Tim Brewster signed a contract extension this offseason that will keep him as the Gophers head coach through the 2013 season.
In a town that has been famous for terrible football coaches (Glen Mason, Mike Tice, Brad Childress), this should come as no surprise.
But only three days after the Gophers lost to USC in a game that had no business being as close as it was, it is becoming more painfully obvious that mediocrity is something not only accepted, but embraced around Minnesota’s campus.
When Minnesota Athletic Director Joel Maturi presented Tim Brewster with the two year extension, he expressed optimism about the future, saying that Brewster “deserves to coach his kids.”
Adam Weber, fourth and fifth year players on both lines, and Glen Mason’s secondary recruits are the only thing keeping this team from being winless.
Duane Bennett, who looked like he was going to have a breakout season, crashed down to Earth with a resounding thud of seven carries for six yards against USC last Saturday.
The defense, still looks lost in the passing game, giving up way too many big plays and not playing together. When it comes to stopping the run…well they gave us 300 yards on the ground to MAC for Northern Illinois in losing 34-23
Brewster has failed to bring in an adequate quarterback to replace Adam Weber following this year, and Marqueis Gray might not even be an option because he is easily the best receiver on the field for the Gophers right now (yes, a former QB is indeed the Gophers best receiver). Last time I checked, you’d have to be Superman to throw the ball to yourself and have it gain yards.
15 wins overall, six in conference, in 3 ¼ years. Zero meaningful bowl games attended. Two losses to FCS teams. Zero progress made.
The one thing Brewster was known for, recruiting, has been a failure as well.
For many fans, Glen Mason would be a welcome sight on the sidelines of TCF Bank Stadium.
Mason may not have been God’s gift to coaching, but he made seven bowls in his 10 years, had a winning record as Gophers coach, finished the season ranked twice, and finished in the top half of the conference four times.
Tim Brewster hasn’t done any of those things.
Mason recruited solid skill position players throughout his tenure (Weber, Asad Abdul-Khaliq, Marion Barber, Laurence Maroney, Eric Decker, Bryan Cupito, etc.), and had a legitimate style of play that he could consistently win with: pounding it on the ground and having just enough to get by through the air.
Tim Brewster doesn’t have a style, and has one skill position player worth anything (Gray).
The Gophers haven’t had a decent ground presence since Mason left, and the passing game, even with Eric Decker, has been a disaster for three years.
The Gophers’ signature win under Tim Brewster is undoubtedly the 2009 victory @ Northwestern, and the only one that comes close to that is the win @ Illinois in 2008, an Illini team that failed to make a bowl that year. Brewster is now 0-9 against ranked teams, and hasn’t lost by less than 11 in any of those games. The program is a dead end under Brewster in a Big Ten that is growing in strength.
For the first time in six years, the Big Ten has six teams ranked in both the USA Today and AP polls. It’s not getting any easier, and five of the Gophers last eight games come against currently ranked teams. That means that with only one win, the Gophers will need to beat a couple ranked teams to make a bowl.
Granted, not all six teams are likely to be ranked the entire year, but even teams hovering around the top 25 seem like an automatic loss for Minnesota. Any win they get against any of those five teams would instantly be the best win the Gophers have ever accomplished under Tim Brewster.
A respectable team gets an automatic win this week, with the Gophers hosting the Huskies of Northern Illinois. But of course they did not. The Golden Gophers lost respectability when they, rankled 17th at the time, lost to Northwestern at home in 2008. They had a good thing going that season, and that good thing snowballed into a 55-0 loss to Iowa to end the season. Since then, the Gophers have had no hope, no will, and no chance to win a meaningful game.
The Gophers bowl hopes have been dashed and it’s only week four.
-Mike Gallagher