ESPN College Football

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Still months ahead of his first game in charge of the Gophers, before any indication develops of his pedigree as a head coach, Tim Brewster has created a clear image of himself.

It's more than just a picture of the energetic, eternally optimistic salesman who is committed to rekindling statewide interest in Minnesota's only major-college football team. He's got a sharp side, too.

He's so serious about closing the state's borders that he blurted out Wednesday that he would be "bitterly disappointed" if all nine of the Minnesota high school seniors-to-be he's offered scholarships don't ultimately don maroon and gold uniforms in the fall of 2008.

Six of them, Brewster said, have given verbal commitments. He can't comment by NCAA rule specifically on recruits until they've signed letters of intent, but Cretin-Derham Hall receiver Michael Floyd is one of those three unspoken-for prizes who call this state home that the Gophers are pursuing along with powers like Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State and USC.

Floyd, the Minnesota Associated Press Player of the Year in 2006, is the most talented prep athlete this state has produced since Joe Mauer came out of the same St. Paul school five years ago. If he chooses to play for the Gophers, Floyd will give Brewster's program an unquestionable boost.

That's one of the reasons why he's so relentless.

"It is vitally important that we keep each and every Minnesota kid at home," Brewster said, addressing the annual state Associated Press sports editors meeting at the St. Paul Pioneer Press building.

But that tenacity also seems to stem simply from the way he's wired. Brewster recounted a recent function he headlined in Rochester when a conversation that followed with a fan brought up this question:

Which program would you like to model the Gophers after? Iowa? Wisconsin?

"I was almost incredulous as I looked at the guy," Brewster said. "I said, 'We want to be Minnesota."

His version of the Gophers is much different than most viewpoints. Brewster pushes the program's long-ago accomplishments, spouting "six national championships and 18 Big Ten championships" as if he were in basic training and just asked for his name, rank and serial number. Most other people who know anything about Minnesota football think in more contemporary terms, perhaps scoffing "Music City Bowl at best."

But Brewster is committed to raising those standards, and whether or not he has any success in increasing the program's profile and winning percentage, it will be entertaining just to watch him try. Already, the culture has begun to change -- even though the season opener isn't until Sept. 1.

He sees the world as recruiting tools, whether it's newspapers that cover his team, big-name nonconference opponents he'd like to schedule, or sports fans in small outstate towns who buy his take-the- Gopher-nation-to-Pasadena pitch.

In May, Brewster and his assistant coaches made sure one of them stopped by each of the state's nearly 400 high schools. Brewster personally visited more than 100.

"If a kid is deciding between Wisconsin and Minnesota, I expect the high-school coach to step in and help us get that kid ... but he's not going to do that unless he trusts us."

As he strives to build that trust, across all sections of the fan base, be prepared for wild hyperbole mixed in with all the absolutely phenomenals.

The 1960 Gopher team that went to the Rose Bowl and won the national title under coach Murray Warmath finished in last place in the Big Ten the year before.

"The greatest story in the history of team sports," Brewster said.

The current squad has lost a cumulative 400 pounds of fat during offseason conditioning workouts.

"I can't believe anybody in America is working any harder than our football team right now," he said.

Vikings coach Brad Childress is a friend of Brewster's from their days together at Illinois.

"When Brad wins his Super Bowl and when we win our national championship, we're going to have a lot of fun in this town," Brewster said. "I don't see why we can't do it."

Expect, also, some military-style rhetoric.

"Fatigue won't make a coward of us in the fourth quarter," he said.

But Brewster has plenty of bravado, too. Acknowledging several publications picking Minnesota to finish at or near the bottom of the conference, the coach clenched his jaw.

"I think it'd be a very bad mistake," Brewster said, "if people underestimate mine and our ability to lead this football team to where we want to go."

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Dave Campbell can be reached at dcampbell(at)ap.org

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press

This story is from ESPN.com's automated news wire. Wire index