Author: David Shama

Jimmy Williams, the former Gopher basketball assistant coach known for his recruiting mastery, will not be joining new Minnesota coach Tubby Smith’s staff, according to a knowledgeable source.  Williams resigned as an assistant at Oklahoma State last week and there’s been speculation he will come back to Minnesota where he was a Gopher assistant in the 1970s and 1980s. 

It was 40 years ago this year that Bud Grant became the Minnesota Vikings head coach.  Grant, one of the greatest athletes ever at the University of Minnesota, had been head coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Canadian Football League.  Grant, who turns 80 next month, was 29 years old when he started coaching the Blue Bombers.  

The Twins’ Rochester farm team might have a superior starting pitching staff to some major league teams. Matt Garza, Glen Perkins, Kevin Slowey and Scott Baker figure to win a lot of games in AAA.   

With five goals in the last regular season game, the Wild set a franchise record for goals in a season with 235, breaking the previous record of 231 set in 2005-06.  The 5-1 victory over St. Louis Saturday night gave the Wild its 48^th win of the season and established a franchise season record of 104 points. 

The Timberwolves haven’t won back-to-back games since mid-February when they had wins against Boston and Denver.  The Wolves defeated New York Friday night but came home and lost to New Orleans on Saturday evening.

About 12,000 season ticket holder seats, or 65 percent of inventory, are being reduced in cost for the 2007-2008 season by the Minnesota Timberwolves.  Team president Chris Wright told Sports Headliners earlier this week that renewal notices were recently sent to season ticket holders and the price roll back on so many seats is precedent-setting for the franchise. 

The Wolves have also introduced a $20 lower level season ticket for 2007—2008.  There are 1,400 of those seats available and the price ranks among the lowest ever offered by the Wolves. 

Wright said “market conditions” prompted the aggressive pricing changes.  The team is on course to miss the playoffs for a third consecutive season after reaching the Western Conference finals in the 2004 playoffs. 

“This is a great NBA market,” Wright said.  “What you have to do is align the pricing with the demand for the product to motivate the market to participate in your brand.  We think this motivates people.” 

Some season ticket holders will pay more for their seats next season. The Wolves are increasing prices on average by about $50 per game for 214 courtside seats.  Also, many seats between the baselines will cost season ticket holders $10 per game more in 2007-2008. 

Wright expects a season ticket holder renewal rate similar to last year’s 82 percent.  The rates in 2005 and 2004 were 88 percent and 93 percent respectively. 

Wright said the team still has a waiting list for seats close to the court. The Wolves also have deposits for nearly 600 new season tickets.   

The current season ticket total of 7,000 is low compared to the 10,000 plus the franchise had during other years.  Group sales, special individual ticket pricing, promotions and special events helped put fans in the 19,356 seat Target Center this season. 

The Wolves are averaging 16,013 fans, ranking 23rd in NBA attendance earlier this week.  Last season the Wolves averaged 16,150 fans per game and ranked 25^th in the 30 team league. The franchise’s success as marketers includes selling out six games this season after selling out only one last season. 

The Wolves have tried to meet season ticket holder discontent directly at gatherings such as a recent “town hall” meeting that included vice president of basketball operations Kevin McHale.  Wright said topics included trades, draft choices and “team chemistry.”  

Customer communications efforts also produced a four color brochure mailed to season ticket holders, Minnesota Timberwolves, Blue Print for the Future.  The brochure includes a message from owner Glen Taylor stating the team made a mistake in recent years “chasing quick fixes to shortcomings that we had as a team.”  The brochure describes the team’s operating philosophy and criteria in areas such as player acquisition, scouting and style of play.

Torii Hunter has been a Twins regular since 1999 including on the playoff teams of 2002-2004 and 2006, but he rates the 2007 team the best.  “This is definitely the best team that I’ve been part of,” he said earlier this week.  “I thought the year (2002) that we had David Ortiz, Jacque Jones and Corey Koskie, I thought that team was really special.  But this team right here is something special. …It’s a lot of fun with this ball club we have right now and it’s exciting to watch.” 

The 2002 team won the Central Division championship, finishing 94-67 and 13.5 games ahead of second place Chicago. Last year’s team, 96-66, also won the division, finishing a game ahead of Detroit. 

The Twins return mostly the same personnel as last season but the loss of the extraordinary Francisco Liriano has made the starting pitching rotation a prime target for worry warts.  On the flip side, the team’s hitting, bullpen and defense eases a lot of anxiety. 

“We’re happy with the pitching staff we have,” Hunter said.  “All they have to do is go out there and throw strikes.  They can’t strike out everybody, so just rely on your defense and have faith in your defense.” 

Despite their talent and past success the Twins aren’t the popular pick to repeat as division champions.  “Now that the division is strong they put us on the backburner, way down on the backburner,” Hunter said.   “But I definitely think that just being the underdog gives us a little bit of a motivation to go out there and prove people wrong.” 

Winning the division, because of so many competitive teams, is likely to be determined by which teams avoid injuries to their best pitchers and position players.  “Oh, definitely, it’s all about who is the healthiest,” Hunter said. “That’s the key for every player, for every team.  …You’re going to have some guys get banged up.  It’s just how long they’re out.  You don’t want a guy out so long you’re falling behind and he’s the key guy on your ball club. …”