Vikings – Page 74 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

U Basketball Ticket Sales Minimal

Posted on June 9, 2021June 9, 2021 by David Shama

The University of Minnesota athletic department sold 138 new public season tickets for men’s basketball from March 23 through May 23 of this year. There are 64 new accounts for the 138 total.

The information was emailed to Sports Headliners following a request to the U regarding current and past totals for season tickets. The March 23 date was a day after Ben Johnson was named head coach.

During past weeks the media has consistently provided coverage of the new basketball leadership and the athletic department has been promoting season ticket appeals via mass emails. The department has also worked at publicizing Johnson, his new assistants and new players. But all of this has prompted minimal season ticket commitment, and that shouldn’t surprise those interested in the program.

After Richard Pitino was fired in mid-March, Johnson was the hurried replacement choice of U president Joan Gabel. Johnson, a Minneapolis native and former Gopher guard known for his high character and likeability, arrived in March with no previous head coaching experience. The 40-year-old’s resume includes assistant roles at multiple schools, including two Big Ten jobs (the U and Nebraska) and one stop in the Big East. To most fans in the general public there isn’t enough excitement about the hire to ponder buying tickets, and the verdict on Johnson as a head coach won’t be known for at least a couple of years.

Since Johnson’s arrival there has been a near 100 percent turnover in the roster. Player turnover is always anticipated when coaching regimes change and in these times many college programs see a lot of flux because of the easy-to-use transfer portal. Those players moving on at Minnesota include the only two from last season’s team with ticket buying appeal, guard Marcus Carr and center Liam Robbins.

Most fans are unfamiliar with the present roster of players who have transferred to Minnesota. Early media predictions are for the Gophers to finish toward the bottom of the 14-team Big Ten next year. The 2021 club placed 13th in the standings with a 6-14 record.

The athletic department has a June 10 deadline for renewal of season tickets. In the days and weeks following the U will know whether the trend of recent years in declining sales will continue. The pandemic prevented fans from attending games last season but the three prior years the public season ticket totals were 5,944 (2019-2020), 6,155 and 6,524.

About 15 years ago season tickets totaled over 9,000. Long gone are the days when Gophers basketball was a tough ticket. Sellouts are rare at 14,625 seat Williams Arena. The average attendance of 10,232 for the 2019-2020 season was the lowest since 1970-1971.

In the glory days and winning years of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s home sellouts were common and season tickets were even passed from one family to another. The Gophers back then were leaders in Big Ten attendance and basketball revenues (pricing tickets higher than most other programs). The decline now in season ticket sales is a blow to a cash-strapped, largely self-supporting athletic department that depends on the profit making sports of football, and men’s basketball and men’s hockey, to pay the bills.

The season ticket base that remains is an older demographic that remembers the successful programs of coaches Bill Musselman, Jim Dutcher and Clem Haskins. Those ticket buyers have remained loyal and stayed through the 21st century failed eras of coaches Dan Monson, Tubby Smith and Pitino. Others have given up their tickets, discouraged by the product on the court and preferred seating fees.

Younger ticket buyers are in the minority at Williams Arena, a near 100-year-old facility loved by many but disparaged by others. Buying season tickets requires a commitment of time and money that many Minnesotans aren’t willing to make right now for Gophers basketball.

The proof is in the numbers.

Worth Noting

Filling up Big Ten football stadiums is challenging. Despite a winning program and minimal competition for the sports dollar, Iowa is offering three-game mini-plans starting at $150.

Potential number: It might take a new deal that pays about $23 million in the first season to satisfy Vikings defensive end Danielle Hunter.

Among the over 100 campers at P.J. Fleck’s Minneapolis football camp last week was quarterback Kyle McCormick from California. While there are highly recruited high school players at camps like Fleck’s, many preps like McCormick are trying to get noticed.

“He (Kyle) absolutely loves P.J. Fleck and (offensive coordinator) Mike Sanford,” said Kyle’s dad. Lee McCormick, a 1980 graduate of Golden Valley High School, became a fan of Fleck when the Gopher head coach was leading Western Michigan to prominence.

Lee admires Fleck’s energy, values and success, and he told Sports Headliners it would be a “dream” to have Kyle, who has an offer from Yale, play for Minnesota. Kyle, a 6-foot-1, 190-pound pro style passer heading into his senior year, will compete for the starting quarterback job this summer at La Costa Canyon High School in San Diego County.

The Minnesota Football Coaches Association is hosting the 57th annual Football Hall of Fame August 13 at the Doubletree, 1500 Park Place Blvd. Inductees are Bill D. Bailey, Starbuck; Karl Deis, Mora; Terry Horan, Concordia College; Mike Plinske, Bethel University; Richard Robinson, Minneapolis North.

Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold talking about three key players his team plans to re-sign before training camp begins: “Kirill Kaprisov, (Kevin) Fiala, (Joel) Eriksson Ek are three players that you go, wow, what exciting players. What potential going forward.”

Two words not often associated with the NHL: Gentlemanly conduct. Minnesota Wild captain Jared Spurgeon is a finalist for The Lady Byng Memorial Trophy presented annually to an NHL player “adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability.”

Comments Welcome

Vikes Likely to Revise Hunter Contract

Posted on June 2, 2021June 2, 2021 by David Shama

Danielle Hunter is the Minnesota Vikings’ defensive MVP. His value to the club is comparable to quarterback Kirk Cousins and running back Dalvin Cook.

But unlike Cousins and Cook, Hunter’s contract prompts concern about him remaining in Minnesota. The 26-year-old edge rusher is among the NFL’s best at what he does, but his contract doesn’t compare with peers at the position.

Could Hunter be a no-show at mandatory Viking practices this summer? Maybe, but it’s a smart bet the franchise does a redo on the $72 million contract that binds him to Minnesota through 2023. Head coach Mike Zimmer said today he hasn’t heard from Hunter who is absent from this week’s voluntary team activities.

Ownership, led by Zygi and Mark Wilf, have shown a commitment to win and spend money in support of facilities and players. They are passionate fans who want a Super Bowl team and have invested in U.S. Bank Stadium and Twin Cities Orthopedics Performance Center, while improving contracts of players like Cook and wide receiver Adam Thielen.

After missing last season with a neck injury, Hunter must show he is healthy and ready to resume peak performance. In 2018 and 2019 the former third round draft choice had consecutive seasons averaging 14.5 sacks. He established himself as a Pro Bowl quality pass rusher, with the promise of high production for many years.

Hunter’s edge rushing peers include seven players who have deals worth over $100 million. That’s per a July 20, 2020 SI.com story reporting on Joey Bosa’s $135 million new deal that came weeks after a $125 million contract for Myles Garrett. Hunter’s past performance exceeds players earning much more and he is more than a bargain—he’s a steal—with his current earnings.

NFL clubs are pushing their budgets on defensive ends because they can single handedly turn a game—or even a season—with a few crucial plays like sacking the quarterback or causing a fumble. In Hunter the Vikings have a talent who became the youngest player in NFL history to achieve 50 career sacks. He is also outstanding in defending the run.

The Wilfs aren’t likely to let a disgruntled Hunter force his way out of town. A revised and highly compensated new deal appears all but certain this year or next, unless an injury dictates otherwise.

Worth Noting

The current issue of Sports Illustrated offers a feature on Prince’s love of basketball including hosting a party after the 1994 NBA All-Star game in Minneapolis. At Paisley Park the flamboyant entertainer descended from the ceiling. “Something out of a movie,” Alonzo Mourning said in the article.

Target Center opened in 1990 and underwent extensive remodeling a few years ago but it doesn’t compare favorably with many of the “palaces” in the NBA. It could be potential new Minnesota Timberwolves owners will in a few years push for a new building, likely with the threat of relocating to another city.

In the late 1980s the Minnesota North Stars wanted about $11 million from the Minnesota Sports Facilities Commission to upgrade Met Center but it was a failed attempt. The franchise, under new ownership, relocated to Dallas in 1993. Long ago the Lakers left Minneapolis for Los Angeles because of lagging attendance and a facility issue.

Unruly fan behavior in the NBA has been making news of late. Anyone remember when what seemed like every Sunday in the 1960s someone threw a light bulb onto the floor at Boston Garden during national telecasts?

Gophers basketball coach Ben Johnson and staff remain in all-out recruiting mode to finalize next season’s roster that right now will struggle to compete in the Big Ten. Johnson is trying to shape a roster now and in future years with state of Minnesota players.

June and July are prime recruiting months for Gophers football coach P.J. Fleck and staff. Expect multiple verbal commits for the class of 2022 during the next several weeks. Minnesota’s class for next year, with five verbal commits, is currently ranked No. 35 nationally by 247Sports.

The Gophers’ subpar PAT and field goal kicking of last season will be much improved with the transfer of Kent State’s Matthew Trickett. As a sophomore in 2019 at Kent State he was first team All-MAC, and tied for the NCAA lead in field goals with 29. He had two game winning kicks. The Mid-American Conference cancelled its 2020 season due to the pandemic.

Congratulations to former Gopher defensive end Bob Stein who will be inducted into the National Football Foundation’s College Football Hall of Fame December 7 in Las Vegas. Stein made All-American in 1967 and was a key contributor to Minnesota’s last Big Ten championship team. The St. Louis Park native was also an Academic All-American. University of Minnesota alum Mark Sheffert and the late Pat Fallon, the Minneapolis advertising whiz, advocated for Stein’s overdue recognition by the NFF.

With two PGA vice presidents of rules and competition retiring, it will be interesting to see how that could positively impact former Gopher and Viking Mark Dusbabek. The Faribault native has been a PGA rules official since 2006.

The St. Thomas team that rallied to win three games over the Memorial Day weekend and earned its way to the Division III Baseball World Series, plays an opening game against Adrian starting at 1:15 p.m. Friday in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Minnesota United, whose regular season schedule started in April and continues into November, has a long break after playing last Saturday with the next match June 19.

The Twin Cities Dunkers, after months of Zoom meetings, resumes in-person breakfasts in July with likely upcoming programs to include Gophers football and the 3M Open.

No update yet on a new contract for Gophers baseball coach John Anderson (see Monday’s Sports Headliners).

Comments Welcome

Bud Grant, 94, Not Big on Exercise

Posted on May 24, 2021May 26, 2021 by David Shama

Bud Grant turned 94 years old on May 20. Awhile ago I interviewed the legendary former Minnesota Vikings head coach who was a superb athlete at the University of Minnesota and after his college career played in the NFL and the NBA.

Grant on living a long life: “The main thing is you gotta have the right parents. I don’t smoke. I don’t drink. I don’t swear. I don’t believe in a lot of exercise. I think you wear yourself out.”

Grant is still enjoying life including family, who all live near his Bloomington home. “I’ve got 19 grandchildren, 13 great grandchildren, and they all live within a half hour of my house. They didn’t go very far. They didn’t want to get very far from their mother.”

Bud Grant (photo courtesy of Minnesota Vikings.)

Grant’s devoted wife Pat passed away in 2009 from Parkinson’s. Nine years later he lost son Bruce to brain cancer. Grant can occupy a lot of his time attending activities of the younger members of his clan, but he sets limits. The kids are involved with baseball, hockey, soccer and the like. “I don’t go to all those little league games. A lot of grandparents do all that. I’ve done enough practices (games). I don’t have to do that anymore.”

At 94 Grant’s mind is sharp, but his body has limitations. ” I enjoy my lifestyle. I got a place on the lake (in Wisconsin). I fish and hunt; (but) not as much as I used to because my mobility isn’t as good. I can’t go chasing pheasants across a plowed field anymore but I hunt things that come to me. I sit in a deer stand. I call turkeys. I call ducks and things that come to me. Now is that hunting? Well, I don’t know. Maybe it’s shooting instead of hunting. I am not traipsing through the woods anymore.

“Same with fishing. I used to be a trout fisherman, wade down streams. Well, I can’t do that anymore but I can fish out of a boat. I can fish through the ice. I can do things that don’t require the mobility that I used to have.

“But I also enjoy good health except for my aging and body. I am stooped. I got a sore back now and then. I am not as mobile as I used to be, but I am interested (in things) and…I really enjoy doing nothing now days.”

Grant is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and Canadian Football Hall of Fame because of his coaching career. He was the first person ever to achieve that distinction. He coached the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for 10 seasons, winning four CFL titles. He led the Vikings for 18 seasons, establishing the franchise as an NFL power that went to four Super Bowls.

For those who have known Grant, his success is no surprise. Minneapolis sports columnist Sid Hartman, who knew Grant for more than 70 years, used to say his calm and poised friend had more common sense than anyone he ever knew. Hartman was Grant’s presenter at his Pro Football Hall of Fame induction in 1994, and sometimes the target of Bud’s practical jokes.

Although Grant had a reputation for being cold and calculating during his coaching career, he was a prankster behind the scenes. That sense of humor and how to use it made an impression on Pete Carroll, a Vikings assistant coach who worked for Grant in 1985. Carroll, who has gone on to become a college national championship coach and Super Bowl winning coach, writes of his admiration for Grant in his book, Win Forever.

Carroll said Grant “…taught me more about the art of coaching, leadership, and the importance of observing human behavior than any graduate class ever could.” He observed how Grant had “…an awareness of the signals people give off and understood how to use that information to spur them to play at their best possible level.”

Carroll was struck by Grant’s extraordinary intuition and ability to foresee what could happen in football. In the book Carroll writes about the Vikings preparing for an opponent that had been winning games with ease. Grant told his team that if the game was close in the fourth quarter, the Vikings could win because the other team would tighten up, not accustomed to last minute pressure. Then late in the game Grant instructed his kicker to kick the ball to “No. 26,” predicting the return man would fumble. He did. The Vikings recovered the football and went on to win the game. “Everyone went berserk (after the fumble recovery) except Bud, who just stood there with a satisfied smile on his face, as calm as ever,” Carroll wrote.

“Whatever you do to be successful, I did it, and I worked harder at it than most coaches that I talked to,” Grant said. He recalled once asking a coach what he was doing that day and learned his rival was in the Bahamas. “I was never down in the Bahamas,” Grant said. “I was out recruiting, or looking, and talking, getting an idea of players, and analyzing.”

Then Grant thought about safety Paul Krause who still holds the NFL career record for most interceptions with 81. “We got him for almost nothing from Washington, but I had seen him play in college and I followed him and I knew him. So we got players that played great for us but were not recognized by other teams. We didn’t have one player who went to another team who had any great success. We didn’t miss on any of those and that was just because we (the coaches) spent a lot of time analyzing the best players.

“I’ve always said this, coaches don’t win football games. Players win football games. Coaches are a dime a dozen. You get all kinds of coaches that know X’s and O’s. You gotta accumulate (players), manage and put them in the right places and recognize their talents. That’s what wins football games, not coaches. Lots of great coaches out there.”

When Grant coached he understood the job entailed more than finding talent and instructing players how to block and tackle. “I think I could probably pass some kind of test in marital relations and drug therapy. You know all the things we dealt with, and they deal with them today, but they have more people to deal with them. At my desk everyday (it) was who is in some kind (of difficulty). …I had many wives come in and talk to me about what they could do to straighten out their marital life and their financials. There’s so many things we dealt with. Well, now, I don’t know that (head) coaches do that so much because they’ve got so much help.”

NFL teams have three or four times the number of assistant coaches that Grant had when he started out with the Vikings in 1967. They also have almost countless numbers of support staff and interns. In Grant’s first season the coaching staff numbered five.

“We did all the work, and all the film work and everything,” Grant said. “And now, God, you got assistant to the assistant. I don’t know what they all do. I mean you gotta be chairman of the board instead of coach now.”

Grant is too smart and too much in the present to contend players of the past can match those of today. “Today’s football players are better than they were 20 years ago, 40 years ago, however far (back) you want to go. And there are more of them. All those kids aspire to be great football players from the time they are 12 years old. Well, some of them make it. I think if I could make $25 million a year, I’d aspire to it too. …They got better coaching. They’ve got 20 assistant coaches.”

Grant talked of his admiration for one of his greatest players, defensive end Jim Marshall who once held the NFL record for consecutive games at 282. “Jim Marshall is the most overlooked player in terms of recognition,” Grant said. “He played 19 years. He never missed a game. He never missed a practice. Even though he would have certain injuries, his recovery period was very short. Some guys with a twisted ankle, they’re out for three weeks. Jim Marshall came in on Mondays, he could hardly walk but he played on Sunday again.”

The 1985 season was Grant’s last as a head coach. He was only 58 but felt it was time to move on. He and Pat had decided when their last child graduated from college he would put away his whistle.

“Not all your plans work out but one of our plans was we wanted to get all of our kids educated,” Grant said. “I got six kids, they all graduated from college. They all got good jobs, and they have all been successful in their lives. …”

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