Glen Mason Worn Out His Welcome in Minnesota
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by user Leslie Monteiro
Did anyone would think in a million years that Glen Mason would be looking for work? The news about his firing had to be refreshing. It was time for a change. There was no way Mason should have been back after he led his team to an unforgivable collapse at Tempe, Arizona. The Gophers were dominating the Texas Tech Red Raiders 38-7, but they lost because they just melted down in the fourth quarter. The defense was tired. Gophers quarterback Bryan Cupito just fell apart. The coach had no clue how to get his team out of a jam. This is not the first time that the coach had no clue what to do when his team had a situation like rhe Insight Bowl. This coach looked absolutely lost when the Gophers were in jams against Michigan, Ohio State, Wisconsin, and others. This approach was the reason why he was fired.
It was time for Mason to go. The guy had many chances to get his team to the next level, which is being a Big 10 powerhouse. It just was never going to work. The guy has zero interest in getting his team to that level. His standards were so low. He was happy going to irrelevant bowl games. He was happy to see his team play the elite teams in the conference tough rather than win the game. This is not what the university had in mind when they are paying him millions. They expected him to win these games under the generous extension that he got last year. He just did not seem to share the university’s desire which is why he was fired.
It was bad enough that his teams could never beat the elite teams. What turn the fans and Mason’s bosses off was that the coach had no clue how to get his team out of crisis. He always had that stupid deer in the headlight look every time the Gophers were in a bind. Every time a team was making a run at them, the Gophers go belly up. The coach never had solutions. He could never come up with a play. He could not get his team fired up and get a little ounce of that team. He literally had no idea and that attitude filtered through the players. The players took on his identity. They expected to lose rather than being proactive and do something about it. This was too much to bear. Maturi had an epiphany about Mase in that Insight Bowl. He knew that his coach was a lost cause. It was not just this year that Mason never figured it out. He could not figure it out when Minnesota was choking leads to Michigan and Wisconsin. He choked in two bowl games prior to the Insight Bowl. His team blew leads against North Carolina State in Micro PC Bowl and then last year, against Virginia at the Music City Bowl. Enough was enough.
Mason lost the fans when he criticized them for booing him and his team this season. This is a battle that he will never win. When fans notice how something stinks, they have every right to point that out especially when they work very hard at what they do for living. They demand winning and entertainment. This Gophers football team has not provided that this year. He was out of line for ripping them. Instead of whining about them and how he is being treated by the newspapers, he should have focus on his team being prepared for games. His personality rubbed everyone in the State of Minnesota the wrong way.
He did a decent job of getting high school players to come play at the U in recent years, but the high school coaches clearly did not have a great relationship with him. He was too arrogant and smug for them. He did not treat them or their players seriously or with any respect. This is not the right way to form a partnership. Most college football teams and high schools teams in the state should form a business relationship to help each other. Mason never seemed to be interested. This is another factor to why he lost his job.
The next head coach will have to form a dynamic relationship with the high school coaches, the players, the boosters, the fans, and the Twin Cities media. He needs to sell his product to these people. He also has to put an emphasis on defense. He needs to get tough-minded players. He has to get guys who can play defense, which was another strike on Coach Mason. Obviously, the Gophers are not going to get a coach who is going to leave a program that he is building. They are either going to get a young assistant coach or a retread desperate for a job. This is not a bad thing. As long as the coach can have his guys play defense and hire a good coaching staff, this hire will be good. The best candidates for this job would be former Vikings head coach Mike Tice, LSU defensive coordinator Bo Pellini, USC's defensive coordinator Lane Kiffin, or UCLA defensive coordinator Dwayne Walker. Those men have what it takes.
They need to hire one of those guys because they would be committed to the state of Minnesota rather than looking for a next dream job like most college football coaches have done in recent years.
Give Gophers Athletic Director Joel Maturi credit for doing the right thing. He took the first step. It was dumb to give Mason an extension and then firing him, but at least he decided to do something about this malaise. Of course, he has to go hit a homerun not only with his basketball coach hire, but he has to go do it with a football hire. If he fails on both accounts, the Gophers will be looking for a new athletic director. Maturi has not been judge yet since he inherited these coaches when he took the job, but now all eyes are on him.
As for Mason, he did an okay job. He gave the program credibility. His ability to recruit great running backs and getting the players to play for Ohio was a plus. Unfortunately for him, he was no better than his predecessors. Mason’s supporters can go talk about the football team being in bowl games, but is it really an accomplishment when any Division 1-A program can do it nowadays. The goal is to be in Pasadena for the Rose Bowl and to beat Big 10 powerhouses. This is where Mason failed the most.
It is time for some new blood.
