Cancelled Meeting = Time for an Update

So my 12-1 got cancelled, which gives me some free time to send out a few notes.

1) PJ Hill - done and done. He's going pro (try not to laugh). He will follow in the footsteps of so many great Becky Backs that have gone pro like...ummm...nevermind. A ray of good news for the Maroon and Gold today. Not that he was a huge thorn in our side, well okay he was huge, but I don't think Becky will miss him that much. So the Pigeons and Becky both lose their top TB as an early entry to the draft...looks like D.Bennett and our cast of characters might have dibs on being some of the best in the league next year - assuming we get the right guy to run the show.

2) Now it's not completely official yet, but I'm hearing more and more about how Kevin Cosgrove will be our next DC. I went back and checked some of his numbers out, and he hasn't been stellar considering where he's been. At Becky and NEB he finished in the 50th overall range in defense about 80% of the time. He was 112th in that final dreaful season at NEB and he was Top 10 one year at Becky. But looks at where our club has been...74th this year, 119th, 113th, 90th, 75th, and 34th in 2003 when we were 10-3 and had the #4 offense in the nation. If Cosgrove is the guy, and all indications are he is, then we'll have some tough questions to answer when predicting the fate of the Gopher defense in 2009.
- will this guy's trend of bringing teams down when he comes in continue?
- will our talent continue to improve, and make him look better than he is?
- coaching vs. talent...what is the balance
I really think our talent jumped a lot this year, and we made a 45 spot improvement in the overall D rankings. Our talent should again improve next year, so theoretically, we should see another jump. If this guy gets us into the Top 50, I think that's all we can hope for at this point.

I'm not going to complain until it's official, but I don't think this is the bets hire by Brew and Crew.

There's a rumor that Shanahan is in Mpls today discussing OC options with Brew and helping him on his search. He will not be the guy obviously, but he's a nice advisor to have in your back pocket. Why did he get fired again? I'd take him today over Chilly no questions asked.

Some hopes/rumors staight out of left field: Dan McCarney as DC...current FLA DL coach and former Cyclone head man. Sounds like he is a Brewster clone, and he actually had some strong teams at ISU - great midwest recruiter as well...this would be a nice fit.

Josh Heupel - the old OK QB. Apparently, he's a hot name in the OC circles right now, and he obviously has a spread background...not a bad hire.

Chuck Long - no. Terrible coach at SDST, don't want anything to do with a former Pigeon.

HOU OC - can't remember this guy's name, but he lead the Cougars to a #1 offenseive ranking this year at 575 yards per game! good god! They were top 50 in rushing and they threw like crazy...how fun would this be for Brew and Company with the talent we are building on offense. It could be like the old Wacker Attackers.


That's about it for now...I'm sure they'll be more for me to rant about sometime soon.

I encourage all of you guys to throw things on here if you have any opinions or rants about what's happening. I know I dominate this thing, but it's meant to be an easy communication source for everyone, so please fire when ready - I'd love to read what you're thinking.

I'm also considering expanding our ranks a little next year. I don't have anyone in particular in mind, but if you guys know someone who is a die-hard football guy and might be interested in joining our elite crew, shoot them over the link and let me know and I'll start adding them to the site list. I think it would be fun to have about 8-10 of us on here for weekly picks, banter, and get togethers on occasion. It would be fun to get some Cyclone/Badger/Hawkeyes mixed in as well...as long as their not too brutal.

TCF STADIUM KICK OFF COUNTDOWN
240ish days...i lost count already! damn it!