Author: David Shama

Former Vikings assistant coach Dean Dalton believes there is a “scenario” in which quarterback Brett Favre returns to play another season for Minnesota.

Favre, who turns 41 Sunday, indicated in August this will be his last season in the NFL.  He struggled to make a decision about playing during the off-season but his competitiveness made him return to a team that was a couple of plays away from making the Super Bowl.

“Will he play or not?”  That’s become an annual question in recent years, first with the Packers and now with the Vikings.  The Vikings, with a disappointing 1-2 record, have 13 regular season games remaining and then presumably the playoffs, too, before we know better what Favre’s future will be.  But Dalton, who follows the NFL closely and hosts a show on Sirius Satellite Radio, told Sports Headliners don’t believe No. 4 is for certain finished wearing purple after this year.

“There’s probably three different types of scenarios,” Dalton said.  “Two of the three, I don’t see Brett coming back.  I think if they win the Super Bowl and hoist the Lombardi Trophy, I think No. 4 will then ride off into the sunset once again a champion.

“I think if they (the Vikings) have a miserable season, or if he physically gets injured to any extreme, I think he’ll just shut it down and drop the flaps on the tent and move back to Mississippi.

“But I do think if they mirror last year, create momentum, have a lot of energy (going) into the playoffs and they’re knocking on the door, or they get to the Super Bowl but they don’t win it, they get close, I think the competitive intensity will be triggered inside him.  Given that he’s healthy, that he would then consider coming back.  Because I think right now he’s frustrated because they haven’t performed as well as they should.”

Dalton’s scenarios and the Favre storyline will develop week to week starting with Monday night’s game against the Jets.  It will be the first game he will play with newly acquired wide receiver Randy Moss.  Favre watchers can know this for certain: the quarterback is happier than a million dollar lottery winner to have Moss for long distance bombing, and also Favre’s not even thinking about next year.

If he were contemplating the future, he probably would be undecided.

Adam Weber has a last opportunity to beat Wisconsin tomorrow.  Minnesota’s record setting quarterback was once “50-50” on his college choice between the Gophers and Badgers.

Weber, the only three-year captain in Gophers football history, has been the team’s starting quarterback since 2007, his redshirt freshman season.  He is the school career record holder in passing yardage, completions and touchdowns.  But Weber said playing football for him is about wins, not records.

The Gophers were 1-11 in 2007, 7-6 in 2008, 6-7 in 2009 and so far this season 1-4.  In that period Minnesota is 0-8 in trophy games against Wisconsin, Iowa and Michigan.

“The wins aren’t where I would have liked them to have been,” he said. “The trophies, everything, you name it.  Not where you dreamed them to be.  But when it’s all said and done I will leave here with a big smile on my face knowing that I just had the best five years of my life.”

As a high school player at Mounds View Weber thought seriously about becoming a Badger but although the initial process was 50-50 between Minnesota and Wisconsin, the final verdict wasn’t so tough.  He walked around the Minnesota campus and knew this was where he wanted to be.

His dad, Bobby Weber, had been a Gopher defensive back. That counted and so, too, did staying home where family (including his grandmother) and friends have been able to watch him play more than if he had packed his bags for Madison.  “I’ll never second guess (the decision),” Weber said.

The Gophers’ nonconference football schedules are completed through 2014.  Among the new opponents will be New Mexico State in 2011.  The Aggies will receive $1.6 million for agreeing to play here next year and in 2016.

The cost of scheduling teams, particularly Division I schools, keeps escalating and is even more expensive when there is no agreement to play multiple games.  Ohio State, for example, will pay Colorado $1.4 million for just one game in Columbus next year.

Gophers coach Tim Brewster talking about tomorrow’s game in Madison where Minnesota tries to defeat Wisconsin for the first time since 1994: “I think you’ve got a group of guys who desperately want to go get that axe.”

Brewster’s 50^th birthday is next Wednesday.

Coach Tubby Smith’s pursuit of highly hyped New England prep school point guard Naadir Tharpe didn’t become any easier when national power Kansas decided to enter the chase.

Tubby Smith told Sports Headliners he expects “my last job” will be as Gophers basketball coach.

Smith, 59, begins his fourth season coaching the Gophers when practice officially starts on Friday.  During his brief career at Minnesota, Smith’s name has frequently been linked to rumors about coaching vacancies at other schools.

So far Smith, who won a national championship while coaching at Kentucky, has stayed here and although he may continue to be a popular name for the rumor game he talked about commitment to Minnesota in his interview with Sports Headliners.  “I hope it will be my last job,” he said.  “I plan it to be my last job.  I expect it to be my last job.”

It’s been known for awhile that a contract extension is in the works for Smith who even now has four years remaining on his agreement and earns about $2 million per season.  Smith said the timing on the extension isn’t urgent and he acknowledged that athletic director Joel Maturi has many responsibilities in his department.

“I am not in a hurry and I think Joel’s got a lot of other things he’s got to deal with,” Smith said. “So I told him all along I don’t plan on going anywhere.  If I did, it wouldn’t matter whether I signed an extension or not. …

“We’re hoping something will get done, and we’re planning on something getting done.  And it’s in the works.”

Smith has coached his last two teams to NCAA tournament appearances.  The 2009-2010 team made it to the finals of the Big Ten tournament before losing to Ohio State.  His overall record in three years with the Gophers is 63-39.  His last two teams have finished in the Big Ten first division during the regular seasons.

Smith’s expectations for himself and the program are more than what’s been delivered so far.  Smith said winning “generates more excitement” and he wants his teams at the top of the Big Ten.  He thought last year was a “modest setback” because of the season long suspensions of promising recruits Royce White and Trevor Mbakwe.  Those two were part of a recruiting class that ranked with the best ever at Minnesota and now White has transferred to Iowa State.

But Mbakwe is cleared to play and another member of the much publicized recruiting class, Rodney Williams, showed promise last year and is likely to contribute even more to a Gophers team that is considered a top 35 school nationally by pollsters.  Mbakwe, Williams and seven others who were on last year’s roster return for a team that figures to count defense and rebounding among its best assets, and could finish the season among the surprise success stories in the Big Ten.