Coaching Perspective – Minnesota

The Gopher’s boast seven national titles and 18 conference titles but none since 1967.  Get ready for a front loaded award stand of coaches and a whole lot of head scratching about Gopher football in the last 48 years.

Not In Consideration (Chronological Order)

• No Coach: 1882, 1-1
• Thomas Peebles: 1883, 1-2
• No Team: 1884-1885
• Fredrick Jones: 1886-1888, 3-3
• 4 Co-Coaches: 1889, 3-1
• Tom Eck: 1890, 5-1-1
• Edward Moulton: 1891, 3-1-1

Moulton has one of the more unusual American lives.  Born in Minnesota, he served in the Civil War and was later an army scout.  His running in the frontier led to a career as a professional sprinter and won over 300 races.  A true pioneer of training and modern track and field.  He became a long time trainer at Stanford after a run at several midwestern schools.

• No Coach: 1892, 5-0
• “Wallie” Winter: 1893, 6-0 (3-0)

Second conference title as a member IAA Northwest and first one with an actual coach.

• Thomas Cochran: 1894, 3-1
• William Heffelfinger: 1895, 7-3

Regarded as the first pro football player when he was paid $500 in 1892 to play a game between two athletic clubs.

• Alexander Jerrems: 1896-1897, 12-6 (1-5)
• John Minds: 1898, 4-5 (1-2)
• 2 Co-Coaches: 1899, 6-3-2 (0-3)
• William H. Spaulding: 1922-1924, 11-7-4 (5-6-3)

Would leave to become the UCLA coach where he had much more success, including a league title and a bowl win in the 30s.

• Clarence Spears: 1925-1929, 28-9-3 (13-7-2)
• Fritz Crisler: 1930-1931, 10-7-1 (4-5)

If that name sounds vaguely familiar, it should.  Michigan’s basketball arena is named after him for his work as AD and football coach.  In Ann Arbor he would lead the Gopher rival to two league titles, a Rose Bowl victory and a national title.

• George Hauser: 1942-1944, 15-11-1 (8-8-1)
• Wes Fesler: 1951-1953, 10-13-4 (7-8-4)
• Cal Stoll: 1972-1978, 39-39 (27-29)
• Joe Salem: 1979-1983, 19-35-1 (12-32-1)
• Lou Holtz: 1984-1985, 10-12 (7-10)

Holtz famously left Minnesota for Notre Dame thanks to a “Notre Dame Clause” and led the Irish to great success.  The short tenure was doubly costly for Minnesota as probation from violations during his short time in Minneapolis came about after Holtz left.  A strange black mark on what is a very impressive resume overall for the old coach.

• John Gutekunst: 1986-1991, 29-37-2 (18-28-2)
• Jim Wacker: 1992-1996, 16-39 (8-32)
• Glen Mason: 1997-2006, 64-57 (32-48)

Mason is an interesting story.  He is the longest tenured coach since Murray Warmath (see below) and the only coach since Stoll in the 70s to not have a losing record so he is without a doubt the best of the “modern” coaches but that conference mark always doomed him.  His best finish was a tie for 4th in 2003 when they went 10-3 (5-3) but that was always the rap on him.  His teams would start 4-0 with soft non conference foes only to hover around .500 in league.  It wasn’t surprising when UM parted ways with Mason, but what was surprising was the lack of contingency plan and settling for Tim Brewster, who quickly tanked the program after the stability Mason brought.

• Tim Brewster: 2007-2010, 15-30 (6-21)
• Jeff Horton: 2010, 2-3 (2-3) – Interim
• Jerry Kill: 2011-present, 26-27 (13-19)

Coach Kill’s record includes the 1-1 start to the 2015 season.

Bronze Medal

Murray Warmath: 1954-1971, 87-78-7 (65-57-4)

Warmath resurrected the program after Bernie Bierman (see below) departed for good in 1950.  The Wes Fesler years were not fruitful but Warmath got them back on track quickly.  In ’54 and ’56 he fielded competitive teams that were ranked in the final polls but the 1960 and ’61 teams were outstanding.  The two teams combined to go 16-4 (11-2) and played in both Rose Bowls, winning one.  The 1960 squad were awarded a national title.  The 1962 crew was also formidable, finishing 10th in both polls.  In 1967, Warmath guided the last Gopher team to win a Big Ten title, going 8-2 (6-1).  All told, 7 teams would finish ranked in a poll and his 87 wins are third most in school history and his 65 league wins are still the most in Gopher history.

Silver Medal

Henry L. Williams: 1900-1921, 136-33-11 (50-25-5)

Have to get in the way back machine for coach Williams but he put this program on the map.  He is still the all time leader in victories and third all time in Big Ten wins.  He won 8 league titles and one national title.  He finished third or better in the league  an astonishing 16 times over his career.  His national title winning 1904 team was one of the all time greats.  They went 13-0 (3-0) and shut out every opponent but one.  On the season they outscored opponents 725-12.  They eclipsed 100 points twice and their 146-0 win over Grinnell is both the biggest margin of victory and most points ever scored in a single game for the program.

Gold Medal

Bernie Bierman: 1932-1941, 1945-1950, 93-35-6 (57-28-6)

Was there ever any doubt that Bierman wouldn’t win this?  7 Big Ten titles and 5 national titles pretty much ends any argument. 7 times were his ranked in the final poll – which was started in 1936 – so two of his national title teams would not have even appeared in it.  4 teams went undefeated and untied and even in his second stint which was nowhere near as good he still found ways to win.  Three of those teams were top 3 finishers in the league and two of them ended in the final polls.

It is debatable which Bierman team was the best but I am partial to the 1940 club.  They opened with non-conference wins over Washington and Nebraska.  The Huskies would go 7-2 (7-1) and second in the PCC.  The Huskers would finish 8-2 (5-0) to win the Big Six.  Once in league they would beat Iowa (4-4), at Northwestern (6-2, 8th ranked in final poll), Purdue and Wisconsin (4-4).  Those six victories alone are impressive.  There’s more though.  The 1940 squad also took down Ohio State (4-4, 15th in the nation at the time) in Columbus and Michigan (7-1, 3rd ranked in final poll) to be one of the few teams to ever beat the top programs in the league the same year.  What’s incredible is this team wasn’t loaded with talent, either.  George Franck was a solid player but only finished third in the Heisman.  Bruce Smith was also on the team but was much more of a presence in ’41 when he won the Heisman.

As for that fantastic 7-6 finish against Michigan, what a game that was.  In horrible mud and rain conditions, Michigan dominated in many ways but missed a PAT, failed in a goal line situation and let Smith house a 80 yard run to lose the game.  The names on the field were also impressive.  Michigan’s score for example was a Tom Harmon pass to Forest Evashevski – both names are legendary and for Iowa fans they know Evs very well.  Perhaps not as famous as other games dubbed ‘The Game of the Century’ but still a fantastic tilt between two top three teams jockeying for a national title.