


Phew, right?


To his credit, offensive coordinator Jeff Horton, the guy who gets the interim nod, did not once say during a Sunday news conference, "Gopher Nation," the term that made some of us nauseated every time Brewster used it to describe the university's paltry fan base.


"Football is the engine to every athletic program," Gophers athletics director Joel Maturi said Sunday, just hours after telling Brewster he was history. "And our engine is sputtering."


Rather than go with someone with more credentials, Maturi plucked Brewster from anonymity. That was Maturi's first imprudent decision related to Brewster.




That's still $600,000! And that's ridiculous.


"When we redid the contract last year," Maturi said, "I believed it was important to give Coach Brewster more time."

Swing and a miss on that one.

"We're a 1-6 football team," Maturi said, "and quite frankly, nobody expected us to be a 1-6 football team."



"In reality," Maturi said, "we hope that this timeline, we'll have more very good quality, recognizable, achievable, experienced coaches."


Maturi receives a lot of credit for hiring Tubby Smith as the Gophers basketball coach. That's an easy hire, a no brainer. Tubby had a résumé, an impressive one. And he was looking to get out of Kentucky and land in a less demanding job before Wildcat alumni shoved him out the door. So, let's be honest here: Tubby picked Minnesota. It wasn't the other way around.


If you're a Gophers fan, you must be hoping Maturi won't get to pick a new coach on his own. He does need help, and is likely to get it.

Maturi made a point of saying, before anyone could ask, that he has talked to Gophers alum and former NFL coach Tony Dungy and Dungy isn't interested in the job. However, Maturi added, Dungy "is willing to do everything that he can to help us find the right leader for this program. I've also spoken to others influential to Gopher athletics and especially to Gopher football, and they, too, have committed their time, their willingness to meet, their willingness to solve the problem that has been here for quite some time."

At the top of anyone's list should be two names: Marc Trestman and Leslie Frazier.

Trestman, a former Gopher, is coach of the Montreal Alouettes, a team he has led to back-to-back Grey Cups and one Canadian Football League championship. Alumni pushed for Trestman the last time there was an opening — and that's before he began tearing up the CFL — but Maturi ignored them and went with his guy, Brewster. Meantime, Frazier was Dungy's suggestion when Brewster was hired. The Vikings' defensive coordinator would make a terrific college coach.

Whoever comes in, the bar isn't exactly high.

Even Maturi admitted, "You're not following Vince Lombardi here."

Bob Sansevere can be reached at bsansevere@pioneerpress.com.