P.J. FLECK – Page 6 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Talking Turkey for Laughs and Wisdom

Posted on November 21, 2023 by David Shama

Everything I ever wanted to tell you about Thanksgiving.

(Ha! But maybe only a little bit.)

Suggestion for Strib columnist Patrick Reusse regarding the selection process for his annual “Turkey of the Year.” Choose a media person. Hint: It’s “low hanging fruit.”

My most memorable Thanksgiving Day sports event was the 1963 Golden Gophers football game at Memorial Stadium when Minnesota defeated Wisconsin 14-0 while earning some payback from a controversially officiated defeat in Madison the year before. The game on Thanksgiving Day, November 28, had been moved from the previous Saturday because President John Kennedy was assassinated November 22, and the nation was in turmoil and mourning.

Gopher 1962 All-American tackle Bobby Bell recalled meeting President Kennedy in the Murray Warmath book, The Autumn Warrior. The president knew of Minnesota’s frustrating fourth quarter 14-9 loss to the Badgers in 1962 and said to him later in the fall: “Bobby Bell! You’re the one who got that really bad roughing call against you a couple of weeks ago in that big game against Wisconsin, right?”

Warmath, the Gophers coach who probably would have won his second Big Ten title in three years if not for the 1962 officiating in Madison, had an eye for talent and a sense of humor: “No mule ever won the Kentucky Derby,” Warmath liked to say.

BTW I am starting a new tradition in advance of Saturday’s Minnesota-Wisconsin game in Minneapolis. Gopher fans are asked to wear lumberjack shirts (no red) this week to ensure good fortune that Paul Bunyan’s Axe remains in Dinkytown for a third consecutive year.

While the Gophers are practically strangers to Thanksgiving football, the Vikings are not, having played nine times on the holiday. Last year the Vikings defeated the Patriots 33-26 in their only home Thanksgiving Day game ever when Kene Nwangwu worked up an appetite with a 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.

All-time on turkey day the Vikes are 3-2 against the Lions, 3-0 against the Cowboys and 1-0 with the Patriots for a 7-2 record. A favorite is the 1998 game in Texas when rookie wide receiver Randy Moss took revenge on the Cowboys who bypassed him in the NFL Draft after reportedly first indicating they would select him. Moss caught three passes in the game for 163 yards and all the receptions resulted in touchdowns during Minnesota’s 46-26 win.

No matter when you eat on Thanksgiving the NFL will be right there with you. The lineup Thursday: Packers at Lions, 11:30 a.m., Commanders at Cowboys; 2:30 p.m., 49ers at Seahawks, 8:20 p.m.

Football and food? The facts are these: it takes something like 15 hours to prepare the Thanksgiving feast and about 15 minutes (the length of halftime) to consume much of it.

And woe to those who don’t show appreciation and lend a hand to the preparers of the extravaganza. Without gratitude and willingness to help, there might be no TV football for you and dirty looks at the table could bring on a bad case of indigestion.

My worst and unexpected Thanksgiving drama? Being part of a pro rasslin’ promotion to raise funds for charity and hearing a cascade of boos rein down from the rafters of the old St. Paul Auditorium. Go figure.

Nobody on TV had more fun with football and Thanksgiving than the late John Madden, the Austin, Minnesota native. See what kind of look you get from a butcher if you ask for a Madden favorite, the six-legged turkey! I know we won’t have to count turkey legs beyond two on our bird.

At our house we spend considerable time talking about where to buy, what size and how to cook the turkey. How many pounds will feed how many people for how many days? Do we cover the bird with tin foil to enhance moisture? Maybe we’re influenced this year by a TV talking head who boasted about finding a Butterball at 99 cents per pound.

Temptation has crept into the process this year. We’ve seen wild turkeys in the yard lately, and I’ve pondered securing one for the Thanksgiving table. I am adept at throwing golf clubs and thought that might be a quiet way to knock off a gobbler. Restraint won out when I thought of cleaning the fowl.

Turkey is not for everyone, though. Vikings offensive guard Dalton Risner grew up on a ranch in Colorado and the family was a fan of another bird. “The fried chicken was just more crunchy, more juicy, just better,” he told Sports Headliners.

One year, Risner and his sibs were each tasked with making various parts of the holiday meal. “Yeah, of course we bombed out. I think mom and dad said it was all good, but you know we did something wrong.”

Risner’s mom made her version of Mississippi Mud Pie for dessert—brownies, layered with marshmallow cream and covered in chocolate frosting. A visitor suggested last week that sounded mouth-watering. “I got a sweet tooth, too, man,” Risner said. “Pumpkin bars, pecan pie. It’s going to be a good week, next week.”

Talk Thanksgiving with Viking defensive back Cam Bynum, and along with the importance of spending time with family comes a memory from Black Friday. He recalls his “sneaker head days” in California when he used to collect shoes. “In high school I’d go camp out (at a store with family) and wait in line for shoes, standing there for 12-plus hours, and that was a lot of fun for me.”

At our table we’ll have family from out of town and nearby. We’ll eat until everyone is high on sugar and then play games. I like the ones for ages 4 to 10.

Part of the emphasis in the Gophers football program is serving and giving to the community. Not just Thanksgiving week but other parts of the year, too. So, I asked Gophers’ football coach P.J. Fleck about gratitude yesterday.

He made the point that there are people who only want to be grateful for the good things in their lives. “A lot of things that you’re grateful for are the hardest things you’ve been through in your life because they teach you the biggest lessons—some of the most tragic, some of the hardest things you get through,” he said. “You do as you get older…find the gratitude in that and find out what it teaches you.”

Thank you for reading this space today and throughout the year!

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Don’t Fret about Fleck & Michigan State Coaching Rumors

Posted on October 31, 2023 by David Shama

Michigan State’s football coaching vacancy is stirring a lot of speculation as to who will replace fired boss Mel Tucker. Among names conjectured is Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck who headed the football program at Western Michigan before taking over the Golden Gophers in 2017.

It’s easy for crystal ballers to type Fleck’s name as a possible candidate given his background in the state of Michigan and success at Western and Minnesota. At age 42 his combination of experience and coaching youth makes him an attractive name to speculate about.

However, don’t wager the mortgage on Minnesota’s Athletes Village that the Spartans are targeting Fleck and that he is interested. Reasons include the following:

Sports Headliners has found no credible information there is mutual interest in the job of leading the Spartans. This includes some “digging” while the Spartans were in town last Saturday to play the Gophers.

When asked, a Big Ten athletic director told me there is no conference policy prohibiting a school from hiring another institution’s head coach. Doing so, though, in a highly visible sport like football, would create hard feelings between the two programs and go against the cooperative and supportive spirit of being in a conference aligned with mutual interests and loyalties.

It’s not unusual for assistant football coaches to change Big Ten schools. However, the last time head football coaches switched loyalties in the conference was in late 1972. Alex Agase vacated his position at Northwestern to become head coach at Purdue. Soon after John Pont left Indiana to take over at Northwestern. There have been no similar moves in 50 years.

Fleck is in his seventh season at Minnesota and his name has come up with other coaching openings. It’s believed he was targeted for the Tennessee job in 2021 and may have turned it down. Numerous reports in January of that year said he wasn’t interested in the position.

A source told Sports Headliners there might have been interest in Fleck from Michigan State before Tucker was hired. That was in the winter of 2020 when the Gophers were coming off their 11-2 season and final AP national ranking of No. 10.

Fleck is highly competitive and knows he can have success here. The Gophers have won nine games or more three times dating back to 2019. His 49-30 record translates to a winning percentage of .620 and is among the best in program history. This season the Gophers are 5-3 overall and 3-2 in Big Ten games.

Fleck and wife Heather are enthusiastic about the quality-of-life here. They’re building a new home in the metro area and have immersed themselves in the community including with charitable activities.

The wild card in retaining Fleck long-term is Name, Image and Likeness money for players. Dinkytown Athletes, the official collective for Gopher athletes in all sports, has momentum this fall with increasing revenues including from innovative ideas like the sale of Duck Duck Beer in state liquor stores. DA has only been operational for about 13 months. (Note: DA advertises on this blog).

Collectives are quiet about their “pots of gold” but news of late hasn’t been good for Sparty. Internet reports a few weeks ago said MSU’s official collective was pausing payments to many of the football players due to a lack of support from the public.

Michigan State football has been in turmoil this fall because of alleged improprieties against Tucker that resulted in his in-season dismissal. Who knows what other fallout there could be at MSU? The school and athletic department have absorbed multiple serious problems in recent years.

The situation contrasts with the stability Fleck has at Minnesota including a close relationship with AD Mark Coyle who hired him in January of 2017. It’s invaluable for a head football coach to have the ear and support of his AD. The two not only share a mutual trust but also a staunch commitment to operating in compliance with NCAA rules. Who you work for, and the athletic department’s culture, can be invaluable for a coach in the combustible world of college football.

Given its geographic location near recruiting hotbeds, winning tradition, large fanbase and deep-pocket alumni, the MSU job is attractive. East Lansing is an easier place to win than Minneapolis and the Spartans have shown a willingness to pay beyond top dollar with their careless commitment to Tucker at $95 million.

Per Usatoday.com earlier this fall, Tucker was No. 5 in the country with a ridiculous 2023 salary of about $10 million. Fleck ranked No. 26 at $6 million on a national list of compensation for college football coaches.

In a bidding war for Fleck, MSU probably wins. But Spartan AD Alan Haller and whoever is helping him with the search for a new coach are more likely to target a flashy name such as icon Urban Meyer or a coach having a big season like Duke’s Mike Elko, Lane Kiffin from Mississippi, or Lance Leipold at Kansas.

Notice that none of them is currently coaching in the Big Ten.

Minnetonka Girls Basketball: For Sure a Team to Watch

Among the intriguing storylines to follow in state high school sports this fall, and winter, will be the girls’ basketball team at Minnetonka High School. Second-year coach Brian Cosgriff won seven state championships at Hopkins and will have one of Minnesota’s best 4A teams in 2023-2024 at ‘Tonka.

“When you have a USA basketball player on your team, you should be pretty good,” Cosgriff told Sports Headliners. “And then you got a Golden Gopher commit and then you got a point guard that’s being recruited by power fives—you got a shot.”

Aaliyah Crump averaged nine points per game and 3.8 rebounds for the Under 16 USA team last summer that had a 6-0 record and won a gold medal. Cosgriff said the 6-1 junior is “being recruited by everybody” for her skills and versatility. “She can play any position she wants,” Cosgriff said.

Senior Tori McKinney, a 6-1 guard-wing, has verbally committed to Minnesota and is another versatile player who Cosgriff praised as a “great defender” and hard worker. Point guard Lanelle Wright was named Lake All-Conference as a freshman last season.

The Skippers have other experienced players, too, who will play important roles in an opportune season ahead. “We have a nice nucleus coming back,” Cosgriff said.

He coached Paige Bueckers at Hopkins High School, and she became the biggest star in women’s college basketball while playing for UConn in 2021. Cosgriff said Crump is probably the most pursued recruit he’s ever had because Bueckers committed early to UConn and by so doing discouraged other schools.

“Both are equally talented,” Cosgriff said. “Paige had a basketball IQ that was off the charts. Crump has athletic ability that’s off the charts, and height. They both are very, very good players, but it’s hard to compare the two.”

Cosgriff has been a head coach in Minnesota girls’ basketball since 1999. He’s seen the development of talent in the state through the years. “…I mean it’s gotten really good, and I really think it’s kind of a hotbed for a lot of colleges to come in here and start recruiting players. Because it used to be a kid…would maybe get an offer from the U or some smaller D I school. Now you got your Power Fives coming in here on a regular basis.”

Cosgriff said legendary Hopkins’ boys coach Kenny Novak once told him he thought Bueckers could be a starter for his team.

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Owner Agrees Wolves Are Anthony Edwards Led Team

Posted on October 24, 2023October 24, 2023 by David Shama

The Timberwolves open the regular season Wednesday night in Toronto against the Raptors and Sports Headliners recently interviewed Minnesota owner Glen Taylor about multiple topics including team leadership, expectations, and progress on selling majority control of the franchise.

Does the longtime owner agree with public perception that 22-year-old guard Anthony Edwards, about to start his fourth NBA season, is now the team leader? “The answer is yes to your question,” said the Mankato-based businessman who purchased the franchise in 1994.

Edwards, one of the most athletic and gifted players in the NBA, is on track to supplant forward-center Karl-Anthony Towns as the face of the franchise. In the last three seasons Edwards has increased his basketball wisdom while improving season scoring averages from 19.3 to 21.3 to 24.6. Presumably he will be asked to make the biggest of plays late in games to decide outcomes, while also excelling at playmaking and defense.

The maturation of Edwards was evident this summer when he played for the U.S. Men’s FIBA World’s team. He led the U.S. in scoring at 18.9 points per game and minutes (25.9) as the Americans placed fourth in the tournament. He also averaged 4.6 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.1 steals.

The lead role is expected to fall on Edwards, despite the greater experience of Towns, entering his ninth NBA season, and center Rudy Gobert, starting his 11^th. Both veterans earn roughly four times the salary of Edwards at $9.2 million, per ESPN.com.

Taylor’s expectations are for his players to excel this season, including the team’s two other starters, forward Jaden McDaniels and guard Mike Conley, Jr. “We should be one of the elite teams,” Taylor said after being told The Athletic predicts the Wolves will finish in a tie for third in the Western Conference.

“We have the guys (the talent),” Taylor said. “The other thing is it just appears watching them play the five preseason games that we are different this year. That the guys are more in tune. They’re playing really competitive ball right from the very beginning.

“Where in the previous years in the preseason we were always a little sloppy. We looked like we weren’t quite ready and stuff like that. And if we can just kind of keep playing…like we played in the preseason, we’ll get off to a good start. There’s no reason we can’t keep going, and then it gets down to injuries (determining wins and losses).”

Taylor is told that as a group the team came to training camp in better shape physically and with conditioning, and more prepared mentally. It appears, too, there is motivation to perform better after last season’s disappointing 42-40 record and eighth place finish in the Western Conference that was impacted by injuries.

Taylor decided in 2021 to sell the Wolves and Lynx franchises for $1.5 billion by the end of 2023, eventually giving majority control to Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez. Two payments have been made so far and it’s been an unusual installment plan for buying a professional sports franchise.

Lore and Rodriguez have apparently been financially challenged to raise the capital needed for majority ownership (Taylor will retain a minority interest). The final payment is due in December but apparently will be stretched out further, with Taylor’s approval. “I cannot see them getting it done at the end of December,” Taylor said.

Taylor hasn’t been in touch with Lore and Rodrguez for some time. “I am assuming the guys will get it done, but I have no knowledge. They don’t share anything with me so I can only assume they’ll get it done. I don’t know anything more than (when) we talked about a month ago or something like that.”

Danielle Hunter Trade Looking Less Likely by Vikings

An NFL insider thinks it’s possible the Vikings could trade sack master Danielle Hunter prior to the league trade deadline October 31 but questions the wisdom of such a move. A deal with a team like the Jaguars might fetch a first-round draft choice for the Vikings who could then have two picks in the 2024 NFL Draft and leverage their draft capital to select a coveted quarterback.

The former executive with NFL teams said a few days ago that perhaps making it more likely Minnesota hangs on to its talented pass rusher would be if the then 2-4 Vikings split their next two games. Well, the Vikings took care of the 49ers Monday night with a 22-17 win, moving their record to 3-4. Next up are the 2-4 Packers, October 29 in Green Bay.

A 3-5 record, or 4-4, with a friendly schedule ahead could well have Vikings management thinking of competing for a place in the playoffs. At 2-6 the outlook would have been more discouraging for sure and conducive to strategizing for the future.

Danielle Hunter image courtesy of Minnesota Vikings.

When healthy, Hunter has been a proven talent during his eight-year career as a defensive end and outside linebacker. “I don’t think they will trade Hunter,” the source said while speaking anonymously. “Why would you do that? He leads the league in sacks (nine). He’s only 28 years old. …He’s proven he can stay healthy the last couple years. Without him their pass rush is nothing—as far as the front people, without a blitz. He’s their best player on defense. Those pass rushers don’t come easily.

“I think it’s just been ridiculous speculation that they would trade him. Now if they lose to San Francisco and Green Bay, they’re sitting at 2-6, then they might reconsider if they could get a first-round pick. But I don’t think they’re going to do it without a first-round pick. …”

Hunter, who turns 29 on October 29, is on a one-year deal in 2023 and likely will be looking for $20 million per season or more on his next contract. That could give a potential trade partner pause if that franchise has serious salary cap issues.

Before signing his one-year deal Hunter wasn’t happy with his contractual situation and appeared willing to leave Minnesota. His new contract reportedly can pay him up to $20 million. Perhaps adding to Hunter’s happiness barometer is that he’s experienced how effective he can be in the new defensive system of first-year coordinator Brian Flores.

“…I don’t think he’s anxious to get out of here,” the authority said.

Gophers Football Notes

After the Gophers’ win over the Hawkeyes Saturday the team bused home and later coach P.J. Fleck and wife Heather toasted Minnesota’s first win in Iowa City since 1999 by having a “teeny bit” of bourbon from a bottle the coach had been saving for a first victory over Iowa, having lost six straight since he became Gopher coach.

Redshirt sophomore linebacker Devon Williams has been improving dramatically and caused an Iowa fumble in the upset win Saturday. Fleck described Williams’ performance as one of the best by a linebacker he’s seen since taking over at Minnesota in 2017.

Top running backs Darius Taylor and Zach Evans didn’t finish the Iowa game because of apparent injuries. Fleck said he hopes to have one of them “in the mix” for Saturday’s home game with Michigan State.

Starting linebacker Cody Lindenberg has yet to play in seven games because of a leg injury. Fleck said it’s possible Lindenberg could play in four games and receive a redshirt season as allowed by NCAA rules.

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