Sid Hartman: Brewster's recruiting ability will be tested

Going back to the days when Bernie Bierman left Tulane to return to his alma mater at Minnesota in 1932, the Gophers never have hired an assistant coach from the outside to take over the football program until Denver Broncos tight ends coach Tim Brewster was hired this week to replace the fired Glen Mason.

John Gutekunst was an assistant coach, but he moved up at Minnesota after Lou Holtz left for Notre Dame in 1985.

Brewster has been an assistant coach for 10 years, in college at North Carolina and Texas under Mack Brown, and in the pros with the San Diego Chargers and Broncos, with no experience as an offensive or defensive coordinator, yet he was the choice of Gophers Athletic Director Joel Maturi to take over the football program.

This was one appointment where there really wasn't a search committee. University of Minnesota President Robert Bruininks never met Brewster, limiting his questioning to two phone calls while he vacationed in Mexico. None of the boosters were involved.

The only people who interviewed Brewster were Maturi; Marc Ryan, the associate athletic director who is in charge of football at Minnesota; and Tom Wistrcill, another associate AD and the new marketing director.

On the positive side, Brewster had good-enough credentials to be a finalist for the Illinois coaching job before Ron Zook was named in December 2004. This year, Brewster withdrew as a top candidate for the Iowa State job and also was mentioned as a possible candidate at Stanford.

And one other reason you have to be a little excited about the hiring of Brewster is that my close personal friend -- Broncos coach Mike Shanahan, a former Gophers assistant -- doesn't hire bad coaches, and they become a lot better after spending some time with one of the great coaches of all time.

Brewster also has two sons who are outstanding high school football players. Clint Brewster is a top quarterback recruit who has verbally committed to Illinois; his youngest son, Nolan, was a standout junior safety at Denver Mullen High School last season. In a story on the Broncos website, Nolan Brewster said he modeled his game after Broncos Pro Bowl safety John Lynch.

They say Brewster was hired because of his great reputation as a recruiter at North Carolina and Texas before he went to the NFL. Well, it will be a lot different recruiting players to Minnesota than Texas.

Low budget available

Eventually, you will learn coaches such as Gary Patterson, the head coach at Texas Christian, and Charlie Strong, the defensive coordinator for national champion Florida, weren't interested in accepting a position that will pay $800,000 a year with $200,000 a year deferred in a day when some top coaches are being paid as much as $4 million a year.

Patterson had a $1 million buyout in his TCU contract and had better opportunities in the future, so he withdrew.

Maturi still was considering Strong as late as Monday afternoon when he interviewed for the job here.

One reason a lot of big-time head coaches weren't interested in the job was not only because of the pay, but because of the respect they have for Mason. They felt that if Mason couldn't win here, it must be a tough job.

Brewster was more interested in the opportunity than the money.

No doubt Paul Chryst, the offensive coordinator at Wisconsin, and Lane Kiffin, who holds the same job with Southern California, were disappointed because they wanted the job and didn't get it.

'No-names' can succeed

Brewster isn't going to cause a long line of people to buy season tickets now that he has been hired.

But no-names have had coaching success in the past.

When the New York Yankees hired Joe Torre as manager in 1996, after he had been fired holding the same job with the Mets, Braves and Cardinals, the headlines in the New York press read, "Joe Who?" as the media ripped the selection.

Four World Series championships later, Torre is headed for the Baseball Hall of Fame with one of the great managerial records of all time.

When Southern California hired Pete Carroll as its football coach after he didn't succeed in the NFL as coach of the Jets and Patriots, the choice was blasted by the media. Well, Carroll has posted a 65-12 record, won two national championships with the Trojans and is now regarded as one of the top college coaches in the nation.

A year ago, a lot of people were up in arms at Wisconsin when little-known defensive coordinator Bret Bielema was named to succeed the legendary Barry Alvarez as Badgers coach.

Well, the Badgers went 12-1, won the Capital One Bowl and finished the season ranked fifth in the country.

So Brewster should be given the opportunity to see if he can do something that many other coaches have failed to do -- win a Big Ten title, something the Gophers haven't done since tying Indiana and Purdue for the championship in 1967.

Helped beat Gophers

Vikings coach Brad Childress recalls Brewster being an outstanding tight end at Illinois when Childress was an assistant coach under Mike White. The Illini beat the then-unbeaten Gophers 42-24 here in 1982 and went on to play in the Rose Bowl following the 1983 season.

"He was a very good player, and he climbed the coaching tree through college and professional football," Childress said. "I have kept in contact with him. I just know he was a very good receiving tight end, he could get into the middle of the field and work, he knew how to run option routes. He was a hard-nosed kid from New Jersey, and he played that way."

Childress said Brewster's father is 77 years old and worked at Bethlehem Steel for years and years. "[Tim Brewster] knows what it's like to work for a day's pay," Childress said. "He comes from a blue-collar work ethic."

On the Vikings front, Childress reported that defensive coordinator Mike Tomlin was in Pittsburgh on Tuesday being interviewed for the Steelers coaching job to replace Bill Cowher. But Tomlin isn't likely to go to Miami for a second interview with the Dolphins, who are looking for a replacement for Nick Saban.

There will be one change in the Vikings' assistant coaching staff. Wide receivers coach Darrell Wyatt is leaving and George Stewart, who was on Holtz's staff at Minnesota and has been with the Falcons, will replace Wyatt on the staff.

"Stew's a hell of a man, he's a 19-year coaching veteran and I know he can handle the receivers," Childress said. "He coached the 49ers when they had J.J. Stokes, Terrell Owens and Jerry Rice, so if he can keep those guys straightened out, he'll do all right."

Sid Hartman can be heard weekdays on WCCO AM-830 at 6:40, 7:40 and 8:40 a.m. and on his Podcast twice a week at www.startribune.com/sidcast. shartman@startribune.com