Preps – Page 15 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

‘Critical’ Offseason Ahead for Fleck & Golden Gophers

Posted on November 26, 2023November 26, 2023 by David Shama

The Golden Gophers 2023 football team lacked talent and quality depth at too many positions. The result was a 5-7 overall record and 3-6 mark in the Big Ten that left them in a four-way tie for last place in the West Division.

Now coach P.J. Fleck and his staff face the challenge of upgrading the personnel and depth as the Big Ten transitions in 2024 to 18 football teams with no divisional play. And in the new world of college football Minnesota and other Power Five programs will try to figure out how to retain players and add players in the transfer portal who can contribute next fall while stockpiling incoming freshmen for development. The portal is open most immediately from December 4 through January 3, 2024.

The Gophers had experienced players at many positions, but they didn’t play consistent football. When things mattered the most—late in the season—they lost four consecutive games including Saturday’s finale with Wisconsin. A run of key injuries was problematic all season.

Minnesota could return most of its offensive and defensive starters, and special team regulars in 2024. The most significant losses are defensive tackle Kyler Baugh, center Nathan Boe, receiver Corey Crooms Jr., corner Tre’Von Jones, safety Tyler Nubin and tight end Brevyn-Spann Ford.

The best college teams excel at quarterback and along the line of scrimmage, offensively and defensively. QB Athan Kaliakmanis started all 12 games and was up and down in performance. Not only was his passing inconsistent but he made minimal plays with his legs. The offensive line blocking couldn’t match the performance of three recent seasons when Minnesota won nine games or more. Defensively, too often Minnesota’s line and linebackers were gashed with big runs, and the old nemesis of a poor pass rush continued.

Typically, Power Five teams lose a dozen or more players to the portal. Who those players will be on the Minnesota roster will be known over the next 30 days or so.

Where do the Gophers need help in the transfer portal? “Pick your position,” Ryan Burns said.

Burns, the local recruiting authority from GopherIllustrated, listed quarterback, receiver, running back and offensive and defensive lines as areas of need. If pressed for his top three he prioritizes corner, tailback and “probably quarterback.”

Burns predicts Fleck and his staff will prioritize Name, Image and Likeness money for players already on the roster. Retaining talents like RB Darius Taylor, offensive tackle Aireontae Ersery and end defensive Jah Joyner will be vital for next year’s team.

Burns said creating competition for Kaliakmanis is desirable but the Gophers are likely to find such a QB from the FCS or Group of Five level. Why? Because big name Power Five quarterbacks can command $250,000 and more in the portal.

Fleck, who has a 49-34 record at Minnesota and is fifth all-time in wins, starts his eighth season in 2024. He will have to sort out issues with the program including possible changes needed in coaching philosophy and schemes, and perhaps shaking up the staff.

Burns and others predict this offseason will be different. “Most critical one Fleck’s had, I would say,” Burns said. “It didn’t go their way this year—the breaks they probably weren’t anticipating, but still should have won two games, Illinois and Northwestern, and sitting at six or seven wins going into the Wisconsin game.

“If that’s the case I don’t know that there is as much fan reaction as there has been this season. …Being able to look short term and long term at the same time is going to be critical for him trying to figure out what the best thing is to adapt going into that 2024 new Big Ten world.”

Worth Noting

I am so sorry to write that my friend Jim Carter, the captain of the 1969 football Gophers, passed away on Thanksgiving evening in Palm Springs, California. I knew Jim for more than 50 years and he was a fiery competitor in sports, business and life. He was a loyal friend who cared deeply for the University of Minnesota where he also played hockey.

A great prep football player at South St. Paul High School, Jim could have opted for Notre Dame but instead chose the hometown Gophers. He was a star player and important contributor as the fullback on the 1967 Minnesota Big Ten championship team. The Green Bay Packers made a linebacker out of him and his NFL career lasted through the 1978 season.

Known to friends as “Hurricane,” Jim was challenged much of his life by emotions and addictions. He had been in recovery for about 20 years and devoted a lot of his free time to helping others with their addictions.

Jim passed away at age 75 after battling metastatic melanoma. Longtime friend, confidant and Gopher teammate Jim Brunzell wrote via email how he will miss their lunches, football get togethers and phone calls.

“Jimmy was a man’s man and called his life accordingly,” Brunzell wrote. “…May he rest in peace, ‘till we hug again.”

Former Gophers head football coach Tim Brewster has resigned as Colorado’s tight ends coach, per internet reports today.

Mike Conley, 36, is the poised point guard whose leadership is indispensable to the fast-starting Timberwolves. He has been in the NBA since the 2007-2008 season and an indication of his self-control is never receiving a technical foul.

Chet Holmgren, the 7-1 Minneapolis native in his first NBA season, is averaging 18 points and eight rebounds per game for the Thunder who play the Wolves at Target Center Tuesday night.

Tom Reid, the former NHL player and radio analyst for the Wild since the franchise’s inception in 2000, is the latest guest on “Behind the Game” with longtime host Patrick Klinger. Topics include how the recent death of Minnesotan Adam Johnson may influence safety new safety measures in the game. The show is available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPvNXskdASI&si=uLHbbftPajzUeD8W

Golfweek’s 2023 rankings of the best private courses in the state starts with Interlachen at No. 1 followed by Spring Hill, Minikahda and White Bear Yacht Club (tied at No. 3) and Hazeltine National. The next five are Windsong Farm, Somerset, Northland, Minneapolis and Golden Valley.

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Voices Need to Speak up for College Football Parity

Posted on November 14, 2023November 14, 2023 by David Shama

College football is out of whack and has been for a long time. The competitive balance between the elites of college football like the Alabamas, Georgias, LSUs, Michigans, Ohio States and Oklahomas versus the Minnesotas, Arizonas, Californias, Indianas, South Carolinas, Syracuses and all the rest is unfair and goes against the spirit of competition. Coaches, administrators, fans and media need to speak out about the issue.

The Gophers are headed to Ohio State this week for a Big Ten mismatch against the Buckeyes. Nothing new about that. All-time Minnesota is 7-46 against the Bucks. The Gophers are 4-23 in Minneapolis; 3 -23 in Columbus. Minnesota has lost 12 straight in the series.

The Gophers are 25-77-3 against Michigan and have won four times since 1967 when Lyndon Johnson was president. That was also the year Minnesota claimed its last Big Ten title.

Most of the Big Ten Conference has been looking up at Ohio State and Michigan for decades. As of late, the last six league titles have been won by the Buckeyes or Wolverines. Ryan Day has lost two Big Ten games since he became the Buckeyes head coach in 2019, both to Michigan.

Georgia is in pursuit of a third national championship, taking over in recent years from Alabama as the No. 1 “bully’ in college football. For more than 25 years it’s pretty much the “same old crowd” in the hunt for No. 1. The last time a school won a first-ever national football championship came in 1996 when Florida accomplished the rare feat.

The arrival of Name, Image and Likeness compensation has only made the rich richer. Long established with booster money, big brand programs can now benefit from the transfer of resources to NIL. With that have come allegations many programs are offering NIL money during the recruitment process, which is illegal by NCAA policy.

Recruits want to play for the so-called “helmet schools” because those programs have been so successful. That success includes playing for conference titles, participating in the college football playoffs and experiencing prestigious bowl games. Success also means being groomed at places that turn out NFL draft choices in assembly line like style.

Tyler Nubin photo courtesy of University of Minnesota

The Michigan team that humiliated the Gophers on October 7 by a score of 52-10 has annihilated others as well. In league games Michigan is averaging 42 points per game, while giving up 8.4 (Ohio State is 31.1 and 9.7). The Wolverines may have 20 or more future NFL draft choices, according to their head coach Jim Harbaugh. The Gophers might have three or four, including senior safety Tyler Nubin.

What needs to be done to create a more competitive landscape? For starters, college football needs a new authority to replace the NCAA, one that is looking out for all the major college programs and the welfare of the sport. This means determination to put in place policies that will create enough parity across the country to at least close some of the gaps between the haves and have nots.

A significant change should be placing a financial cap on the amount of money available for NIL. Closing the money gap could prompt prospects to turn down a “helmet school” for a less prestigious program because more NIL rewards are available at the latter.

Cutting the number of scholarships from 85 to 75 or 70 would reduce the number of quality players the “bullies” can have on their rosters. As with closing the NIL gap, this move could steer more quality players to Minnesota and similar programs.

Those are just two innovations that could be considered. The point is that with strong leadership and consensus from the have nots—who outnumber the voting block of the haves—rules changes can be developed and implemented to improve the competitiveness of college football.

A move toward creating more parity will not only improve the game on the field, but also enhance revenues. More teams playing quality football translates into more box office sales, merchandising profits, and TV viewership commanding higher ad prices. TV ratings are successful now but are not reaching their potential in major markets like Minneapolis, Chicago, New York and Phoenix.

How big could the TV revenue pot grow if teams such as Minnesota, Illinois, Rutgers and Arizona State were fighting for college football playoff berths in November, and even before the season were nationally ranked? Remember, college football not only pays its own bills, but covers extensively for all the non-revenue sports in athletic departments across America.

The Big Ten expands to 18 schools next year and will eliminate the East and West Divisions for football. Gopher fans may already be feeling sorry for themselves when thinking how far down in the 18-team standings their favorites could be after adding four West Coast programs—USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington. As things stand now, it’s not that realistic to think the Minnesotas, Northwesterns, Purdues, Wisconsins and other West Division schools will chase the top three or four spots in the standings.

The hope here is the Big Ten will soon expand to 20 teams, prompting the conference to create four divisions of five teams each. Adding Notre Dame and Florida State (gives the league a first-time presence in the Sunshine State) would put the “cherry” on a prestigious super conference.

The move to small divisions would emulate the successful NFL model and create “November Madness” at many conference schools as their favorites compete for a division crown and possible entry into the Big Ten championship game and college football playoffs.

On the wish list, too, is an expanded College Football Playoff format. The CFP goes from four to 12 teams after this season but 16 is more desirable. At that number it’s not difficult to see a half dozen teams from the Big Ten able to earn a playoff spot.

It would create a microcosm of “March Madness” and a huge morale boost to the fanbases in many places around the country including at Huntington Bank Stadium where the maroon and gold faithful are sometimes frustrated in November.

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For Mike Grant a Fall of Football, Hunting & Memories of Bud

Posted on November 7, 2023 by David Shama

It was a timely phone call to Mike Grant last week. Not only was his 9-0 Eden Prairie football team getting ready for its playoff game against Eagan, but the opening Saturday of deer hunting was fast approaching.

Mike and wife Colleen are avid hunters. Mike’s dad Bud Grant, the legendary former Vikings coach who passed away last March at age 96, was known almost as much for his outdoor passions as he was for football. Mike and Bud were close, and the EP head football coach thinks about his famous father every day.

“I talked to him every day in the fall (in past years),” Mike told Sports Headliners. “Yeah, it’s a strange first. You know the first football season without him and then the first hunting season without him, and it’ll be the first Christmas without him.

“It’s what everybody goes through, you know, when you lose a loved one. So…we’re not unique. We’re not special. It’s just we’re going through what everybody else has gone through.”

For the Grants hunting was more about being outside and sharing time with family than shooting wildlife. Last November Bud spent time deer hunting at Mike’s place near Wadena, Minnesota. It would be his last go round in a sport that began for him at 14 years old in rural Wisconsin.

Mike said he doesn’t know if Bud shot “50, 60, 100” deer in his lifetime but his dad liked to tell stories about them. “He could tell you that story of every single deer (he shot). He remembered them all.”

In younger days Bud could sit in a tree all day, ignoring the cold weather, eating a banana, and waiting for a deer. During the autumns of decades ago his dad insisted on minimal noise when deer hunting including no racket like slamming a car door. Later in life when Bud couldn’t walk distances, he told Mike to drive him right up to the deer stand. “It doesn’t matter, the deer don’t care,” Bud said.

In recent falls there was no hurrying Bud to get out into the woods. Everyone else was ready to go before the patriarch. Mike was anxious to get out the door, but Bud would say, “I’ve never shot a deer at sunup.”

Bud had a lot of mounted deer antlers at his Bloomington house. It was part of his makeup to collect things and that habit enabled him to have his well-publicized annual garage sales when he was in his 90s.

“He was very proud of his three-legged buffalo nickel,” Mike said. “In the end he’d forget that he showed you something and he’d get out his coin collection and say, ‘I got the three-legged Buffalo nickel.’ …”

Mike saw changes with his dad over the years, including a more talkative and outgoing Bud. A stranger might tell Mike how approachable Bud was, taking time to visit someone he had never met. “When he got into his 80s, he was very outgoing, very gregarious. Talked to people.”

As Bud aged, he lost more and more of his pals, with his kids (six children) filling the role of best friends. “He didn’t have many friends at the end,” Mike said. “Think about it. You’re 96.”

A difficult loss was when Minneapolis media icon Sid Hartman passed away in 2020. “You gotta figure Sid was a rock for him since (back when) he was in college. As cantankerous as Sid could be, he was my dad’s best friend,” Mike said about the relationship that formed when newspaper man Sid befriended Bud at the University of Minnesota.

The two didn’t get outdoors a lot and when they did Sid was out of his element. There is a famous story about the two having car trouble at night in the middle of nowhere. Sid started to walk for help and noticed what he thought was a spotlight from a nearby town. No, Bud corrected, that was the moon Sid spotted.

Mike brushed off the question if he dedicated this season to his Hall of Fame father who coached the Vikings to four Super Bowls. “I don’t know. I don’t even know what that means.

“No, I think about him every day. Miss him every day. My dad would say the same thing, ‘What does that mean (dedicating the season)?’…I don’t think that way I guess.”

Does Mike wear something that reminds him of Bud? A cap, shirt, or watch? Maybe use an old whistle of Bud’s on the football field. Nope.

Mike said he is sentimental but wearing things like that doesn’t resonate. “…I am not doing something for show. …I don’t need a thing to remember him every day.”

Bud coached his last Vikings team in 1985 but he remained interested in football and other sports. His analytical mind made him an interesting companion to watch a football or baseball game with.

“He was our biggest fan,” Mike said. “He watched our games closely. …For years he came to every game except when the ducks were flying, then he’d be gone.”

Bud Grant (photo courtesy of Minnesota Vikings.)

Bud was interested in Eden Prairie’s personnel and asked for scouting reports on the opposition, but he didn’t tell Mike how to handle the Eagles. “He was interested, but he did not tell me how to coach in any way, shape or form,” Mike said while referring to his dad more as a cheerleader than an advisor.

At age 66 Mike has far more coaching experience than his father who retired at 58. Mike has won 11 large school state championships at Eden Prairie. The 2023 Eagles are another powerhouse with a 10-0 record. The closest final scores for the Eagles were with Prior Lake and Minnetonka, who both lost by 14 points. The Eagles have been dominant, but Mike will tell you his teams don’t run up the score and they don’t “pad” statistics for individuals.

The Eagles play a 6A quarterfinal game this Friday against Lakeville North. Mike said there is a “standard for greatness” at Eden Prairie and in that sense the team has much to accomplish on their march to another possible 6A state tournament title. He praises the Eagles, though, for getting through a demanding regular season schedule against the bigger enrollment schools in the state.

The Eagles have talent, size (loaded with behemoths of 240 pounds or more) and experience with Grant saying, “it’s hard to win with juniors.” The roster includes defensive tackle Mo Saine, a Gopher recruit with lots of upside since he didn’t start playing football until 10^th grade. Other standouts on defense include tackle Dennis Rahouski and under recruited defensive back Terae Dunn who Grant refers to “as good as any player in the state.”

Elijah Rumph, son of Vikings defensive line coach Chris Rumph, has been a leading rusher. Major contributors on offense also include quarterback David Ivey, tackle Ethan Sims who just committed to St. Thomas and Princeton-bound center Will Sather.

Mike is still passionate about coaching and plans to continue next season as head coach of the Eagles. He loves being around the players all year, whether it’s in the weight room, at practice or on gameday. And he just might get another state championship in his first fall without his dad.

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