Author: David Shama

Maturi wrote in an email to Gophers fans that the athletic department has operated with a “balanced” budget during his years as director and that revenues have grown 61 percent.  The 2010-11 budget is $76.7 million.

Maturi wrote that from 2002-2003 through 2009-2010 funding for the football budget increased from $7.4 million to $17.5 million, while men’s basketball increased from $2.3 million to $5.7 million, and men’s hockey from $1.4 million to $2.3 million.  Using 2009-2010 figures, the football budget ranked No. 7 in the Big Ten and No. 29 in the country, while basketball was No. 4 in the conference, and hockey’s budget was the third largest in the country.

The athletic department is financially self-supporting.  Maturi said in his email that during the 2002-2003 school year, 14 percent of his budget was provided by University dollars from outside his department, while in 2009-2010 the percentage decreased to three percent.

Coach Tubby Smith’s Gophers basketball team used its superior size to beat Northwestern at home earlier this season, 81-70.  Tonight the Gophers try to end a three-game losing streak when they play the Wildcats in Evanston.  Minnesota is 1-7 since defeating Northwestern on January 26 in a game that forward Trevor Mbakwe had 18 points and 15 rebounds while center Colton Iverson scored 15 points, all in the second half.

Mbakwe said the Gophers “feel bad” about their stunning collapse but the team is a “family” and remains in pursuit of an NCAA tournament invitation.  Minnesota, 17-11 overall, 6-10 in Big Ten games, is pursuing an improbable dream finish now, needing to win the last two regular season games, at Northwestern and home next Sunday against Penn State, and then producing at least three wins in the Big Ten tournament that starts next week.

The 6-10 Iverson, despite attempting close to the basket shots, is 5 of 23 shooting during his last seven games.

Marcus Fuller, the Pioneer Press Gophers beat writer, told Sports Headliners his first team all-Big Ten choices are: JaJuan Johnson and E’Twaun Moore from Purdue, Ohio State’s Jared Sullinger, Penn State’s Talor Battle and Wisconsin’s Jordan Taylor.

Fuller said he will vote for Brigham Young’s Jimmer Fredette as Associated Press Player of the Year in college basketball.

The Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament opens tomorrow in Indianapolis and Minnesota has never won the tourney.  Since the tourney began in 1995 Purdue has won seven championships, the most of any school.  Tourney tickets are modestly priced at $65 for all sessions and $12-$16 for single games.  The Gophers play Northwestern tomorrow night at in a game to be televised by the Big Ten Network.

T

he Naples, Florida area has become a part-time home to former football coaches in recent years with a roster that includes Brad Childress, Tim Brewster, Mark Mangino and Dave Wannstedt.

Former Gopher Joel Przybilla, traded to Charlotte last week by Portland, made his debut with the Bobcats on Sunday, grabbing six rebounds in 14 minutes.  The 7-1 center’s defense and rebounding would be a plus for the hometown Timberwolves. Przybilla, 31, has only this season remaining on his $7.4 million contract but with his age and salary needs he is probably an unlikely candidate to ever play for the Wolves.

Carleton men’s head basketball coach Guy Kalland is MIAC Coach-of-the-Year after leading the Knights to a share of the regular season conference title with a 17-3 league record and 18-7 overall record.  It’s his second coach-of-the-year honor, with the other coming in 2006.

Twins single game tickets go on sale March 19 and club executive Patrick Klinger told Sports Headliners he anticipates the team’s home opener against Oakland on April 8 will sellout the first day of the sale.  The Oakland series is likely to sellout within several days as will the Red Sox series August 8-10 and Yankees series August 18-21.  The Twins have sold approximately 25,000 season tickets, Klinger said.

The Twins sold out all of their home games during spring training in Fort Myers last year.  They are likely to sellout all 15 home games this year, too, Klinger said.

Klinger also said the organization is having 1,000 sets of bobbleheads made with the likenesses of 1991 Twins World Series players and manager Tom Kelly. The bobbleheads, in celebration of the 20^th anniversary of the organization’s championship, will be auctioned off online this summer to raise money for charity.  A similar effort with the 1987 World Series team raised $300,000 for charity, according to Klinger.

Ingrid Neel, a Rochester seventh grader with pro tennis ambitions, plans to play on the Rochester Mayo High School boys team this spring.

Logan Storley, the Webster, South Dakota wrestler who won a sixth state title last week, is a Gophers recruit for next season.

The Big Ten wrestling tournament is this weekend in Evanston, Illinois and the Gophers are the only school with a wrestler seeded in all 10 weight classes.

A replay of the Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championships will be aired by the Big Ten Network on March 12 beginning at 1 p.m. Minneapolis time. The Gophers won their third consecutive indoor title last weekend.

Neither quarterback MarQueis Gray nor players at other positions will enter spring practice next month as starters when the Gophers begin formal practices under new coach Jerry Kill and his staff.

The quarterback position will be the most watched by media and fans when the Gophers play their spring game on April 23 at TCF Bank Stadium.  Four-year starter Adam Weber has graduated.  To say the six quarterbacks now on the roster have minimal experience is an understatement.  Only Gray has attempted a pass in a college game and to outside observers he seems like a lopsided favorite to win the job.  His totals were modest last season: eight attempts and two completions for 24 yards.

Gray, a junior next fall, has been the great hope of Gophers fans who demanded playing time for him at quarterback the last two seasons when Minnesota struggled.  He came here from Indianapolis as the most hyped prep player in former coach Tim Brewster’s four recruiting classes.

Labeled among the best run-pass preps in the country and compared to former Texas Longhorns legend Vince Young by the ever positive Brewster, Gray’s time on the field has long been anticipated as a quarterback, not a wide receiver, the position he mostly played last season, finishing second on the team in receptions with 42 for 587 yards and five touchdowns.

But Kill won’t give Gray the quarterback job based on newspaper clips or web reports.  Asked by Sports Headliners if Gray was his No. 1 QB, Kill said: “I can’t answer.  I don’t think that’s fair to anybody.  He will certainly be getting reps there this spring.  I wouldn’t tell you we have anybody that’s No. 1 from offense to defense because I haven’t seen anybody.  Until I see them get repetitions, and those kind of things, I can’t make those statements.”

What challenges does the 6-4, 230 pound Gray face in winning over Kill?  “I think it comes down to learning how to play quarterback,” Kill said.  “He’s played receiver for the last two years.

“It doesn’t matter how great an athlete you are, quarterback is a whole different world, a whole different beast.  So how well can he pick it up?  Can he make that transition from wide receiver and a quarterback in spring ball and can we see that progression? We’re going to have to see.  We have no idea.”

At Northern Illinois the Gophers first-year coach used a multiple offense that gave defenses plenty to ponder.  He and his offensive staff are expected to bring similar imagination to their system at Minnesota when spring practices begin in late March.

Boise State has built a national reputation for winning and it’s partly because of imaginative play calling.  Kill said his staff has visited with Boise coaches in the past. “Always sharing ideas and trying to get better,” Kill said.

This offseason Minnesota offensive coaches will visit TCU, another program that’s gone from no-name to having its brand nationally admired. “I think we just pick the programs out that are achieving at a very high level and you go see what they do,” Kill said.  “You always learn from the best. …It’s all about getting better.  I believe you either get better or you get worse.  We try to gain knowledge each year that we’re coaching.”