Gophers’ athletics director Joel Maturi wrote in an email to season ticket holders last week that over $1 million is expended to “counsel, advise, tutor and mentor our student-athletes.” He also said, “Nothing is more important than leaving the University with a degree.”
Phil Steele’s 2011 College Football Preview lists the Gophers’ Troy Stoudermire as the first-team kick returner on the magazine’s All-Big Ten team. Minnesota wide receiver Da’Jon McKnight and linebacker Gary Tinsley are third-teamers.
Stoudermire has 2,929 kickoff return yards in his college career and needs 189 more to tie the NCAA record. With 16 more returns he will have 130 and can tie that NCAA record. The Dallas senior has a career average of 25.7 yards but no touchdowns. “He’s the best I’ve ever seen who has never returned a kickoff for a touchdown,” said former Gophers radio analyst Dave Mona.
Will Kevin McHale include Jimmy Williams on his coaching staff in Houston? Williams was an assistant coach with the Gophers when McHale played at Minnesota. As a Timberwolves executive, McHale approved the hiring of Williams as an assistant coach. Williams lives in Houston.
McHale, Flip Saunders and John Kundla are the only former Gophers ever to hold head coaching jobs in the NBA.
McHale’s former teammate with the Gophers and Boston, Ray Williams, is now working for the park and recreation department in Mount Vernon, New York. Williams had been homeless and living in a car in Florida.
Lynx guard Lindsay Whalen had five total rebounds in her first two games of the WNBA season including last night’s home opener at Target Center. She now needs 32 more to become the third player in league history to have 2,500 career points, 1,000 rebounds and 1,000 assists.
Former Timberwolves’ guard Corey Brewer has played five minutes in one game for Dallas in the NBA Finals against Miami. Another ex-Wolves’ player, forward Brian Cardinal, is averaging .5 minutes per game. The Heat leads the series 2-1.
The Tapemark Charity Pro-Am starts Friday at Southview Country Club in West St. Paul. Past tournament winners have included Don Berry (six times champion), George Shortridge (five times) and Tom Lehman (1990 title).