David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Potulny & Raboin Might Be Top Targets for U Hockey Job

Posted on March 20, 2026March 20, 2026 by David Shama

A trusted source tells Sports Headliners two names are at the top of the candidates list for the University of Minnesota men’s hockey head coach opening. The source said people “close to the program” tell him that Grant Potulny and Garrett Raboin are the top targets of athletics director Mark Coyle. Another source couldn’t confirm that but wasn’t surprised to hear the report.

Potulny, the former Gopher national championship player in 2002 and 2003, was an assistant coach at the U from 2008-2017 under Don Lucia. The 46-year-old was a three-time captain for the Gophers. He’s been coach of the AHL Hartford Wolf Pack since June of 2024. Prior to that he was head coach at Northern Michigan for seven seasons and was WCHA Coach of the Year in his first year. A challenging place to win, he was 128-113-17 with the Wildcats.

Raboin has Gopher roots, too. He was an assistant coach at the U for four years prior to taking over as head coach at Augustana University in Sioux Falls in April of 2022. At Minnesota he was an effective recruiter who helped bring gifted players to Dinkytown. He launched the Augustana program into Division I and had a winning record by his second season. This year the Vikings are even more successful with a 22-11-4 overall record. Raboin will be 46 later this month.

Bob Motzko parted ways with the Gophers earlier this week. It’s not known what, if anything, Motzko will do careerwise in the foreseeable future. He is 64 and sources say he wants to relax and enjoy himself at least for a while. He has carried the weight of his high pressure job and the tragic loss of his son in a 2021 car accident.

Potulny and Raboin know the culture of the U hockey program. Coyle is likely to see that as a favorable thing. He presumably also wants someone who can excel as a teacher, strategist and recruiter including effective use of Name, Image and Likeness money.

Coyle, who meets with the media to discuss the men’s and women’s hockey head coaching openings on Monday, is likely relying on an advisor or two with puck knowledge to help with the search.

He hired Motzko in March of 2018. That hire didn’t bring the Gophers the national championship they have sought since 2003. This past season the Gophers were 11-22-3 overall and 7-15-2 in Big Ten games. It was the program’s worst season since 1971-72.

Long considered the best hockey coaching job in the nation, sources tell Sports Headliners that is still true. The program’s actual and potential resources include access to high quality high school talent from the state of Minnesota, revenue from the Athletic Department to pay players, high potential NIL money, large and loyal fanbase, quality facilities and a great tradition. The Gopher men’s hockey program is one of the few in the nation that is a money maker for its athletic department.

Motzko reportedly earned a base salary of $750,000. The Gophers can afford to pay their next coach with similar money, making their guy among the best paid college hockey coaches in the country.

Interestingly, Coyle’s name has drawn speculation as a replacement at Kentucky for retiring athletics director Mitch Barnhart. Coyle was deputy assistant athletics director in Lexington under Barnhart from 2006-2011. The Wildcats are basketball blue blood and Coyle is a hoops aficionado who was the top administrator overseeing the Kentucky program.

Coyle’s basketball knowledge helped him identify two outstanding hires now at the U. Women’s coach Dawn Plitzuweit has the Gophers in the NCAA Tournament in her third season. Men’s coach Niko Medved has been lauded for his first-year work in rebuilding the Gophers.

Coyle has been the U AD since 2016. His family has put down roots in St. Paul and as an Iowa native he has spent much of his life in the Upper Midwest.

Worth Noting

Former Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor — Glen Taylor

Glen Taylor told Sports Headliners he doesn’t know if the Mavericks contacted his Timberwolves over a year ago concerning a trade of superstars. The rumor last winter was the Mavericks and Wolves talked about sending Anthony Edwards to Dallas with Luka Doncic coming to Minneapolis.

Doncic, 27 and now playing for the Lakers, leads the NBA in scoring with an average of 33.4. Edwards, 24 and out for a while with a knee injury, is third in scoring at 29.5.

Taylor, who finalized his ownership sale of the Wolves last June, has been spending a lot of time in Naples, Florida. He’s passionate about his former club and “watches all the games” on TV.”

Taylor said he’s long liked the “potential” of the Wolves to go far in the playoffs. He doesn’t think the defense is as effective as it can be.

Former Gophers basketball coach Jim Dutcher, whose 1982 team won the Big Ten championship, turns 93 on April 17. Other than troublesome knees, his health is good. His brother Norman from Alpena, Michigan passed away earlier this year at age 97.

Dave Christian, the Warroad native who was a member of the legendary 1980 U.S. gold medal winning Olympic team, joined hosts Patrick Klinger and Dave Boden on the latest “Behind the Game” show. Google the most important sports event in US history, and the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” comes up No. 1.

The U.S. team had a strong Minnesota influence with native sons like Christian playing and St. Paul’s Herb Brooks coaching and masterminding his amateur players to a stunning semi-final win over the heavily favored Soviet Union before going on to defeat Finland in the finals. “Behind the Game” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuGnBTx-4f0

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What to Know for Office Pool Bracket & U Run for the Crown

Posted on March 18, 2026March 18, 2026 by David Shama

There is a lot of “noise” out there about predicting the “Big Dance” winner. Why listen to this platform?

Well, I have never been wrong in an office pool. (Full disclosure: Never entered one, either.)

Credibility? I’ve been following college hoops for so long I remember when only the Big Ten champion was allowed to be in the 25-team field.

I recall when the Final Four wasn’t on TV. I listened to static-filled broadcasts from out-of-town radio stations and reception was so bad I often didn’t know the score.

Impressed yet? (Should I mention coaching a ninth-grade basketball team to the Minneapolis city title?)

Now that you’re on board, here we go:

Want a dark horse to emerge at the Final Four? While we learned in Minnesota that not all Pitinos are alike, Rick Pitino’s St. John’s Red Storm just might grind their way to the finals in Indianapolis.

To do that the Storm will have to upset Duke in the East Region. The risk-taking part of my brain says a Final Four of St. John’s, Arizona, Michigan and Florida. The Cinderella Pitinos, with their 73-year-old coach and full court maniacal defensive pressure, could bring the “Big Apple” a national championship before the Knicks can win their first NBA title since 1973.

The cautious side of my cranium says it will be Duke, Arizona, Michigan and Florida in the finals. The boys from the desert, those talented Wildcats from Tucson, win it all!

For support on that assertion, I turn to my friend Jim Dutcher. “They just have been the most consistent team all year,” the former Gopher coach said. “They’ve got great guard play and they’ve got good depth. Very good defensive team. …When they play any of the big teams, they still manage to win.”

What about St. John’s, Dutch? “Yeah, the way they came through and just killed UConn (in the Big East Tournament title game last Saturday). UConn is a good team. They beat them by 20. And, of course, Pitino is a good coach. He’s proven it at every level. …They’ve had a great year and they’re a dangerous team for sure.”

The authoritative Kenpom.com website has Duke, Arizona, Michigan and Florida with the four top net ratings among men’s college teams. The first three are above the gold standard of 35.00, with Florida coming in at 33.79. A team at 35 is expected to outscore an average team by 35 points per 100 possessions.

CBS college basketball guru Clark Kellogg has Purdue in his Final Four. Dutcher doesn’t see the Boilermakers going that far because their “outside shooting” isn’t good enough. He thinks Michigan has the best chance of the Big Ten’s nine tourney teams to make a long run. “It wouldn’t be a great surprise to see Michigan go all the way,” he said.

Wisconsin, a No. 5 seed in the West, has two of the better guards in the nation in Nick Boyd and John Blackwell. Boyd played previously for Dutcher’s son, Brian Dutcher, at San Diego State. The Aztecs made the Final Four in 2023 for the first time ever, but with the impact of NIL money in major college basketball now you can make the odds long of mid-majors causing a big splash in the tournament.

The divide between high majors and mid-majors is that considerable. There are reserves on high major teams earning six-figures, so be wary about picking “have nots” to win much in the tournament. “Money talks,” Jim said.

The Gophers, 15-17 overall and 8-12 in Big Ten regular season games, have accepted an invitation to the College Basketball Crown tournament in Las Vegas starting April 1. Other teams are Colorado, Creighton, Baylor, Oklahoma, Rutgers, Stanford, and West Virginia. The Gophers, No. 77 in Kenpom.com net rating, open against Baylor, No. 49, on April 1, with a 9:30 p.m. Minneapolis tip off time scheduled. The game will be televised by FS1.

In coach Niko Medved’s first season, playing with limited talent and virtually no depth because starters were sidelined with injuries, he far exceeded expectations. The Gophers upset three top 25 teams and in the regular season standings finished ahead of seven other schools in the 18-team Big Ten.

“He did an unbelievable job,” Dutcher said of Medved. “To go into a team (place) like Michigan and take them right down to the final wire. And see some of the other games, they were just unbelievable and had some great upsets.

“But then they lost to some teams like a Rutgers (and) that isn’t that good. So, they just don’t have the depth. But he did an outstanding job. It was good to see upwards of 8,000 people at Williams Arena again.”

What about Minnesota’s fate in the upcoming tournament?

“You can’t win a tournament with a six-player roster,” Dutcher said. “Sometimes five player roster. They just don’t have the depth. They’re capable, as we saw, of beating some really good teams, but you’ve gotta have more depth than they have to make a tournament run.”

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Murray Project Can Take KOC Closer to Great QB ‘Whisperers’

Posted on March 15, 2026March 15, 2026 by David Shama

The work of Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell with quarterback reclamation projects Sam Darnold and Daniel Jones is well documented. Now comes the opportunity with new arrival Kyler Murray to take another step toward the company of pro football’s all-time elite quarterback “whisperers.”

Both Darnold and Jones had disastrous experiences with other teams before they came under the tutelage of KOC. Darnold led the Vikings to a 14-3 record in 2024 before bolting in free agency to the Seahawks and playing a huge role in a season and postseason that culminated in a Seattle Super Bowl win over the Patriots last month.

Jones had a shorter time at “KOC U” but like Darnold flourished in Minnesota and joined Sam in leaving in March of 2025. Jones had a comeback season in 2025 with the Colts after his earlier failure with the Giants and Indianapolis reportedly rewarded him this month with a two-year $88 million deal.

Could Murray be the next summa cum laude grad? Although the Cardinals gave up on him, his resume and profile instill optimism among those who want to feel it. In 2019 he was the Pro Football Offensive Rookie of the Year. Twice in his career he was a Pro Bowler.

The 28-year-old Murray, listed at 5-10 and 207 pounds, has quickness of foot and running ability that can bedevil opponents. His ability to turn a potential loss of yardage into a big gain certainly wasn’t lost on the Vikings who picked up the free agent last week on a bargain deal that reportedly has them paying out $1.3 million while the Cardinals are on the line for over $35 million.

Murray, who The Athletic rated as only the 40^th best free agent available this offseason, has his critics. His career passing rating of 92.2 is in the average range. Four times in his career he has thrown for over 3,500 yards. In 2,941 passing attempts he has totaled 121 TD passes with 60 interceptions over seven seasons. He has struggled with injuries including an ACL tear and missed most of last season with a foot injury.

Murray’s critics have questioned his study habits. Beyond his work ethic, concerns have been raised about his short stature and ability to see down field. He’s even been criticized for not running enough.

So the immediate future for Murray, who is on a one-year deal, will be interesting. He grew up a Vikings fan and at his initial presser last week gushed enthusiasm about his new start including being with KOC.

KOC will scrutinize Murray from top to bottom and will tinker with his offense to make it conducive to the new quarterback’s skillset. At the same time, J.J. McCarthy will also have to fit into the overall offense. O’Connell has declared Murray and McCarthy are competing for the starting job. No one has been named No. 1 yet.

Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell image by David Shama — Kevin O’Connell

As the process develops, O’Connell can take another step toward the elite names among quarterback “whisperers,” especially if the Vikings become a winning team with Murray or McCarthy who will be in his second season as a potential starter. Toward the top of a list that does not yet include KOC, are names from the present and the past: Andy Reid of the Chiefs and Sean Payton of the Broncos and past icons Bruce Arians and Mike Shanahan.

That would be nice company to join.

Worth Noting

The Vikings could see an old friend wearing dark green, gold and white next fall. The Packers are looking for a backup quarterback with Kirk Cousins a possible candidate.

If the 37-year-old continues his career after being released by the Falcons last week, it presumably won’t be just for the money. He has reportedly earned over $351 million playing for the Commanders, Vikings and Falcons, and is among the highest paid NFL players of all-time.

The Vikings have provided $600,000 to the development of high school flag football in Minnesota. That’s from Minneapolis-based attorney and writer Marshall Tanick who reported details via email about a talk given recently by Vikings top marketing executive Martin Nance to a Florida group. Although not yet sanctioned by the Minnesota State High School League, the girls’ sport is growing fast, and women’s flag football will debut as an Olympic sport at the 2028 games in Los Angeles.

Nance told attendees at the Minnesota Breakfast gathering in Naples that about 45 percent of the franchise’s fan base is women.

Nance, who was a wide receiver with the Vikings in 2006-2007, also shared this nugget: the Vikings “SKOL” chant, entering its 10th year, was derived from the Icelandic national soccer team.

Professional football scouts will have a look at these former Gophers at the University of Minnesota’s Pro Day on Wednesday. Confirmed participants are Nate Becker, Drew Biber, Le’Meke Brockington, Brady Denaburg, Deven Eastern, Jameson Geers, Darius Green, Rushawn Lawrence, Derik LeCaptain, Jalen Logan-Redding, Marcellus Marshall, Jai’Onte’ McMillan, Aluma Nkele, Dylan Ray and Devon Williams.

Football coaches can still register for the acclaimed MFCA Clinic. Headquartered at the DoubleTree Hotel in St. Louis Park, the clinic will be held March 26-28 and is a partnership with the football Gophers. https://www.mnfootballcoaches.com/page/show/2279758-mfca-clinic-information

Presenters will include Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck and selected Gopher assistants, along with St. Thomas head coach Glenn Caruso, St. John’s head coach Gary Fasching and FCS national championship coach Brent Vigen of Montana State.

A hockey aficionado tells Sports Headliners the on-ice vision of defenseman Quinn Hughes is so special it’s the best of any Wild player ever. The authority added Hughes might be the best team leader in franchise history.

The Twin Cities Dunkers scored a coup scheduling Timberwolves and Lynx owner Alex Rodriguez as a speaker later this month. Wolves and Lynx president & CEO Matt Caldwell is a Dunkers member. The sports focused organization dates back to 1948 when it was the Minneapolis Dunkers.

The field for the 2026 National Invitation Tournament will be announced tonight starting at 8:30 p.m. Minneapolis time on ESPN2. Both the Gophers and St. Thomas men are eligible for consideration, with some fans wishful of a matchup at Williams Arena.

The women Gophers, 22-8, are assured of an NCAA Tournament berth and will host first and second round games at Williams Arena. The NCAA Tournament bracket, matchups, dates and times will be announced tonight at 7 p.m. on ESPN.

Kevin Kernan, a renowned national baseball authority and guest last week on Dan Barreiro’s KFNX Radio show, was asked how the Pohlad owned Twins are regarded nationally. He labeled the ownership a “clown show” and said only the Pirate ownership is disdained more.

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