Why was Bernie Bierman Successful?

Bernie Bierman coached at Minnesota for 16 seasons between 1932 and 1950. He didn’t recruit better players than everyone else, or have a novel way of playing football. The average weight of a Gopher player in the 1930s was 200 pounds, even then that wasn’t big.

Bierman’s offensive approach was to run power from the singleu2010wing formation behind an unbalanced line. Passing kept the defense spread out, helping his running game. But Bernie used the pass less than even other teams of hers era.