Author: David Shama

Frank Jirik, the popular former Minnesota North Stars and Met Center executive, had no active cancer after a November check up.  Jirik, 67, who also was an executive with the San Jose Sharks and is now a consultant with the Xcel Energy Center, was diagnosed four years ago with lymphoma cancer.  He had a successful stem cell transplant in March.  

Jirik recalled a funny story about the late John Mariucci, the former Gopher coach and North Stars executive whose dry wit was well known.  Mariucci was asked for his scouting input on a player who was obviously slow.  Mariucci wisecracked that he liked the guy.  “He’s pretty slow so you get a good look at him.” 

Don Lucia said on WCCO Radio Sunday morning he expects freshman Kyle Okposo, the Gophers’ leader in goals scored with 15, to return for his sophomore season. 

Minnesota Vikings assistant offensive line coach Jim Hueber coached Wisconsin’s Outland Trophy winner Joe Thomas before Hueber joined the Vikings for the 2006 season. The Vikings need a right tackle but Thomas is not likely to be available when Minnesota drafts at No. 7 in the first round.

Talk is optimistic that Flip Saunders, who comes to town with his Detroit Pistons to play the Timberwolves Friday night, will be the next Gopher basketball coach.  You wonder if son Ryan, a senior on the team next season, might one day become an assistant to his dad with the Gophers. 

Wally’s Choice, whose owners include Wally the Beerman, is successfully recovering from an inflamed tendon, and is expected to race later this year.  Wally’s Choice is expected to break the all-time record for earnings ($533,528) by a Minnesota horse in 2007.

Thunderbolt or thud.  When the University announces its new football coach the reaction will either generate immediate enthusiasm or none at all.  Present us with former Gopher quarterback Tony Dungy, Rutgers coach Greg Schiano or West Virginia’s Rich Rodriguez and listen to the telephone ring in the ticket office.  Hire an offensive or defensive coordinator, or head coach from the Mid- American Conference, and watch for some yawns. 

A hot coordinator like LSU’s Bo Pellini or Wisconsin’s Paul Chryst, or a not so well known head coach like South Florida’s Jim Leavitt, might eventually establish a superb program at Minnesota.  Such a hire, although greeted with a whimper by the masses, isn’t necessarily a flawed strategy but it is the wrong approach if the University doesn’t first move heaven and earth to first find a heavenly head coach. 

Perhaps never before have the University president and athletic director communicated such high expectations as heard during the last few weeks from Bob Bruininks and Joel Maturi.   Bruininks expects a football program that can at least occasionally win Big Ten Conference championships.  Maturi talked championship at the news conference announcing the firing of Glen Mason who during 10 seasons never finished better than fourth in the conference:  “I want to assure the fans of Minnesota that we are committed to bringing a championship here, and we’re going to do everything we can to do that.” 

It’s not just Bruininks and Maturi who are creating expectations but also fans and media who don’t accept all the excuses as to why Gopher football has to be mediocre.  I can never recall a time, not even when Minnesota football was at its lowest lows, when there was so much optimism about a better future. 

Steve and Dorothy Erban’s Creative Charters company has been organizing trips to away Gopher football games for many years.  They recently e-mailed their customers with an upbeat message that included this: “We have a GOLDEN opportunity to be part of bringing a football championship to the University of Minnesota.  Gopher fans, the time has come to support our leadership and ask what we can do to bring a Big Ten Football Championship to our new on-campus stadium.  I can vision it now, sparkling GOLD letters in the end zone, 2009 BIG TEN CHAMPIONS.” 

Yes, there is optimism but also angst over “what undoubtedly is the most important hiring decision in Golden Gopher sports in the past 60 years,” according to Mike Wilkinson, a zealous fan since the 1950s.  And this from a former Gopher football player who e-mailed the following: “The U has a chance to do things correctly and get winners on and off the field.  They need to do it.”

Start this search with the premise that no successful head coach who interests the University is unavailable.  Learn the facts about availability and narrow the search from there.  Be prepared and willing to enter the “college football arms race,” including an annual contract of $2 million or more, plus plenty of personal perks and a detailed commitment from the administration to help the coach win.  Part of a successful search process, too, is that Bruininks and Maturi must be stubbornly determined to hire a great head coach, resisting the discouragement of “no” from various coaches.  Push on and then negotiate as if they had doctoral degrees in personal persuasion. 

The search needs to focus on Dungy after the playoffs end for his Indianapolis Colts.  If that takes awhile, then so be it.  It’s far more important for the University to select the right coach, then to hire someone in a panic because the national signing day for prep players is February 7. 

If not Dungy, then who else?  Schiano, 40, took over a horrible football program at Rutgers after leaving the University of Miami as an assistant coach following the 2001 season. He coached the Scarlet Knights to an 11 win season in 2006 including the school’s first ever bowl victory.  Rodriguez, 43, turned down Alabama to stay at West Virginia where his six year record includes three straight New Year’s Day bowl games and Big East Conference titles, and six wins over top 25 teams since he became coach for the 2001 season.  

Gary Patterson, 46, from TCU, is a Wilkinson favorite. Patterson has a .754 winning percent in six seasons as head coach and graduated 86% of his players, according to Wilkinson. Patterson, TCU’s defensive coordinator before being promoted to head coach, has a win at Oklahoma over the Sooners among his impressive victories.   His recruiting connections in Texas would be a huge asset for the Gophers.

Navy’s Paul Johnson, 49, is intriguing.  Before coming to Annapolis he won two Division II-A national championships at Georgia Southern.   At Navy he uses an offense called the triple option and his teams will either lead the nation in rushing each year or be near the top.  At the service academies the talent is often undersized physically and underwhelming in ability, yet Johnson’s records are impressive and his teams compete with college football’s big boys better than Army and Air Force. Navy’s record was 1-20 in the two seasons prior to Johnson coming to Annapolis in 2002 but the last four years Navy has won at least eight games. If Johnson can win at Navy, do you think he can win at Minnesota? 

Bo Pellini, 39, might be the best candidate among all the assistant coaches in the country.  A former player at Ohio State, Pellini coached nine seasons in the NFL including with the Green Bay Packers before going to Nebraska where he was so successful as defensive coordinator players wanted him to succeed Frank Solich as head coach.  Pellini then became defensive coordinator at Oklahoma and now at LSU.  His name is synonymous with top 10 national defensive statistics.  

Wisconsin offensive coordinator Paul Chryst has created much speculation here already.  Wisconsin football should be a poster program for the Gophers, providing a model for success and encouragement that Minnesota football can be much better.  Impressive about Chryst is he left the Badgers after the 2002 season to take a job with Oregon State as offensive coordinator.  Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez hired Chryst back for the 2005 season and that’s a compliment. 

Whoever the Gophers hire this much is clear: with expectations and optimism higher than in the past, a new stadium opening in 2009 and challenges that include stadium funding, buyouts for coaches, and critics in the state legislature, the high schools, media and general public, Bruninks and Maturi have a thunderbolt opportunity.