Frontrunners, as in, wish list? Or frontrunners as in, expressed interest?

As in, here's the original post:

Let me preface this by saying, I haven't read one thread on GH since Sunday, as I've been out of the country. I have a dial-up like internet connection (forgot how it was in the olden days, haha), so if this has been posted I apologize.

Anyways, I heard from an extremely reliable source that these look to be the front runners:

Mike Leach
Mike Stoops
Tommy Tubberville
Kevin Sumlin

I'm guessing at this point it's "wish list" although Leach has said he's open to the idea and has been making the rounds on Twin Cities radio lately.

gorocks99;527285 wrote:As in, here's the original post:



I'm guessing at this point it's "wish list" although Leach has said he's open to the idea and has been making the rounds on Twin Cities radio lately.

Tuberville? Why would leave Texas Tech for Minnesota?

Leach would do it

Stoops, eh?? Probably wouldn't do it. He's built a winner in Arizona. No need to hit the reset button at Minnesota, especially when they haven't been traditionally good here in the past 20 years or so.

Sumlin probably wouldn't leave Houston for Minnesota. He can do better than that

The thing about Stoops is that he's only making $1mil/season - the general consensus is that Minnesota will be offering between $2-$2.5 million. That's a big pay raise for a guy from Big Ten country to come back.

I think of all those choices, Sumlin is the MOST likely to come to Minnesota - he spent four years as an assistant in the mid-90s and understands the situation. Plus, he's a Big Ten guy as well, having played at Purdue.

gorocks99;527333 wrote:
I think of all those choices, Sumlin is the MOST likely to come to Minnesota - he spent four years as an assistant in the mid-90s and understands the situation. Plus, he's a Big Ten guy as well, having played at Purdue.

Exactly why I would think he would have no interest whatsoever.

gorocks99;527333 wrote:The thing about Stoops is that he's only making $1mil/season - the general consensus is that Minnesota will be offering between $2-$2.5 million. That's a big pay raise for a guy from Big Ten country to come back..

If that is the case, I can see him taking an interview just to bump up his salary at Arizona.

enigmaax;527355 wrote:Exactly why I would think he would have no interest whatsoever.

Brian Kelly was reportedly interested last year before the Gophers extended Brewster's contract. http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_16401692?nclick_check=1

I don't think it's as bad a job as people on here make it out to be.

gorocks99;528601 wrote:Brian Kelly was reportedly interested last year before the Gophers extended Brewster's contract. http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_16401692?nclick_check=1

I don't think it's as bad a job as people on here make it out to be.

I don't think so either. What really separates them from Wisconsin and Iowa? I know that tradition and support and all that, but there is no reason to think that in 5-10 years Minnesota couldn't be at that level.

thedynasty1998;528644 wrote:I don't think so either. What really separates them from Wisconsin and Iowa? I know that tradition and support and all that, but there is no reason to think that in 5-10 years Minnesota couldn't be at that level.

Minnesota has quite a few national titles. I think they are 3rd in the big ten. The tradition is really really old, but it's there.

gorocks99;528601 wrote:Brian Kelly was reportedly interested last year before the Gophers extended Brewster's contract. http://www.twincities.com/sports/ci_16401692?nclick_check=1

I don't think it's as bad a job as people on here make it out to be.

Well, I don't necessarily believe "one insider", but it doesn't really matter. I said that about Sumlin; obviously I don't know the guy so he could very well be interested. I just think that knowing the situation wouldn't be the reason someone would take the job. I understand there's an element of building a program that is attractive to a lot of guys, especially guys who need that stepping stone to BCS conference schools. It is one place where you pretty much know where you're going to max out. If you're looking to possibly be above average in some seasons, it is a great place. But again, you're probably looking at that as a way to eventually move on. In Sumlin's case, I would just think he's going to have some opportunities that are just as good/better and Minny isn't going to be a short term turnaround.

So, I'm a big homer and have maroon colored glasses on a lot of the time, but I just think Minnesota can get their Alvarez or their Ferentz just as easily as Wisconsin and Iowa did. The biggest difference right now is in institutional support, and that has been shifting at the U as of late (with a $300 million stadium investment and the notion that they'll be paying $2-$2.5 million for a qualified coach).

If you look at the hires over the past 40 years, they haven't been a "who's who." In fact, most have not even had a winning D-1 record when they came into the program:

Cal Stoll - Coached Wake Forest for three seasons with a 15-17 record. Coached Minnesota for seven seasons with a 39-39 record.
Joe Salem - Coached in D1AA for 13 seasons with a 77-56-1 record. Coached Minnesota for five seasons with a 19–35–1 record.
Lou Holtz - 93-33-5 in 11 seasons for NC State and Arkansas. Coached Minnesota for two seasons with a 10-12 record (I'll give that an incomplete - we don't know how well he would've done there)
John Gutekunst - No previous head coaching experience. 29-37-2 in seven seasons with the Gophers.
Jim Wacker - 40-58-2 in nine seasons with TCU. 16-39 in five seasons with Minnesota.
Glen Mason - 59-64-1 in 11 seasons with Kent State/Kansas. 64-57 in ten seasons with Minnesota.
Tim Brewster - No previous head coaching experience. 15-30 in 3.5 seasons.

I feel like, if they could find a guy with a track record of winning, success similar to that of Wisconsin could be had.

It'll be interesting. It looks like they're willing to spend some money to lure a good/established coach. That would be a plus. I would actually love to see Mike Leach there - its kind of an odd fit I think, but I would love to see it.

Wisky and Iowa kind of lucked into their success, just from the standpoint that neither had head coaching experience so those were great starter jobs that ended up going well. It isn't always easy to pick out those guys as Minny already knows with Brewster.

Skip Holtz?

Skip has begrudgingly been mentioned, but I'd have to think the University wants very little to do with the Holtz family after Lou left the Gophers on probation years back.

Mike Bellotti says he wouldn't rule the job out:

http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/news/sevendays/25440932-35/bellotti-coach-games-oregon-barner.csp

Former Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti, who earlier this week was tabbed by a newspaper as a potential candidate for the open job at Minnesota, didn’t rule out a return to the coaching ranks during an interview Thursday.

“I don’t know; we’ll see,” said Bellotti, now an analyst for ESPN. “I like what I’m doing. The travel is a little crazy, but I’m dealing with it. If the right job came up, I would listen. But right now I like doing what I’m doing.”