An open letter to University of Minnesota Athletics Director, Joel Maturi.
Dear Joel:
No offense to J Robinson...but the only thing we are good at is Wrestling....and I hate Wrestling. For that matter, I hate Indoor Track, Cross Country, Women's Soccer, Gymnastics, and Swimming (and anything else that is not televised and costs the AD money). You know why they aren't televised? Because nobody cares.
It's time to make some hard decisions within the AD. Here a few tough decisions that need to be made:
1. New Football Coach - start the planning now
2. New Football Coach - start the planning now (in case you missed #1 I put it as number 2)
3. New Hockey Coach - see above
4. Remove 8 sports from the payroll (Texas has 18, we have 25...why? Because they are good at those sports).
5. Focus on Football - in case you missed it, Nebraska is joining the B10 (and we play them every year) - they have an 85K seat FB stadium that is filled every Saturday. Have you been to Nebraska before? If you haven't, you haven't missed much, except on Saturday's in the Fall. Read between the lines Joel, FB pays the bills.
When you kill the other sports...just plug your ears. The whining will eventually stop from all 117 who care about the Men's Tennis and the Spirit Squads.
I'm sorry but, the "Hey, we are in the B10, this is awesome we don't have to lift a finger because the bowls and the BTN pay for everything!" attitude just sucks.
We need proven coaches, with proven winning experience here ASAP (Harbaugh/Golden = winner, Blais, or any Serratorre = winner)...and if you have to make a difficult decision or two to get that done, then get to it.
Or we'll find someone who can.
Sincerely,
Tony Zosel
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
A collection of opinions on sports topics that I may have (pro, college, kids, coaching..all items involving competition). This is a blog, there may be opinions involved that you may disagree with, there may even be a fact or two not verified...the beauty of a blog.
6 comments:
Z-You actually trust Maturi to make the next coaching hires?
Blake
after further review...no.
In fact, if they allow him to hire the next coach (and I don't like it), I may turn in all 3 of my season ticket (FB, BB, and Hockey)
I'm not too smart and couldn't dream of having the combined sports/mgmt mind to run a BIG 10 AD, but this guy looks like a WINNER.
... currently the Head Coach for the University of Nebraska-Omaha and Head Coach for the United States men's national junior ice hockey team. He led Team USA to a gold medal in the IIHF 2010 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships in Saskatoon, Canada, held in late December 2009 through early January 2010[1].
He is the former associate coach of the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets. He led the University of North Dakota Fighting Sioux hockey men's team to Frozen Four NCAA Division I championships in 1997 and 2000. He also led 1990 Roseau Rams to a Minnesota State Hockey Championship.
A native of International Falls, Minnesota, he played college hockey at the University of Minnesota from 1970 to 1973. He played three seasons of pro hockey with the Chicago Blackhawks’ development team in Dallas.[2]
[edit] Career
* 1976–1977 - University of Minnesota - Assistant Coach
* 1977–1980 - Minot High School (Minot, North Dakota) - Head Coach
* 1980–1989 - University of North Dakota - Assistant Coach
* 1990–1991 - Roseau High School (Roseau, Minnesota) - Head Coach
* 1992–1994 - International Falls High School (International Falls, Minnesota) - Head Coach
* 1994–2004 - University of North Dakota - Head Coach
* 2004–2006 - Columbus Blue Jackets (NHL) - Associate Coach
* 2006–2007 - Columbus Blue Jackets (NHL) - Player Development
* 2007-2009 - Fargo Force (USHL) - General Manager/Head Coach
* 2009-2010 - Team USA U20 - Head Coach
* 2009-present - University of Nebraska-Omaha - Head Coach
Pete J. says: Your letter was well thought out and contained numerous valid points which means it has no chance of actually happening. Until this state gets rid of its "Minnesota nice" (see: pussy), everybody-gets-a-medal mentality, this program will go nowhere but down.
Why do you think UM invented the Border Battle Cup (and if not, plays it up like Nascar does the Chase and the PGA the FedEx Cup)? So when we lose in FB, Hockey, and Basketball, we can point to Softball, Indoor Track & Field, and Swimming & Diving as reasons why we are somehow superior to UW...it's so silly. There's only one Daytona 500, one Masters...and one FB game against UW each year...
But give football a little more time (to get even worse). The top players at UM now were sold a bill of goods during their signing period, that the outdoor stadium would make it a football school and get national exposure. Just wait, the recruiting is going to get worse because there is no other story now...we're Northwestern without the six-figure salaries post-graduation. -"Cousin" PT
Really??? Cross country is what's preventing the football team from being successful? Please.
You got it right with suggestions 1 and 2. Brewster needs to go.
Snider
Post a Comment