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.

Maturi: U ‘Behind 8-Ball’ for Facility

Posted on November 30, 2011December 29, 2011 by David Shama

Only Northwestern and Minnesota among Big Ten schools is without a modern practice facility for its basketball teams. “We’re way behind the eight ball,” Joel Maturi told Sports Headliners.

The Gophers athletic director said some conference schools have had facilities so long they’re enhancing what was originally built. The Gophers can’t wait any longer to pursue a privately financed practice facility to be used by both the men’s and women’s programs.

During the last few months the University has started meeting with potential donors. “The good news is the process has begun,” Maturi said.

The practice facility is to be located just west of the Sports Pavilion-Williams Arena complex. It will be built on a now empty parking lot facing Fourth Street at a projected cost of $15 million.

Maturi said the facility will have two basketball courts, one for coach Tubby Smith’s team and the other to be used by women’s coach Pam Borton and her players. The facility will include a weight room, training room, lockers and a place to host recruits. The facility will connect by tunnel to Williams Arena.

Maturi said only initial meetings have been held with potential donors and more presentations are planned. A lead donor — or donors — is particularly needed.A contribution that paid for 40 percent or more of the cost could result in naming rights to the facility.

The donor solicitations have generated “positive feedback” but no one has said yes to a significant contribution. Because “these things take time,” Maturi won’t place a timeline on when construction will begin.

Although Williams Arena is in need of costly repairs, that project will be separate from the practice facility campaign. Among the 83-year-old building’s needs is roof repair and money for that could come from general University funding, not the athletic department, according to Maturi.

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Worth Noting

Posted on November 30, 2011December 29, 2011 by David Shama

NBADraft.net last week projected Gophers forward Trevor Mbakwe to be the No. 16 pick in the 2012 NBA draft. A Gophers official emailed that it’s “unknown at this point” whether Mbakwe could be granted a medical redshirt by the NCAA and play next season for Minnesota.

Minnesota athletic director Joel Maturi will be in New York next week to attend the College Football Hall of Fame event recognizing former Gophers All-American quarterback Sandy Stephens and others.

Don’t be surprised if Paul Chryst’s name comes up for the Illinois head coaching job. Chryst, the Wisconsin offensive coordinator, drew speculation as a candidate to coach the Gophers in 2007 and 2010.

Big Ten football games drew 6,008,814 fans for an average of 71,534 in 84 games (39 sellouts). The Gophers averaged 47,713 per home game, the lowest in the three year history of TCF Bank Stadium. Minnesota’s attendance exceeded Purdue, Indiana and Northwestern.

Vikings coach Leslie Frazier talking about his 2-9 team and what he wants to see accomplished in the remaining five games: “Well, you’d like to see improvement across the board, and we have lots of room for improvement in a lot of areas. You’re trying to continue to evaluate players along the way. …Really get some momentum, get some wins and see some improvement along the way.”

Percy Harvin, who had a 104 yard kickoff return for the Vikings against Atlanta last Sunday, returned kicks for 95 yards last season and 101 in 2009. He’s the only athlete in Virginia prep history to win five gold medals at the state track meet.

Gophers marketing executive Jason LaFrenz said there’s no remaining inventory for men’s hockey season tickets. Single game tickets are available for all games.

New Twin Jamey Carroll, who could be the team’s starting shortstop and No. 2 hitter in the batting order, has a career on base percentage of .359. That’s a positive for a No. 2 hitter and a lot better than the on base percentage for last year’s shortstop, Tsuyoshi Nishioka’s .278.

The Wild play in Edmonton tonight and Minnesota already has two wins in three games against the Oilers this season. Goalie Niklas Backstrom has won both games.

The Big Ten Network provides its most extensive coverage ever of Big Ten wrestling this season with 43 regular-season dual-meets, the 2011 Midlands Championships and the 2012 Big Ten Championships. All will be broadcast on the network or streamed online. Thirty-nine events will be shown live either online or on the network.

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Kill: U to Improve Next Season

Posted on November 28, 2011December 29, 2011 by David Shama

Before the season I thought the Gophers would win three to five games. Others who got caught up in the optimism of a new coaching staff predicted five to seven wins.

The Gophers finished the season on Saturday at 3-9, defeating Illinois in a surprise 27-10 win. Minnesota won two of its last five games with wins over Iowa and the Illini. The Iowa victory came a week after an improved second half performance during a loss to Nebraska. “I think the second half from Nebraska on, it’s been a different group of kids,” coach Jerry Kill said last week.

What happened to the Gophers was players bought in more to what the coaches were teaching. Kill said change came about both because of technical changes and the players believing they could win.

Predicting “we’ll be better next year,” Kill said the gradual transformation of his program is what he expected. “I think that where we’re at right now is pretty much where you usually are when you take over a football program. You really don’t know what you have or where you’re at or how the school works. It takes you a full year to go through it, how the Big Ten is, the level of play and how far you’re away and those kind of things.”

Kill writes notes about how to improve his team during the season. Those notes will help him assess his program and plan for the next off-season.

“You win in the off-season,” Kill said. “You win in the weight room. You win in spring ball. Our kids—if you remember when I talked with you during that time—I said, hey, haven’t bought in, we hadn’t worked hard enough. We hadn’t—so all of a sudden it’s kicked in now a little bit, but it’s too late (for a better record).”

Kill expects the Gophers to become a winning program but he’s far from that goal now. Minnesota finished 2-6 in the Big Ten and last in the Legends Division. The 2-6, 3-9 overall records and other numbers document how this Gophers team compared with others in the Big Ten and major college football. The Gophers were 112^th nationally in scoring offense, and last in the Big Ten going into Saturday’s game. Minnesota was 102^nd in scoring defense and again last in the conference.

Quarterback MarQueis Gray will be a senior next season. He rushed for 966 yards, a new school record for a quarterback. His passing still needs work, but he gained a lot of experience in running, scrambling, passing, play calling and leadership in his first season as a starter.

Gray is one of only a few superior personnel assets among the Gophers. Minnesota has developing and promising players but few that have already proven they are superior Big Ten players.

Kill and his staff—not distracted by preparations for a bowl game—will be watching potential recruits during a lot of film study in the days ahead. The 2012 recruiting class will be the first that Kill and company had 12 months to work on. With all the personnel needs Minnesota has, the coach said “we can’t afford to miss in recruiting right now.”

That means checking and reassessing multiple times. “You triple check, quadruple check,” Kill said. “You talk to the (prospect’s) coach… can you guarantee me? You have to really do your homework. And we’ll make mistakes, too. Everybody does. But you don’t know until they get on the field. You really don’t.”

Kill didn’t specify how many scholarships he has to work with but intends to bring in 35 new players. He doesn’t have that many scholarships to give but plans to reward some of the 35 players with a scholarship sometime beyond February 2012. He also hopes to have about eight of the new players enrolled in school prior to spring practice.

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