It was Glen Mason's last day in the Gophers football office, and while packing his belongings he was visiting with a couple of friends about his 10-year stay in Minnesota.
This was Mason's 21st year as a head coach and the first time he has been fired.
"I never cheated or had any major issues with players with the exception of the [shooting] death of Brandon Hall [in 2002]," said Mason, noting his players' lack of behavioral problems. "I ran a clean program. We were never in trouble with the NCAA."
Mason said he graduated a lot of players and ran off several players for a variety of reasons, including not going to class.
And Mason made it clear he is not spiteful. He said he hopes his successor can pick up where he left off and continue the building process that he began.
"I got up the other morning, and for the first time in 35 years, I didn't have any type of football on my mind," said Mason, who has been involved in the sport that long as a player, assistant coach and head coach.
Mason said it was sad that he won't be involved in the new campus stadium. And truth be told, nobody worked harder than Mason lobbying politicians and the like to make it a reality.
So it was ironic that two days after he was fired, a news conference was held to show what the new stadium would look like.
Sometimes life isn't fair.
Mason turned down chances to coach at LSU and Michigan State because he liked living here and was confident he could develop a winning program.
Then he revealed that two years ago he was offered a job in a place with a warmer climate. But it would have been another rebuilding job and he decided he wanted to end his career at Minnesota.
He definitely wants to coach again, and you can rest assured that he will when he gets the right offer. He is a good football coach. But he has enough good friends in business that somebody might offer him a job out of sports. I'm sure he would be a very good executive because he was a great organizer.
For 10 years during the football season we did a morning show on WCCO on Tuesday, a pregame show on Thursday and then the Sunday "Sports Huddle." Yes, we had our ups and downs. Mason had a little of the late Woody Hayes in him. I'd walk out of the football building on some days really upset with him. The next day it was a lovefest. He did things for me he didn't do for other members of the media. And I appreciated that.
No other member of the media spent as much time as I did talking to him in his office -- sometimes at least five days a week and others times six or seven -- not only about sports, but about mutual friends and a variety of different subjects.
I will miss him a lot even though you could call him Mr. Grumpy at times. He told it how it was and didn't pull any punches. You had to respect him for that.
Draft choices absent
Yes, the Vikings went 6-10, and a poor 2005 draft might have something to do with it. Then there was the knee operation that kept linebacker Chad Greenway, their No. 1 draft choice in 2006, out for the entire season. And lineman Ryan Cook, a second-round pick in 2006, wasn't ready to play much until late in the season.
The top seven Vikings draft picks from 2005 were either no longer with the team or not available to play when the team faced the Rams on Sunday.
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