MIAC – Page 33 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

40 Years but Super Bowl Memories Linger

Posted on January 22, 2014January 23, 2014 by David Shama

About four decades ago the Vikings split two games with the Dolphins within a period of five months. Unfortunately for the Vikings, their win came in the preseason of 1973. The loss was in the 1974 Super Bowl.

The Vikings defeated Miami 20-17 in a preseason game at Met Stadium during August of 1973. At Super Bowl VIII the Dolphins scored on their first two possessions and dominated the game in a 24-7 victory.

Forty years ago this month the Vikings were in Houston preparing for the Super Bowl and making news long before kickoff. The AFC Dolphins were allowed to use the Houston Oilers practice facilities but the NFC Vikings were assigned to a high school stadium.

Patrick Reusse recalled the high school facility in the 2008 book Minnesota Vikings, The Complete Illustrated History. “The Vikings were left with the locker room at James M. Delmar Stadium, a high school facility without lockers and only nails in the wall for hanging clothes,” Reusse wrote. He described the room as small, with barely enough space for the coaches, and outside there were no tackling dummies or blocking sleds. But the Dolphins were given superior facilities because both Miami and the Oilers were AFC teams.

The practice setup was so bad Vikings coach Bud Grant criticized NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle. Doug Kingsriter, a tight end on that Vikings Super Bowl team, said Grant was justified in his criticism even though the commissioner later fined him.

“There were birds not only in the shower but they were up in the corners in the locker room,” Kingsriter recalled. “It’s like you’ve gotta be kidding me. I don’t recollect there was even a door going from the workout facility to the outside. It just felt really rinky-dink. And, of course, it got Bud into trouble with Pete Rozelle. He fined him $5,000.”

Kingsriter told Sports Headliners he considered the fine on Grant “very unprofessional” given the status of the Super Bowl and the contrasting practice facilities. A year later the Vikings were back in the Super Bowl, this time in New Orleans and the NFL office did the Purple no favors again.

The Steelers stayed at the upscale Fontainebleau while the Vikings were assigned to a lesser hotel. “It was like a motel in a way,” Kingsriter said. “It was a two-story with a courtyard right under a runway at New Orleans International. We had planes going off all night long. We thought this is Pete Rozelle again. He’s got a chip on his shoulder and he’s gonna play it out with us.”

Kingsriter was married the week before the Super Bowl. He received permission from Grant to join the team late for Super Bowl preparations but couldn’t convince the coach to allow his buddy and teammate, linebacker Jeff Siemon, to attend the wedding in West Texas.

Kingsriter, the former Gophers All-American tight end from Richfield, recalls throwing a block in the game and injuring his nose. “So I was going on my honeymoon after the game with a broken nose,” he said laughing.

Worth Noting

Dave Osborn played on the first three Vikings Super Bowl teams including the club that faced the Dolphins. His opinion is the Dolphins were clearly superior to the Vikings and might have defeated Minnesota seven of 10 times. “Now the other Super Bowls we played, I think we were the better team,” he said. “We should have won some of those games.”

Include Osborn among many former Vikings who praise Grant. Earlier this month, when the Vikings were searching for a new head coach, Osborn suggested Grant should return to the team.

Osborn described the franchise as needing leadership and facing “turmoil” with challenges that include winning over the public and selling high price tickets in the new stadium opening in 2016. “I would do whatever possible to hire Bud Grant as an interim coach, whether it was for one year, or two max,” Osborn told Sports Headliners in early January.

“…Let Bud sit in the front office. Bud doesn’t have to go on the field. Just let Bud be in control. Let him hire some good assistants. I guarantee you this team would be better ready to move into that new stadium when the time came. I mean Bud is 86 but he could do it. That’s the confidence I got in Bud. Great leadership.”

Osborn said Grant used to review film to see if his players were lined up the way he wanted for the National Anthem.

Mike Tice owns a 2014 Kentucky Derby contender along with Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville. Midnight Hawk won the Sham Stakes earlier this month at Santa Anita. Tice, the former Vikings coach, led him into the winner’s circle. The Sham is the first in a series of 3-year-old races at Santa Anita serving as Derby qualifiers. The colt is trained by Bob Baffert.

Sophomore Philip Nelson played inconsistently during two years of trying to win the Gophers quarterback job but his announcement last week to leave the program means Mitch Leidner is the only QB on the roster with game experience. The situation is similar to about a year ago when Max Shortell left the Gophers after the 2012 season and Nelson was the only QB with game experience.

Could Nelson’s next school be either North Dakota State, San Diego State, Texas Tech or Wyoming?

Gophers coach Jerry Kill will be among the speakers at the MFCA Clinic March 27-29 at the DoubleTree in St. Louis Park. Last year’s annual clinic drew 1,200 attendees and 50 exhibitors. More details including registration are available at the Minnesota Football Coaches Association Website.

Gophers junior center Elliott Eliason averaged 3.5 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game as a sophomore. He’s improved those figures this season to 8.7 and 2.6, ranking second in both categories among Big Ten players. Big Ten Network analyst Shon Morris said on Sunday’s Minnesota-Iowa game telecast that Eliason is the most improved player in the conference.

If the Gophers can defeat Wisconsin at home tonight it will be their second consecutive win in Williams Arena against the Badgers. The Gophers won 58-53 in overtime last year and earlier in the 2013 season lost by one point in Madison. A win also means the Gophers will be 2-3 in five January games against Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State and Wisconsin, all teams that either are or have been top 25 ranked this season.

Dan Kornbaum, who led a trio of wins last week by Augsburg when he averaged 23.3 and 10.3 rebounds, will be a player St. Thomas has to watch tonight when the Tommies (9-1) host the Auggies (7-3). Kornbaum also had 25 points and five rebounds in a 97-60 Augsburg win over Saint Mary’s on Monday night.

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Mixed Messages Tag Frazier Era

Posted on December 18, 2013December 18, 2013 by David Shama

Will Leslie Frazier return as the Vikings head coach in 2014?

After Frazier coached the Vikings to a 10-6 record last season and a playoff spot, management and ownership declined to extend his contract. The team reportedly has an option for Frazier’s services in 2014, making it easy and inexpensive to let him go if that is the decision.

But a trusted source has repeatedly told Sports Headliners that in late summer the Vikings were talking about a multi-year extension to Frazier’s contract. If true, this sort of mixed message is part of what characterizes Frazier’s tenure as coach.

Multiple sources, including a Sports Headliners source, are now reporting the Vikings have contacted Penn State head coach Bill O’Brien, a former offensive coordinator with the NFL Patriots. If accurate, it means a coaching search, even if in preliminary mode, has started.

Could Frazier keep his job if the team wins its last two games of the season? A final record of 6-9-1 would be a major disappointment but perhaps not seen as a complete disaster by Frazier’s bosses after this team started the season 1-7.

Frazier was 3-13 two years ago. Two of his three full seasons as head coach haven’t resulted in records even approaching .500. He and his staff, along with the personnel department, haven’t solved the quarterback problem. There have been questionable coaching decisions about the use of certain players, plus stumbles in game management and failing to win in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter.

But Frazier’s likeability and leadership has not only won friends in the organization and community but more importantly has kept the players on his side when the season was moving toward oblivion. “These guys have not quit,” said Dean Dalton, a former Vikings assistant coach.

A strong close to the season might save Frazier’s job but it probably won’t stop a shakeup of the coaching staff. Despite Frazier’s loyalty to his staff (and players) there aren’t many knowledgeable Vikings observers who believe offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave and defensive coordinator Alan Williams will return in the same roles in 2014.

Frazier? Ask the question about his future this way: the Vikings haven’t made a long term commitment to him in the past, so based on two losing seasons and other critiques of his work how likely is it he will be retained?

If there’s a change, a lot of names will surface as Frazier’s successor including Brian Billick, the former Vikings assistant coach who won a Super Bowl with the Ravens but hasn’t coached since 2007. His head coaching experience and communication skills could fit well at a time when the Vikings are trying to rebuild the team and gain public confidence for not only next season but the new stadium opening in 2016.

The list could also include Stanford head coach David Shaw whose father Willie Shaw is a former Vikings assistant and Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin, an ex-Gophers assistant whose wife is from Minnesota. Shaw and Sumlin are both known as successful offensive coaches who have talents in developing quarterbacks.

Dalton said there are some differences in coaching college and pro football but not enough to eliminate college candidates for NFL openings. “I think the great ones can do it at any level.”

A successful head coach has to be a “CEO type” in the opinion of Dalton. What that includes is a high football IQ and the ability to attract top assistant coaches while being a teacher and leader who goes about the job with authority and consistency.

“To be honest, Leslie fits all those things,” Dalton said. “It’s been disappointing as to how things have gone in terms of the product on the field and number of victories.”

Worth Noting

Bill McGuire is a name to follow in the coming months and years. The former UnitedHealth executive took over ownership of the NASL Minnesota United FC soccer franchise last year. Some day he could be operating his team in a downtown soccer stadium near the Minneapolis Farmers Market.

McGuire was in Kansas City, Kansas earlier this month along with his son-in-law Nick Rogers who is president of Minnesota United. The two invited Twins president Dave St. Peter and Minnesota Ballpark Authority executive director Dan Kenney. Both are authorities on stadiums.

The group watched a game in Sporting Park, a facility that seats 18,467 for soccer and 25,000 for concerts. The outdoor stadium opened in 2011 and cost $200 million.

St. Peter said the Twins aren’t moving toward an ownership interest in the soccer team or in a new soccer stadium. “Our focus is on the Twins,” he told Sports Headliners.

St. Peter was impressed with the Kansas City stadium. Would a similar facility be successful in the Farmers Market area where business leaders there are intrigued about a stadium being a catalyst for economic growth? “I don’t know if there is a model to support that,” he said. “I am not sure I have enough information to have an opinion.”

Although soccer and baseball seasons are concurrent, St. Peter isn’t concerned about the growth of soccer. “We don’t view soccer as a threat to our fan base,” he said.

McGuire is highly regarded among business people. He probably doesn’t see his franchise’s present home site at the National Sports Center in Blaine as a permanent facility for the team. It wouldn’t be surprising to some day see an open air soccer facility downtown that could also be used for concerts and other events.

For the second time in five years the MIAC will provide the football officiating crew for the Division III national championship game in Salem, Virginia. Working Friday’s game between Mount Union and UW-Whitewater will be Twin Citians Tom Barnette, Tony Day, Tom Schiller, Josh Thurow, Ben Conley, Chris Rossini and Tom Gillund.

Washburn running back Jeff Jones liked Iowa State running backs coach Kenith Pope who was recruiting him but left the Cyclones staff recently. As a college assistant, Pope was part of staffs that coached legendary running backs Barry Sanders and LaDainian Tomlinson. Jones made an official visit to Iowa State last weekend after previously visiting the Gophers.

Washburn coach Giovan Jenkins told Sports Headliners Jones has improved his ACT score and plans to take the test again to score even higher.

Steve Erban e-mailed earlier this week that his Creative Charters has filled the seats on the December 25 airplane headed to Houston for the Texas Bowl but space remains on the second plane departing Minneapolis on December 26. Erban encourages Gophers fans to travel next week in large numbers, helping develop a reputation that Minnesota fans are passionate about attending bowl games. The Gophers are favored to defeat Syracuse on December 27 in the Texas Bowl. More on travel information at Creativecharter.com.

Former Vikings assistant coach Dean Dalton has followed the improbable comeback season of Auburn. The 11-1 Tigers will play at the Rose Bowl for the national championship against 12-0 Florida State on January 6. Dalton will be there and see his son Devon, an Eden Prairie High School graduate, play the tuba in the Auburn marching band. The Tigers were 3-9 overall last season, 0-8 in the SEC.

Congratulations to Hamline’s Student Athletic Advisory Committee for thinking about U.S. military members in Afghanistan during the holidays. SAAC collected 342 pounds of items including food, shampoo and toothpaste to ship there. SAAC has members from 19 sports and is chaired by volleyball coach Becky Egan. Tara Dooley, Hamline’s assistant trainer who served in Iraq and Kuwait, and school athletic director Jason Verdugo initiated the overseas effort.

Johnson High School and alumni celebrate 100 years of hockey at the St. Paul school on Saturday with multiple events. The school won four state titles including the 1955 team that Herb Brooks played for. Alumni games will be held from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday at Phalen Arena in St. Paul. Johnson will play South St. Paul in junior varsity and varsity games at 1 and 3 p.m. at Aldrich Arena in Maplewood. A dinner and silent auction are scheduled Saturday at Jimmy’s Event Center in Vadnais Heights starting at 5 p.m.

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Barry Alvarez Believes in U Potential

Posted on November 22, 2013November 22, 2013 by David Shama

Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez told Sports Headliners during a telephone interview this week the Gophers football program has the potential to rival his success with the Badgers. Alvarez turned around a morbid Wisconsin program as coach starting in 1990, taking the Badgers to a 10-1-1 record by 1993 and the school’s first Rose Bowl appearance since 1963.

Alvarez said the Minnesota football program has many resources that can assist Jerry Kill who is 8-2 in his third season as Gophers coach. “They have good football in the state,” Alvarez said. “You have a great university. Play in a wonderful conference. A lot of traditions. You’re the only Division I school in the state.

“They have a lot of positives and that’s what they should be selling. I am sure that’s what he (Kill) sells. There’s no reason for them not to be successful.”

Alvarez won three Rose Bowls and three Big Ten titles before he retired as Wisconsin coach after the 2005 season. He is the winningest football coach in Badgers’ history with a record of 118-73-4, a winning percentage of .615.

Could he have duplicated that success at Minnesota?

“You know what, I do (think so) because I am confident in what I do,” Alvarez said. “I think Wisconsin and Minnesota are very similar. The type of players you’re going to get. The type of high school football they play in the (two) states. The fact you got one Division I school in the state. I think that’s very important.

“I think they’re very similar situations. I wouldn’t see myself doing anything different or having any less success if I had gone there.”

Alvarez is impressed with the Gophers and the work of Kill who in his first two seasons won only four Big Ten games but was improving the program. Now the Gophers, who are 4-2 in league games, are among the surprise teams in college football.

“He’s implemented his plan and the kids all understand it,” Alvarez said. “They’re able to play fast because they understand what they’re doing.

“Before you start winning, you have to stop losing. They don’t beat themselves. They’re a physical team. He (Kill) believes in that. You can see it (and) I am impressed with what I see.”

The Badgers are 8-2 overall, 5-1 in the Big Ten. The seniors have been to three Rose Bowls. Alvarez said the Badgers are underrated nationally and he views Wisconsin as a one loss team. The Badgers lost a controversial game against Arizona State when time expired before Wisconsin could attempt a winning field goal. The team’s other loss was to No. 3 ranked Ohio State in Columbus, a game that Alvarez said turned on one possession.

During more than two decades of Wisconsin success, the Badgers have had at least a couple of seasons when they were national championship contenders. One opportunity slipped away 20 years ago when undefeated Wisconsin was upset by the Gophers in the Metrodome, 28-21. It was the Badgers’ only loss of the 1993 season.

“Had we won that game we would have been the only undefeated team in the country, probably would have been national champs,” Alvarez said. “I think we ended up fourth in the country.”

The Big Ten’s football teams will be aligned in new divisions starting next year as the league expands to 14 schools with the additions of Maryland and Rutgers. Alvarez likes the new setup that includes rivals Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska joining the Badgers in the West Division. He also isn’t buying the argument the East Division with historically powerful programs like Ohio State and Michigan will be better than the West.

“You can’t just look at the names just because they’re some of our brand names in Michigan and Ohio State,” Alvarez said. “They haven’t won the league every year. Penn State the same way. When you break it down over the last 20 years, I think Ohio State has the most wins. We’re second (then Michigan). …So there’s a pretty good balance there.”

Part of Alvarez’s argument, too, includes Nebraska which joined the Big Ten in 2011. Dating back to 1993 and up through last season the Cornhuskers have won more games, 199, than any Big Ten program except for Ohio State.

Wisconsin keeps some pretty good company now thanks to Alvarez who came to Madison as a relatively unknown assistant coach from Notre Dame. He inherited a Camp Randall Stadium that was sometimes half empty and a program that knew next to nothing about winning after compiling a 9-36 record from 1986-1989.

Now there’s a statue of Alvarez outside the stadium and the Badgers roll on.

Worth Noting

John Kennedy was assassinated on Friday, November 22, 1963, one day before the Gophers were scheduled to play the Badgers in Minneapolis. Many college football games were postponed on the Saturday following the death of the president, including Minnesota and Wisconsin. The teams finally played on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 28, and the Gophers won 14-0.

The NFL played its regular Sunday schedule after the assassination. The Vikings, playing at home, defeated the Lions at Met Stadium, 34-31.

The 10 finalists for the 2013 Mr. Football Award have been announced by the Minnesota Football Coaches Association. The prep players and their high schools are Tory Adams, Hutchinson; Matt Christenson, Nicollet; Ejodamen Ejiya, Spring Lake Park; Jeffrey Jones, Washburn; Robert Olson, Eden Prairie; Jacques Perra, Roseville; Andrew Stelter, Owatonna; Michael Strand, Barnesville; Ezra Szczyrbak, Moose Lake/Willow River; and Blake Weber, Prior Lake.

Jones, a four-star running back, and Stelter, a three-star defensive end, have verbally committed to the Gophers, according to Rivals.com. The award, sponsored by the MFCA and Minnesota Vikings, recognizes an outstanding senior player and dates back to 2004. Gophers quarterback Philip Nelson, from Mankato West, won the award in 2011. Osseo running back Bridgeport Tusler won last year.

The 2013 winner will be announced at the Mr. Football Banquet on Sunday, December 8 at the DoubleTree Hotel in St. Louis Park. Tickets are $15 and can be ordered on the MFCA website (click on MFCA ad on this page). The banquet begins at noon.

The Gophers basketball team, 5-0 after wins this week at home against Coastal Carolina and Wofford, will play Syracuse on Monday in the opening game for both teams in the EA Sports Maui Invitational. The game begins at 4:30 p.m. Minneapolis time and will be televised on ESPN2.

The Orangemen were ranked No. 8 in the country by Sports Illustrated in the magazine’s college basketball preview issue. The November 18 publication ranked Michigan State No. 3, Michigan No. 7 and Ohio State No. 11.

The Gophers’ Andre Hollins scored 19 and seven points in the two wins this week. Those numbers knocked him down from No. 1 to fourth in Big Ten scoring average per game. He is now averaging 18.8 points per game.

Former Timberwolves guard and front office executive Fred Hoiberg has coached Iowa State to a 4-0 record so far including a 77-70 upset of Michigan in Ames and 90-88 win over BYU in Provo. It wouldn’t be that surprising if Hoiberg some day replaces Rick Adelman as Wolves coach.

Jim Smith of Saint John’s is three wins behind former Western Kentucky coach Ed Diddle on the all-time win list for college basketball coaches. Smith’s 756 career wins is one better than that of legendary Oklahoma State coach Hank Iba. In 50 years of coaching Smith is 756-537. The Johnnies are 1-2 this season.

The Gophers baseball coaches have an artist’s color rendering of the proposed baseball setup in the new Vikings stadium. The visual can help with recruiting and the Gophers hope to use the downtown covered stadium for about 12 games in 2017, the first year it will be available to them.

Here are the distances from home plate to the fences in the new stadium: left field, 330 feet; left center, 375; center field, 400; right center, 340; and right field, 305. The right field fencing will extend 30 feet in the air to make hitting home runs more difficult.

The irony of the Twins’ decision this fall to move Joe Mauer from catcher to first base is it appears to end the conversation about bringing free agent Justin Morneau, who is a Mauer pal, back to Minneapolis.

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