Amir Coffey is so versatile his coach may ask him to guard other players this coming season—regardless of their height, weight and playing positions. Hopkins High School coach Ken Novak Jr. is also hopeful the 6-6, 170-pound guard will average a triple-double in points, rebounds and assists.
Coffey was a big get for Gophers coach Richard Pitino last month when the Rivals.com four-star high school senior verbally committed to his home-state school. Coffey is the elite senior prospect in Minnesota, and giving his word to play for the Gophers is a step in the right direction for Pitino’s struggling program—6-12 in the Big Ten last season and in rebuilding mode.
Novak has coached high school basketball for more than 30 years. At Hopkins he has coached championship teams and great players including Siyani Chambers, Joe Coleman, Kris Humphries and Royce White. Novak considers Humphries, who was a rebounding whiz along with other skills, to be his best player ever, but said Coffey is unique. “I am not saying he’s (Coffey) the best player. He’s definitely the most versatile player,” Novak told Sports Headliners recently.
Novak wants defensive improvement out of Coffey this season. His ability to defend at a high level will go a long way toward determining the Royals’ success. “For us, Amir is going to have to be guarding the best player most of the time, and he has the smarts to be able to do that,” Novak said.
Coffey tore his left ACL last season and missed most of the Hopkins schedule. Novak said the injury and resulting surgery lessened his player’s explosiveness. “His strength in his legs aren’t quite what they were but…he will get that back,” Novak said.
The Royals begin practice for next season on November 9 and Novak has high expectations for Coffey. “He’s one of those guys that could average a triple-double,” said Novak who will be starting his 26th season at Hopkins.
Novak admits not being sure if he ever heard of a high school player averaging a triple-double but that’s his objective for Coffey. “I think scoring won’t be a problem,” the coach said. “I think assists and rebounding will be tough to average. …That would be a goal (triple-double).”
Although Coffey is tall, he is a good ball handler and his passing prompts raves from the coach. “He’s a phenomenal passer,” Novak said. “Passing ability is what he does best. Vision wise, as good a point guard as you will find.”
Coffey’s dad, Richard Coffey, was a 6-4 undersized, overachieving forward and center for the Gophers from 1986-1990. Richard was all about the team and probably nobody ever graded him less than A+ for attitude.
Novak said Amir is also about teammates first. “He’s a really unselfish kid,” Novak said. “He’s not a kid that’s looking to try and go out and get 30 points. He likes to set people up and he does it all the time.”
Novak believes Coffey could become a superb shooter and scorer because he has “great hands.” In college he likely will need to shoot long range in Pitino’s offense emphasizing three-pointers. With his scoring, passing, rebounding and defending potential, Coffey could eventually be a special college player but he will have to polish his total game and become physically stronger.
“He’s not coming in and dominating Big Ten basketball with his size,” Novak said. “Can he in a few years? Yeah, I think he can in a few years. …”
For the more immediate future, Novak, Coffey and the rest of the Royals can focus on the season ahead and trying to win a 4A state championship. Hopkins has three starters back including Mr. Versatile. That’s a good start but Novak knows there are challenges ahead including defending 4A state champion Apple Valley led by junior wing Gary Trent Jr. and sophomore point guard Tre Jones.
“Apple Valley, I think, is by far the best team,” Novak said. “They’ve got two guys offered to Duke. I don’t know if this state has seen a team that probably is as talented as they are, and they’re young too. And for anybody to beat them, they’re going to have to play well. You’re going to have to be an awfully, awfully good team.”
Worth Noting
Shannon Brooks, the freshman Gophers running back who rushed for 176 yards last week against Purdue, didn’t command a lot of interest from big time college programs coming out of Pickens High School in Jasper, Georgia. Georgia Tech was interested but he didn’t like the Yellow Jackets’ triple option offense, preferring Minnesota’s multiple set scheme. He said the University of North Carolina at Charlotte would have been his choice if it wasn’t for the Gophers scholarship.
Obviously a lot of recruiters missed on Brooks. Gophers offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover recalled one of his best friends is a high school coach in Atlanta (about a one hour drive from Jasper) and he knew Brooks was a special running back. Limegrover said the coach told him, “I thought that was the best kid I had seen in the state the past two years.”
Senior Jon Christenson, one of the Gophers best offensive linemen, returned from injury for part-time duty against Purdue. Minnesota coach Jerry Kill said Christenson will continue to split time with senior Joe Bjorklund at left guard.
“We have two kids that have knee injuries…Joe Bjorklund and Jon, and there’s no way they can play 50, 60 plays a game,” Kill said. “So we played them pretty much evenly in the (Purdue) game, which helps both of them. We substitute them more than we ever have.”
A Gophers spokesman said Saturday’s Minnesota-Nebraska game is “close” to a sellout at TCF Bank Stadium. If there is a capacity crowd, it will mean the Gophers have sold out all four home games so far—the first time a sellout streak has reached that total since 2009.
Twins telecasts on Fox Sports North in 2015 increased 24 percent from last year and had the 10th highest viewership among MLB teams on regional sports networks with a 4.12 average household rating. Twins telecasts were No. 1 on cable and No. 3 in primetime for all Minneapolis-St. Paul TV programming during the past season.
“Twins Season Review 2015,” a 30-minute program, debuts Thursday night on Fox Sports North starting at 8 p.m.
Jim Bruton, the former Gophers football player who has written books with Minnesota sports legends, has a new book called I’m Alive, an inspiring story about Duke Pieper. Almost six years ago Pieper, then a freshman hockey player on the Hill-Murray varsity, “suffered a brain bleed before his first game,” according to an e-mail from Bruton. “On two occasions, the family asked Bill Lechner, HM coach, to be a pallbearer for Duke’s funeral. His doctor told the family ‘it was time to let him go.’ Duke lived after having only a five percent chance to survive surgery.”
The Wild has interesting road games coming up including Sunday evening in Anaheim against a Ducks team that is a popular choice to win the Stanley Cup. The Wild lost all three regular season games to the Ducks in 2014-2015. All three losses were by one goal.
The Wild will see Marian Gaborik playing for the Kings on Friday night in Los Angeles. Gaborik, the former Wild star, is the franchise’s all-time leader in goals with 219. Tomorrow evening the Wild play the Coyotes in Arizona where Minnesota goalie Devan Dubnyk faces the team he played for part of last season (9-5-2 record, 2.72 GAA).
Skilled marketer and WCHA men’s commissioner Bill Robertson is promoting all-tournament ticket packages for the 2016 Final Five in Grand Rapids, Michigan on March 18 and 19. Priced at $69 each, a ticket package provides admission to the two semi-final games on March 18 and the Broadmoor Trophy championship matchup the next day. Tickets are available via multiple sources including Ticketmaster. “As we saw last season with three nationally-ranked teams competing, the Final Five remains the sport’s finest conference tournament,” Robertson said in a news release on Monday.