In the spring of 2007—shortly after being hired at the University of Minnesota—Tim Brewster made an appearance at the end of a Greek speaker we were forced to sit through each semester. He was energetic, optimistic, and let’s be frank—he wasn’t Glen Mason. Three thumbs up for the Brew Crew.
Well, we are in the midst of our third season under Mr. Brewster and I’m starting to wonder—what has he accomplished? Where is that Rose Bowl I was promised as a naïve sophomore?
During the 2007 season, we went 1-11 winning against Miami of Ohio after three overtimes in the Metrodome. A win by definition but really? Nothing to write home to Mom about. Of the eleven losses during that season, six of them were by a touchdown or less—two of the games by only a point. Bowling Green, Florida Atlantic, Purdue, Ohio State, Indiana, Northwestern, North Dakota State (yikes!), Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, and Wisconsin. Ughhh.
Last year, things started to look up after the Gophers went 4-0 against Northern Illinois, Bowling Green, Montana State, and Florida Atlantic. Unfortunately, the non-conference games ended and our season started to swirl down the toilet bowl. I mean, we did secure wins against Indiana, Illinois, and Purdue—three teams we embarrassed ourselves against the year before. But then we lost to Ohio State again. And Northwestern again. Michigan. Wisconsin. And finally, an excruciating 0-55 loss to Iowa at the Metrodome—the one thing any and every Iowa fan brings up when you talk Big Ten football. We did make a bowl though. Our 7-5 record was enough to send us to Tempe to get manhandled by the Kansas Jayhawks.
So before we even look at this season, who has Coach Brewster beaten? Miami of Ohio, Northern Illinois, Bowling Green, Montana State, Florida Atlantic, Indiana, Illinois, and Purdue—five of those, teams we lost to in 2007. That’s a record of 8-25 in two seasons.
With four games left in this season, things could end badly for the Gophers. So far, we’ve beaten Syracuse, Air Force, Northwestern, and Purdue—we’ve lost to California, Wisconsin, Penn State, and Ohio State, leaving us 4-4. This Saturday, we have Michigan State at home, followed by Illinois and South Dakota State, our season ending on the road at Iowa.
So again, I ask—what has Tim Brewster accomplished? Three years in and we have yet to upset any team. Don’t get me wrong, I want him to do well. But I’m starting to feel like he’s a used car salesman, selling me on anything that will keep me on board. My favorite excuse that I’ve heard is that he was brought in to recruit—okay, that’s great. But why are we wasting time recruiting if our football team can’t win any big games? To clutter campus with more maroon clad boys on mopeds? I just don’t get it.
I told you they never should have given Mason the boot. Mason took that program from total crap to yearly bowl games. They may not have been the best bowl games but they were still bowl games. All of a sudden that wasn't good enough. It was all, "Hey, thanks Glen for making us a respectable football program again. Yeah, I know that this is a big Hockey and Wresting school and that the football team has to play off campus, in a dome, with little fan support, but you've only made us winners and that's just not good enough for the football fans at this school known Hockey and Wrestling."
ReplyDeleteMason won games. 6-8 a year but nothing better. The goal is to build a talented program from top to bottom that can compete with the wisconsin, ohio state, pennn state ( it kills me to write all that) and hopefully even better. While brewster may not have won games yet, you cant deny the talent is not being upgraded.
ReplyDeleteNext year we lose a couple dt's and lb's but have more than adequate replacements and maybe even better. So stop the hating and lets see how far a real defense (which mason never ever had) and our offense can bring us.