I know a wide portion of the audience reading this blog are probably not from the Minneapolis, Minnesota area, but I thought the topic in general could relate to everyone… but especially sports fans.

For the last six months, there has been much talk around the Twin Cities about our beloved University of Minnesota Golden Gophers football team.  See it is not that we have a Heisman Trophy contending quarterback or a wide receiver that could go first in the 2008 NFL draft.  Nope – none of those things.  You know the normal things that get Division 1 teams deep press coverage.  Actually it is our coach.  I’m not kidding.

See, about six months ago, Tim Brewster was announced as our new football coach for the U of MN.  He is not known for his West Coast offense or great 3-4 defense… he is actually known for his great recruiting skills.  In fact, that is all we have heard about here since his press conference announcing he was our new coach.  At first, I looked past it and thought to myself, “Self, let’s just wait and see what happens on the field in September.”  But then I got to thinking, what Coach Brewster is looking to do is no different than what I strive to do on a daily basis at Talent – recruit for future talent to join our organization.  I am no different than Coach Brewster (except in salary, of course).

So then I spent some time researching Brewster’s background and why people think he is a great recruiter.  I didn’t do extensive research or anything, but did find national sports articles about Brewster.  Before joining the U of MN, Brewster was a tight end coach for the Denver Broncos.  His reputation stands on his ability to create relationships through trust and willingness to do his best to advance his players careers on the football field.  He has a great coaching staff around him who spend hundreds and hundreds of hours sitting in the stands on rainy Friday nights watching high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors grid it out on the field, trying to effectively “source” future members of his college team.  Upon finding these high school stars, Brewster then hits the phones, drives hours, and flies all across the country to interview, recruit, and ultimately try to get these potential stars to sign the “offer letter” (letter of intent is what it is referred to in college football terms).  No different than what any of us try and do on a daily basis.

However, you know what really makes Coach Brewster effective at his job (although we Gopher fans have yet to be proved this)?  He has what every great recruiter is made of… personality.  If you listen to Brewster on radio interviews, and I managed to track down several and listened to them, you can hear in his voice how passionate he is about his team and his goal to continue building his talented young players.  And that is just to radio audiences.  Think of what he does in front of candidates, er, I mean high school recruits!

I wish the best for Coach Brewster and the Golden Gophers this year.  And Coach, I’m not sure if you cruise around the ERE website, but if you are reading this and are looking for a recruiter to join your team, I would gladly take your phone call.