Golden Gophers – Page 279 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

U Basketball Recruit Coffey, Mr. Versatile

Posted on October 14, 2015October 14, 2015 by David Shama

Amir Coffey is so versatile his coach may ask him to guard other players this coming season—regardless of their height, weight and playing positions. Hopkins High School coach Ken Novak Jr. is also hopeful the 6-6, 170-pound guard will average a triple-double in points, rebounds and assists.

Coffey was a big get for Gophers coach Richard Pitino last month when the Rivals.com four-star high school senior verbally committed to his home-state school. Coffey is the elite senior prospect in Minnesota, and giving his word to play for the Gophers is a step in the right direction for Pitino’s struggling program—6-12 in the Big Ten last season and in rebuilding mode.

Novak has coached high school basketball for more than 30 years. At Hopkins he has coached championship teams and great players including Siyani Chambers, Joe Coleman, Kris Humphries and Royce White. Novak considers Humphries, who was a rebounding whiz along with other skills, to be his best player ever, but said Coffey is unique. “I am not saying he’s (Coffey) the best player. He’s definitely the most versatile player,” Novak told Sports Headliners recently.

Novak wants defensive improvement out of Coffey this season. His ability to defend at a high level will go a long way toward determining the Royals’ success. “For us, Amir is going to have to be guarding the best player most of the time, and he has the smarts to be able to do that,” Novak said.

Coffey tore his left ACL last season and missed most of the Hopkins schedule. Novak said the injury and resulting surgery lessened his player’s explosiveness. “His strength in his legs aren’t quite what they were but…he will get that back,” Novak said.

The Royals begin practice for next season on November 9 and Novak has high expectations for Coffey. “He’s one of those guys that could average a triple-double,” said Novak who will be starting his 26th season at Hopkins.

Novak admits not being sure if he ever heard of a high school player averaging a triple-double but that’s his objective for Coffey. “I think scoring won’t be a problem,” the coach said. “I think assists and rebounding will be tough to average. …That would be a goal (triple-double).”

Although Coffey is tall, he is a good ball handler and his passing prompts raves from the coach. “He’s a phenomenal passer,” Novak said. “Passing ability is what he does best. Vision wise, as good a point guard as you will find.”

Coffey’s dad, Richard Coffey, was a 6-4 undersized, overachieving forward and center for the Gophers from 1986-1990. Richard was all about the team and probably nobody ever graded him less than A+ for attitude.

Novak said Amir is also about teammates first. “He’s a really unselfish kid,” Novak said. “He’s not a kid that’s looking to try and go out and get 30 points. He likes to set people up and he does it all the time.”

Novak believes Coffey could become a superb shooter and scorer because he has “great hands.” In college he likely will need to shoot long range in Pitino’s offense emphasizing three-pointers. With his scoring, passing, rebounding and defending potential, Coffey could eventually be a special college player but he will have to polish his total game and become physically stronger.

“He’s not coming in and dominating Big Ten basketball with his size,” Novak said. “Can he in a few years? Yeah, I think he can in a few years. …”

For the more immediate future, Novak, Coffey and the rest of the Royals can focus on the season ahead and trying to win a 4A state championship. Hopkins has three starters back including Mr. Versatile. That’s a good start but Novak knows there are challenges ahead including defending 4A state champion Apple Valley led by junior wing Gary Trent Jr. and sophomore point guard Tre Jones.

“Apple Valley, I think, is by far the best team,” Novak said. “They’ve got two guys offered to Duke. I don’t know if this state has seen a team that probably is as talented as they are, and they’re young too. And for anybody to beat them, they’re going to have to play well. You’re going to have to be an awfully, awfully good team.”

Worth Noting

Shannon Brooks, the freshman Gophers running back who rushed for 176 yards last week against Purdue, didn’t command a lot of interest from big time college programs coming out of Pickens High School in Jasper, Georgia. Georgia Tech was interested but he didn’t like the Yellow Jackets’ triple option offense, preferring Minnesota’s multiple set scheme. He said the University of North Carolina at Charlotte would have been his choice if it wasn’t for the Gophers scholarship.

Obviously a lot of recruiters missed on Brooks. Gophers offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover recalled one of his best friends is a high school coach in Atlanta (about a one hour drive from Jasper) and he knew Brooks was a special running back. Limegrover said the coach told him, “I thought that was the best kid I had seen in the state the past two years.”

Senior Jon Christenson, one of the Gophers best offensive linemen, returned from injury for part-time duty against Purdue. Minnesota coach Jerry Kill said Christenson will continue to split time with senior Joe Bjorklund at left guard.

“We have two kids that have knee injuries…Joe Bjorklund and Jon, and there’s no way they can play 50, 60 plays a game,” Kill said. “So we played them pretty much evenly in the (Purdue) game, which helps both of them. We substitute them more than we ever have.”

A Gophers spokesman said Saturday’s Minnesota-Nebraska game is “close” to a sellout at TCF Bank Stadium. If there is a capacity crowd, it will mean the Gophers have sold out all four home games so far—the first time a sellout streak has reached that total since 2009.

Twins telecasts on Fox Sports North in 2015 increased 24 percent from last year and had the 10th highest viewership among MLB teams on regional sports networks with a 4.12 average household rating. Twins telecasts were No. 1 on cable and No. 3 in primetime for all Minneapolis-St. Paul TV programming during the past season.

“Twins Season Review 2015,” a 30-minute program, debuts Thursday night on Fox Sports North starting at 8 p.m.

Jim Bruton, the former Gophers football player who has written books with Minnesota sports legends, has a new book called I’m Alive, an inspiring story about Duke Pieper. Almost six years ago Pieper, then a freshman hockey player on the Hill-Murray varsity, “suffered a brain bleed before his first game,” according to an e-mail from Bruton. “On two occasions, the family asked Bill Lechner, HM coach, to be a pallbearer for Duke’s funeral. His doctor told the family ‘it was time to let him go.’ Duke lived after having only a five percent chance to survive surgery.”

The Wild has interesting road games coming up including Sunday evening in Anaheim against a Ducks team that is a popular choice to win the Stanley Cup. The Wild lost all three regular season games to the Ducks in 2014-2015. All three losses were by one goal.

The Wild will see Marian Gaborik playing for the Kings on Friday night in Los Angeles. Gaborik, the former Wild star, is the franchise’s all-time leader in goals with 219. Tomorrow evening the Wild play the Coyotes in Arizona where Minnesota goalie Devan Dubnyk faces the team he played for part of last season (9-5-2 record, 2.72 GAA).

Skilled marketer and WCHA men’s commissioner Bill Robertson is promoting all-tournament ticket packages for the 2016 Final Five in Grand Rapids, Michigan on March 18 and 19. Priced at $69 each, a ticket package provides admission to the two semi-final games on March 18 and the Broadmoor Trophy championship matchup the next day. Tickets are available via multiple sources including Ticketmaster. “As we saw last season with three nationally-ranked teams competing, the Final Five remains the sport’s finest conference tournament,” Robertson said in a news release on Monday.

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U Looks for 3rd Straight Over Nebraska

Posted on October 12, 2015October 12, 2015 by David Shama

Things I think I am clear about after getting out of bed at 3 a.m. Saturday morning for travel to West Lafayette for the Gophers-Purdue football game:

Be skeptical of anyone telling you he is mostly correct about which teams will win college football games each week and how they’re going to do it. Second-year Texas coach Charlie Strong was all but fired before his 1-4 Longhorns went to Dallas last Saturday to play No. 10 ranked Oklahoma. Washington State was more than a two touchdowns underdog at once mighty Oregon. The Gophers managed only 10 first half points against Purdue’s lowly defense and the Minnesota offense, entering the game last in points per game among Big Ten teams, looked stalled out again.

Well, Texas and Washington State pulled off upsets, and the Gophers produced 31 second half points to pull away from the Boilermakers with a 41-13 win. The offensive line lifted the spirits of worried Gophers fans by opening some of the biggest holes of the season after halftime, and freshman running back Shannon Brooks left no doubt he is by far the team’s most explosive player by gaining 176 yards including a 71-yard touchdown run.

It was a must-have win for the Gophers, now 4-2 and within two wins of bowl eligibility. The one thousand or more Gophers fans at the stadium knew, or should have known, the win over Purdue could be followed by a victory this Saturday against 2-4 Nebraska.

Hard to believe but the Gophers can win for a third consecutive time against Nebraska, one of college football’s winningest programs. The Gophers had 16 straight losses to the Cornhuskers from 1963-2012. After the Nebraska game at TCF Bank Stadium this Saturday, Minnesota will look for additional wins during a daunting remaining schedule that features national powers Iowa, Michigan and Ohio State, plus a pair of 4-2 teams, Illinois and Wisconsin.

But let’s not go too far into the future. Let’s return to the wisdom of paragraph No. 2 above. Who knows for sure how the remainder of the schedule will turn out for Minnesota and other teams? What is known about the Gophers is that despite playing without more than one-third of their starters lost to injuries, they managed to win last Saturday. No, it wasn’t a tear down the goalposts victory against 1-5 Purdue, but it kept the word hope alive in the Gophers’ vocabulary for a successful 2015 season.

An early flight to Chicago with friend Tim Murray and drive to West Lafayette had us on the Purdue campus by early afternoon. At Mackey Arena the Purdue band entertained mostly Boilermakers fans before the game. The arena public address announcer acknowledged the Gophers fans in attendance and the band dialed up the “Minnesota Rouser.”

All afternoon we experienced Purdue hospitality. Even walking out of the stadium after a Gophers rout we were wished safe travels. Boilermaker fans certainly had reason to be in a bad mood. Purdue is struggling through yet another discouraging season, and both its offense and defense were inept last Saturday. Purdue’s tackling was at times awful and Boilers’ defensive coordinator Greg Hudson, who once held the same position at Minnesota, had reason to be livid.

Yet despite Purdue’s performance we never saw or heard a boobird all day. I have travelled to Gophers games at Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State and Wisconsin. The most classless experience anywhere was in Ann Arbor awhile back when our group was harassed after the game while walking on campus.

Our crime? Wearing Gophers clothing. It wasn’t enough the Wolverines had won another yet game against Minnesota. These jerks had to mouth off after the win.

A trip to West Lafayette provided a lesson in hospitality and kindness. Go Purdue fans!

Worth Noting

Brooks, who averaged 10.4 yards per carry against Purdue on 17 carries for 176 yards, was named the Big Ten’s Co-Freshmen Player of the Week along with Michigan safety Jabrill Peppers. Chris Streveler, then a quarterback, was the last Gophers player to win the award (September, 2014). Streveler, now a receiver, caught his first college pass in the Purdue game.

It’s interesting to note that three coaches who once had their names in credible rumors about the Gophers head coaching position are now either out of work or under fire. Brady Hoke was at San Diego State and Randy Edsall at Connecticut when Minnesota was looking to replace Tim Brewster who had been let go during the 2010 season. The Gophers hired Jerry Kill while Hoke went to Michigan and Edsall moved on to Maryland. Hoke was fired after last season and Edsall dismissed yesterday. Texas head coach Charlie Strong was the defensive coordinator at Florida when the Gophers were replacing Glen Mason in early 2007. Strong moved on to Louisville and is now at Texas where he is under intense pressure.

Vikings wide receiver Mike Wallace didn’t practice today. Head coach Mike Zimmer wouldn’t disclose why at his news conference this afternoon. Wallace reportedly didn’t practice last Tuesday—the last time the team worked out prior to its bye on the schedule this past weekend.

Will Wallace play on Sunday against the Chiefs? “We’ll see. The injury report will come out on Wednesday,” Zimmer answered.

Mike Wallace (Photo courtesy of Minnesota Vikings)

A starting wide receiver acquired from the Dolphins in the offseason, Wallace had his best regular season game as a Viking on October 4 against the Broncos. He caught eight passes for 83 yards and a touchdown.

Some Vikings players put in extra time to improve during the bye week. Zimmer indicated rookie center Nick Easton, acquired last week in a trade with the 49ers, was one of them. Asked about the learning curve for Easton, Zimmer said, “He spent a lot of extra time last week (learning). He’s a pretty sharp guy. I think he’ll get up to speed quickly.”

This week Zimmer will watch to see if his players are tuned in after returning from extra time off because of the bye. “For awhile, a year ago, we’d give them a long weekend or something like that. They’d come back and they weren’t as crisp or sharp as when they left,” he said.

Twins president Dave St. Peter talking about his franchise that finished 83-79 this season after a record of 70-92 in 2014: “I think advancing to postseason play has to be a goal for us next year. I’d like to think we could put ourselves in a position to contend for the American League Central.

“The Royals are good and I think the path to winning our division certainly goes through Kansas City. …I expect the Royals will be the favorite to win our division next year. I don’t expect we’ll be picked (again) to finish last in our division but none of that matters unless we get it done on the field.”

The Lynx hopes history repeats Wednesday night at Target Center. Minnesota plays the Fever in the deciding fifth game of the WNBA Finals. The franchise is 3-0 in close-out playoff games at Target Center.

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Meet Gophers Interim AD Beth Goetz

Posted on October 9, 2015October 9, 2015 by David Shama

Beth Goetz was named University of Minnesota interim Athletics Director on August 7, replacing Norwood Teague. A lot of local sports fans may have asked who is Beth Goetz? Prior to taking over as interim AD, she worked for Teague as Deputy Athletics Director and senior woman administrator. In her new role she oversees the department’s $100 million-plus budget, 25 sports, and more than 300 staff members and 700 student-athletes.

Goetz came to Minnesota from Butler University where she was Associate Athletic Director and senior woman administrator from August 2008 to February 2013. Prior to working at Butler, she spent 12 years at the University of Missouri-St. Louis with assignments in athletic administration and as women’s soccer coach. She was an All-American soccer player at Brevard College in North Carolina. After transferring to Clemson, she captained the 1995 soccer team.

Since taking over as interim AD, Goetz has kept a jam-packed schedule but Sports Headliners was able to interview her recently. The following profile (edited for brevity) covers various subjects to help introduce Goetz to readers. Learn about her heroes growing up, whether she has interest in becoming the full-time AD, and how she describes her management style.

Your sports heroes? I grew up in St. Louis, so I am a baseball fan through and through. You gotta be a diehard Cardinal fan to live there. When I was a kid, my dad used to call me B.G.—obviously my initials—but it really was about (Cardinals Hall of Fame pitcher) Bob Gibson. I loved the Cardinals. I think from the time when I was about eight (years old), I could list the starting lineups.

Soccer is my sport of choice, and everybody loved Mia Hamm. We’re not that far apart in age, and she was certainly the first sort of female athlete icon that I had.

We also had season tickets to the football Cardinals when they were in St. Louis. I grew up in a sports family so we were pretty engaged.

If there is a secret to your career advancement it is: I think it’s the same thing we tell our student-athletes. A lot of it is about preparing everyday for the next opportunity. When the opportunity is there, or when you see something you’re interested in, say yes.

If you’ve said it once, you’ve said it a thousand times: You can’t go wrong doing the right thing for the right reasons.

What’s the one thing you’ve learned very quickly as interim AD? Well, the volume of my e-mails has gone up a little bit. (Also) I don’t know if it’s as much learned as reaffirmed, that we have a tremendous staff and coaches. They do a great job. In this role, I really get to see in every single area how great the staff is, and how much work and dedication they have.

When will you decide about being a candidate for the permanent AD position? It’s not something I am even thinking about. President (Eric) Kaler asked me to step into a leadership position and right now we’re just in the thick of it—the fall sports started off to a great start. They’re doing great things, and everybody else (winter sports) is now kicking in. With all that, that’s really where my focus is. No thought on doing anything other than being as good at the role I am in as I can be for the time being.

Do you think you’re interested in the job? Again, it’s not really something I am thinking about. I think it’s really important to be focused on the job I have in front of me everyday. That’s where I think my time is best spent, thinking about what my responsibility is right now.

Favorite movies ever? I liked Hoosiers. Obviously, I worked at Butler (film site) so that was a piece of that, but I always was a Hoosiers (movie) fan. I did like Major League growing up. I enjoy movies but I don’t watch them all that often.

What’s your worst personal habit? Hands down (it’s) Diet Dr. Pepper. I usually have at least two pops a day, and that’s probably two pops too many. I drink a lot more water now than I used to.

People who work for Beth Goetz can be confident that: I think they can be confident that I am going to treat them with respect and that I am going to value them. It’s not about working for (me). It’s collaboration, so we’re going to work together to accomplish whatever goals that we have.

Books on your nightstand currently? Most recently I just finished “Boys in the Boat”—that (book) really talks about the early days of rowing at (the University of) Washington, (with) crowds of over 100,000. It was the largest attended sporting event back in the day (1930s). …It’s a good read.

Four or five famous people you would invite to dinner? My first choice is always going to be my family, and there’s more than four or five (of us). I am not sure how I would narrow down that. There are six of us in my immediate family just to start with. Mom and dad, and I’ve got three younger sisters. Four girls and we all live in four different states.

Describe your management style: I would say I am collaborative. I think everybody has a viewpoint that can be valued and different perspectives on what’s going to make us more powerful. So I think it’s about thinking big and making sure you evaluate and take into account every constituency that you serve when you’re making decisions.

If you have any downtime, what do you most like to do? I like to run. Running might be overstating it these days. It’s probably more of a jog.

There is no better food for dinner than: I can eat chicken a lot of different ways, and I love Chinese food. If it was Kung pao chicken that would taste pretty good.

Your favorite music and artist? I’ve always liked Lighthouse quite a bit. I am a 80s kid. “80s on 8,” or whatever the XM Channel is. I still really like my 80s.

The best thing about your smartphone? Probably when the battery dies.

What really makes you laugh? I don’t think there’s not a day when we’re not laughing about something (here) in the office. There’s nothing healthier for anybody than to make sure you’re laughing and enjoying what you do.

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