A new beginning

Well, here we go, I guess.

This is the first of what I hope will be a fairly regular examination of the Minnesota sports landscape.

So, what better topic than the now semi-vacant head coaching position for the University of Minnesota football team.

Tim Brewster was a risky hire, there is little argument about that. But, what are the Gophers to do?

Was there was a need for change after the 2006 Insight Bowl? (Not to be confused with the 2008 or 2009 Insight Bowls -- which were also losses for the Maroon and Gold.) A 35-7 halftime lead should never be squandered. Glen Mason deserved to be on the hot seat after such a disgusting loss. Whether or not he should have been fired is debatable.

Mason was 64-57 (.529) in his 10-year tenure. His winning percentage ranks him 15th in Gopher history, but better than Lou Holtz (10-12, .455), Joe Salem (19-35-1, .352), Cal Stoll (39-39, .500) or Murray Warmath (87-78-7, .526).

In fact, Mason's winning percentage is the highest since the mid-20th century run of George Hauser. Over the course of three seasons, Hauser won 57.7-percent of his games. Of course, Hauser was sandwiched between Bernie Bierman's two successful runs, so he is kind of lost in the conversation.

In any event, Mason led the Gophers to better overall times than his seven immediate predecessors. But, in the world of modern college athletics, competitive isn't going to cut it.

Now the U of M finds itself at a dark and eerie crossroads. Brewster was a monumental failure as a head coach. His staff was constantly in flux, and he could not keep the top-flight local talent from signing elsewhere. The powers that be need to make a splash with their next hire. But, this is a university with limited reach. Like, alligator-arms reach.

Even being a member of a BCS power conference is not enough. Especially with numbers like these:
1. Ohio State $32.30
2. Iowa $26.90
3. Wisconsin $22.71
4. Penn State $19.13
5. Michigan $18.03
6. Michigan State $15.86
7. Northwestern $15.71
8. Purdue $12.66
9. Indiana $11.84
10. Illinois $10.49
11. Minnesota $9.25
Those are the football expense budgets of all 11 Big Ten programs from the 2008-09 year, courtesy of Fanhouse.com. (See the story here.)

Funny, all four trophy opponents are in the top five.

Soon (maybe even today), I'll have a post about possible replacements. It will run the gamut from no-way-in-hell (the oft mentioned Tony Dungy) to who-the-hell-is-that (my fave DeWayne Walker).

In any event, the biggest splash the Gophers could have made was firing a coach mid-season. It is a rarity in any college sport, let alone the Sacred Cow of football, to relieve a coach during a season. But maybe this is a sign that the U is for real about getting a name. Or, at the least, a real coach. (Jeff Horton not withstanding.)