Next Monday the Gophers are hoping to learn Tracy Claeys is among the five finalists for the 2013 Frank Broyles Award recognizing the best college assistant football coach in the country.
Claeys took over as acting head coach this fall when Jerry Kill had to focus on his epilepsy struggles. With Kill either absent or coaching in the press box, and Claeys on the sideline with the players, the Gophers have won a surprising four of their last six Big Ten games including defeating nationally-ranked Nebraska for the first time since 1960. “He is very deserving (of the award),” Kill said.
Claeys, the team’s defensive coordinator, has impressed with his calm demeanor, leadership and knowledge. “Yeah, I’d vote (for) him. He would be a good choice,” Wisconsin athletic director Barry Alvarez told Sports Headliners.
The five finalists represent “almost 1,500 assistant coaches” from 117 Division I programs, according to the award’s website. Each head coach can nominate one assistant from his staff.
The finalists are chosen by a committee of former head coaches including Arkansas coaching legend Frank Broyles. Others on the nine-man committee include coaching greats like Bobby Bowden, Vince Dooley, Hayden Fry and Barry Switzer. The 2013 winner will be announced in Little Rock at the awards banquet on December 10.
The Gophers, 8-3, have one remaining regular season game, at Michigan State on Saturday. Their eight wins have exceeded all but the most optimistic preseason predictions. The Gophers have four conference wins for the first time since 2005 and haven’t won eight games or more in a season since 2003.
Kill said “off-the-record” last summer he thought eight or nine wins were possible. “Our kids worked their tail ends off,” Kill said this week. “They showed commitment in the offseason and put a lot of time in. (I) felt like we were getting stronger. I am not one of those guys to predict but I knew we were going to be better. We are better than we were a year ago. I expect us to be better next year.”
Worth Noting
Kill has worked this season with a mostly inexperienced group of receivers and is pleased with their progress. He said wide receiver KJ Maye has been “slowed” by a groin pull and tight end Drew Goodger hasn’t been appreciated by outsiders.
“Nobody ever talks about Drew Goodger. He’s a pretty good tight end, too, and he’s made some critical catches for us.”
Kill had nine recruits at his house over the weekend with three visiting on Saturday night and six on Sunday.
Mike Cannon from Hutchinson, Minnesota was the referee in last week’s Gophers-Badgers game at TCF Bank Stadium. He is a regular with Big Ten officiating crews.
Ex-Vikings linebacker Ben Leber expects coaching changes with his former team (2-8-1) after the season. “I like and respect a lot of coaches on the staff but I don’t know how you can bring the whole staff back, or keep some of them,” Leber told Sports Headliners.
Leber doesn’t have a candidate to replace head coach Leslie Frazier but he mentioned Colts offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton. He has almost 16 years of NFL and college experience including working with quarterback Andrew Luck at Stanford and with the Colts.
Leber found it “baffling” that less than two weeks after the Vikings acquired Josh Freeman they started him at quarterback in their October 21 game against the Giants. He described the situation as “bizarre” that the Vikings could expect Freeman to be successful having to learn about new receivers, plays and terminology in such a short time during the season.
Leber doesn’t consider Christian Ponder a potentially elite quarterback. “I think if you’re looking for a franchise quarterback, I don’t think he is the guy who is going to lead the Vikings,” Leber said. “He could remain a No. 2.”
Leber will work for Fox 1 on a high school football game telecast in New Jersey on Thanksgiving Day. On Saturday he will be part of the Fox Sports Net crew for the Tulsa-North Texas game in Tulsa.
The record crowd of 53,090 for last Saturday’s Gophers-Badgers game included standing room only sales. That’s about maximum capacity for TCF Bank stadium unless there is expansion such as the 2,000 seat west end bleachers likely to be used for Vikings games next year.
KSTC-TV Ch. 45 will telecast all seven games of the Prep Bowl from the Metrodome on Friday and Saturday. Mahnomen (Class A), Hutchinson (Class 4A) and Eden Prairie (Class 6A) are hoping to defend their state championships. Eden Prairie (11-0) will be trying to win a third consecutive title when the Eagles play Rosemount (11-1) starting at 7 p.m. on Friday night.
With the Metrodome being torn down early next year, Brainerd and Owatonna, both 12-0 teams from Class 5A, will play the last Prep Bowl game ever in the building starting at 4 p.m. on Saturday. Seems appropriate with Brainerd’s Ron Stolski the winningest coach in Minnesota prep football history.
Linebacker Blake Weber from Prior Lake High School saw his team lose to both Eden Prairie and Rosemount this season. Who does he think will win that game?
“Eden Prairie is the better team,” Weber told Sports Headliners. “Our team would be the only team that would have a chance to give Eden Prairie a run for the money. Eden Prairie’s offensive line is by far the best I’ve seen in three years of varsity (football). They know their assignments. They’re big and strong, and get after you.”
Weber is the South Suburban Conference defensive player of the year. He is also on the Minnesota Vikings all-state team and one of 10 finalists for the state’s Mr. Football award sponsored by the Vikings and Minnesota Football Coaches Association.
Weber made an unofficial visit last week to the University of Minnesota and the Gophers want him to be part of their walk-on group for 2014. The Gophers have labeled their invitation as a “preferred walk-on” with his understanding that playing at a high level could eventually mean a scholarship. “The U is probably not going to offer me (a scholarship now),” he said. “I am pretty set on the U.”
In addition to the 30-member all-state team announced yesterday, Eden Prairie’s Mike Grant was named prep football Coach of the Year by the Vikings.
Vern Mikkelsen, 85, passed away last week and he will be fondly remembered for his Hall of Fame career, contributions to four world championship teams of the Minneapolis Lakers, and his kind heart. Mikkelsen, often referred to as the NBA’s first power forward, played for the Lakers from 1949-1959.
When owner Bob Short decided to move the Lakers to Los Angeles after the 1959-1960 season, he tried to persuade Mikkelsen to play for him in California. Short, in fact, offered Mikkelsen 25 percent of the franchise. Mikkelsen turned down the offer and mentioned the decision in his book, The Vern Mikkelsen Story.
“I talked it over with Johnny (ex-Lakers coach John Kundla) and we both kind of figured that basketball would not have much of a chance there,” Mikkelsen said in the book.
Several years after moving the team to Los Angeles, Short sold the Lakers for $5.2 million. Mikkelsen said his wife Jean always remembered that.
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