NCAA – Page 90 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Money Unlikely to Give Twins Pause

Posted on August 13, 2020August 13, 2020 by David Shama

The MLB trade deadline is August 31 and Minnesota Twins fans can be assured front office leaders Derek Falvey and Thad Levine will do all they can to improve the roster. Ownership, too, is likely to be all-in on moves that could help the club make a postseason run.

A sports industry source, who asked not to be identified, told Sports Headliners that when the late Carl Pohlad owned the team his organization deserved its reputation for being tight with money. Pohlad’s sons, the franchise’s ownership successors, are different.

“I’ve never seen Jim Pohlad (executive chair) not willing to spend money,” the source said. “The brothers are a different breed and willing to spend dollars.”

Just this week the Twins acquired infielder Ildemaro Vargas from the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for cash considerations. During the past offseason the Pohlads made a reported four-year $92 million commitment to third baseman Josh Donaldson, one of baseball’s premiere sluggers.

The Twins have publicly stated their 2020 goal of reaching the World Series but are most recently struggling and in need of pitching help. Targets might have included San Francisco Giants starter Jeff Samardzija. He has a somewhat pricey contract for the rebuilding San Francisco Giants but that might not deter Twins as much as the right hander’s status on the 10-day IL with shoulder impingement.

There’s a serious outbreak of injuries among MLB teams as players cope with too brief of a timeline to physically prepare for the shortened season that began just last month. Among the Twins sidelined have been Donaldson, and three starting pitchers in Homer Bailey, Rich Hill and Jake Odorizzi (returned last Saturday).

The Twins are among the favorites of odds-makers to represent the American League in the World Series but they have faltered some following a 10-2 start to the season. Despite playing mediocre competition of late, Minnesota is now 12-7 and lost five of eight games on its road trip that ended last night in Milwaukee.

Worth Noting

The Twins have an off day today (Thursday) and then with the hurry up MLB schedule don’t have an open date again until September 3. With completion of their next game tomorrow evening the Twins will be one-third through their 60-game schedule.

The Big Ten’s cancellation of fall football—the cash cow for athletic departments—prompts even more speculation about reducing the number of sports offered at major universities including Minnesota. In a media call with reporters last May Golden Gophers athletics director Mark Coyle predicted department revenue losses could total $70 million by the end of fall semester in a worst case scenario caused by COVID-19 and the pandemic.

The Gophers offer 25 sports with only football, men’s basketball and men’s hockey profitable. With a past expense budget reportedly well north of $115 million, and revenues drying up during the pandemic, where is future money going to come from and won’t some programs be trimmed?

University regent Michael Hsu told Sports Headliners this week he hasn’t received projected athletic department revenue and expense numbers but he, too, wonders about the future and sustaining so many programs. He points out the athletic department can’t borrow money, although the University can. However—not even including athletics—the U already faces a huge COVID-caused budget crisis.

“We would have to agree that we’re going to get that (athletic department) money somewhere in the future and I am not certain it’s possible,” Hsu said.

Golden Gophers head football coach P.J. Fleck still has the highest of goals for his program. “We want people (players, coaches) who feel Minnesota can win a national championship one day…and we’re striving to be the best developmental program in the country,” Fleck said several days ago.

Fleck talked national title ambitions early on in his career at Minnesota. Some people may still consider that laughable but last season’s team was a surprising and impressive 11-2, just two years after Fleck’s first squad finished 5-7. The coach wants a “blue-blood” program that connects with the great Minnesota teams of the 1960s and earlier.

The Gophers received an endorsement in the August 15 issue of Sports Illustrated, but it soon came with an asterisk. S.I. placed Minnesota No. 12 in its top 20 preseason national rankings but the magazine went to press prior to star wide receiver Rashod Bateman’s announcement he will forfeit his remaining eligibility to turn pro.

Among Big Ten teams, only No. 3 Ohio State and No. 5 Penn State ranked higher than Minnesota. But in a do-over S.I. would likely drop the Gophers lower in its rankings because of the Bateman departure. No one will ever know for sure, but his absence could cost Minnesota one or more wins next spring if that is when the Big Ten decides to play football.

The magazine made clear its liking for Fleck. “There is a lot of sizzle in Fleck, 39, but it’s increasingly clear that there is substance underneath,” Pat Forde wrote.

Words of wisdom (and humor) from an anonymous suburban mom after her first out of town trip for a youth baseball tournament: “Do not bring toddlers; bring a shade tent/not just umbrella; dress for any weather; Best Western Plus isn’t half bad! Bug spray; three beers may not be enough; pack your patience and a hat.”

Dick Jonckowski will do public address work for part of the Class B Minnesota Amateur Baseball State Tournament games in Shakopee. Jonckowski, P.A. voice of Gophers baseball, said Shakopee is hosting the tournament after New Ulm’s city leaders turned the event down because of pandemic concerns. The tourney begins August 21 and ends September 6. The Chanhassen Red Birds are defending champions.

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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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U Football Season May Need “Hail Mary”

Posted on July 16, 2020July 17, 2020 by David Shama

University of Minnesota Board of Regents member Michael Hsu is a supporter of college football but he is becoming skeptical the Golden Gophers will have a 2020 season.

Hsu told Sports Headliners this morning he has no inside information from the U about a 2020 football season, but he observes the rising numbers of COVID-19 cases in America, and also what the leaders of college football are saying. The Ivy League has cancelled its fall football season and may play in the spring. The Big Ten and Pac-12 have announced if there is a season, their schools will play conference opponents only.

The three other Power Five conferences (ACC, Big 12 and SEC) haven’t been as definitive about their football schedules, saying decisions are coming later this month. Then, too, Hsu looks at football heavyweight Notre Dame where school begins in early August and he wonders what ultimate decision school leaders will make there, including for students. The Fighting Irish have already lost prestigious games on their football schedule with the Big Ten’s Wisconsin Badgers and the Pac-12’s USC Trojans.

Other teams around the country have lost nonconference games previously scheduled against Big Ten teams. These include schools that thrive on the large financial payouts for playing in Big Ten stadiums. “It just doesn’t look good. It’s a desperate time for football,” Hsu said.

Instead of a 12-game schedule, the Gophers and other Big Ten teams may play nine or 10 games each. Perhaps fewer. Options could include limiting Big Ten teams to games against rivals from their own division, West and East. That would mean six total games for the Gophers and others.

There could be no season for Minnesota and other schools. With all the confusion, that’s why Hsu analyzes the situation and says, “To put it in football terms, it may be time to call the Hail Mary pass.”

Normally, the Gophers would be starting formal practices in a couple of weeks, with the first game in early September. But ultimately the decision to play will presumably be directed by the Minnesota Health Department and governor Tim Walz, a former championship high school football coach.

Initially if state and U authorities won’t okay playing games (or even practice), then a schedule gets moved further into the fall—if it even happens at all. Hsu looks at the landscape here and across the country and recognizes state and local authorities could well come up with different decisions about approving football at their universities. Such a mish-mash of thinking will complicate the coordination of schedules. He looks at the COVID-19 numbers including deaths and wonders how much support there will be for football and other fall sports. “The numbers are against us,” he said.

For strategic planning the difficulty with the pandemic is it’s all new and leaders, including academics and athletic departments, are trying to find best practices. Trying to keep people safe, while recognizing the value of activities like college football that have so many benefits to participants and followers—plus irreplaceable revenues to fund much of the total sports programs at major universities like Minnesota.

Fall semester classes start September 8 at Minnesota. Hsu said the plan is for classroom and virtual classes. The former demands the buy-in of professors to be comfortable in such an environment. Things are planned but things can change.

With football, Hsu hopes there will be some form of a season. He knows U leaders in the athletic department and school administration are looking at options, considering plans, crunching numbers. But as of now the regents don’t know the specifics.

“We haven’t heard boo about anything,” Hsu said.

Worth Noting

A college athletics authority told Sports Headliners yesterday morning he expected an announcement this week from the NCAA approving the University of St. Thomas request to participate in Division I sports starting with the 2021-2022 school year. Yesterday afternoon school officials formally acknowledged the approval, with the Tommies joining the Gophers as a second Division I program in the state of Minnesota.

No definitive word on the transition was given last month when the NCAA met. The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, believes St. Thomas was asked to complete paperwork that is now in place.

The approval clears the way for the Tommies to join The Summit League for most sports, plus the Pioneer Football League and the Women’s League of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association. The St. Thomas men’s hockey program is yet to be aligned with a conference.

“St. Thomas brings the full package—an excellent academic reputation, experienced leadership, a massive alumni network and a winning culture,” Summit League Commissioner Tom Douple said in a news release. “With their values-based mission and status as Minnesota’s largest private university, we know the Tommies will represent The Summit League well and we’re proud to welcome them.”

It will be a new operations experience for the Twins and other MLB clubs when travel begins next week. Teams will try to control the COVID risk with charter flights and precautions regarding meals. Players will be advised to avoid bars and restaurants.

Sidelined for the season because of their age and the COVID risk are two Twins coaches, Bill Evers, 66, and Bob McClure, 68.

Among protocols MLB has in place to minimize the risk of spreading the virus in stadiums is no spitting will be allowed, nor can managers or players argue face-to-face with umpires.

Word is NHL and NCAA hockey players could be wearing new face shields this year to provide optimal protection from the virus.

Dean Evason, who had his status changed from interim to full-time Minnesota Wild head coach this week, has a two-year contract extension, but with compensation not announced. With no NHL head coaching experience he could be among the league’s lowest paid coaches, perhaps at $750,000 annually.

The Minneapolis-based Twin Cities Dunkers and St. Paul-based Capital Club, who both feature prominent sports speakers throughout the year, are using Zoom for member programs during the pandemic. The Dunkers heard from Twins front office leaders Tuesday, and St. Paul Saints owner Mike Veeck talks to Capital Club members July 30. The Dunkers will hear from 3M Open boss Hollis Cavner next Wednesday.

Also going virtual is this year’s Taste Fore The Tour to raise money for Bloomington-based food shelf VEAP—Volunteers Enlisted to Assist People. All event proceeds go to VEAP including from the impressive online silent auction now in place. Organizers point out $120 can feed a family of four for a month. More at Tasteforethetour.com.

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