Tim Brewster: The Salesman

Tim Brewster is a salesman. It’s that mentality that got him the job at Minnesota. It's that mentaility that got the larger than expected crowd of 15,000 to the Metrodome for this years spring game. It is also that mentality that has garnished him more than expected positive publicity. Brewster’s buddy Tom Dienhart of the Sporting News has been praising his hiring since the get go. More recently, the news of Brewster hiring six minority assistant coaches made a splash. However, it must be remembered that Tim Brewster is a salesman. ESPN’s Ivan Maisel sums up the situation well. “’I went out to hire the best coaches,’ Brewster said. ‘I wanted strong role models for my players. It just so happens that six of them are minorities.’ If it just so happens that Brewster hired them, why did he volunteer the information?” Not to write off Brewster, but let’s be very clear: the publicity he’s gotten has less to do with the quality of coach he is and much more to do with the quality of salesman he is.

The short book on Brewster is that he’s an excellent recruiter, but he has no head coaching or coordinator experience. First, I have little doubt that Brewster will recruit at Minnesota. Hiring six minority coaches was largely recruiting driven. Moreover, many of his assistant hires were made with an eye on gaining a recruiting edge in a particular geographic region. In a few years the Gophers will be chalk full of elite talent similar to what’s happening with Ron Zook and Illinois. But the question, of course, is will he be able to coach those talented recruits? Again, similar to Zook. My problem with Brewster’s lack of coordinator experience lies not so much in missing out on the value of such an experience, but more with the indication it gives to the quality of coach he is. If he really is a guy who can bring Minnesota back to the top, wouldn’t he have been given a similar opportunity previously?

Brewster, the salesman, spins his lack of experience problem well. He claims he’s been putting himself in positions to learn and prepare for his first head coaching gig in a hand picked situation, rather than jumping at any promotion he could get. He was rumored to be the new head coach at Iowa State, but claims he wasn’t interested in the job. Whether Iowa State had interest in him or not, Gene Chizik was Iowa State’s first choice. Another downer on Brewster is if he answers everybody’s question and can coach, he would undoubtedly jump ship, ironically, to coach at Illinois. Brewster played tight end on Illinois’ 1983 Big Ten championship team, but was passed up in favor of another salesman, Ron Zook, two years ago. No question, that one hurt Brewster. If Brewster turns out to be a Willy Lohman, Minnesota will be wishing they still had white toothed Glen Mason.

The more interesting thing about the Brewster hire that’s been largely ignored by the media has nothing to with Brewster, but rather the situation in Minnesota. They chose to fire their first coach with over a .500 record since the legendary Murray Warmath retired in 1971. Glen Mason’s tenure was unfulfilled due to giving up 31 fourth quarter points to Michigan in 2003, preventing them from starting the season 7-0 with Pasadena in their sites. Mason’s failure to maintain a 31 point lead against Texas Tech in this past years Insight Bowl, a game he wasn’t expected to be competitive in and wasn’t expected to be in at the season’s outset, broke the camel’s back. Nonetheless, Mason’s firing had less to do with his on field product and more to do with how he was perceived by the Minnesota faithful. While the rest of college football had been impressed with Mason’s work in Minneapolis, the Gopher fans never appreciated him. Last season the students had a “fire Mason” chant and there were grumblings from big cat alums. But if every coach who had naysayer’s got fired, we’d have a lot more turnover. Again, the Minnesota situation was different.

The Gophers will open up the 2009 season in the brand new, on campus, open air, TCF Bank Stadium. There was a major struggle to get funding for the stadium and the Minnesota people want everything to be perfect when it opens. Being perfect includes having everybody on board with the guy on the sideline. Again, Maisel hits the nail on the head, “With a new stadium to fill, Minnesota wants fresh, even if that may not mean better.” The day the Gophers run out of the tunnel at TCF Bank Stadium on a golden early fall Minnesota afternoon - three blocks from the ground where Bronco Nagurski and Heisman winner Bruce Smith stared for the Gophers during the now too distant glory days - with a lineup full of prized in-state recruits and alums peering in from luxury boxes, Minnesotans want a perfect picture. Mason didn’t fit into that picture. Instead, when the Gophers kickoff the 2009 season against UNLV in The House Mason built, Minnesota will be gambling on the salesman.

The Zooker Takes His Show on the Road

Ron Zook brought his young and talented Fighting Illini squad to Chicago’s St. Rita High School for what was termed “The Chicago Spring Game” on April 14th. A more traditional spring game was played at under-construction Memorial Stadium the following Saturday. The unique event in Chicago came on the heels of Zook’s remarkable recruiting job. His most recent class was ranked by Rivals.com 17th nationally and third in the Big Ten. That success has come after a two year stretch which saw the Illini win a measly four games. The Chicago Spring Game was hailed as a great recruiting ploy, however, being that NCAA rules prevented potential recruits from talking with coaches and players the event was most likely motivated more to appeal to Illinois’ large Chicago alumni base. Illinois paid St. Rita a nominal fee for use of facilities. The location choice was due mostly to St. Rita having a similar playing surface as Memorial Stadium.

While the recruiting motives for the event may have been modest, it nonetheless indicates something about Ron Zook and his recruiting ability. In the face of Zook’s recruiting success, he and his program was hit with allegations of cheating during recruiting. As of now, these allegations are merely a means to rationalize his success since no evidence of wrongdoing has been found. The Chicago event shows that perhaps Zook is thinking differently and being more creative in his efforts to promote his program and attract recruits than his competition.

At the epicenter of the recruiting allegations is wide receiver Arrelious Benn. Ranked as the nations number five wide receiver and 24th player overall by Rivals.com, Illini beat out Notre Dame for. Benn, an early enrollee this spring, has been nothing short of spectacular. He made many highlight reel plays in Chicago and dominated the spring game in Champaign by going for 145 receiving yards and 42 rushing yards. Count on Benn to make a tremendous impact next fall as he will be expected to be at the center of the gridiron resurgence Zook expects.

Despite only two wins in each of the last two years, Zook’s success has occurred not only with the peripherals. Zook, the former NFL defensive coordinator, saw tremendous improvement in his defense. His first defense allowed the most Big Ten play points in conference history. However, his defense improved by 159 yards per game and finished with the 33rd best defense in the country. Most notably, Illinois held Ohio State to 224 total yards, 20 second half yards, and 108 passing yards. All regular season lows for the Buckeyes. Florida’s defensive coordinator Charlie Strong bested the Illini’s defensive effort against Ohio State. Much was made about Florida winning the national title with a roster full of Zook recruits. Perhaps more should have been made out of Strong possibly talking with his former boss about defending the Buckeyes. While Zook’s recruits were clearly involved with Florida’s national title, perhaps Zook’s finger prints were on the defensive game plan that carried Florida to the title.

Illinois’ improvement from a year ago was not limited to the defensive side. They led the Big Ten in rushing and finished 10th nationally with 189 yards per game. That leaves the passing game as being the primary reason for why Zook did not win more games in his second season. His passing offense is his only unit which digressed in his second year. Blame for the passing game struggles can be largely placed on the shoulders of true freshman quarterback Juice Williams. Williams, while making the occasional dazzlingly play, completed a pitiful 39% of his passes. He threw nine touchdowns, but nine interceptions. Williams struggles were rooted in overthrowing and being frantic in the pocket. Williams' inconsistency has persisted as he struggled in Chicago but played well a week later in Champaign.

Zook is placing much of his fate in the hands of Williams. If Williams can progress in the coming years so will the Illini. If Williams’ career goes the way of former Georgia Tech quarterback Reggie Ball – a player with high expectations after starting as a true freshman only to digress as he aged – then Zook and the Illini will be in for a frustrating stretch. Ron Zook is putting Illinois in position to achieve great things in the coming years, but will Juice Williams respond to the faith the Zooker has in him?

Book Review: 'Cane Mutiny by Bruce Feldman

Summary: ‘Cane Mutiny (© 2005) tells the story of the rise of Miami football from an independent doormat in the late 1970’s to a football powerhouse in the early parts of the 21st century. The book covers Miami’s coaches, players, perception, and games during that time period.

Pluses: In an entertaining and easy read, Bruce Feldman gives insight on how the Miami Hurricane football program is different than your typical modern day college football powerhouse. He discusses how the team’s Thug U reputation came about and how that has even helped the program on the field.

Minuses: At times the narrative moves so fast that important issues often get passed up. Many of the early seasons get passed up altogether. During the early part of the book, Feldman does well in presenting an unbiased view, but as the narrative slows down in the later parts of the book a pro-Miami bias shows itself. Throughout the book Feldman would occasionally go off on rants that had little to do with the book’s premise. For example, he spends too much time discussing Miami integrating southern football, former University of Pittsburgh player Antonio Bryant’s growing up and playing high school football in Miami, and a too in depth look at the situation surrounding prized recruit Willie Williams’ off the field problems.

Commentary:
Feldman discusses the challenges Miami has from a public relations standpoint due to their checkered image. He claims that it is very difficult for Miami to escape negative publicity even in times when the program’s reputation does not ring true. While I feel Feldman is accurate in this assessment, similarly, Miami’s on field image and expectations often exceeds reality due to their past reputation, something Feldman ignores. Feldman casts Modern day Miami football as an unstoppable dynasty, something that we’ve seen in the short time since printing not to be true.

Perhaps one of the more unique things about the Miami program is how former players, often times current NFL players, stay connected with the program. Feldman gives that aspect and the mentality it brings much credit for the success of the program. On the contrary, Feldman misses another aspect of the Miami program that is very unique from other powerhouses and that is its poor fan support. Feldman ignores the fact that Miami, despite all their success, still struggles to sell out the Orange Bowl. A discussion as to the causes for Miami’s poor fan support would have been interesting and was very much needed in this book.

Lastly, Feldman does a good job of discussing how the cocky and flamboyant mentality came about and how the early coaches handled it. Howard Schnellenberger ran a very tight ship at Miami in terms of practice routines and off the field discipline, but allowed for the players to be themselves on the field. Jimmy Johnson used the Miami on field swagger as an intimidation ploy and helped it win football games. Johnson was cognizant of keeping that swagger to on field behavior. Dennis Erickson came into a program with an on-field attitude that he most likely wouldn’t have fostered, but allowed to remain. Feldman is critical of how Erickson half heartedly tried to address problems and allowed for it to develop into a major problem. Feldman accurately shows that Miami can play with their famous attitude without it being a problem when the team is winning, but egos collide and problems develop when the team struggles.