Category: Golden Gophers

Gophers football notes:

Iowa athletic director Gary Barta is familiar with Gophers coach Jerry Kill’s program building history and he talked about the task at Minnesota prior to his Hawkeyes 22-21 loss on Saturday.  “I think very highly of Jerry ─ his background,” Barta told Sports Headliners.  “They (Kill and his staff) start a program that is struggling, and they brought it up to success each step of the way if you look at their history.

“The other thing they have is continuity.  They have stayed together as a coaching staff.  That builds trust.”

Barta, who is a Minnesota native, said the Gophers have a proud football tradition, a new facility (TCF Bank Stadium) and a new coach in Kill.  “You have all the ingredients to create that (program building) foundation and do something special,” he said.

Barta said Iowa home football games generate about $100 million in economic activity each year in the greater Iowa City area.”

Iowa defensive coordinator Norm Parker, who was on the Gophers staff in the 1970s, was using a walker to get around in the press box on Saturday at TCF Bank Stadium.  Parker had his right foot amputated last year.

Here are Sports Headliners’ weekly rankings of Big Ten Football teams: Nebraska, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, Illinois, Iowa, Purdue, Northwestern, Minnesota and Indiana.

Businessofcollegesports.com reports that for school year 2009-10 the Gophers football program produced a profit of $14,888,989, finishing No. 25 nationally on a list ranking the profitability of major college football and basketball programs.  The Gophers basketball program is among the more profitable in the country and placed No. 49 in the combined football-basketball rankings at $8,041,167.

The basketball programs at Louisville, Duke, North Carolina, Arizona, Ohio State, Syracuse, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Arkansas ranked ahead of the Gophers, according to the article posted in June of this year.

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The Indianapolis Business Journal reported earlier this month that Indiana University professor Ryan Brewer developed a methodology to determine the financial worth of major college football teams representing public institutions.  Brewer’s study ranked the Gophers No. 26 in the country with a valuation of $126.5 million.  Only Indiana and Purdue ranked lower than the Gophers among Big Ten schools, according to the Journal.

The Journal reported that Texas, a school that boasts the Longhorns TV network, was No. 1 on the list with a valuation of $848.3 million.  That was almost double No. 2 Georgia at $483.6.  The SEC had six teams in the top and the Big Ten placed five in the first 15.

Jerry Kill’s contract announced yesterday pays him $1.2 million, according to Minnesota athletic director Joel Maturi who acknowledged the compensation is among the lowest for Big Ten head football coaches.  The median salary of conference head coaches is $1,781,759, according to a September 30 article by the dailynebraskan.com.

The seven year deal pays Kill $1.2 million annually unless the University approves increases.  The compensation is more than three times Kill’s salary at Northern Illinois.

Maturi said Kill’s top assistants, defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys and offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover, have salaries in the $300,000 to $325,000 range.

Kill said on WCCO Radio Sunday that among Gophers football redshirts who have potential is 6-5, 275-pound offensive tackle Foster Bush from Menasha, Wisconsin.

Gophers fan Dave Henry emailed with news about his in-laws, Bob and Till Kraay of Owatonna who were married on October 29, 1951.  They plan to celebrate their 60^th wedding anniversary with family and friends on Saturday at TCF Bank Stadium when Minnesota plays Iowa.  Not only will it be 60 years to the day that the two were married, but the Kraays went to Iowa City on November 3, 1951 after returning from their honeymoon and watched the Gophers and Hawkeyes play to a 20-20 tie.  “They sound like fans of the day to me!” Henry wrote in his email.

Speculation about NFL franchises that might relocate to Los Angeles includes not only the Vikings but two organizations that years ago moved from southern California, the Raiders and Rams.

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