Golden Gophers – Page 87 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Spielman Stresses Coach-QB Relationship

Posted on January 26, 2022January 26, 2022 by David Shama

It was easy to think about Mike Zimmer yesterday when Rick Spielman answered questions on TV’s “The Herd with Colin Cowherd.” Spielman, the former Vikings GM who was fired along with Zimmer earlier this month, talked about the trend toward offensive-minded head coaches in today’s NFL and also the selection process that should go into hiring such leaders.

“I think the No. 1 thing you’re looking for is that a head coach really has to have a relationship with that quarterback,” Spielman said. “And can a defensive head coach connect with that quarterback? Now, you know an offensive head coach is probably going to be able to because that’s his job (background). But can a defensive coach do the same thing?”

Spielman, the Vikings’ GM for 10 years, hired a defensive guru in Zimmer back in 2014. During the Zimmer era he had six offensive coordinators and last season was reportedly the first where he met weekly with quarterback Kirk Cousins. That was four seasons into their relationship and chemistry has appeared strained between the two.

It’s believed it was Spielman, not Zimmer, who wanted Cousins signed to an expensive free agent contract in 2018. The best of Zimmer’s teams had lights out defenses and his top regular season records came prior to Cousins joining the team from Washington. The last two seasons Minnesota didn’t qualify for the playoffs, prompting ownership to part with Spielman and Zimmer.

Spielman said that not since 2017 have two defensive oriented head coaches had their teams in the Super Bowl. That year matched up the Patriots’ Bill Belichick and the Falcons’ Dan Quinn, two defensive specialists.

The four remaining teams in the 2022 NFL playoffs are led by head coaches with accomplished offensive backgrounds. The veteran of the group is the Chiefs’ Andy Reid, who won the 2020 Super Bowl. Sean McVay of the Rams and Kyle Shanahan from the 49ers had their franchises in the 2019 and 2020 Super Bowls respectively. Zac Taylor, in just his third season as a head coach, has the Bengals within one win of representing the AFC in the 2022 Super Bowl. Reid is 63 but the other three head coaches are all 42 or younger.

It will be surprising if the Vikings don’t hire an offensive specialist as head coach. Not only is that a trend, but historically college and pro teams often switch back and forth between offensive and defensive backgrounds when hiring head coaches.

Worth Noting

Spielman is making media appearances since the announcement of his dismissal January 10. Maybe at 59 he is interested in a football TV job rather than going back to the NFL. However, brother Chris Spielman is a newly hired executive with the Lions.

Don’t be surprised if Zimmer, 65, lands an assignment with the Cowboys. He worked for Jerry Jones’ team as defensive coordinator from 2000-2006 and before that coached defensive backs for the 1995 Super Bowl champion Cowboys.

Among Spielman’s better draft choices is right tackle Brian O’Neill who this year will be participating in his first NFL Pro Bowl. O’Neill, a second round pick in 2018, is replacing Tristan Wirfs of the Buccaneers, who is injured and unable to play.

The Vikings could be developing a pair of top tackles in O’Neill and Christian Darrisaw, the team’s first round pick in the 2021 draft. During the last season he took over as the starting left tackle and was part of an improving offensive line that allowed Cousins to be sacked only 28 times, sixth fewest in the NFL.

The Vikings might take another step in developing an elite offensive line if they use their expected No. 12 first round draft choice this year on Iowa center Tyler Linderbaum. His physical and leadership skills are impressive, while playing at the key center position where 2019 draft choice Garrett Bradbury has struggled.

Cornerbacks Ahmad Gardner from Cincinnati and Derek Stingley Jr. of LSU could tempt the Vikings, too. If Minnesota wants to risk the choice on a project quarterback with raw skills in need of polish, Liberty’s electrifying Malik Willis could be the guy.

Vikings participating in the February 6 Pro Bowl in Las Vegas are O’Neill, running back Dalvin Cook, wide receiver Justin Jefferson and safety Harrison Smith.

The New Mexico State football team announced its 2022 schedule Monday, including the September 1 date in Minneapolis against the Golden Gophers. The Aggies, under first-year coach Jerry Kill, will also play two other Power Five opponents, with games at Wisconsin and Missouri. They will have six home games, the most since 2014.

“We need Aggie fans everywhere to come out and support our program this fall,” Kill said in a school news release. “Our team will have a hard hat and lunch pail mentality every time we take the field.”

The Timberwolves, at 24-23 and with 35 remaining games, have bested last season’s final win total of 23 (record of 23-49).

The most recent win came last night, 109-107 over the Trail Blazers. Wolves’ guard Anthony Edwards became the first player in NBA history to total 40 points, nine rebounds, five three-pointers, three blocks and three steals in a single game.

To some fans David Ortiz’s 2022 selection to baseball’s Hall of Fame is perplexing. Although the former Twin insists he never knowingly used performance enhancers, his name is associated with the steroid era. That stigma has denied Hall of Fame membership to the likes of Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens.

Among players to watch in the state prep basketball class of 2023 is 6-9 power forward-center Patrick Bath from Totino-Grace. 247Sports gives him a composite three-star ranking. Cal-Poly and Sienna have made offers, per 247.

Fargo’s Tom Hoge, 32, has one career win but is playing some of the best golf of his PGA career and he finished second in last weekend’s American Express in La Quinta. The TCU alum turned pro in 2011 and has over $9 million in career earnings. As of Monday morning he was No. 34 in PGA Tour earnings for 2022, with $680,690, according to the Desert Sun. Spring Lake Park’s Troy Merritt was No. 61 at $349,190.

The Friday wrestling match between the No. 13 ranked Golden Gophers at No. 3 Michigan airs at 6 p.m. central time on BTN. The telecast will be followed by No. 1 Penn State at No. 2 Iowa.

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Coming Days to Test Viking Owners

Posted on January 4, 2022 by David Shama

What the Wilf ownership group does in the next several days and coming weeks will reveal a lot about their thinking and make a profound statement to the Vikings’ rabid fan-base.

It’s currently a hostile public environment for GM Rick Spielman and head coach Mike Zimmer. Lead owners Zygi and Mark Wilf must certainly understand that, even though they don’t have Minnesota roots and are based in the east. What will they do this winter, if anything, about the future direction of the franchise?

The Wilfs are exceptionally loyal to their Viking employees. They bought the franchise in 2005 and Spielman, 59, has been on board from the start. Zimmer, 65, has been the coach since 2014. The Wilfs like continuity with their leaders and appear deliberate in their decisions.

They also are passionate fans with a stated commitment to deliver a Super Bowl team to this town. They have invested emotionally in Zimmer and Spielman, showing more patience than many other owners would offer. The Wilfs have also made a statement with their willingness to spend money on player payroll, and building world-class practice and stadium facilities.

But past on-field results by the team aren’t acceptable to many fans. Not as a franchise working on a 45-year Super Bowl drought, and with a more recent history that includes missing the playoffs the last two seasons and unable to play better than .500 football during 2020 and 2021. In the Zimmer era the Vikings have qualified for the post-season only three of eight times.

How capable are the Wilfs in being able to evaluate their football operation? That is a million dollar question. Are they comfortable enough with their abilities and experiences to not only determine who needs to be fired but also how to go about identifying, scrutinizing and ultimately hiring new leadership to be more successful?

The Wilfs could turn to a search firm for help regarding candidates to be new leaders. The NFL office could also be a candid source. Then, too, the Wilfs may have an inner circle they trust, perhaps including former Vikings players and coaches. Among alumni who could be useful and gets a vote here is Ben Leber. The 43-year-old former linebacker has a high football IQ and he is honest!

The options for final decisions in the weeks ahead include firing Zimmer and Spielman, or keeping one of them. They could also keep both and insist on clearing out most, or all, of their staffs. It’s believed the Wilfs have a particularly close relationship with Spielman and after eight seasons are certainly invested in Zimmer, too.

Presumably the Wilfs will have goals for near and long term results by their team and what can be accomplished within specific timeframes. Their roster has valued players like Dalvin Cook, Danielle Hunter, Justin Jefferson and Brian O’Neill. The team doesn’t need to be imploded, even if the Wilfs decide the coaching staff and front office must have a shakeup.

The fan base and media have been turning up the “heat” for months. Now the Wilfs get the last word and it will be intriguing to see what they do, how they do it and what the results will be in 2022 and beyond.

Worth Noting

NBC’s Cris Collinsworth said during Sunday night’s Vikings-Packers telecast the team can fire Zimmer but won’t find “a better coach.”

Minneapolis attorney and sports historian Marshall Tanick notes that Austin, Minnesota born John Madden, who died last week, coached the Raiders to their 32-14 Super Bowl win over the Vikings in 1977 (Minnesota’s last SB appearance). Madden’s final game as an NFL coach came in 1978 when the Raiders defeated the Vikings 27-21 in Oakland. As a broadcaster Madden mentored former Viking quarterback Rich Gannon as he transitioned from his playing career to NFL TV color man.

Illinois, 9-3 and 2-0 in Big Ten games, enters tonight’s matchup with the Golden Gophers at Williams Arena outscoring opponents by an average of 15.6 points per game and is a conference title contender. Minnesota, the surprise of the town’s sports teams at 10-1 and 1-1 in league games, has an average point differential of 8.9 against opponents.

Powerful Illini center Kofi Cockburn, who at 7-feet and 285 pounds averages 21.8 points and 12.1 rebounds, is a difficult matchup for the smaller Gophers. Look for the Gophers to double-team and perhaps use all three of their centers, Eric Curry, Charlie Daniels and Treyton Thompson, against Cockburn.

NCAA Tournament bracketologist Joe Lunardi of ESPN projects Minnesota and Illinois as No. 10 and No. 6 seeds respectively in the Midwest Regional.

Shooting guard Amir Coffey, the former Gopher from Hopkins who went undrafted in 2019, is having a career season with the NBA Clippers averaging 16.4 minutes per game. Several games of late he has played over 20 minutes including in last night’s loss to the Timberwolves.

Could Mohammed Elazazy, the former Western Michigan offensive lineman who has entered the transfer portal, interest the football Gophers? The 6-5, 300-pound guard is from Menasha, Wisconsin.

Former Minnesota offensive coordinator Mike Sanford, now in the same role at Colorado, will be without WR Brenden Rice, a rising sophomore and son of Hall of Famer Jerry Rice, who has entered the transfer portal.

Gopher quarterback Tanner Morgan and center John Michael Schmitz—both part of coach P.J. Fleck’s first recruiting class in 2017—have announced plans to marry their girl friends in 2022. Going into their fifth seasons of competition next September, Morgan and Schmitz will be among the most experienced players in the Big Ten.

Sixty years ago the Gophers played in their second and last Rose Bowl. On January 1, 1962 Minnesota completely dominated UCLA in a 21-3 win, compiling 397 net yards to 107 by the Bruins.

Apparently no report yet on TNT’s national viewership for last Saturday’s Winter Classic matchup between the Wild and Blues at Target Field. The game dates back to 2008 and the 2020 classic hit a new TV low averaging a 1.15 rating and 1.96 million viewers on NBC. COVID-19 postponed the 2021 Winter Classic in Minneapolis.

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U Ends Desert Drought in Bowl Win

Posted on December 29, 2021December 29, 2021 by David Shama

It may have slipped by most University of Minnesota football fans and even a few Golden Gophers historians, but last night your favorite college program earned its first ever win in Arizona.

The drought is over. This is reported with both amusement and relief.

The Gophers beat West Virginia 18-6 in Phoenix Tuesday evening and won the Guaranteed Rate Bowl. Four previous games in the Phoenix area didn’t go so well.

In 1969 Minnesota, just two years removed from a Big Ten championship, got ambushed by Arizona State in Tempe. Back in those days the Sun Devils were members of the lightly regarded Western Athletic Conference, a league that seldom received a nod in Big Ten country.

Coach Frank Kush and the Devils saw an opportunity to make a statement to the college football world. They did just that, embarrassing Minnesota by a 48-26 score indicative of the difference between the two teams on a September night in the desert.

Maybe the Devils jinxed the Gophs back in ’69. Not only did the next several decades of Minnesota football look nothing like the glorious past of conference titles and national championships, but even a return to ‘Zona in the new millennium brought more frustration.

The Gophers had a 35-7 halftime lead over Texas Tech in Tempe in the 2006 Insight Bowl. By the end of the fourth quarter the game was tied 38-38 and the Red Raiders won in overtime 44-41. Pass-happy Texas Tech threw 55 times and Minnesota had no second half answers.

The “stubborn” Gophers made return trips to the Insight Bowl in 2008 and 2009. Same destination with the drought continuing in the desert, losing 42-21 and 14-13 to Kansas and Iowa State.

The Arizona football gods tried to hex the Gophers again last night at Chase Stadium, the baseball facility with a retractable roof. On a rainy night in Phoenix, Guaranteed Rate Bowl authorities briefly opened the roof just before kickoff to allow sky divers to prove for the umpteenth time they can land on a football field (BTW, this one with recently installed new sod).

A less than ideal playing surface had the Gophers sometimes unsure of their footing and prone to mistakes. Such was the case in the second half when wide receiver Mike Brown-Stephens fell down on his pass pattern and allowed a West Virginia interception. Yes, the Mountaineers played on the same surface but lest you forget the curse of the desert, the boys from Morgantown looked steady on their collective feet.

And if the field conditions weren’t enough to cause a pre-game “here-we-go-again” mindset, a woman named Stormy was the sideline reporter for ESPN’s telecast!

When Minnesota endured the 1969 butt-kicking that started the struggles in Arizona, the Gopher coach was Murray Warmath who was born December 26, 1912 and died in 2011. He received a birthday present of sorts this week with his former team playing the kind of dominating defense, advantageous field position and time consuming football he preached at Minnesota. His 1960 team won Minnesota’s last national championship.

Minnesota ended bad times in Arizona by holding the Mountaineers to just one touchdown and 206 total yards of offense. The West Virginia running game was shut down and the passing results were not a whole lot better. The Gophers sacked the quarterback five times, bringing frequent pressure that helped hold the Mountaineers to 140 yards passing.

This season defensive coordinator Joe Rossi removed any remaining doubt about how important he is to the Gophers. He doesn’t like being referred to as “a guru” by his players but when your defense ranks among the best in the nation and allows only one opponent in 13 games to score over 28 points, you deserve accolades.

Minnesota’s kicking game and offense had the Mountaineers starting drives inside their 30 and 20 yard lines. Gopher defensive end Boye Mafe, who had a stellar night auditioning for NFL scouts, nearly caused a first half safety while tackling the West Virginia quarterback, Jarret Doege.

Minnesota’s time of possession was 38:29. West Virginia’s 21:31. The disparity was due mostly to the Gophers hoarding the football with their running game. That success started up front with its veteran line led by right tackle Daniel Faalele who also scored high with NFL evaluators while playing his final game for Minnesota.

In the first quarter the offense failed twice inside the West Virginia 10-yard line. Minnesota’s Ky Thomas fumbled to end a drive and Matthew Trickett missed a makeable 33-yard field goal try. That cost the Gophers points on a night they could have won the game by a much larger margin.

With Rossi in charge, it looks like the Gophers can consistently produce defenses that will do their part in winning a Big Ten West Division title. But to take the next step the Gophers have to raise the bar offensively, particularly with the passing attack including better play calls, catching consistency, big gains and more points. With the return of Kirk Ciarrocca as offensive coordinator, there is hope the Gophers can develop a passing offense that better complements their successful running game.

But before washing the desert sand out of their eyes and looking to 2022, the Gophers should take a few days to celebrate their triumph in Arizona and what it represents. Minnesota finishes 2021 with a 9-4 record including three straight wins and that sounds a lot better than 8-5. This is the second time in three years the Gophers have won nine games or more.

Among the victories in 2021 was taking down a nationally ranked Wisconsin team that has won seven of its last eight games. The late November win over the Badgers was the first time the Gophers claimed Paul Bunyan’s Axe in Minneapolis since 2003.

Head coach P.J. Fleck is now 3-0 in bowl games because his teams come prepared to compete instead of arriving with a “let’s party” approach. The focus is there for four quarters. In all games during the Fleck era (dating back to 2017) the Gophers are 33-4 when leading at halftime.

Fleck’s overall record at Minnesota is 35-23 but he is 23-10 the last three seasons. His winning percentage of .603 is third best among Gopher coaches who coached in 45 games or more. Minnesota has had 19 coaches since 1900 and Fleck ranks sixth all-time in program wins.

Fleck’s Big Ten record is 21-22 after going 6-3 this fall. In Warmath’s first six conference seasons he won 15, lost 25 and tied 2. Since 2000 the Gophers have produced five winning seasons in Big Ten games, with two coming under Fleck.

Oh, yes, one other stat before signing off. Fleck is 1-0 in the desert.

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