MIAC – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Vikings Positioned for Future Rebuild

Posted on November 8, 2021 by David Shama

The Vikings, 3-5 after yesterday’s loss to the Ravens, are a long shot to make the playoffs and have missed the postseason in two of the last three seasons. The Vikings, although playing with effort, are a flawed team whose faults include not being able to capitalize on opponents’ mistakes and not finishing off games with a victory.

Embattled head coach Mike Zimmer probably not only needs to lead the Vikings to the playoffs but also win a couple of games to save his job. GM Rick Spielman, also the target of a highly critical fan base, has even a longer tenure in his position than Zimmer who he hired before the 2014 season.

The Wilf family could decide in January it’s time for new leadership on and off the field. Part of Mark and Zygi Wilf’s thinking might be prompted after reviewing a roster with several aging players among Minnesota’s impact performers.

Quarterback Kirk Cousins and defensive end Everson Griffen are both 33, safety Harrison Smith 32, cornerback Patrick Peterson and wide receiver Adam Thielen are 31, linebackers Anthony Barr and Eric Kendricks and defensive tackle Michael Pierce are all 29.

There are longevity questions also about two of the team’s best performers, defensive end Danielle Hunter, 27, and running back Dalvin Cook, 26. Injuries have sidelined Hunter in both 2020 and 2021. Cook missed most of his rookie season in 2017 and injuries, including this season, have forced him out of the lineup numerous times in the last five years. NFL running backs have among the shortest of careers in the NFL.

None of this is to suggest the Vikings have to implode their roster next offseason. But except for 22-year-old wide receiver Justin Jefferson the Vikings don’t have any young stars on the roster, and whoever is managing the personnel will need to make decisions about aging players who have been major contributors in the past. In 2022 the club certainly could begin to transition its roster with aggressiveness while retaining the most valued players including Cook and probably Hunter.

The Wilfs might do a postseason audit, including review of the player roster and salary cap, and decide a new regime gets the opportunity to rebuild the Vikings during the next couple of years. The Wilfs are fans, too, and they have to be frustrated with mediocrity.

Worth Noting

The Twins announced this morning they have hired Jayce Tingler, 40, as bench coach and David Popkins, 31, as hitting coach. As manager of the Padres, Tingler led the team to the National League Division Series in 2020 and finished second in NL Manager of the Year voting. Popkins was hitting coach for the Great Lakes Loons, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ High-A affiliate. The Loons led the High-A Central Division in home runs (187), slugging percentage (.456) and OPS (.800) last season.

Yesterday Jefferson played in his 24th career game and increased his career receiving yards to 2,032 yards. He is the second-fastest player in the Super Bowl era to reach 2,000 career receiving yards (Odell Beckham Jr., 21 games).

Presuming the Vikings draft somewhere between 16 and 32 in the first round of next year’s NFL Draft, they might select a quarterback like Nevada’s Carson Strong or Pitt’s Kenny Pickett. It’s believed Spielman is evaluating both of them.

Among deer hunters planning to be out for the opener last weekend were Eden Prairie coach Mike Grant and his legendary dad Bud, 94 years old. Mike is chasing a 12th state football championship.

The Golden Gophers, 6-3, expectedly lost their opening game to Ohio State but their other two defeats, against lowly Bowling Green and mediocre Illinois, were major upsets. Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck said early last week that in nine years as a head coach his personal worst effort was for Bowling Green.

Gophers’ kicker Matthew Trickett, the Ken State transfer who was the MAC Special Teams Player of the Year in 2019 after making 82.5 percent of 57 attempts, is 10 of 17 for 58.2 percent through eight games at Minnesota. He is three of five from 40-49 yards, and one of four from 50 or more. He has also missed two extra points including one in Saturday’s 14-6 loss to Illinois.

One Stadium Village lot about three blocks from Huntington Bank Stadium is charging $30 for parking at Gophers football games. Any place asking more?

Congratulations to retired Gopher trainer Jim Marshall and wife Mary Lee who celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary November 16.

Minnesota native and Wild forward Nick Bjugstad, who scored the winning shootout goal Saturday night against the Penguins, made this promise to the fans before the season started: “I’ll do my best every day to bring the Stanley Cup to St. Paul.”

Jack LaFontaine, chosen last season as college hockey’s best goalie, had a season high 34 saves for the 6-4 Gophers in their 4-1 win over the Badgers Saturday night. Minnesota is 11-4-1 in its last 16 games against border rival Wisconsin.

The latest issue of Sports Illustrated includes a photo and Faces in the Crowd story on Hopkins senior basketball star Maya Nnaji who will play next year for Arizona, becoming the highest ranked Wildcat in women’s program history, per the magazine.

Twins radio voice Cory Provus will do Big Ten Network men’s basketball play-by-play this season.

The Twins have two free agents in pitcher Michael Pineda and shortstop Andrelton Simmons. Wager on a Pineda return, but not Simmons.

Wonder if the Twins have interest in a short term contract for former Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander? He will be 39 by Opening Day and has missed almost the last two seasons because of an injured elbow but maybe there is something “left in the tank” of the free agent right hander.

Skyline Division leader Bethel hosts Northwoods Division leader Saint John’s on Saturday for the MIAC football championship. The winner receives the MIAC’s automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division III playoffs. The Johnnies won the regular-season game between the two traditional powers, 31-25.

Football rosters for the annual Minnesota High School All-Star Game (December 4, U.S. Bank Stadium) will be announced Friday on Randy Shaver’s Prep Sports Extra show on KARE 11.

The November 11 CORES luncheon and program at the Bloomington Event Center is cancelled. The next CORES program will be January 13.

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Twins Not Parting Ways with Rocco

Posted on October 3, 2021 by David Shama

The Minnesota Twins end their regular season today with a series finale in Kansas City against the Royals. This could be the most disappointing year in franchise history dating back to 1961. Before the season started internal and external expectations were that the club would contend for an American League championship, not finish 17 or 18 games under .500.

Media speculation has manager Rocco Baldelli on the “hot seat.” His name is on the list of managers that could be fired soon but team president Dave St. Peter told Sports Headliners it’s not going to happen.

“We believe in Rocco,” St. Peter said. “We think he’s part of the solution. He’s certainly not the problem in our mind.”

Baldelli had no managerial experience when he took over the Twins for the 2019 season. His first club won the AL Central with a 101-61 record, the second most in franchise history. During a pandemic shortened 2020, the Twins were 36-24 and again led the division standings. This year’s team has underwhelmed with inconsistent pitching and injuries to key positional players.

St. Peter believes Baldelli, 40, is a better manager today because of what he has experienced the last three seasons. “Think about what he’s faced as a manager. He’s had 100 win teams. He’s had to deal with a world-wide pandemic. He’s had to deal with social justice issues. He’s had to deal with the loss of a bench coach (the late Mike Bell). He’s dealt with probably every injury you could ever imagine from all of his star players.

“And now he’s dealt with a really challenging season. A season where we’ve failed to meet expectations. Those things and 100 other things are going to help shape you as a leader, and Rocco Baldelli is still on the opening chapters of his managerial career. So there is no doubt in my mind his best managing is ahead of him.”

St. Peter doesn’t expect any major changes in the baseball front office. That includes the return of top executives Derek Falvey and Thad Levine. “Yeah, 100 percent (both return). I expect both of them to be part of our franchise for a long, long time.”

Dave St. Peter (photo courtesy of Minnesota Twins)

The team president believes 2022 will be a “retool,” not a rebuild for the club. Much of the focus, of course, will be improving the pitching staff. He’s encouraged by the work of the bullpen over the last two months, labeling it as one of the best in MLB during that period. The starting staff will receive particular offseason scrutiny with the club looking for pitching help within the organization and outside of it through potential trades and free agent signings.

St. Peter predicted predicts young starters from within the organization are likely to join the Twins as the 2022 season develops. “That really excites me because that’s really the ticket to sustained success,” he said.

Worth Noting

The Golden Gophers earned some redemption yesterday with a 20-13 win over Purdue and moved their season record to 3-2. Minnesota players and coaches had spent last week trying to explain their stunning 14-10 loss to lowly Bowling Green at home September 25. Gopher defensive end Boye Mafe said this before going to Purdue: “…If we want to do what we want to do with the season, we have to really show up and really actually execute.”

The offense, led by quarterback Tanner Morgan, was much better yesterday than the week before. Morgan was the target of much criticism passing for 59 yards on five of 13 completions against BG. “Being the quarterback of the Minnesota Golden Gophers is something that I truly cherish, but at the end of the day that’s not my identity. My identity is who I am, as a child of God, and when you remember that I think it makes things a lot easier personally. But people have a right to be angry. That’s part of college football. …”

True freshman Joe Alt, from Totino-Grace and North Oaks, was on the field at left tackle for Notre Dame yesterday during the home loss to Cincinnati.

Short list: Twins slugger Miguel Sano has 30 home runs this season and he hit 34 in 2019. He is one of only seven Twins ever to hit 30 or more in multiple seasons, joining Harmon Killebrew, Bob Allison, Tom Brunansky, Brian Dozier, Gary Gaetti and Justin Morneau.

Byron Buxton has stolen 71 bases in 81 career attempts, a percentage of .876. That’s second best in MLB history (minimum 80 attempts). Alexi Casilla, with the Twins and Baltimore Orioles, is the leader with a percentage of .879.

It was 40 years ago last Thursday (September 30, 1981) the Twins played their final game at Met Stadium, moving into the Metrodome in 1982.

Minnesota native and baseball hall of famer Dave Winfield is 70 today.

A Minnesota Timberwolves source said former coach Ryan Saunders hasn’t decided on his next career opportunity. He and wife Hayley have two children under three and continue to live in the Minneapolis area.

“The Huddle” with Mike Max and Pete Najarian debuts next Sunday from 10 a.m. to noon on WCCO Radio. The show fills the time slot of “The Sports Huddle” show that hasn’t aired for about 18 months.

As of late last week, the Minnesota Wild had sold more than 1,200 Winter Classic jerseys since announcing them about a month ago. The jerseys honor the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, and the 2022 Winter Classic that will be at Target Field.

Bally Sports North will televise the Timberwolves preseason game against the New Orleans Pelicans Monday night from Target Center, with Bally Sports using its app to stream the Wild’s preseason game against the Colorado Avalanche from Xcel Energy Center on the same evening.

Kevin Harlan, the former radio voice of the Timberwolves, does the play-by-play for CBS on its TV coverage of today’s Minnesota Vikings-Cleveland Browns game.

Zero. In Minnesota’s win last Sunday the Viking defense held the Seattle Seahawks scoreless in the second half for the first time since the Tampa Bay Bucs did so in November of 2016.

Rookie left tackle Christian Darrisaw, who has yet to play for the 1-2 Vikings, perhaps could make his debut today if the game is one-sided. He was a full participant in practice last week after being sidelined with a groin issue.

The United States Hockey League had a record 375 NHL scouts and D-1 coaches at its recent Fall Classic Showcase held near Pittsburgh. Representatives of the Minnesota Wild, Golden Gophers, St. Thomas, and other Minnesota schools were in attendance. The USHL’s new president and commissioner is St. Paul native Billy Robertson.

Chris Meidt, president and CEO of Minnesota-based North Risk Partners, is the former quarterbacks coach of the Washington Redskins and ex-head coach at St. Olaf. As a Minneota High School quarterback in the 1980s he threw over 100 career touchdown passes for a then national prep record and was featured in Sports Illustrated’s “Faces in the Crowd.”

A pair of senior MIAC quarterbacks, Bethel’s Jaran Roste, and Chris Backes from Saint John’s, are semifinalists for the William V. Campbell Trophy. The award recognizes an individual as the best football scholar-athlete in the nation for his combined academic success, football performance, and exemplary leadership.

The program time to honor Minnesota prep football coaching legend Ron Stolski next Saturday has been changed from 4 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. The event will be at the Northern Pacific Center in Brainerd.

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Tommies Hoops: Big Time Potential

Posted on August 6, 2020August 6, 2020 by David Shama

Transitioning from Division III, the University of St. Thomas takes its 22-sports program into Division I competition in a year. Tommies men’s basketball has the long-term potential to become the first money-making program in the athletic department, and perhaps one day emerge as a high profile national team.

School athletics director Phil Esten was asked about the program eventually earning that kind of success. Maybe in 10 years? “I certainly think that we’re going to make progress toward that,” Esten told Sports Headliners.

Right now the Tommies are at the starting line. For the first five years, men’s basketball and the other UST sports aren’t eligible to participate in NCAA Tournaments. Men’s basketball and most of the other UST sports will compete in the Summit League. The initial goal is for the basketball team to soon hold its own in a mid-major conference that includes four schools from the Dakotas. “I think we can be a very competitive basketball team (in the future),” said Esten, who has been a high level athletics administrator at Minnesota, California and Penn State.

In men’s basketball the Tommies can target the quality recruiting base in the Twin Cities area. “There’s a lot of very deep and rich talent in the state of Minnesota,” Esten acknowledged.

The Gophers have been the state’s only Division I program in the past but Minnesotans will now have a second choice to compete at the NCAA’s top level while staying close to home. “There’s plenty of talent I think for St. Thomas to be able to recruit a couple (standouts) every single year,” said Esten who believes preps in Wisconsin and Illinois could also be prime targets.

Former University of Minnesota Big Ten championship coach Jim Dutcher has been impressed with the quality talent within the state. “…Some of the players that Minnesota may hesitate on, they (the Tommies) may be able to get in the door,” Dutcher told Sports Headliners.

St. Thomas will make the transition to Division I led by coach John Tauer. The Tommies have been a national power in Division III under Tauer, and won the 2016 NCAA championship. A Tommie alum, he has a passion for the school, and has built a strong relationship with Minnesota high school coaches. He will be expanding his staff to better compete at the Division I level, according to Esten.

Esten said already “we’ve had some pretty interesting conversations” from prominent men’s and women’s basketball schools about scheduling St. Thomas teams in the near future. While some schools may look at the initial Tommies teams as easy opponents and want St. Thomas only for their home games, Esten said a couple of programs have expressed interest in coming to the Twin Cities for games, too.

Motivation to travel here includes exposure to the state’s recruiting talent, but Esten said there is also a willingness to help UST successfully start its men’s or women’s programs. While Esten wants most basketball games played on campus in the school’s 2,000 seat arena, he is willing to consider an attractive matchup in a much larger venue in either Minneapolis or St. Paul.

No doubt such a game would attract a portion of UST’s 110,000 alumni, a large percentage of who live in the Twin Cities. Those Tommies alums are expected to support St. Thomas in greater numbers than in the past for various sports. The spectator turnout for UST home games will also benefit from the approximately 40,000 people in the Twin Cities who are alums of various Summit League schools.

The Tommies wouldn’t schedule a showcase basketball game at a Target Center or Xcel Energy Center without believing it would be a money-maker. The men’s and women’s programs could eventually become competitive enough to spark conversation about building an on-campus arena, perhaps seating 8,000 to 10,000 spectators. Esten is a proponent of playing in on-campus facilities. In the meantime, the Tommies men’s basketball program may soon receive six-figure paydays by agreeing to play at the home arenas of Division I powers from conferences like the Big Ten and ACC.

The school leadership compares UST with other well-known urban Catholic universities. With factors such as geographic location, endowments, curricula, graduation rates, and job placements, administrators say St. Thomas is similar to schools like Creighton, Dayton, Marquette, Villanova and others. Those schools, of course, have great basketball legacies including national titles. Three of the four (Dayton not included) are members of the prominent Big East Conference where a former St. Thomas insider told Sports Headliners he thinks the Tommies could land 10 years or more down the road.

Because of the pandemic the total St. Thomas sports program has one more uncertain year of competition in the MIAC before it exits to Division I. The COVID-19 virus already has caused MIAC decision makers to move the football season to spring. The UST football schedule had included a November 7 date at U.S. Bank Stadium against St. John’s to be hosted by the Johnnies.

Esten believes in normal times the game might attract at least a near capacity crowd at the Vikings’ home stadium. Tommies-Johnnies is a legacy rivalry that a few years ago set an all-time record for attendance at a D-III game, with an announced crowd of 37,355 at Target Field. That record has since been broken, but with U.S. Bank Stadium’s football capacity of nearly 69,000, a UST-St. John’s game would have the potential to set a Division III record (perhaps never to be broken).

Whether there is a game in 2021 or not, the end appears near for the nationally publicized football rivalry. UST will be a FCS Division I program competing in the Pioneer Football League in the fall of 2021. Esten couldn’t think of a game matching a Division I program against a Division III team, referring to it as “very rare.”

By transitioning to Division I the Tommies are expected to grow their subsidized athletics budget by three or four times. The initial budgets perhaps will be $21 million to $25 million. The school, though, is firmly behind the transition, citing multiple benefits ranging from competing in sports at the Division I level to extending the UST brand across the region and country.

In retrospect did the MIAC do the Tommies a favor by unexpectedly asking UST to leave the conference because of the school’s dominance in athletics? Esten said no, referring to the disappointment of the surprising news and the ending of 100 years of association with the conference. “It was really sad,” he said.

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