My favorite Brooks shot at Bob Johnson was when Johnson was coaching the 1976 Olympic team and the Gophers made a trip to Madison to play the Badgers. One of Wisconsin's assistants was taking over the coaching responsibilities in Johnson's absence, and when asked about the upcoming series, Brooks said, "I expect to see one of the best coached Badger teams we've seen in a long time".
Brooks may have seemed introverted, but he really wasn't. He was the master of using mind games to get the most out of his players. A few stories I recall.
- They we're on a road trip (forget the year and opponent) and the night after the last game Brooks implemented a curfew. He knew players would show up late, so he waited in the hallway of the hotel. Curfew came and went and players slowly started showing up. As the rounded the corner to get to the block of rooms, there would be Herb waiting. He would sternly tell them to go to his room so that he could have a word with them and he'd meet them there. The players thought they were in trouble, but when they got to his room there was a pizza party going on. Everyone would be quite, and then when a player would walk in, they would all bust out laughing.
- After the Gophers won the McNaughton Trophy in 1975, but lost to Tech in the NCAA title game (big upset), when the Gophers were presented with the McNaughton, Brooks walked into the locker room with the trophy, past the team, and proceeded to place it in the toilet and flush it.
- He would constantly tell the team and media that he wasn't very impressed with a quality team, or that he was with a poor quality team, to either give his team confidence or prevent a letdown. And I recall him telling the 1980 Olympic team before the Gold Medal game against Finland that if they lost they would "take it to their ####ing graves". He started to walk away, then turned back around and said again "####ing graves".
Classic Brooks.
