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Could Vikings Target ‘One of Us’ in Draft’s First Round?

Posted on April 10, 2025April 18, 2025 by David Shama

Updated April 18, 2025

Enjoy a Thursday notes column:

Will the Vikings take “one of us” next Thursday with the 24^th selection of the first round in the 2025 NFL Draft from Green Bay?

Well, Nick Baumgardner, with his mock draft this week for The Athletic, thinks the Vikings will go for a parochial pick. He predicts Minnesota will choose Grey Zabel, a center-guard prospect from North Dakota State whose hometown is Pierre, South Dakota. He was an All-American left tackle for the FCS champs, but Baumgardner said the 6-6, 305-pound athlete is better suited to the interior line.

Ryan Wilson from CBS Sports has the Vikings opting for East Carolina cornerback Shavon Revel Jr. in his April 8 mock draft. Other mock draft sites believe the Vikings will trade the No. 24 pick to accumulate more draft choices than the four they now have.

Chad Reuter in his April 4 mock for NFL.com has the Vikings receiving third and fourth round selections from the Chiefs, while giving up their first and sixth round picks. And Reuter has the Chiefs selecting Gopher offensive tackle Aireontae Ersery with that first rounder. The Vikings, of course, could really go home region in the first round by taking Ersery.

The Vikings are short on draft slots right now, owning four selections currently in the first, third, fifth and sixth rounds. That status not only prompts speculation about trading the first rounder for more picks, but also that Minnesota could emphasize bringing in a lot of free agents just out of college.

The Gophers had a program record six players invited to the NFL Combine earlier this year. Ersery is all but certain to be drafted in the early rounds. He projects eventually as an NFL starter.

The other five, at worst, are almost assured of at least free agent tryouts. Quarterback Max Brosmer, defensive lineman Jay Joyner, linebacker Cody Lindenberg and cornerback Justin Walley may have a more realistic chance of being selected in the seven round draft than wide receiver Daniel Jackson.

Jackson has the lowest cumulative score from NFL.com/prospects among the University of Minnesota prospects. He has route running and ball catching skills, but his ability to get open against NFL defenders is a concern and so is his lack of speed.

Brosmer, lacking a big arm and mobility, might not hear his name during the April 17-19 draft either. But his confidence, high football IQ and quick release could intrigue a club looking for a developmental quarterback willing to take on any role for multiple seasons.

New Gophers assistant men’s basketball coaches Brian Cooley and Armon Gates will earn $300,000 and $400,000 respectively, per a Discovery request made to the University of Minnesota by Sports Headliners. Dave Thorson, the holdover assistant from coach Ben Johnson’s staff, will remain at $341,423.

The Timberwolves, despite losing to the Bucks Tuesday night, are fortunate to have two of their last three regular season games against softies as they compete to avoid the Western Conference play-in-tournament. After tonight’s game in Memphis against the Grizzlies the Wolves finish the regular season at home against the Nets, with a 26-53 record, and the Jazz, 17-63. Both franchises are presumably more interested in positioning to win the NBA Draft lottery and select Duke freshman phenom Cooper Flagg.

The hitting and pitching have been spotty, and there’s no excitement about the 4-8 Twins. But while the verdict by many fans may already be in on what kind of season the Twins will have, franchise Hall of Fame manager Tom Kelly used to say a team can’t be fairly judged until 50 games.

The Twins try for a win this afternoon in Kansas City and a four-game series split with the Royals. Minnesota has won 195 games in Kauffman Stadium, the most in any road ballpark.

Murray’s Restaurant owner Tim Murray is a passionate baseball fan who attended his 45^th consecutive Twins home opener last week.

Happy birthday next week to Jim Dutcher who coached the Golden Gophers to the Big Ten championship in 1982. Dutch turns 92 on April 17 and is healthy. He recently renewed his driver’s license and eats what he wants.

Dutch told Sports Headliners he does have arthritic knees and uses a walker to help his mobility and prevent a fall. His brother Norman is 96 and lives in Alpena, Michigan.

Former Gophers football head coach Glen Mason turned 75 yesterday.

Minnesotans are naïve if they think Dallas might trade its No. 1 draft spot to the Lynx who then could grab hometown hero Paige Bueckers. The WNBA Draft is Monday with the Wings all but certain to take Bueckers, the former Hopkins High School legend. But don’t rule out Bueckers eventually coming home via trade or free agency.

Bueckers was coached at Hopkins by Brian Cosgriff who was asked if there is another Bueckers on the horizon in Minnesota. “You don’t know about Maddyn Greenway (prep senior next season). I mean she’s doing some spectacular things here. Won four state championships. Scored over 4,000 points. She was very, very good this year. I look for Maddyn to be an amazing college player (at Kentucky) as well.”

The Lynx, BTW, had little to no financial worth in their early years after starting as a expansion franchise in 1998, but a fair estimate now is the club is worth $80 million to $100.

The Minnesota Minute Men Amateur Athletic Foundation has awarded its 2025 Scholarship to Sophia Anderson of Liberty Classical Academy in White Bear Lake. She captained her varsity track and field, and basketball teams, and also earned a state championship and a fourth-place finish nationally with USA Powerlifting. A Magna Cum Laude student, she will attend Dallas Baptist University with a biology major and compete in track and field.

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Gophers Don’t Need Game Now Against Crosstown Tommies

Posted on March 29, 2025March 29, 2025 by David Shama

New University of Minnesota basketball coach Niko Medved should ignore suggestions he schedule a game with St. Thomas. There is no upside for his program in scheduling the St. Paul school that is only a few miles from Dinkytown.

Asked about the Tommies at his presser earlier this week, Medved was gracious about the suggestion and said it’s a possibility without giving a time commitment. Good response but behind closed doors Niko and his boss Mark Coyle should develop amnesia about St. Thomas.

The Tommies, only four seasons into Division I competition, play in the mid-major Summit League. Members are certainly not marquee names in college hoops with the likes of schools from the Dakotas and those pesky Kangaroos from Kansas City.

The Tommies, though, are already a Summit League power and a terrific mid-level program under coaching guru Johnny Tauer. They would walk through a snowstorm to play the role of “David” at Williams Arena against the Gophers.

Fuhgeddaboudit.

Medved photo courtesy of University of Minnesota

The Gopher basketball brand is so tarnished right now it would be foolish to play “Goliath” by giving the Tommies the opportunity to take down a team from the mighty Big Ten on its home floor. In that match up, Medved and company are in a no-win drama for them.

A blow-out Minnesota win? The public response is, “What do you expect from a Big Ten team playing at home?”

A close Gopher victory? The chorus says, “See the Tommies could have won. They’re just as good as Minnesota.”

A Tommies triumph? Critics crow: “The Gophers can’t even defeat a good mid-major program.”

The Tommies played road games last season at Oklahoma State and Arizona State, two teams from the Big 12 Conference. The scrappy Tommies lost both games by a combined 24 points.

Ask the marketers at those Power Four schools if the games against the Tommies did anything to boost their brand and credibility with fans, donors and potential recruits.

Avoiding the Tommies shouldn’t prompt a “game of chicken” mentality from fans who follow either program. It’s just savvy business for the Gophers to take awhile to build up their product and continue their tradition of cushy non-conference scheduling against the likes of “Hopscotch State” and “Gulf of America University.”

There is speculation that the prestigious Big East, drawn to the TV size of the Twin Cities market, may one day ask the Tommies to join that powerhouse league. That would surely be the time to schedule the Minneapolis versus St. Paul matchup—our version of Marquette against Wisconsin.

In the meantime, the Gophers need to be aware the Tommies are their competition even if the two teams don’t play on the court against one another. As the two Division I programs in the state, there is a budding rivalry for high school recruits, media attention and fans.

BTW both programs have lots of potential to build fan followings and home attendances. The Tommies, 24-10 overall last season, attracted only 20,117 total fans for 14 home games at Schoenecker Arena. The Tommies averaged 1,437 fans per game, playing to 65 percent of capacity, per stats.ncaa.org. St. Thomas will play in the new Lee and Penny Anderson Arena next fall with a basketball capacity of about 5,500.

The Gophers, whose public season ticket sales have dipped under 5,000, continued their trend of poor attendance in 2025. Minnesota averaged 8,923 fans, playing to 61 percent capacity in 14,625 seat Williams Arena.

Worth Noting

Is there anyone on the planet who doesn’t agree the No. 1 thing that will determine the Twins fate for 2025 is collective health. The Twins announced the following Injured List on Thursday, opening day.

Position players Brooks Lee (10-days, retroactive to March 24; lumbar strain) and Royce Lewis (10-days, retroactive to March 24; left hamstring strain), and right-handed pitchers Brock Stewart (15-days, retroactive to March 24; left hamstring strain) and Michael Tonkin (15-days, retroactive to March 24; right shoulder strain).

How much has the Twins Opening Day roster changed in four years? There are four players on the 2025 roster who were Twins in 2021: pitchers Jorge Alcala and Randy Dobnak, catcher Ryan Jeffers and outfielder Byron Buxton.

The Pohlad family is believed to be seeking at least $1.7 billion to sell the Twins who in Forbes annual evaluation of MLB franchises posted a few days ago values the club at $1.5 billion, a three percent increase over last year. Carl Pohlad purchased the team for a reported $44 million in 1984.

The average MLB club is now worth an average of $2.6 billion, per Forbes who ranked the Twins No. 23 among the 30 franchises in value. The Yankees are No. 1 at $8.1 billion valuation, while the Marlins are last at $1.05 billion.

While the Twins are up for sale, Sports Headliners has no reason to believe longtime Timberwolves-Lynx owner Glen Taylor, or Wild owner Craig Leipold, have interest in buying the local baseball franchise.

Word is the Wolves Tim Connelly, president of basketball operations, is not expected to exercise his contract opt out after this season and will stay with the franchise.

Cheryl Reeve, head coach and president of basketball operations for the Lynx, speaks to the Twin Cities Dunkers April 8 at Norway House in Minneapolis. Winner of four WNBA titles with the Lynx, Reeve has been a headliner three previous times at Dunkers.

Storyteller extraordinaire Jay Pivec is the latest guest on “Behind the Game” which can be viewed on YouTube and is co-hosted by Patrick Klinger and Dave Boden. A Minneapolis native, Pivec is a basketball lifer whose coaching stops over the decades include in his home state and beyond where he forged relationships and memories that entertain in his new book. The Book of Piv, available through Amazon, is his memoir from 40 years of coaching and is billed: “All stories as true as they need to be.” https://youtu.be/6jzxnB10Src

The Football Film Federation is promoting a two-day coaches technology convention at the Mall of America on April 26 and 27. The event is for those from high schools and colleges interested in film knowledge and excellence. Top vendors and key speakers will be present.

Two schools will receive the Bob Marcus Film Excellence Award which is named after the successful former Gopher and Viking video expert. More including information is available at footballfilmconference@gmail.com.

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Word on Next U Basketball Coach Leads to Niko Medved

Posted on March 15, 2025March 15, 2025 by David Shama

Sources believe Niko Medved will be the next head men’s basketball coach at the University of Minnesota. Those sources include a former college basketball coach with Minnesota ties who called Sports Headliners Friday to say Medved, head coach at Colorado State since 2018, will succeed Ben Johnson who was dismissed earlier this week after four losing Big Ten seasons.

That source, speaking on condition of anonymity, believes a deal has been agreed to between Medved and the U.

It’s all but certain Minnesota athletic director Mark Coyle had identified preferred candidates prior to firing Johnson, with Medved a target. With the player transfer portal opening March 24, the U and other programs across the nation want to move fast in acquiring players for next season. Hiring the next U coach is both a thoughtful and timely challenge.

Medved, with Gopher state roots and a consistent winning coaching resume, checks boxes for Coyle. “We need somebody that embraces Minnesota,” Coyle told local media yesterday.

Medved, Minneapolis born, is a U graduate. He has his bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from Minnesota in kinesiology and sports management respectively.

In the 1990s Medved was a student manager for U head coach Clem Haskins. The Roseville High grad was associate head coach at Macalester College from 1997-1999. After that he was an assistant coach at Furman, Minnesota (one season under Dan Monson) and Colorado State before becoming head coach at Furman, Drake and in Fort Collins with the Rams.

It’s been presumed for a while that Medved would welcome the opportunity to come home and coach at his alma mater. His availability would be attractive to Coyle who in his coaching search rhetoric prioritized hiring someone who will win consistently like rival Big Ten programs Illinois, Michigan State and Wisconsin.

Medved’s resume is that of improving records over time and producing 20-win seasons. Hired for the 2013-2014 season at Furman, he spent four seasons building up a program that went from a 9-game winner to 21. After one season at Drake, he took over the Rams and in five of seven seasons his teams have won 20 games or more.

At one point last season his team earned a No. 12 national ranking and finished with a 25-11 record. Today the Rams, 24-9 overall and winners of nine consecutive games, play Boise State in the Mountain West tournament championship game.

A victory sends the Rams into the NCAA Tournament. A loss could put the team on the bubble for an invitation. Although Medved has never won a regular season conference championship, or tournament title with the Rams, his teams have qualified for the NCAA Tournament two of the last three seasons.

If the Rams miss the Big Dance, that could clear the way for an announcement about the Gophers job (if sources are correct about the hire). The urgency of getting started in the player retention and recruitment process can’t be overstated.

When a coach is fired, players can enter the transfer portal earlier than those who aren’t in that situation. It’s expected the Gophers want to retain their key holdovers from this winter’s team, guard Isaac Asuma and center Frank Mitchell. Guard Tyler Cochran has already entered the portal.

In the transactional world of college basketball players, a program’s fortunes can turn around in one or two off seasons. Coyle is reportedly committed to allocating more revenue sharing money to basketball players at the U than many other Big Ten rivals are planning. That would give Medved a competitive advantage in recruiting.

Medved would also be expected to boost Name, Image and Likeness monies considerably beyond what Johnson was able to do. He will be counted on to woo donors with his personality, track record and commitment to Minnesota.

As the Rams coach, Medved has recruited his home state. David Roddy, from Breck, was a Medved protégé who became a great player for the Rams and later a first round NBA draft choice. On this season’s team is Jon Mekonnen from Eastview High School.

A Medved contract buyout from Colorado State would be expected to cost about $4 million. His first-year salary at Minnesota might be around $3 million, plus yearly increases and incentives.

A Medved homecoming would likely reunite him with his friend Dave Thorson. The legendary former DeLaSalle coach joined Medved as an assistant at Drake in 2017 and then moved on with him to Colorado State. In 2021 Thorson returned to Minneapolis to be part of Johnson’s coaching staff. Coyle has asked Thorson to stay on staff to help hold the program together during the head coach process.

There is competition even in the Big Ten to hire a new head coach, with Iowa and Indiana searching. The opinion here is Johnny Tauer of St. Thomas would be the best replacement for Johnson but sources insist he won’t leave the Tommies.

Drake’s Ben McCollum, with a similar coaching resume to Tauer, is also a favorite in this space but the state of Iowa native may end up with the Hawkeyes or possibly Hoosiers. The Gophers may not interest him.

Former Timberwolves head coach Ryan Saunders, like Medved, has strong Minnesota roots having grown up in the state and he played for the Gophers. Now an assistant with the NBA Nuggets, Saunders likely would jump at the hometown job but he doesn’t have the college background it’s believed Coyle wants.

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