Stadiums – Page 20 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

U Volleyball Following Golden Script

Posted on November 29, 2018November 29, 2018 by David Shama

It looks almost predestined for the Golden Gophers volleyball team to win the 2018 national championship.

Minnesota’s path in the NCAA Tournament begins tomorrow night at home in Maturi Pavilion. If the Gophers keep on winning they can land at Target Center next month in the Final Four, never having left Minneapolis.

The Gophers are the No. 2 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament after winning the Big Ten regular season championship. At times during the season Minnesota was ranked No. 1 nationally in the American Volleyball Coaches Association poll, and now are at No. 2.

Earlier this month Minnesota head coach Hugh McCutcheon was honored with induction into the International Volleyball Hall of Fame. McCutcheon coached the U.S. men’s volleyball team to the 2008 Olympic gold medal. He directed the American women to the 2012 Olympic silver medal. At Minnesota he won the 2015 Big Ten title and twice has led teams to the Final Four.

Clearly this is a storybook season so far for McCutcheon and the Gophers, and the final chapter to their story could have a very happy ending. But what friends know about McCutcheon is that no matter how this narrative ends, the coach will keep it all in perspective and try to use the results as a learning experience for himself and his players.

McCutcheon photo courtesy of Minnesota athletic communications.

McCutcheon is a coach’s coach. Others in the coaching profession, regardless of sport, seek his counsel. Understanding process, temperament and relationships are common threads in all sports. McCutcheon goes about his business in a personable and engaged manner but you sense he is always under control, and calculating a next thought or move.

Asked this week what the Gophers will do next year without one of their stars, McCutcheon said, “We’ll miss her, but we’re going to keep playing volleyball.”

Former Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi hired McCutcheon and describes him as a very special coach. Maturi told Sports Headliners that McCutcheon not only knows what needs to be accomplished but makes the necessary adjustments. With him the Xs and Os of the sport don’t block out relating to his players and getting the best out of them. “He does it better than anybody I’ve been around,” Maturi said.

In an email Maturi reflected on McCutcheon’s use of process: “He has the ability to get his athletes to focus on the process rather than the score as well as any coach I know. No emotion over a mistake or good point. It is about the next point.

“As you heard (at a McCutcheon talk), it is about relationships. Understanding each athlete and their needs, yet holding them accountable and responsible. He is special.”

The Gophers, 25-3, play Bryant, 22-12, on Friday night. If the Gophers win they will advance to the second round Saturday and compete against Friday night’s Colorado-South Carolina winner also at Maturi Pavilon. By winning out over the weekend Minnesota can keep on playing in the tournament and at the Pav December 7-8. The Final Four at Target Center is December 14 and 15.

Worth Noting

The Gophers are fourth nationally in average home volleyball attendance at 5,354 fans per match. Nebraska leads the country with an average of 8,188.

Maturi Pavilion and adjacent Williams Arena will both have air conditioning installed next year. A volleyball performance center at the Pav where players can train is also being planned.

Big games and limited time during the next seven days puts pressure on the Gopher men’s basketball coaches and players. Minnesota, 5-1, plays Oklahoma State, 4-2, in a game that doesn’t start until 9 p.m. Friday at U.S. Bank Stadium. Sunday night the Gophers open their Big Ten season against 6-0 Ohio State in Columbus. Then next Wednesday, Minnesota has a second conference game—playing Nebraska, 6-1, at Williams Arena.

If the Gophers can earn at least two wins, in March they might look back and say that stretch contributed to an NCAA Tournament invitation. To have success during the next several days Minnesota will have to improve its shooting from Monday night’s loss at Boston College. The Gophers made 19 of 65 field goals, including 5 of 30 three-point attempts.

Friday night’s game is part of the U.S. Bank Stadium Basketball Classic—a two-night trial run on the basketball configuration and logistics in the facility for next spring’s NCAA Final Four. St. Thomas and UW-River Falls meet prior to the Gophers and Cowboys in the first basketball games ever played in the facility that opened in 2016. Saturday night North Dakota State plays Drake, followed by South Dakota State and Northern Iowa.

The classic is being administered and promoted by the stadium management company, SMG, and not the University of Minnesota. Only lower level seating will be set up, with SMG targeting attendance of 12,000 to 15,000 Friday and 10,000 to 12,000 Saturday. Ads in the Star Tribune have been promoting $15 tickets.

Memphis might be a leader in the “sweepstakes” for a commitment next spring from Rochester John Marshall superstar and senior Matthew Hurt. The new Memphis staff, featuring head coach Penny Hardaway, and assistants Mike Miller and Sam Mitchell, all have impressive NBA backgrounds. They can talk to Hurt from experience about how positioned the three are to get him best prepped for a pro career.

Kirk Cousins has thrown for more yards this season than Tom Brady, his quarterback rival in Sunday’s showdown game between the Vikings and Patriots in New England. Cousins’ total is 3,289 while Brady, whose leading receiver is running back James White, is at 3,031.

Jason Williamson, the Owatonna running back and free safety who has verbally committed to the Gophers, is one of 11 finalists for the Mr. Football Award given annually to an outstanding high school senior in the state. The other candidates are Bryce Benhart, Lakeville North; Matt Cavanaugh, Edina; Alex Folz, Spring Grove; Nick McCabe, Caledonia; Cade Plath, Chanhassen; David Roddy, Breck; Luke Ryan, BOLD; Treyton Welch, Buffalo; Brandon Westberg, Cambridge-Isanti; and Cole Woodford, Redwood Valley.

The award winner will be announced December 16 at the Doubletree by Hilton Minneapolis Park Place Hotel. The Mr. Football Award is sponsored by the Minnesota Football Coaches Association and the Vikings.

Antonio Montero, last year’s Mr. Football winner from Eden Prairie, has been a starting linebacker as a true freshman at Rice this fall. He had six solo tackles in one game.

Gophers football coach P.J. Fleck has his 38th birthday today.

Stepan Falkovsky, the 6-7, 224-pound defenseman the Wild acquired last week from the Kings, is only 21 and not yet on Minnesota’s roster while he gains more lower level experience. If he were on the team now he would be the Wild’s tallest player.

Meanwhile, the Wild’s Matt Dumba is the leading goal scorer among defensemen in the NHL with 10.

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Zim: Vikings Couldn’t Run ‘Worth a Lick’

Posted on November 19, 2018November 19, 2018 by David Shama

Enjoy a Monday notes column:

The Vikings had the offensive linemen available they wanted for last night’s game against the Bears in Chicago where first place in the NFC North was on the line. Health has been an issue this fall but last night the Vikings started tackles Riley Reiff and Brian O’Neill, guards Tom Compton and Mike Remmers, and center Pat Elflein.

The result? Not so good.

“We couldn’t run the ball worth a lick,” Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer said on KFXN-FM after the game.

Minnesota had 22 net yards rushing in the 25-20 loss that sent the Vikings 1.5 games behind Chicago in the division race. The team’s leading rusher was Dalvin Cook with 12 yards.

The offensive line, scrutinized and criticized for years, had minimal push in trying to move a Chicago defensive line and linebackers that are among the best in the NFL. Those defenders also created pressure on Minnesota quarterback Kirk Cousins when he tried to pass, which was most of the time.

Give the Vikings credit for making adjustments that gave them a chance after trailing 14-0 at halftime. The Vikings were able to contain scrambling quarterback Mitch Trubisky in the second half after he did a reasonable impression of Minnesota legend Fran Tarkenton during the first two quarters. The Vikings went to a no huddle offense that slowed the Bears pass rush in the second half and was a major factor in Minnesota scoring 22 points.

The Vikings’ defense did enough, including causing turnovers, to turn the game’s outcome in Minnesota’s favor. The offense certainly did not and was unable to respond to opportunities. Among the most glaring failures were Cousins missing a wide open Stefon Diggs for a first quarter touchdown, and throwing a second half interception returned for a touchdown.

The Vikings, 5-4-1, haven’t defeated a team with a winning record this season including Chicago at 7-3. There are six games remaining on Minnesota’s schedule including two against teams with winning records—the 7-3 Patriots next month and a season ending rematch with the Bears. The other opponents are at .500 or near that mark.

Gophers senior linebacker Blake Cashman was named the Big Ten’s Co-Defensive Player of the Week this morning. His 20 tackles in Saturday’s loss to Northwestern was not only a TCF Bank Stadium record but the most in a Big Ten regular season game since 2013.

Before Saturday’s Minnesota-Northwestern game at TCF Bank Stadium a street vendor was hoping to sell tickets at $15 each on face value tickets about four times that amount. He was thinking about asking $5 each for the 11 a.m. game where the temperature was 23 degrees at kickoff—the fifth lowest in the stadium’s history.

The announced attendance of 32,134 was the second lowest since the facility opened in 2009. Minnesota announced a crowd of 31,068 for the Purdue game on November 10. Two Sports Headliners sources reported actual attendance was 14,000 to 15,000. If so, it’s certain the actual attendance for last Saturday’s game was similar.

There’s no question cold and rain have made Minnesota home attendance less in recent seasons than if the Gophers played indoors like they did for more than 25 years in the Metrodome. I asked athletic director Mark Coyle last week if he might consider scheduling the last game of the home schedule at U.S. Bank Stadium in future years.

Coyle said he and his colleagues hadn’t discussed the possibility. Then he offered, “…Never say never.”

Jax Café, the Northeast restaurant operating since 1933, was not running buses to the last two Gophers games because of too few customers, according to a sportswriter who has used the service.

For several months Gophers fans were excited to have Jason Bargy as the program’s only four-star recruit in coach P.J. Fleck’s 2019 recruiting class. Bargy, though, quit his high school team this fall and has academic issues that could have prevented him from qualifying for entrance to Minnesota, according to recruiting authority Ryan Burns. News reports also have Bargy involved with a domestic battery charge.

Bargy won’t be coming to Minnesota. With football National Signing Day next month, the Gophers are under pressure to find another quality defensive lineman like Bargy, who has been listed among the best players in Illinois. Burns, publisher of Gopherillustrated, told Sports Headliners the Gophers are talking to potential replacements including Darius Robinson from Michigan and Rashad Cheney from Georgia.

Cheney is a four-star recruit who has turned down Alabama and Georgia. Among interested schools Minnesota will have to beat, Burns believes, are Mississippi and Penn State. “I think Minnesota has a legitimate shot,” Burns said.

Not sure what it says about Les Miles who won a national title at LSU but needed almost two years to land another head job. I am told he aggressively pursued the Gophers’ football coaching job after Tracy Claeys was fired in late December of 2016 and now he is the new head coach at football-pitiful Kansas.

Give Gophers coach Richard Pitino credit for switching to a second half zone defense to help his team win last night’s late game against Texas A&M, 69-64. The Aggies were too easily driving to the basket for scores before Minnesota went to the zone, a defense seldom used by Pitino.

Matthew Hurt, the class of 2018 five-star Rochester basketball recruit, reportedly will wait until next year to choose his college destination but a source I respect believes Kansas is the front-runner.

The Twins may have made MLB history in hiring a coach directly from a college position, with no previous big league experience. The hiring of new pitching coach Wes Johnson from Arkansas is a Twins’ franchise first.

With front office bosses Derek Falvey and Thad Levine around, it’s a good guess that ex-manager Paul Molitor didn’t have full authority over who he hired as coaches. Maybe new manager Rocco Baldelli is in that spot, too.

If Joe Mauer had decided to play one more season, he could have provided a 2019 Twins marketing theme for selling tickets. A farewell season for the Minnesota native would have appealed to season and single game ticket buyers.

Interested in a Christmas gift suggestion? Twin Cities-based freelance writer Patrick Borzi, with bylines that include the New York Times, offers a fun read in his new book, Minnesota Made Me—a sports anthology with bios of 38 Minnesota athletes (32 are still alive). The theme: How growing up or living in Minnesota shaped them as athletes and people.

Borzi, who is married to Star Tribune sportswriter Rachel Blount, interviewed all the subjects in his book including Minnesota natives like Matt Birk, Tyus Jones, Adam Thielen and Lindsay Whalen, and other fan favorites such as Lou Nanne and Tony Oliva who flourished in the state after coming here.

There are recurring values written about in the book including strong Minnesota character. You read about Thielen using his initial pro football earnings to pay off his student loans, or Whalen’s work ethic including rising before 6 a.m. in her hometown of Hutchinson.

The foreword of the 296-page paperback is written by Sid Hartman, the soon to be 99-year-old Star Tribune columnist who probably would tell you he is “close personal friends” with most of those profiled by Borzi. “Growing up here toughened me up and helped me survive all these years in a very tough business,” Hartman wrote.

More, including order information, at pressboxbooks.com/titles/minnesota-made-me/

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My Journey to See Uga & SEC Football

Posted on November 12, 2018November 12, 2018 by David Shama

While the Gophers were surprisingly beating up on Purdue and the Vikings had their bye date, I was in Southeast Conference football country watching the No. 5 ranked Georgia Bulldogs and No. 24 Auburn Tigers in Athens, Georgia. It was my first SEC game ever, and kind of a bucket list thing.

Being in Uga land a few days before the Saturday night game got me ready for the Bulldogs and Tigers. Athens makes many a short list of America’s best college towns, and among its proud citizens is Uga, the University of Georgia’s popular bulldog mascot. While the real Uga watches each home game from the sidelines, there are replicas of the famous dog around town including one creation that wears glasses and is positioned outside an eye doctor’s office.

Word is you don’t want to mess with the real Uga. I am told that years ago an Auburn player was showing off after a touchdown. He spun the ball on the ground near Uga, who then lunged toward the player showing disapproval. Presumably the charged-up Georgia players took their cue from Uga and won the game!

While Sanford Stadium is a scene of pom-pom waving, madly cheering Georgia fans on game night, there are a few detractors. Near the stadium I encountered a proselytizing Baptist minister who preaches the game of football is a false idol that besmirches the Lord. The minister seemed to be a lone voice in the wilderness as game time approached and throngs of fans marched toward the stadium gates, completely ignoring the preacher.

No, the minister didn’t have many converts. This is not to say religion isn’t important in the South. It certainly is, but college football is—to put it mildly—about as important as life or death. College football Saturdays down in Dixie can be labeled High Holy Days.

Southern college football authority Paul Finebaum wrote a story for Time magazine last August headlined the “The Holy Game.” Finebaum said: “If college football is America’s lay religion, the South is its ecumenically evangelical center. Nowhere is the passion more intense than on the campuses of the 14 colleges of the Southeastern Conference and among their fans.”

Along with the fervor can also come Southern hospitality and civility. Matt Hall, my game companion on Saturday, got an unexpected offering of that after he realized he lost one of his season ticket passes. He concluded this occurred at a spot in the concourse after he had reached into his pocket to give me a ticket. Returning to the suspected site of his loss, he immediately saw a stranger holding the ticket, with intentions to turn it into fan relations. Now that’s good timing.

Georgia fans were happy Saturday night as their beloved Dawgs won another game in the oldest college football rivalry in the Deep South. The two SEC powers have been playing each other since 1896 and they have won not only league titles but national championships.

The Bulldogs, now 9-1, were pretty much on cruise control Saturday night. Georgia led 20-10 at halftime and added a second half touchdown to make the final score 27-10. Just as important the Bulldogs held fast in the chase for an invitation to the four-team playoffs.

The Bulldogs showed an aggressive defense and balanced offense. Auburn, now 6-4, couldn’t match Georgia’s productivity on the ground including D’Andre Swift’s 186-yard rushing performance.

My guy Matt is a professor at Georgia so he’s on board with the Dawgs. Georgia is just behind No. 4 Michigan in the four-team playoff race. Matt grew up in Ann Arbor so he’s all in on the possibility of the Wolverines getting a shot at the national title. Either Dawgs, or Wolves, Matt is well positioned.

College Football’s Shrine

For many years I have wanted to visit the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta. Mission accomplished.

Entering the building’s lobby fans are greeted by over 700 helmets representing every level of college football including NAIA schools. While registering, each Hall of Fame guest can identify a favorite team, and then that team’s helmet lights up on a giant wall. Technology also allows highlighting of your favorite team at exhibits.

Much of my focus in touring the facility was on the Gophers. There are 22 individuals with Gopher ties in the shrine including Lou Holtz, who coached only two seasons at Minnesota.

I told fan experience senior manager Robert Bready that there are still copies of a Hollywood movie from the 1940’s about Bruce Smith, Minnesota’s 1941 Heisman Trophy winner. “Smith of Minnesota” starred the hero from Faribault, Minnesota, and was as wholesome of a production as Hollywood has ever produced.

I also shared a mythic tale about the legendary Bronko Nagurski, the Gophers’ fullback and tackle from the 1920s who made All-American at two positions in the same year. Nagurski was said to be strong as an ox, and legend has it that a Gopher coach discovered him on a farm near International Falls. Bronko was using a large plow to dig up the earth when the coach drove by and stopped to ask for directions. The mighty Bronko gave directions by lifting the plow into the air and pointing toward the road the coach should follow.

That was enough for the coach to direct Bronko to Minnesota.

Former Vikings wide receiver Terry LeCount works at the Hall of Fame. He played for the Vikings from 1979-1983, and in 1987.

More on the Hall of Fame at cfbhall.com.

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