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.

U Needs to Find a Role for Jerry Kill

Posted on October 28, 2015October 28, 2015 by David Shama

I have sat in Jerry Kill’s office when he talked about “not stealing” from the University of Minnesota. What he meant was that if he ever thought he wasn’t up to the job as head football coach he would walk away.

In this morning’s unexpected and emotion-drenched news conference Kill announced that time has come. Those who care deeply about the University and Gophers football are saddened to lose one of the finest individuals who ever worked in the athletic department.

Kill’s fabric is built on character including the virtues of nurturing, integrity and hard work. After suffering recent seizures and only having a few hours sleep at night, he decided to step down as Gophers coach. As he cried at today’s news conference he poured out his emotions and thoughts including his concern about what he will do with the rest of his life.

Kill is 54 years old and while he has a history of seizures and cancer he still has much to contribute to this world. He wants to do something meaningful. The pressure cooker of being a big time college football coach isn’t in his future but he won’t want to sit in a rocking chair day after day.

Doctors and family will help Kill make a decision going forward as to what he can do with his life. Maybe his path will be focusing on his Chasing the Dreams fund to benefit people with epilepsy and seizures.

But what University president Eric Kaler must do is dialogue with Kill over the coming weeks and months about whether there is the right fit for a position at Minnesota. Knowing Kill as I do, it’s almost impossible to imagine that there couldn’t be an appropriate assignment—even if it was part time.

Kill is so respected and loved by so many supporters of the University there is no question they would want him to continue officing in Dinkytown. He played a major role in the fundraising that has resulted in the Athletes Village project for which ground will be broken on Friday. His reputation, people skills and relationships would allow him to be an extraordinary fundraiser for the athletic department which still is only about halfway home in raising funds for new and renovated facilities. Whether Kill’s interest and health would allow him to do more than wear the hat of a full or part-time fundraiser remains to be seen.

Also, it’s no secret the Gophers need a permanent athletic director. If Kill thought he was healthy enough and had the energy he would be fabulous at the job. Over 30 years in coaching has given him great experience in athletics. Kill would bring so many of the attributes to an administrative role that he showcased as the Gophers football coach. The quality of the assistant coaches he has hired and the loyalty they have shown to him demonstrates his skill in assembling and keeping a staff in place. He set high standards for excellence including wins on the field. He was committed to the welfare of those around him including his assistant coaches and players. He was honest and direct with people, sometimes telling them what they needed to know even if they didn’t want to hear it.

Kill took over a terrible football program in December of 2010 and made it into something the state of Minnesota is proud of. The Gophers, once a laughing stock of the Big Ten, are now a competitive team, and within a season or two Minnesota could exceed the eight win years of 2013 and 2014.

Kill has turned around the football program beyond the playing field. His team collectively had a 3.04 GPA last spring semester and his players are earning their degrees after he inherited a program where players were on academic probation and not attending classes. Also, ask the University police and Minneapolis police if there hasn’t been a dramatic change in off-field behavior.

The Gophers lost the face of their athletic department today. The University lost the most beloved leader at the school. It’s up to Kaler now to dialogue with Kill and determine whether this extraordinary leader wants to continue on at the University.

Kill was a damn fine coach. He is an even better educator and human being.

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Flip Did It All in His Basketball Life

Posted on October 26, 2015October 26, 2015 by David Shama

Flip Saunders was probably the most unique basketball man in the history of this state. He was raised in Ohio but Minnesota was home. He died yesterday at age 60 in Minnesota and he wouldn’t have wanted to depart this earth from anywhere else.

I first saw Flip as a feisty teenager playing point guard for the Gophers in the 1970s. During the last few years I knew him as the basketball boss of the Timberwolves. Through the decades he played every role possible in big time basketball in Minnesota. At the end of his life he had an unprecedented list of simultaneous responsibilities as part owner, president and coach of the Wolves.

Flip Saunders (Photo courtesy of Timberwolves)

Flip played on some of the best Gophers teams ever, including the 24-3 group in 1977, his senior season. He had been a high school All-American in suburban Cleveland and came to the Gophers as coach Bill Musselman’s alter ego. Musselman was back alley tough and reveled in the basketball smarts and competitiveness of Flip, a small guy like his coach but just as willing to battle enemies of all sizes and skills.

After Flip’s college career he had an NBA tryout with his hometown Cavs. If guts and determination were all that was required, the 5-11 Saunders would have been All-NBA 10 years in a row. Flip had averaged 32 points per game in high school and started 101 of 103 possible games for the Gophers but he soon realized his future was on the sidelines and not on the court.

Flip started his coaching career at Golden Valley Lutheran where his record of 92-13 included 56 straight wins at home. In 1981 he became a Gophers assistant to head coach Jim Dutcher for whom he had played his final two seasons. He stayed five seasons with the Gophers, helping them to the 1982 Big Ten championship. Then it was two more years of assistant coaching at Tulsa.

After Tulsa he went into the CBA, pro basketball’s minor league and NBA feeder system. His achievements, though, were big time. In seven seasons his teams won two league championships, he was twice named Coach of the Year, and he had a record number of players promoted to the NBA.

By 1995 Flip had proven he was as much a grinder hell-bent for success as a coach as he was as a player. Kevin McHale, the Wolves basketball boss and former teammate with the Gophers, hired Flip to work in the front office but soon switched him to the sidelines as head coach.

It’s no coincidence that the mostly forlorn franchise known as the Timberwolves has experienced its greatest successes under Flip’s direction. In the late 1990s the Wolves looked poised to become one of the league’s elite led by Kevin Garnett, Tom Gugliotta and Steph Marbury. But only Garnett stuck around and the Wolves regrouped early in the new Millennium led by KG, Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell. They were on the edge of an NBA title in 2004 when an injury to Cassell derailed plans for a championship parade down Hennepin Avenue.

Any list of the franchise’s 26 years of mistakes has to include the decision to fire Saunders as coach early in the 2004-2005 season. That was a blow to the gut for Flip but by now anyone who knew him realized he would march on to more coaching experiences. There was success in Detroit where his Pistons were annual contenders to win the Eastern Conference. Then there was a stop in Washington D.C. as Wizards coach before he was let go.

Flip was almost 57 when the Wizards said he was out in early 2012, but he was hardly through writing his basketball story. He became a special assistant to the Celtics, worked for ESPN analyzing the NBA and plotted a return to coaching.

That return might have been to his alma mater in 2013. Flip was looking for a job and the Gophers had an opening. He would have been a sensational fit, and not just as a coach but as a recruiter and promoter of the program. He had told me years before that if he ever got back into college coaching he would revive the Harlem Globetrotters-like pregame ball handling show he had been part of at Minnesota under Musselman. The show was a knockout and amped fans to near craziness by game time.

In 2013 Flip interviewed for the Gophers job with athletic director Norwood Teague and his basketball administrator Mike Ellis. The interview went no where including a disagreement over Flip’s authority to hire a staff. I was told Flip was willing to take the job at a modest salary and willing to donate $500,000 toward the cost of a new practice facility. The same source also said Flip did want bonus compensation based on the box office success of his team.

Teague should have given Flip just about anything he asked for. That’s how big time deals are made. Go ask Michigan how they were able to bring Jim Harbaugh back to the Big House. Do a little homework on how the Blue Devils keep “Coach K” at Duke. Teague was a flop as Minnesota’s AD and the half-hearted effort to land Flip is one of the now departed administrator’s failures.

Glen Taylor (Photo courtesy of Timberwolves)

Soon after the Gophers’ opportunity fell through in 2013 Flip was rehired by the Wolves, this time as the basketball authority in charge of personnel and other decisions. He negotiated a part ownership of the Wolves with lead owner Glen Taylor who also gave Flip the coaching job in 2014 when Rick Adelman retired.

Flip not only knew how to coach, he was a savvy talent evaluator. In the last couple of years he undid some of the damage left by overmatched general manager David Kahn. His acquisition of young players Andrew Wiggins, Karl-Anthony-Towns and Zach LaVine has put hope back into spirits of the fan base. The Wolves are no longer the laughingstock of the league and have the foundation to build a playoff team.

This season was going to be Flip’s next step in the resurrection of the Wolves. He had big plans and likely would have been interested in eventually expanding his share of team ownership. He reached out awhile ago to big money guys like Dr. Bill McGuire about possible ownership if Taylor went through with plans to sell.

Flip was always ready to do what was needed, whether it was Xs and Os, college scouting, NBA trades, pitching potential owners, or marketing his team to the fans and media with public appearances and news gatherings. He was a basketball icon who did it all while earning tens of millions of dollars.

Now the tributes to the man who died at the height of his influence are coming from all over the map. Ironically one came from Marbury who played only a couple of seasons for Flip before bolting out of town and blowing up a potential Wolves championship. Yesterday the former point guard wrote this on Instagram about his ex-mentor:

“I thank you for giving me my foundation in how to play the professional way. I thank you for giving me unconditional love as if I were your son when I was so young. …What an impact you’ve had on so many humans on earth.”

Flip worked his way up from the bottom. Played so many roles. Touched so many lives. He won’t just be missed. He won’t be replaced.

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Playoffs? Vikings Need Road Wins Now

Posted on October 23, 2015October 23, 2015 by David Shama

The Vikings haven’t had a winning road record since 1998 when they were 7-1 in away games and 8-0 at home. The franchise hasn’t even reached .500 since the 2009 team was 4-4 on the road. And more recently the Vikings have really struggled in NFC North road games, not having won a division game away from home since 2012.

Wide receiver Mike Wallace acknowledged the Vikings need to win Sunday’s game in Detroit against the 1-5 Lions. “We know why need to win this game. We need to get it going, do something on the road,” he told Sports Headliners. “We can’t make the playoffs (alternating) win and lost, win and lost.”

During September the Vikings opened the season with a road loss to the 49ers, then followed up with home wins against the Lions and Chargers. Early this month there was a road loss to the Broncos and last Sunday a win at home versus the Chiefs. That adds up to a 3-2 record including no wins on the road.

Mike Wallace (Photo courtesy of Minnesota Vikings)

While the Vikings are undefeated at home, they can’t count on a perfect record at TCF Bank Stadium, and even if they could go 8-0 that wouldn’t for certain qualify the club for the playoffs. Wallace believes the Vikings should think about winning five of eight games on the road. But with six road games remaining, the goal of going 5-1 seems daunting.

Awaiting the Vikings are away games with the Lions, the 2-3 Bears and Raiders, 5-1 Falcons, 4-2 Cardinals and 6-0 Packers. The best the Vikings might accomplish are three or four road wins.

Regarding the remaining home schedule, the Packers are the only opponent with an above .500 record. A win over the Packers at TCF is possible, but victories are more likely against the Bears, 2-3 Rams, 3-4 Seahawks and 3-3 Giants.

Add up the potential wins and losses and the Vikings could go 9-7 or even 10-6 but they need to help themselves both on the road and at home starting this Sunday in an almost can’t lose game. The Lions were 11-5 last season and defeated the Vikings twice, but they have been a major disappointment in 2015.

Vikings wide receiver Charles Johnson anticipates plenty of support from Lions fans on Sunday at Ford Field, a covered stadium. “A place like Detroit is going to be really amped up, and it’s super loud. (I) think it’s going to be a good test for us,” he said. “We already beat them once but I know they got something else up their sleeve.”

Johnson said encountering extreme noise on the road can limit communications among players and restrict game plans. “Some things that we would do at home we won’t be able to do on the road because of the crowd noise and certain situations that may occur,” he said.

Told that the Vikings haven’t had a winning road record since 1998, Johnson said: “We’ve got a great group of guys here willing to work and we’re gonna try to change that statistic.”

What does Vikings coach Mike Zimmer think is needed to play better on the road? “Probably start fast (in the game) would be a good one. I think we’ve started fast at home pretty good. …Handling the crowd noise, making sure we don’t turn the ball over. We’ve got to protect the quarterback better than what we’ve done on the road. Those will all be big things.”

Worth Noting

Phil Loadholt said this Vikings team has more rapport than any he has played on. The offensive tackle is in his seventh year with the Vikings and although a torn Achilles tendon has ended his season he is around the players. Teammates are supportive of one another and while coaches are critical they avoid humiliating players. “They don’t do that,” Loadholt told Sports Headliners.

Rookie wide receiver Stefon Diggs has been mentored by teammate Charles Johnson. “He’s definitely helped me out a lot,” Diggs said. “More than he knows as far as watching him run routes. Watching what he does really helps me. …”

The 21-year-old Diggs has 13 catches for 216 yards in his last two games. Johnson, a three-year NFL wide receiver who joined the Vikings last year, is enthusiastic about Diggs, a fifth round draft choice from Maryland.

“I love Diggs,” Johnson said. “Since he came in he’s been under my wing and I’ve been helping as much as I can.”

The Gophers basketball scrimmage on Sunday at Williams Arena will consist of four eight minute quarters. The scrimmage, free and open to the public, begins at 4 p.m. with doors opening at 3:30 p.m.

The team’s potential star, at least early in the season, looks like sophomore guard Nate Mason. Gophers coach Richard Pitino predicts Mason has the potential at some point to become one of the Big Ten’s best guards. The 6-2 Mason, who averaged 9.8 points and almost three assists per game as a freshman, told Sports Headliners he doesn’t have a preference between point guard and shooting guard.

Mason’s assignment could be shooting guard if 6-foot much hyped point guard Kevin Dorsey, a freshman, impresses Pitino in practices and early games including the November 1 exhibition matchup at Williams Arena against Minnesota Crookston. Mason likes what he’s seen of the speedy freshman and would “welcome” playing along side of him. “We both came in (to the Gophers) with a lot of confidence,” Mason said.

Minnesota junior forward Charles Buggs also talked about Dorsey. “He’s one of the fastest guys I’ve ever seen at the guard spot in college basketball,” Buggs said. “He can get to the rim, and shoot.”

The Gophers men’s hockey team should be on a mission tonight and tomorrow evening in games against Northeastern at Mariucci Arena. The Gophers 0-3 start to the season contrasts to their first three games a year ago. With a revised roster of players this fall, Minnesota has been outscored 9-1. In the first three games last year coach Don Lucia’s team was 3-0 and had outscored opponents 12 goals to five.

The Gophers have 10 freshmen on the roster after graduating six seniors and having three juniors sign professional contracts.

A streak of mediocre seasons and discontent with coach Kirk Ferentz resulted in Iowa attendance being down this season. The Hawkeyes haven’t sold out a game in 2015 but the Iowa athletic department announced yesterday only single seats remain for the November 14 Minnesota game. Although Iowa is off to a 7-0 start, 9,500 tickets remain for the Maryland game and 15,000 for the Purdue game.

Nationally-ranked St. Thomas, the MIAC’s only undefeated football team, hosts Bethel (4-2 overall, 3-1 MIAC) on Saturday afternoon. The Tommies (6-0 overall, 4-0 in league games) will see a Bethel squad that lost close games to nationally-ranked Wartburg and Concordia.

The game will feature two of the MIAC’s top running backs in St. Thomas’ Jordan Roberts (730 yards, 7.0 yard average, 14 touchdowns) and Bethel’s Marshall Klitzke (642 yards, 6.2 average, 8 touchdowns). The Tommie defense leads the conference in scoring (6.8 points per game), yardage (209.2 a game) and sacks (22), while the Royals aren’t far behind, allowing 18.2 points and 333.6 yards per game. The two football programs are 3-3 in their last six games.

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