Gophers Football – Page 215 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Vikings QB Wins Praise for Work Ethic

Posted on November 4, 2015November 4, 2015 by David Shama

Adam Thielen knows about hard work. Major college football programs didn’t want him coming out of Detroit Lakes High School. All 32 NFL teams passed over him in the college draft. But Thielen signed as a free agent with the Vikings in 2013 and worked his way from the practice squad to a place where he’s a valuable sub at wide receiver.

While Thielen earns praise for his determination, he admires Vikings quarterback Teddy Bridgewater. “That’s one thing about Teddy, that he’s not afraid to work,” Thielen told Sports Headliners.

Teddy Bridgewater (Photo courtesy of Minnesota Vikings)

How impressive is Bridgewater’s work ethic? “I’ve never been around anybody else that works harder in the film room and on the field after practice,” Thielen said.

When asked what Bridgewater is like both on and off the field, Thielen said, “He’s the same guy everywhere. He’s pretty quiet, low key. He just gets the job done. He’s gonna outwork everybody he’s around and go about his business.”

Bridgewater did his job last Sunday against the Bears, helping the Vikings rally for 13 points in the fourth quarter. His big plays included a 40-yard touchdown pass to Stefon Diggs and 37-yard pass to Charles Johnson that set up the winning field goal in the 23-20 victory.

“It’s something you want out of your quarterback, somebody that is going to lead you in the fourth quarter,” Thielen said. “That’s the NFL nowadays. You’re going to have to win games in the fourth quarter and it’s good to see a guy like that come in and just be poised and bring us down the field.”

Worth Noting

Vikings coach Mike Zimmer’s first year record was 7-9. So far this season he is 5-2, pushing his career head coaching record to one game over .500 at 12-11, but he’s not paying attention. “I don’t really think about that stuff yet,” he said. “We’ve got a long way to go. I would say we’re moving in the right direction. …”

Former Vikings assistant coach Dean Dalton is helping lead a startup called Major League Football. The new spring football league will target franchises in towns that don’t have NFL teams.

The College Football Playoff (CFP) Group is expected to announce host cities for the 2018, 2019 and 2020 CFP National Championship Games today at a 1 p.m. press conference in Rosemont, Illinois. Minnesota is bidding to host the 2020 game at U.S. Bank Stadium.

It wouldn’t be surprising if the University of Minnesota announces this week that Tracy Claeys will have the interim tag removed from his title as Gophers football coach.

University president Eric Kaler didn’t know about Jerry Kill’s intent to resign and make an announcement until the night before. The Gophers coach announced his resignation at a news conference a week ago today.

Kaler wore maroon and gold striped pants in support of the Gophers at last Saturday night’s home game against Michigan. He was on the field at TCF Bank Stadium prior to game time.

The Gophers are likely to hold most of their verbal commits from high school recruits for awhile, although local defensive tackle JoJo Garcia has decommitted. It’s believed Garcia, a three-star player, regarded Kill as a father figure. Florida four-star wide receiver Dredrick Snelson could be a tenuous hold.

The Gophers missed a sellout for the first time this season with attendance of 50,709 last Saturday. The next home game, November 21 against Illinois, is likely to draw even a smaller crowd at the 52,525 seat capacity TCF Bank Stadium.

It looks like Mike Ellis, the Gophers executive associate athletics director on voluntary leave, won’t return to his position in the athletic department.

Rookie Karl-Anthony Towns, who is off to a fast start in three regular season games averaging a double-double in points and rebounds, is an unusually accurate free throw shooter for a 7-footer. In high school he made 82.2 percent of his free throws and in one season at Kentucky averaged 81.3 percent. Towns, who could be NBA rookie of the month for November, is making 88.0 percent of his free throws with the Wolves.

Tyus Jones, the Wolves rookie point guard from Apple Valley, hasn’t been in uniform for the team’s first three games, and might experience much of his NBA introduction this season in practices only. Jones, like other Wolves players, is living downtown.

Willard Ikola, the legendary former Edina High School hockey coach, will sign copies of his new autobiography on Saturday from 2:30 to 5 p.m. at General Sports in Minneapolis. The book, co-authored with Jim Hoey, is titled Ike: Minnesota Hockey Legend.

Patrick Mader, a Northfield author, has a new book called Minnesota Gold that details the accomplishments of 57 Minnesotans who competed in international sports including the Olympics. More at Patrickmader.com.

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College Title Game Likely Coming Here

Posted on October 30, 2015October 30, 2015 by David Shama

An announcement regarding the site for the College Football Playoff Championship Game in 2020 is expected early next month. My prediction is Minneapolis and U.S. Bank Stadium will be the city and venue announced.

A site committee headed by CFP executive director Bill Hancock visited Minneapolis earlier this fall. The group left town impressed by a presentation similar to what Minnesota leaders used to convince Super Bowl and NCAA Final Four authorities to bring those events to U.S. Bank Stadium in 2018 and 2019.

Last spring governor Mark Dayton announced the formation of the Minnesota CFP Steering Committee comprised of representatives from the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority, Meet Minneapolis/Sports Minneapolis, the Vikings and the University of Minnesota. The CFP organization announced in late May bids had been received from the Bay Area (Santa Clara game site), Charlotte, Houston, Minnesota, New Orleans and San Antonio to host the 2020 game to be played on Monday, January 13.

The selection of a northern city to host the game would add diversity to the site locations. The inaugural game last January was played in Arlington, Texas. Glendale, Arizona will host the game next January and Tampa will be site for 2017. The CFP organization is expected to announce next month its choices of host cities for 2018, 2019 and 2020. Minnesota didn’t submit bids for 2018 or 2019.

The successful winter hosting of the 1992 Super Bowl in Minneapolis and the eagerness of NFL officials to return the game here in 2018 could certainly have played a part in easing any concerns about the weather by CFP authorities. This area offers a state-of-the-art domed venue in U.S. Bank Stadium and also covered practice facilities owned by the Gophers and Vikings. Positives also include Minneapolis’ reputation as an easy to reach travel destination, with varied local transportation including light rail, and a city offering facilities to host ancillary CFP events. The city’s famous skyway system allows visitors to walk around downtown without going outdoors.

Worth Noting

The Vikings and Gophers already have covered practice facilities, and seem targeted to have new ones by 2020 when the CFP Game will likely be played here. The Vikings appear headed toward developing a complex in Eagan that will include offices and practice facilities. The Gophers today will host a ceremonial groundbreaking event on the East Campus for the new Athletes Village that will include a new football practice facility.

During the time Jerry Kill was the Gophers head football coach the state’s high school football coaches have been among his vocal admirers. After Kill’s resignation on Wednesday the Minnesota Football Coaches Association distributed a tribute that said the coach gave “every minute of his time and every ounce of his energy” to not only his players and assistants, but also to the public including causes both large and small. “No request was denied, no cause too minor,” the statement said. “He was and is the ultimate giver. …From the very bottom of our collective hearts, THANK YOU, COACH.”

The are “still a limited number of tickets” available for the Gophers Halloween night game Saturday against Michigan, according to an athletic department spokesman. The game could be Minnesota’s fifth consecutive home sellout this season. The Wolverines, college football’s winningest program, are always a gate attraction but adding to the hype this season is the debut of glamour coach Jim Harbaugh who after a star career as Michigan’s quarterback developed winning teams at Stanford and with the NFL’s 49ers.

The Wolverines, who prior to Harbaugh’s arrival this year were struggling, are among the surprise teams in college football. Michigan, 5-2, has lost only to Pac-12 power Utah in an opening game and to Michigan State on a fluke fumble by the Wolverines punter.

When Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany was in Minneapolis earlier this month he was asked about Harbaugh’s impact on the conference. “He’s got a great track-record as a player and coach,” Delany answered. “Only halfway through the season but they’ve played awful well. The Michigan people are excited. A great conference needs great coaches, and needs great programs. I think that in football and in basketball we’re well positioned with some of the coach-teacher leaders that we have, and obviously Jim is off to a fabulous start.”

Because of the Kill resignation and being major underdogs, the Gophers will be a national story if they can win Saturday’s game. The Wolverines, who have shutout three opponents and lead Big Ten teams in six defensive categories, are likely to go into the game favored by a couple of touchdowns.

College football authority Jerry Palm has the Gophers, 4-3, as one of 10 Big Ten teams who will play in a bowl game. Palm, writing this week for Cbssports.com, predicts Minnesota will play Air Force December 29 in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth.

The Timberwolves opened their season Wednesday night with a comeback one point win in Los Angeles against a Lakers team that was 21-61 last season. “They’re still going to be really, really bad.” That’s a quote about the Lakers from an anonymous scout in the October 26 issue of Sports Illustrated.

In the magazine’s NBA preview issue the Lakers are predicted to finish 14th among 15 Western Conference teams. The Timberwolves, 16-66 last season, are forecast to finish 12th. The Cavs, whose key players include former Wolves star Kevin Love, are the choice to defeat the Thunder for the NBA title.

NBA.com surveyed the league’s general manager with questions about teams and players. The Wolves Andrew Wiggins, who was the Kia NBA Rookie of the Year last season, drew the most support as the player expected to have a breakout year. Among NBA rookies this season, the Wolves Karl-Anthony Towns is a runaway choice to be the best player in five years.

Basketball stat of the day: with a career record of 172-68 (.717 percent) Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan has the highest Big Ten winning percentage in conference history.

Among the newcomers to watch on the Gophers basketball team is 6-6 freshman forward Jordan Murphy from San Antonio. “He can jump with anybody (on the team),” teammate Charles Buggs told Sports Headliners. Murphy averaged 23.6 points and 10.5 rebounds as a high school senior.

Buggs, a 6-9 junior forward, wears size 17 shoes. Reggie Lynch, the 6-10 junior center who isn’t eligible this season after transferring from Illinois State, wears size 18 shoes, the biggest on the team, according to Buggs.

Buggs, who has increased his weight from 210 to 230 through training and by eating four to five meals per day, has a 3.0 GPA and is a sports management major. He spent part of the offseason working events at TCF Bank Stadium.

The Gophers play Minnesota Crookston in an exhibition game Sunday starting at 4 p.m. in Williams Arena. BTN Plus will televise the game.

After winning Tuesday night, the Wild is now 21-3-1 in its last 25 games against the Oilers. Tonight the Wild plays the Blackhawks at Xcel Energy Center. In the last 15 games between the two clubs eight have been decided by one goal and four were shootouts.

Two former Gophers hockey players, now coaches at Hamline, are about to start their seasons. Hamline men’s coach Cory Laylin, whose team last winter won the MIAC playoffs after a fifth place regular season, will send his Pipers into games tomorrow night and Sunday afternoon against Gustavus Adolphus and Saint Mary’s as part of the MIAC Men’s Hockey Showcase in Blaine. Natalie Darwitz starts her first season coaching the women’s team with games at Concordia (WI) tonight and tomorrow afternoon.

Comments Welcome

U Needs to Find a Role for Jerry Kill

Posted on October 28, 2015October 28, 2015 by David Shama

I have sat in Jerry Kill’s office when he talked about “not stealing” from the University of Minnesota. What he meant was that if he ever thought he wasn’t up to the job as head football coach he would walk away.

In this morning’s unexpected and emotion-drenched news conference Kill announced that time has come. Those who care deeply about the University and Gophers football are saddened to lose one of the finest individuals who ever worked in the athletic department.

Kill’s fabric is built on character including the virtues of nurturing, integrity and hard work. After suffering recent seizures and only having a few hours sleep at night, he decided to step down as Gophers coach. As he cried at today’s news conference he poured out his emotions and thoughts including his concern about what he will do with the rest of his life.

Kill is 54 years old and while he has a history of seizures and cancer he still has much to contribute to this world. He wants to do something meaningful. The pressure cooker of being a big time college football coach isn’t in his future but he won’t want to sit in a rocking chair day after day.

Doctors and family will help Kill make a decision going forward as to what he can do with his life. Maybe his path will be focusing on his Chasing the Dreams fund to benefit people with epilepsy and seizures.

But what University president Eric Kaler must do is dialogue with Kill over the coming weeks and months about whether there is the right fit for a position at Minnesota. Knowing Kill as I do, it’s almost impossible to imagine that there couldn’t be an appropriate assignment—even if it was part time.

Kill is so respected and loved by so many supporters of the University there is no question they would want him to continue officing in Dinkytown. He played a major role in the fundraising that has resulted in the Athletes Village project for which ground will be broken on Friday. His reputation, people skills and relationships would allow him to be an extraordinary fundraiser for the athletic department which still is only about halfway home in raising funds for new and renovated facilities. Whether Kill’s interest and health would allow him to do more than wear the hat of a full or part-time fundraiser remains to be seen.

Also, it’s no secret the Gophers need a permanent athletic director. If Kill thought he was healthy enough and had the energy he would be fabulous at the job. Over 30 years in coaching has given him great experience in athletics. Kill would bring so many of the attributes to an administrative role that he showcased as the Gophers football coach. The quality of the assistant coaches he has hired and the loyalty they have shown to him demonstrates his skill in assembling and keeping a staff in place. He set high standards for excellence including wins on the field. He was committed to the welfare of those around him including his assistant coaches and players. He was honest and direct with people, sometimes telling them what they needed to know even if they didn’t want to hear it.

Kill took over a terrible football program in December of 2010 and made it into something the state of Minnesota is proud of. The Gophers, once a laughing stock of the Big Ten, are now a competitive team, and within a season or two Minnesota could exceed the eight win years of 2013 and 2014.

Kill has turned around the football program beyond the playing field. His team collectively had a 3.04 GPA last spring semester and his players are earning their degrees after he inherited a program where players were on academic probation and not attending classes. Also, ask the University police and Minneapolis police if there hasn’t been a dramatic change in off-field behavior.

The Gophers lost the face of their athletic department today. The University lost the most beloved leader at the school. It’s up to Kaler now to dialogue with Kill and determine whether this extraordinary leader wants to continue on at the University.

Kill was a damn fine coach. He is an even better educator and human being.

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