The first report that Tim Brewster would be the next Gophers football coach surfaced around 5:30 p.m. The ridicule started pouring into the Star Tribune via e-mails within minutes.
There were numerous people who offered similar one-liners about the Gophers having hired "Punky" Brewster.
Actually, Brewster is a tall, powerful man who was an All-Big Ten tight end with Illinois on the 1983 team that went to the Rose Bowl.
Over the past 40 years, we have come to expect the worst in Gophers football, both in results and in hiring coaches to turn around the program. So, when the Brewster reports surfaced Monday -- when it was revealed the Gophers were ready to choose a no-name -- it was a natural reaction to anticipate the worst once again.
It's a reaction that rates as premature, when you consider the endorsement Brewster received on Monday night from Tom Lemming, who ranks at the top of the nation's recruiting experts.
"I've been doing this for 28 years and I've never had Minnesota in the top five in the Big Ten with a recruiting class, not even when Lou Holtz was there," Lemming said. "I would expect that Tim will change that by next year.
"I knew him when he was a [graduate assistant] at North Carolina. He and Mack Brown would come over to my house and look at film. He learned from the master in Mack -- for nine years at North Carolina and four years at Texas.
"He was Mack's ace at both places. He dominated both staffs when it came to bringing in players.
"Tim is relentless as a recruiter. He knows how to talk to recruits at every level. He's great with players, with parents and with coaches.
"He's from New Jersey, so he has contacts in the East. He played at Illinois, so he should be able to get a few kids from there. And he has a lot of coaching contacts in Texas ... especially in Houston, where he dominated for the Longhorns."
One Brewster signing out of Houston was Vince Young, the quarterback who led Texas to the national championship last season. He also was the recruiter for Chris Simms, Young's predecessor as the Texas quarterback.
"Minnesota never has had a guy like this -- not as a head coach," Lemming said. "He's an outgoing, persuasive type of person ... a salesman."
In other words, Brewster would be the anti-Glen Mason, whose approach basically was to disappear from public view from the end of spring football until the start of preseason camp in August.
It sounds as if Brewster would be selling Gophers football year-round. That's something university President Robert Bruininks and Athletic Director Joel Maturi must figure they need badly, what with $35 million still needed in fundraising for the new on-campus stadium.
Brewster, 46, left Texas for the NFL five years ago. He was the tight ends coach at San Diego for three seasons and then with Denver for the past two. Why did he leave the college game for the NFL?
"I think he felt a little dead-ended at Texas," Lemming said. "He almost had the Illinois job a couple of years ago, but they went with Ron Zook -- another outstanding recruiter.
"I think it's a very good hire for Minnesota. The AD did a good job, in my opinion. I understand [USC assistant] Lane Kiffin was the runner-up. He's probably the best college recruiter in the country right now, so the Gophers couldn't have gone wrong either way."
Patrick Reusse can be heard weekdays on AM-1500 KSTP at 6:45 and 7:45 a.m. and 4:40 p.m. • preusse@startribune.com
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