Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi is a Minnesota native and plans to live here after he retires. At the end of the 2009-10 school year Maturi will have two years remaining on his contract. Maturi told Sports Headliners he doesn’t plan to be involved with the process of selecting his successor. His integrity and openness with people inside and outside the athletic department is much admired.
Point guard Jai Lucas, who was recruited by the Gophers, has transferred from Florida to Texas and will play for the Longhorns this season. He’s the son of former NBA star John Lucas.
The Gophers women’s basketball team opens its Big Ten season on Sunday at home against Penn State. Coach Pam Borton, starting her eighth season at Minnesota, has a winning percentage in conference games of .629, fourth best in the league.
Former Twins pitcher Johan Santana will make $19.8 million next season with the New York Mets, according to USA Today Sports Weekly. The publication reported that Santana will earn $24.3 million in the final season of his contract in 2013.
Santana’s teammate and former Twin Luis Castillo, 34, is still on the Mets roster and apparently a candidate to be the team’s second baseman next season. Castillo hit .302 last season after batting .245 in 2008.
Former University of Minnesota quarterback Marc Trestman made a place for himself in Gophers history when he recently coached Montreal to the Grey Cup title. Bud Grant, who played for the Gophers, and Dave Skrien, a former Gophers assistant football coach and player, also coached teams to Canada’s Grey Cup title.
Six MIAC seniors have been invited to play for the North team in tomorrow’s inaugural Division III Football Senior Classic in Salem, Virginia. The players are Bethel cornerback Tim Cornish, Bethel wide receiver Joel Quick and Bethel outside linebacker Nathan Voronyak, Concordia offensive tackle John M. Anderson, Hamline placekicker Derek Johnson, and St. Olaf linebacker Adam Concannon. The game will feature 90 seniors from NCAA Division III teams
Six-foot, seven-inch Derek Boogaard is not usually the third-tallest player in a hockey game, but he was late last month when the Wild faced Boston’s Zdeno Chara, 6-9 and John Scott, 6-8.
Cottage Grove native Dan Sova was named the USHL’s Defensive Player of the Week after earning six points and a plus-eight rating for the Waterloo Black Hawks last week.
Former Wild forward Marian Gaborik, now with the Rangers, led the NHL with 21 goals through November, and was named the league’s third star of the month.
Rochester’s Raphael Butler and Joey Abell of Coon Rapids will fight for the Minnesota heavyweight title (first such bout since 1977) on tonight’s boxing card at Target Center.