Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Does Anyone Care in Dinkytown?

The year was 1990, the location was Madison, Wisconsin where the Wisconsin Badgers football team had just finished up a dreadful 1-10 season under first year coach Barry Alvarez.  Wisconsin had won just 10 games the past 5 seasons.  I wasn't a math major but that's 2 wins a season on average for the Badgers from 1986-1990. Things were bad for the Wisconsin football program, in fact the University of Wisconsin marching band was the main attraction on Saturdays at Camp Randall stadium, not the football team. Alvarez posted 5-6 records in years 2 and 3 before having a breakout year in 1993 leading the Badgers to a 10-1-1 record, a Big Ten Championship and a trip to the Rose Bowl on New Year's Day where they would knock off the UCLA Bruins.  From that day forward the University of Wisconsin became a Big Ten powerhouse, something no one in the country or for that matter even it's own state could have ever imagined. The Badgers have made 5 Rose Bowl appearances since 1993.  Now the Badgers sell their entire allotment of student season tickets in a 1/2 hour. 

Fast forward to 2012 in Minneapolis, MN where the Minnesota Gophers open camp coming off a 3-9 season in year 1 of the Jerry Kill era.  Year 2 promises to be better for the Gophers, dare we say 4-6 wins is expected?  So what year will Kill lead the Gophers to a B1G championship and a BCS bowl game will it be in year 3?  How about year 4 like Alvarez did at Wisconsin?  Or will that day never come for Kill and Minnesota?  If it doesn't you can forget about the Minnesota Gopher football team being relevant in the Twin Cities or even on their own campus where they have only sold 2,000 student season tickets.  Indiana, similar to Minnesota achievement wise in football has sold 12,000.  Let that resonate for a bit... Indiana, yes Indiana has sold 10,000 more student tickets than Minnesota for the 2012 season.  The Hoosiers couldn't even beat an FBS level team last year and are a basketball school, yet they have outpaced the Gophers in student season ticket sales by a long shot.  It has come to my attention that Indiana sold basketball and football tickets to the students as a package, but still...

Often times when Minnesota plays Wisconsin at home you will find a percentage of the student section (dare I say as high as 10-15%) decked out in red.  They are probably Wisconsin kids who chose to attend the University of Minnesota for the city and the degree, but are probably still Badger fans at heart.  Folks that simply shouldn't happen.  It is the University's job to create school pride and passion for sports, something the U has failed at big time.  The University of Minnesota offers arguably the finest stadium in the B1G if not the country in one of the biggest, hippest cities that houses a major research university.   So what's not to like right?  The product on the field that's what.  The Gophers haven't won a Big Ten championship in over 40 years and haven't gone to the Rose Bowl in over 50.  Apathy and condescending journalists are rampant and the University and it's football program has no one to blame but themselves.  Someone told me that whatever you want to be good at you will be good at. Why do you think Alabama is good at college football, the Yankees dominate MLB, and the Lakers the NBA?  Because they demand excellence, in fact maybe it's just because they give a shit.  The U simply hasn't given a shit, not it's students, not it's administrators, not it's fans, no one! 

It's hard to win when you don't have support and that is probably why so many candidates passed on the job back in 2010.  For the U to ever be a big attraction in this town they need a breakout season 10-12 wins and a BCS bowl bid and the only way they are ever going to get there is with the right people at the top (administrators/coaches) to change the pathetic culture of the program.  Joel Maturi and Bob Bruininks were too concerned with being "nice" and "fair".  Glen Mason came off as pompous and arrogant, and Tim Brewster came across as a blowhard.

Jerry Kill is a competitive guy who can't stand losing.  The new President, Eric Kaler who is on twitter always ends his tweets with #umnproud.  The new AD, Norwood Teague kept arguably the most sought after young basketball coach in the country at little old VCU.  Teague has a plan to upgrade the facilities immediately and that includes practice facilities for both the basketball and football teams.  Is this threesome the answer?  Damn if I know, but they give a shit and that's a pretty good start.

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