly rare Minnesota Golden Gopher Fans on the face of the earth.

I have seen more hatred emerge from the fan base by having the team being truly competitive with some of the better teams in the conference...in the nation that ended in defeat by being not quite as deep as those teams...as skilled in all positions on the field as those teams...and losing on the scoreboard.

You will make my "fan of the century club..." IF you truly manage to do what you say you will do.

And, if you get a coach who manages to do what you want...to "keep it close...", and once in a while to beat one of the bigs out there, you had better hang on to that coach, even if most of the others around you are calling for his head...

I certainly hope Coach Kill can get us more competitive than we have been since moving into our new stadium...
Go Gophers!

; 0 )

I'm talking literally next season. The following season, I expect to see even more. It's all process and I am patient enough to wait for it to fulfill itself. Being "competitive" won't fly in year 4 and 5, you need to produce some victories by that point.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

The thing about Teague is that he never really answers a question. The guy talks around the question better than most politicians. I can see not wanting to say something controversial, but this guy doesn't say anything.

It's early in the Teague era, but the way he pulled the trigger on Tubby suggests that he isn't shy about making a big move if he thinks its necessary. I suspect that Jerry Kill is going to need to win more games, and win some big games, if he wants to be the Gopher coach long-term.

 

[Killjoy]

The thing about Teague is that he never really answers a question. The guy talks around the question better than most politicians. I can see not wanting to say something controversial, but this guy doesn't say anything.

It's early in the Teague era, but the way he pulled the trigger on Tubby suggests that he isn't shy about making a big move if he thinks its necessary. I suspect that Jerry Kill is going to need to win more games, and win some big games, if he wants to be the Gopher coach long-term.

Shorty I think that is correct but I also think that Teague has seen enough to know that Jerry is one of the hardest working guys around and is doing all the rights things. Why don't we all take a deep breath and just let this thing play out without having to have a discussion on this topic ever other day. Jerry is going to be just fine if we let him do his job.

 

[Maximus]

And, if you get a coach who manages to do what you want...to "keep it close...", and once in a while to beat one of the bigs out there, you had better hang on to that coach, even if most of the others around you are calling for his head...

If only the fourth-longest tenured coach in the 130 year history of Gopher football would've been given a fair chance.

 

[EG#9]

The soundbite quote had me a little heated, but overall I have no issue with what Teague said. I certainly disagree with him on the idea that Kill is "recruiting really well", but I hope he's the one proven to be correct on that front. I pretty much agree with Monty in that another season in the 6-6 range is fine... as long as the team is competitive in a lot more of those losses. I think you can only sell 2-3 win Big Ten seasons for so long though, I'd hope that a .500 conference record is the expectation by year 4.

 

[imthewalrus]

If only the fourth-longest tenured coach in the 130 year history of Gopher football would've been given a fair chance.

So, who would that be maximus? We have fired so darn many football coaches around here that we have rightly achieved that coveted "...graveyard of coaches..." status. Since We forced Bernie out in 1950 we have had ten coaches. That's 10 coaches in 63 seasons.

I was only telling this extremely ideal fan that IF he EVER found a coach HE was happy with, he should fight like like a mad-man to keep that coach on. Because we people here in Minnesota LOVE to fire coaches. It hasn't seemed to do too much good...but...God help us...we LOVE to extend 'em, buy 'em out, and fire 'em. Of course, since we ran Bernie off, we have also played in 3 different stadiums. We are pretty darn good at that too! Somehow, we haven't had a very good track-record of ditching athletic directors. Wait, on second thought, I guess we must have had at least 9 different AD's, if not more since we ditched Bernie...

; 0 )

 

[imthewalrus]

The thing about Teague is that he never really answers a question. The guy talks around the question better than most politicians. I can see not wanting to say something controversial, but this guy doesn't say anything.

It's early in the Teague era, but the way he pulled the trigger on Tubby suggests that he isn't shy about making a big move if he thinks its necessary. I suspect that Jerry Kill is going to need to win more games, and win some big games, if he wants to be the Gopher coach long-term.

So you see that too about the athletic director more commonly known as norwood and his "political-speak..."

Good catch!

; 0 )

 

[Maximus]

So, who would that be maximus? We have fired so darn many football coaches around here that we have rightly achieved that coveted "...graveyard of coaches..." status. Since We forced Bernie out in 1950 we have had ten coaches. That's 10 coaches in 63 seasons.

Why, it's good ol' messiah Mason with a 10 year tenure. He didn't get the lifetime deal that you wanted but the other nine coaches during that timespan averaged just 5.9 years as head coach.

If only you could judge someone following a 10 year stint as head coach. If only.

Graveyard of coaches:....since Glen Mason was hired in 1997

Indiana: 4 head coaches
Michigan State: 4 head coaches
Nebraska: 4 head coaches
Ohio State: 4 head coaches
Illinois: 3 head coaches
Michigan: 3 head coaches
Minnesota: 3 head coaches
Northwestern: 3 head coaches
Purdue: 3 head coaches
Wisconsin: 3 head coaches
Penn State: 2 head coaches
Iowa: 1 head coach

 

[Killjoy]

Why, it's good ol' messiah Mason with a 10 year tenure. He didn't get the lifetime deal that you wanted but the other nine coaches during that timespan averaged just 5.9 years as head coach.

If only you could judge someone following a 10 year stint as head coach. If only.

Yes that's the problem. To rectify this situation we need to build a statue of messiah Mason with wren carrying his suitcase. Then we can all go there and light a candle for him on the anniversaries dates of some of more memorable 4th quarter disastrous meltdowns.

 

[Iceland12]

Teague Has High Expectations for Football

JOE CHRISTENSEN 's blog article from yesterday was "fleshed-out" into a full article and posted this morning in today's paper. Interestingly enough the Sub-Head was quite different from yesterday's blog headline.

Gophers AD Norwood Teague expects coach Jerry Kill’s teams to finish in top half of the conference and compete for Big Ten titles.

I think it shows we have high expectations, but when I look at football, I don’t know if anybody on this earth has higher expectations for himself or his program than [coach] Jerry Kill,” Teague said Tuesday. “So the basketball change was difficult, but I think something had to happen.”

Teague is approaching the anniversary of his own hiring date on April 23. He’s been around Kill’s team through one season, one national signing day for recruits, and 10 spring practices.

Asked to describe his vision for a successful football program, Teague said it’s a team that’s “in the upper half of the league and competing for championships.” The team would show improvement in recruiting and player development, he said, and generate “an incredible amount of hope each year for our success.”

The Gophers went 3-9 and 6-7 in Kill’s first two seasons. His track record suggests the Gophers could take another step this fall. After going 5-18 in Kill’s first two seasons at Southern Illinois, the Salukis went 10-2 in 2003. And after going 13-13 in his first two seasons at Northern Illinois, the Huskies went 10-3 in 2010.

“I’m real excited, but I think we’ve all got to be careful about putting a number on how many games we think we should win to see progress,” Teague said. “Building a football program is an art. And as long as I’m excited about what I see — his management of the program, his building of the program, doing all the right things behind the scenes, recruiting really well, developing our kids and making retention a big priority — then we’re growing.”

Kill’s recruiting classes at Minnesota have ranked toward the bottom of the Big Ten, but Teague said: “That does not cause me any pause. I follow recruiting quite a bit, and … football kids develop. They grow. A lot of football is growing into your body. And I am so confident and so impressed with Jerry’s group and how they evaluate. They trust their own judgment, and I think that’s tremendous.”

http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/203322841.html

 

[wait!what?]

Jerry needs a kid who can throw the ball on the money. I fully expect JK to keep a short leash on any QB who cannot meet his expectations. I know it's not easy but the swagger of the team depends on QB execution and seeing DCT drop his arms to his sides in frustration breaks the football fans pigskin covered heart.

 

[Ole]

Teague's not simply throwing platitudes here.
He see's what Kill has done, both on and off the field.
He hear's what Kill has told him are the expectations of the program so long as Kill is in charge.
Progress has been made, regardless of what mouth breathers and completely college football ignorant media types say.

In today's college football world:
1)Non conference wins matter.
They do. Sorry if the all big time schedules of the 60's and 70's are the mark still used against the gophers, but not one single program in the country plays a schedule like that anymore. Not one.
We went from 1 NC win to 4. Progress.

2)The B1G is a major conference and has a grueling style of play that wears on teams.
Every year you see good B1G teams get worn out and drop games late to inferior talent, often simply due to injuries and a lack of depth which has coincidentally plagued this program for years and years.
We won 2 B1G games in '11, we won 2 in '12. No obvious progress there.
BUT
We have increased the depth and return many many more starters and contributors to this team. We are now 3-4 deep at some spots with at least functional depth, in 2010 we played Mike Henry, a walkon freshman with no PT previous at LB and had 4.5 offensive linemen against MSU late in the year.
Since Kill has arrived we've lost only 2 of his recruits to academic/off field attrition, Moulton and Harris. Under Brewster we had 8-11 in his first 2 classes. Guys who could have been developed and contributed later in their careers.
Progress has been made in the program's depth. It will lead to B1G wins.

3)Recruiting is all for show until the "stars" hit the field.
Yes, rankings and stars matter. But production matters more.
Under Kill now we've had a handful of legit recruiting steals, and many more solid contributors who were quite simply not ranked or highly regarded by the subscription services. I think one more season of similar production from more similarly ranked 2 star and no star players and we can brand Kill as a someone to trust when it come to lowly ranked recruits. Keep retaining and developing these types of recruits and good things will come, which can then be parlayed into success, and making it easier to sell our program to those big time star ranked types.

I really think anyone who discounts last year's progress hasn't sat down to think about it. There are plenty of very very good signs coming out of the football program, and I expect more of the same in the coming seasons. So does Teague, so does Kill.
Nothing has stood out to me as a warning sign yet of anything but steady and solid progress towards the future.

 

[tinyarch]

I really think anyone who discounts last year's progress hasn't sat down to think about it. There are plenty of very very good signs coming out of the football program, and I expect more of the same in the coming seasons. So does Teague, so does Kill.
Nothing has stood out to me as a warning sign yet of anything but steady and solid progress towards the future.

Very well stated, Ole.

 

[corcoran1]

He is recruiting really well. The kids he brings in are athletes and whether they are developed football players or not, they have the physical and mental potential to develop. He does not waste scholarships like Brewster, or recruit slow guys on defense that have no chance to make plays as Mase did.
We still need to figure out how to get a great receiver and RB, but in two years there will not be many wasted scholarships left on the roster. When CKIll got here there were 20 players who were not capable of contributing even as backups on a good team.

 

[Gopherprof]

He does not waste scholarships like Brewster.

I don't know how people can say this with a straight face. You have absolutely no idea if this is true, and nobody at the time thought Brewster was "wasting scholarships", at least not in his first few classes.

James Gillum certainly seems like a wasted scholarship. Ge'Shun Harris and Malcoulm Moulton both ended up being complete busts also. So that right there are three pretty obvious "wasted scholarships" if that's the standard. Beyond that, any attempts to assert that the rest of Kill's recruits were solid investments is conjecture and speculation at this point.

The fact is, absolutely everyone recruits busts. It's unavoidable. And to simply read a soundbite from Kill saying something to the effect of "we try to not waste scholarships" and think that this is somehow a novel technique is investing yourself far too much in the kool-aid. Every coach says this, and every coach strikes out on occasion.

 

[Killjoy]

Thanks Ole

Teague's not simply throwing platitudes here.
He see's what Kill has done, both on and off the field.
He hear's what Kill has told him are the expectations of the program so long as Kill is in charge.
Progress has been made, regardless of what mouth breathers and completely college football ignorant media types say.

In today's college football world:
1)Non conference wins matter.
They do. Sorry if the all big time schedules of the 60's and 70's are the mark still used against the gophers, but not one single program in the country plays a schedule like that anymore. Not one.
We went from 1 NC win to 4. Progress.

2)The B1G is a major conference and has a grueling style of play that wears on teams.
Every year you see good B1G teams get worn out and drop games late to inferior talent, often simply due to injuries and a lack of depth which has coincidentally plagued this program for years and years.
We won 2 B1G games in '11, we won 2 in '12. No obvious progress there.
BUT
We have increased the depth and return many many more starters and contributors to this team. We are now 3-4 deep at some spots with at least functional depth, in 2010 we played Mike Henry, a walkon freshman with no PT previous at LB and had 4.5 offensive linemen against MSU late in the year.
Since Kill has arrived we've lost only 2 of his recruits to academic/off field attrition, Moulton and Harris. Under Brewster we had 8-11 in his first 2 classes. Guys who could have been developed and contributed later in their careers.
Progress has been made in the program's depth. It will lead to B1G wins.

3)Recruiting is all for show until the "stars" hit the field.
Yes, rankings and stars matter. But production matters more.
Under Kill now we've had a handful of legit recruiting steals, and many more solid contributors who were quite simply not ranked or highly regarded by the subscription services. I think one more season of similar production from more similarly ranked 2 star and no star players and we can brand Kill as a someone to trust when it come to lowly ranked recruits. Keep retaining and developing these types of recruits and good things will come, which can then be parlayed into success, and making it easier to sell our program to those big time star ranked types.

I really think anyone who discounts last year's progress hasn't sat down to think about it. There are plenty of very very good signs coming out of the football program, and I expect more of the same in the coming seasons. So does Teague, so does Kill.
Nothing has stood out to me as a warning sign yet of anything but steady and solid progress towards the future.

+1 A very nice assessment of what has taken place here since Kill arrived. For what ever reason some people are not willing to recognize this.

On your point 2 comment as to how the grueling style of play in the Big Ten can wear on teams during the long season, I have an additional thought about that. It has to do with the way the 2013 schedule is set up this year for Minnesota. I am surprised that nobody has yet mentioned the two bye weeks in this year's schedule. The first one occurs on October 12th between the Michigan and Northwestern game and the second one occurs November 16th between the Penn State game and the Wisconsin game. The extra week to recover before the Northwestern and Wisconsin games may be enough to move these games from the loss column to the win column.

 

[nsmike]

+1 A very nice assessment of what has taken place here since Kill arrived. For what ever reason some people are not willing to recognize this.

On your point 2 comment as to how the grueling style of play in the Big Ten can wear on teams during the long season, I have an additional thought about that. It has to do with the way the 2013 schedule is set up this year for Minnesota. I am surprised that nobody has yet mentioned the two bye weeks in this year's schedule. The first one occurs on October 12th between the Michigan and Northwestern game and the second one occurs November 16th between the Penn State game and the Wisconsin game. The extra week to recover before the Northwestern and Wisconsin games may be enough to move these games from the loss column to the win column.

Another factor in favor of the bye before Northwestern is that they are a very difficult team to prepare for. An extra week to prepare fore some of the wrinkles they have on offense will be very important.

 

[50PoundHead]

I'm optimistic with Kill. I don't agree with everything he does (and I'm sure that reeeeeeeeally bothers him a lot. LOL.), but I have seen some progress on some Football 101 types of things. I didn't agree with the decision to back out of the North Carolina series, but that's water under the bridge. I hope he gets a chance to see what he can do.