Don Lucia – Page 6 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Nobody Builds Stadiums Like Minneapolis

Posted on March 27, 2015March 29, 2015 by David Shama

Like it or not, by the year 2018 the Minneapolis-St. Paul market could have five new stadiums that opened during a 10-year period.

Dr. Bill McGuire’s intent to build a soccer-specific stadium to house his Major League Soccer expansion franchise puts MSP in unique territory on the American sports scene. Three or four years from now it looks like this town will be the only area in the country that can list the opening of five major stadiums in a decade—at a cost of about $2 billion.

“It is an incredible phenomenon,” said Bill Lester.

Lester (center) with dome colleagues Steve Maki & Dennis Alfton.

Lester was executive director of the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission from 1987-2012. Part of that period he contended with restlessness among the Metrodome’s major tenants who wanted their own buildings. The campaigns to move on were all successful, with the Gophers opening TCF Bank Stadium in 2009, the Twins moving into Target Field in 2010 and the Vikings now working toward a first season in their new covered stadium in 2016.

The independent baseball St. Paul Saints will open their new $60-plus million stadium in Lowertown this spring. And this week comes news the MLS is granting a franchise to McGuire and his group who want to build an open air soccer stadium in the Minneapolis Farmers Market area that might cost between $100 million and $150 million.

The Gophers, Twins, Vikings and Saints facilities received major funding from the public sector. Indications are most city, county and state political leaders aren’t in favor of public money for a soccer stadium. Yet even if the facility is privately financed there surely will be at least indirect taxpayer money involved to help with surrounding roads and other elements. “There are some ways you can help them without it being a direct subsidy,” Lester said.

The real possibility of five new stadiums at a $2 billion collective price tag is completely different than what’s going on around the country where building one major venue sometimes gets done, but not always. Atlanta is building new football and baseball stadiums for its NFL and MLB teams at the same time but that’s unusual. Los Angeles has been trying to agree on a football stadium plan for decades to attract an NFL franchise—perhaps the Rams who once called LA home but now find themselves trying to convince the city of St. Louis and state of Missouri to build them a new palace. Oakland is in danger of losing its baseball and football teams because no progress has been made for years in finalizing a plan for new stadiums. Other cities and teams are at odds, too.

Long ago there was a reluctance here to invest in facilities but Lester thinks that changed with the successes of the Metrodome and Xcel Energy Center. He noted the dome was “built on time and on budget,” sending a message of accountability to a skeptical public. The versatile facility also kept the Twins and Vikings from moving out of town for 25 years. “The public portion of the investment was very successful,” he said.

The Xcel Energy Center had a cutting edge design and enhancements. The facility showed the public how a gameday experience there, or later at Target Field, could be so much more than what fans once experienced in other Minnesota sports venues.

MSP, once a reluctant player in the stadium building game, has become the parade leader among American cities. Lester believes the change in attitude is also explained by how team owners are no longer viewed as billionaires running out of town with the money from their new riches generated in new stadiums. “It just didn’t hold up to very much scrutiny,” Lester said.

Minnesotans have come to realize stadiums ensure the commitment of teams to stay here and the facilities make major league sports entertainment possible. Fans enjoy the experiences in the stadiums and realize those venues create jobs, generate taxes and can lead to neighborhood developments providing more economic stimulus. There’s also the benefit of maintaining and building this area’s national image of being a high quality place to live, offering exceptional education, health care, housing, live theatre, major league sports and more.

Lester said the diversified sports scene here plays a role in attracting and keeping young professionals and entrepreneurs, “part of a broader picture” to feed the vitality of this area.

By 2018, Minneapolis-St. Paul will be home to not only major league baseball, basketball, football, hockey and soccer but also big time college basketball, football and hockey with the Gophers. In addition, MSP has professional women’s basketball with the Lynx and men’s pro lacrosse with the Swarm. No other city can match that lineup, including metros with three and four times the population of the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

The already intense competition among teams for ticket buyers, sponsors, suite purchasers and advertisers will kick up a notch with an MLS club and new stadium. Can all those pro teams, and the Gophers, be successful at the box office and with their overall balance sheets?

Lester isn’t sure while taking an optimistic but cautious view. “If the economy is healthy and the business climate is okay…I am not so sure anymore that there is a point at which it implodes. I used to think there was but I am not so sure anymore.”

Worth Noting

Sports Illustrated’s baseball preview issue, on newsstands this week, predicts Twins AL Central Division rival Cleveland will not only win the division but also will defeat the Nationals in the World Series. The Tigers, White Sox and Royals will trail the Indians but finish ahead of the Twins who will be last in the division, per S.I. The magazine forecasts a Twins record of 67-95, the worst in the AL. The club was 70-92 last season and S.I. believes the 2015 team is improved but so is the division with tough competition.

The magazine—quoting an anonymous scout—said “the starting pitching is respectable now.” But outfield defense, including with a declining Torii Hunter, is a minus and while the club has power hitters in Oswaldo Arcia and Kennys Vargas, the long ball isn’t part of Joe Mauer’s future, S.I. wrote. “Joe Mauer has lost his power, and in that ballpark (Target Field) it’s not coming back,” said the scout. “He’s an opposite-field singles and doubles hitter now.”

New manager Paul Molitor? “The team stopped listening to Ron Gardenhire, so the manager change was smart,” the scout said.

The Gophers hockey team and coach Don Lucia have plenty of incentives in the NCAA Tournament. The Gophers have a tournament opening Northeast Regional game late this afternoon against Minnesota Duluth. A win advances Minnesota to the regional title contest tomorrow, with the winner earning a place in the Frozen Four April 9-11 in Boston. The Gophers were the national runner-up last year at the Frozen Four.

A national title would be the third for a Lucia-coached Gophers team. If Lucia is successful in winning the NCAA title, he receives a bonus of $75,000, according to a schedule of incentives document he and the University agreed to in July of 2012. Lucia has already earned $30,000 and $15,000 bonuses for winning the 2015 Big Ten regular season and conference championships, according to that document.

Union defeated the Gophers in the national championship game last April but didn’t qualify for this year’s NCAA Tournament after a 19-18-2 season. The Union team of last year showed the Gophers an aggressiveness and physical style that could help Minnesota in this year’s tournament.

Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk is 2-0 against the Flames this season with a 0.98 GAA and one shutout. The Wild play the Flames at Xcel Energy Center tonight. While the Wild is 2-0 this season against Calgary, Minnesota is 0-2 versus the Kings who are at Xcel tomorrow night.

Should be fun having the Matthews brothers in the NFC North together next fall. The Vikings signed linebacker Casey Matthews as a free agent this week. Casey’s older brother, Clay Matthews, is a six-year NFL veteran and standout linebacker for the Packers. Casey started a career-high 11 games for the Eagles last season. A four year pro, he also had a career-best 62 tackles last season.

Timberwolves president Flip Saunders and general manager Milt Newton rank No. 24 in ESPN.com’s listing this week of the NBA’s front office decision makers. The top five front offices among the 30 league franchises are the Spurs, Warriors, Rockets, Heat and Trail Blazers. ESPN ranks Saunders No. 25 among the league’s best coaches, with Gregg Popovich of the Spurs No. 1, the Hawks Mike Budenholzer No. 2 and the Warriors Steve Kerr No. 3. Former Wolves coach Randy Wittman, now head coach of the Wizards, ranks No. 26 despite a winning record in Washington.

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Big Ten Teams Did U No Favors

Posted on March 20, 2015March 20, 2015 by David Shama

Minnesotans who hate the Big Ten Conference for forming a hockey league a couple of years ago with six teams—including the Gophers—could see their collective blood pressures soar again this weekend.

The Gophers are on the spot today in the Big Ten Tournament in Detroit against Ohio State. A loss likely eliminates Minnesota from selection for the NCAA Tournament, a postseason party the Gophers have attended the last three years.

If the Gophers win today (3:30 p.m. CDT start, Big Ten Network) they advance to the Big Ten Tournament championship game on Saturday. Minnesota coach Don Lucia said earlier this week on his 1500 ESPN Radio Show his team has less than a 10 percent chance of being selected for the NCAA Tournament on Sunday if the Gophers lose to the Buckeyes. Minnesota won three of four games against OSU during the regular season.

The Big Ten Tournament title game on Saturday starts at 7 p.m. and will also be on BTN. The winner receives automatic entry into the NCAA Tournament.

But will the NCAA Selection Committee still call the Gophers’ name if Minnesota loses on Saturday? The Gophers won the regular season Big Ten championship with a 12-5-3 record but that doesn’t tell the whole story. The Gophers were once the No. 1 ranked team in college hockey, later fell out of the top 20 and now are No. 13 in the USCHO.com national poll. No other Big Ten team is even ranked in the top 20, an indication of the six-team hockey league’s lack of strength this year. And while the Gophers were the best in their league, the nonconference record was a not so impressive 9-7.

No doubt (cue the blood pressure tests) the overall weak performance of the Big Ten as a hockey league this season hurts. “When the whole league is down it affects all the teams trying to qualify for a playoff position,” said Lou Nanne, the former Gopher and passionate fan. “Whenever you’re in that situation you have very few teams make it PairWise (see below).”

The NCAA Tournament Selection Committee uses “mathematical and other criteria” to determine 10 of the 16 teams for the tourney, according to USCHO.com. Six other schools are automatic qualifiers as conference champions. USCHO.com explains on its website that the selection committee compares teams against each other and then puts them in order based on comparisons won. USCHO uses a process called PairWise rankings which it says ranks teams similar to what the selection committee does because of the same data. The PairWise rankings on USCHO.com indicate, as of now, the Gophers would be invited to the tourney if they lose on Saturday.

Fans grumble about missing the old days when the Gophers were members of the WCHA, a powerhouse hockey league with Minnesota rivals like North Dakota and UMD. North Dakota, Michigan Tech, Denver and UMD are programs that once were WCHA rivals of the Gophers and this week are ranked No. 1, 4, 5 and 8 in the USCHO national poll.

Big Ten decision makers concluded awhile ago the conference should have a hockey league and a lot of that decision was driven by the Big Ten Network’s need for programming. The Gophers have won the first two regular season championships in the new league, but that won’t be perfect consolation if they miss out on the NCAA Tournament.

Nanne said leagues have good and bad years. In the long run he isn’t concerned about Big Ten hockey competing with the country’s best leagues. What he is upset about, though, is this season’s Gopher TV schedule that had the team playing on so many different channels and days and times it became frustrating for him and other fans. “Anybody tells you this doesn’t hurt Minnesota hockey, they’re nuts,” he said.

What happens with the Gophers’ TV schedule is the Big Ten Network is the rightsholder and has first call on games. Then the ESPN family of networks including ESPN2, ESPN News and ESPNU can pick and choose. And Gophers games can also end up on Fox Sports North. Regardless of network, games aren’t just televised on traditional Friday and Saturday nights anymore. TV dictates that some games are on other days and aren’t always played in the evening. The good news was 31 of the team’s 36 games have been televised—the best coverage of a college hockey team in the country.

Nanne does worry about fan interest in the Gophers program. “I just want more teams (in the Big Ten),” he said. “I think we gotta get to eight teams somehow. I think that will drive more interest.”

For now, though, the Gophers are on a two-day, two opponents Big Ten schedule.

Worth Noting

The WCHA Final Five tonight matches (first game) No. 2 seed Michigan Tech against No. 3 Bowling Green, followed by No. 1 seed Minnesota State playing No. 4 Ferris State at Xcel Energy Center. The tournament features three of the nation’s top 10 teams, according to both the USCHO. com and USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine polls, with No. 2 Minnesota State, No. 4 Michigan Tech and No. 9 Bowling Green. The fourth team competing for the Broadmoor Trophy and an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament is Ferris State, a preseason top 10 team that is 7-1-1 in its last nine games.

Minnesota State, Michigan Tech and Bowling Green give the WCHA an NCAA-best (tied with Hockey East) three of the nation’s top 10 winning percentages . The Mavericks are tied for the best at .777 (27-7-3), the Huskies (tops nationally with 28 wins) are third at .763 (28-8-2) and the Falcons are seventh at .671 (23-10-5).

Also taking place locally is the men’s NCHC Frozen Faceoff at Target Center where No. 1 ranked North Dakota plays No. 18 St. Cloud State tonight followed by the No. 5 Denver against No. 6 Miami game. Those conference tournament games are scheduled to start at 4:08 and 7:38 p.m. Minneapolis time.

Tickets are sold out at Ridder Arena, official capacity 3,400, for the NCAA Women’s Frozen Four that starts today on the University of Minnesota campus. Despite the sellout status the first 100 students to show their college IDs at the Ridder Arena box office for both the semifinal session and championship game will receive complimentary tickets. Questions should be directed to the Gopher Sales & Service Department at 612-624-8080 (option 2).

Minnesota, the No. 1 tournament seed, plays No. 4 Wisconsin starting at 5 p.m. today. The Gophers, 32-3-4, are trying to win their third national title in four years. The other Frozen Four teams are Boston College and Harvard, No. 3 and 4 seeds. The national championship game is at Ridder on Sunday starting at 3 p.m.

The Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award honoring the best female college hockey player in the country will be announced tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. at the McNamara Alumni Center on the Minnesota campus. The Gophers Hannah Brandt, along with Alex Carpenter from Boston College and Marie-Philip Poulin of Boston University, are the three finalists.

Marlene Stollings achieved a personal best head coaching win total with the Gophers’ 23-9 record in her first season at Minnesota. In two previous head coaching assignments (two seasons at VCU and one at Winthrop) Stollings didn’t win more than 22 games in a season, nor did her teams qualify for the NCAA Tournament. Her Gophers are in the NCAA Tourney for the first time in six years. They are the No. 8 seed in the Oklahoma City Region and play No. 9 seed DePaul starting at 4 p.m. today in South Bend. Brittany Hrynko leads the Blue Demons with a 19.6 points-per-game average. The senior is a finalist for the Dawn Staley Award, given to the nation’s top guard.

Lynn Holleran, director of the McNamara Academic Center for student-athletes at the University of Minnesota, starts her new position later this month at Penn State as senior associate athletic director for administration. Holleran’s partner is former Gophers women’s basketball coach Pam Borton. The two were married last year.

Hamline’s Cinderella men’s hockey team hopes to keep “dancing” tomorrow when the Pipers (14-10-4) travel to UW-Stevens Point for an NCAA Tournament quarterfinal game starting at 7 p.m. The winner plays at Ridder Arena March 27 as part of the semifinals leading to the national title game on March 28 at the Gophers’ arena. This is only the second time in school history Hamline has advanced to the NCAA men’s hockey tourney and follows a 2-22-1 season last year.

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No Bonuses for Gophers Coach Pitino

Posted on March 13, 2015March 13, 2015 by David Shama

This season Gophers basketball coach Richard Pitino won’t earn any incentive bonuses tied to his team’s on-court performances. The coach’s contract with the University of Minnesota includes many potential bonuses including $25,000 for winning the Big Ten Conference Tournament, but the Gophers were eliminated from the tourney in Chicago last night. Minnesota defeated Rutgers on Wednesday but lost to Ohio State last evening.

The Gophers had a disappointing season after winning last year’s NIT championship and returning four starters. Expectations in 2015 were for an NCAA Tournament invitation and winning record in the Big Ten. Instead the Gophers finished 6-12 in regular season league games and won’t be considered for an NCAA invite with their 18-15 overall record. Pitino’s contract guarantees him a $50,000 bonus for a winning record in the Big Ten and the same amount if the Gophers are regular season conference champs.

There are no bonuses for postseason tournaments other than the NCAA tourney. Pitino can earn $50,000 for getting his team into the NCAA tourney, $50,000 for making the Sweet 16, $50,000 for the Final Four, and $100,000 for winning the national championship.

Contract incentives also include $25,000 for being honored as Big Ten Coach of the Year and $50,000 for National Coach of the Year.

Pitino didn’t earn any of the above mentioned bonuses this year or last. Pitino’s 2013-2014 team, his first at Minnesota, finished with an 8-10 record in the Big Ten. That group was considered an overachieving team that won seven of its last eight games including five straight to win the NIT title.

This season’s team, led by five seniors, has lost six of the last eight games. Among gloomy experiences were road and away losses to Penn State, and a home loss to Northwestern—two of the Big Ten’s historically worst programs.

The Gophers lost eight conference games by six points or less. Pitino has said the team hasn’t been lucky at times and he is correct, but the Gophers’ defensive failures have been a cause of misfortune. Minnesota hasn’t been able to correct its season long weakness in defending three point shooting, has been in ineffective at making key defensive stops, and sometimes been overmatched in defensive rebounding.

With the seniors leaving the program, the Gophers’ starting lineup, and certainly the roster, is somewhat of a mystery for next season. Pitino has scholarships to work with this spring and one source close to the program predicted at least two new players will be added, perhaps a small and power forward.

Pitino, 32, was hired by athletic director Norwood Teague in the spring of 2013. The contract he and University representatives signed in May of that year stated a base salary of $500,000 per year and supplemental compensation (for media, fundraising, community involvement and more) of $700,000. Annual salary increases are subject to evaluation by the University.

Worth Noting

Gophers leading scorer Andre Hollins made five of nine field goal attempts in the first half of last Sunday’s final regular season game against Penn State, then went 0-5 for in the second half. In Wednesday night’s opening Big Ten Tournament win over Rutgers he was 0-5 from the floor, and then last evening made four of 14 field goal attempts. That’s a four of 24 shooting slump for the senior guard who has been one of Minnesota’s best players for four years.

Despite a career low batting average of .277 last season, Joe Mauer still compares favorably with other hitters past and present. Among active players, Mauer’s .319 lifetime average is second only to Albert Pujols at .320. For career batting averages since 1950 among major leaguers, Mauer ranks seventh. His on-base percentage of .402 is third among today’s players, trailing Joey Votto at .427 and Miguel Cabrera, .411.

Ervin Santana, the right-handed veteran pitcher who the Twins signed as a free agent last December, could be the staff ace and is capable of being dominant. Twelve times during his 10 season MLB career he has produced double-digit strikeouts in a game. In seven starts for the Braves last season from July 18-August 18 he had a six-game win streak, going 6-0 with a 2.98 ERA.

Coach Don Lucia’s Gophers hockey team plays its last two regular season games tonight and Saturday evening at Mariucci Arena with second place Minnesota one point behind first place Michigan State in the Big Ten standings. The Gophers are defending conference champions, and in 2012 and 2013 Minnesota won WCHA regular season titles.

This weekend’s series will be the final two games at Mariucci Arena for six seniors. Seth Ambroz, Travis Boyd, Christian Isackson, Ben Marshall, Kyle Rau and Sam Warning comprise one of the most successful classes in program history with three straight regular season conference titles (a Gophers men’s record) and two trips to the NCAA Frozen Four. A second consecutive Big Ten title would make the senior class the only group at Minnesota to win regular season titles in each of four years together. Their record is 101-42-15 (.687), including 60-13-7 (.812) at Mariucci Arena.

Bemidji State, Bowling Green, Lake Superior State, Minnesota State, Michigan Tech and Northern Michigan are teams participating in this weekend’s opening round of the WCHA men’s hockey playoffs. Rosters include many Minnesotans such as Bemidji State freshman Michael Bitzer (Moorhead High School) who leads WCHA goalies in save percentage (.932) and is tied for second in goals against average (1.76). Bitzer was honored yesterday as the WCHA Rookie of the Year. Bowling Green junior goalie Tommy Burke (Academy of Holy Angels) is seventh in both save percentage (.919) and goals against average (2.19).

Minnesota State forward C.J. Franklin (Forest Lake) is second among freshmen scorers with 24 points. Senior teammate Zach Palmquist (South St. Paul) is second in scoring among WCHA defensemen with 26 points.

Former Gophers basketball assistant coach Dan Kosmoski has his St. Olaf men’s team (23-5) in the Division III Sweet 16 with a game tonight against Marietta in Rock Island, Illinois. The Oles have won a school record number of games for one season and can play Saturday against either Augustana or Mount Union if they win tonight. A Saturday win sends the Oles to the Division III Final Four.

Automated telephone calls were made to the public this week urging recipients to contact state legislators regarding a bill to reverse Minnesota State High School League transgender policy. League officials voted in December for transgender athletes to play on the school teams best aligned with their gender identity.

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