Critical sports blog

The Minnesota Golden Gophers, the dominant college team on their campus, chose Tim Brewster, the tight ends coach of the Denver Broncos to replace Glen Mason. Brewster's hiring sends several messages:

• No one else wanted the job.

• The Gophers want to peak at 5th place in the Big Ten.

• It's cold in Minnesota.

Joel Maturi knew he needed more than a football coach to fill Glen Mason's shoes at Minnesota. The athletic director said he needed someone who would sell the program throughout the state. "I needed that on the front end more than I needed an offensive or a defensive genius,'' Maturi said Wednesday. Tim Brewster certainly got the message. "I want to reach out to every part of this state, because I'm so proud to be the head football coach at the University of Minnesota,'' Brewster said at an introductory news conference. "I want to reach out and sell this program and it's going to be an easy sell for me.'' Not so fast. Brewster is taking over a stagnant program that has all but fallen off the map of local sports fans, who are tired of watching the Gophers muddle through an uninspiring regular season and finish in a third-tier bowl game. Many of the state's top recruits bolt for greener pastures at Notre Dame, Ohio State or Michigan thanks in part to Mason alienating the state's high school football coaches. Knowing all this, Maturi fired Mason after 10 seasons and went looking for a fiery, charismatic personality that would make Minnesotans forget about the prickly and aloof predecessor. At least for one day, Brewster said all the right things. He pledged to secure a Big Ten championship and a trip to the Rose Bowl "sooner rather than later'' and said he's "not interested in any rebuilding process.'' "We're going to wake up in the morning talking about recruiting. We're going to go to sleep at night talking about recruiting and we're going to dream about recruiting,'' he said. "We're going to bring talented athletes to the University of Minnesota at a level that hasn't been done before.'' One thing he has going for him is a brand new on-campus stadium that is scheduled to open in 2009. The stadium likely will be his biggest selling point and will have to offset his lack of head coaching experience and name recognition. Maturi put it bluntly when several of his colleagues recommended he talk to Brewster.