Tim Brewster Owes Tubby Smith and Don Lucia a Big "Thank You"

Gopher football fans are used to disappointment.

Gopher basketball fans in the dark days between Clem Haskins' shameful departure and the arrival of Tubby Smith endured their share of heartbreak.

But Gopher hockey?  The squad that won back-to-back titles in the 2000s?  Surely they couldn't meander through a season with disappointing results.  Could they?

It's a sad state of affairs nowadays over in Dinkytown.  The wrestling team is enjoying moderate success.  There's a glimmer of hope with the baseball team.  I guess that the volleyball team had a nice season. Other than that?  Yuck.

Hockey is supposed to be the constant over at the U.  Always ranked, always in contention for the Frozen Four. This is supposed to be The State of Hockey.  Not this year.

Don Lucia's Men's Hockey team currently finds themselves fighting with Alaska-Anchorage for seventh place in the WCHA.  Admittedly, the Seawolves have a bit of an advantage due to their proximity to king crab and reindeer sausage, but I'd still assume the Gophers would have enough talent to overcome that.

The Gophers find themselves looking up at the standings at in-state rivals St. Cloud State University and the University of Minnesota-Duluth. The Gophers have always looked down their noses at their small school neighbors, suddenly they can't compete with them.

Then there's the Gopher basketball team.  Just to make this clear, I still think that Tubby Smith is a heck of a coach and the U is very lucky to have him.  That's why this season is such a mystery.

Nobody said the Gophers would be a Final Four team this year, but their regression is puzzling.  They basically brought everybody back from a team that went to the NCAA tournament last year.  Everybody.  They didn't need to find someone to eat up minutes, in fact they brought back 11 players who played significant minutes last year.

Granted, the newcomers were unable to contribute this year.  The legal messes that Trevor Mbawke and Royce White brought with them never went away.  White will likely never suit up for the Gophers and Mbawke is no closer to returning to the court than he was when the season started.

Still, Tubby Smith shouldn't have needed those two to at least replicate last season's moderate success. With everyone of significance back, the Gophers squad should have only gotten better.  It hasn't worked out that way.

I can't point to one player on the Gophers who has significantly improved over last season.  That's on the head coach.

With Tubby's resume, more should have been expected of this squad.  They've failed miserably at every turn in the schedule.  After a promising win against highly-ranked Butler, it's been all downhill for this squad.

A bad loss to the Portland Pilots.  Losses to decent Texas A&M and University of Miami teams didn't help the cause.  The team bottomed out against the Hoosiers and with their one last gasp at NCAA tourney hopes, squandered at double digit lead in the final minutes to fall to Northwestern.

What does all this have to do with Tim Brewster?  Plenty. 

The local media should be focusing on a recruiting class that's not quite on the same plane as Brewster's previous classes.  The media should be focusing on the charade of a contract extension that somehow Tim Brewster "earned".  With all the negativity surrounding the Gophers winter sports, the football team has been forgotten.  For now.

Spring will be here soon enough.  The hockey and basketball team's woes will fade into thin air.  At that time, the heat will be back on for Tim Brewster.

Spring practices will bring an open quarterback competition, another new offense and a lot of new personnel on the defensive side of the ball. Somebody in Minnesota has to break the string of failures and enjoy a little success.

It seems unlikely right now, but if Tim Brewster can't win with the 2010 squad, he's going to be out of a job.