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Final Four Coach Had Gopher Interest

Posted on March 28, 2023 by David Shama

 

Brian Dutcher, a University of Minnesota alum, has his San Diego State Aztecs in the Final Four this week in Houston.  About 23 months ago there was reason to believe Dutcher might become the new men’s basketball coach at Minnesota.

Dutcher’s contract back then had a reported buyout of nearly $7 million if he were to leave San Diego for another head coaching job—with one exception.  The San Diego Union Tribune reported in September of 2020 that Dutcher had a contract in place allowing him to leave for Minnesota with a $1 million buyout.

That signaled Dutcher, a Bloomington native, had a strong interest in coming home even though the Gopher job wasn’t open at the time and wouldn’t be until early March of 2021.  A homecoming would have meant living in the Twin Cities and being near his father Jim, the former Golden Gophers head basketball coach, and his three sisters.

When the announcement came that Minnesota athletic director Mark Coyle and head coach Richard Pitino had parted ways, Dutcher was coaching his team in the NCAA Tournament. After the Aztecs were eliminated in a first round loss to Syracuse, Coyle and Brian spoke by phone about the Minnesota opening, per Jim Dutcher.

Jim told Sports Headliners yesterday his son and Coyle talked about getting together but never did.  Soon after the initial conversation, Coyle called again to say he had hired former Gopher guard and assistant coach Ben Johnson, who was then an assistant at Xavier.  Jim said he understood the reasoning at the time for Coyle’s decision to hire a coach with “Minnesota connections” for recruiting and building the program around more high level local talent.

Would Brian have accepted the Gopher job if offered? “I don’t know,” his father said.

What’s for certain is Brian publicly demonstrated his interest in the U by including the modest buyout in his contract.  “It’s my school, where I went, and was able to be part of that basketball program with my dad,” Brian told the Union-Tribune.  “But it’s still a buyout. It’s not like it’s free.”

Brian, who after graduating from Bloomington Jefferson High School was a student manager for his dad’s teams at Minnesota, has the Mountain West Conference Aztecs in the Final Four for the first time in school history.  They play upstart Florida Atlantic Saturday, with the Connecticut and Miami game to follow. Connecticut is the betting favorite, with the Aztecs second.

Jim, who turns 90 on April 17 and still lives in Bloomington, will fly to Houston Thursday along with eight other family members including two grandchildren. There was a decision made awhile ago that if the Aztecs advanced to the Final Four the family would follow.

Despite advancing age, Jim has frequently made trips to San Diego to visit family and watch the Aztecs.  He acknowledges “creaky knees” but otherwise is healthy.

“I don’t use a walker or a wheelchair,” Jim said. “I just kind of shuffle a long. But my health is good. I don’t take one pill. My blood pressure is good. It’s just that arthritic knees make it hard to get a long.”

Jim Dutcher

Either through network telecasts or via streaming, Jim and family in Minnesota have watched every Aztecs game in 2022-2023.  They have seen the 31-6 Aztecs win the Mountain West regular season title and tournament championship and rattle off four straight wins in the single elimination NCAA Tournament. It was a team that improved over the weeks and months.

“They play defense,” Jim said.  “That’s what keeps them in the games. They’re one of the top three defensive teams in the country. …They’re not a great offensive team but the four teams they played in the NCAA Tournament, all of them had their season low scores when they played the Aztecs.”

In a trip to San Diego several months ago Jim met the players at practice.  What he’s learned about them is they are a “tight group” with no academic or off court problems. “It’s just a really good group of kids,” Jim said.

Brian uses 10 players in games and on some teams that could cause dissension about playing time but not for the Aztecs.  “…They sometimes get better when they go to the bench, and so that’s helped them keep their defense at an elite level because the guys are always rested,” Jim said.

The Aztecs reflect the admirable character of their coach.  Humble and without ego, Brian has the same high values as his father who coached the Gophers to the 1982 Big Ten title.  The Dutchers have a calm, rational and common-sense approach to basketball and life.

Basketball advice from father to son? Jim acknowledged the two occasionally talk about situational things like handling full court pressure, but Brian has the whole coaching package from recruiting to X’s and O’s. “He’s a better coach than I ever was,” Jim said.

Brian trusts his team even to the extent of falling off a ladder into the arms of his players.  It’s become a tradition after winning big games at San Diego State for the coach to climb a ladder and cut down the nets.  “…He does that trust fall where he falls backward (and) they catch him,” Jim said.  “So he’s done that for a number of years.”

Brian, 63, has been head coach of the Aztecs for six seasons following decades of assistant coaching including at San Diego State starting in 1999.   Brian’s 2020 team was 30-2 during the regular season but there was no NCAA Tournament because of the pandemic.

Jim believes that was Brian’s most talented club, with better personnel than this year’s team that is two wins away from winning the school’s and the Mountain West’s first national title.  The Aztecs don’t have an NBA prospect on the team, Jim said.

This is a new time in college basketball with players being compensated for name, image and likeness.  Each of the Aztecs receive $2,000 per month for community service work like visiting elementary schools or participating in a walk for charity, Jim said.  He referred to the amount as “peanuts” compared with what some schools are reportedly paying out for high-end talent.

Brian’s teams have won multiple Mountain West regular season and tournament titles and been to four NCAA Tournaments. His teams have won 77 percent of their games, certainly among the best percentage in college basketball during his six-year span.

Jim said at one time Brian’s goal was to coach until he was 65.  But he’s built a power at San Diego State and in the near future the Aztecs may join the Pac-12 Conference. With UCLA and USC leaving the Pac-12 and headed for the Big Ten in 2024, new recruiting opportunities for the Aztecs beckon in southern California.

Brian could certainly coach beyond 65, dad said.  Amen to that.

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QB Search Tests Vikings’ Savvy

Posted on March 26, 2023 by David Shama

 

Kirk Cousins will be 35 years old before next season starts and he is on the last year of his contract.  While Cousins might be offered an extension, the clock is ticking on what the future will look like for the Vikings at football’s most important position.

Kwesi Adofo-Mensah photo courtesy of Minnesota Vikings

Cousins led Minnesota to eight fourth quarter comeback wins last season during a 13-4 regular season. He has been the starter since 2018, but he has never been considered one of the NFL’s elite quarterbacks.  This year—or next for sure—it will be imperative for the Vikings to find Cousins’ successor even if Kirk is around for a couple seasons more.  While finding a veteran quarterback via free agency or trade is certainly an option, it’s more likely GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and staff will find their QB of the future via the NFL Draft.

Marc Sessler, writing last month for NFL.com, rated 68 league quarterbacks based on their 2022 performances, regular season and playoffs.  The top five rated QB’s were acquired by their teams through the draft.

No. 1 ranked Patrick Mahomes was acquired by the Chiefs because of a deal they made with the Bills prior to the 2017 draft.  Kansas City sent the No. 27 and 91 selections, and their No. 1 for 2018, to Buffalo to secure the No. 10 overall pick in 2017.  Mahomes later admitted he was given some inside information for a pre-draft meeting that impressed coach Andy Reid.

No. 2 Jalen Hurts of the Super Bowl champion Eagles wasn’t selected until the second round of the 2020 draft.   Quarterbacks Joe Burrow, Justin Herbert, Tua Tagovailoa and Jordan Love all heard their names called in the first round but concerns about Hurts’ arm strength and other perceived weaknesses dropped the Oklahoma star deep into the second round.  But GM Howie Roseman thought it was imperative to draft a young QB and develop him.  He was clairvoyant about Hurts.

The Bengals played bad football in 2019, finishing the season with a 2-14 record and having the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 draft fall to them.  Burrow, No. 3 on Sessler’s list, was not a difficult decision after playing like a video game character in leading LSU to the national championship and winning the Heisman Trophy.

In 2018 the Bills weren’t deterred in drafting Josh Allen (No. 4 on the Sessler rankings) despite some controversial tweets surfacing at the time.  The Bills moved up from No. 12   to No. 7 in the 2018 draft by completing a trade with the Bucs that sent two second round Buffalo selections and their No. 12 choice to Tampa Bay.  Allen hasn’t been a behavior distraction in Buffalo and has led the Bills to a place among the NFL’s best teams..

Justin Herbert, No. 5 on the list, was selected No. 6 overall by the Chargers in that 2020 draft.  He had made a mistake in a pre-draft meeting challenging his knowledge and thought the error might cost him the opportunity to land where he did in the draft, per an April 23, 2020 story in the Los Angeles Times.  The Chargers, who had declined offers to give up their No. 6 pick, stuck with Herbert who became the team’s starter in the second game of his rookie season.

A few things stand out from reviewing these quarterbacks.  All joined their teams at young ages and earned a place among the NFL’s best while positioning their teams to win for a long time.  Only Hurts wasn’t a top 10 first round choice. Timely and strategic trades can get your team into a better draft position. Past character issues can be difficult to evaluate. The judgment of overall skills of prospects can differ from team to team.

The Athletics’ recent Mock Draft has the Vikings moving up from No. 23 to No. 7 by making a trade with the Raiders.  Minnesota would select Kentucky QB Will Levis who doesn’t figure to last even close to No. 23.  Levis, at about 6-4 and 229-pounds, has a strong arm and is physically tough.  He played through injuries last season at Kentucky and fairly or not that may have contributed to flaws scouts see.

Lance Zierlein, writing for NFL.Com on Levis’ combine scouting report page, said there are concerns about his ball placement and accuracy.  “…Levis’ talent is well worth an investment but could require a talented quarterback coach and a patient plan to tighten up his mechanics, rebuild his confidence and explore an offensive scheme that best suits him.”

Vikings personnel decision makers led by Adofo-Mensah, a little more than a year into the job after succeeding Rick Spielman, will have to figure out their quarterback dilemma. History shows it’s usually a challenging task and not a bad idea to keep a rabbit’s foot nearby.

Worth Noting

Sessler’s list of best quarterbacks has Cousins ranked No. 17, two spots below the 49ers’ Brock Purdy, a rookie last season and the last player selected in the 2022 NFL Draft.

The late Herb Brooks would have been delighted with the scene and outcome of last night’s Fargo Regional Championship at Scheels Arena.  The University of Minnesota, the school where Brooks played college hockey and coached to three national championships in the 1970s, defeated St. Cloud State, a program Brooks brought to prominence with his world-class coaching in the 1980s.

Minnesota’s 4-1 win sends the Gophers to Tampa for the Frozen Four starting April 6 against Boston University and an opportunity to emerge as national champions. The Gophers have won five NCAA national titles, with Brooks led teams winning in 1974, 1976 and 1979.  The success back then left observers thinking the Gophers would rattle off many more but Don Lucia’s national champs in 2002 and 2003 are the program’s only other Frozen Four winners.

The 2023 team has achieved greatness, maintaining a No. 1 national ranking and winning the Big Ten regular season championship and Fargo Regional.  When the Gophers defeated No. 6 ranked St. Cloud State it was an NCAA-best 12th victory over a top 10 team.

Brooks, who died in a 2003 car accident, would have appreciated the connections Gophers coach Bob Motzko has to both Minnesota and St. Cloud where the team plays at the Herb Brooks National Hockey Center.  Motzko, the former Huskies head coach, was an assistant on those last Minnesota national championship teams.

Something else Brooks would have liked was the all-tournament team comprised exclusively of Minnesota and St. Cloud players.  Now all that’s left is for the Gophers to achieve what Brooks set as the standard at Minnesota.

Jerome Tang, the first-year basketball coach at Kansas State who led the surprising Wildcats to the Elite Eight, was born in Trinidad and Tobago but as a young man attended North Central Bible College (now North Central University) in Minneapolis.  Tang was a superb defensive assistant coach at Baylor before joining Kansas State.

The new group of Gophers boosters who want to raise six-figure money dedicated to NIL for men’s and women’s basketball will work under the umbrella of Dinkytown Athletes.  The Gopher athletic department is boosting its commitment to NIL including creation of a new fundraising staff position that will work with Dinkytown Athletes.

Ex-Gopher junior Jamison Battle, who has left the program to play at another college program or professionally overseas, has a profile page on European basketball. https://basketball.eurobasket.com/player/Jamison-Battle/498805

BlueGoldNews.com reported new Gophers women’s basketball coach Dawn Plitzuweit has a $612,500 buyout owed to her former school, West Virginia.  Buyouts are typically paid by the new employer, rather than the individual.

The Pioneer Press lost an elite sports journalist in Chris Tomasson who is now writing for the online only Denver Gazette covering the NFL Broncos.  His work ethic and reporting on the Vikings beat is among the best-ever here.

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St. Thomas Point Guard: Unknown to Coveted

Posted on March 21, 2023March 21, 2023 by David Shama

 

St. Thomas basketball coach John Tauer knows better than anyone his gifted freshman point guard Andrew Rohde will be welcomed with high-fives by a Power Five program.

Rumors have been in place for a while other schools could be tampering with the Summit League Freshman of the Year and encouraging him to transfer programs.  Tampering is illegal in college sports but so are other things that are going on in an era referred to as “the wild, wild west.”

“If people tamper, they’re not going to call the head coach,” Tauer told Sports Headliners during an interview a few days ago. “…You just operate the right way as a program and hope others are doing the same, but it’s an interesting time in college basketball.”

Yesterday came news Rohde has entered the transfer portal and is headed for a new school for the 2023-2024 season.  In a text to Sports Headliners last night Tauer said: “…We wish him all the best in what promises to be a long and successful basketball career.”

During an interview Friday Tauer didn’t express knowledge of a transfer by Rohde but he made it clear he knows as well as anyone the reality of mass player movement.  With the transfer portal a huge change agent for college players, Tauer and other coaches acknowledge there are no guarantees the roster in the fall will look like it does in the spring. Until yesterday’s news, St. Thomas could have returned 12 of 14 players including four starters.

Rohde (right). Photo courtesy of University of St. Thomas.

Wisconsin Badgers fans have been calling for Rohde, a Milwaukee native, to come home for a while now.  And Gophers fans would love to have Rohde fill the team’s glaring need for a point guard, but it seems unlikely he would be attracted to a program that is down right now with players leaving and coming off consecutive last place finishes in the Big Ten.

“We’d love to have Andrew (stay),” Tauer said Friday. “He’s an unbelievable kid.  He had a tremendous freshman year, and (he is) an even better young man than a player.  He’s got an infectious energy.  He’s really unselfish, hardworking (and) he’s competitive. He just brings so many wonderful things to the table.”

The 6-6, 185-pound Rohde, who was one of the top three first-year scorers in the country, is a finalist for the Kyle Macy Award, given annually to the nation’s top freshman.  He was voted first-team All-Summit, in addition to his freshman honor.  He played a team high 33 minutes per game and was the Tommies’ leader in scoring (17.1 per game), assists and steals.

“I think he’s hungry to be great, and that’s not just as a player,” Tauer said. “It’s also as a teammate. …I think over the course of the year he really improved, and that to me is one of the things that is most special about him.”

A player who received no Power Five offers coming out of high school, Rohde can attract a long line of suitors now if he chooses.  “I think Andrew could play in the NBA someday if he continues to progress,” Tauer said.  “You look at the trajectory of his junior year of high school to his senior year of high school to his freshman year of college and what he just did. …I think Andrew can do whatever he puts his mind to in basketball.”

Rohde’s roots run deep with St. Thomas.  He came to the campus as a middle schooler when his brother Sam was part of the basketball program.  In high school he received a lot of attention from Tauer and the coaching staff who made him feel wanted and valued.

What Tauer saw in Rohde at Brookfield Central was a player who fit the criteria he values in a prospect: unselfish, skilled, smart and tough. “I thought he embodied those (characteristics),” Tauer said.

Tauer and his staff found an unpolished gem in Rohde, and a player who delivers on the words he loves basketball.  Most players say that but only some like Rohde can face pressure situations in a packed arena and wear a smile on their faces. “That’s when you know,” Tauer said.

Tauer, who just completed his 12th season coaching the Tommies, has a doctorate in sport-related psychology.  He has long been aware of the pressure and stress college freshmen face in transitioning not only to basketball but all of campus life including academics. “We don’t put (establish) quantitative goals for anybody as far what they can do their freshman year. Now I will tell you in the summer we felt like he (Rohde) was going to be elite.  We knew he was going to play a ton of minutes and have the ball in his hands a lot, and the kind of role that he did.

“To his credit I think he took that and ran with it and continued to improve over the year.  That’s the thing I keep coming back to is how coachable he was. …He was hungry and open to whatever feedback I had for him.”

Tauer now has three scholarships available and plans to fill out his roster either through the portal or with high school talent within a month or so.  He was hoping, of course, to not have a scholarship become available because of Rohde’s departure.

“I think the sky’s the limit for Andrew,” Tauer said. “I’ve always felt that.”

The Tauer-coached Tommies just finished season two of their challenging transition from Division III to Division I, playing in the mid-major Summit League.  It’s been a more than successful time, just like the preceding years when Tauer was a Division III National Coach of the Year and the Tommies were a program that could play with anyone at their level.

Before last season the Tommies were predicted to finish eighth in the 10-team league but placed fourth.  The team was 19-14 overall, 9-9 in conference play and nearly doubled its win total for all games from the previous year.

Tauer said via text last night he is “thrilled” with the progress of his program. “…The culture in our program is unique and has helped us sustain success over the past several decades.”

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