Author: David Shama

News reports about the recent death of 10-time national championship basketball coach John Wooden referenced how he might have coached at Minnesota instead of UCLA.  Not so well known is that the Gophers athletic department probably could have had both Wooden and college football legend Bud Wilkinson coaching here in the 1950s.

Wooden, who had been an All-American guard at Purdue, was coaching at Indiana State in 1948.  Both Minnesota and UCLA were interested in hiring him away from Indiana State, but Wooden preferred the Gophers job because of his Midwest roots.  While Wooden waited for a final offer by telephone from Minnesota, a snowstorm delayed the call.  In the meantime, UCLA telephoned and offered him the Brunins job which he accepted thinking the Gophers had lost interest.

Wilkinson had grown up in Minneapolis, played on national championship teams for the Gophers in the 1930s and started coaching at Oklahoma in 1947.  He won conference titles year after year and his teams were national champions three times in the 1950s.

Despite his success at Oklahoma sources have said that Wilkinson was very interested in leaving the Sooners in the 1950s and returning to his home town and alma mater.  The interest, according to the same sources, wasn’t mutual.

A de-emphasis on athletics was part of the campus scene at Minnesota after World War II.  The University of Chicago had left the Big Ten Conference in the 1930s and some Minnesota officials wanted a similar fate for the Gophers, according to University sports historian Mike Wilkinson (no relation to Bud Wilkinson).

Mike Wilkinson said University of Minnesota president James Morrill was outspoken about his dislike of big-time college athletics.  In the early to mid-1950s there was huge public interest here in bringing back Bud Wilkinson to coach the Gophers, a program that won five national championships in the 1930’s and 1940s but had become mediocre.

The public pressure necessitated that Wilkinson receive an interview but it was supposedly an awkward meeting with Morrill.  Sources have reported over the years that Wilkinson was kept in the president’s reception area for a couple of hours, a not so subtle message regarding the administration’s lack of interest in him.  When Wilkinson and Morrill finally met, the president told the home town hero that he probably wouldn’t want to come here because of the intent to de-emphasize athletics, according to Mike Wilkinson.

Bud Wilkinson returned to Oklahoma where he enjoyed several more years of legend making football including a winning streak of 47 straight games.  By 1960 the Gophers had climbed back to the top of college football with a national championship season under coach Murray Warmath, an unpopular choice to coach Minnesota when he started here in 1954 and a coach who had nowhere near the resume of Wilkinson.

Interestingly, when the Gophers received their first bowl invitation in school history in 1960 there were faculty leaders on campus who proclaimed this should be Minnesota’s first and last Rose Bowl.

Kevin Noreen, the state’s 2010 Mr. Basketball, hopes to make a decision on his college choice by week’s end, according to his Minnesota Transitions coach, John Sherman.  Noreen is visiting Oregon, Stanford and Washington this week.  Those schools are under consideration along with Arkansas, Boston College and possibly Northwestern, Sherman said.

In its college football issue now selling on newsstands, Athlon Sports ranked the best schools to coach at from No. 1 Texas through No. 120 Eastern Michigan.  Athlon considered various factors such as proximity to the best high school players and facilities.  After Texas the next 10 schools are USC, Florida, Alabama, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Florida Sate, Georgia, LSU, Michigan and Penn Sate.  Minnesota is No. 53.

Gophers linebacker Sam Maresh, a highly publicized in-state recruit two years ago and someone counted on to play this fall, left Minnesota recently because of academics.  Whether Maresh will eventually return to the Gophers isn’t known and coach Tim Brewster wants Maresh to do what is right for him.

“Obviously I love Sam,” Brewster said.  “The only thing I am concerned about is his success as a human being. …”

Former Vikings and Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon has been tutoring Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez who was a rookie last season.

The June issue of Inc. magazine has named the Jets organization as one of the Top 20 Small Company Workplaces in the country.

When the Twins go on the road later this month for three consecutive series against National League teams the absence of the designated hitter will restrict plate appearances by 39-year-old Jim Thome.  Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said during his KSTP Radio Show on Sunday that Thome can’t play first base because of a bad back.

It’s interesting that the Nationals consider No. 1 draft pick Bryce Harper, 17, too valuable as a hitter to continue playing catcher but there is no plan by the Twins to switch catcher and three time batting champ Joe Mauer to another position.

Of the 27 players on the Minnesota Wild roster, eight were selected in the first round of the NHL Entry Draft, including Owen Nolan, the only player taken as the No. 1 overall pick (1990, Quebec Nordiques).  Five Wild players were selected in the seventh round, while five others made it to the NHL after going undrafted.  This year’s draft is June 25-26 in Los Angeles.

Randy Shaver’s charity golf tournament was held on Monday and the KARE 11 sportscaster reported via email that the annual event has generated over $4 million for cancer research since its inception in 1995.  This year’s tournament will raise about $220,000.

The 39^th annual Tapemark Charity Pro-Am tournament will be played tomorrow through Sunday at Southview Country Club.  The longevity of the tournament and monies raised for charity is a testament to the commitment of the Klas family that has also generously supported other causes in Minneapolis-St. Paul.

Jim Holden will be selling copies of Tennis in the Northland for $10 each at the University of Minnesota’s Baseline Center this morning and at Reed-Sweatt Tennis Center in south Minneapolis this afternoon.  The former Northfield tennis coach has written a comprehensive history of boys’ high school tennis in Minnesota.

At the Vikings Organized Team Activity last week at Winter Park reserve quarterback Tarvaris Jackson was asked in what way is he better than a year ago.  He told Sports Headliners his focus at practice has improved, admitting that at times concentration lapsed in the past.

Watching Brett Favre last season has helped “a lot,” Jackson said.  “The way he prepared,” Jackson said. “The way he took every throw like it was a Super Bowl game throw out here.  So I took that same approach that he took.”

Jackson started 19 games for the Vikings in the three seasons before Favre signed on last summer.  He said if Favre says no to another season, teammates will be disappointed but they also realize they have to move on and “compete.”

What would Jackson’s reaction be? “Get ready to play,” he said.  “Obviously, if he’s not coming back, I am thinking I am going to be the guy. …”

Favre’s close friend and teammate Ryan Longwell isn’t sure if Favre will return.  The two were once teammates in Green Bay and have talked during this off-season but not about a second Vikings season for Favre.  Instead they have chatted about golf and family.

Although Favre will be 41 in October, Longwell won’t dismiss the possibility the Vikings No. 1 quarterback could play even better than last season when his performance ranked among the best of his legendary career.  “I was with him for two of the three (NFL) MVP years (in Green Bay) and he was better last year than he was for any of those years,” Longwell said.