Rick Adelman – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Twins Need Dominant Santana in NY

Posted on September 26, 2017September 26, 2017 by David Shama

To most of the baseball world, the Twins look like a “just happy to be here” team going into next Tuesday’s anticipated playoff game against the Yankees in New York. The Twins have lost four of six to the Yankees this season, have an inferior overall record (82-74 versus 87-69), and a roster of key players who are young and inexperienced.

Max Kepler (photo courtesy of Minnesota Twins).

In a one-game playoff young Twins hitters Byron Buxton, Max Kepler, Jorge Polanco and Eddie Rosario could nervously be chasing pitches they shouldn’t be offering at. Add Miguel Sano, if healthy enough to play, to that list. None of those players have ever been in a Major League postseason game and their inexperience might lead to mistakes in the field and on the bases, too.

It appears all but certain the Twins and Yankees will be the American League’s two wild card entrants. For Minnesota to reverse the disaster of postseason failures against the Yankees in 2003, 2004, 2009 and 2010, the Twins will almost certainly need a special performance from their expected starting pitcher, 34-year-old Ervin Santana.

Santana’s anticipated schedule has him starting Thursday against the Indians, then resting and preparing for the Yankees. His experience and skills give the Twins a chance in their playoff game. A win this Thursday will be his 17th of the season and set a career high. He goes into the game with a career-best 3.36 ERA.

Santana, who is among the American League leaders in wins, is paid to have big seasons like 2017 when he was honored with a place on the AL All-Star roster. He has postseason experience and earns $13.5 million annually, according to Cot’s baseball contracts.

The club’s best paid player, $23 million a year Joe Mauer, is also a veteran presence and has played in nine playoff games. He is hitting over .300 for the first time since 2013 and has committed only two errors at first base.

Royals’ first baseman Eric Hosmer hasthree errors, and has started 37 more games than Mauer. Hosmer is the favorite to win the AL Gold Glove award for first basemen.

Worth Noting

After the Vikings’ 34-17 win over the Bucs Sunday, Profootballfocus.com gave its five highest grades among Minnesota players to quarterback Case Keenum, wide receiver Adam Thielen, offensive tackle Mike Remmers, wide receiver Stefon Diggs, and cornerback Trae Waynes. The website said Keenum, substituting for the injured Sam Bradford, “had the game of his life as he torched the Bucs secondary up and down the field.”

Sam Bradford (photo courtesy of Minnesota Vikings)

With Bradford sidelined with a knee injury, the 2-1 Vikings only have three offensive starters who were regulars on last season’s team—Diggs, Thielen and tight end Kyle Rudolph. Yet the Vikings rank second in the NFL in total offense at 400.3 yards per game, trailing the Patriots at 440.7.

Marcus Sherels, the former Gopher and Rochester, Minnesota native, turns 30 on Saturday. He has developed an impressive career with the Vikings as a punt returner and reserve cornerback. Sherels, acquired by the Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 2010, holds the team career record for most touchdowns returning punts (five).

The Cowboys were the only NFL team worth $2 billion five years ago but now all but five franchises are at that level and more, according to a September 18 Forbes.com article. Forbes released its annual valuations of the league’s 32 teams including the Cowboys valued at $4.8 billion. The league average is $2.5 billion and the Vikings are valued at $2.4 billion.

Ticket prices range from $35 to $140 for Saturday’s Gophers-Maryland game at TCF Bank Stadium. For the Nebraska game November 11, prices start at $90 and go up to $235, while the range for Wisconsin two weeks later is $80 to $210.

Former Gophers Nick Rallis and Adam Weber are working in the football programs at Wake Forest and UCLA respectively.

Former Minnesota Mr. Football J.D. Spielman, now a redshirt freshman and wide receiver at Nebraska, had his first college touchdown reception last Saturday in a win over Rutgers. Spielman also has a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown this season.

Saint John’s and St. Thomas resume their football rivalry in Collegeville next year on October 13. The Tommies will host the Johnnies October 19, 2019, presumably at O’Shaughnessy Stadium in St. Paul but don’t be surprised if talks surface regarding another site after Saint John’s and St. Thomas drew a Division III record crowd at Target Field of 37,355 last Saturday.

Will the Johnnies consider hosting the game at a large neutral site stadium like St. Thomas did this year? “I can guarantee we’ll always play at (our) Clemens Stadium,” Saint John’s athletic director Bob Alpers told Sports Headliners.

Alpers is also the Johnnies golf coach and his team was playing in the Twin Cities Classic on Saturday so he missed the historic football game.

The Division III game last Saturday had a larger attendance than 28 FBS games including home crowds for Maryland and top 20 ranked Washington State. A St. Thomas spokesman also said there were “17,000 hits” on the school website’s streaming the game. A typical Tommies game might have 1,000 to 1,500 hits, while the previous all-time high in hits for a St. Thomas football game was 9,000 last year in a playoff game against UW-Oshkosh.

The WNBA Finals involving Glen Taylor’s Lynx will cause him to miss the Timberwolves team flight to China. Taylor told Sports Headliners he and wife Becky will fly to China after the finals that continue tonight with Game Two at Williams Arena against the Sparks and could go through October 4. The Wolves, who Taylor also owns, will play exhibition games in China starting October 5.

Taylor will participate in an NBA meeting while in China. He owns printing and software businesses in the country.

Taylor said the installation of temporary air conditioning at Williams Arena for the finals will cost about $1 million, and because the expenditure wasn’t budgeted for the Lynx franchise might not make a profit this year. “It won’t help, that’s for sure,” said Taylor who approved the expenditure for the benefit of players and fans.

Taylor remains friends with former Timberwolves head coach Rick Adelman who is retired and spending time with family. Adelman’s son, David Adelman, who used to work for the Wolves, is an assistant with the Nuggets.

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Love’s Input Likely on Next Wolves Coach

Posted on April 25, 2014April 25, 2014 by David Shama

Glen Taylor told Sports Headliners yesterday he’s likely to seek All-Star Kevin Love‘s opinion before he hires the next Timberwolves coach. That conversation, Taylor said, could happen when he and president of basketball operations Flip Saunders narrow the search to a couple of candidates.

“I think you go out and talk to a number of people and get their input. I think Kevin would be one of those people,” Taylor said. “Does he know anything about this coach? Does he have a relationship? Has he heard anything good about him? Bad about him? Does he have any concerns? I don’t think you rely on that as your sole decision (maker) but I think it’s part of taking that player’s input who is very important to your future.”

Head coach Rick Adelman resigned this week, and Taylor and Saunders will lead the search for a successor. Taylor regards Love, his 25-year-old power forward, as the “key to building the team…so you want to have his input.”

Love averaged 26.1 points and 12.5 rebounds this past season, placing him in the company of the NBA’s most statistically productive players in recent decades. His contract allows him to leave the team a year from this summer as an unrestricted free agent.

Taylor knows having Love’s buy-in on the new coach can make the young superstar feel involved. Love’s approval of a coach could also make it more difficult for him to leave Minneapolis for another team in 2015.

Taylor said Love’s enthusiasm for a candidate—or his hesitation—can influence the search but at the end of the process the owner and Saunders will make the decision. “For example, if Kevin liked somebody really well but you didn’t feel that person could bring the best out of Kevin, I wouldn’t go ahead with it (the hire),” Taylor said.

Love joined the team as a rookie in 2008 and during his six seasons the Wolves have never made the playoffs. “Yes, it’s very important that we do better next year than this year and I think that would have some influence upon any decision Kevin would make,” Taylor said while adding that circumstances such as a major injury to Love would probably give the team’s leader a full perspective on the season.

Taylor admires Love as a player and person. Love has not only been a leader on the court but helped the franchise in efforts with fans and sponsors. Taylor has also noticed how Love relates to Taylor’s grandchildren at home games.

“He gives them a good smile and a pat on the head, and all those little nice things that I think are hard for anybody to make up. I think you do it from your heart and I think Kevin has just a very nice heart.”

Taylor believes his youthful roster of players, including Love, can improve. That’s why he lists ability to teach and improve player skills at the top of his criteria for a new coach. Right there too is the need to improve team defense on a club that is impressive offensively.

What about rapport with the players? “I certainly need a person they respect,” Taylor said. “That’s why we probably will start our group of people that we look at (with) people that have a track record.”

Taylor has told Saunders to make the candidate pool very inclusive but preference at least initially is likely to be for candidates with head coaching experience, not assistants. College head coaches will be considered.

Worth Noting

Taylor on the relationship between Saunders and Love: “I know that the two of them meet quite often and have lunch together. I am under the impression that they have a very good relationship, but I am a third party here.”

Adelman, who retired to spend more time with family, will be used as a consultant on the search to find his successor as Wolves head coach. During the next year Adelman will also advise the team about rival NBA players.

It will be interesting to see if the Avalanche can score goals when the Avs and Wild resume their playoff series, tied at 2-2, in Denver tomorrow night. After winning the first two games in the series in Denver by scoring nine goals, the Avs managed only one goal in two games this week in Minnesota.

Wild forward Mikael Granlund, 22 and in only his second NHL season, has emerged as a clutch performer with his defense and timely overtime goal in game three. Granlund has a history of coming through in international games including this year’s Olympics playing for Finland. He tied for third in Olympics scoring and made the All-Tournament Team.

A hockey source said the two Wild playoff games this week at Xcel Energy Center totaled about $1.8 million in gross revenues for the franchise, including ticket receipts, suites, advertising and concessions. That’s another reason why the franchise leaders are happy to have a third playoff game at home against the Avs next Monday.

If the Wild advance to the second round of the playoffs, home revenues per game are likely to be over $2 million.

When Wild owner Craig Leipold is in the Twin Cities he and his wife Helen live in their apartment at the Saint Paul Hotel. The Leipolds are residents of Racine, Wisconsin.

Local author and motivational speaker Ross Bernstein is president of the Herb Brooks Foundation. Bernstein, who has authored books about the legendary former coach, is a passionate hockey fan and among the organizations he has addressed are Detroit Red Wings employees. “They do more with less,” Bernstein said. “They’ve been to 23 straight playoffs.”

Former Gophers quarterback Adam Weber, expected to join Saskatchewan of the CFL this spring, will be part of a Roughriders roster that includes his former Minnesota teammate Troy Stoudermire, a defensive back.

The Vikings preseason night game on Thursday, August 28 at Tennessee will be played about the same time as the Gophers nonconference evening opener against Eastern Illinois at TCF Bank Stadium.

Football fan Steve Nestor e-mailed that ESPN draft expert Todd McShay has been praising ex-Gophers defensive back Brock Vereen. Nestor wrote that McShay said on ESPN2 on Tuesday Vereen will be a “steal” in the third round.

The annual Miller Lite Vikings Draft Party will be at the Minneapolis Convention Center on Thursday, May 8, begins at 5:30 p.m. and continues until the first round ends. General admission tickets are $10 and can be purchased at Vkings.com/drafttickets. Season ticket holders receive one free ticket for every season ticket – limit 4 per account – while supplies last. The event will include NFL Network coverage of the first round, interactive games and autographs from current and former Vikings.

New Gophers women’s basketball coach Marlene Stollings announced today the hiring of Nikita Dawkins. A 23-year coaching veteran, Dawkins worked for Stollings at VCU and with the Gophers will be an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator.

When Duke freshman forward Jabari Parker declared for the NBA Draft earlier this month, it further set the stage for Apple Valley High School point guard Tyus Jones to play a major role with the Blue Devils next season. If Jones establishes himself among the elite college players next season, it wouldn’t be surprising if he entered the NBA Draft next spring.

Dave Mona e-mailed that ticket sales are on “record pace” for the fifth annual Camden’s Concert on Wednesday, July 30 at the Hopkins Center for the Arts. The concert features the Wright Brothers who have appeared at the Minnesota State Fair. Camden’s Concert is named after Dave and Linda Mona’s six-year-old grandson Camden Mona, and the event raises money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Ticket information is available by calling the Hopkins Center for the Arts, 952-979-1111.

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No Automatic Increases for Borton

Posted on March 28, 2014March 28, 2014 by David Shama

Pam Borton has received guaranteed monetary increases in the past but that ends this year, per her employment agreement with the University of Minnesota. The agreement does state that both her salary and “supplemental and media compensation” will be reviewed by the athletic director, “and shall not be less than the previous year.”

Borton, who has been the Gophers women’s basketball coach since 2002-2003, presently earns $335,000 in salary. That amount is $10,000 more than in 2012-2013 and is part of a past series of guaranteed annual salary increases described in her employment agreement. Borton’s supplemental and media compensation has also increased annually in the past and is $150,000 for 2013-2014, or $5,000 more than in 2012-2013.

Not only are Borton’s earnings for 2014-2015 to be determined, but there is also speculation about her job status. Athletic director Norwood Teague has declined opportunities during the last several days in both the Pioneer Press and Star Tribune to talk about the coach’s future.

The Gophers’ season ended in a third round WNIT game last night in Brookings, South Dakota. The South Dakota State Jackrabbits defeated the Gophers, 70-62.

The program has faltered since the glory days of 2003, 2004 and 2005 when Minnesota played in the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 twice and Final Four once. Borton’s teams haven’t qualified for the tournament for five years. The Gophers were 6^th in the Big Ten Conference standings this season, an improvement over the previous four years of 11^th, 9^th and two 8^th place finishes.

Interest in the program and home attendance has faltered, too. The Gophers averaged 3,178 this season before hosting two WNIT games that drew announced Williams Arena crowds of 950 and 587. Attendance once averaged more than 9,000 per game.

Teague neither hired Borton nor gave her the 2012 contract extension that runs through 2016. Teague, who has been Minnesota’s athletic director for less than two years, is a knowledgeable basketball administrator and gave men’s coach Tubby Smith only one season before dismissing him last March.

Borton’s employment agreement states she can be let go “without just cause” and the University must pay half her salaries for the remaining years of the agreement. There are two years remaining at $335,000 per season. Her agreement with the University runs through April 30, 2016.

…The Gophers men’s team plays Florida State in the semifinals of the NIT in New York on Tuesday night. Minnesota defeated the Seminoles 71-61 in a nonconference game at Williams Arena in December.

Minnesota players and coaches held a meeting to discuss the NIT prior to the tournament starting. Some teams may not be focused in the NIT because of disappointment from failing to qualify for the more prestigious NCAA Tournament, but the Gophers thought differently. “We decided we want to go win this thing, so that’s what we’re going to do,” Gophers junior forward Oto Osenieks told Sports Headliners.

Minnesota has NIT wins over High Point, Saint Mary’s and Southern Mississippi. A win next Tuesday puts Minnesota into the championship game two nights later. The 2012 Gophers played in the title game but lost.

Gophers junior guard Andre Hollins said the loss left a “sour taste” with him and his teammates. “You get that close to a championship and you lose, you don’t forget that,” he said. “It will stay with me forever.”

Two years ago the Gophers went into overtime before defeating Washington in a semifinal game. Minnesota players were fatigued for the championship game two nights later. Stanford defeated the Gophers with ease, 75-51.

The 2014 Gophers believe they have more players who can come off the bench and provide energy if the starters are tired. “This year we’re definitely deeper and I think it’s going to help us,” said junior center Elliott Eliason.

Without a career high 32 points by Austin Hollins on Tuesday night against Southern Mississippi, the Gophers wouldn’t be preparing for New York and Florida State. The senior guard, who scored 18 during a first half Minnesota comeback, made his last game in Williams Arena something to remember.

“He went out with a bang,” Andre Hollins said. “That‘s what you dream of. I am proud of him.”

Although the Gophers hosted three NIT games at Williams Arena, they don’t keep the gate receipts. The NIT, owned by the NCAA, retains the revenues from games but pays for the expenses of teams.

…Timberwolves fans have reason to watch Iowa State’s Sweet 16 game tonight against Connecticut. Cyclones coach Fred Hoiberg should be considered if Wolves coach Rick Adelman, 67, decides to retire this spring.

Hoiberg played two seasons for the Wolves and later worked in the team’s front office before accepting the Iowa State job, his first head coaching position. He has revived Cyclones basketball during the last four seasons while adding to his legend in Ames. Hoiberg attended high school in Ames and was a star player for the Cyclones where he became known as “The Mayor.”

Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor is fond of him. It’s difficult not to like the personable Hoiberg who was popular in Minneapolis and has proven in Ames he can coach. Part of his coaching success has come from working successfully with troubled players who seem to have a new outlook after transferring from other schools.

Hoiberg’s skill in dealing with difficult personalities would give him an edge in today’s NBA. At 41 he can relate to players and has the energy needed for the NBA grind.

No doubt Hoiberg feels loyalty to his alma mater. Athletic director Jamie Pollard hired him, taking a chance on someone with no head coaching experience. Still, Hoiberg might feel more comfortable leaving Ames for a pro job rather than another college position.

And coming home to Minnesota—where the family has owned a lake cabin and already knows the Wolves organization—could be an overture Hoiberg probably won’t quickly disregard.

…Saint John’s men’s basketball coach Jim Smith will be 80 in June, but if you think he will announce his retirement soon, think again.

Smith told Sports Headliners he has no plans to quit coaching the Johnnies. He enjoys his work and the association with his players. “I am sure I will know when it is time (to retire),” he said.

Smith is energetic and not concerned about the approaching eight-zero. “I don’t feel it (80),” he said.

He just completed his 50^th season in Collegeville. The Johnnies were 15-11 overall and 13-7 in the MIAC where they tied for fourth place.

The overall win total pushed his career record to 770-546. Smith is one of 27 men’s college coaches to have 700 career victories. His better teams include a couple that pressed for national championships. “If I have any regrets it would be not winning a national title,” he said.

The 2001 team made it to the NCAA Division III Sweet 16. That’s not so long ago and maybe the coach has another long tournament run to make.

The Johnnies will hold their season ending banquet on April 12.

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