NCAA – Page 144 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

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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Don’t Underrate Minnesota Prep Football

Posted on September 25, 2013September 25, 2013 by David Shama

It’s too obvious to ignore now. Young men who learned how to play football at Minnesota high schools are making regional and national headlines at the college level.

Twenty years ago such players didn’t command as much attention but it’s different now. Last Saturday ESPN College GameDay was in Fargo to pay homage to the North Dakota State Bison. All that program has done is use savvy coaching and a Minnesota-heavy roster to win the last two Football Championship Subdivision national titles.

The Bison roster this fall lists 35 Minnesotans. They and their teammates found glory a few weeks ago in Manhattan, Kansas defeating defending Big 12 champion Kansas State. No one should have been stunned since the Bison have defeated two other Bowl Championship Series schools since 2010 — Kansas and Minnesota. (BCS replaced the Division I-A label awhile ago and FCS replaced the smaller school Division I-AA title).

But the Bison weren’t the only showcase for Minnesota high school alums last Saturday. Former Eagan High School running back Zach Zenner ran for two first quarter touchdowns in Lincoln against Nebraska as the Jackrabbits took an early 17-14 lead. Zenner, a junior, led all FCS players in rushing last season and is No. 1 again this fall with 742 yards. He is one of 18 Minnesotans on the Jackrabbits’ roster, a team that is among the best in the FCS.

Scan the Division II top 25 coaches poll and there is Minnesota State-Mankato ranked No. 2 in the country. UMD is No. 13 and St. Cloud State No. 20 in the poll. The Mavericks have 23 Minnesotans on the roster while UMD has 60 and St. Cloud 48.

Pollsters obviously aren’t hesitant to rank Minnesota colleges high in the Division II poll. Why should they be after UMD won national championship games in 2008 and 2010? The coach of those teams, Bob Nielsen, is now in his first season coaching Western Illinois and he won’t surprise anyone if he recruits at Minnesota high schools.

St. Thomas has been in the mix for a Division III national championship the last couple of years. This summer the Tommies started the season ranked No. 2 in the country in the Division III coaches poll and despite a loss to Saint John’s last Saturday St. Thomas will remain a 2013 national power. The Tommies, who had won 36 consecutive regular season games, have 87 Minnesotans on the roster.

Minnesota colleges have loaded up their football programs with alums of state high schools. The nine MIAC schools playing football—all located in Minnesota—have 680 Minnesotans on their rosters. The 16-member Northern Sun Conference, with nearly all Minnesota-based schools, has 427 Minnesotans.

North Dakota, a member of the Big Sky Conference, has 24 alums of Minnesota high schools. Northern Iowa, from the Missouri Valley Conference like North Dakota State, has nine Minnesotans. The Panthers defeated Iowa State of the Big 12 Conference earlier this year.

It’s a nice success story for Minnesota prep football but the script grows weaker when searching the rosters of NFL teams and major college programs. Only a dozen Minnesotans are in the NFL with the most prominent names being wide receivers Larry Fitzgerald and Eric Decker.

No major program from the power conferences turns to this state’s talent pool for most of its needs. And that starts with the Gophers. On last week’s depth chart prior to Minnesota’s final nonconference game against San Jose State, the Gophers had seven state natives starting on offense and one on defense. The Gophers have 42 Minnesotans on their roster of 120 total players.

Many of the 42 will never be starters or major game day contributors. Some aren’t even scholarship players. The Gophers 2013 recruiting class had only one scholarship player from the state, linebacker Chris Wipson from Wayzata, according to Rivals.com. The year before the total was nine of 27 recruits from Minnesota.

But with so much success by other football programs — led by the North Dakota State bandwagon — are the Gophers missing the boat? Well, probably not. For openers, the Bison likely couldn’t win a lot of games week after week if they had to go against the speed, skill and depth of teams from major college programs.

Those programs recruit in talent rich states with more population and favorable climate. Generally speaking, former Minnesota preps are going to do better competing at the FCS, Division II and III levels.

“I think there’s a lot of solid high school football players in Minnesota but I don’t think there’s your elite level football players,” said Minnesota-based recruiting authority Zach Johnson. “I don’t think you can say Minnesota has the quality at the elite level that you would find in Texas, California, Florida (and) most of the southeast.”

Johnson tracks the Gophers recruiting classes and believes the program is correct in often conservatively targeting the number of Minnesotans for scholarships. “Yeah, they’re looking for a different football player,” he said. “They’re looking for a football player that can play at the highest level.”

Gophers coach Jerry Kill said “we’re doing the best we can” in recruiting state players. He believes the number of prospects who interest him as potential scholarship players can vary from five to 25. Having lived in Kansas, a state somewhat similar to Minnesota in population, Kill saw the importance of a large talent pool. “It has to do with population more than anything. More football programs, more schools, more players.”

The Gophers shouldn’t be second-guessed too much for losing to the Bison (Minnesota was rebuilding in its first season under Kill), or because of all the Minnesota natives on the rosters of teams from the Dakotas. “Minnesota is a perfect place for South Dakota schools and North Dakota schools to recruit because it’s loaded with a big metro area with a lot of football players that are just a step below what you need at the big time SEC, ACC level,” Johnson said. “You don’t see 31 Minnesota kids on a SEC roster or an ACC roster. How many Minnesota kids do you see playing in the Pac-12 and SEC and ACC and schools like that?”

Not many is the answer and that’s no surprise to even a Minnesota high school booster like Ron Stolski. He has been coaching high school teams in the state for 52 years and is executive director of the Minnesota High School Football Coaches Association.

He said states like California, Florida and Texas have special athletes blessed with speed and football is “king,” indicating the importance of the sport in those places. But that doesn’t mean Minnesota kids don’t receive top level coaching. “Our kids are as well coached as any in the country,” he said. “The feedback we get constantly is how in tune our coaches are.”

The success of the FCS, Division II and Division III programs in the region also doesn’t surprise Stolski who has sent many of his former players to those types of schools but only three to Division I football during more than a half century of coaching in Minnesota. “Remember they’re also playing schools with Minnesota kids on them. I think the coaching staffs of all those schools…are outstanding. They get that borderline Division I, Division II athlete. They coach the snot out of them.”

That “borderline athlete” is the kind of prospect the Gophers want to have join the program without a scholarship. Kill will tell you the success of his walk-on program will be critical to whether he turns the Gophers into one of the Big Ten Conference’s better teams.

And, of course, he wants the best Minnesota high school players in the worst way. That list could start with Cretin-Derham Hall defensive end Jashon Cornell, rated by ESPN as the No. 1 football player in the country for the class of 2015. Cornell and his teammates were the feature high school game on ESPN a few weeks ago.

That’s heady stuff and the kind of thing that makes someone like Rochester, Minnesota native and former Gopher Darrell Thompson feel good about this state’s prep football players. He thinks major college programs, including the Gophers, have overlooked the quality and depth of the state’s recruiting pool.

“This (Gophers) coaching staff doesn’t realize that there is more here (prospects) than people (think),” Thompson said. “The grass always looks greener. Just like someone’s wife always looks cuter than your wife or some girl. Someone else always looks better.”

Thompson believes the Gophers could typically take 12 to 15 Minnesotans for a recruiting class and be the better for it. “I wouldn’t think you’d have to go with 25 or 30 kids coming from somewhere else every year.”

Maybe the Gophers could pull that off if they could annually lock up each of the state’s best prep players. Bringing the Cornells, Fitzgeralds and Michael Floyds to Dinkytown each year would be precedent setting in this century.

Probably won’t happen but Minnesotans can know there are a lot of success stories on all levels of college football because of contributions made by this state’s high school football alums. “Our football is being played at a very high level,” Stolski said.

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U Looks at Sand Volleyball Program

Posted on June 21, 2013June 22, 2013 by David Shama

The Gophers are showing interest in possibly adding sand volleyball to the roster of intercollegiate sports. “We’ve just had general discussions with the administration,” Gophers indoor volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon told Sports Headliners yesterday.

Although it is an Olympic sport, only 34 American colleges have “verified their commitment” to sand volleyball, according to Collegesand.org. The website said 40 programs are necessary to make sand volleyball a “championship sport.” The NCAA has given the activity emerging sport status.

Nebraska started a sand volleyball program this year and is the only Big Ten school competing in the sport. The Huskers’ schedule was limited to the month of March and included only road matches with opponents such as Florida State, Pepperdine and UCLA.

Nebraska, like Minnesota, has a winning tradition and strong fan support in women’s indoor volleyball. The Huskers and Gophers tied for second place in volleyball in the Big Ten last year with 15-5 records. Nebraska averaged 4,287 fans per home match, second best in the nation. The Gophers, who nearly qualified for the NCAA Final Four Tournament, averaged a national third best 3,316 fans at home.

Various factors about college sand volleyball are likely of interest to Gophers athletic department leaders as they contemplate bringing the sport to campus. To field a team the Gophers could use some of the same players from the indoor team that competes in the fall. College sand volleyball requires more minimal personnel with two players from each side competing against one another (indoor volleyball uses six players per side on the court).

Having a sand volleyball team might mean a recruiting advantage for the Gophers because they could offer competitive playing time to players beyond the indoor volleyball schedule. That factor would be particularly helpful while recruiting in a state like California where so many teenagers play sand volleyball.

At Nebraska indoor coach John Cook is also coaching the sand volleyball team. The Gophers’ sand volleyball coach would almost certainly be McCutcheon, a former men’s and women’s Olympic coach and a world renowned volleyball authority.

The athletic department is in the process of developing a master plan for athletic facilities and the review could include a potential outdoor sand volleyball court. That wouldn’t be a costly expense and fits into the economy of the sport involving scholarships, coaching and a limited schedule.

Sand volleyball here might eventually have revenue producing potential if late spring matches were offered. The indoor Gophers volleyball team with its average of 3,316 drew more fans than women’s basketball, 3,277.

While nothing is for sure yet about the future of sand volleyball at Minnesota, McCutheon sounded optimistic about how it could fit in here. “I think it could be very successful given that it’s such a strong sport in the state,” McCutcheon said.

The athletic department presently has 25 intercollegiate sports. Like other schools the Gophers are mandated by federal law to provide equal opportunities for men and women. The addition of sand volleyball would add to the list of women’s offerings at Minnesota that now includes basketball, cross country, golf, gymnastics, hockey, rowing, softball, soccer, swimming-diving, tennis, track and field, and indoor volleyball.

Worth Noting

East Ridge High School center J.C. Hassenauer, who has verbally committed to Alabama, can become the second Minnesota native ever to play football for the Crimson Tide, according to an Internet story Tuesday by Andrew Gribble on Al.com. Guard William Buckler from St. Paul played for Alabama in the 1920s.

Mark Dienhart, the former Gophers athletic director and more recently executive vice president and chief operating officer for St. Thomas, will now lead Best Buy founder Richard Schulze’s family foundation starting in July.

Former Gophers ticket manager Tom Swain and his wife Arlene had their 66^th wedding anniversary on Wednesday.

Vikings coach Leslie Frazier after being asked about starting third-year quarterback Christian Ponder’s accuracy: “I think he’s much better. He’s worked his tail off trying to improve his accuracy. Our coaches have put him through a bunch of different drills and through his hard work I think he’s improved in that area. Now we’ve got some things we’ve got to get done in training camp, but he’s put in the work to improve and we are seeing it.”

Ex-Vikings quarterback Fran Tarkenton is 6-foot and played at about 190 pounds. In the June 17 issue of Sports Illustrated Tarkenton recalled trying to block 6-5, 272-pound Hall of Fame defensive end Deacon Jones who was built like concrete and passed away earlier this month. “He just broke up laughing,” Tarkenton told the magazine.

The Minnesota High School All-Star Football Game will be played Saturday, June 30 at Husky Stadium in St. Cloud. This coming Sunday 93 players and 16 coaches report to training camp at St. John’s University in Collegeville.

The Timberwolves and the city of Minneapolis hope to soon finalize a $100 million deal to renovate Target Center. Both parties will be involved with financing on the project to further modernize the arena that opened in 1990. The original cost of the building was $104 million.

Look for the Timberwolves to build a new practice facility at a site to be determined. The project would include naming rights. The team now practices at Target Center.

In its mock draft NBAdraftnet.net predicts the Wolves will choose shooting guards Kentavious Coldwell-Pope and Ricardo Ledo with their No. 9 and 26 first round picks in next week’s NBA draft. Former Gophers forwards Trevor Mbakwe and Rodney Williams will be selected on the second round, with Mbawke going to the Grizzlies at No. 41 and Williams to the Suns at No. 57.

The Wolves host a workout session for potential NBA draft choices at Target Center today and among the players will be former Gophers center Colton Iverson who finished his college career at Colorado State. NBAdraft.net predicts Iverson will be drafted by the Magic at No. 51 in the second round.

TV commentator Bert Blyleven, who was born in the Netherlands, joking on Wednesday night’s Twins-White Sox game: “Not Dutch. Not much.”

Joe Mauer had his ninth three-hit game this season against the White Sox in the Twins’ 8-4 win yesterday at Target Field. Mauer is batting .424 in eight games against the White Sox this year.

The No. 4 best workplace among Minnesota large companies is the Minnesota Twins, according to a special section in last Sunday’s Star Tribune.

Gophers women’s basketball coach Pam Borton announced that Rachel Banham, one of the two top sophomore scorers in the NCAA last season with a 20.7 average, had successful patellar tendonitis surgery.

Cynopsis.com reported on Wednesday that last Monday’s Bruins-Blackhawks game was the most watched NHL game ever on the NBC Sports Network and had the most viewers of any Stanley Cup Finals game on cable TV in 11 years.

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