I'm proud of our guys

Normally, I'm not a huge follower of the University of Minnesota Golden Gopher athletics. I'm not an alum of the school, and I have other sports I keep up with at the professional level, so the Gophers aren't high on my priority list.

But in my efforts to continue to learn and watch more sports, I have been paying a little more attention the past couple of years. The Gophers are a Big Ten school, which is a big deal. The Twin Cities is fortunate enough to be a hub for professional sports teams, but for other places around the country, college athletics is what gets towns excited.

From my view, Gopher football has never been a Big Ten powerhouse. Mediocrity might come to mind for some of the eras. Currently, they are under the Tim Brewster era. He has three seasons under his belt at the U as a first-time head coach. His overall record? A not-so-stellar 14-24, and 6-18 in the Big Ten.

Brew gets another two
It looks as though Minnesotans will have the privilege of watching this coaching master for a bit longer. He reached an agreement with the U and will soon sign a two-year contract extension. Meaning that he will be gracing The Bank with his presence through the 2013 season.

Athletic Director Joel Maturi (who is a source for some of the U's athletic woes, in my opinion) thinks Brewster deserves the chance to be able to coach his recruits. Back in December when Maturi hinted at an extension, he said the coach had "earned" it. My question: How?

Losing back-to-back Insight Bowls the past two seasons can't be it. Or the 6-6 record the Gophers used to stumble into a bowl game this year on the technicality rule that a team is bowl eligible with six wins. So what can it be that the wise Maturi sees that the rest of us don't?

Woes of '09
Before the 2009 season, Brewster fired one offensive coordinator, and hired another one. Without consulting with Maturi. It would be one thing if the move paid off and the offense exploded, but it was really just the opposite.

Quarterback Adam Weber did not look very sharp for a junior. And I did see an awful lot of receivers dropping footballs for virtually no reason. Plus, they did lose key player Eric Decker early on to injury.

Maybe things weren't clicking for some of the athletes on the field, but when a Big Ten team goes more than 11 quarters (168:51 of game time, to be exact) without an offensive touchdown, that's a problem in itself.

The AD says he loves Brewster's "passion and his belief in Minnesota and the program. I'm optimistic." I'd say over-optimism and not enough realism is hindering the program right now.

Drinking the Kool-Aid
Brewster lays it on so thick whenever the media is around that I can hardly stand to listen to the guy. After bad losses, embarrassing losses, or wins they snuck by with, the most common phrase out of Brewster's mouth was, "I'm really proud of our guys."

I'm all for building up confidence in your athletes, and letting them know when they've done something good on the football field. But these are Big Ten football players. You can't sugarcoat things.

If your team didn't get enough first downs, turned the ball over too many times or failed to get in the end zone, you talk about that. You don't pretend it didn't happen and just focus on how hard your players fought that day. Who learns from that?

Of course, what we hear from press conferences may just be a big show. Things could be completely different behind the locker room doors. Who knows? That's between the team and the coaches.

But fans aren't stupid. I don't know how many of them are drinking up the Brewster/Maturi optimistic Kool-Aid, but I am not even taking a sip. Remember how Brewster made claims when he was hired about this team getting to the Rose Bowl?

Only time will tell what happens with the Gophers. Maybe the overall record will start to turn around. Maybe they'll turn into a force to be reckoned with in the Big Ten. Maybe Weber will have a fantastic season. I hope that happens. But if everything continues to go south, at least we can take comfort in the fact the Mr. Brewster will be with us for a couple more years.