Lynn G. -> RE: Gopher Football (10/17/2010 10:02:38 AM)
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Just updated on the Strib site: quote:
The Gophers fired Tim Brewster as football coach Sunday morning. Co-offensive coordinator Jeff Horton will take over the head coaching duties for the season’s final five regular-season games. The school has scheduled a news conference at 1 p.m. “While I appreciate the passion and commitment that Coach Brewster has shown, it is clear that a change in the leadership of Gopher football is necessary,” Gophers Athletic Director Joel Maturi said in a statement released by the university. “We have high aspirations for our football program and we are not satisfied with its current direction. The results so far this season have been unacceptable and the program has simply not shown enough improvement over the past three and a half years to continue with the status quo.” Brewster was 15-30 as Gophers’ coach, including 6-21 in the Big Ten. Brewster’s fate may have been decided when the Gophers lost nonconference games to South Dakota (41-38) and Northern Illinois (34-23). Brewster was hired on January, 17, 2007, less than three weeks after the university fired Glen Mason after nine seasons as coach. Brewster was the NFL Denver Broncos tight ends coach in 2006, and had never been a professional or college head coach or coordinator. Maturi admitted the risk involved in Brewster’s lack of previous high-level coaching experience. “I realize that my neck’s on the line,’’ Maturi said on the day that Brewster was introduced to Gophers fans. Maturi admitted then that most people reading Brewster’s resume might have “put him in the ‘no’ pile, if you didn’t do your homework. But I did my homework.’’ It became immediately apparent that Brewster was given to hyperbole. At his opening press conference, he coined the phrase, “Gopher Nation’’ and pledged end the Gophers’ Rose Bowl drought, which is the longest in the Big Ten, dating to the 1961 season. “We’re going to win the Big Ten championship and we’re going to take the Gopher Nation to Pasadena [site of the Rose Bowl],’’ Brewster said at his first press conference. “That’s my dream, that’s my goal and that’s my belief. It will happen here sooner rather than later.’’
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