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.

No Division II Football Plans for UST

Posted on October 5, 2011November 27, 2011 by David Shama

Fourth-year coach Glenn Caruso told Sports Headliners his roster includes many players recruited by Division I and II football programs but the Division III powerhouse Tommies have no plans to play at a higher level in future years.

The 5-0 Tommies are ranked No. 3 nationally and last Saturday whipped MIAC tradition-rich Saint John’s 63-7 (49-0 at halftime). In Caruso’s first season of 2008 he led the Tommies to the third biggest turnaround in Division III history. In 2009 St. Thomas was 11-2 and last season the Tommies were ranked No. 4 in the country and had a 12-1 record.

Caruso said St. Thomas is comfortable at the Division III level, offering student-athletes a “balance” between academics and football. That Division III tag, though, hasn’t stopped Caruso from attracting quality players. He estimates “probably half” his roster is comprised of players who either could play in the higher divisions, or received offers from Division I or II schools.

Among his standouts are wide receiver-kick returner Fritz Waldvogel and offensive lineman Chad Vandergriff. Could those two Division III preseason All-Americans play for the Gophers? “Oh, geez, I don’t know,” Caruso said. “And for me to speculate on that would probably be ignorant. Just glad they’re playing for St. Thomas.”

Caruso isn’t ready to label the 2011 Tommies his best club “but what stands out is this team hasn’t made similar mistakes twice.” The Tommies were plenty good last Saturday, dismantling the Johnnies with a performance that only surprised Caruso a “little bit.”

“It wasn’t like it was out of the realm of possibility,” he said. “I have often been asked could you ever have dreamed this in your wildest dreams? Well, heck, yea. …I wouldn’t be a competitor if you couldn’t dream about where your program is going to go at the highest of levels. But I did not expect that to necessarily happen this Saturday, but it felt pretty good.”

Caruso, who grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut, has worked hard to turnaround the Tommies program. It’s a work ethic he and his siblings learned from their father Frank, an attorney who practiced law at home to give his children more direction.

“My dad worked tirelessly to make sure all of his kids were hard workers, were good- natured people that cared about others (and) that tired to look at the world optimistically,” Caruso said. “…My dad worked his butt off every single day not to try and make our lives easier, but to try and teach us how to navigate all the stuff that’s going to happen throughout our life.”

Caruso and the Tommies are navigating pretty well these days.

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Winless Start Won’t Derail Vikings

Posted on October 3, 2011November 27, 2011 by David Shama

Don’t expect the 0-4 Vikings to emotionally collapse starting with next Sunday’s home game against Arizona. The winless start has surprised the players and coaches but while fans are bailing out the Vikings won’t.

First year head coach Leslie Frazier was the choice of the players after being interim boss last season and before that the defensive coordinator. He’s liked by his players and his calm demeanor generates support.

The locker room leadership will keep spirits in place, too. Jared Allen, Chad Greenway, Adrian Peterson and Ryan Longwell are veterans committed to helping the team turnaround.

Part of the Vikings’ fan base has quit on this team already and the boos will come fast and furious at Mall of America Field next Sunday if things don’t go to the fans liking. There have been lots of empty seats in the upper deck at the Metrodome for the first two home games and why wouldn’t there be even more for the Arizona game? Looking for a $20 upper level ticket next Sunday? See your first ticket hawker on the street Sunday.

The Vikings have lost four games by a total of 19 points. That’s indicative of a team which is far from incompetent, but not making enough big plays to win games.

What’s particularly troubling is that the Vikings haven’t been able to make Peterson a dominant weapon for most or all of each game. With limited talent among the receivers and at quarterback, the Vikings’ hope going into the season was to ride Peterson’s powerful legs for consistent yardage and big plays. In four games Peterson has rushed for over 100 yards only once.

Opposing defenses are placing a lot of defenders at the line of scrimmage. The Vikings’ offensive line, mediocre at best by NFL standards, too often can’t move the tacklers for Peterson. This is a line that never has recovered from the departure of center Matt Birk and is even seeing its best blocker, the 34-year-old Hutchinson, growing older.

It was the 0-3 Chiefs, not the 0-3 Vikings, who got a win yesterday. Down in K.C. some folks had been vocalizing this: “Suck for Luck.” The implication being to have such a bad season the Chiefs could draft Stanford quarterback phenom Andrew Luck with the first pick in next year’s NFL draft.

Somebody will adopt it here in the North Country.

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‘Brew Crew’ Final Grade Not Pretty

Posted on October 3, 2011November 27, 2011 by David Shama

Too bad Tim Brewster and his staff weren’t on the sidelines in Ann Arbor last Saturday to experience the Gophers 58-0 humiliation. The “Brew Crew” was responsible for recruiting most of the players on the Minnesota roster that was dismantled by Michigan.

If Brewster hadn’t been fired during the 2010 season he would now be in year five as Minnesota’s head coach. A five-year tenure is almost always enough time to fairly judge a coach and his staff.

Even though the “Brew Crew” is no longer wearing maroon and gold sweaters on the sidelines, we can issue the final grade: Flop.

What first year coach Jerry Kill inherited was a football team lacking not only playmakers, but physical and mental toughness. The Gophers are probably the worst team in the Big Ten and not even capable of beating schools from low level conferences such as the Missouri Valley and WAC.

Brewster hardly prepared us for this back in his early years on the job. He criticized the talent Glen Mason left him, although the rearview mirror now shows that players he inherited from the former Gophers’ coach were the ones that produced some success in 2008 and 2009.

As for Brewster’s own recruiting, he was frequently over the top in exaggerating the talent he attracted. Brewster’s players were solidly entrenched last year and also this season. The record is 4 wins, 13 losses and counting including embarrassing defeats to South Dakota, North Dakota State and Michigan.

Brewster recruiting hype? Quarterback MarQueis Gray was similar to former Texas All-American Vince Young, Brewster said. Playmaker David Pittman, who hardly got on the field at Minnesota, was reminiscent of Antwaan Randle El.

Not able to land yet another top Minnesota prep headed for a better college program? Didn’t seem to bother Brewster who said he had a better stud coming from out east.

There was often the “sizzle” but not the “steak.” And Brewster didn’t even secure his much hyped high school son Nolan who landed at the University of Texas where dad built a reputation as a slick recruiter working for coach Mack Brown.

Hiring Brewster ─ never a coordinator or head coach at the major college level ─ was a colossal mistake. The program is so down right now that it could take three more seasons to pull it up to the Mason level of 2006. Mason was let go after compiling a 64-57 overall record, but was 16 games under .500 in the Big Ten.

Losses to USC, New Mexico State, and North Dakota State were by a combined 22 points. Last Saturday in Ann Arbor the Gophers lost to Michigan by the worst score in their Big Ten history.

After the game KFAN Radio named punter Dan Orseske Minnesota’s Offensive Player of the Game. The punter? Honest.

Building a major college football program requires coaching, recruiting and time. Brewster and staff squandered away all three at Minnesota.

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