Spartan Nation 2010 Spring Football Scouting Report: Minnesota Golden Gophers
2009 Actual Season Record:Â 6-6
Spartan Nation Predicted 2009 Regular Season Record: 5-7Â
Predicted 2010 record:Â 3-9
Projected Big Ten 2010 Standing: Last        Â
Head Coach:Â Tim Brewster
What went right in 2009? They played hard and beat Michigan State.
What went wrong in 2009? Everything else.
Analysis: The Gophers are a team in disarray. When their coach Tim Brewster tried to play up another coaching job after the season he ticked off an already angry administration that would have gladly let him walk. He was given a contract extension, which had no new money and won’t in any way keep him at Minnesota when he gets canned at the end of the year.
Brewster can’t keep staff, the relationship with the program and the athletic department is not good, and there is discontent in the land of the Gophers. Getting rid of a highly successful Coach Mason to bring in someone with no experience like Brewster was a horrendous mistake and the experiment is about over. Fans wanted more than what Mason gave, but instead have been given less.
How is this program trending? Badly. The Gophers are not getting better. Brewster’s bad coaching is making a mockery out of what should be a great program and what is a great school.
Brewster will need a miracle to be employed at Minnesota after this season and when this terrible experiment is over the Gophers can’t afford another bad hire. There is talent on this team, the issues start and stop with the head coach. I have several friends who work at the U and the level of disgust is incredible.
Last season when Brewster attempted to create an illusion of interest from other schools, it made the situation worse. Minnesota, on paper, gave him what was characterized as an extension, but was nothing more than something to make recruits see a rosier picture than what was really there.
Like one athletic employee told me recently, “I just can’t wait for him to be gone.â€Â The Gopher fans are a great and loyal group, but the snake oil sold to them hasn’t matured into anything remotely close to what they have been given.
 Sadly, most football programs talk about the players, but this spring the emphasis is on a desperate coach trying to save his job. Nothing this spring will change what his track record has proven his ability to be.
Sadly for Gopher fans this spring is more about waiting for next year, then preparing for the upcoming one.
