Somewhat OT: It's Tough in the Coaching World (Minnesota's new hire off to a rocky start)
The world of coaching changes is never hospitable; here's a link to the all-around dissatisfaction with Minnesota's new hire:
http://www.startribune.com/sports/gophers/blogs/111388709.html?elr=KArk…
You can displease most of the people all of the time.
December 6th, 2010 at 6:52 PM ^
Couldn't resist! =]
December 6th, 2010 at 6:57 PM ^
Are you telling me that this wasn't the 'Kill'er hire the LOLfurs were looking for?
December 6th, 2010 at 7:02 PM ^
Killing me.
December 6th, 2010 at 8:52 PM ^
December 7th, 2010 at 12:31 AM ^
"Not everybody's the perfect person in the world. I mean everyone kills people, murders people, steals from you, steals from me, whatever..."
December 6th, 2010 at 6:56 PM ^
that no college football fanbases like their coaches anywhere. I'm getting rather tired of all the "Fire Coach X" every time a team loses.
December 6th, 2010 at 7:09 PM ^
Les Miles is subject to some of the most rabid hatred and abuse from a fan base that I can recall and he has been pretty damn successful at LSU.....
December 6th, 2010 at 8:16 PM ^
Cosign. Tressel was getting grief a year or two ago. Mack Brown now can't coach his way out of a paper bag. Just this year alone, Frank Beamer has gone from a bum who can't coach any more to one of the best coaches in the nation, which is how he was regarded before the season started. Bob Stoops is now a loser who can't win the big enchilada, according to more than a few OK fans. It's really nuts. I'm convinced that if RR gets let go, before long he'll have some other program at the pinnacle and his fans at Clemson or wherever will be singing his praises and wondering what the hell went wrong up in Ann Arbor.
December 6th, 2010 at 8:40 PM ^
[insert Head Coach nickname here] IS A LOOSER HE CANT WIN THE BIG WONS AND [insert Athletic Director nickname here] IS LETTING STOOPS RUIN ARE TEAM!!!!1!! IT ALL STARTS AT THE TOP ERRBODY NEEDS TO BE LET LOSE I CANT HANDUL IT NE MORE AND DONT KNOW HOW TO TURN OFF CAPS DURRRR!!!!1
December 6th, 2010 at 8:49 PM ^
Don, there's just one problem with your implied comparison between RR and Tressel/Brown/Beamer/Stoops: all of the latter four have achieved great success at their current schools. And that's why those four are safe while RR's job isn't.
December 6th, 2010 at 9:05 PM ^
I wasn't trying to make a comparison between RR and the other guys, but I guess I garbeled my message. I was initially commenting on how nutso fan bases can be even for established, successful coaches. I agree 100% that RR's situation is different from theirs. However, I really do think that RR will be very successful someplace else eventually.
At one point in his career, from the late 1960s to the mid-'70s, Bear Bryant lost 7 of 8 bowl games, and the non-loss was a tie. If that had happened during today's age of instant and perpetual fan gratification, some jackass down in Tuscaloosa would have started up www.fireBear.com.
December 6th, 2010 at 9:38 PM ^
He couldn't get BSU into to Glendale because he obviously can't coach. lolz
December 6th, 2010 at 6:56 PM ^
First coach with a winning record as a head coach they've hired since Lou Holtz. Says a lot.
December 6th, 2010 at 6:57 PM ^
I kind of wanted Mike Leach too, if only to see him and Tressel interact.
December 6th, 2010 at 7:00 PM ^
... that gopher fans are so upset. Im a big NIU fan, and jerry kill is a great coach. Who else were they going to hire? I think minnesota fans got a little too hyped up listening to some of the big names being thrown around; randy shannon, mike leach, john gruden, tony dungy. Not a bad hire in my eyes.
December 6th, 2010 at 7:04 PM ^
This idea that they were going to get Tony Dungy or Chris Petersen or just about any other "big name" coach was laughable. That program hasn't been relevant in the Big Ten -- let alone nationally -- for my entire lifetime.
I think someone like Al Golden might have been a little better, but Kill isn't far off. The fact that they got a guy with winning Division I head-coaching experience should make Gopher fans at least relatively happy, especially after the Brewster debacle.
December 6th, 2010 at 7:29 PM ^
The irate fans are unrealistic. While Minnesota does have a long football history, they haven't been a part of the Big Ten conference race for years. They had good patches early in the 20th century and even were considered the mythical national champion in the 1950's and 1960's. They were among the many casualties of the dominance of the Bo-Woody era.
Minnesota fans should also remember that they have recently lost to MAC teams and historically many top Big Ten coaches came from the MAC or had worked in the MAC at one time. Bo, Tressel, etc. are just a few recent examples. Because they don't get the 3, 4 and 5 star recruits, they have to know something about actually coaching, teaching and game day adjustments. Also many of them lacked huge staffs and would pitch in on defense, offense, and special teams. A coach who was successful at this level is not assured of being a success at the next level, but if it doesn't work out it probably is not a lack of basic fundamental competency.
Finding a good coach who wants to make a national reputation at the program would seem a better fit than a so-called big name who may be only using the program as another stepping stone.
I do feel bad for the kids at NIU - Kill really made that program one to watch and for several weeks a few years ago, was in a position to be a BCS buster.
December 6th, 2010 at 7:36 PM ^
This suggests that mediocrity set in a few years before Bo's arrival:
http://www.ericthrall.com/gophers/football/
I think they were probably hurt more than other schools by the closing of the southern pipeline. (Not too far away from Bo's start, of course ...)
December 6th, 2010 at 8:15 PM ^
The Tressel hire is a good example as he was from DI-AA Youngstown St. Does anyone know if tOSU fan base was in general approval, or were they all hating the decision?
December 6th, 2010 at 11:32 PM ^
untill he promised they would be proud of their football team up in Ann Arbor. He spoke the language of the masses and he crowned God of Columbus after that.
December 7th, 2010 at 1:23 AM ^
so that's not so off the wall. I'm pretty sure I've heard some fans at other schools were hoping a former QB would come back and coach, even when the job wasn't open.
December 6th, 2010 at 7:28 PM ^
They presumably wanted an exciting hire that would create a lot of buzz and draw some national attention to Minnesota. The problems are, first, that Minnesota would have trouble drawing a nationally recognized coach and, second, that fame doesn't necessarily equal success. Better to have a guy who knows how to win football games and run a quality program than the flavor of the week assistant who turns out not to know what he's doing.
He's a safe choice. The hire may not create a sense of excitement around the program, but he's an experienced head coach who has shown an ability to win at this level. They'll change their tune if he runs a winning program, even if he doesn't create a lot of national buzz right now.
December 6th, 2010 at 7:13 PM ^
Kill must have been quite the coach...such to the extent that he left quite a taste in his players mouths.
"I have a horrible taste in my mouth and want to get that taste out," NIU quarterback Chandler Harnish told the Rockford Register Star.
Nice. Helmets, pads, jerseys and a tsunami of Listerine. Go get 'em Gophers!!!
December 6th, 2010 at 7:20 PM ^
I'm pretty sure that the "horrible taste" in the QB's mouth was because of the upset loss in the title game, not the coach. But that's just based on personal conjecture... and contextual reading skills.
December 6th, 2010 at 9:30 PM ^
Glad you pointed that out. Whew!
December 6th, 2010 at 7:10 PM ^
The MN fans flipping out about Kill because he came from the MAC probably would have reacted the same way if they had hired Brian Kelly a few years ago from Central, and would have gone nuclear if in 2001 they had hired Jim Tressel from (shudder) a I-AA team.
December 6th, 2010 at 7:34 PM ^
at Saginaw Valley.
December 6th, 2010 at 7:52 PM ^
They are D-2 along with Grand Valley, Ferris, Northern, etc.
December 6th, 2010 at 7:10 PM ^
He's just not the coach Gopher fans believe they were promised when Tim Brewster was fired, a football equivalent of Tubby Smith.
What would the football equivalent of Tubby Smith be, anyway? Larry Coker?
December 6th, 2010 at 7:14 PM ^
Has to be Les Miles.
December 6th, 2010 at 7:20 PM ^
Miles is better than that. Tubby inherited the best program in the country at UK and watched it gradually deteriorate.
December 6th, 2010 at 7:19 PM ^
Steve Spurrier
December 6th, 2010 at 7:24 PM ^
Not because of what he did at NIU. That's mostly Joe Novak's work. Kill did a superb job at Southern Illinois.
Interesting that Kill also has ties to Michigan (coached Saginaw Valley State).
Also interesting that Kill's post season record so far reads like a tombstone.
*Budump bump Tishhhhh!*
December 6th, 2010 at 7:35 PM ^
Not really in regards to Novak. Joe's last three years at NIU were very disappointing after his teams were running over MAC teams for most of the mid-2000s and scaring the shit out of their OOC opponents. His early work was great, but as he aged, his teams seemed to lose a lot of their ability to execute. Kill turned that around and fast.
December 6th, 2010 at 7:27 PM ^
Bo Who?
December 6th, 2010 at 7:27 PM ^
Really puts into perspective how easy RichRod had it when he first got here.
December 6th, 2010 at 7:36 PM ^
If you read some of the comments on that article, it really puts things into perspective. One comment mentioned that the only way they'd be won over is if Kill went undefeated in OOC games next year and went .500 in Big Ten play. Uh yeah, good luck with that one.
December 6th, 2010 at 9:18 PM ^
RichRod had it easy when he first got here? Gee...I don't remember that.
Seems there was just a wee bit of anger from WVU, our alums, our fans and some of our players. Going 3-9 didn't help.
December 6th, 2010 at 7:29 PM ^
I just think it's hilarious that the new coach, who the Minnesota fanbase has apparently never heard of, took his rinky-dink MAC football team and beat Minnesota's ass. At home. Two months ago. Good grief... all things considered this is a great hire, and everyone's disappointed they didn't get Mike Leach or Chris Peterson or something. Get a grip Gopher fans... the big names don't want to coach your at school. And that's not necessarily a bad thing.
December 6th, 2010 at 8:46 PM ^
Can't wait to make it up to their new stadium for a Michigan road game against Coach K and the Gophers.
December 6th, 2010 at 9:56 PM ^
Minnesota should calm themselves and remember that they are Minnesota.
December 7th, 2010 at 1:39 AM ^
Golden Gophers. If you catch one you get to visit Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory!