We need a new Wide Receivers Coach!!!

George McDonald has left Gopher Nation for the Dawg Pound.....

http://myespn.go.com/blogs/bigten/0-2-1262/Minnesota-assistant-leaves-for-Browns-job.html

I find it interesting that the position that McDonald is leaving the Gophers for is not mentioned in the article. As of 930pm Tuesday night, the Cleveland Browns have no evidence on their website that McDonald exists.  Oh. Here we go. The Red Star has reported he will be a quality control assistant with the Browns. 

Before getting to a quick analysis of the article written by our favorite ESPN blogger Rittenberg, let's critique this career move.  By way of comparison, our new defensive coordinator Jedd Fisch, after spending two years as a graduate assistant at Florida, became a defensive quality control coach (what? Our offensive coordinator was a defensive coach? Huh?) for the Texans.  Can't really tell what he did the next two years (administrative work is mentioned), but he then became an assistant QBs/WRs coach for the Ravens.

Why mention this? I dunno.  Oh, now I know.  What's the purpose of a quality control coach? I looked around the Web and found out that this coach normally breaks down game film about 2 weeks ahead of the current week's opponent.  The Web alleges this is the first position for an NFL coach to hold, with the next step to be a position coach.

Is this a natural progression for a college position coach? I don't think so. This is the position held by someone BEFORE he becomes a position coach.  But McDonald already is a position coach - he should be angling to be a coordinator in the coming years, or a WR coach at a "bigger school." (Didn't Ronnie Lee just co-make this step up?)  Seems to me either that McDonald is willing to go backwards to get out of Minnesota, or to go backwards to get into the pros.  I hope it's the latter. I fear the former.

A concern is McDonald's relationship with the WR players.  Decker is a pro baseball prospect. Will he want to work with all new offensive coaches, or would he decide to bolt if drafted by Major League Baseball?

How does Hayo Carpenter react - McDonald was probably Carpenter's primary recruiter.  Same with Brandon Green and the other underclass WRs. 

This leads to the real issue of this post.  In the Rittenberg posting, Brewster said he's going to "conduct a national search" to find a replacement.  Right. We've seen this movie before.  We know what this means - he's going to interview 5 guys and get turned down.  Then, he'll go to the Combine in Indianapolis, bump into his buddies from Illinois, Texas, San Diego and Denver, and invite them to take the job.  Or, he's going to hire a Texas quality control coach.

Many questions in this post, but here's one more - Brewster spins McDonald's departure as demand for a "good coach."  At least McDonald stayed on until signing day.  But, what is the deal with the turnover on this staff? Withers, Roof, Cosgrove, Dunbar, Davis, Fisch, Lee, McDonald.  The revolving door leads to bad stories on the recruiting trail (Texas Tech successfully convinced a Michigan commit that Rodriguez would likely get fired after the 2009 season, and the kid went to Lubbock instead. Seriously).  My repeated concerns about Brewster's coaching extend to the lack of stability on the staff. It seems the program can't find a philosophy, a set method of coaching, a decision on how to progress beyond "hey, we've got a new stadium and we recruit well."  I'm afraid Minnesota football may be suffering from a lack of organizational leadership.