Gophers Football – Page 177 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Twins Buy-Sell Decision Still Too Early

Posted on June 25, 2017June 25, 2017 by David Shama

A Sunday notes column with the Twins leading off:

The Twins are a surprise contender for the American League Central Division title, and this morning were only a half game out of first place. The turnaround from 2016 when Minnesota finished with a 59-103 record doesn’t predict, however, whether the front office will be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline July 31.

Club president Dave St. Peter told Sports Headliners on Friday it’s too early to determine what direction the franchise will go with its roster by the end of July, and even in August when MLB teams can still make moves through waiver deals. He made it clear that whatever course the club determines will be decided by Derek Falvey, the chief baseball officer who was hired last fall.

“We’ll try to do what’s best for our club,” St. Peter said. “I have great confidence in Derek Flavey to lead that decision making process. … It’s a little early to get into where we stand in that. Obviously our club has been competitive but it’s also obvious we have a lot of work to do.”

Falvey and others involved with the Twins leadership, including general manager Thad Levine, are taking a long-term view in rebuilding the franchise. While it’s a positive to be playing above .500 with a 38-34 record, the goal is to become a consistent winner that can deliver championships. The Twins have holes on their roster, including at times an alarming lack of quality pitching. The farm system only has a couple of prospects who will make top 100 lists of baseball’s most promising players.

“There are a lot of positives with this (current roster) group of players,” St. Peter commented. “That said, we’ve also seen challenges and we need to find ways to get better. I am optimistic that Derek is going to explore every avenue going forward, and not just in the short-term but probably more importantly over the long-term.”

On July 22 the Twins celebrate the 30th anniversary of their 1987 World Series championship team during a pregame ceremony at Target Field before Minnesota plays the Tigers. That Twins won the first world title by a Minnesota pro sports team since the 1954 Minneapolis Lakers were NBA champs.

The 1965 Twins were in the World Series, the 1981 North Stars reached the Stanley Cup Finals, and the Vikings lost four times in Super Bowls in the 1970s, but St. Peter said Upper Midwest sports fans are “eternally grateful to that group (the ’87 Twins) for actually bringing home a world championship.”

The ’87 team wasn’t a preseason favorite to reach the World Series. Part of the love affair for fans with that team was how they surprised most everyone with their success. “It’s by far, in my opinion, the most popular group-team in Minnesota sports history,” said St. Peter who expects many members of the team to be in Minneapolis for the reunion.

Earlier this year the Twins’ Eduardo Escobar represented the club in a cow milking contest against the Angels’ Blake Parker in Anaheim. St. Peter said a milking contest could be part of his franchise’s plans for next season and help celebrate agriculture.

Asked about potential Twins to participate, St. Peter identified Escobar and Chris Gimenez who he said was known as a “decent milker” while participating in cow milking with other clubs. Years ago the promotion was popular at Met Stadium.

It’s not believed (just kidding) cow milking skills or experience will be factors in determining the Twins’ roster coming out of spring training in 2018.

Longtime Wolves followers might wonder about the reported relationship between Jimmy Butler and coach Fred Hoiberg during the last two seasons in Chicago. Butler, the All-Star small forward traded to the Wolves last week, was apparently critical and challenging of Hoiberg’s coaching. Hoiberg, who played for the Wolves and worked for the organization years ago, is a terrific person and classy guy.

Westgate sports book moved the Wolves from 100-1 to 60-1 to win next year’s NBA title after the Minnesota-Chicago trade, according to a Friday online story by Todd Dewey for the Las Vegas Review–Journal. The Bulls’ odds went from 100-1 to 200-1.

Athlon Sports is celebrating 50 years since its inception and its Big Ten football magazine now on newsstands includes a feature ranking the 50 top college players dating back to 1967. Minneapolis’ Larry Fitzgerald Jr., the wide receiver who played at Pittsburgh, is No. 23. Former Vikings wide receiver Randy Moss, who scored at least one touchdown in each of his college games at Marshall, is No. 22. Running back Herschel Walker, who also played for the Vikings and won the Heisman Trophy while leading Georgia to the national championship, is No. 1 on the list.

Teddy Bridgewater’s rehabilitation of his knee is ongoing but optimism about his chances of playing quarterback again for the Vikings is more certain than several months ago.

Jennifer Hines, tournament director for the 3M Championship, is one of three women in the country directing PGA tournaments. Another director is Hines’ sister, Tracy West, with the Valspar Championship in Palm Harbor, Florida.

This year’s 3M Championship is July 31-August 6 at TPC Twin Cities in Blaine. Jack Nicklaus will be among the golf legends expected to play in a special event. Joe Durant won the tournament last year. Admission is free all week.

Creative Charters, the Stillwater-based fan tour company, is offering a package with more than football for the Gophers game on September 9 in Corvallis against Oregon State. The trip includes activities on the Oregon coast with fishing, whale watching, wine tasting and more. Details at Creativecharter.com.

The 29th annual Bruce Smith Golf Classic last Monday at Faribault Golf Club included former Gophers Seth Helgeson, Darrell Thompson and Ben Utecht. The fundraising event benefits Faribault schools and has generated about $225,000 over the years. It honors Bruce Smith, the Faribault native who won the 1941 Heisman Trophy playing for the Gophers.

Kaitlin Langer, who finished her senior season at St. Thomas as the D3Hoops.com Player of the Year, majored in real estate studies and is “affiliated with a RE/MAX office in Rosemount,” according to the latest issue of the University of St. Thomas magazine.

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Early Critics Don’t Bother P.J. Fleck

Posted on June 16, 2017June 16, 2017 by David Shama

P.J. Fleck knows there are a lot of supportive Gophers football fans. Some talk to the new Gophers coach about getting Minnesota to the Rose Bowl before they die. Other fans buy “Row the Boat” t-shirts, or give him paddles to show they’re behind a program that has little to brag about since Minnesota’s last Big Ten championship in 1967.

And then there are the cynics—fans and media who say already they don’t like him. It’s a group who took a couple of looks at the 36-year-old coach after his arrival in Dinkytown last January and decided he’s a phony. Nope, they’re not buying into the energetic coach who talks frequently about changing the culture of Gophers football and winning championships.

“Elite.” That’s what Fleck says his vision is for Gophers football. The price to achieve that status must be paid every day until the goal is accomplished. Then the culture must be sustained to have ongoing success. Fleck lives and breathes that. He believes Gophers football can’t go to the Rose Bowl, play in the College Football Playoffs and restore greatness to a program that long ago lost its way unless he is true to himself and his beliefs.

The critics think Fleck should go about his business in a quiet, unassuming manner. They put him down for being so outgoing and passionate, and having lofty ambitions for the program, including expansion of TCF Bank Stadium by 30,000 seats within a few years. Instead of a helping hand, the Fleck naysayers would enjoy seeing his “boat” sink early and often.

Fleck sat in his office this week and talked to Sports Headliners about the fan and media environment he inherited when he took over the Gophers job. Fleck said he isn’t surprised by the varied welcome he’s received. He knows the carousel of coaches who have tried to win here and he recognizes that critics and skeptics abound in one of the nation’s largest metro areas. He characterizes himself as a coach who is a builder and welcomes challenges. The landscape of the Gophers program and all it encompasses is something he wanted.

“I came here to bring the positivity,” he said. “I am one of the most optimistic people you’ll ever meet. I don’t care what people say about me negatively, that will never affect me as a person.”

Fleck willingly accepts that he should be judged by how he coaches, how his players perform on the field and in the classroom. Difficult for Fleck to understand, though, is how people judge him already as a human being and who they think he is without knowing him at all. Some of that judgment, he said, is done in the media to stir controversy and fill radio air time.

“The reason I took this job is because I could be the real me,” Fleck said. “…I’ve been this way my entire life. The ‘King of the Too’s.’ Too small, too short, too young, too inexperienced, too energetic, too much personality. That’s my entire life (those labels)—and (yet) everything I’ve said I was going to do, I’ve accomplished.”

Fleck was, in his words, a “minus two stars” recruit coming out of high school in suburban Chicago. At Northern Illinois the 5-10 Fleck became the team’s leading receiver, was Academic All-American, All-Mid-American Conference and team captain. Although he was an undrafted NFL free agent, Fleck was in the pros for two years before embarking on a coaching career that led to an appointment as head coach at Western Michigan at age 31. The Broncos were 1-11 his first season but by year four the team was undefeated going into last January’s Cotton Bowl game against Wisconsin. Last year Western Michigan won its first MAC championship since 1988.

Fleck has been gung-ho about life since he was barely out of diapers. “I’ve been this way since I was three years old, with the amount of energy,” he said. “(When) you are different, people will talk about you, but that’s okay. Don’t be a public figure if you don’t want people to talk about you.”

Fleck has thought a lot about who he is, his values, beliefs and how he relates to people. “We’re here to fuel people with energy,” he said. “There are two types of people in the world. There are people that give energy, and there are people that take energy away.

“I want our players to give energy to our community. Give energy to people that don’t have it. Give energy and spirit and hope and positivity to other people.”

Fleck looks at the culture of the Gophers’ neighborhood rivals, Iowa and Wisconsin, and sees a different history than Minnesota’s. Iowa has had only two head football coaches since 1979. Barry Alvarez, the miracle worker who brought Badgers football back to life in the early 1990s, is still in Madison preserving the winning culture as the Wisconsin athletic director.

The Gophers now have their third head coach in three years, and five different leaders since 2000. Successful programs have sustainability, Fleck preaches. It’s a key part of a culture that includes day-by-day commitment from the players. That’s why, Fleck said, team meetings start by the players giving ovations to the coaches.

“They go nuts,” Fleck said. “I blow a whistle twice, they say, ‘Row.’ They clap, and then they sit down.”

Fleck calls recruiting the “lifeblood” of a football program and the right players will help build the culture he wants at Minnesota. That culture focuses on four areas: academics, athletics, social and spiritual. Those are priorities and players have to show during the recruiting process that Fleck and his staff believe they are the right fit for the Gophers and they can help make the program elite.

During the months since Fleck’s arrival, the Gophers’ recruiting success has drawn local and national attention. The composite rankings by 247Sports of the nation’s football programs have had the Gophers flirting with the top 10, although it’s now at No. 17. Minnesota hasn’t been known for high recruiting rankings in the past, and skeptics might ask if the Gophers are adhering to NCAA rules, but Fleck assures they are.

“Everything we do, we run through our compliance office,” Fleck said. “You don’t have to break any rules to have success, and we refuse to do that.”

Fleck doesn’t judge his recruits by the rankings and offered no predictions where the Gophers might finish in the final composite national rankings for the class of 2018. He is a lot more interested in identifying players he believes have the talent and makeup to fit his culture.

The 2017 recruiting class was put together in a few weeks because of Fleck being hired so late and National Signing Day taking place in early February. Fleck looks forward to seeing what his recruiting classes of 2018 and 2019 look like in a few years. The expectation is those classes and the ones that follow will set the foundation for championships but Fleck won’t predict when. “There is no time frame,” he said.

While Fleck is not committing to a date, he trusts his plan and process in building the culture and results he wants. “It’s my job to be able to teach people to enjoy and love and respect the process of becoming a champion,” Fleck said. “That’s how you understand what it took to get there.”

Fleck was once a grade school teacher and he embraces the role of instructor. “I love what I do. I love the (coaching) profession and I love what it does for people. I love to connect people (in building a culture). I love to serve. I love to give. When those are your passions, you really don’t have time for tired.”

Because of his outspoken optimism, Fleck draws comparisons with former Gophers coach Tim Brewster who talked early on in his tenure about Rose Bowls and championships, and then produced a 15-30 career record. The comparisons are unfair because Brewster had never been a head coach at the pro or college levels. Nor had he been an offensive or defensive coordinator in major college football. He wasn’t as prepared as Fleck to be a Big Ten head coach.

Fleck came to Minnesota as one of the most talked about young names in college coaching. In four years at Western Michigan he completely turned the program around and drew national press including from Sports Illustrated. College football insiders speculated about him landing high profile jobs, perhaps even at Notre Dame within a year or two.

Instead, he’s at work in Minneapolis and is trying to bridge his program with the glory eras of long ago when the Gophers won six national championships and Big Ten titles in every decade except one from 1900-1970. The hardest thing so far, he said, is to change the attitude here about the Gophers.

Fleck said there are “cynical people out there that hate my guts already. There are a lot of them.” Fleck, though, doesn’t attack the critics and skeptics, even the most nasty of them, and acknowledges he hasn’t won any games yet.

“I don’t blame them. My job is to continue to show why I came here,” Fleck said. “But that doesn’t happen four years from now if I don’t win today. Winning doesn’t happen unless we win in recruiting today. We win in developing our players today. We win in the leadership council at 6 a.m. today. If we don’t win in those areas—academically, athletically, socially, spiritually—daily, then how can we win championships?”

It doesn’t seem like too much to ask the naysayers and everyone else to give Fleck a couple of years to show what he, his staff and players can do. “I am not going to give up,” Fleck said. “That’s why I came here.”

Not everyone has to “row the boat.” How about just being open-minded? (At least until after the opening game against Buffalo on August 31?)

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Signability Didn’t Dictate Twins Pick

Posted on June 13, 2017June 13, 2017 by David Shama

The Twins used the No. 1 overall pick in last night’s Major League Draft on a surprise choice, California high school shortstop Royce Lewis. Although management had dropped no hints, a lot of Twins followers probably predicted and hoped that another California prep, pitcher-shortstop Hunter Greene, would be the choice.

But Twins president Dave St. Peter told Sports Headliners today that money and the likelihood of signing the club’s No. 1 pick didn’t dictate choosing Lewis who he said was at the top of Minnesota’s draft board. MLB policy allows a slot value of up to $7.7 million for the draft’s No. 1 selection. “We believe we can get a deal done with Royce for the allotted slot, but also maintain some flexibility deeper in the draft,” St. Peter said.

If Lewis signs for less than $7.7 million it will allow the Twins to potentially spend more on subsequent choices through the draft’s many rounds. But St. Peter said his club’s decision wasn’t based on saving money, and he talked enthusiastically about Lewis’ attributes including speed, potential power, leadership, charisma, and even describing Lewis as someone who “could evolve to be a face of our franchise.”

St. Peter referenced “a lot of different elements that we thought were separators for (drafting) Royce Lewis,” and that the club looked at many potential number one selections before deciding in the last 48 hours prior to Monday night’s draft to take Lewis, despite an acknowledged need for pitching in the organization. “We considered him the best player for the Minnesota Twins,” St. Peter said. “Time will tell. We are really comfortable that we have a great fit for the Twins in Royce Lewis.”

Greene was the glamour guy of the draft, playing two positions, throwing 100 miles per hour fast balls and landing this spring on the cover of Sports Illustrated. The Reds took him in the draft right after the Twins chose Lewis.

Greene was the top ranked player by Baseballamerica.com. Lewis, was ranked No. 5. It’s interesting that the Twins used their first choice on a prospect who plays the same position as 21-year- old Nick Gordon. Gordon was the team’s No. 1 pick in the 2014 draft. Some authorities consider the young shortstop the No. 1 prospect in the Twins farm system. He is hitting .340 with the Double A Chattanooga Outlooks.

St. Peter said the Twins project Lewis as a player who can reach the majors as a shortstop. What about a potential competition some day between Gordon and Lewis to be Minnesota’s starting shortstop? “I put that in the category of a really good problem to have,” St. Peter said.

Lewis was a player Twins evaluators have been watching for a long while and St. Peter said it was an “incredibly collaborative” decision by the club’s talent evaluators to choose Lewis. He also said that even “more voices’ than in the past were involved in the decision of what to do in the first round. That leadership is led by new baseball executives Derek Falvey and Thad Levine who St. Peter hired last fall.

Worth Noting

Twins’ 23-year-old pitcher Jose Berrios is 5-1 with a 2.84 ERA since being recalled from Triple A Rochester. He won his first Twins game May 13 and he has five of the club’s 13 wins since that date.

Lou Nanne’s left hip replacement went well last Friday and he arrived home from the hospital on Saturday, a day early. The Minnesota hockey legend has had two knee replacements, plus rotator cuff and prostate surgeries over the years following a career of playing in the NHL with the North Stars, the organization he also coached for and served as president.

Now a senior managing director for RBC, Nanne, 76, passionately follows the NHL. After watching the Stanley Cup Finals, he thinks the Wild could be close to making a deep playoff run next year.

Frank Ragnow, the Arkansas senior from Chanhassen High School, is the first team preseason All-American center choice by college football magazines Athlon and Lindy’s. Ragnow is a second team offensive line All-American by Street & Smith’s college football publication.

Athlon ranks the 21 major college coaching hires during the offseason and lists the Gophers’ P.J. Fleck as No. 2 in the country. Tom Herman, the new coach at Texas, is ranked No. 1.

Nothing has been announced but there is speculation the Gophers have extended the contract of men’s hockey coach Don Lucia beyond the 2018-2019 season. A year ago Lucia’s contract only went through the 2016-2017 season but was extended two years.

It likely won’t be long before an announcement regarding the Gophers’ opponent for a December 2018 basketball game in U.S. Bank Stadium, but one factor complicating a deal could be a return game. Minnesota may have to assure another school the Gophers will play a game on that foe’s home court at a later date.

Race Thompson, the highly recruited Armstrong basketball player, leaves today for the prestigious NBPA Top 100 Camp in Charlottesville, Virginia. Thompson, who will be a senior at Armstrong next season, reportedly isn’t close to selecting a college from a list that includes the Gophers.

Minnesota war hero and motivational speaker John Kriesel shares his story on June 28 at the Capital Club breakfast gathering at Town and Country Club in St. Paul. Years ago a roadside bomb in Iraq blew away his legs and he lost two buddies in the explosion. Kriesel is a former member of the Minnesota House of Representatives. In recent months Alan Page, Lou Nanne, P.J. Fleck and Patty Wetterling have spoken to club members. More information is available about the club by contacting Patrick Klinger, Patrick@thebrandenhancementgroup.com.

Dave and Linda Mona’s annual fundraiser assisting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is July 11 at the Hopkins Center for the Arts. The Wright Brothers, a favorite of Minnesota music fans, will perform in concert, and a silent auction includes items targeting sports fans. Learn more about the Camden’s Concert evening by calling 952-979-1111.

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