Author: David Shama

In the current issues both Sporting News and Sports Illustrated praise the 2008 Gopher football recruiting success.  In unprecedented coverage of the school’s recruiting, the two national publications joined with other news sources in admiring the work of coach Tim Brewster and his staff for a recruiting class acknowledged as among the top 20 in the country despite coming off a 1-11 season and decades of mediocrity and abysmal on-field performance.

Sporting News included the Gophers among its “top 10 signing day stories.”  Under a “Minnesota matters” heading, the publication described Brewster as a “voracious recruiter who is selling his vision.”

SN ranked the Gophers’ recruiting class 16^th in the country, placing Minnesota only behind No. 9 Ohio State and No. 10 Michigan among Big Ten schools.  The Gophers were ranked one spot behind No. 15 Texas, another super power among college football programs and a school that signed Brewster’s son Nolan, from Denver Mullen.  Imagine where the Gophers would have ranked if star recruits Nolan Brewster, Michael Floyd of Cretin-Derham Hall and Willie Mobley of Eden Prairie all signed with Minnesota.  That was a possibility last year.

For the Gopher football program to draw attention in Sports Illustrated is almost as rare as a Jesse Ventura sighting.  Years ago quarterback Bobby Cox made the cover as “America’s best quarterback” and more recently extraordinary running backs Laurence Maroney and Marion Barber III were featured.  But coverage of Gopher recruiting in SI?  No memory of that!

Under a “Gophers Strike Gold” heading, SI referred to Minnesota as one of the recruiting season’s surprise success stories and said Brewster produced a “consensus” top 20 class.  In a related article about the college football trend to big, physical quarterbacks like Florida’s Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow who can devastate opponents passing and running, SI included Minnesota recruit MarQueis Gray.  The magazine said the 6-4, 220-pound Indianapolis player “had Minnesota coaches envisioning touchdowns through the air and by land.”

The Gophers’ recruiting class success was both anticipated and surprising.  Brewster had a reputation for years while an assistant coach for being among the nation’s best recruiters. Then, too, he hired his staff based on their collective abilities to recruit as well as coach.  But consider, too, no school other than Minnesota that produced a top 20 class was coming off a 1-11 season.  Compare, too, Minnesota’s big time bowl history in the last 50 years with other schools in the Sporting News top 25 recruiting list and see how shabby the Gopher scrapbook looks (you remember the 1962 Rose Bowl, right?).

The Gophers’ recruiting success is no surprise to recruiting analyst Tom Lemming who is among the most quoted of authorities year after year and has admired Brewster for a long time.  On the Gopher Web site, www.gophersports.com, Lemming said,“Tim is one of the top 10 recruiters I’ve ever seen.”

Recruiting rankings and articles are fun.  They are downright uplifting after a winless Big Ten Conference season, but the more important results will come during the next couple of falls.  How much success will the Gophers have on the field?  Right now it appears the class of 2008 provides Brewster and staff a bright future.

Former Gopher tennis coach Jerry Noyce retired recently from Health Fitness Corporation as vice chairman of the board.  He is staying busy including consulting for the company and as a member of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, a group started in 1954 by President Dwight Eisenhower.

Noyce is excited about a new initiative by President George Bush and the council called the President’s Challenge.  The challenge begins on March 20 and encourages Americans to exercise 30 minutes a day, five days per week for six weeks. “The goal is to get one million Americans to participate,” said Noyce.

Among those on the 20 member council is New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning.  Noyce said Manning may be a kickoff spokesman for the President’s Challenge that hopes to make exercise a part of daily routines for many more Americans.

The top five states by percentage of participation will be recognized in mid-May, Noyce said.  More information on the challenge is available at www.presidentschallenge.org.

Noyce is a member of the council’s corporate health and wellness sub-committee to encourage employers to promote fitness to employees and their families.  His term on the council will be over at year end.

When Noyce was coaching the Gophers the captain of his first Big Ten Championship team was Gene Sperling, now an economic adviser to Hillary Clinton.  Sperling also advised former president Bill Clinton. 

“He was a great teammate for all the players,” Noyce said. “He was very supportive of them and someone they could count on. He was a brilliant student in political science (at Minnesota) and went to Yale Law School where he was on the law review (he also has an MBA).”

Gopher athletics director Joel Maturi after being asked last week if football season ticket sales have jumped since the early February announcement about a top 20 recruiting class:  “You know what, I am not aware of that but I think we’re going to see some spiking.  It’s the last year in the dome.  People are going to know that if they have tickets for next year, they’ll get them for TCF Bank Stadium (opening in 2009).  Because if they don’t after that, it may not happen.”

Timberwolves radio color man Billy McKinney told Sports Headliners he’s predicting a Lakers-Pistons NBA finals.  Flip Saunders and his Pistons will win the title, McKinney said.

McKinney will speak to the North Dakota Chamber of Commerce on March 4 in Fargo. He’s been involved with public speaking for years.  His web site is www.billy-mckinney.com.

Timberwolves guard-forward Corey Brewer was the No. 7 pick in last year’s NBA draft.  At the NBA All-Star break he’s played in 50 games, started 23 and averaged 5.4 points per game, 3.7 rebounds and 1.4 assists.  He has made only .354 percent of his field goal attempts (.194 percent of three pointers).  He said in an interview last week that he “should shoot 45 (percent) and above.”

Luke Walton, 28, said he and his Lakers’ teammates are aware of the franchise history that includes Minneapolis but they don’t talk about it.  The oldest Laker, 33- year-old Derek Fisher, was born 14 years after the team moved from Minneapolis to Los Angeles. “When I started watching it was Magic (Johnson) and them in the ‘80s doing the showtime. ….You gotta give respect for the people who started it all,” Walton told Sports Headliners last week.

Laker players are wearing a logo this season to commemorate the 60^th anniversary of the franchise.  The logo includes the words Minneapolis, Los Angeles and Lakers.

Prep basketball expert Ken Lien’s latest rankings of the state’s top 10 boys’ teams are: Hopkins, Osseo, Minnetonka, Henry Sibley, Cretin-Derham Hall, Shakopee, Crosby-Ironton, Stillwater, Wayzata and Benilde-St. Maragaret’s. Lien, chair of the Mr. Basketball program, compiles his top 10 based on who he considers the best teams regardless of school enrollment size.

Twins president Dave St. Peter said there have been ongoing discussions with ace closer Joe Nathan regarding a new contract. Nathan is a free agent after this season.  With more concerns than in the past about the starting pitching, St. Peter said the bullpen is “more important” now to the team’s success.

The 2008 Diamond Awards Dinner will air on FSN North three times during February, with the first broadcast tonight from 6:30 to 8 p.m. The event was held last month and is the Twins Cities chapter of the Baseball Writers of America’s opportunity to present their awards for the 2007 season. The other broadcast dates are Sunday, February 24 from 3:30 to 5 p.m. and Friday, February 29 from noon to 1:30 p.m.