Recruiting – Page 23 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

St. Thomas Point Guard: Unknown to Coveted

Posted on March 21, 2023March 21, 2023 by David Shama

St. Thomas basketball coach John Tauer knows better than anyone his gifted freshman point guard Andrew Rohde will be welcomed with high-fives by a Power Five program.

Rumors have been in place for a while other schools could be tampering with the Summit League Freshman of the Year and encouraging him to transfer programs. Tampering is illegal in college sports but so are other things that are going on in an era referred to as “the wild, wild west.”

“If people tamper, they’re not going to call the head coach,” Tauer told Sports Headliners during an interview a few days ago. “…You just operate the right way as a program and hope others are doing the same, but it’s an interesting time in college basketball.”

Yesterday came news Rohde has entered the transfer portal and is headed for a new school for the 2023-2024 season. In a text to Sports Headliners last night Tauer said: “…We wish him all the best in what promises to be a long and successful basketball career.”

During an interview Friday Tauer didn’t express knowledge of a transfer by Rohde but he made it clear he knows as well as anyone the reality of mass player movement. With the transfer portal a huge change agent for college players, Tauer and other coaches acknowledge there are no guarantees the roster in the fall will look like it does in the spring. Until yesterday’s news, St. Thomas could have returned 12 of 14 players including four starters.

Rohde (right). Photo courtesy of University of St. Thomas.

Wisconsin Badgers fans have been calling for Rohde, a Milwaukee native, to come home for a while now. And Gophers fans would love to have Rohde fill the team’s glaring need for a point guard, but it seems unlikely he would be attracted to a program that is down right now with players leaving and coming off consecutive last place finishes in the Big Ten.

“We’d love to have Andrew (stay),” Tauer said Friday. “He’s an unbelievable kid. He had a tremendous freshman year, and (he is) an even better young man than a player. He’s got an infectious energy. He’s really unselfish, hardworking (and) he’s competitive. He just brings so many wonderful things to the table.”

The 6-6, 185-pound Rohde, who was one of the top three first-year scorers in the country, is a finalist for the Kyle Macy Award, given annually to the nation’s top freshman. He was voted first-team All-Summit, in addition to his freshman honor. He played a team high 33 minutes per game and was the Tommies’ leader in scoring (17.1 per game), assists and steals.

“I think he’s hungry to be great, and that’s not just as a player,” Tauer said. “It’s also as a teammate. …I think over the course of the year he really improved, and that to me is one of the things that is most special about him.”

A player who received no Power Five offers coming out of high school, Rohde can attract a long line of suitors now if he chooses. “I think Andrew could play in the NBA someday if he continues to progress,” Tauer said. “You look at the trajectory of his junior year of high school to his senior year of high school to his freshman year of college and what he just did. …I think Andrew can do whatever he puts his mind to in basketball.”

Rohde’s roots run deep with St. Thomas. He came to the campus as a middle schooler when his brother Sam was part of the basketball program. In high school he received a lot of attention from Tauer and the coaching staff who made him feel wanted and valued.

What Tauer saw in Rohde at Brookfield Central was a player who fit the criteria he values in a prospect: unselfish, skilled, smart and tough. “I thought he embodied those (characteristics),” Tauer said.

Tauer and his staff found an unpolished gem in Rohde, and a player who delivers on the words he loves basketball. Most players say that but only some like Rohde can face pressure situations in a packed arena and wear a smile on their faces. “That’s when you know,” Tauer said.

Tauer, who just completed his 12^th season coaching the Tommies, has a doctorate in sport-related psychology. He has long been aware of the pressure and stress college freshmen face in transitioning not only to basketball but all of campus life including academics. “We don’t put (establish) quantitative goals for anybody as far what they can do their freshman year. Now I will tell you in the summer we felt like he (Rohde) was going to be elite. We knew he was going to play a ton of minutes and have the ball in his hands a lot, and the kind of role that he did.

“To his credit I think he took that and ran with it and continued to improve over the year. That’s the thing I keep coming back to is how coachable he was. …He was hungry and open to whatever feedback I had for him.”

Tauer now has three scholarships available and plans to fill out his roster either through the portal or with high school talent within a month or so. He was hoping, of course, to not have a scholarship become available because of Rohde’s departure.

“I think the sky’s the limit for Andrew,” Tauer said. “I’ve always felt that.”

The Tauer-coached Tommies just finished season two of their challenging transition from Division III to Division I, playing in the mid-major Summit League. It’s been a more than successful time, just like the preceding years when Tauer was a Division III National Coach of the Year and the Tommies were a program that could play with anyone at their level.

Before last season the Tommies were predicted to finish eighth in the 10-team league but placed fourth. The team was 19-14 overall, 9-9 in conference play and nearly doubled its win total for all games from the previous year.

Tauer said via text last night he is “thrilled” with the progress of his program. “…The culture in our program is unique and has helped us sustain success over the past several decades.”

Comments Welcome

Prep Authority Raves about U Hire

Posted on March 19, 2023March 19, 2023 by David Shama

University of Minnesota Director of Athletics Mark Coyle checked the right boxes with the hire of Dawn Plitzuweit as the Gophers new head women’s basketball coach. Plitzuweit (pronounced PLITTS-zoo-white) is an experienced coach with a winning record who has recruiting relationships and cultural ties to this region.

Brian Cosgriff, the girls’ basketball coaching legend who won seven state titles at Hopkins and is now at Minnetonka, told Sports Headliners “it’s an incredible hire.” Plitzuweit and Cosgriff have known each other for years and the new Gopher coach called her friend Saturday morning. “She is really a bright, forward-thinking lady,” Cosgriff said.

In regard to experience, she is in contrast to Lindsay Whalen who as a first-time coach couldn’t make the transition from great player to building a winning program at her alma mater during a five-year trial. Coyle took a chance on Whalen and most everybody else in the state would have done the same with the former Gopher and Lynx legend.

Plitzuweit has 28 years of coaching experience, with 16 as a head coach. She has been the head coach of winning teams at (most recently) West Virginia, South Dakota, Northern Kentucky and Grand Valley State.

As a head coach she has 15 winning seasons including nine 20-win seasons and two 30-win years. Plitzuweit’s teams have participated in the postseason 15 of 16 seasons and been in the last four NCAA Tournaments. Her career coaching record is 356-141 (.721) and she is 201-66 (.752) in league play.

Her resume includes the Big Ten where she was associate head coach at Michigan. The Michigan Tech graduate and West Bend, Wisconsin native has recruited Minnesota over the years.”…I am…looking forward to reconnecting with local high school and club coaches. I can’t wait to get to work,” Plitzuweit said in a statement released by the Gophers.

Plitzuweit, 50, could be the right age to make Minnesota her last career stop and turn the Gophers into a special program. “I honestly think it’s her dream job,” said Cosgriff.

She reportedly earned $550,000 last season at West Virginia. Whalen, who stepped down as Gopher coach in early March, was to be paid $574,761 starting next month. Most recently she earned $547,391. Specific compensation hasn’t been announced for Plitzuweit but she will receive a six-year contract pending approval by the Board of Regents.

Plitzuweit is the 13^th head women’s basketball coach at Minnesota, all females. The Gophers will hold a news conference Monday at 12:30 p.m. to introduce their coach. It will be carried live on the Big Ten Network and the Gophers’ YouTube channel.

Worth Noting

Minnesota lost the Big Ten Tournament hockey championship game last night to Michigan, 4-3 , playing in an electric atmosphere at 3M Arena at Mariucci. The game sold out in less than 36 hours and was the team’s ninth home sellout of the season as fans clamored to see a game between the No. 1 nationally ranked Gophers and No. 4 Wolverines and featuring 26 NHL draft choices.

In a home two-game series against Michigan January 20-21, the Gophers had a total attendance of 20,755, the most fans for a weekend series in arena history. Minnesota has been a draw on the road, too, mostly playing in front of sellout crowds.

Saturday morning StubHub, the Gophers’ secondary ticket partner, was listing tickets ranging from $135 each to $666. The public is starved for a Minnesota winner and this Gopher team has a chance to win the school’s first national championship since 2002.

The foundation is built on both defense and goal scoring. Defenseman Brock Faber and goalie Justen Close are names that surface quickly when talking about shutting down opponents, while the nationally publicized line of Logan Cooley, Matthew Knies and Jimmy Snuggerud is talked about as among the best in school history. Cooley and Knies are among 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Award, and one of them could win the honor of being named the nation’s best college hockey player, and the first Gopher to do that since Jordan Leopold in 2002.

Coach Bob Motzko has been true to program tradition in assembling a 26-man roster dominated by Minnesotans with 20 players from the state. But he’s kept up with the times bringing key personnel from beyond the border. Cooley is from Pittsburgh, Knies from Phoenix and Close from Saskatchewan.

If the Gophers qualify, Stillwater-based Creative Charters is offering a fan trip, April 6 to 9, to the Frozen Four in Tampa. The trip is part of a creative list of 2023 travel experiences planned by Steve and Dorothy Erban including what they’re billing as “the trip of a lifetime” to North Carolina in September.

The football Gophers play in Chapel Hill Saturday, September 16 against North Carolina and Heisman Trophy quarterback candidate Drake Maye. In addition to football entertainment, the goal of the September 13-17 trip is to “provide a true North Carolina experience.”

Travelers will visit the Charlotte Speedway and get an inside look at NASCAR racing. Not only that, but some Minnesotans will be able to ride in a high-speed Ford Mustang performance car driven by a professional driver. There will also be a visit to learn about the famous North Carolina furniture industry, opportunity to play golf and tour the historic North Carolina and Duke campuses.

Matt Weimann (left). Photo courtesy of University of St. Thomas.

Among the many prospects working out in front of professional scouts at Minnesota Pro Day last week were decorated players like Gophers All-Americans Mo Ibrahim and John Michael Schmitz. But there were also many players much more uncertain about their professional football futures including former St. Thomas center Matt Weimann.

The former Hill-Murray player told Sports Headliners his hope is to be signed as a free agent and gain an NFL tryout but he “would love to play anywhere.” In his mind the USFL or Canadian Football League could be options.

Weimann, about 6-3 and 300 plus-pounds, was All-Pioneer League last season. He has lost some weight and was pleased with his 28-inch vertical jump at the U Pro Day. He said his strength is as a run blocker and he is training to play guard and center at the next level, knowing versatility in skills is valuable.

Weimann raves about the coaching he received at St. Thomas including from head coach Glenn Caruso who he refers to as “phenomenal.” He said Caruso treats his players like family and that his leadership is unlike any he’s seen in coaching.

An All-District player in high school, Weimann didn’t receive attention from the Gophers. “The U didn’t recruit me at all. I tried to reach out. Definitely would have been interested in walking on, or at least looking and seeing what the program was about. But I never got any responses from any sort of recruiting from the U of M.”

Schmitz, one of college football’s premier centers last season, is expected to be drafted in the early rounds. Ibrahim, cornerback Terell Smith, safety Jordan Howden and quarterback Tanner Morgan are candidates for later rounds.

Cathy Gorlin & Marshall Tanick with Mark Wilf (center). Photo courtesy of Marshall Tanick.

Vikings co-owner Mark Wilf paid tribute to the late Bud Grant and spoke on other subjects Friday as the guest speaker at the Minnesota Breakfast gathering in Naples, Florida. Wilf also referenced a survey of NFL players that ranked the Vikings No. 1 among 32 teams in off the field satisfaction with the organization. He said the team will seek offensive linemen in the NFL Draft and through free agency to provide better pass protection and promised an improved defense in 2023.

Wilf also told breakfast attendees ownership rarely gets involved with decision making for the NFL Draft, except for concerns about player character. He added that “60 to 70” draft prospects are disqualified each year by the Vikings because of character issues.

Archives quote from Bud Grant about dancing: “Not only am I not good, I’ve never danced in my life. I always was very shy (as a youth) and I never learned to dance. I was too self-conscious and I was taller than most of the girls so I never learned how to dance—much to the chagrin of my wife.”

A former NFL executive talking anonymously about departed Vikings wide receiver Adam Thielen: “…I think Adam Thielen will find a good opportunity, perhaps with the Jets if Aaron Rodgers ends up there. Because they have a tight relationship.”

Comments Welcome

Coach Ben Johnson’s Job Safe for Now

Posted on February 5, 2023November 5, 2023 by David Shama

Updated November 5, 2023

The Gophers have been playing Big Ten basketball for over 115 years. A last place finish this winter in the Big Ten standings (all but certain) will be the program’s second straight in the basement.

That’s never happened before but the 2023 Gophers are historically bad. They have one conference win after last night’s embarrassing 81-46 loss to Maryland—the largest margin of defeat ever for a Minnesota Big Ten home game.

No Gopher team since World War II has won only one conference game. Minnesota’s record is 7-15 overall, 1-11 in league games and the Gophers are stumbling through a seven game Big Ten losing streak.

There are eight games remaining on the regular season schedule and the Gophers are expected to lose them all. They might not but Minnesota faces an ambitious challenge trying to match last season’s dismal 4-16 conference record.

The results of head coach Ben Johnson’s first two seasons leading the program are painful and they substantiate concerns of critics about his hire as a former college assistant with no experience leading a program. But let’s be clear: he is going to be the Gopher head coach for the foreseeable future.

How long? If Johnson directs the program into a competitive position where the Gophers are contending annually for upper-level positioning in the standings, he will be a hero and working in Dinkytown indefinitely. But if the program can’t come out of the abyss by next winter, then athletic director Mark Coyle could be thinking of a change, or one additional trial season for the 42-year-old Minneapolis native.

It’s delusional to think Johnson will be terminated after this season. Also, Coyle doesn’t do knee-jerk reactions with coaches he hires. Patience with men’s basketball will be the mantra for a while. This comes in an environment where interest in the program has reached apathy status and program revenues are light years from their potential in an athletic department that counts on basketball to be a cash cow to help the budgets of other sports.

Johnson’s supporters argue he has a difficult task with a program rebuild. Previous coach Richard Pitino was fired after the 2020-2021 season, with his last team producing a 6-14 Big Ten record. Only once in eight seasons did Pitino win more than half of his conference games.

Johnson didn’t want to or couldn’t retain key leftover personnel in center Liam Robbins, and guards Marcus Carr and Gabe Kalscheur. Collectively, their talent surpasses any Johnson and staff have brought to town so far.

In the college sports transfer portal era, there is more potential than ever to successfully remake a roster in a hurry. Johnson scored with transfers Jamison Battle and Payton Willis in 2021, and with Dawson Garcia last offseason, but overall has come up short in filling needs.

So far players coming in from high school haven’t been difference makers. The present freshmen class is the first one Johnson and his assistants had a head start in recruiting. The first-year group is an athletic bunch but on the court they lack cohesiveness, judgment and scoring skills.

Forward-center Pharrel Payne is 6-foot-9, the other three freshmen are 6-4 to 6-7 and are also similar in offensive abilities as shown so far. Braeden Carrington, Jaden Henley and Joshua Ola-Joseph look athletic driving to the basket but don’t convert consistently and show minimal outside shooting accuracy.

The roster not only lacks talent and experience, but the pieces don’t complement one another. The Gophers don’t excel at any aspect of play. Offense, defense, rebounding and playmaking are all subpar. Even the free throw shooting is atrocious, with Minnesota making 60.9 percent of attempts and ranking No. 352 in the nation.

It’s dicey to question the effort of players but it’s easier to comment on focus and mental lapses. In last night’s debacle the Gophers made one of their 16 turnovers when they errored (against no pressure) inbounding the basketball after a made Maryland basket. In another game, a Gopher player was backdoored three times for scores in less than 10 minutes of playing time.

As limited as the personnel is, the Gophers should be playing better than a team that has consecutive losses twice by 35 points and once by 20. Questions can be asked about the impact of the coaching regarding ball movement, cuts to the basket, creating open shots, second chance points, offensive and defensive rebounding, minimizing turnovers, forcing turnovers, covering open spaces in the zone defense, defensive switches, lack of defensive intensity and team confidence.

Injuries have sidelined two Gophers, forwards Isaiah Ihnen and Parker Fox, for two consecutive seasons. Difficult to know what difference their presence would have made. Ihnen has averaged 3.1 points in two previous seasons. Fox has yet to play Division I basketball after a high scoring Division II career.

As of late both Carrington and Dawson haven’t played because of injuries. Dawson’s absence, as the team’s leading scorer and rebounder, is significant but he could play as soon as Tuesday night at Illinois. With Dawson in the lineup the Gophers defeated Ohio State and had three league losses by a combined nine points.

For the more optimistic Gophers fans, it’s wait for next year mode. That’s when hyped center Dennis Evans and shooting guard Cameron Christie arrive. Evans, perhaps the best prep center in the country, will help the interior defense a lot and Christie, a prep sharpshooter, is a welcome addition to a team that can’t shoot straight (41.4 percent on field goals, ranking No. 315 nationally).

But like they say on Wall Street, there are no guarantees for the future. In addition to Evans and Christie, the Gophers need to add more potentially effective players. They also need to retain the ones they have, including Battle, Garcia and the current freshmen.

It’s been suggested the Gophers can’t win for awhile because the program is too low. But it only takes a couple of the right players and the right coaching to throw the switch, though. Quick turnarounds happen every year in college basketball.

With Gophers fans wondering if this is the historically worst of Gopher basketball, positive changes can’t come soon enough.

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