NCAA – Page 150 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Low Expectations for U Opening Foe

Posted on August 1, 2012August 1, 2012 by David Shama

The UNLV team the Gophers open the season against on August 30 is predicted to finish ninth in the 10-team Mountain West Conference, according to a poll of media who cover the league’s football teams.

The Gophers’ second opponent, New Hampshire, will be a fourth place team in the 11-team Colonial Athletic Association, according to a poll of media and coaches. Reporters covering the Mid-American Conference predict Western Michigan will finish third in the six-team West Division. The Broncos are the third team on the Gophers nonconference schedule that concludes against Syracuse, a team that is forecast by the media to place seventh in the eight-team Big East. (All polls referenced here were announced last week or this week.)

UNLV has been 2-10 and 2-11 in two seasons under third-year coach Bobby Hauck. The Rebels have finished 2-6 and 1-6 in conference standings. Mountain West media, who picked Boise State to win the league title, didn’t include any UNLV players on the 25-player preseason all-conference team.

Asked about the predicted low finish for the Rebels, Gophers coach Jerry Kill said: “I can’t control the people that we play. I can control what we do and I am more concerned about the Gophers and us getting started and getting ready to play UNLV.”

Kill has known and respected Hauck for years. Hauck was a national championship coach at Montana before taking the UNLV job.

The Gophers are in no position to disregard UNLV when the teams play in Las Vegas, or the next three nonconference teams — all of whom come to TCF Bank Stadium. Big Ten media predict a last place finish for the Gophers in the Legends Division after Minnesota was 3-9 overall in 2010 and 2011.

Kill is establishing his program in year No. 2 including academics. The team’s cumulative GPA’s for the fall and spring semesters during the 2012-13 school year have been over 3.0. The GPA’s compare favorably with Northwestern football players, a school long known as among the best in the country academically.

Kill said the plus-3.0 results aren’t something that will happen every semester. “You take 115 students; it’s hard to do that good. …I’ve been coaching for 29 (years) and most of the time you get excited if you’re about a 2.55 or 2.6 overall in football because you deal with so many numbers. Those GPA’s (fall and spring) are exceptionally high.”

Gophers and other notes:

Condolences to family members on the passing Monday night of Murray’s Restaurant owner Pat Murray who was 72. Pat was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2011. He was a popular figure not only at the restaurant but as a civic leader in Minneapolis. “People knew what he was like. He was very dedicated professionally and personally,” his son Tim Murray said. “He loved everything about the restaurant business yet somehow juggled his time to do all he could for his kids.”

Visitation is scheduled tomorrow from 4 to 8 p.m. at Washburn-McReavy Edina Chapel. Memorial services Friday will be at St. Olaf Catholic Church downtown beginning at 10 a.m. and visitation will be one hour prior. Memorials of the donor’s choice are welcome.

Kill meets with the media tomorrow, and has several practices open to the public from August 4-8, all beginning at 10:25 a.m. at the Gibson-Nagurski Complex. The Gophers open practice on August 4.

The Big Ten Conference has a rule that athletes transferring from one member school to another can’t receive a scholarship from the new program. However, the NCAA will allow Penn State football players to transfer to Big Ten schools and receive scholarships.

Congratulations to Dick Larson, Rick Meyer, Mike Wilkinson and others who helped make possible the Murray Warmath conference room at the new fitness center at Friendship Village in Bloomington. A celebration at Friendship Village was held last week attended by former Gophers, including those from Warmath’s first team in 1954 to his last in 1971. The conference room is decorated with Warmath memorabilia including his national championship and Big Ten title teams.

The Vikings are not only an overwhelming favorite to finish last in the NFC North, but they have lost 11 consecutive division games.

Look for Charlie Johnson, moved since last season from left tackle to his more comfortable position of left guard, to possibly lead a resurgent and rebuilt offensive line that also includes rookie left tackle and No. 1 draft choice Matt Kalil.

New Vikings defensive coordinator Alan Williams worked several years for Tony Dungy. Williams said yesterday a lot of his philosophies and schemes “comes from coach Dungy.”

The Wild have sold over 3,000 new season tickets since July 4 when the signings of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter were announced.

With a likely NHL labor dispute ahead, the 2012-13 season for the Minnesota Wild and other clubs probably won’t start as scheduled. The Wild are scheduled to open the season at home October 13 against the Avalanche. By early November the NHL schedule may resume.

According to Elias Sports Bureau, last night Francisco Liriano was the first White Sox starter to make his debut the same season against the same club he was acquired from since Marino Pieretti on June 19, 1948.

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After 44 Years Maturi Skips a Sunday

Posted on June 22, 2012June 22, 2012 by David Shama

Joel Maturi didn’t go into the office for the first time in 44 years last Sunday.

The workaholic former high school coach and college administrator made it a habit to go into his office every day — regardless of whether the day was even a weekend or holiday including Christmas or the Fourth of July. If Maturi was in town, he could be found in his office, at least for a short time.

“That goes back to my high school coaching days, not just at Minnesota,” he told Sports Headliners. “Every place I’ve been.”

What went through the 67-year-old’s mind as he faced a different Sunday this week? “I just said it was time to retire as the A.D.,” he answered. “I was okay. I’ve always been pretty good at playing the hand I was dealt. The fact of the matter is that I am no longer the athletic director at the University of Minnesota. The fact of the matter is that I am transitioning to slow down and I am okay with that.”

So on Monday morning instead of getting out of bed at his usual 4:30 a.m. Maturi rose at 5:30. He spent part of the day preparing for aUniversity of Minnesota course on sports facilities and event management that he will be teaching later this year. By late afternoon he was driving to the Bruce Smith Golf Classic in Faribault where he was the after dinner speaker.

Well-wishers were numerous including members of the Gophers Alumni Band who inspired the crowd with the “Minnesota Rouser” and “Minnesota Hail to Thee.” Maturi talked about athletics but perhaps at no time did he impress the audience more than when he said this past school year 74 percent of Gophers athletes graduated, and last semester they had a cumulative GPA of 3.2. Both figures are all-time highs at Minnesota.

In the next several days there will be a few more public appearances at places around the state where Maturi will represent the Gophers, but soon that will all be the responsibility of new athletic director Norwood Teague who started work on Monday. Maturi will be deciding how to use his time differently than when he coached for 19 years in Madison, then worked in college athletics administration for athletic departments at Wisconsin, Denver, Miami and Minnesota.

“I’ve always been a routine person,” Maturi said. “It hasn’t been easy (physically) for the last months or for the last year. It isn’t as easy to get up at 4:30. I am more tired than I used to be but I did it because that’s who I am. I gotta find a routine. Once I get one down I will be fine.”

Maturi hasn’t been a golfer but now he’s been fitted for clubs. He’s hoping to receive lessons from Gophers golf coach John Carlson before early July when a family get- together takes place in Grand Rapids.

Maturi and wife Lois have bought a home on Silver Lake in St. Anthony. They’re renovating the house and also looking forward to putting a boat in the water that the grandchildren can enjoy. “As I say to Lois, the next move is to the nursing home,” Maturi said. “So this is our final move. We’re looking forward to this. It’s close to campus.”

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Arena Wars to Impact H.S. League

Posted on June 11, 2012June 11, 2012 by David Shama

It’s Minneapolis versus St. Paul starting in 2014. That’s the year Target Center will host the new National Collegiate Hockey Conference Tournament the same March weekend the Xcel Energy Center will be the site of the initial Big Ten Hockey Tournament.

Minneapolis officials will hold a news conference today announcing a five-year commitment to hold the NCHC tournament at Target Center, the 22-year-old facility scheduled soon for remodeling. Xcel Energy Center will host the Big Ten Tournament in 2014 and 2016. The two buildings go up against each other for the first time with their hockey tournaments on Friday, March 21 and Saturday, March 22, 2014.

The Minnesota State High School League plays its boys and girls state basketball tournaments at Target Center. Dave Stead, executive director, said the league has contracts only through 2013 and that means a conflict involving dates (March 19-22) for the 2014 boys tournament. With neither Xcel nor Target Center available, Stead will have to consider other sites. The University of Minnesota’s Williams Arena likely won’t be an option because of commitments to post-season college basketball.

Meanwhile the competition to see if either Target Center or Xcel Energy Center, or both, can play to capacity crowds will be interesting. The NCHC is a new league with membership consisting of North Dakota, Colorado College, Denver, Miami, Minnesota Duluth, Nebraska Omaha, St. Cloud State and Western Michigan. The Big Ten hockey playing members will be Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, Penn State and Wisconsin. Both leagues start play in 2013-14.

The Big Ten Tournament will count on the hometown Gophers to lead the ticket sales parade. Wisconsin fans will help, too. The Big Ten will have a three-day event, starting on Thursday, March 20 and will involve all six conference teams.

The NCHC Tournament involves only four teams, with two games to be played on Friday, March 21 and the championship and third place games on Saturday, March 22. Tournament officials have to be hoping North Dakota qualifies for the four-team field each year.

North Dakota fans have proven for years they will follow their team in greater numbers to Minneapolis-St. Paul than any other hockey program in the country. A hockey marketing source said counting North Dakota alums in the metro area and fans coming in from the state of North Dakota, 5,000 to 8,000 UND rooters likely will show up at Target Center.

The competition between arenas and cities is obvious starting in 2014, and so too is the intention of the upstart NCHC which has chosen to take on the Big Ten not only on the same dates but in the backyard of Gophers hockey.

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