Preps – Page 114 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Expect U to Address Jerry Kill Salary

Posted on December 2, 2013December 2, 2013 by David Shama

Look for negotiations to begin soon regarding Jerry Kill’s annual compensation as Gophers head football coach.

Kill is the lowest paid head coach in the Big Ten Conference, according to multiple sources including USA Today. He earns $1.2 million per season as stated in a November 7 USA Today article listing the earnings of major college football coaches throughout the country.

Kill finished his third regular season as Minnesota coach last Saturday. His present compensation was influenced by what he earned as head coach at Northern Illinois. His salary with the Huskies was reported at $381,000, according to Internet reports. USA Today’s article said current Huskies coach Rod Carey earns $375,000 from the school.

The salaries of major college coaches are determined by not only their previous contracts at other schools but also the competition for their services and what athletic departments can afford to pay. Kill came from Northern Illinois and the Mid-American Conference where salaries are dramatically lower than in power leagues like the Big Ten, SEC and Pac-12.

But after three seasons of success in rebuilding the Gophers, it’s a sore spot with Kill boosters that the coach has the most minimal pay in the Big Ten. A source in the athletic department told Sports Headliners earlier this month school officials would wait until season’s end before addressing a change in Kill’s compensation.

That time is here after Kill coached the Gophers to eight total wins, the most since 2003, and four victories in the conference, the most since 2005. The Gophers’ highlights included their first victory over Nebraska since 1960 and a four-game win streak in the Big Ten. And it wasn’t just the wins, but also how competitively the Gophers often played that encouraged program followers.

Former Gophers coach Glen Mason knew Kill was an exceptional coach even before Minnesota hired him. “I am somewhat surprised they won eight games,” Mason said. “It’s a tremendous credit to the coaches.”

Multiple sources will attest to the affection University of Minnesota president Eric Kaler has for Kill. Kaler admires his coach for more than wins and losses. Kill has made a dramatic impact on the academic work of his players and the coach’s struggles with epilepsy have inspired even non-football fans. So, too, has Kill’s good deeds in the community and the way he represents the University.

Increasing Kill’s compensation would be both a reward for his work and indication the Gophers are serious about discouraging other schools from pursuing him. His $1.2 million pay is almost embarrassing. Purdue coach Darrell Hazell — who a year ago was hired from MAC member Kent State and in 2013 led the Boilermakers to a winless season in the Big Ten — earns $2.1 million, according to USA Today. Dave Doeren, who took over for Kill at Northern Illinois in 2011, left the Huskies after last season to become head coach at North Carolina State where he reportedly earns $2.5 million per season.

The Big Ten’s highest paid coaches are Ohio State’s Urban Meyer at $4.6 million and Michigan’s Brady Hoke at $4.1 million, according to the USA Today listings. The average compensation paid per school to the league’s 12 coaches is $2.6 million. It seems reasonable to think the Gophers will offer to increase Kill’s earnings to about $1.8 million. That would be a 50 percent increase and move him ahead of Kevin Wilson from Indiana and Tim Beckman of Illinois. Kill would be the 10^th best paid coach in the Big Ten but close to Hazel, Gary Andersen from Wisconsin at $2 million and Mark Dantonio from Michigan State at $1.9 million.

In any contract negotiations involving Kill, a couple of things are assumed by those who know the coach. One is that Kill is interested in remaining at Minnesota, having expressed a liking for the job and working here. Another is any negotiations he does for himself will also include looking out for assistant coaches. And Kill will want assurances the school is committed to improving practice facilities for the football program.

The athletic department has budget issues but football is the bell cow for revenues. Interest in the Gophers is growing among fans and so too is money coming into the department. Kill has leverage in forthcoming discussions because of his “brick-by-brick” results and comparative compensation versus his peers.

It doesn’t hurt to have a president who admires him.

Worth Noting

Washburn running back Jeff Jones has yet to schedule official college visits but his coach expects favored destinations will be Michigan State, Minnesota and Missouri. “I think if he had to choose today he would be a Gopher,” coach Giovan Jenkins told Sports Headliners on Friday.

Jenkins said Jones, who has received scholarship offers from all three schools, has a GPA of about 2.1 and the Rivals.com four-star running back is awaiting the result of his second ACT test. Jenkins expects Jones to have no problem in academically qualifying for a college athletic scholarship.

The Eden Prairie High School football program has seven teams, three freshmen, two sophomore, one junior varsity and one varsity. The Eagles, who won their third consecutive state title on Friday, celebrated with a banquet last night at Grace Church in Eden Prairie.

When the Vikings found themselves playing in overtime yesterday against the Bears for a second consecutive week they weren’t interested in another tie like they experienced with the Packers. “It’s been two long weeks for us, there’s no doubt about it,” quarterback Matt Cassel said after Minnesota’s 23-20 win. “…Our mentalities were we have to get out of this thing with a win no matter what it takes.”

Groundbreaking for the new Vikings stadium will be at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow (Tuesday) in the east parking lot of the Metrodome. Governor Mark Dayton, mayor R.T. Rybak and Vikings owners Zygi Wilf and Mark Wilf will participate.

Count former Gophers All-American Lou Nanne among those who is just “okay” with the new Big Ten hockey league. He misses Minnesota’s historical ties to programs like North Dakota and even Denver, but expects the new Big Ten grouping to become more appealing as teams are added. The six team Big Ten hockey league was all driven by the Big Ten Network, he said.

The Wild have some “good young kids” but will have to “battle to make the playoffs,” according to Nanne. Injuries have limited the availability of the team’s top two goalies, Niklas Backstrom and Josh Harding. “That is surprising to me,” the former North Stars president said.

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Claeys Up for National Coach Award

Posted on November 27, 2013November 27, 2013 by David Shama

Next Monday the Gophers are hoping to learn Tracy Claeys is among the five finalists for the 2013 Frank Broyles Award recognizing the best college assistant football coach in the country.

Claeys took over as acting head coach this fall when Jerry Kill had to focus on his epilepsy struggles. With Kill either absent or coaching in the press box, and Claeys on the sideline with the players, the Gophers have won a surprising four of their last six Big Ten games including defeating nationally-ranked Nebraska for the first time since 1960. “He is very deserving (of the award),” Kill said.

Claeys, the team’s defensive coordinator, has impressed with his calm demeanor, leadership and knowledge. “Yeah, I’d vote (for) him. He would be a good choice,” Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez told Sports Headliners.

The five finalists represent “almost 1,500 assistant coaches” from 117 Division I programs, according to the award’s website. Each head coach can nominate one assistant from his staff.

The finalists are chosen by a committee of former head coaches including Arkansas coaching legend Frank Broyles. Others on the nine-man committee include coaching greats like Bobby Bowden, Vince Dooley, Hayden Fry and Barry Switzer. The 2013 winner will be announced in Little Rock at the awards banquet on December 10.

The Gophers, 8-3, have one remaining regular season game, at Michigan State on Saturday. Their eight wins have exceeded all but the most optimistic preseason predictions. The Gophers have four conference wins for the first time since 2005 and haven’t won eight games or more in a season since 2003.

Kill said “off-the-record” last summer he thought eight or nine wins were possible. “Our kids worked their tail ends off,” Kill said this week. “They showed commitment in the offseason and put a lot of time in. (I) felt like we were getting stronger. I am not one of those guys to predict but I knew we were going to be better. We are better than we were a year ago. I expect us to be better next year.”

Worth Noting

Kill has worked this season with a mostly inexperienced group of receivers and is pleased with their progress. He said wide receiver KJ Maye has been “slowed” by a groin pull and tight end Drew Goodger hasn’t been appreciated by outsiders.

“Nobody ever talks about Drew Goodger. He’s a pretty good tight end, too, and he’s made some critical catches for us.”

Kill had nine recruits at his house over the weekend with three visiting on Saturday night and six on Sunday.

Mike Cannon from Hutchinson, Minnesota was the referee in last week’s Gophers-Badgers game at TCF Bank Stadium. He is a regular with Big Ten officiating crews.

Ex-Vikings linebacker Ben Leber expects coaching changes with his former team (2-8-1) after the season. “I like and respect a lot of coaches on the staff but I don’t know how you can bring the whole staff back, or keep some of them,” Leber told Sports Headliners.

Leber doesn’t have a candidate to replace head coach Leslie Frazier but he mentioned Colts offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton. He has almost 16 years of NFL and college experience including working with quarterback Andrew Luck at Stanford and with the Colts.

Leber found it “baffling” that less than two weeks after the Vikings acquired Josh Freeman they started him at quarterback in their October 21 game against the Giants. He described the situation as “bizarre” that the Vikings could expect Freeman to be successful having to learn about new receivers, plays and terminology in such a short time during the season.

Leber doesn’t consider Christian Ponder a potentially elite quarterback. “I think if you’re looking for a franchise quarterback, I don’t think he is the guy who is going to lead the Vikings,” Leber said. “He could remain a No. 2.”

Leber will work for Fox 1 on a high school football game telecast in New Jersey on Thanksgiving Day. On Saturday he will be part of the Fox Sports Net crew for the Tulsa-North Texas game in Tulsa.

The record crowd of 53,090 for last Saturday’s Gophers-Badgers game included standing room only sales. That’s about maximum capacity for TCF Bank stadium unless there is expansion such as the 2,000 seat west end bleachers likely to be used for Vikings games next year.

KSTC-TV Ch. 45 will telecast all seven games of the Prep Bowl from the Metrodome on Friday and Saturday. Mahnomen (Class A), Hutchinson (Class 4A) and Eden Prairie (Class 6A) are hoping to defend their state championships. Eden Prairie (11-0) will be trying to win a third consecutive title when the Eagles play Rosemount (11-1) starting at 7 p.m. on Friday night.

With the Metrodome being torn down early next year, Brainerd and Owatonna, both 12-0 teams from Class 5A, will play the last Prep Bowl game ever in the building starting at 4 p.m. on Saturday. Seems appropriate with Brainerd’s Ron Stolski the winningest coach in Minnesota prep football history.

Linebacker Blake Weber from Prior Lake High School saw his team lose to both Eden Prairie and Rosemount this season. Who does he think will win that game?

“Eden Prairie is the better team,” Weber told Sports Headliners. “Our team would be the only team that would have a chance to give Eden Prairie a run for the money. Eden Prairie’s offensive line is by far the best I’ve seen in three years of varsity (football). They know their assignments. They’re big and strong, and get after you.”

Weber is the South Suburban Conference defensive player of the year. He is also on the Minnesota Vikings all-state team and one of 10 finalists for the state’s Mr. Football award sponsored by the Vikings and Minnesota Football Coaches Association.

Weber made an unofficial visit last week to the University of Minnesota and the Gophers want him to be part of their walk-on group for 2014. The Gophers have labeled their invitation as a “preferred walk-on” with his understanding that playing at a high level could eventually mean a scholarship. “The U is probably not going to offer me (a scholarship now),” he said. “I am pretty set on the U.”

In addition to the 30-member all-state team announced yesterday, Eden Prairie’s Mike Grant was named prep football Coach of the Year by the Vikings.

Vern Mikkelsen, 85, passed away last week and he will be fondly remembered for his Hall of Fame career, contributions to four world championship teams of the Minneapolis Lakers, and his kind heart. Mikkelsen, often referred to as the NBA’s first power forward, played for the Lakers from 1949-1959.

When owner Bob Short decided to move the Lakers to Los Angeles after the 1959-1960 season, he tried to persuade Mikkelsen to play for him in California. Short, in fact, offered Mikkelsen 25 percent of the franchise. Mikkelsen turned down the offer and mentioned the decision in his book, The Vern Mikkelsen Story.

“I talked it over with Johnny (ex-Lakers coach John Kundla) and we both kind of figured that basketball would not have much of a chance there,” Mikkelsen said in the book.

Several years after moving the team to Los Angeles, Short sold the Lakers for $5.2 million. Mikkelsen said his wife Jean always remembered that.

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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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