Golden Gophers – Page 385 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Low Expectations for U Opening Foe

Posted on August 1, 2012August 1, 2012 by David Shama

The UNLV team the Gophers open the season against on August 30 is predicted to finish ninth in the 10-team Mountain West Conference, according to a poll of media who cover the league’s football teams.

The Gophers’ second opponent, New Hampshire, will be a fourth place team in the 11-team Colonial Athletic Association, according to a poll of media and coaches. Reporters covering the Mid-American Conference predict Western Michigan will finish third in the six-team West Division. The Broncos are the third team on the Gophers nonconference schedule that concludes against Syracuse, a team that is forecast by the media to place seventh in the eight-team Big East. (All polls referenced here were announced last week or this week.)

UNLV has been 2-10 and 2-11 in two seasons under third-year coach Bobby Hauck. The Rebels have finished 2-6 and 1-6 in conference standings. Mountain West media, who picked Boise State to win the league title, didn’t include any UNLV players on the 25-player preseason all-conference team.

Asked about the predicted low finish for the Rebels, Gophers coach Jerry Kill said: “I can’t control the people that we play. I can control what we do and I am more concerned about the Gophers and us getting started and getting ready to play UNLV.”

Kill has known and respected Hauck for years. Hauck was a national championship coach at Montana before taking the UNLV job.

The Gophers are in no position to disregard UNLV when the teams play in Las Vegas, or the next three nonconference teams — all of whom come to TCF Bank Stadium. Big Ten media predict a last place finish for the Gophers in the Legends Division after Minnesota was 3-9 overall in 2010 and 2011.

Kill is establishing his program in year No. 2 including academics. The team’s cumulative GPA’s for the fall and spring semesters during the 2012-13 school year have been over 3.0. The GPA’s compare favorably with Northwestern football players, a school long known as among the best in the country academically.

Kill said the plus-3.0 results aren’t something that will happen every semester. “You take 115 students; it’s hard to do that good. …I’ve been coaching for 29 (years) and most of the time you get excited if you’re about a 2.55 or 2.6 overall in football because you deal with so many numbers. Those GPA’s (fall and spring) are exceptionally high.”

Gophers and other notes:

Condolences to family members on the passing Monday night of Murray’s Restaurant owner Pat Murray who was 72. Pat was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2011. He was a popular figure not only at the restaurant but as a civic leader in Minneapolis. “People knew what he was like. He was very dedicated professionally and personally,” his son Tim Murray said. “He loved everything about the restaurant business yet somehow juggled his time to do all he could for his kids.”

Visitation is scheduled tomorrow from 4 to 8 p.m. at Washburn-McReavy Edina Chapel. Memorial services Friday will be at St. Olaf Catholic Church downtown beginning at 10 a.m. and visitation will be one hour prior. Memorials of the donor’s choice are welcome.

Kill meets with the media tomorrow, and has several practices open to the public from August 4-8, all beginning at 10:25 a.m. at the Gibson-Nagurski Complex. The Gophers open practice on August 4.

The Big Ten Conference has a rule that athletes transferring from one member school to another can’t receive a scholarship from the new program. However, the NCAA will allow Penn State football players to transfer to Big Ten schools and receive scholarships.

Congratulations to Dick Larson, Rick Meyer, Mike Wilkinson and others who helped make possible the Murray Warmath conference room at the new fitness center at Friendship Village in Bloomington. A celebration at Friendship Village was held last week attended by former Gophers, including those from Warmath’s first team in 1954 to his last in 1971. The conference room is decorated with Warmath memorabilia including his national championship and Big Ten title teams.

The Vikings are not only an overwhelming favorite to finish last in the NFC North, but they have lost 11 consecutive division games.

Look for Charlie Johnson, moved since last season from left tackle to his more comfortable position of left guard, to possibly lead a resurgent and rebuilt offensive line that also includes rookie left tackle and No. 1 draft choice Matt Kalil.

New Vikings defensive coordinator Alan Williams worked several years for Tony Dungy. Williams said yesterday a lot of his philosophies and schemes “comes from coach Dungy.”

The Wild have sold over 3,000 new season tickets since July 4 when the signings of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter were announced.

With a likely NHL labor dispute ahead, the 2012-13 season for the Minnesota Wild and other clubs probably won’t start as scheduled. The Wild are scheduled to open the season at home October 13 against the Avalanche. By early November the NHL schedule may resume.

According to Elias Sports Bureau, last night Francisco Liriano was the first White Sox starter to make his debut the same season against the same club he was acquired from since Marino Pieretti on June 19, 1948.

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Vikes Turnaround Predicted at 10-6

Posted on July 30, 2012July 30, 2012 by David Shama

Bob Lurtsema, the former Vikings defensive lineman who remains close to the team, predicts Minnesota will finish 10-6 during the 2012 regular season and possibly make the playoffs.

The Vikings were 3-13 last season and a popular guess for 2012 is 6-10 but Lurtsema believes the team will be improved and exceed expectations. “I’ve said it before. I am very optimistic,” Lurtsema told Sports Headliners. “I said 10-6. Everybody said, ‘What are you on? What are you smoking?’”

Lurtsema’s outlook is based on improvement at some positions that faltered last season, including quarterback. He thinks second-year quarterback Christian Ponder will upgrade his play considerably.

Ponder not only had the disadvantage last season of minimal offseason preparation because of the NFL labor dispute but he was a rookie placed in a starting position. The Vikings are counting on maturity from Ponder in year No. 2, perhaps typical of what Drew Brees did for the Chargers when he threw one touchdown pass in his rookie season of 2001 but 17 the next.

Ponder did throw for 1,853 yards last season, the second most ever for a Vikings rookie quarterback. Fran Tarkenton threw for 1,997 yards in 1961.

Vikings and other notes:

Former Vikings coach Jerry Burns told Sports Headliners he’s “hoping” for an 8-8 or 9-7 record. He described Vikings head coach Leslie Frazier as “one of the finest” people he’s met.

Burns will travel to Canton, Ohio to see his former defensive lineman Chris Doleman inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on August 4.

Vikings running back Toby Gerhart, who could be the team’s early season starter if Adrian Peterson isn’t healthy, comes from an athletic family. His dad Todd played in the USFL and went to training camp with the Vikings in 1986. Brother Garth, an offensive lineman, is trying out with the Browns. Gerhart’s triplet sisters are college softball players.

Former Breck and Northwestern football player Regis Eller, son of ex-Vikings star Carl Eller, is scouting for the Chargers. San Diego plays the Vikings at Mall of America Field on August 24.

Gophers coach Jerry Kill said senior quarterback MarQueis Gray has improved so much that he will be a “very, very exciting player to watch” not only in the Big Ten but nationally.

Casey Dehn, the Owatonna native expected to be Wisconsin’s starting offensive right tackle, is no longer with the Badgers.

Former Gophers and now NFL rookies Duane Bennett (running back), Jon Hoese (fullback) and Eric Lair (tight end) are listed on the Packers training camp roster.

Talk about a bad weekend. Not only did the Indians lose three straight to the Twins at Target Field, but Cleveland batters hit .140 in the series and starting pitchers gave up 23 hits and 23 runs in 16 innings. The Twins hit .340 and scored 28 runs.

Twins first baseman Justin Morneau is hitting .333 with three home runs and 12 RBI in his last 22 games. His home run yesterday was No. 198 of his career and moved him within two of becoming the seventh Twins player to hit 200 or more.

Scott Diamond, who leads Twins pitchers in wins with a 9-3 record, is 6-1 at Target Field. He has a 2.28 ERA in eight home game starts.

Twins general manager Terry Ryan said on the Twins Radio Network yesterday afternoon there were no contract “extension talks” between him and Francisco Liriano’s agent in the weeks leading up to last Saturday’s trade of the left-handed pitcher to the White Sox. Ryan also said that during 2006 Liriano was as “good there was” among major league pitchers.

The Timberwolves have scheduled a news conference for tomorrow to introduce guard Brandon Roy to the local media. The Wolves might start the season with only six or seven players from last season’s roster.

Tubby Smith’s contract extension through 2017 with the Gophers means he could determine his Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame credentials during the next five seasons. He won a national championship at Kentucky and had four Elite Eight NCAA appearances, but he’s faltered at Minnesota where his Big Ten record is 14 games under .500.

Seimone Augustus, Maya Moore and Lindsay Whalen from the Lynx are among 38 current or former WNBA players on teams competing at the Olympics in women’s basketball. Nine of the 12 nations competing in the Olympics have WNBA alumni.

Golf returns to the Olympics in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro after a 112 year absence.

A celebration for the completion of Todd Anderson Field in Brooklyn Park will be held starting at 5:30 p.m. on August 9. The facility provides a home for Courage Center’s wheelchair softball players, a first in 30 years of competition.

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U Not in Pursuit of PSU Players

Posted on July 26, 2012July 26, 2012 by David Shama

Gophers football coach Jerry Kill said this afternoon on the Big Ten Network his program isn’t in pursuit of Penn State football players. Speaking at the Big Ten Conference football coaches media gathering, Kill did say that if contacted by a Nittany Lion player the Gophers would go through the “proper procedures.”

The NCAA announced earlier this week that Penn State’s players are immediately eligible to transfer to other Division I schools and play football this fall. Those schools include the other 11 programs in the 12-team Big Ten Conference of which scandal-soaked Penn State is a member.

Illinois coach Tim Beckman said in Chicago at the media news conference that Illini staff has gone to State College after Illinois athletic director Mike Thomas received a list of Penn State players interested in transferring. Penn State coach Bill O’Brien said he isn’t aware of players on his roster who are leaving the program.

“I think that right now at the University of Minnesota we’re concentrating on building a program,” Kill said. “We’ve got enough problems of our own trying to move forward. We’re not gonna do anything to go see players. We don’t have enough time to do those kind of things.

“…If a young man called us from Penn State, or whatever, we would do the proper procedures. But right now we’ve got enough problems to focus on what we need to do to become a football team, and that’s where our focus is.”

Kill, 3-9 with the Gophers in his first season, talked briefly about the change and even tragedy he’s seen in his program since taking over in late 2010. He’s worked for two presidents, two athletic directors, endured physical problems, a difficult first season on the field and last spring was stunned by the death of Gopher linebacker Gary Tinsley.

“When adversity hits you, you have to deal with it. You can’t run away from it,” Kill said. “We’ve had our fair share.”

Kill, who believes his team will be improved in 2012, is nationally known for his past health problems including a history of seizures. Asked about his health today, Kill said: “I feel fantastic. I appreciate your asking.”

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