Author: David Shama

There have been two extraordinary turnarounds of Big Ten football programs in the last 20 years.  Both happened in the coach’s fourth season.

Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez took over a Badger program in 1990 that had been 3-8, 1-10 and 2-9 in the three previous seasons.  By 1993 the Badgers were 10-1-1 and Big Ten champs.

Northwestern had been a punch line and punching bag for decades until Gary Barnett came along in 1992.  The three previous seasons the Wildcats were 0-11, 2-9 and 3-8.  By 1995 Northwestern had won the first of two consecutive conference championships.

At Minnesota the heat is on fourth year coach Tim Brewster who is off to a 1-3 start that includes losses to South Dakota and Northern Illinois.  His career record is 15-27.

Barnett was asked by Sports Headliners if his success means any Big Ten program has the potential to be a winner.  “Well, I think that’s the message that comes across, but it wasn’t easy,” he said.  “I had a lot of sleepless nights and gut aches, but it came down to just a combination of kids and coaches.  We really were a tight knit group.  We had a special bond. …”

Barnett, 64, would consider coaching again at the “right” place.  These days he’s a color man on Sports USA for college football and was in Minneapolis earlier this month to work a Gophers game.

Barnett left Northwestern to become head coach at Colorado, a program he had known for several years as an assistant.  He had success coaching the Buffaloes but off-field problems forced him out.

What’s the right place?  He said it’s an institution where the athletic director, chancellor and president are supportive of athletics.  At Colorado, he said, the faculty set the tone for athletics.

Barnett said a football coach is in a “war” trying to win games and be successful in all the ways a coach must perform.  It’s vital that the coach like the people he’s working for and have their support.  “They’re (the administrators) in that trench with you,” Barnett said. “They’re not on the outside looking down saying, ‘Good luck.’…”

Is Minnesota a good job?  Barnett said this is a “great city” and he likes the facilities here, but then said, “Facilities aren’t the issue.  It’s the people that are in the facilities that generally decide whether or not you’re going to win.  I don’t know enough about the inner workings of the University…to be able to answer (whether Minnesota is a good job).”

How did Barnett turnaround a laughing stock program at Northwestern, the conference’s only private school and a laggard regarding facilities?  Well, he obviously had the support of the administration in various ways, but there’s more.

“We didn’t lose a player in those four years,” Barnett said. “They all stayed and they drank the ‘Kool-Aid’. …

“We addressed our problems.  We didn’t try to solve problems that would fit for another place.  We looked at what we were running into, and we prioritized things that we needed to work on and change, and we were able to do it.  And we sent a constant message.”

Although Barnett had extraordinary success in his fourth season he said it does take time for a new coach to put his system, players and coaches in place.  He believes it’s better to evaluate a coach in the fifth season.

“Around the fifth or sixth year you ought to be able to have an impact if you have done the right things, and kept the players and developed them, and those sort of things,” he said.  “You ought to be in a position to at least be in the upper division in the fifth or sixth year.  Fourth year I think is still probably a little early.”

The Northwestern program Barnett brought back to life is still successful.  The 4-0 Wildcats play the Gophers here on Saturday.

For years the Twins and their fans lobbied for a new stadium with a retractable roof but the record-breaking response this season to open air Target Field has muted the desire to watch baseball in a covered facility.

“We proved that outdoor baseball in Minnesota works,” said Patrick Klinger, vice president of marketing.  “I don’t know if I ever received a question more often than why not a roof, but since April 12 I don’t think I have heard that question asked.”

The Twins have sold out 74 consecutive games with all but one game not being a sell out this season.  They have had one game that had to be continued the next day, otherwise avoiding major problems with the weather.

The club has four remaining home games but has set a franchise record attendance of 3,063,327 million.  Part of the lure has been a winning team and outdoor baseball, but the stadium is special.

The ballpark is gorgeous and Klinger agrees that it couldn’t be such a looker if part of the facility included a place to house the retractable roof.  “No doubt it would be much more boxy,” he said.

Klinger said cooler weather isn’t likely to deter ticket sales for the playoffs.  “I think we will be fine,” he said.  “This is a state where we’re used to turning over a bucket (to sit on) and going (ice) fishing.”

He said 90 percent of season ticket holders exercised their priority to buy playoff tickets.  Other fans had an opportunity to enter a drawing to determine ticket buyers for American League division and championship series games, and the same system will be used for World Series tickets.  https://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=min&tcid=mm_min_sitelist

Klinger said there are no plans to add seats at Target Field for the playoffs. If the Twins reach the World Series there maybe fewer seats for the public because demand for press accommodations might result in outdoor seating for some media.

Nor are there plans to expand capacity (about 41,000) for next season, Klinger said.  The club is looking at other enhancements for 2011, although he said it’s too soon to reveal them.

“The Pohlad family is committed to making Target Field remain the best (venue) in the country,” Klinger said.

If Vikings fans are discouraged by the team’s 1-2 start, linebacker Ben Leber has a suggestion: “Hang with us. We’re working everything out. We’ll get some more wins.”

Vikings players, perhaps most of them, prefer a bye week later in the season when they’re more in need of rest. “Unfortunately it’s in week four,” placekicker Ryan Longwell said. “That’s not the best draw.”

Vikings wide receiver Percy Harvin, troubled in recent weeks by migraine headaches and his right hip, said: “…I get a week of rest and I should be perfectly fine when I comeback.”

Wide receiver Greg Lewis said there’s been nothing wrong with quarterback Brett Favre’s timing on his passes this season. The wide receivers have to receive opportunities and then make plays, he said.

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said on his KSTP Radio show Sunday that Michael Cuddyer, usually a right fielder who has been at third base, second base and first base this season, wants to play shortstop to complete his infield experience. Gardenhire said it could happen, if not this year, in the future.

Outfielder Joe Benson, named the Twins Minor League Player of the Year on Monday by the organization, only hit .252 this season but had 27 home runs in 459 at bats. Right-hander Kyle Gibson, named Pitcher of the Year in the organization, held batters to a .242 average in the minors. Before the season started Baseball America identified Gibson as the third best pitching prospect in the minor leagues. Benson and Gibson are both 22.

A basketball source told Sports Headliners that highly sought after Cedar Rapids guard Josh Oglesby will announce his college choice today as either Iowa, Minnesota or Arizona State.

Nebraska joins the Big Ten next year. If the Cornhuskers were in the league now the conference would have seven teams in the top 25 of the polls, more than any other league.

Nebraska’s resurgence in football had been led by head coach Bo Pelini, a defensive specialist. His brother, Nebraska defensive coordinator Carl Pelini, was the 2004 defensive coordinator and secondary coach at Minnesota State Mankato, working for head coach Jeff Jamrog, a former Husker player and assistant coach now working in the Nebraska athletic department.

The countdown of the 50 Big Ten Icons is under 20 now and one of the remaining names to be announced is likely Dave Winfield, the former Gopher baseball All-American and starter on the 1972 Big Ten championship basketball team.

There could be a record MIAC crowd when No. 5 ranked St. Thomas plays at No. 18 Saint John’s on Saturday. The existing MIAC record of 13,103 was set at Saint John’s in 2003 when Johnnies coach John Gagliardi broke Eddie Robinson’s record for career wins.

It will be a home field advantage crowd for Saint John’s, with most in attendance pulling for the Johnnies. A St. Thomas spokesman estimated that even when the two teams play in St. Paul, about 40 percent of fans are Johnnies supporters.

This will be the first time ever that the Tommies will visit Saint John’s with a top five national ranking in the AFCA Division III poll. Four of the last nine games between the two teams have been decided by seven points or less. Saint John’s has long dominated the MIAC in football but since St. Thomas coach Glenn Caruso arrived in 2008 the Tommies have the best record among league teams at 22-5, one win better than Saint John’s at 21-5.