The Trouble with Brewster

[Honyocker]

Consider TCU, Boise and Cincy who are ranked in the top ten. They do not play as tough a schedule as the Gophers, that is a given. Their recruiting rankings are historically about on the Glen Mason level....maybe just a little better for specific classes. Do the Gophers have as much talent as these teams? I personally think so. Brew has much more talent in his Freshman and Sophomore classes. I have watched the TCU team play in person a few times, and I think they would take the Gophers apart. They play a very disciplined football game and they run their stuff to perfection. Incredibly well coached. Predominantly two star rated recruits.

You would never, ever see today's TCU team called for 17 penalties or completely miss assignments multiple times in a game.

After having watched TCU, the only teams in B10 who could beat Frogs would be possibly tOSU and PSU...maybe. A BIG difference between Brewster and Patterson is Patterson knows what he wants to do on O and D....he brings in new coordinators and postion coaches to run HIS stuff. Brewster doesn't HAVE any stuff. He can't get any stability and consistency because everytime he changes coordinators, he changes systems. Brew has never been a HC until he came to MN and evidently he didn't develop his own philosophy for O and D. That creates chaos when you change coordinators as often as Brew does. Mase knew what he wanted to do and his philosophies stayed the same through all kinds of coaches, including that great running game. Brew is a recruiter first and a HC second and that comes with some baggage when building a program.

 

[BrewsterBooster]

Agree with you honyocker

I pretty much agree with you, honyocker. I would guess BSU, TCU and Cincinnati have retained more of their juniors and seniors than the Gophers, just because of the transition of coaches from Mason to Brew. When a head coach has been a coordinator and/or head coach, he has grooved an overall approach to the game. I don't think Brew has done that. He was brought in to recruit talent. He is definitely a work in progress that may or may not work out.

 

[Section2]

It's a great game to play. Pick whatever top 25 teams are non helmet schools, and then complain that we don't have their coach. Like, "hey, Gonzaga has a great basketball program, if we just hire their coach, we'll be just the same...."
Great insightful post.

 

[Ogee Ogilthorpe]

I'm right there with you!!!

You're dead on the money.

I would LOVE to compare Brewster with Patterson, across the board.

As soon as Brewster has 8 years in at his program like Patterson does, it should be easy to make this comparison. You are TOTALLY right!! Let's take a look at this 4-5 years from now...

 

[Great Plains Gopher]

Good points, Brewster Booster - at this point we can't really tell how good or not Brew will be as an H.C. The O.C. is a complete rookie, but as both of them get experience, you'd expect progress. It was a risk hiring a coach with no HC experience, but you have to figure he wants more than anything to keep his job. But discipline on the field is missing as is that overall "team" polish and togetherness you see with really good programs. The Gophers, after three years, are still rough around the edges.

 

[GopherGod]

You're dead on the money.

I would LOVE to compare Brewster with Patterson, across the board.

As soon as Brewster has 8 years in at his program like Patterson does, it should be easy to make this comparison. You are TOTALLY right!! Let's take a look at this 4-5 years from now...

Feel free then to compare Brewster to Brian Kelly at Cincinnati who is in year 3 just like Brewster and tell me how that works out. You seemed to have conveniently left that out of your response to the other poster who referenced not just TCU. You cannot discount experience.

 

[Section2]

Feel free then to compare Brewster to Brian Kelly at Cincinnati who is in year 3 just like Brewster and tell me how that works out. You seemed to have conveniently left that out of your response to the other poster who referenced not just TCU. You cannot discount experience.

He was taking over a program Dantonio had just spent 3 yrs rebuilding. Most people would agree Dantonio is a good recruiter. So, give Brew 3 more years and it will be an apples and apples comparison.

 

[GopherGod]

He was taking over a program Dantonio had just spent 3 yrs rebuilding. Most people would agree Dantonio is a good recruiter. So, give Brew 3 more years and it will be an apples and apples comparison.

Brian Kelly has been able to take them to a new level because he worked his way up and won everywhere he was because he was able to develop his skills at smaller programs which is where a coach should be doing this. A BCS conference is not a place for on the job training. Brewster also said when he came here that he was fortunate that there was talent here and it was not a rebuilding job, not my words but his. So if I take Brewster at his word then this is not a full rebuilding job, but maybe that is my mistake.

 

[WolfontheProwl]

Short term pain will lead to long term gains.

The biggest problem with the Gophers is the changes at the OC and the DC positions. The short term pain will hopefully lead to long term gains in the end. The problem is changing the offensive systems in such a big way has caused two years of struggles. The switch to the spread took a full year on the field to get positive results and now the change back to a more pro style offense is creating another year of struggles. The offense should be much better next year and hopefully the same can be said about the defense but I dont have as much confidence in that happening.

 

[wait!what?]

It's a great game to play. Pick whatever top 25 teams are non helmet schools, and then complain that we don't have their coach. Like, "hey, Gonzaga has a great basketball program, if we just hire their coach, we'll be just the same...."
Great insightful post.

nailed it.
sidenote:
IL game- Brew was going for the kill shot (20-30 yd pass plays)the whole first half and it didn't happen. Took a chance and got behind by 21. I hope he keeps a similar list of plays for SD.

 

[monk10]

Brian Kelly has been able to take them to a new level because he worked his way up and won everywhere he was because he was able to develop his skills at smaller programs which is where a coach should be doing this. A BCS conference is not a place for on the job training. Brewster also said when he came here that he was fortunate that there was talent here and it was not a rebuilding job, not my words but his. So if I take Brewster at his word then this is not a full rebuilding job, but maybe that is my mistake.

Cincinnati is winning with one of those players Brewster was talking about. I hope you aren't conveniently forgetting about that either?

 

[50PoundHead]

I'm with wolfontheprowl and although I want to give Brewster every chance to succeed, some of this has to fall at his feet. I just think the Dunbar hire was a disaster from the beginning and he didn't do enough to gauge Winters' interest in staying in Minnesota (same can be said for Roof in Year 2).

Recruiting is a very big deal and we are getting better athletes into the program, but are the athletes matching the system Brewster wants established. We don't really know yet, because we've changed approaches on both sides of the ball in Brewster's first two seasons. I hope with experience Brewster will figure out what he wants the product to look like and then "recruit to the product." Only then will we know if he's cut out for the job. I agree that BCS level is not the place to learn on the job, but Brewster has shown me a number of qualities that says he can do this. Whether or not the clock runs out on him is the question.