Author: David Shama

Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi told Sports Headliners earlier this week he’s satisfied with the candidate possibilities for the head football coach opening and will be disappointed if a successor to Tim Brewster isn’t named by early January.

Maturi said the quality of possible candidates is about what he expected and indicated the search has been thorough in considering many names.  That presumably includes unemployed coaches and possible names like ex-Oregon coach Mike Bellotti and former Tennessee coach Phil Fulmer.

The search is about a month old and presumably Maturi already has a working knowledge about not only who is qualified but also interested.  Sports Headliners believes the following 10 coaches could be at the top of such a list: Troy Calhoun of Air Force, Al Golden of Temple, Brady Hoke of San Diego State, Ken Niumatalolo of Navy, Bronco Mendenhall of Brigham Young, Dan Mullen of Mississippi State, Greg Schiano of Rutgers, Randy Edsall of Connecticut, Kevin Sumlin of Houston and Bellotti.

Who the Gophers land depends on timing, not just qualifications.  Absent from the list above are coaches like Chris Petersen of Boise State and Gary Patterson of TCU who are very unlikely to throw away a possible national championship season by leaving for Minnesota in December.

Impacting candidate availability for the Gophers, too, will be competition from other schools.  Bellotti may favor the Colorado job where he could more easily use his California recruiting base.  If Rich Rodriguez is fired at Michigan, two names that will quickly be in the headlines are Stanford’s Jim Harbaugh and Hoke who was associate head coach at Michigan several years ago.

The good news for the Gophers is it looks like there will be fewer major college head coach openings than during a typical fall.

Gather a group of Vikings together and let them relax while having a few beers.  Then ask what team on the schedule they most want to defeat.  A lot of the players will answer the Packers, according to Jeff Dugan, Vikings tight end.

The reason is there are thousands of Packers fans living in Minnesota.  Vikings players prefer silencing those fans rather than listening to them talk about a Packers win in the middle of Purple Nation.

It will certainly calm the Vikings critics a bit if Minnesota (3-6) can avoid losing to the Packers (6-3) for a second time this season when the two teams meet on Sunday at Mall of America Field.  The Vikings are being labeled a “bad” team but the players believe they are a talented group.

“We’re loaded with talent,” Vikings defensive end Brian Robison said. “As far as us being a bad team, I totally disagree with that.  I just think this year we’re just not making the plays that need to be made in order for us to win.”

The scores in half the losses substantiate that last sentence.  The Vikings have lost three of their games by five points or less.

That includes a 28-24 loss to the Packers in Green Bay on October 24.  The defeat in Green Bay is part of a nine-game road losing streak dating back to last season.

The Vikings, who are 17-3 in their last 20 home games, will be happy to be at Mall of America Field on Sunday, unless they lose and have to listen to those “Minnesota” Packers fans.

The Vikings were 12-4 during the regular season last year and winning impacts Pro Bowl selections.  With this season’s losing record the Vikings won’t have 10 Pro Bowl selections again.  “I think if anybody on the team deserves it, Chris Kluwe deserves it,” said placekicker Ryan Longwell.  “I think he’s the best punter in the league.  He’s had the best year in the league of any punter.”

Robison has mostly been a reserve during his Vikings career but said he’s been playing more the last two games than earlier in the season, about 20 plays per game.

Vikings coach Brad Childress and Packers coach Mike McCarthy are in their fifth seasons coaching their teams.  Childress, who was linked with the Packers head coach opening before coming here, has a 39-34 regular season record, 1-2 in the playoffs, while McCarthy is 44-29 and 1-2 also.

Vikings wide receiver and punt returner Greg Camarillo watched his teammates slip on the Solider Field turf in Chicago last Sunday and told Sports Headliners it was as “bad” a dry surface as he has played on.

Former Vikings defensive lineman John Randle will receive his Pro Football Hall of Fame ring on Sunday from a hall of fame representative.

The Goal Line Club will sponsor the annual Gophers football banquet on Sunday, November 28 at TCF Bank Stadium.  The public is welcome and the registration deadline is tonight.  More information from Bob Hughes, 651-322-0779, or www.goallineclub.com.

Jim Dotseth of the Minnesota High School Football Coaches Association announced yesterday the 10 finalists for the annual Mr. Football award: Joe Bjorklund, Rosemount; Reggie Gandy, DeLaSalle; Jordan Hayes, Brainerd; Eric Kline, Blaine; Dillon Olson, Goodridge/Grygla-Gatzke; Colby Salonek, Springfield; Ayrton Scott, Minneapolis Southwest; Dylan Ulferts, Shakopee; Frank Veldman, Eastview; and Peter Westerhaus, Holy Family.  The winner will be announced at the Mr. Football Banquet on December 19 at the Doubletree Hotel in St. Louis Park.

Brainerd stunned observers last week when the Warriors defeated Eden Prairie 13-10 in the prep football playoffs.  Answering an email from Sports Headliners, Brainerd’s Ron Stolski, the winningest prep football coach in state history, wrote that the Eden Prairie win “ranks with the biggest in our long history.”  Before coming to Brainerd, Stolski started the football program at Park Center High School and in 1971, his team’s first year, Park beat Osseo, winners of 38 straight games. Tonight the Warriors play Rosemount in a Class 5A semifinal game at the Metrodome.

Since Cal Clutterbuck’s mustache began its own twitter account (@ClutterStache) the Wild forward has scored four goals in seven games.  He is involved with the “Movember” promotion encouraging men to grow moustaches during November to raise awareness and money for prostate cancer research.

Wild goaltending prospect Dennis Endras led Germany to the Deutschland Cup championship last weekend with wins against Canada and Switzerland.  Endras was the Wild’s emergency goalie when the team opened the season in Helsinki.

Augustana’s Dan Schoen, an offensive lineman from Maple Grove High School, has won the Glen Galligan award as voted by the NSIC coaches.  The award is given to an outstanding senior football player in the conference who excels as a student and athlete.

Woodbury’s Larry Freedman and Princeton’s Jim Beck lead two MIAC football officiating crews that because of their quality work have been selected to officiate NCAA Division III playoff games tomorrow. Freedman’s crew will work the Coe College at Wheaton College game.  Beck’s group will have the St. Norbert College at North Central College game.