I wasn’t in the 1930s and I was too young to appreciate football in the 40s, but at one point, the University of Minnesota was a soccer factory that produced some of the best college football teams in the country. The school had long been noted for its soccer program before the 1930s. The joke about Bronko Nagurski was that Doc Williamson, the coach, had traveled the state looking for soccer players for his team. When he found a possible candidate working in the fields with a plow in hand, he would ask for directions to a nearby town. If the candidate just pointed, I would appreciate it and move on. But if he used the plow to point, Williamson would hire him on the spot. Nagurski pointed with the plow.

Although Williamson produced good teams, it wasn’t until Bernie Bierman took over in 1932 that Minnesota became a household word in college football. According to his College Football Hall of Fame biography, Bierman was a Minnesota native who graduated from U of M in 1915. He was a high school football coach for a year, served in the Marine Corps for two years and then he went to Montana State. University where he compiled a regular record. After marrying in 1921, he became a bond seller, but his wife convinced him to go back to being a coach because she didn’t like staying home alone while he was away.

After helping out at Tulane, Bierman became head coach at Mississippi A&M (now Mississippi State) in 1925 and was 8-8-1 there in two seasons. At Tulane from 1927 to 1931, Bierman won 36 games, lost 10 and tied 3. His 1931 team won all 11 games and then lost 21-12 to Southern California in the Rose Bowl. He assumed the position of coach at the University of Minnesota in 1932.

Bierman had 6 undefeated teams in ten years at Minnesota and his teams from 1934, 1936, 1940, and 1941 won National Championships. Perennial champions Michigan and Ohio State were winless against them, including Michigan teams that included the legendary Tom Harmon. The attack on Pearl Harbor changed many things in the United States. One of the effects was to end Minnesota’s dominance in soccer. Bierman returned as coach in 1945, and in 1949 he came close to winning the Big Ten Championship, but resigned after the 1950 season, winning only one game.

The coaching position opened in early 1951. One of the applicants was Bud Wilkinson, who was born in Minneapolis and had played for college on the 1936 championship team. Another applicant was Wes Fesler, coach of Ohio State University. . The selection committee chose Fesler. Bud Wilkinson transferred to the University of Oklahoma and became the Sooner Dynasty architect who has produced excellent equipment to this day. Fesler retired in 1953, best known to the U of M as the man who trained Paul Giel.

Hindsight is 20/20, but this Gopher fan wonders if things could have turned out differently if Minnesota had hired Wilkinson.

Another could have been for the Gophers in 1954 when John Wooden applied for the position as head coach of the Minnesota basketball team. Wooden was a stranger at the time, but I wonder if he could have worked his magic at Williams Arena. Oh ok ….