Joel Maturi's has done it again

Everybody has made mistakes.  Just look at my sweet mullet I wore in HS as evidence.  But how can one guy make so many public mistakes and still keep his job.

For the out-of-staters:  Joel Maturi is the AD at the University of Minnesota (aka The U...hey Michael Irvin, I'm taking the nickname of my school back, you've been using it for too long). Joel is from Minnesota (Chisholm to be exact) and has been AD here since 2002. Prior to Minnesota he held the same post at Miami of Ohio and the University of Denver.  He cut his teeth in Madison, WI as an assistant AD from 1987 to 1996 at the University of Wisconsin.  He graduated from Notre Dame.  The UW and ND association alone were red flags for me...but once you see this list of facts....his past was nothing compared to the path of destruction he has led us through.

Below is a list of Maturism's we Gopher fans have had to endure since 2002 (and the hiring of Jerry Kill is not one of them....I actually like that choice).

10. "We Are Minnesota" - at his press conference announcing his hire...Joel said he had a "new" cheer that he wanted to bring to Minnesota.  One side of the stands would yell "We Are" and the other side would say "Minnesota".  I can't make it up.  Apparently he had never been to a Penn State game or he had and he just wanted to copy them.  Thankfully the cheer never took.

9. "Dan Monson, you're fffff...iiiiiii....fine until next year." In the Spring of 2006, Joel had his marching orders to fire the overmatched Dan Monson as Head Basketball Coach.  In fact, he got on a plane to Cincinnati to go dismiss him after their first round NIT loss.  Mr. Nice Guy Joel couldn't pull the trigger.  Instead, he waited until the following season and did it a few games in to the 2006-2007 campaign (do you see a pattern here?) and then watched the once full Williams Arena sit empty for another long season.

8. "Barry will you coach the Gophers?" True Story.  In his many interviews with the press yesterday, Joel told Bob Sansevere (Pioneer Press) that one of the people he offered the job to was Barry Alvarez.  Barry has a statue of himself outside of Camp Randall Stadium, has been offered jobs at Miami, and several others in the NFL...and somehow Jamming Joel thought he may want to come here???  That's not the most shameful act of this whole thing (offering).  In my opinion admitting that we offered our job to our biggest rival's former coach should be the last straw for his employment at the U.

7. "Don Lucia is my guy." Don Lucia has the easiest job in college sports.  He coaches the U's hockey team.  Our state produces the most American bread college and pro hockey players.  Hockey is to Minnesota what Basketball is to Indiana. He is sitting in the middle of the cabbage patch and can't manage to figure out how to win more than he loses.  Last week we were swept by a sub-rival called Minnesota State Mankato. I could have sworn there was rule in the Athletic Department at the U...fail to make NCAA tourney, you're fired.  Hopefully, JM can pull the trigger this Spring once The Don fails his (shrinking waiting list only) season ticket holders, again.

6. "Dave Mona" One of The U's biggest supporters is local PR guy Dave Mona.  By default, Dave is one of the color commentators for the football team.  This obviously made him qualified to help the U pick a new coach.  Well, at least that's what Joel thought anyway. On top of hiring Mona, he asked other Athletic Directors who they thought might be good hires.  Dude, are you serious?  Asking your competition who you should hire is about the same as giving them your playbook. Didn't we hire a PR guy to help manage the new coach selection...huh?

5. "First Lady of Gopher Football" At yesterday's press conference he introduced Jerry Kill's wife, Rebecca, as the First Lady of Gopher Football. Really, Joel....you're an embarrasment.

4. "You're Number 7" In the press conference yesterday he admitted that Jerry Kill wasn't his first choice.  What a complete imbecile.  Where was the PR guy when we needed him?  FYI Joel, don't introduce a guy with a backhanded compliment....much less just a backhand.

3. "I'm not talking" During the recent coaching search....Joel declared he was going to hire a Search Firm and keep the hiring process very private.  Joel loves to see himself on TV, hear himself on the radio and see his name in print.  Can you blame him? He's from Chisholm where they just got a printing press. In the 51 day search, we heard more Joel quotes than we care to ever hear. Hint: see number 1 for the most damaging.

2. "Cast a wide net" Late in the search, Joel in one of his many media appearances said, "we cast a wide net, and we just kept coming back to Jerry Kill." What he fails to say in this preposterous statement was, "we offered the job to just about everyone else and they wouldn't take it because I was the AD.  The net was really wide, but we also ignored the 1,000+  pleas to hire Mike Leach the job because I was born with a vagina..." He goes on but I'm running out of space.

1. "Tubby Hire" On October 17, Joel makes the critical statement about the hire....."we want to make a Tubby Smith type hire....here at Minnesota".  He even commits more HR errors than Austin Powers by telling the media how much he's willing to pay!!!!!!!  Oops Joel, you forgot to mention the Tubby hire was less of a hire and more of a get out of jail card for Smith at Kentucky.  Joel had as much to do with Tubby coming here as I did with the 5 inches of snow we got last Saturday.

As I said earlier in the post, I LIKE THE JERRY KILL HIRE.  I just don't think we needed 51 days, 5 to 10 job offers to people who weren't ever going to accept the job, and even worse several "I can't believe this guy still has a job" media appearances by Joel Maturi.

Go Gophers.