Jake Carlson
Posts: 1348
Joined: 8/21/2007
From: Northern CA
Status: offline
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Good stuff from CNNSI: quote:
So Minnesota wins the 2010 award for fastest coaching firing. By axing the flailing Tim Brewster on Oct. 17, AD Joel Maturi beat 2009 winner Memphis (Tommy West) by three weeks, but couldn't quite match 2008 winner Clemson, which ousted Tommy Bowden on Oct. 13. Brewster's dismissal was inevitable, what with a 15-30 record and the program slinking to a 1-6 start (including losses to South Dakota and Northern Illinois) at a time when the program should really be building momentum following last year's opening of TC Bank Stadium. Rarely have I seen a coach as outwardly loathed as Brewster, who burned through six coordinators in four seasons and purportedly butted heads with nearly anyone connected to the program. Maturi delivered this parting shot Sunday when delivering a message to Brewster's hypothetical successor. "You're not following Vince Lombardi here," said Maturi. Well, Joel, you're not exactly Jeremy Foley, either. Scroll back through the recent annals of Minnesota history. In 2006, Maturi gave then-coach Glen Mason a lucrative four-year extension only to turn around and fire him a year later after the Gophers blew a 31-point lead in the Insight Bowl, costing the school roughly $3.6 in buyouts and deferred compensation. As Mason's replacement, he hired a tight ends coach from the Denver Broncos who'd never even served as a coordinator at the college or pro level. Now, he's pledging to find "a Tubby Smith" for football, referring to the Gophers' revered hoops coach. Would you trust this guy to make the right hire? If "high profile" is Maturi's top priority (and it probably should be to generate buzz for the program), one has to think the guy who delivered Mason's Insight Bowl death blow, former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach, is near the top of the list. (Maturi said he contacted Tony Dungy, but that the alum is not interested.) By opening the job now, Maturi gets a head start in the courtship. There's nothing stopping him from contacting the unemployed Leach tomorrow. But somehow that move probably makes too much sense. Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/stewart_mandel/10/17/bcs-standings-boise-state/3.html#ixzz12jEIyY1A
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