Patrick Reusse: Recruiting raises rival coaches' ire

The 2008 Gophers have been getting worse and Wisconsin has been getting better, and yet coach Tim Brewster was as subtle as a runaway 18-wheeler with his agitation of the Badgers' Bret Bielema this week.

You have to be around either of these guys for five minutes to realize they are raging egomaniacs, so it's not a surprise that it took only the few weeks between Brewster being hired and the 2007 recruiting classes being signed for these geographical rivals to start loathing one another.

The folks in Wisconsin quickly reached the conclusion that Brewster was capable of most anything when it came to recruiting.

The feud started right then. In a moment of candor this week, Bielema admitted that trying to sign players is the source of most of the problems between big-time coaches.

"You lose friendships and cause more hard feelings during recruiting than any game day," he said Monday.

A day later, Brewster spent much of his media session taunting Bielema. What set off Brewster, apparently, were Bielema's Monday comments on future recruiting efforts in Minnesota.

The Wisconsin coach was asked if his main advantage with Minnesota recruits -- Camp Randall Stadium -- would now be lost with the Gophers moving to an on-campus, outdoor stadium next fall.

Bielema was saying this shortly after Ra'shede Hageman, the tight end from Minneapolis Washburn, committed to Minnesota and passed on Wisconsin.

He did so with a quote directly from Brewster's recruiting playbook: "Why go to Wisconsin when you have what you want right in front of you?"

Twenty-four hours after Bielema refused to concede the Minnesota recruiting grounds, Brewster shoved the Big Bad Badger's snout in the ground with repeated tributes to Kim Royston, a transfer from Wisconsin.

Royston, a Cretin-Derham Hall graduate, spent two seasons at Wisconsin with modest impact. He's a defensive back and kick returner sitting out a transfer season.

Time and again, it was reported erroneously in Minnesota that Royston was being prevented from receiving a Gophers scholarship because Wisconsin wouldn't give him a release. The actuality is that it's a Big Ten rule that football players transferring from one conference school to another cannot receive a scholarship at any time.

"Kim is a Cretin-Derham Hall graduate and he left the state of Minnesota to go to Wisconsin, and he's decided to come home," Brewster said. "I can't say enough about Kim and his decision to come home and represent the state of Minnesota, as opposed to leaving Minnesota.

"He's going to be a great player for us, and we couldn't be more proud of him deciding to come home."

Did you hear that over in Madison, Coach Bielema? Kim Royston decided to come home.

Brewster made the transition from Royston to paying tribute to himself and his program for the success in getting commitments from Minnesota seniors for the 2009 recruiting class.

"I couldn't be more excited that the young kids in the state of Minnesota are staying at home," Brewster said.

"Kim's shared some things with us [about the Wisconsin program]. ... It's hard on Wisconsin, because here's a kid who was inside their program, who knows intimate details of their program, who is now in our program. It's a bit unnerving, I'm sure, for Wisconsin."

This was nonsense, of course, since Brewster's staff includes two assistants who already could give him all necessary insight into Bielema's program.

Defensive backs coach Ronnie Lee was a Badgers assistant three years, including one under Bielema. Running backs coach Thomas Hammock was a graduate assistant in 2004 when Bielema joined the Wisconsin staff.

Royston provided one asset for the Gophers in the run-up to today's game: a chance for Brewster to take some digs at the Big Bad Badger.