Minnesota Thunder general manager Djorn Buchholz expects to announce the name of the team’s new coach on Tuesday. The coach, he said, has previous professional soccer head coaching experience. The Thunder began last season with Amos Magee as head coach but he was replaced during the summer by interim coach Donny Gramenz.
Buchholz also told Sports Headliners that seven to nine new players are expected on the 26-man roster next season. Among the returnees will be goalie Nicolas Platter who played every minute of the season. Buchholz considers Platter to be one of the United Soccer League’s First Division top goalies. He’s under contract through 2010.
The Thunder, who made the playoffs last season but lost in the first round, will announce a season ticket campaign in the coming weeks. Buchholz is excited about playing all of next season’s home games at the National Sports Center in Blaine.
Gopher coach Tim Brewster might be trying to give the Wisconsin coaches more than they need to think about with his suggestion earlier this week that Badger transfer Kim Royston, now sitting out the season as a Gopher redshirt, can provide insights to Minnesota coaches.
Brewster praised the former Cretin-Derham Hall player for his leadership and athleticism simulating opposing players in practice. Royston has been a quarterback, receiver and defensive back in practice to help the Gophers prepare. Next year Brewster said it’s likely Royston will be a safety when he’s eligible to play. “He’s going to be a great football player for us,” Brewster said. “We couldn’t be more proud of him coming home.”
Now in his second season as Gopher coach, Brewster believes that among the school’s rivalry games, Wisconsin is the most important to Minnesotans.
Against the Bucs in Tampa on Sunday, Vikings running back Adrian Peterson can tie Robert Smith’s franchise rushing record of five consecutive 100+ yard games. Peterson leads the NFL in rushing with 1,015 yards.
Bucs’ coach Jon Gruden was a graduate assistant at the University of Tennessee in 1986-87. Is he interested in the Vols’ head coaching vacancy?
Vikings coach Brad Childress talking about Jared Allen who played last Sunday despite a right shoulder injury: “I talk about those guys being warriors. You only have a 53-man squad. You can only have 45 (suit) up on game day and maybe you’re holding two or three guys that are already hurt. You only have a limited number of moves you can make, putting somebody on IR (injured reserve) for the rest of the year. They (teammates) rely on each other to get back, and they’re very hard on each other.
“Nobody had to be hard on Jared. He has that mentality that he’s going to play every game. I think some guys say, ‘I’ll take a week off and be better in two weeks.’ If everybody did that you wouldn’t be able to field a team. It’s a fact that when you play the first week on in this league you’re going to have bumps, bruises, and strains, particularly when you get past this mid-season point. It’s a war of attrition. I think they feel that commitment to that defensive unit they’re playing with and to the team they’re playing with. He’s one of those guys.”
Minneapolis native Larry Fitzgerald is featured in the most recent issue of Sporting News and also was a video guest on espn.com last week. Fitzgerald is fourth in the NFL in receiving yards and his Arizona Cardinals, 6-3, have been receiving attention as the leaders of the NFC West Division. He’s rated the fourth best receiver in the NFL by Sporting News. Since the beginning of the 2005 season, he’s the “only receiver in the NFL to rank in the top five in receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns,” according to the magazine.