P.J. FLECK – Page 77 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

U Football Renewal Percent Increases

Posted on July 10, 2017July 10, 2017 by David Shama

Based on figures provided by the Gophers athletic department late last month, the renewal percentage for public football season ticket accounts was up from 2016, but the total number of tickets sold was down by about 1,000.

For the upcoming 2017 seven-game home schedule, 87.7 percent of public season ticket accounts had renewed as of June 22, compared with 79.3 percent on that date in 2016. The Gophers reported a total of 6,518 accounts and 22,462 season tickets, compared with 6,898 accounts and 23,494 tickets in 2016.

The Gophers didn’t provide student season ticket sales, with an athletic department spokesman noting via email that while those tickets are available now the campaign marketing doesn’t begin until next month.

Another sales number provided was that 1,310 new season tickets were sold as of June 22. No comparable figure for 2016 was offered but it seems fair to draw some conclusions about the 1,310 total and the other public season numbers.

The improved renewal percentage is almost certainly impacted by the applauded decision last year by new athletic director Mark Coyle to eliminate a scheduled 2017 price increase on tickets referred to as “scholarship seating.” Prior implementation of extra pricing on tickets had annoyed a lot of buyers.

While fans aren’t storming box offices for Gophers football tickets, the hiring of new coach P.J. Fleck probably slowed the apathy toward the product that was visible in 2016. The Gophers averaged 43,814 for seven home games. That was the lowest average since TCF Bank Stadium opened in 2009.

Also provoking attention were the large number of empty seats at all games. Many of the seats were located in prime locations at TCF Bank Stadium.

Fleck’s reputation and outgoing personality hasn’t resulted in a lot of new sales yet, but he may have pushed back some of the malaise about Gophers football while creating at least a potential group of ticket buyers who have been wearing “Wait and see hats” for awhile. The Gophers will be selling season tickets for a couple more months and they don’t play their first game until August 31. That means the athletic department will add additional season ticket buyers, but not a lot—perhaps, though, pushing past 2016 final numbers for total accounts and tickets (unavailable today).

If Fleck shows he can coach, he will be the second coming of college football Hall of Fame dynamo and Mr. Marketer Lou Holtz. When Holtz was at Minnesota in the mid-1980s he arrived as a proven winner and a big name in the coaching business. The state accepted Holtz and his hype from day one. Within two years he had season ticket sales at 56,000.

Holtz came here from Arkansas, and had a national following for various reasons including his appearances on Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show.” By contrast, the 36-year-old Fleck arrived in Minneapolis in January from Kalamazoo, Michigan—coming off a Mid-American championship but with a modest career resume at Western Michigan that included only four years as a head coach and 30-22 record.

But like Holtz, Fleck has big goals for the program. Holtz talked about turning Golden Gophers football into one of the better coaching jobs and programs in the country. Fleck—gulp—has spoken of eventually competing for national championships.

Fleck even got in front of an audience of state high school coaches last spring and shared his vision of expanding the seating capacity of TCF Bank Stadium—one of the smallest Big Ten football venues with its (embarrassing?) 50,805 seat capacity. He told the group that “three years down the road” he wants to expand the stadium to 85,000 seats.

Spend time around Fleck and may well be convinced he believes in his dreams of creating championship teams and large fan followings. But things aren’t going to magically happen within a few months. Can’t possibly, right?

The 2017 Gophers don’t represent a program rebuild but there are reasons to see this fall as a .500 season. Minnesota doesn’t have the talent at several positions to measure up with the Big Ten’s better teams. But Fleck, like Holtz, regards himself as a salesman, and there’s no target group, including fans, more important to him than high school recruits. Fleck knows success eventually will be realized if he can consistently bring superior talent to Dinkytown.

That’s not an easy task when your brand includes no championships since 1967 but Fleck has impressed recruiting analysts so far. His 2018 recruiting class ranks No. 27 in the 247Sports composite rankings.

Finalizing a top 30 recruiting class for 2018 won’t be easy, but Fleck knew what he was taking on when he accepted the Minnesota job. If he needed a recent reminder of the challenges, all he had to do was summon the ticket numbers referenced in this story.

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U & Other Transfers Join St. Thomas

Posted on June 30, 2017March 15, 2023 by David Shama

A Friday notes column:

Former Gopher junior linebacker Blake Weber and players from three other schools are transferring to Glenn Caruso’s St. Thomas football program. The St. Thomas coach told Sports Headliners yesterday he is “tremendously happy” to have Weber, Michael Frankl, Peder Olson and Cody Stanger joining his team.

Weber, from Prior Lake High School, played on special teams for the Gophers in nine games in 2015 after transferring from Rochester Community and Technical College. He redshirted last season, and did go through spring practice this year with the Gophers before deciding to transfer. Linebacker is perhaps Minnesota’s deepest position going into the 2017 season.

Frankl is a quarterback transfer from Iowa State, while Olson is a linebacker joining the Tommies from North Dakota State. Stanger, a defensive lineman, comes to St. Thomas from Rochester Community and Technical College. Frankl played high school football at Ames High School in Ames, Iowa, while Olson is from Maple Grove and Stanger is from Stewartville, Minnesota.

All four transfers are expected to be eligible this coming season, joining a powerhouse program that is undefeated in the MIAC the last two seasons. Caruso is 99-15 in nine seasons at St. Thomas. He has won several Division III coach of the year awards.

Athlonsports.com ranked all 130 major college football coaches this week. The Gophers’ P.J. Fleck is No. 41 on a list that has Alabama’s Nick Saban first, Ohio State’s Urban Meyer second and Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh third. Among those Fleck ranks ahead of are Nebraska’s Mike Riley (46), Georgia’s Kirby Smart (65), Florida Atlantic’s Lane Kiffin (80), Illinois’ Lovie Smith (106) and former Gophers defensive coordinator Everett Withers (127) now head coach at Texas State.

Kiffin, the Bloomington native, has his 77-year-old dad, Monte Kiffin, on the staff as a defensive assistant. Monte’s long coaching career includes eight years with the Vikings in the 1980s and 1990s.

Gophers fans followed ex-U quarterback Phil Nelson last year for his one season at East Carolina. Now the 2017 Pirates will have former Gophers defensive end Gaelin Elmore who will play his senior season for East Carolina.

Former Gophers assistant coach Tony Petersen is offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the Pirates.

Congratulations to former Gopher All-Big Ten tight end Ray Parson on his recent 70th birthday.

Jimmy Butler (Photo by Gary Dineen/NBAE via Getty Images)

A crowd estimated from several hundred to a few thousand watched the Timberwolves’ Jimmy Butler news conference yesterday at the Mall of America. Many more followed live coverage on local radio and TV, and NBA TV.

Wolves coach Tom Thibodeau said of Butler: “He’s a great person. He’s a great leader. We’re thrilled to have him.”

Thibodeau coached Butler with the Bulls and helped take him from a late first round draft choice to an All-NBA guard. “Thibs has molded me into the player that I am today,” Butler said.

After the news conference general manager Scott Layden told Sports Headliners the Wolves are “excited” to have Ricky Rubio on the team. The veteran point guard is the subject of ongoing media speculation he will be traded because his shooting isn’t consistent enough to suit the Wolves.

Layden, though, referred to the strong play of Rubio as “incredible” in the closing months of the 2016-2017 season. Rubio’s shooting and scoring were at times the best of his six-year career. He had career highs at 11.2 points per game and field goal percentage, .402. He had 25 double-doubles during the season, with 23 in the final 45 games.

U.S. Bank Stadium, already the winner of local awards, was honored this week with the David Vickers Award for “Venue Project of the Year” in Dublin, Ireland. Part of the international Stadium Business Awards lineup, the award won by the Vikings was determined by a panel of global stadium industry leaders and online voting by stadium industry peers, according to a Vikings news release.

The award is “given to a new stadium, arena or major sports venue that opened (or re-opened after renovations) to great success between January 1, 2016 and January 27, 2017.” Among earlier awards presented to U.S. Bank Stadium was Best Sports Venue by Minnesota Meetings & Events magazine.

The expansion Minnesota United FC ranks No. 11 in average home attendance among the 22 Major League Soccer franchises, according to Wednesday figures from Soccerstadiumdigest.com. Playing at TCF Bank Stadium, Minnesota is averaging 20,115 per match so far this season. Atlanta United FC, another expansion franchise, leads the MSL in average attendance at 46,698.

The MIAC’s total of Academic All-Conference athletes for the 2016-2017 school year has set a new record of 1,033, one more than the previous year. Student-athletes must be sophomores, juniors, or seniors with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.5 on a 4.0 scale to qualify for MIAC Academic All-Conference recognition.

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Twins Need Santana Momentum Tonight

Posted on June 20, 2017June 20, 2017 by David Shama

A Tuesday notes column with items about the Gophers, Timberwolves, Twins and Vikings.

Losers of four consecutive games and now out of first place in the American League Central Division, the Twins are yet again counting on Ervin Santana. He starts tonight’s game at Target Field against the White Sox and he has won almost 25 percent of Minnesota’s games so far this season.

The Twins were outscored 28-8 by the Indians in their four losses from last Friday through Sunday. The Indians now lead the Twins by 2.5 games in the division and the two teams play this coming weekend in Cleveland. Before going on the road, the 34-33 Twins have three games at home against the White Sox, who are 31-37 and in last place in the Central Division.

Santana is 8-4 with a 2:56 ERA. A win tonight will keep him near other major league pitchers for most victories this season. Santana could finish the season as a 20-game winner and the club MVP. The 34-year-old right hander has exceeded expectations and the Twins need one of his better efforts tonight to end their slide.

The Twins have lost 12 of their last 16 home games.

Six of the team’s games at Target Field have been impacted by weather this spring. Three games were delayed and three postponed.

It was 40 years ago that the Twins’ Rod Carew made his famous run to become baseball’s first .400 hitter since Ted Williams in 1941. Carew was a national story and appeared on the July 18, 1977 cover of Time magazine. Carew finished the season at .388, the highest of his Hall of Fame career.

Williams, who played for the Minneapolis Millers before joining the Red Sox, hit .406 in 1941 and is still the last man to average over .400 for a season. Williams, when he was 39 years old in 1957, led the American League in hitting with a .388 average.

When the Gophers play Miami at Williams Arena next November as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, they will see five-star shooting guard Lonnie Walker. The freshman is projected to be the No. 8 selection in the 2018 NBA Draft, according Nbadraft.net.

The website has former Apple Valley five-star shooting guard Gary Trent Jr. leaving Duke after one season and being the No. 9 player taken in the first round. J.P. Macura, the shooting guard from Lakeville North, will be a second round pick at No. 44 after completing his senior season at Xavier.

Nbadraft.net doesn’t project any Gophers being selected in either the first or second rounds in 2018. The Gophers, though, have a few players, including sophomore forward Amir Coffey, who might work their way on to hypothetical draft boards in the next nine months.

Florida State forward Jonathan Isaac, who led the Seminoles to a home win over the Gophers last season, seems like the right fit for the Timberwolves when they use the No. 7 selection in Thursday night’s NBA Draft—if he is still available. Isaac, 6-10, is a slender but versatile defender who reportedly could bring the kind of defense and toughness the Wolves need. He was a freshman All-American last season.

The Wolves, who would surprise no one if they trade their No. 7 pick, are hosting draft night parties from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday night at Kieran’s Irish Pub in Minneapolis, The Liffey in St. Paul, Bunny’s Bar and Grill in St. Louis Park, and Champps in Eden Prairie.

P.J. Fleck, the Gophers’ 36-year-old football coach, talking about all he has experienced at a young age: “It seems like I should be 67 by now and retiring. My high school gave me the lifetime achievement award in the hall of fame. I got that when I was 34.”

Former Gophers trainer Jim Marshall turns 87 on July 3, the same day ex-Minnesota and Minneapolis Lakers coach John Kundla has his 101st birthday.

Former two-time Gophers All-American tackle Bobby Bell was 77 last Saturday.

Sam Richter, a St. Louis Park native and former Gophers football letter winner, was inducted last week into the Minnesota Speaker Hall of Fame by the National Speakers Association. Richter is only the 28th person ever inducted into the Hall of Fame. Richter, who was an Academic All-American, is considered one of the world’s leading experts on sales intelligence and digital reputation management.

Nemer Fieger, the St. Louis Park-based marketing agency, is working with the Gophers athletic department to better communicate the successes of women’s sports, according to Julie Manning.

Manning, executive associate athletics director, also said the department has launched a campaign to raise $10 million over three years to provide additional resources for head coaches of women’s sports.

Vikings coach Mike Zimmer will be in Dallas this weekend for a family wedding. After eight eye surgeries, there probably isn’t a player in the NFL who question’s Zimmer’s toughness.

After two rounds through yesterday, Minikahda Club teaching pro Jeff Sorenson was among the leaders in the PGA Professional Championship in Sunriver, Oregon, according to news from PGA.com. Sorenson finished third in the 2013 tournament at Sunriver Resort.

The Minnesota Youth Football Summit is a free event this Saturday at U.S. Bank Stadium that will look at how young players can have a better experience. More information, including online registration, is available at myas.org/football.

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