gophers/ncaa

Reporter said, "his decision shattered the dream of many alums of returning the football program to the elite level nationally." There are certainly a lot of subjective statement in this article without any attribution.

Sid will have a tantrum over this hire, after he blames the officials for the U of M preformance tonight. I am betting he claims SJU will never beat anyone again

For those who think Gary was Gagliardi's choice. Ummm, no. No. Gary deserves a chance to succeed now that he's the guy. But it's going to take a lot of winning to convince a lot of people that he should have been the guy.

It was a good selection by SJU. Mr. Fasching much more exemplifies the qualities of SJU. Those who watch High School football close and have observed the decorum of Mr. Grant on the sidelines know that he doesn't have those same qualities.

Sadly, it is not easy to be optimistic.

@jimiek: "If Grant didn't coach for a school with one of the largest class sizes in the country he would be a nobody. Football is all about numbers. I think it is one reason that EP won't split the school like so many others have done." Best comment so far. Grant is really waiting for Caruso to move up. STU is the situation that most closely represents what Grant has at EP.

Amavis, serious question, not sarcastic or anything, because I have only seen a few of his games on TV. But what is Grant's sideline demeanor? Because one thing GAgliardi was famous for was chewing out referees -- for 60 years. So if that's what Grant does, there wouldn't be anything wrong with it, I don't think.

This process seems to have been a joke given the final three candidates. SJU had the opportunity to consider so many quality coaches from around the country. They never looked beyond their own back yard. And now they want to keep the same coaches....I don't get it.... Gags should have stayed on the job! Nothing has changed except the legend has left the building.

jimiek: the Eden Prairie School Board decided many years ago to have one high school campus, instead of dividing enrollment between two high school buildings, for prudent financial reasons including the huge monetary investment in constructing and maintaining a second high school facility compared to funding and improving as necessary a single campus. EP learned a valuable lesson from Edina, which added a second high school and then had to repurpose the building when enrollment declined. Totino Grace and Hutchinson have spectacularly successful quality championship football teams despite having a much smaller student population than Eden Prairie; numbers aren't everything. Mike Grant built and manages what is arguably the Gold Standard for Minnesota high school football programs--eight state championships since 1996; case closed--but he also reportedly enjoys the entire EPHS experience, especially being EP's student activities director, and will happily remain at EP until he's ready for retirement unless the perfect job opportunity arises and persuades him to make a career change. Good luck to Gary Fasching, and cheers to John Gagliardi.

Gary Fasching was absolutely the right choice and he will prove it. He was one of my teachers at CHS in the early nineties (so I am obviously biased). The way he led the 1992 high school team (after a mediocre regular season) to a state championship was impressive and very exciting to watch! Mike Grant probably wanted to run the SJU program like a D1 program, which would never work. SJU will dominate the MIAC again if they give Fasching the resources that St. Thomas has.