Not So Golden

On the eve of the University of Minnesota football team's undeserving bowl appearance in the Quick Lane Bowl, I think it's time someone said it; the Golden Gopher men's athletic program is in absolute chaos.

Before I bash on the Gopher's men's programs, let me start by complementing the quality and success of the U of M's women's athletics.  So far, it's been a great year for them.  Women's cross country and soccer both had nice runs in the playoffs, volleyball finished third in the nation and women's hockey and basketball both have had promising starts to their seasons.  Women's athletics at the U is the gold standard for college athletics in Minnesota.

The men's programs are floundering, but considering the desirability of the metro area the University is located (Twin Cities), why any program at the U has issues has always made zero sense to me.  Have you spent anytime in the glorified rest stops that masquerade as Division I college hometowns?  This program should NEVER have problems recruiting the better players and coaches.   Does it get cold?  Sure, but the weather never seems to be a problem at other cold weather universities.  Nor is it a problem at rainy, earthquake prone or ungodly hot ones either.

Locale aside, I think there's a lack of seriousness with the men's most popular division I sports programs at Minnesota.  It manifests itself in different ways, but the lack of results are the same.

Let's start with the most prestigious of all of the Golden Gopher men's programs.  No, not football; ice hockey.  The ice hockey program in Minnesota is as serious as football at Ohio State or basketball at Duke.  A few years back the program moved from the consistently competitive WCHA conference to the new Big 10 conference, and the end result is a weaker program.  The program is vanilla this year.  They are 7-8 so far, and are playing down to the substandard programs which inhabit the Big 10, but this was expected.  When you play the best teams in hockey, it keeps your program sharp.  When you play subpar competition consistently, you start playing down to them.  When the ice hockey team moved to the Big 10 conference, they needed to be proactive to prevent the programs predictable fall.  I'm not too concerned, as men's ice hockey can easily recover from this with the right attitude, but the other major men's programs are a mess.

The biggest mess at the University of Minnesota is the mens basketball team.  The season started on shaky ground with loses to Temple and Texas Tech in a Thanksgiving tourney, but the wheels came off the program when they lost to South Dakota (!), South Dakota State (!!) and UW-Milwaukee (!!!).  We haven't even started the incredibly brutal Big 10 schedule.  When you look at the roster, there's a lot of talent on the team, so you need to look at the coach.  Richard Pitino, son of coaching legend Rick Pitino, proves a name is only a name.  He has yet to show any of the early career ability of his father.  Even worse, it feels like he's always looked at Minnesota as a stepping stone job to a more prestigious college.  With the program currently a dumpster fire, and a lack of coaching intensity and interest (my guess is dad will always have an assistant position for the boy if he needs a safe place), the program is years away from turning it around.

The saddest downfall at the U is the program which will likely get annihilated by Central Michigan tomorrow, the football program.  I'm not going to get into the health issues surrounding the former head coach Jerry Kill, but his unexpected resignation earlier this year particularly stung because he was the coach who wanted to be here.  I really liked him.  I don't know how Tracy Claeys will do as the head coach, but I think they rushed his long term signing.  I also think the programs commitment to the Division III level quarterback Mitch Leidner has been a blow to their season, but when you talk about lack of seriousness, it's the fact they are playing in a bowl game at all which highlights the lackluster mentality.  I get that the NCAA has moved WAY past tradition when they allowed teams with less that 8 wins into bowl games, and when they allowed bowl games to be known more by the ludicrous sponsors who buy them like trading cards, but to allow a 5-7 program anywhere near a bowl game, and for said program to accept the invite like it was some sort of win, points to the sad state of the Minnesota football team.  They're so desperate to put any polish on this crap-fest of a season, they've become Charlie Brown gladly accepting a used Valentine's Day card just to feel something.  It's really sad.

My prediction on tomorrow's University of Minnesota Golden Gopher Football bowl game...who cares! They'll have a losing record if they win, and they'll have a losing record if they lose.  I'll pay attention to the women's athletic programs if I want to see winners.