Golden Gophers – Page 372 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Wolves to Lose $5 Million or More in 2013

Posted on February 25, 2013February 25, 2013 by David Shama

Glen Taylor expects his Timberwolves franchise to lose $5 million to $10 million this season but hopes to “break-even” financially in 2013-14. During an interview with Sports Headliners the Mankato billionaire and Wolves owner also said he’s not close to selling the team, looks forward to having Kevin Love on the roster for many years and isn’t ready to evaluate general manager David Kahn’s expiring contract.

The franchise has been losing money for years but those deficits have apparently been reduced. In 2010, for example, there was speculation the Wolves would lose $25 million.

Taylor has seen the value of his franchise increase over the years from when he purchased it in 1995 for a reported $88 million. Forbes.com valued the Wolves at $364 million last month.

Taylor, 71, has been shopping the team for awhile. Taylor’s proposal has him remaining as the majority owner for “sometime” with a limited partner eventually taking over the franchise. Some prospective buyers desire control immediately but that’s not what Taylor wants.

“I am not close to anything,” he said. “I continue to talk to people who have shown interest.”

Love, the Wolves Olympian and All-Star forward, made national headlines earlier this season in a Yahoo! Sports article expressing frustration with the franchise. Taylor said the story conveyed the message Love doesn’t like his teammates and the fans, and doesn’t want to play here, but Taylor explained that’s not correct.

“Well, he does regret it (the story),” Taylor said. “He’s expressed that. He didn’t quite anticipate it would come out the way it did. …”

Taylor and Love have talked about the future. He expects Love to be with the franchise even beyond the remaining three seasons on his contract starting next fall.

“Yeah, that’s what he indicated to me, that he’s looking long run,” Taylor said. “I think he knows of Ricky’s (Rubio) potential. …He likes some of the other players on the team. He can see we’re building a good nucleus. He certainly likes the coach (Rick Adelman).”

Love hasn’t played since January 3 because of injury. Taylor said it’s been a frustrating season for the 24-year-old who missed the start of the season with a similar hand injury but that’s not a reason to bring him back on the court until the medical staff determines it’s the right decision. Whether Love will play again before the season ends next month is in doubt.

Kahn has been the team’s general manager since 2009. He and Taylor talk frequently including about how to manage the roster regarding personnel and salaries. During Kahn’s watch the team has added impact players in Rubio, Andrei Kirilenko, Alexey Shved and Chase Budinger but has yet to make the playoffs and almost for certain will miss again this spring.

Also frustrating is that except for Rubio, Kahn and his scouting staff has regularly misfired on their first and second round draft choices. Among first and second round picks since 2009, only Rubio and Derrick Williams are still with the team. Williams, the second pick in the first round of the 2011 draft, has teased with his potential as both a small and power forward but shown no consistency.

Taylor admitted he is “disappointed” with the first round draft results but said Kahn has “done a lot of things we’ve asked him to do.” And Taylor said he can’t hold Kahn responsible for a bizarre number of injuries that have at times sidelined many of the team’s most important players including starters and subs.

The Wolves have an option on Kahn’s contract. “We evaluate everything at the end of the year,” Taylor said. “To say that we haven’t done very well on the draft choices is a correct statement. Is that all of his responsibility? It’s certainly part of his responsibility.”

Worth Noting

Gophers coach Tubby Smith criticized the senior leadership on his team during the 1500 ESPN postgame show following last week’s 71-45 loss to Ohio State. Commentator Spencer Tollackson prompted the remark while talking about the importance of senior leadership late in the season and implying how that’s needed when a team is struggling. “Unfortunately we don’t have that type of leadership within our seniors. So it’s got to come from me and obviously I’ve done a poor job of doing that,” Smith said.

The Gophers had 24 turnovers in the game. “I have to admit obviously we’re not having as competitive practices as we have to have in order for us to get better because obviously we haven’t gotten better,” Smith said in the interview. “Our ball-handling has gone backwards. …Everybody kind of contributed to turning the ball over, especially our post players with 10 between Mo (Walker) and Trevor (Mbawke). Just baffling, to be honest with you.”

The Gophers, who have lost four of their last five games, are 6-8 in the Big Ten and 18-9 overall. Minnesota plays No. 1 ranked Indiana at Williams Arena tomorrow night.

The Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament in Chicago March 14-17 is a sellout.

At Sports Headliners’ request, prep basketball authority Ken Lien prepared the following rankings of Minnesota high school boys’ teams.

Class 4A: Apple Valley, Osseo, Park Center, Edina, Hopkins, Minnetonka, Lakeville North, Brainerd.

Class 3A: DeLaSalle, Austin, Marshall, Delano, Blake, Holy Angels, Waconia, Hermantown.

Class 2A: Melrose, Hawley, Fairmont, Maple River, St. Peter, Byron, Braham, Redwood Valley.

Class 1A: Upsala, Belgrade-Brooten-Elrose, Maranatha Christian Academy, Southwest Minnesota Christian, Rushford-Peterson, Russell-Tyler-Ruthton, Browerville, Ada-Borup.

The MIAC announced last week that in 2012 the conference led all Division III leagues in football attendance for the seventh time in eight years. The conference’s nine teams hosted 48 games with attendance of 161,870, averaging 3,372 per game.

For the 15^th time in 20 years Saint John’s led all Division III schools in attendance, averaging 7,948 per game and a total of 39,741. Concordia finished No. 5 with total attendance of 24,197, averaging 4,839 fans. Concordia has been in the top five two years in a row and in the top 10 seven of the last eight years.

Patrick Klinger & Company is presenting a seminar titled “Using Sports to Drive Your Business” on Tuesday, March 19 at the University of St. Thomas. The seminar’s intent is to help businesses identify the right sponsorships to maximize investments and produce measurable results. Prior to establishing his company, Patrick Klinger was Twins vice president of marketing for more than a decade. More information about the seminar is available at klingercompany.com or by calling 612-366-0419.

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Kill Last in Big Ten Head Coaches’ Pay

Posted on February 20, 2013February 20, 2013 by David Shama

A list of notes including a few compiled during vacations the last two weeks.

The Gophers Jerry Kill is the lowest paid football coach in the Big Ten. Purdue’s Danny Hope, who reportedly earned $970,000 last season, was at the bottom in annual earnings but he’s been replaced by Darrell Hazell who will be paid about $2 million. Published reports have Kill’s annual pay at $1.2 million.

Hazell has only two years of head coaching experience while Kill has 18 including two at Minnesota. Hazell had an overall record of 16-10 in two seasons coaching Kent State in the Mid-American Conference. Kill was 23-16 in three seasons at Northern Illinois, another MAC member.

Dave Doeren, Kill’s successor at Northern Illinois, was paid $420,000 there but will make $1.8 million at North Carolina State, according to a February 12 article on college football coaches’ compensation in USA Today.

If the Gophers have a winning season in 2013, look for Kill’s salary to become a major news item in Minnesota.

It seemed like Fort Myers media gave the Twins secondary coverage after the Red Sox last week when spring training opened. As one of baseball’s flagship franchises, it’s no surprise to see the Red Sox receive more publicity in the Fort Myers area where both Boston and Minnesota are preparing for the MLB season.

Fox Sports North will televise seven Twins spring training games starting with a game against the Red Sox on March 8 (6 p.m. Minneapolis time).

The Twins have 15 home games in April when the Minneapolis weather is unpredictable. They have 16 games at Target Field after Labor Day when the club is likely to be out of playoff contention. That’s 31 games or 38 percent of the home schedule on problematic dates.

NFL free agency begins March 12 and the world knows the Vikings covet a speedy wide receiver. The Packers’ Greg Jennings draws most of the speculation about joining the Vikings but the Steelers’ Mike Wallace could also help. He has averaged as much as 21 yards per catch during his four-season NFL career.

Have to wonder if Vikings’ wide receiver Percy Harvin is envious of the prime role Adrian Peterson receives in the offense, and wants to play for another team that makes him the featured player. General manager Rick Spielman said the team doesn’t plan to trade Harvin but there are skeptics.

I haven’t seen the financial figures but with some games having announced attendance of less than 60,000 fans, gate receipts for 2012 home Vikings games had to be down from 2011 when the team always played before crowds of 62,000 or more.

Vikings executive Lester Bagley will speak to the Minnesota Men’s Breakfast group in Naples, Florida on Friday. Attendees include prominent Minnesotans who during the winter months hear from Minnesota business and other leaders.

Ted Mondale, executive director of the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority, will be the speaker on Thursday, March 14 at the C.O.R.E.S. luncheon in Bloomington. Mondale will provide an update on the new Vikings stadium. Anyone interested in more information can email Jim Dotseth at dotsethj@comcast.net. C.O.R.E.S. is an acronym for coaches, officials, reporters, educators and sports fans.

Prep basketball juniors Tyus Jones and Rashad Vaughn are top 15 players nationally in the class of 2014, according to Rivals.com. Apple Valley High School’s Jones, a point guard, is the No. 3 player while Cooper High School’s Vaughn, a shooting guard, is ranked No. 12.

Here’s another perspective on the two: each has the potential to be an All-Big Ten player. Two Minnesota natives playing for the Gophers have never been named first team All-Big Ten in the same season.

Prep basketball authority Ken Lien e-mailed on Monday that 6-9 Osseo High School junior Ian Theisen has offers from Cal Poly, Drake, Northern Colorado, South Dakota State and Vermont.

The basketball Gophers, at Ohio State tonight, have only one Big Ten road win so far, a victory over Illinois on January 9. The Buckeyes are 8-5 in Big Ten games and ranked No. 18 nationally.

With only five regular season games remaining, the best guess is the 6-7 Gophers will finish 7-11 or 8-10 in the final Big Ten standings. In addition to tonight’s game in Columbus, the Gophers have home games remaining against 11-2 Indiana and 0-13 Penn State, and play at 3-10 Nebraska and 5-8 Purdue. Minnesota was ranked among the nation’s top 10 teams in the Associated Press poll last month.

Former Gophers basketball starters Al Nuness, 67, and Jim Petersen, 51, celebrate birthdays this week.

As of Monday morning the St. Thomas men’s basketball team field goal percentage of .529 was the best in the nation for Divisions I, II and III. The Tommies were No. 1 among more than 400 Division III teams in scoring margin, winning percentage and assists-turnovers ratio.

The Tommies, 24-1, are No. 1 in the nation, according to the D3Hoops.com poll. St. Thomas will host an MIAC semifinal playoff game starting at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. If the Tommies win, they host the league playoff title game at 2 p.m. on Sunday. NCAA Division III tournament pairings will be announced Monday.

The Hamline women’s basketball team lost to St. Benedict 85-79 in an MIAC opening playoff game last night. Winners of only seven games last season, the Pipers started their schedule 0-5 but finished the year 14-12. Senior Steph Pilgrim leads conference scorers at 16.3 points per game.

Looking for a local sports hero? Mine is Wild goalie Josh Harding who has multiple sclerosis, and has been an advocate for years in the fight against breast cancer.

Mistaken identity: last time I visited Walmart a customer thought I was the greeter.

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Hot Seat Warms for Tubby Smith

Posted on February 18, 2013February 18, 2013 by David Shama

After yesterday’s embarrassing 72-51 loss to Iowa, there’s no doubt Gophers athletic director Norwood Teague is receiving more intense criticism about Minnesota coach Tubby Smith.

After a 15-1 start, the Gophers are 18-8 overall, 6-7 in the Big Ten, and losers in three of the last four games. The conference losses include a defeat against vastly inferior Northwestern and to an Iowa team that is not 21 points better than Minnesota.

Fans are so worked up there are even messages on the Gophers own website suggesting a coaching change should be made. In recent weeks I haven’t heard from a single fan who is supportive of Smith, and that includes boosters with influence in Gophers sports who are very upset with University of Minnesota men’s basketball.

Teague has known since taking over as athletic director last summer that there has been a lot of criticism directed at Smith during his tenure at Minnesota. Now Teague may have to decide if he wants the University to pay $2.5 million to buy out Smith’s contract.

And he might because this is a very negative and festering situation. Hardcore fans are tuning out this team, and that’s a way of saying supporters have lost hope in the program. Yes, $2.5 million is a lot of money, but how much momentum for generating revenues does a Smith-led program carry into the offseason and next year when much of the public and some media have soured on Gophers basketball? Hire the right coach and revenues from tickets, corporate partnerships and donations will increase significantly within six to 24 months.

The athletic department has invested millions of dollars in Smith for almost six years, making him one of the better paid college coaches in the country. The results? Not a single season finishing higher than sixth in the Big Ten. A regular season conference record of 44 wins and 59 losses. No wins in two NCAA Tournament appearances.

Complaints from fans this winter go beyond Smith’s illogical platoon substitutions and often ineffective offense. The barbs are targeted at the players, too. “They aren’t good enough fundamentally. They can’t shoot consistently, and make too many ball handling mistakes.”

Okay, the Gophers have their weaknesses even among the athletic and experienced starting five of Trevor Mbakwe, Rodney Williams, Joe Coleman, Austin Hollins and Andre Hollins. But after six seasons who is responsible for the personnel including a subpar bench?

Hint: it’s not Norwood Teague.

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