File Under "Better Late Than Never"

U fires Mason, seeks new football 'vision':

Exactly one year to the day after he received a new five-year contract, Glen Mason was fired Sunday as the University of Minnesota's football coach.

Mason's ouster came at the end of his 10th season and two days following his team's historic collapse in a 44-41 loss to Texas Tech in the Insight Bowl.

Of course, this long-awaited relief won't come cheap for the U of M (or the taxpayers of Minnesota for that matter):

Mason's firing means the athletic department will pay roughly $4 million in buyouts to Mason and men's basketball coach Dan Monson, who accepted his buyout on Nov. 30. Maturi said his department will have to borrow money from the university's central administration to help cover those costs.

This is a rare occasion when I actually am happy to pay more for a better Minnesota.

UPDATE-- Paul e-mails to add:

I am pissed and here are a few reasons why, in order of importance:

* The biggest gripe that I have is that the terms of the buyout aren't likely to be disclosed. As a taxpayer, I should have the right to understand how many of my dollars are wasted to get rid of Mason.

* The school will likely waste a lot of money paying four football and basketball head coaches for years to come (I'm not so pissed about firing Monson, the program under him was disgraceful).

* They just extended Mason's contract one year earlier. Why would you extend a contract, then fire the guy one season into the extension. If the guy was iffy, don't extend his contract in the first place.

* I guarantee you that the Minnesota regents won't spend the money to bring in someone who can win. Mason was mediocre, winning 3-5 Big 10 games each year. I'll bet any amount you name that the Gophers don't win 6 or more Big 10 games in any of the next 5 years. What's the point in firing a guy when they don't plan on getting any better?

* We're more likely to hear about a "blue-ribbon panel." Has a U of M blue ribbon panel ever made a good decision.

BTW, my nomination for Gophers head football coach is Mike Tice. He has head coaching experience. His rah-rah style would work better in college than the pros. All the Minnesota high school coaches know who he is (and I presume have a somewhat favorable view of him). Finally, it seemed like he was beginning to develop into a decent coach with the Vikes.

The problem with keeping Mason was that the Gophers have been mired in the 6-6 Insight Bowl type season muck for far too long. There were no signs that Mason could bring them to the next level. The new coach may not be able to get there in the next few years, but it was obvious that Mason never would.

Hiring Tice is a good suggestion. While we're looking at ex-Viking coaches, maybe it's time to bring The Sheriff back to town.