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Three Games to Test U
on Mason?
You
wonder if Glen Mason will coach the first game
in the on-campus stadium scheduled to open in 2009. Mason has been an
advocate for returning the Gophers to campus but there’s such a storm of
criticism directed at him now that despite a five-year contract his
future at Minnesota is speculative.
Letters to the Star Tribune and talk show comments call for his
dismissal and so, too, does a fire Mason Web site. The home game
atmosphere includes chants of “fire Mason” from the student section.
Long time fans are complaining and even former star running back
Laurence Maroney criticized Mason in the Star Tribune for not making
better use of his talent.
If
the Gophers lose their remaining games this fall, the team will finish
0-8 in the Big Ten Conference. Any mix of wins and losses against
Indiana and Iowa at home, and at Michigan State, is possible. Could a
0-3 finish push the University to make a coaching change?
Here’s the essence of what’s going on: there are always fans and media
constantly complaining and second guessing. That audience has been
“shooting” at Gopher football since before Mason arrived in 1997.
What’s new is that now there is a larger constituency questioning and
opposing Mason. The tipping point, if it comes, will be if the
University sees “a total lack of support in the community,” according to
a prominent alum. “The public at large becomes so pissed off (and) the
old time loyalists who want to see the good side of things, not the bad,
are not supportive. That will turn it (the Mason situation).”
The
result of losing “the silent majority” and loyalists will be troublesome
for the University as its goes about raising the mega dollars it needs
for the new $248.5 million stadium. With state legislative approval to
provide funding for the stadium came a promise from the University to
provide 45% of the funding.
Mason
is a good person who was hired because of his character and some turn
around success he had coaching at Kent State and Kansas. His reputation
has long been that of a “straight arrow,” a coach who doesn’t pay
players or knowingly violate other NCAA rules. He once told me he
couldn’t look his son in the eye if he were cheating.
The
University negotiated a new contract with Mason after last season and
gave him a pay raise. This was a reward for improving the on-field
performance of Gopher football from the days of coach Jim Wacker.
It was also a reward for running a program that doesn’t violate NCAA
rules, cares about the well being of the players and encourages
academics.
Now
in his 10th season as coach at Minnesota, Mason still talks
of building a program. Many followers don’t want to hear that. Not
when your best season was three years ago at 10-3 and you finished
fourth in the Big Ten. Not when the conference finishes in 2005 and
2004 were seventh and eighth. Not when you appear headed toward a
finish in last place in the Big Ten this year and have a career record
in the conference of 29 wins, 51 losses.
The
talent level of the 2006 Gophers doesn’t measure up to the most recent
teams. Close followers of the team look at the roster, even among the
young players, and wonder whether the talent will be any better next
season. Recruiting commitments for 2007 are mostly Minnesota high
school kids and only the most irrational Gopher patron will argue you
can build a team almost exclusively with in-state players.
Whether it’s
winning the remaining games or recruiting, Mason’s challenges will be
the envy of no one in the coaching business. Sooner or later both will
determine whether he coaches in the new stadium.
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