Golden Gophers – Page 427 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Worth Noting

Posted on November 2, 2011November 27, 2011 by David Shama

Lindy’s Sports College Basketball Magazine’s choice for “Most Entertaining” player in the Big Ten is Minnesota’s Rodney Williams. The 6-7 junior forward hasn’t approached his potential but his athleticism is eye-catching. In practice Williams has not only been in his usual role of small forward, but he has also played power forward.

Senior forward Trevor Mbakwe played like an All-Big Ten player last night in Minnesota’s opening exhibition game, a 71-58 win over Bemidji State. Mbakwe played hard and was an inside force scoring and rebounding for the Gophers, finishing with a double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds.

Prep basketball authority Ken Lien emailed news that 6-foot-7 forward C.J. Neumann from Cretin-Derham Hall has committed to Wofford.

Wonder if anyone who sent a wedding gift last August is asking for a return after this week’s announcement that former Gophers ball hog Kris Humphries and Kim Kardashian plan to divorce?

When the WNBA draft lottery is held Thursday, November 10, the Lynx have the second best odds of winning the No. 1 pick. The lottery is for teams who didn’t make the playoffs but the WNBA champion Lynx have Washington’s draft pick ─ currently slotted at No. 2 ─ because of a trade earlier this year. The lottery determines the first four picks in the draft.

Iowa athletic director Gary Barta compared his 2010 hire of basketball coach Fran McCaffery with Minnesota’s decision to choose Jerry Kill as the new Gophers coach. Both coaches were program builders at lower level schools before coming to the Big Ten and Barta said it’s not always the “sexy hire” who is the best person for the job.

Barta, who played high school football for Burnsville, describes Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz as the “best” football coach in the country. Under Ferentz Iowa has only two losing seasons in the Big Ten since 2000.

Wherever Kill has coached, he’s made special teams a priority. The Gophers’ two wins this season have turned on a few big plays including a blocked punt returned for the decisive touchdown against Miami (Ohio) in September and an onside kickoff that set up the winning drive in last Saturday’s win over Iowa.

Talkative Vikings punter Chris Kluwe hosts the “Know Your Vikings” segment on the Mall of America Field video screen during home games. He includes a question for the interviewee like this: If a tree falls in the forest does it make a sound?

Rookie tight end Kyle Rudolph didn’t hesitate with an “of course not” correct answer to that question.

Christian Ponder said in the October 31 issue of Sports Illustrated that Green Bay’s Clay Mathews told him during the Vikings-Packers game in Minneapolis last month to stop running because he “wasn’t Tim Tebow.”

In the preseason MIAC women’s hockey coaches poll, Gustavus received nine of 10 first place votes. A 2012 Gusties league title would be the program’s eighth in a row.

The men’s hockey poll resulted in considerably more difference of opinion, with St. Thomas picked to finish first in the conference race. The Tommies received 60 points followed by Gustavus (52), Concordia (51) and Hamline (49).

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Iowa AD: U Football Potential ‘Special’

Posted on October 31, 2011December 27, 2011 by David Shama

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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Notes Including U Football Valued at $125.5 Million

Posted on October 26, 2011December 27, 2011 by David Shama

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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