Author: David Shama

David Shama is a former sports editor and columnist with local publications. His writing and reporting experiences include covering the Minnesota Vikings, Minnesota Twins, Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Gophers. Shama’s career experiences also include sports marketing. He is the former Marketing Director of the Minnesota North Stars of the NHL. He is also the former Marketing Director of the United States Tennis Association’s Northern Section. A native of Minneapolis, Shama has been part of the community his entire life. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota where he majored in journalism. He also has a Master’s degree in education from the University of St. Thomas. He was a member of the Governor’s NBA’s Task Force to help create interest in bringing pro basketball to town in the 1980s.

Griffen Return Depends on Who Ask

Posted on October 15, 2018October 15, 2018 by David Shama

A Monday notes column including results of time spent yesterday at U.S. Bank Stadium asking about Vikings defensive end Everson Griffen.

Griffen has been on leave since last month because of mental health issues. His whereabouts are a closely guarded secret, as they should be as he receives professional consultation. This is a serious situation with one Vikings source telling Sports Headliners, “He’s got a lot of demons.”

The Vikings come off of a bye week when they play the NFC North Division leading Bears on November 18, and there’s some opinion Griffen could return for that game.

However another source close to the organization said, “He might not ever be back.”

Ever, as the saying goes, is a long time, and Griffen is only 30 years old and an important part of the defense. He finished fourth in the NFL last season with a career-best 13 sacks and was named second team All-Pro.

Griffen is an emotional player and there is an upside to that with a source saying the Vikings not only miss his physical skills, but also “the goofy leadership” of the nine-year pro. That same source, a person with decades of experience in the NFL, said Griffen’s replacement, third year pro Stephen Weatherly, has been better than the team expected.

The Vikings’ top performer now at defensive end is Danielle Hunter. The 23-year-old is becoming a star and has learned from Griffen and others. “We all miss him out here. As a defense, we hope he is doing good and we hope to see him soon,” said Hunter.

The coaching staff of the Cardinals team the Vikings defeated yesterday includes Steve Heiden from Rushford, Minnesota. The assistant offensive line coach began his coaching career in the NFL at Concordia in St. Paul in 2012 after 11 seasons in the NFL.

Running back Mohamed Ibrahim from the Gophers was announced this morning as the Big Ten Freshman of the Week for his 157-yard performance last Saturday in Minnesota’s loss to Ohio State.

Word is the 2019 St. Thomas-St. John’s football game will be played at the Minnesota United’s new Allianz Field. The 2017 game at Target Field had announced attendance of 37,355, a Division III record crowd.

The storied rivalry went to another level last Saturday when the Johnnies paid tribute to their legendary coach John Gagliardi, who died earlier this month. The Johnnies ended the Tommies’ 31-game conference win streak in a matchup between two of Division III’s best football teams.

MIAC Commissioner Dan McKane on Gagliardi’s legacy: “There will never be another John Gagliardi. He was a pioneer in the way he approached his craft and it made him a household name in the world of college football. More important than his success on the field, however, was the impact he had on literally thousands of young men and women over the years. …Everyone who was fortunate enough to cross paths with John was better for it and his light in our world will be deeply missed.”

Interesting future dates on the calendar? If the Timberwolves trade Jimmy Butler to the Heat, they won’t see him at Target Center until near April Fools’ Day. The Heat comes to Minneapolis for an April 5 game, and the Wolves play in Miami on December 30.

Gophers basketball coach Richard Pitino hosts his annual reception to raise awareness and fight cancer from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. November 4 at Interlachen Country Club in Edina. Pitino said he has raised a “couple hundred thousand dollars” in the past. “It’s been a fun event to be a part of,” he said.

More information, including about tickets and sponsorships, is available at coachesvscancerminnesota.org.

Tickets for the April 6 Final Four and April 8 NCAA title game at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis will be hard to come by but Final Four Friday on April 5 will offer free admission to see how the facility has been modified for basketball and also watch the teams practice.

It could be quite a homecoming for Minneapolis area basketball players if Athlon magazine nails its 2019 Final Four prediction of participating teams—Kansas, Kentucky, Duke and Gonzaga. Geno Crandall and Reid Travis now play for Gonzaga and Kentucky respectively, but in high school attended DeLaSalle. Tre Jones of Duke is a former Apple Valley Eagle.

Eric Musselman, son of former Gophers and Timberwolves coach Bill Musselman, has turned Nevada into a national power, with Athlon placing the Wolf Pack No. 5 in its preseason national rankings after Kansas, Kentucky, Duke and Kansas.

Minneapolis and U.S. Bank Stadium events promoters have ongoing interest in bringing the college football national championship game to Minneapolis.

Former Twins second baseman Brian Dozier has struggled at the plate since joining the Dodgers and is hitting .133 in his last 30 games. Dozier has limited plate appearances in the playoffs this fall, with four at bats and one hit.

University of Minnesota volleyball head coach Hugh McCutcheon will be inducted into the International Volleyball Hall of Fame on Nov. 10 in Holyoke, Mass., the location of the sport’s birthplace. Among his many achievements are coaching the 2008 U.S. men to the Olympic gold medal, and the 2012 American women to the silver.

Gophers athletic director Mark Coyle said on WCCO Radio’s “Sports Huddle” yesterday that Maturi Pavilion, where McCutcheon’s teams play, will have air conditioning installed next year.

Among those on the University of Minnesota Presidential Search Committee to find a replacement for Eric Kaler is former Gophers football player and Minneapolis businessman Mark Sheffert who is renowned for his leadership and organizational savvy.

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Richard Pitino Wants Long Stay at U

Posted on October 12, 2018October 12, 2018 by David Shama

There’s been talk for awhile that Richard Pitino will pursue the right opportunity to move on from his position as head basketball coach for the men’s program at the University of Minnesota. It’s been gossiped that he doesn’t like this area and welcomes the thought of moving out East to live and coach.

Pitino’s hometown is Boston. He attended high school at St. Sebastian’s in Needham, Mass. After college at Providence he had assistant coaching experiences at Northeastern, Duquesne, Louisville and Florida before becoming, at 29 years old, head coach for Florida Atlantic. Family and friends in the East live a long way from Minneapolis.

This fall Pitino begins his sixth season at Minnesota with a contract that runs through 2022. What does he say about rumors he wants to move on if given the opportunity to head East?

“I’ve signed two extensions since I have been here. I’d sign another one right now if (athletic director) Mark Coyle would offer it to me,” Pitino told Sports Headliners during a one-on-one interview this week. “I am from back East but I consider Minnesota home. I’ve had two children born here. I am ingrained into the community. My wife (Jill) and I love it here. We’ve met some great friends.”

To Pitino’s pleasure, he has witnessed major changes in the athletic department since he was hired as Minnesota’s head coach in 2013. The new $160 million Athlete’s Village, with all its amenities including for basketball, is a dramatic difference maker for impressing recruits and serving his players. Upgrades have been made to historic Williams Arena and Pitino has experienced how that building can give his team a special home court advantage in big games.

Coach Richard Pitino & Jordan Murphy (photo courtesy of Minnesota Athletic Communications)

After working for two previous athletic directors, he’s seen stability come to that position with the hiring of Coyle who has been on the job since 2016. Pitino knows he benefits, too, from having the only Division I basketball program in Minnesota, and that the state is turning out high school recruits coveted across the country.

For those reasons and others Pitino said his job “checks all the boxes” for a place he wants to be. That checklist includes strong academics at the U and Pitino made it clear during the interview how he values the kind of student-athlete experience the coach said he wants for his players at Minnesota.

Add up all the positives and Pitino describes himself as “fortunate” to have the Gopher job. “I am here forever long as they’ll have me,” he said.

In the years ahead Pitino expects his teams to compete for Big Ten championships. “Yeah, now that we’ve got all the pieces (resources),” he said. “Two years ago we finished fourth (in the standings). I thought last year, if we had stayed healthy, we could have won it. So I think we’ll bounce back this year, have a really good team.

“The biggest thing is …it’s a fine line between the top of this league and the middle and the bottom. It can be a lucky free throw here, a bounce there, a lucky call by the ref.

“I’ve been here five years. I really thought for four years we had as good of a chance to be at the top of it as any. Certainly my third year we were really rebuilding, but we’ve been close (other seasons) and I think we’ll be back there this year.”

The Gophers started last season at 13-3 and were nationally ranked. By January, though, injuries to key players and the suspension of center Reggie Lynch had the Gophers in big trouble and headed toward a final Big Ten record of 4-14.

“Last year was hard because we felt that could be a special team,” Pitino said. “The rug was pulled out from underneath us with a lot of things that we couldn’t control. The biggest thing you learn is just keeping coaching those guys. Every day there is something you can do to make them better. Make them stronger.”

The Gophers play their first and only exhibition game November 1 when Minnesota Duluth comes to Williams Arena. After that there will be challenging nonconference games including a home test against Utah November 12. There are two Big Ten regular season games in December and then after January 1 it’s all conference play until hopefully qualifying for the NCAA Tournament in March.

Pitino has talent and experience to work with including four players returning who have been starters in the past, plus promising newcomers. The roster includes senior forward Jordan Murphy who was named by a media panel yesterday to the All-Big Ten preseason team. Pitino likes the potential of his team and knows a successful season can lessen pressure on him and the program. After five seasons the results have been very mixed.

The Gophers won 25 games in Pitino’s first season of 2012-13. The success included winning the NIT title. The 2017 team had a surprising 11-7 regular season Big Ten record and finished fourth in the conference, the best the Gophers had done since 2005. As a result, Pitino was voted Big Ten Coach of the Year by media and coaches. Program lows during the Pitino era include off-the-court problems with players and a 2-16 Big Ten record in 2016 (8-23 overall) that made the 2017 season such a surprise to almost everyone.

Pitino believes he is a better coach than when he arrived here as a 30 year old. “I would think that every year I get a little bit better,” he said. “I am more…confident every year that goes into it. I believe we can compete with everybody in this league. We got some hall of fame coaches…Tom Izzo (Michigan State), John Beilein (Michigan), and then you’ve got some younger guys who are really good as well.

“So I humbly say that I am confident as I’ve ever been going against those guys. (With) the players that we have right now, we’ve got some young guys that are really good. We’ve got some veterans who are ready to go, so I feel good about it.”

What does Pitino consider his greatest strength as a coach? “An understanding of young athletes in today’s world,” he answered. “I am 36 years old. I get what they’re dealing with.

“I think that I have a really good connection with our guys. I think they like playing for me, playing for what we’re trying to do. I think if you look at three years ago (the 2015-16 season), we won eight games and we had some embarrassing things happen at the end of the season and nobody transferred.

“That says a lot about our program—and that’s probably, as sad as it sounds, one of the more proud moments for me was that…they believed in me, their families believed in what we were doing, that we’re going to hold them accountable, make them better, tell them the truth.

“There’s not a lot of B.S. to me. I am going to tell you exactly where I think you stand, where we can get better together. I am probably going to say that’s my greatest strength.”

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Gophers Football Ticket Sales Decline

Posted on October 10, 2018 by David Shama

Ticket sales continue to decline for Golden Gophers home football games. In response to a request from Sports Headliners, the University of Minnesota reported that both non-student and student season tickets had declined 2,572 from last year.

As of late September, 21,682 non-student season tickets had been sold compared to 22,990 in 2017. The student season tickets total of 4,730 compared with 5,994 last year.

The public isn’t rushing to buy single game home tickets either. Announced attendance for four games so far includes three totals under 42,000 in TCF Bank Stadium with a seating capacity of 50,805. The attendance of 38,280 for the Fresno State game was the second lowest in stadium history since its opening in 2009.

There is also the eyeball test at each game that shows huge patches of unsold or unused seats all over the stadium, including many that are expensive seats. Buyers are paying for tickets but not showing up or successfully giving those seats away. This was evident even at the most attractive game on the 2018 schedule, last Saturday’s rivalry game against Iowa.

Announced attendances for college football games, including those at TCF Bank Stadium, have long raised eyebrows and caused speculation about accuracy. A Wall Street Journal article last summer reported that based on actual ticket scans at FBS games last year far fewer fans actually show up in their seats than what announced attendances indicate.

The Journal reported in its August 30 article that the Gophers announced total attendance in 2017 of 310,506 for seven home games contrasted with a tickets scanned total of 210,909. That resonates with last Saturday’s Iowa-Minnesota game at TCF Bank Stadium when despite an announced attendance of 48,199, it appeared that 10,000 to 15,000 fewer fans were in the building.

College football attendance decreased for a fourth consecutive season in 2017, and there are many reasons. HD TV delivers captivating pictures for those watching college football in the comfort of their homes without paying high ticket prices and investing time travelling to and from game sites. Then, too, the college game is lengthier than its NFL rival with longer halftimes and more clock stoppages during the four quarters of “action.”

Younger fans, including college students, often aren’t as interested in their hometown team as past generations. The argument of moving Minnesota’s games back to campus at TCF Bank Stadium to draw more students has proven highly questionable.

Whether a school has a winning team, of course, also has a big impact on attendance. Often, the schools that draw the smaller crowds in their conferences (like the Gophers) don’t have successful teams and in many instances haven’t for a long while. Add it all up and many universities, including those in the Big Ten such as Minnesota, find themselves with lots of empty seats but grateful for TV revenues in the range of $50 million this school year.

Interest in Gophers football began declining with the mid-season resignation of head coach Jerry Kill in 2015. Kill had the program on the rise and was a popular personality who connected with the public. Ticket buyers didn’t respond the same way with Kill’s successor, Tracy Claeys, who had one full season as head coach in 2016.

A couple weeks prior to the start of the 2016 season the University reported about a 19 percent decline in non-student season tickets. The total in 2015 had been 27,885 but in mid-August of 2016 the Gophers had sold 22,706 non-student season tickets.

Despite a winning Big Ten record and unexpected Holiday Bowl win in 2016, Gophers athletic director Mark Coyle and University president Eric Kaler terminated Claeys in early January of 2017. “I determined that the football program must move in a new direction to address challenges in recruiting, ticket sales and the culture of the program,” Coyle said in a statement.

University regent Michael Hsu said the message from administrators was there would be a “Fleck bump” in ticket sales by hiring P.J. Fleck, known as an exciting young coach from Western Michigan who was coming off a 13-1 season. Fleck had drawn national press coverage because of both his record and salesmanship. Hsu told Sports Headliners he had been reluctant to approve Fleck’s contract because it was not only considerably more compensation than Claeys earned, but also the athletic department was taking on the expense of over $3 million for buyouts of Claeys and his assistants.

In fact, there hasn’t been much “Fleck bump” in ticket sales. Last year, the Gophers’ first under Fleck, attendance for seven home games averaged 44,358—slightly improved over the average of 43,814 in Claeys’ only full season as head coach. That average was the lowest in TCF Bank Stadium history. The Gophers had averaged a TCF best 52,355 fans in 2015 when the Kill-effect was still in play and the stadium had a temporary larger capacity because the Vikings were playing there.

This season might set a new attendance low at TCF with the team off to a 0-2 Big Ten start, giving up 90 points in the first two league games. The Gophers could be underdogs in all of their remaining games. The remaining home schedule has three opponents with no marquee pull—Indiana, Northwestern and Purdue. Through four home games Minnesota is averaging 42,233 fans per game in announced attendance.

The “honeymoon” effect of TCF Bank Stadium has been gone for some time. As the weather turns colder, and the possibility of precipitation is in play, having an outdoor facility in this marketplace (compare to U.S. Bank Stadium) is a liability in selling tickets, and it causes those with tickets to stay away.

In an interview last month with Sports Headliners, Kaler acknowledged the attendance problem at Minnesota and elsewhere. “We’re not alone in this situation across the country,” he said. “As you know, attendance at sporting events has dropped off nearly everywhere. Of course, I expected more people to come (to Gopher games), but nothing brings people to a stadium better than a winning team. I think as P.J. begins to put more w’s up on the board, (and) the young men continue to perform, our attendance will rebound.”

Fleck’s recruiting classes have ranked higher than what Gophers fans have known over the years. Fleck, Kaler and other leaders at the U are counting on more talent in the seasons ahead. “I am very pleased with the decision that Mark and I made to hire P.J.,” Kaler said. “He is exactly what we expected him to be. …He is setting a foundation that I think will hold up a very, very strong team as time goes forward.”

When does Kaler believe the Gophers can start filling up their stadium for every game? “Oh, I don’t have a timeframe for it, Dave. But I do think when we start routinely beating Wisconsin, we will sell out.”

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