Wild – Page 78 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Expect U to Address Jerry Kill Salary

Posted on December 2, 2013December 2, 2013 by David Shama

Look for negotiations to begin soon regarding Jerry Kill’s annual compensation as Gophers head football coach.

Kill is the lowest paid head coach in the Big Ten Conference, according to multiple sources including USA Today. He earns $1.2 million per season as stated in a November 7 USA Today article listing the earnings of major college football coaches throughout the country.

Kill finished his third regular season as Minnesota coach last Saturday. His present compensation was influenced by what he earned as head coach at Northern Illinois. His salary with the Huskies was reported at $381,000, according to Internet reports. USA Today’s article said current Huskies coach Rod Carey earns $375,000 from the school.

The salaries of major college coaches are determined by not only their previous contracts at other schools but also the competition for their services and what athletic departments can afford to pay. Kill came from Northern Illinois and the Mid-American Conference where salaries are dramatically lower than in power leagues like the Big Ten, SEC and Pac-12.

But after three seasons of success in rebuilding the Gophers, it’s a sore spot with Kill boosters that the coach has the most minimal pay in the Big Ten. A source in the athletic department told Sports Headliners earlier this month school officials would wait until season’s end before addressing a change in Kill’s compensation.

That time is here after Kill coached the Gophers to eight total wins, the most since 2003, and four victories in the conference, the most since 2005. The Gophers’ highlights included their first victory over Nebraska since 1960 and a four-game win streak in the Big Ten. And it wasn’t just the wins, but also how competitively the Gophers often played that encouraged program followers.

Former Gophers coach Glen Mason knew Kill was an exceptional coach even before Minnesota hired him. “I am somewhat surprised they won eight games,” Mason said. “It’s a tremendous credit to the coaches.”

Multiple sources will attest to the affection University of Minnesota president Eric Kaler has for Kill. Kaler admires his coach for more than wins and losses. Kill has made a dramatic impact on the academic work of his players and the coach’s struggles with epilepsy have inspired even non-football fans. So, too, has Kill’s good deeds in the community and the way he represents the University.

Increasing Kill’s compensation would be both a reward for his work and indication the Gophers are serious about discouraging other schools from pursuing him. His $1.2 million pay is almost embarrassing. Purdue coach Darrell Hazell — who a year ago was hired from MAC member Kent State and in 2013 led the Boilermakers to a winless season in the Big Ten — earns $2.1 million, according to USA Today. Dave Doeren, who took over for Kill at Northern Illinois in 2011, left the Huskies after last season to become head coach at North Carolina State where he reportedly earns $2.5 million per season.

The Big Ten’s highest paid coaches are Ohio State’s Urban Meyer at $4.6 million and Michigan’s Brady Hoke at $4.1 million, according to the USA Today listings. The average compensation paid per school to the league’s 12 coaches is $2.6 million. It seems reasonable to think the Gophers will offer to increase Kill’s earnings to about $1.8 million. That would be a 50 percent increase and move him ahead of Kevin Wilson from Indiana and Tim Beckman of Illinois. Kill would be the 10^th best paid coach in the Big Ten but close to Hazel, Gary Andersen from Wisconsin at $2 million and Mark Dantonio from Michigan State at $1.9 million.

In any contract negotiations involving Kill, a couple of things are assumed by those who know the coach. One is that Kill is interested in remaining at Minnesota, having expressed a liking for the job and working here. Another is any negotiations he does for himself will also include looking out for assistant coaches. And Kill will want assurances the school is committed to improving practice facilities for the football program.

The athletic department has budget issues but football is the bell cow for revenues. Interest in the Gophers is growing among fans and so too is money coming into the department. Kill has leverage in forthcoming discussions because of his “brick-by-brick” results and comparative compensation versus his peers.

It doesn’t hurt to have a president who admires him.

Worth Noting

Washburn running back Jeff Jones has yet to schedule official college visits but his coach expects favored destinations will be Michigan State, Minnesota and Missouri. “I think if he had to choose today he would be a Gopher,” coach Giovan Jenkins told Sports Headliners on Friday.

Jenkins said Jones, who has received scholarship offers from all three schools, has a GPA of about 2.1 and the Rivals.com four-star running back is awaiting the result of his second ACT test. Jenkins expects Jones to have no problem in academically qualifying for a college athletic scholarship.

The Eden Prairie High School football program has seven teams, three freshmen, two sophomore, one junior varsity and one varsity. The Eagles, who won their third consecutive state title on Friday, celebrated with a banquet last night at Grace Church in Eden Prairie.

When the Vikings found themselves playing in overtime yesterday against the Bears for a second consecutive week they weren’t interested in another tie like they experienced with the Packers. “It’s been two long weeks for us, there’s no doubt about it,” quarterback Matt Cassel said after Minnesota’s 23-20 win. “…Our mentalities were we have to get out of this thing with a win no matter what it takes.”

Groundbreaking for the new Vikings stadium will be at 10:30 a.m. tomorrow (Tuesday) in the east parking lot of the Metrodome. Governor Mark Dayton, mayor R.T. Rybak and Vikings owners Zygi Wilf and Mark Wilf will participate.

Count former Gophers All-American Lou Nanne among those who is just “okay” with the new Big Ten hockey league. He misses Minnesota’s historical ties to programs like North Dakota and even Denver, but expects the new Big Ten grouping to become more appealing as teams are added. The six team Big Ten hockey league was all driven by the Big Ten Network, he said.

The Wild have some “good young kids” but will have to “battle to make the playoffs,” according to Nanne. Injuries have limited the availability of the team’s top two goalies, Niklas Backstrom and Josh Harding. “That is surprising to me,” the former North Stars president said.

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Tyus Jones Open to Early College Exit

Posted on October 23, 2013October 23, 2013 by David Shama

Debbie Jones, mother of Apple Valley senior point guard Tyus Jones, told Sports Headliners her son is open to playing only one year of college basketball. “If the opportunity presents itself, then absolutely,” Debbie said.

Leaving for the NBA after one season has been discussed with coaches recruiting Jones. The possibility of playing only as a freshman hasn’t deterred the biggest names in college coaching from pursuing Jones who is rated by Rivals.com as the No. 5 player in the nation for the prep class of 2014.

The final schools Jones is considering signing a Letter of Intent with are Baylor, Duke, Kansas and Minnesota. NCAA rules allow high school seniors to sign from November 13-20. There is a second signing period next spring from April 16-May 21.

Jones plans to sign with a school in November. An announcement regarding his college choice will come during the first or second week next month, according to his mom.

How the announcement will be done hasn’t been determined but Debbie said, “We’ll probably do something at the school (Apple Valley).” She indicated her son’s announcement is likely to happen at the same time as Jahlil Okafor’s. A well publicized pact between Jones and Okafor to attend college together is likely to remain in place. Okafor is a center from Chicago’s Whitney High School and is rated by Rivals.com as the No. 1 player nationally in the 2014 class.

Debbie said it’s “doubtful” her son and Okafor will choose separate schools, and acknowledged the Chicago superstar doesn’t have the Gophers on his final list of possible colleges. “If they go together to school that unfortunately would eliminate the Gophers,” Debbie said.

Okafor’s list of schools is reportedly Baylor, Duke and Kansas. He and Tyus visited Kansas together last weekend and over Labor Day weekend were at Baylor. Okafor is expected to join his friend at Duke this weekend.

Jones and his mom leave tomorrow for Duke, the last official visit the two will make in narrowing down the list of schools. On Saturday they will watch the Blue Devils in an exhibition game against Bowie State.

Tyus has been one of the most coveted athletes in Minnesota prep history. Debbie said the family is appreciative of all the attention but it will be a relief to end the selection process.

She also said there haven’t been any offers from schools that are in violation of NCAA rules. “I think people kind of know who we are. They know they’re dealing with people who don’t operate that way.”

Worth Noting

Debbie Jones’ youngest son, eighth grader Tre Jones, starts tryouts with the Apple Valley High School varsity on November 11. She said Tre will know after the first week of practice whether he made the team — as older brother Tyus did as an eighth grader.

The Timberwolves play the Sixers tonight who have a preseason roster that includes former Gophers Royce White and Rodney Williams. White leads the Sixers in personal fouls per game, 4.25. In five games he is averaging five points. Williams has played in one game for 19 minutes and didn’t score but had one block, rebound and assist.

Look for the Vikings to honor Cris Carter at their home game on November 7 against the Redskins. The former wide receiver was enshrined earlier this year in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Despite the combined dismal 1-10 record of the Vikings and Giants, their Monday night game was the most watched NFL telecast on ESPN in three weeks, according to a story yesterday on Sportsmediawatch.com.

Fans are welcome at the Gopher Gridiron Luncheon program starting at 11:30 a.m. on Friday at Jax Café in northeast Minneapolis. The program includes a Gophers coach and two players with Mike Grimm as emcee. More information is available at GoalLineClub.com. Membership in the Goal Line Club is not required to attend the luncheon which previews Minnesota’s game at home on Saturday against Nebraska.

A hockey source requesting anonymity told Sports Headliners that Wild owner Craig Leipold’s “patience” with coach Mike Yeo may not last more than a few more weeks. “They should be (playing) better than they are,” the source said earlier this week before the Wild defeated Nashville 2-0 last night.

The Wild is 4-3-3 in the first few weeks of the season. Not only is the win total disappointing but the team isn’t reaching its potential in creating “scoring chances,” the source said. The Wild had one goal last night until scoring on an empty net with 24 seconds remaining.

This is Yeo’s first NHL employment as a head coach and third season with the Wild. The team made the playoffs last season after a five year absence but the source suggested the Wild isn’t playing at last year’s level when the final record was a mediocre 26-19-2.

With a ho-hum start, the Wild has been behind the Vikings, Gophers football and even the Timberwolves (season hasn’t started) in generating local sports interest.

Sam Warning, the Gophers 21-year-old junior wing, is tied for the nation’s scoring lead in points with Kevin Roy from Northeastern. Warning has nine points in four games after scoring 23 last season in 29 games. He is the first Missouri native to ever play for the Gophers.

The Gophers men’s and women’s hockey teams are ranked No. 1 in the country in the USCHO.com polls.

Daydreaming about the Twins? What if the front office used some Target Field revenues to acquire Tigers stopper Max Scherzer who is expected to sign with another MLB team during the offseason. Scherzer in a Twins uniform gives the club a No. 1 starting pitcher and signing with Minnesota weakens Central Division rival Detroit. Thoughts of a starting staff in a few years of Scherzer as the No. 1 guy, Alex Meyer No. 2 and Kyle Gibson No. 3 is intriguing.

Yesterday’s announcement that Paul Molitor will join the coaching staff with responsibilities that include in-game strategy leaves Twins followers wondering just how “hot” Ron Gardenhire’s manager seat is.

Local business leaders Dave Mona and Susan Adams Loyd are volunteer co-chairs for the National Senior Games to be held at various Twin Cities venues during July of 2015. The National Senior Games is the largest multi-sport event in the world for adults 50 and over, and 12,000 athletes and 30,000 guests are expected to attend the 2015 gathering. Loyd competes in track and field events for seniors, while Mona’s sports interests include co-hosting WCCO Radio’s “Sports Huddle.”

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Owner: Wolves Have Title Aspirations

Posted on October 9, 2013October 9, 2013 by David Shama

Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor was asked this week if he expects his team to end a 10-year absence from the playoffs next spring. The Wolves had playoff potential last season but injuries ruined their season and the club finished with a 31-51 record.

“When I talk to team members and coaches and all that, their expectation is they want to prepare to win the (NBA) championship,” Taylor told Sports Headliners. “They’re not just saying they want to make the playoffs. The expectation is how deeply can they go.”

The Wolves have a nucleus of three players who are among the best in the NBA at their positions, power forward Kevin Love, point guard Ricky Rubio and center Nikola Pekovic. But the optimism coming from Wolves training camp is also based on other players including offseason acquisitions Kevin Martin at shooting guard and small forward Corey Brewer.

New president of basketball operations Flip Saunders is responsible for those moves and others. His work has impressed Taylor who gives Saunders an “A” grade since being hired last spring.

“I had high expectations of Flip and he’s made all of them come true,” Taylor said. “His level of communications is excellent and I am very appreciative of all he’s done.

“In the personnel area we had talked previously about the type of personnel he wanted. He just moved on it very quickly and found the type of players the staff wanted.”

Saunders has more than 20 years of professional basketball experience. This is his second period of employment by Taylor and the Wolves, having worked here from 1995 – 2005, first as general manager and mostly head coach. Head coaching assignments with the Pistons and Wizards followed before Taylor brought him back to his organization.

Taylor describes his top basketball executive as a “unique” hire because of their previous relationship and all of Saunders’ skills. He said Saunders’ experiences after he left the Timberwolves of working for other teams and also a short period as an NBA analyst for ESPN “rounded out his understanding of the league.”

Taylor is projecting the Wolves will make money in 2013-14 for the first time in years. “It’s not like we’ll make a lot, probably $2 or $3 million,” Taylor said.

Taylor’s other basketball team, the Lynx, is in the WNBA Finals for the third time in three years. Last year the franchise earned a profit approaching $500,000, the first time the Lynx made money, Taylor said. This year the team could finish in the black and “approach” $1 million.

Taylor said the pending deal with the city and AEG Facilities to renovate Target Center for $100 million is taking “longer than anticipated” but he remains optimistic about it being completed. After the renovation he expects Target Center to be a better arena than “over 50 percent” of the other NBA venues.

Worth Noting

New Vikings quarterback Josh Freeman had differences with his Bucs coach, Greg Schiano. Vikings coach Leslie Frazier said, however, Freeman is excited about a “fresh start” here and believes the two will “co-exist.”

Although Freeman’s career performance has been inconsistent, he was reportedly wanted by multiple NFL teams. After being released last week by the Bucs, David Steele wrote the following on Sportingnews.com: “The rest of the NFL likely doesn’t feel about him the way the Bucs do. He’s done nothing to make the entire sport give up on him now, as it did on JaMarcus Russell.”

Rib injuries are slow to heal and whether Christian Ponder is healthy enough to be an option to start on Sunday against the Panthers isn’t known. But Matt Cassel seems the more likely starter with Ponder trying to heal and Freeman too unfamiliar with the offense to start.

Ponder may soon lose his starting job for the remainder of the season. “I am a man of faith,” Ponder said. “I believe that God’s got my future in his hands. I don’t know what that means. But I am trying to get healthy and I think ultimately it will make me a better quarterback.”

Is Ponder’s confidence shaken after being replaced two weeks ago by Cassel and now the acquisition of Freeman who has started 59 NFL games dating back to his rookie season in 2009? “In my eyes I am getting prepared to play,” Ponder said. “As long as I play well, then I am the one on the field.”

Vikings defensive end Kevin Williams is a team leader and is unsure what impact Freeman will have. “I don’t know, we’ll have to see. The management made a decision, we have to go with it.”

Williams, though, knows Freeman has talent. “He’s a first rounder for a reason. He has great potential. He just has to bring it to the table and shine.”

Tomorrow the Vikings are offering “No Service Fee Day” sponsored by U.S.Bank. Fees are waived for fans purchasing single game tickets through Ticketmaster.com.

Steve LaCroix, the Vikings vice president of sales and marketing, e-mailed that tickets remain for home games against the Redskins November 7, the Eagles December 15 and the Lions December 29.

The Vikings sold “just under” 8,000 new season tickets this year, according to LaCroix.

The SportingNews college basketball yearbook ranks the best coaches in each conference. Mick Cronin is No. 4 in the American Athletic, Shaka Smart No. 1 in the Atlantic 10 and Buzz Williams No. 1 in the Big East. All had their names prominently mentioned with the Gophers’ opening last March after Tubby Smith was dismissed.

Although the magazine said it was time for Smith to move on, he is rated the third best coach in the Big 12 where he now leads the Texas Tech program. The top five coaches in the Big Ten, according to the publication that predicted the Gophers will finish ninth in the conference, are Tom Izzo, Thad Matta, John Beilein, Bo Ryan and Tom Crean.

Timberwolves players Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio bought 500 tickets to give away for last night’s Lynx WNBA Finals Game at Target Center. The Lynx, with a 2-0 series lead in the best of five series, play the Dream on Thursday night in Duluth, Georgia with ESPN 2 televising the game starting at 7:30 p.m. Minneapolis time.

It might be an interesting meeting today for Gophers football coach Jerry Kill and athletic director Norwood Teague. The two normally meet at noon on Wednesdays, and Kill suffered a seizure last week preventing him from coaching the team on Saturday at Michigan. Although Kill has experienced multiple seizures since becoming the Gophers coach, last week was the first time he missed a game.

The Gophers 0-2 start in Big Ten games isn’t pretty and neither are their offensive and defensive numbers in conference games. Minnesota ranks 10^th in rushing offense and eighth in rushing defense. The Gophers are 11^th and eighth in passing offense and defense. Minnesota is tied for last in scoring offense and ranks eighth in scoring defense.

Matt Majka speaks to the CORES group on Thursday, November 14 at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Bloomington. Majka is chief operating officer of Minnesota Sports and Entertainment, a company whose business interests include the Minnesota Wild. Reservations for the luncheon and program should be made by Monday, November 11. Anyone interested can contact Jim Dotseth, dotsethj@comcast.net.

The Wild, 0-1-1 against Winnipeg last season, play the Jets tomorrow night at Xcel Energy Center. Zach Parise has 23 points in 24 career games against the Jets, while Jason Pominville, has 23 in 27 games. Both Wild wings have played most of their NHL careers with other teams.

It’s a major disappointment for the Wild to have Charlie Coyle, the 21-year-old center with star potential, out three to four weeks with a sprained knee.

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