We are now in the middle of college football coaching carousel season. This is the time of year when head coaches and assistants are finding new gigs all over the place. One of these hirings caught our interest. Many of you college football junkies may know by now that the Minnesota Golden Gophers (who fired Glen Mason) recently hired Bronco TE's coach Tim Brewster as their new head coach. This led to our SBN colleague - TheSportsGuru - over at Mile High Report (who obviously covers the Broncos on a day-to-day basis and does a wonderful job at it) to post this reaction:
Though Brewster has a bunch of college experience, it was a bit of a surprise to me to see Brewster actually get the job, in a similar way that I was surprised Karl Dorrell was hired at UCLA.
Obviously, his words on KD got my attention. So I emailed the Guru and asked him if he would be kind enough to elaborate on that comment? As you can imagine, I was pretty interested in learning about the perspective on Karl Dorrell from a die hard Broncos fan, who follows his team on a day-to-day basis. So I asked the Guru how was he surprised at Brewster's hiring "in a similar way" as to when UCLA hired Dorrell? Well, here is the email response I received from the Guru, and I am publishing ot with his permission (emphasis mine):
At the time I thought Dorrell was a nice position coach, but no one I would have thought of as a Head Coach candidate at a major D-1 school. Even looking at his background, there just wasn't a lot of sustained success nor experience at big time college programs. In that way it is similar to Brewster, who had never been more than a position coach. The key difference, however, between the two is Brewster's experience as recruiting coordinator at Texas and North Carolina, where he recruited players like Chris Simms and Vince Young.
Dorrell really didn't have a strength, that I saw, as someone in a leadership position. It wasn't like the Broncos were rolling out Pro Bowlers under Dorrell, and as a matter of fact, every receiver the team acquired or drafted during his time there is no longer with the team. Sure, Rod Smith and Ed McCaffrey are solid, but both were good players before and after Dorrell. It's a well known fact in Bronco Nation that Shanny has a tendancy to hire "yes" men as assistants, made obvious by the fact that there isn't a "coaching tree" to speak of. Karl Dorrell is among that group, and not someone I saw then, or now, as a coach with a bright head coaching future. Some guys are just better suited to be part of a team, not in charge of it, and Dorrell wasn't even a great assistant.
If the Bruins ever want to be taken seriously in college football, on and off campus, they need to get an established, proven successful head coach. I know Dorrell is an alum, but with no real football strength to speak of the Bruins will continue to win despite Dorrell, which is ok if 8-4 and 9-3 is acceptable every season.
I hope that makes sense....
Well, given what Dorrell has done in his four mediocre years in Westwood, it all certainly makes sense. Doesn't it?Dorrell really didn't have a strength, that I saw, as someone in a leadership position. It wasn't like the Broncos were rolling out Pro Bowlers under Dorrell, and as a matter of fact, every receiver the team acquired or drafted during his time there is no longer with the team. Sure, Rod Smith and Ed McCaffrey are solid, but both were good players before and after Dorrell. It's a well known fact in Bronco Nation that Shanny has a tendancy to hire "yes" men as assistants, made obvious by the fact that there isn't a "coaching tree" to speak of. Karl Dorrell is among that group, and not someone I saw then, or now, as a coach with a bright head coaching future. Some guys are just better suited to be part of a team, not in charge of it, and Dorrell wasn't even a great assistant.
If the Bruins ever want to be taken seriously in college football, on and off campus, they need to get an established, proven successful head coach. I know Dorrell is an alum, but with no real football strength to speak of the Bruins will continue to win despite Dorrell, which is ok if 8-4 and 9-3 is acceptable every season.
I hope that makes sense....
GO BRUINS.