Gophers Football – Page 97 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

U Not Alone in Big Ten Rosters Shuffle

Posted on April 14, 2021 by David Shama

University of Minnesota basketball fans are alarmed to see eight players with remaining eligibility announce this winter and spring they won’t return for next season. While Minnesota’s total is worthy of headlines, other Big Ten schools have rosters in limbo, too.

Watching underclassmen opt for the NBA has for a long time changed the status of offseason rosters. More recently the NCAA has made it easier to transfer from one school to another, with this year even college seniors granted another season of eligibility. The transfer portal for men’s basketball has over 1,200 players interested in leaving their programs.

Alex Bozich, from Insidethehall.com, summarized the status of Big Ten rosters in a story Monday. He presented a long list of players who either could be or are in transition at the 14 Big Ten programs, including defending champion Michigan where stars Isaiah Livers and Franz Wagner are undecided about the NBA. At Wisconsin Nate Reuvers, from Lakeville North, is in the transfer portal, while Brad Davison, from Maple Grove, is undecided about a return to Madison.

Bozich reports the Gophers, along with Penn State having seven players leaving that program, lead the conference in roster departures. Both Minnesota and Penn State have new coaches in Ben Johnson and Micah Shrewsberry. And that offers insight about the upheaval at their schools.

At Minnesota Johnson isn’t retaining the assistant coaches of his predecessor, Richard Pitino. Assistant coaches are counselors and mentors to players, establishing strong bonds with them. Gophers from last season’s roster are moving on for various reasons including the likelihood of more playing time elsewhere, but not knowing the new coaches has to factor in, too.

Johnson should hire the assistants he wants just weeks into his first experience as a head coach. However, his roster development is being scrutinized as it should, and he only has two noteworthy players apparently returning from last season’s roster, guard Both Gach and forward Brandon Johnson. At Monday’s news conference he said the two have been “awesome from day one,” but he didn’t say with certainty they will be on the team in the fall.

Pitino’s recruiting for the freshman class of 2021 was set earlier this year with signings by centers Treyton Thompson (Alexandria, Minnesota) and Kenny Pohto (Sweden), but Johnson said Pohto’s status is now uncertain. Thompson is part of a developing roster that includes four transfers Johnson reportedly has commitments from.

Those four are Jamison Battle (George Washington); Luke Loewe (William & Mary); E.J. Stephens (Lafayette); and Sean Sutherlin (New Hampshire). Neither the players nor their former schools rouses the Gopher fan base, but their arrival may well indicate the program’s future.

Johnson’s vision for his program is to emphasize player development. His hiring of assistant coaches Jason Kemp and Dave Thorson is consistent with that goal. Both earned reputations at other schools as talented basketball instructors and mentors.

Kemp, most recently at William & Mary, has almost 15 years of assistant coaching experience. He is a native of Madison, Wisconsin and his coaching stops include Midwest assignments at North Dakota State and Minnesota State. He coached Wisconsin native and Gopher transfer Loewe at William & Mary. “There will be a lot of other new faces (coming to the roster),” Kemp said.

Thorson could have the most coaching influence on how the Gophers play defense. That’s been a Thorson specialty at his college assistant coaching assignments and before then as head coach at DeLaSalle where his teams won a record nine state titles. He left Colorado State to rejoin Johnson who played for him at DeLaSalle. Thorson has been following Johnson since he was a seventh grader and praises his former player’s character. “I have so much respect for him as a human being,” Thorson said.

While these are unsettling times for Gophers basketball and even the community, Thorson said Johnson’s “greatest strength” is his ability to address adversity. “He’s the right leader for Minnesota at this time,” Thorson said.

Worth Noting

Timberwolves and Lynx owner Glen Taylor is in a 30-day window to finish up negotiations with Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez to sell his franchises. Taylor told Sports Headliners things look pretty much settled. “We haven’t really left very much to do that we would argue about,” he said.

With the deal expected to go through, Lore and Rodriguez will come in as limited partners for two years before having complete control. During the two years Lore and Rodriguez will have the same access to information as Taylor, and input on decisions. As a member of the NBA Board of Governors, Taylor will continue to make decisions on behalf of the Timberwolves.

Taylor has already vetted ecommerce mogul Lore and baseball great turned businessman Rodriguez. Before any ownership agreement is finalized the NBA will also provide a thorough vetting.

Taylor talking about fired coach Ryan Saunders and possibly a future role with the Timberwolves organization: “I think it’s a lot more likely that we will help him get a job with another team.”

On Monday the Minnesota Twins were No. 4 in MLB.com’s first power rankings of the regular season, behind the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres and New York Yankees.

Winning both games of a double header is chancy, but it will be interesting to see how the Twins do today and tonight with their two best starters facing the Boston Red Sox. Kenta Maeda, 1-0 with a 2.61 ERA, starts the first game, with Jose Berrios, 2-0 and 1.54, pitching the second.

Vikings coach Mike Zimmer talking about Xavier Woods, a newly acquired free agent safety and former Dallas Cowboy: “I like bringing guys when other people say they’re probably not good enough somewhere else.”

The Minnesota Football Showcase (the state’s annual prep all-star game) will be played Saturday, June 26 at US Bank Stadium. North and South rosters include 16 all-state players. Ten players are headed for Division I-AA (FCS) programs but none to Division I (FBS). The last 10 years (including 2021) the schools with the most player participation are Totino-Grace with 20, Lakeville North and Mankato West at 16 each, and Eden Prairie, 13.

No word from the football Gophers on open practices for the public, or the annual spring game.

ESPN’s college football power index out this week has Alabama No. 1 in the country, with Minnesota Big Ten West rivals Wisconsin, Iowa, Northwestern and Nebraska all higher ranked than the Gophers at No. 49. ESPN gives Minnesota a 3.1 percent chance to win the Big Ten West.

New University of St. Thomas hockey coach Rico Blasi comes from Miami (Ohio) where he was hired by Joel Maturi, the athletic director at Miami before he took over as AD at Minnesota. Tommies AD Phil Esten worked for Maturi at Minnesota and they are long time friends.

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U on Spot with 2 basketball Hires

Posted on March 29, 2021March 29, 2021 by David Shama

When Lindsay Whalen was hired as the University of Minnesota women’s basketball coach three years ago the cheers were heard from Cannon Falls to Thief River Falls. The home state hero had a halo above her head after a storied playing career with the Golden Gophers, WNBA Minnesota Lynx and US Olympic team.

Whalen, always the coach on the floor from her point guard position, led the Gophers to their only NCAA Final Four appearance early this century. Then she became one of the WNBA’s best playmakers while helping the Lynx to four league titles. Throw in two Olympic gold medals and you have a dream playing career.

Gopher fans figured Whalen would dazzle as the U coach after being hired by athletic director Mark Coyle.

Time out.

Being a head coach requires a much different skill-set than playing. Whalen and the public have seen evidence of that in her three seasons leading the Gophers.

Whalen’s Big Ten record is 21-33, with 9-9 (her first season) the best she has done. Marlene Stollings, Whalen’s predecessor, went 27-25 in her first three Big Ten seasons. Pam Borton, Whalen’s coach at the U, started out 33-15 the first three years.

Prior to Borton, Brenda Oldfield (now Frese) coached Minnesota for one season, going 11-5 and tying for second place in the conference standings. That was one year after Cheryl Littlejohn ended her four-year train-wreck with a 1-15 season. Frese, who left the Gophers for Maryland, remains the gold standard for women’s basketball coaches at Minnesota.

Gifted coaches do things early on that are observable and command attention. It might be an extraordinary influx of talent within a year or two. Head coaches need to know what type of talent they need, where they can get it and possess the salesmanship to close the deal. They also must hire a staff that recruits at a high level.

Even without over the top talent, a skilled coach/teacher can immediately impact his or her team and the results with the schemes and plays they use, adjustments made during games, the development of players and effort put forth. As an example, look at video from the Loyola of Chicago-Illinois men’s tourney game played earlier this month. Coach Porter Moser’s team destroyed Illinois’ offense with defensive schemes and “hair on fire” effort to knock the No. 1 seed Illini out of the tournament. The Ramblers put on a clinic offensively, too, with an unselfish style featuring ball movement, precision screens and cuts, and high percentage shots. Twice in the last four years the low profile Ramblers have earned their way into the Sweet 16 of the “Big Dance.”

By hiring Whalen, Coyle took a chance on a first-time coach who will need to achieve much better results in the next three years. Her contract, extended by a year in February of 2020, ends in 2024. Whether it’s the 38-year-old Whalen or someone else, the program has the potential to not only be a Big Ten winner but to become the first money making women’s sport at Minnesota.

Coyle has gone risky again, hiring Ben Johnson as the new men’s coach to replace the failed Richard Pitino who in eight seasons had one Big Ten winning record. Johnson, 40, has many years of assistant coaching experience including five spent under Pitino. Now he finds out how different the role of a head coach is and all the components that go with it.

Having that assignment in the Big Ten, one of America’s premier basketball leagues, is no Sunday stroll in Dinkytown. Pitino, hired at age 30, had one season of head coaching experience before controversial U AD Norwood Teague brought him to Minneapolis. The Gophers paid Pitino about $15 million over eight seasons for what one critic described as “on- the-job training.”

Gophers football fans remember the rocky path of Tim Brewster. Although he was known as one of college football’s top recruiters as an assistant, he had no head coaching experience. Brew won six Big Ten games before being fired about halfway through his fourth season at Minnesota.

Juwan Howard at Michigan has made a terrific entry into college basketball head coaching, despite no previous experience. He came from the NBA Miami Heat where both as a player and assistant coach he had superb mentors in front office boss Pat Riley and head coach Erik Spoelstra. Just as important, Howard put together a gifted staff of assistants that excels in both recruiting and X’s and O’s.

Johnson has made two coaching stops as an assistant in the Big Ten and one in the Big East. He worked for Pitino and also Tim Miles at Nebraska who tried for seven seasons to make the Cornhuskers an NCAA Tournament fixture (“danced” one time). Johnson’s most recent stop was Xavier where during three seasons at the Big East school the team record was 51-37, with no championships or NCAA Tournament appearances. He has been credited with both coaching and recruiting contributions there.

Johnson is known for his character and likeability. He has many friends and relationships in his hometown of Minneapolis where he played two seasons as a Gopher guard for head coach Dan Monson. He will “swim or sink” on the results of in-state recruiting where there is annually an abundance of Division I talent. Look for him to bring back home one or two assistant coaches who are state natives to help form the Minnesota connection with prep coaches and players.

Two weeks ago I wrote the following about the Gopher head coaching job:

“After the failed performance of Pitino and two predecessors, it is vital that the Gophers get the best hire for the first time this century. The program has the potential to annually produce teams landing in the top half of the Big Ten. Not to just have an occasional winning season here and there, but sustained success like the neighboring Wisconsin Badgers.

“There are never guarantees of future successes with a coach. That’s why Coyle should not pursue a person with limited, or no head coaching experience. The more successful a coach’s background at his previous stop, the more likely success can be expected at a place like Minnesota. No guarantees, but at least the margin for error has been reduced.”

A day after I wrote the above two paragraphs, Coyle announced he would cast a “wide net” in his national search. He also said expectations are for the Gophers to win championships. A week later he announced Johnson as his new head coach.

Whew! That’s moving fast. What about experienced coaches like San Diego State’s Brian Dutcher? A U alum and native of the state, Dutcher served up more than a nod of interest in the Gopher job last year when his new contract with the Aztecs included a minimal buyout if he were to leave for Minnesota.

A basketball lifer, Dutcher has more than 30 years of top experience as an assistant and head coach. He helped Michigan assemble the legendary Fab Five group in the 1990s, and at San Diego State convinced Kawhi Leonard to play for the Aztecs.

In four seasons as head coach at San Diego State, the Aztecs have won two Mountain West Conference regular season titles and two tournament championships. The last two seasons his record is 53 wins, 7 losses.

There was no buyout on Johnson’s contract and he reportedly will be the lowest paid head coach in the Big Ten. If money drove Coyle’s decision, why did it? Yes, the athletic department is tens of millions in debt because of the pandemic’s impact on finances. However, the total loss for this fiscal year doesn’t look as intimidating as once forecast. The U will be borrowing money to cover debts throughout its state system including the Twin Cities campus. A part of that borrowed money will go to the Gopher athletic department to pays its bills and meet future obligations including coaching hires.

If Coyle had pursued a more expensive coach, he could have said he was making a generational hire that was going to fix Gophers basketball long term. Someone who because of their accomplishments was likely to build not just a winning team or two, but set the course for sustained success. Part of Coyle’s position for spending more money on a coach could reference the TV revenues from Big Ten football and basketball that came through despite the pandemic. That wasn’t a given last summer when athletic department debt at $70 million seemed possible (perhaps $40 to $50 million now). Adding to a brighter picture is that the University system, like other major colleges throughout the country, is receiving millions from the federal government for pandemic budget relief.

In a reaction to debt last fall, Coyle convinced the Board of Regents (by a 7-5 vote) to eliminate three men’s sports. Did he move too quickly? The annual savings will be less than $2 million per year. If fan apathy at Williams Arena hadn’t been so prevalent for many seasons, the athletic department would have been generating that sum or more annually.

And that leads back to Whalen and Johnson, and whether they can produce a lot more wins and dollars at the box office than we’ve grown accustomed to for many years. No guarantees, not even close.

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U Hoops Job? Set the Hiring Bar High

Posted on March 15, 2021March 15, 2021 by David Shama

I don’t have confirmation on speculation Richard Pitino will be terminated as the men’s basketball coach at the University of Minnesota. I know this: if athletic director Mark Coyle seeks a replacement, he should be determined to hire the best coach possible.

That means making inquiries about the nation’s premier coaches. While it might appear to be a frivolous exercise to investigate the availability of elite coaches like Tony Bennett from Virginia or Mark Few of Gonzaga, it’s not. There can be factors—unlikely as they may seem—that could spark the interest of a power coach to Minnesota.

Neither the public nor the media may know what these background factors are. A top coach might want to move on to another program because of a personal or professional conflict such as a marital divorce, or rift with the school athletic director and president. Maybe the coach is convinced the ceiling has been reached with his program’s resources and potential. He wants one more challenge to build on his legacy.

If naysayers had their way years ago, Lou Holtz never would have landed at Minnesota. The Gophers football program was the pits in 1983 after a 1-10 season that included the 84-13 debacle against Nebraska in Minneapolis. Holtz, a turnaround master, wasn’t getting along with his athletic director at Arkansas. Gophers AD Paul Giel and booster Harvey Mackay had the vision and will to convince Holtz to accept the Minnesota job.

In two seasons Holtz transformed Minnesota football on the field and at the box office. Big Ten championships and Rose Bowls beckoned, but then Holtz left for his dream position at Notre Dame where he went on to win a national championship. He is the only coach in college football history to take five different programs to bowl games. It would have been six except he was off to Notre Dame only weeks prior to Minnesota playing in the 1985 Independence Bowl.

After the failed performance of Pitino and two predecessors, it’s vital the Gophers secure the best hire for the first time this century. The program has the potential to annually produce teams landing in the top half of the Big Ten. Not to just have an occasional winning season here and there, but sustained success like the neighboring Wisconsin Badgers.

There are never guarantees of future successes with a coach. That’s why Coyle should not pursue a person with limited, or no head coaching experience. The more successful a coach’s background at his previous stop, the more likely success can be expected at a place like Minnesota. No guarantees, but at least the margin for error has been reduced.

There are many coaches whose names are rumored with the Gopher job if it opens up. Among that group, I am endorsing Minnesota native and U alum Brian Dutcher who has his San Diego State Aztecs playing in the NCAA Tournament starting Friday.

Disclosure: I know Brian and I am friendly with his father, Jim Dutcher, the former Minnesota head coach who led the Gophers to the 1982 Big Ten title. During an interview yesterday Jim wanted it understood he wasn’t talking with Sports Headliners to campaign for his son becoming the Minnesota coach.

“I don’t know how interested he is in the Minnesota job,” Jim said. “I don’t know if they have any interest at all in him. To this point there’s been no contact. His whole concentration right now is the NCAA Tournament for the team he is coaching.”

Jim didn’t initiate our phone conversation. He was willing to answer questions specific to Brian’s more than 30 years of experience as a major college assistant coach and head coach.

Brian, a student manager for his father at Minnesota and 1982 U alum, worked as a graduate assistant at Illinois before becoming an assistant at South Dakota State and then an assistant at Michigan starting in 1988. At Michigan he worked for head coaches Bill Frieder and Steve Fisher. When Fisher received the head job at San Diego State in 1999, Brian went West. He became Fisher’s top assistant and head coach in waiting until taking over the program for the 2017-2018 season.

During Brian’s basketball life he has been around Big Ten championship teams at Minnesota, Illinois and Michigan. With the Wolverines, he was part of the staff helping Michigan to the 1989 NCAA title. In four years leading San Diego State he has coached the Aztecs to two Mountain West Conference regular season titles and two tournament championships including last Saturday’s win over Utah State. The last two seasons his record is 53 wins, six losses.

The 2020 USA Today National Coach of the Year, Brian has long been known as an outstanding recruiter. “He’s relentless,” Jim Dutcher said. “When he makes that contact (with a recruit), it’s going to be steady all the time. …He won’t give up on the guy until somebody tells him, ‘No, I am not going to come.’ “

Brian helped Michigan assemble the legendary Fab Five group in the 1990s and to this day remains close to Juwan Howard, now the Wolverines coach. At San Diego State he recruited Kawhi Leonard—an in-the-shadows high school player who Dutcher and Fisher saw potential in. Leonard, among the best players in the NBA, still comes back to campus at San Diego State where Dutcher has given him free access to the gym. “He was a very good recruiter at Michigan and he has done a great job of recruiting at San Diego State,” Jim said.

Brian’s not a flashy recruiter but he achieves results by being prepared and selling himself and San Diego State. His players can join a winning program, with a stable coaching situation. They will be expected to achieve academically, give maximum effort on the court and behave as solid citizens when not playing basketball. They will be held accountable for all of this.

“The kids that go through San Diego State’s program, they’re tied to the school forever,” Jim said. “They come back for games. They stay in touch with the coaches and the school. So they’re kind of the definition not what a team is, but… what a basketball program is. They don’t have those up and down years. You have a good product on the floor every year.”

How would Brian go about recruiting if he were the Gopher coach? “You always start with your home state,” Jim answered. “You’ve gotta get the best players out of your state if you’re gonna have a good program. Then they (the coaches) would supplement it with what their needs were nationally.”

Recruiting Minnesota players requires what Jim describes as building a bond with people in the state including with prep coaches, recruits, and Gopher alumni. When Jim came to Minnesota in the 1970s he reached out to former Gopher coach John Kundla to learn all he could about the program and the state. Understanding a place’s culture and history is key to successful in-state recruiting, he explained.

Recruits are attracted to how Brian builds and sustains relationships. “They really stress a family attitude with their team,” Jim said. “You’re part of the Aztec Nation. You’re part of our family, not for four years but forever. So you just kind of build that bond. He understands (the importance of family).”

Most programs, including Minnesota, can’t expect to have a roster loaded with blue chip players every year. Identifying potential talent is part of Brian’s success story. “They’ve got people that have turned out to be all-conference, or players of the year, that weren’t highly recruited in high school,” Jim said.

Aztec Matt Mitchell, not coveted as a prep, is the 2021 Mountain West Player of the Year. He has helped the Aztecs win 14 consecutive games after stumbling earlier in the winter. “They stress we gotta be better tomorrow than we are today, both individually and as a team,” Jim said. “You see it as the year goes on, the team is playing better and better. You can just see the improvement both individually and teamwise. …”

When Aztec players screw up, they will hear about it from the head coach. “He is not an in your face kind of guy but he does hold players accountable,” Jim said. “They know what’s expected of them and if they’re not doing it (right) then he’ll hold them accountable, either in playing time or whatever it takes.”

In practices the Aztecs are led by a coaching staff that will make decisions on how their team should best prepare for the next opponent. While they will practice with focus and effort, Brian won’t overwork his players. “Brian knows you don’t leave your game on the practice floor,” Jim said. “You gotta be rested. You gotta be mentally and physically ready to play. So they’ll take a day off and rest legs. …”

Nothing completely prepares a top assistant for the head job. He has to be in that role to experience all the responsibilities including managing the actual game. During Brian’s four years leading the Aztecs his dad has seen improvement by his son. “I think he has become a really outstanding bench coach,” Jim said. “That’s why you’re voted coach of the year.”

The Aztecs have made a habit of winning games that aren’t decided until the last five minutes. Part of that success comes from making adjustments during games and at halftime. “San Diego State has got a reputation for closing out games,” Jim said. “I think a lot of that is around their defense, but also a lot of that is about coaching (during games).”

Defensive teams that statistically and in performance rank with the better programs in the country is a vital part of Brian’s approach to coaching. “Brian has been around the game for a long time, and he understands that to be a consistent winner…it starts with good defense because a lot of teams can have good offensive shows but they go on the road and they can’t win on the road,” Jim said. “Good defensive teams are good road teams. So I think he has a really basic understanding of what it takes to be not only a good team—but to be a good program—you kind of have to hang your hat on the defensive end, and they’ve done that.”

At 61 years old, Brian will coach many more years. Maybe that will be in San Diego, or perhaps coming home to Minneapolis. Wherever he is, dad believes Brian will continue to coach with a lot of experience, knowledge, passion and energy. “He is a young 61,” Jim said. “Brian doesn’t seem to be that old.”

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