The Wake

On a prominently displayed whiteboard in the Gopher football department of Dinkytown’s Gibson-Nagurski Complex, a brief and cryptic message is scrawled in dry-erase marker.

Recruit! 24/7. 365. E.D.S.

The series of letters and numbers may seem like gibberish to some, but to Tim Brewster it represents the most important expectation he has placed on his newly assembled staff.

Twenty-four hours a day. Seven days a week. Eat, drink and sleep recruiting.

“I was committed to putting together a staff that, one through nine, were going to be outstanding recruiters,” Brewster says. “I wasn’t going to have one recruiting liability on my staff.”

The emphasis on recruiting new players should come as no surprise. Improvement is on the mind of just about every person involved with the football program in the aftermath of a brutal 1-11 season that saw the Gophers go winless in Big Ten competition for the first time since 1983.

Indeed, Brewster’s first season at the helm of the Gophers was hardly something out of a storybook. Upon his arrival, he immediately had to deal with rape allegations that entangled several of the team’s best players. Then came the season – and the losses. The season opened with a shocking home loss against Bowling Green. In the season’s third game, the Gophers were defeated by Florida Atlantic, a team they had defeated 46-7 just two years prior. There were blowout losses to Ohio State, Michigan and Illinois. During the season, multiple players elected to leave the team and transfer elsewhere.

All of this, however, has done little to dampen Brewster’s trademark enthusiasm. Despite the deflating losses, the affable head coach continues to smile and draw positives from a hugely disappointing season.

He speaks in endless hyperboles, making words like “unbelievable” and “amazing” regular fixtures in his vernacular. Ask him to name a couple returning players from this year’s team who could surprise people next year, and he will list off just about every player who was a freshman this season. Ask him about the Gophers’ recent history of mediocrity (or worse), and he’ll point to the 18 Big Ten Championships and six National Championships the program has accumulated in its history.

The optimism can be so over-the-top that to some it comes off as insincere, or phony. Brewster bristles at that notion. “It’s who I am, and that’s all you can be in life is who you are,” Brewster says. “I’m a guy that wakes up every day with my glass half full.”

It would be difficult to buy into Brewster’s confidence if he didn’t have such strong convictions about the plan he has in place. He has tremendous faith in the coaching staff he has assembled. Offensive coordinator Mike Dunbar has implemented a spread offense, while defensive coordinator Everett Withers has instituted a more aggressive style of defense. Brewster states that these systems are positives for recruiting, since the notion of playing in them is exciting for prospective players.

Thus far, Brewster and his staff have backed up the big talk in the recruiting department. As of Thanksgiving, the Gophers had already received 22 commitments for 2008, which Brewster describes as “miraculous.” Those commitments include several high-profile local high school stars, which Brewster says is a huge point of emphasis.

“We want all Minnesotans to feel like there’s no reason to leave,” Brewster says. “My challenge to all Minnesota kids is this: stay at home. Let’s see how good we can be if all Minnesota kids stay at home and represent the people of the state of Minnesota.”

Considering how terrible the results were in Brewster’s first season, some fans might be skeptical of the team’s ability to become competitive in the short-term. Brewster can point those people to Illinois’ football program.

Under head coach Ron Turner, the Illini went 1-11 in 2003 and 3-8 in 2004. This led the program to make a coaching change, hiring former University of Florida coach Ron Zook to turn the program around. In Zook’s inaugural season of 2005, the Illini went 2-9, including 0-8 in the Big Ten.

Fans immediately were calling for the new coach’s head, but given a couple years to institute his system and bring in some strong recruiting classes, Zook has led a significant turnaround and apparently put the program back on track. This year, the Illini finished the season ranked as the second-best team in the Big Ten, trailing only an Ohio State team that they defeated in an exhilarating late-season upset.

Naturally, Brewster’s plan to turn things around goes beyond recruiting.

“What we’re going to do is get our guys in the weight room, and we’re going to put tremendous emphasis on [strength coach] Mark Hill getting our football team bigger, faster and stronger and really getting a level of confidence back in the weight room,” Brewster says. “Just continuing to do the things we’ve done since we’ve been here, and that’s consistently every day practice winning at everything we do. And that’s academic success, that’s athletic success, that’s social-behavioral issues. We want to make sure our players understand what an honor it is to wear maroon and gold.”

Some have accused Brewster of being a salesman. And in reality, perhaps he is one. But it’s difficult not to buy what he is selling. The man exudes confidence and enthusiasm like few other coaches can, even after a demoralizing loss and in the face of unthinkable adversity.

Whether Brewster can follow through on the big plans he has laid out remains to be seen. But, at least for now, it seems that the program is in the right hands with a man that eagerly eats, drinks and sleeps Gopher football.