David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Dad Wants Amir Coffey to ‘Step on Toes’

Posted on February 5, 2017February 5, 2017 by David Shama

Amir Coffey has impressed in his first season of college basketball. The Gophers 6-8 freshman forward from Hopkins High School is second on the team in scoring and minutes played. Twice he has been selected as the Big Ten Freshman of the Week.

“He is one of the better freshmen in the country,” former Gophers head coach Jim Dutcher told Sports Headliners. “I’ve really enjoyed watching him play.”

Coffey is averaging 12.2 points and 31.9 minutes per game, ranking second in both categories behind junior point guard Nate Mason. Coffey is a versatile player who helps the Gophers in multiple ways including rebounding and passing. He is fifth on the team in rebounding average and only Mason has more assists.

That versatility and willingness to help teammates earns the praise of many obervers including Coffey’s dad, Richard Coffey who played four seasons for the Gophers in the late 1980s.

“Amir is a team guy,” Richard said. “He’s not selfish. He’s going to try and make the right basketball play. He sees the ball really well. He has a high basketball I.Q.”

During an interview with Sports Headliners, Richard expressed approval of his son’s first-year performance. “I think he’s doing extremely well. I didn’t come in with a lot of expectations, because I didn’t want to put that pressure on him. I just wanted him to come in and learn his teammates, learn the coaching staff, learn the offense and try to use his skill-set as much as possible in the game. He’s done that. …”

The older Coffey was a warrior playing for the Gophers. His on-court demeanor as a rugged 6-6 rebounder and defender fit his background as a former Army airborne paratrooper. He led Minnesota in rebounding all four seasons from 1986-1990. It’s not surprising Richard believes a mental adjustment is what his son needs to be more consistent and elevate his play.

“(When) Amir steps on the court right now, sometimes he might be thinking that I am a freshman and I don’t want to step on anybody’s toes,” Richard said. “He needs to learn that he needs to step on some people’s toes to get to that next level. When you’re not aggressive, you’re not only not helping but in some cases you maybe hindering because of your skill-set. This team needs Amir to be aggressive to win.

“When I say aggressive, I don’t mean shoot. I mean having the ball, make a play with the ball and create something for yourself or your teammates.”

There are times, though, when the Gophers do need Coffey to score, and that was evident in a loss at home to Maryland late last month. Minnesota led the nationally ranked Terrapins 33-26 at halftime and Coffey had 11 points. But the Gophers lost the game 85-78 and Coffey didn’t score a point in the second half.

Yesterday against Illinois Coffey played a team high 38 minutes in a 68-59 road win that stopped Minnesota’s five game losing streak. Coffey took only six shots but scored 13 points while holding the Illini’s leading scorer, Malcolm Hill, to 13 points on five of 18 shooting. It was a steady performance for Coffey who was a team leader including with his solid position defense against Hill.

Ups and downs are to be expected, even with a freshman as talented as Coffey who was the state’s 2016 Mr. Basketball. In a 2015 interview Hopkins coach Ken Novak Jr. told Sports Headliners Coffey was the most versatile player he has had in more than 30 years of coaching and he predicted that eventually Amir could become a dominant Big Ten player. That’s high praise coming from someone who has coached high school superstars Kris Humphries and Royce White—two players who became first round NBA draft choices.

Part of that process will involve becoming physically stronger. At less than 200 pounds, Coffey needs more weight and muscle. “That comes with maturity,” Dutcher said.

Certainly a more physical body will be needed if Amir is to play in the NBA, but neither in the past or right now has there been family strategizing on reaching that destination. “Is that Amir’s dream? Of course it is, but we haven’t had those conversations for a couple different reasons,” Richard said. “

“I don’t want to put that pressure on him. I think that (NBA focus) will happen when the time is right—whether it’s two years, three years, four years. When the time is right, I think he will know, the coaching staff would know and I would know it. Then we’ll start having those conversations.

“But if a kid is going out there thinking I need to play to get to the NBA, that’s just a set up for disaster. Enjoy this experience. College was one of the most pleasurable experiences in my life. …Let’s do well where we are right now and then other things will happen.”

Richard spent a lot of time coaching Amir when his son was young. Among the development goals was to have Amir become similar to European professionals who often are versatile enough to play multiple positions and have varied responsibilities on the floor. Amir’s versatility will continue to help the Gophers and enhance his pro possibilities. He is a player who makes those around him better, even if his dad and others want to see more consistency in his total game.

Richard is optimistic about his son’s future including a possible NBA career. “I think he has a great chance if he continues to grow physically and grow mentally, and stay healthy.”

Amir has already shown his dad and others a willingness to work. That quality has much to do with achieving the success already in place including helping Hopkins to a state championship last year. His dad said more work must be done by the freshman including “stepping on toes.”

“He is a 6-8 kid right now that shoots the ball average—that can see the ball, make plays,” Richard said. “He has good ball skills for a kid that age. Now all of those things need to tighten up. His ball handling needs to tighten up. His shooting needs to tighten up. His free throws. Everything needs to get better, but…he’s working. …”

And impressing.

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Super Bowl Security Puts Mpls. on Alert

Posted on February 3, 2017February 3, 2017 by David Shama

A notes column heavy with Super Bowl information:

A sports industry friend from Minneapolis was in Houston earlier this week. He was stunned by the security in place for Sunday’s Super Bowl and the events preceding the big game. The city blocks near NRG Stadium and other facilities related to the Super Bowl are so guarded it prompted the friend to say he has never seen such a security lockdown.

“It’s crazy. It’s almost like not welcoming,” he said. “I don’t even know how to get to stuff (places).”

From “eyes in the sky” technology to bomb-sniffing dogs, all kinds of security is being used by public and private agencies to watch for suspicious characters and activities in Houston. No doubt it will be a similar scene in Minneapolis next year when the Super Bowl and its companion events come to town.

It’s expected that the area surrounding U.S. Bank Stadium will be under “Big Brother’s” watch starting about two weeks before the February 4, 2018 game. A challenge for Minneapolis security planners is that the city’s light rail system runs right by the stadium and presumably will be operational.

Super Bowl related events are expected to take place at other sites in Minnesota including the Nicollet Mall for outdoor activities and at the Minneapolis Convention Center. I am told full planning for 2018 by the NFL doesn’t start until April of this year.

Minneapolis native Prince, who died last year, would have been an obvious choice to headline the 2018 Super Bowl halftime show in his hometown. Prince’s acclaimed performance during halftime of the 2007 Super Bowl in Florida is among the most remembered entertainment ever at the big game.

Minneapolis first hosted the Super Bowl in 1992. At that time Minneapolis became the second northern city in NFL history to host the event, which began in 1967.

Minnesota connections with Sunday’s game include Patriots receiver Michael Floyd who could become the third Cretin-Derham Hall alum to play for a Super Bowl winning team, according to a Tuesday Pioneer Press story by Chris Tomasson. Center Matt Birk and offensive tackle Ryan Harris won Super Bowls playing for the Ravens and Broncos, Tomasson reported.

It’s not certain whether the 27-year-old Floyd will see action Sunday. He was released by the Cardinals in December and picked up by the Patriots who were aware of his late season incident with alcohol. He has played minimally in four games with the Patriots, catching five passes including one touchdown reception.

Former Gophers coach Jerry Kill is now the offensive coordinator at Rutgers and he told Sports Headliners six Scarlet Knight alums are on the Patriots roster but he will be rooting for the Falcons on Sunday. That’s because two of his players as Gophers coach are key contributors to the Falcon defense.

Defensive tackle Ra’Shede Hageman, a Minneapolis Washburn alum, is a player Kill refers to as a ”freak of nature” because of his imposing size and skills. The former Gophers All-American, 6-6, 318-pounds, was drafted by the Falcons in 2014 after a personal and football life filled with obstacles. As a child Hageman was neglected and he also struggled with academics, and although he matured with the Gophers it’s probably fair to say he still needs more consistency on and off the field.

De’Vondre Campbell, a 6-3, 234-pound linebacker who the Falcons drafted in 2016, was recruited by Kill out of Hutchinson Community College in Kansas. “He is a kid that comes from a lower income family,” Kill said. “He worked hard. He went to Hutchinson because of adcadmics and got good grades. I always knew his best days were ahead of him.”

Kill said he will be “pulling for my guys” on Sunday and takes satisfaction in knowing Hageman and Campbell are late developers. “They will keep getting better,” Kill said.

This week ESPN Insider ranked every Falcons and Patriots player starting with Patriots quarterback Tom Brady at No. 1. Hageman ranked No. 48, Campbell No. 74 and Floyd No. 82 out of 106 players.

Eden Prairie native and former Viking Carter Bykowski is on the Falcon practice squad as an offensive tackle.

It was about 40 years ago that the Vikings played in their last Super Bowl. The Vikings lost 32-14 to the Raiders on January 9, 1977 in front of 103,438 fans at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. The game was the Vikings’ third Super Bowl in four years and all were losses under head coach Bud Grant who also lost to the Chiefs in the 1970 game.

Ex-Vikings quarterback Fran Tarkenton had a good line as re-quoted in Ross Bernstein’s book Sixty Years & Sixty Heroes: “What we’re trying to do is run through all the American Football League clubs to see if there’s one we can beat. …”

Former Gophers basketball coach Jim Dutcher talking about the current 3-6 Minnesota team that has lost five consecutive Big Ten games and now faces mediocre opponents against Illinois tomorrow and Iowa February 8, and then lowly Rutgers February 11: “They can’t have any hiccups.”

The Gophers hockey team, 6-2 in the Big Ten, has only league games remaining on the schedule. Minnesota is tied for first with Wisconsin in the Big Ten, just ahead of the 5-2-1 Penn State team that plays the Gophers tonight and tomorrow night at Mariucci Arena. The Nittany Lions men’s hockey program started in 2010 and like the Gophers is nationally ranked.

Minnesota is 27-5-2 all-time in home games against Big Ten opponents. This is the fourth season of Big Ten hockey.

Gary Trent Jr., who played for Apple Valley until this school year, is among those elite senior prep players who have been invited to participate in the McDonald’s All-American Game in Chicago March 29. Trent, now at Prolific Prep in Napa, California, will play for Duke next fall.

WCCO Radio newsman Al Schoch is in his sixth school year of public address announcing for University of St. Thomas football, volleyball, and men’s and women’s basketball.

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U Recruiting Trying to Win West Division

Posted on February 1, 2017February 1, 2017 by David Shama

National Signing Day is today and the Gophers won’t top the football recruiting rankings in the Big Ten West, but in the future they might be on their way to consistently being equal to or ahead of programs like Nebraska, Wisconsin and Iowa.

New Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck has impressed those who track college football recruiting. The 36-year-old Fleck has a nonstop passion for his job and a head full of ideas including communications with recruits through social media. The January 30 issue of Sports Illustrated even devoted space to Fleck in its article about how “the recruiting game has gone digital, mobile and high concept, and any coach who wants to compete needs a hot designer on his roster.”

Creativity is a frequently used word associated with college football recruiting. Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh grabs a headline singing a rap song; Ohio State’s Urban Meyer gets into a bidding war with Texas over a graphic designer; and Nick Saban dazzles Alabama recruits with his massive home that is just a golf cart ride away from a lake.

Whether Fleck can ultimately recruit and coach at an elite level will have everything to do with the Gophers’ football future. He inherits a program and team that has been resurrected but hasn’t reached championship status. Minnesota has won two consecutive bowl games and totaled eight wins or more in three of the last four seasons. Yet the Gophers haven’t been Big Ten champs since 1967, have never won a Big Ten West Division title and hold no wins over Wisconsin since 2003.

Recruiting authority Ryan Burns has been impressed with Fleck since he was hired in early January. National recruiting websites have jumped the Gophers way ahead of where their 2017 class was ranked before Fleck arrived in Minneapolis. Fleck has out-recruited Power Five rivals for players, convincing some to commit to him without visiting the University of Minnesota campus.

Burns, publisher of the GopherIllustrated.com website, thinks Fleck’s recruiting will ultimately lead the Gophers to playing “meaningful games” in November. The GopherIllustrated website includes national team rankings from Scout which as of this morning assigns the seven Big Ten West Division programs the following rankings: Nebraska No. 18; Minnesota No. 33; Illinois No. 34, Iowa No. 41; Northwestern No. 48; Wisconsin No. 53; and Purdue No 77.

“It’s interesting to see them (the Gophers) going after kids with P-Five offers—compared to going against (programs like) Troy and Louisiana-Lafayette,” Burns told Sports Headliners. “He’s (Fleck) trying to make his stamp, and for only being here for three weeks, obviously he’s raised his class. They’re in the 30’s now (in the rankings). They’re firmly above Iowa and Wisconsin. I think that they can sustain that (in future years).

“I think that Nebraska (strong California recruiting base) is probably going to be at the top of the recruiting ranks in the Big Ten West most years but I think there is no reason that they (the Gophers) can’t come in second or third. Especially continue to beat Iowa and Wisconsin because P.J. is very charismatic once he gets in a living room. He knows how to sell. He knows how to get the job done.”

Other recruiting websites don’t have the Gophers ranked as high as Scout. Rivals, for example, has Minnesota No. 53 and trailing No. 38 Iowa and No. 45 Wisconsin. But what’s not debatable is the Gophers have shot up the recruiting charts in the short time Fleck has been head coach, including moving from No. 77 to No. 49 in Rivals’ rankings.

As signed National Letters of Intent reach the Gophers’ football office today, fans of the program can feel optimism about a class expected to include more than 25 scholarship student-athletes. When Burns looks at the incoming talent that Minnesota will officially announce later today, he offers stories that substantiate his optimism about Fleck’s recruiting.

Burns has been following and writing about Gophers recruiting for years and until now he couldn’t recall Minnesota getting a player that Notre Dame was making a run for. That’s what happened last month when Fleck received a verbal commitment from Portland, Oregon cornerback Demetrius Douglas who Burns said Oregon also wanted.

Burns also said the Gophers took a player away from the Hawkeyes in Kansas native and wide receiver Harry Van Dyne. His older brother is going to Iowa as a walk-on and Burns said the Hawkeyes coveted Harry.

Burns mentioned additional high quality players who turned down offers from other major schools including four-star safety Ken Handy-Holly from Alabama, and cornerback Adam Beck from Texas who said no thanks to schools like Colorado and flipped his original commitment to Texas Tech.

Quarterback Tanner Morgan has already enrolled at the U and Burns has high praise for the Kentucky native who reportedly turned down an offer from national power Louisville. “I think Tanner Morgan has the best quarterback tape you’ve seen from a Gopher quarterback signee in at least four or five years,” Burns said.

Burns wouldn’t be that surprised if the Kentucky native starts for Minnesota next fall. “I think if he can get down the offense, he could absolutely play from day one.”

Worth Noting

It’s interesting that in today’s high-tech world, athletes send their signed National Letters of Intent via fax to their colleges of choice. Holding up a signed fax does provide a news photo opportunity.

The Gophers have sold 253 new season tickets since Fleck was hired, according to an email from an athletic department spokesman. who noted no “aggressive ticket push” has been made so far to sell tickets.

The Big Ten Network will have National Signing Day programming from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. today.

A person who should know says it’s likely Apple Valley junior point guard Tre Jones will sign with Duke next fall, following his brother Tyus’ path to playing for legendary Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski.

Richard Pitino’s Gophers have lost five consecutive games and play at Illinois Saturday afternoon. Minnesota is 1-3 at home and 2-3 on the road in Big Ten games. Earlier this season Pitino said: “In this league you better win at home. It’s extremely important.”

Four of the Gophers’ six defeats have been by seven points or fewer including overtime losses to Michigan State by one and Wisconsin by two. On the road Minnesota does have a nine point overtime win against Purdue and four point victory versus Northwestern.

Pitino had a difficult stretch with close losses two years ago when his Gophers lost eight conference games by six points or less. There were NCAA Tournament hopes before the season for that team but Minnesota finished with a 6-12 Big Ten record and didn’t play in the postseason other than the conference tournament.

The Timberwolves, who have won eight of their last 11 games, play the NBA champion Cavs tonight in Cleveland. Web rumors are Knicks basketball boss Phil Jackson is interested in acquiring Wolves point guard Ricky Rubio and Cavs power forward Kevin Love, the former Wolves star who played a key role in last year’s game seven playoff win over the Warriors. The passing skills of Rubio and Love on the Knicks would be great for Jackson’s famous triangle offense.

A record 381 MIAC student-athletes have earned Academic All-Conference recognition for their classroom work last fall. They had a cumulative grade point average of 3.5 or better on a 4.0 scale. Student-athletes must be a sophomore, junior or senior with at least one year (two semesters) at their institution to be eligible for the recognition. The MIAC saw its record total of honorees rise for the fifth straight year, exceeding by 24 the record of 357 set in 2015.

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