David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Hockey Guru Lauds U, Praises Warroad

Posted on March 7, 2023March 15, 2023 by David Shama

It’s a special week in the State of Hockey with the boys’ state tournament starting Wednesday and the Golden Gophers playing Saturday night in what could be a playoff run to the national championship.

Hockey icon Lou Nanne, 81, talked to Sports Headliners about the preps and Gophers on Monday. He began doing TV color commentary in the state tourney 59 years ago and will be behind a microphone for both Class AA semifinal games Friday and the championship game Saturday.

“I think Warroad could be the best team in the state,” Nanne said. “I think they should win single A and Minnetonka is the favorite in double A. But it’s going to be close. There’s a lot of good teams.”

Warroad’s opening game is Wednesday night against St. Cloud Cathedral, a team the Warriors beat 4-0 last fall. Warroad also owns wins over Class A state tourney rivals Mahtomedi and Orono. The Warriors defeated Wayzata, 3-2, a Class AA team that almost made the state tournament.

“…Everybody tells me they’ve got a phenomenal team,” Nanne said. “You look at their schedule. They beat double A teams as easily as they beat (other) teams.”

Nanne, who spends part of his winters in Florida, was captain of the 1962-1963 Gophers and his heart is in Dinkytown. The No. 1 nationally ranked Gophers, 25-8-1 overall and 19-4-1 in Big Ten games, play Michigan State, 18-17-2 and 10-12-2, at 8 p.m. Saturday night in 3M Arena at Mariucci.

The Gophers are the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament, Michigan State is No. 5. Minnesota is a favorite not only to win the conference tourney but to go all the way to Tampa and come home with the national championship in the Frozen Four April 6 and 8.

To say Nanne is excited about the Gophers might be understating things. “Yes, I am very hopeful they not only make the Final Four but win it. It’s in Tampa, which I love, so I can just drive over to it. It’s a fabulous team. That first line is the best line…I’ve ever seen…at the U.”

Minnesota has a line for the ages in freshmen Logan Cooley and Jimmy Snuggerud, and sophomore Matthew Knies. Enjoy their playmaking while you can because all three could be gone to the pros next season.

The Gophers won the regular season conference championship for the sixth time in 10 years. In the standings they totaled 19 points better than second place Michigan.

Minnesota’s last national title was in 2002. Is this the best Gopher team since then? “Yeah, I think it is,” Nanne said. “This is a terrific team.”

No team wins championships, including a postseason run of success, without outstanding goal keeping. Senior Justen Close, who came to the Gophers from the Canadian Juniors, is one of the best goalies in the country.

“He’s been a great addition to the team,” Nanne said. “He might be even somewhat of a surprise. I don’t know if they knew he was going to play that well.”

Coach Bob Motzko, who took over the program for the 2019-2020 season, was an assistant on Minnesota’s national championship teams in 2002 and 2001. He’s worked hard to build a special team and had to do it in the midst of losing his son Mack in a car accident in 2021.

“Well, he’s done a marvelous job from the first day he’s gone in there, and that’s why I am really hopeful he gets rewarded with an NCAA championship this year,” Nanne said.

Part of the Motzko years have included playing before large numbers of empty seats at home games. But no more as the Gophers have been wildly cheered on by sellout crowds.

“Oh, that’s the best,” Nanne said. “I am just so happy to see that. I am glad the people are realizing what a great product they have over there. It’s just tremendous to see the support, and the student section, the excitement they generate in that building, I think it’s fantastic.”

There are, of course, no guarantees the fans go home happy Saturday night. Minnesota had a bye last weekend and hasn’t played since a week ago last Saturday.

“The biggest problem I worry about is whenever you have a bye, you’re not as sharp coming out of the bye,” Nanne said. “You’re sitting out for a couple weeks and so that’s the thing that concerns me.”

Worth Noting

Nanne was an All-American for the Gophers, an Olympian, and player and executive for the NHL North Stars. He is a member of more than a half dozen halls of fame including induction last week into the Star Tribune Minnesota Sports Hall of Fame.

The St. Thomas basketball team is more than impressive for a program in only its second season of Division I competition. The Tommies advanced to the Summit League tournament title game where they lost last night 70-65 to Oral Roberts in Sioux Falls. The Tommies were 19-14 overall, 9-9 in conference games. Their season is over because the NCAA is making them wait three more years to be eligible for postseason play as part of the agreement the school made to jump from Division III to I.

Minnesota plays a Nebraska team Wednesday night in the Big Ten Tournament that includes Keisei Tominaga, referred to as the “Japanese Steph Curry.” Tominaga wears No. 30 like Curry and is an electric shooter like his hero. The Huskers’ second leading scorer at 12.5 points per game, the 6-foot-2 Tominaga has remaining college eligibility for next season but could play professionally in his native Japan.

The Gophers are heavy with front court returnees and it wouldn’t be surprising if 7-foot Minnesota native Treyton Thompson enters the transfer portal. He averages 11 minutes per game and some games doesn’t play at all.

Best guess is Sonny Gray, 8-5 with a 3.08 ERA a year ago, will be the Twins’ opening day pitcher against the Royals in Kansas City March 30.

Pablo Lopez, who the Twins acquired in the offseason from the Marlins, could be a solid bet, too. His ability to throw strikes is impressive. The son of two doctors, Lopez will pitch for his native Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic that starts tomorrow.

MLB.com singled out Twins shortstop Brooks Lee yesterday as one of 30 prospects among major league teams “who have turned heads this spring.” Less than a year ago he was playing for Cal Poly but he has made an impressive transition to pro baseball after the Twins chose him No. 8 overall in the 2022 amateur draft.

The Athletic’s NBA power rankings out yesterday have the Timberwolves at No. 13 after previously being No. 17. Ex-Wolves coach and deal maker Tom Thibodeau has the Knicks at No. 6 in the ranking of the league’s 30 teams.

Happy birthday to Minnetonka girls’ basketball coach Brian Cosgriff.

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U Takes New Approach with Coaches

Posted on March 5, 2023March 5, 2023 by David Shama

At the University of Minnesota Hugh McCutcheon is a couple of months into a position that few schools in the country have in place. McCutcheon, the acclaimed former Golden Gophers volleyball coach, has the title of assistant athletics director/sport development coach.

In locker room translation that means he is a coaching guru who coaches the coaches from the athletic department’s 22 sports programs. He is available to consult with them on how they can be better at what they do. No other Big Ten Conference program has such a resource, but that might change soon in a world of competitive athletics where everyone is looking for an edge in performance.

Then again, how many schools have a Hugh McCutcheon? His wisdom has long been admired among inside the department by his coaching peers. Externally, he has been a TED speaker, consultant to the Minnesota Twins and book author.

McCutcheon provides how-to coaching advice in his 2022 book Championship Behaviors A Model for Competitive Excellence in Sports. The book’s purpose is to help coaches and athletes “achieve significant outcomes in sports.”

Those words and the following ones are in the introduction: “…Where significant means to strive for an outcome that will require work and change. Something beyond their current abilities.”

The book, which is also helpful to parents of athletes, speaks to the art and science of sports. Readers are presented with research, principles and methods that have resulted in efficient and desired outcomes while recognizing success is certainly not always measured by the scoreboard.

“We won’t always have five-star talent, but we can often make up the difference by being five-star teachers, learners, and competitors,” McCutcheon has said.

There are no shortcuts to change. Coaches and athletes must work via a path that makes sense physically, mechanically, and psychologically. McCutcheon’s book offers guidance and can also assist parents in judging whether they’re making a worthwhile investment (in time and money) in their child’s sports development. All concerned are encouraged to remember this: championships (whatever your definition) require championship behaviors.

McCutcheon, 53, is a cerebral guy, a deep thinker, but the opposite of a know-it-all. He is modest, approachable and emphasizes how important it is to listen to others. That’s job one at the U when he meets with coaching peers in his new role that has him working four-days per week. “Full-time, part-time,” McCutcheon said.

McCutcheon holds a group meeting at the U once a month with coaches, along with individual sessions where he can be a sounding board and help their development.

He walked away after last season from a nationally renowned women’s volleyball program that he built. He ended an 11-year career that was highlighted by two Big Ten titles and three trips to the NCAA Final Four.

Why?

Because he was being pulled in so many different directions, a “1,000 cuts,” he said. Part of his departure was driven by a desire to spend more time with family. During an interview with Sports Headliners he was attentive but concerned about time and tending to his sick son Andrew.

McCutcheon’s character and values are so apparent to anyone who meets him. Minnesota athletic director Mark Coyle knows the New Zealand native better than many others. Last year Coyle asked McCutcheon to tell him about his book. The two leaders spent a couple of hours in discussion and that provided Coyle with further insights about coaching and McCutcheon, and laid groundwork to an announcement last October that Minnesota’s volleyball coach would soon have a newly created role in the athletic department starting in January.

“His guidance and proven leadership will benefit all of our coaches as we continue to work to provide a holistic and world-class experience for our student-athletes,” Coyle said in a statement last October. “Hugh has had success at the Olympic and collegiate level coaching both men and women, and I know he will be able to provide additional value to our program.”

McCutcheon’s Olympic resume includes coaching the U.S. men to the 2008 Gold Medal. In four years with the U.S. Men’s National Team his record was 107-33. He also had a run with the U.S. Women’s National team and between both men’s and women’s programs compiled a record of 213-72.

Those achievements, and his many others, don’t come without planning and work. “I always set goals,” McCutcheon said referencing daily and longer-term tasks. He identifies what is to be accomplished and the tasks needed to achieve the goals.

As a college student, McCutcheon left Canterbury University in New Zealand to continue his education at Brigham Young in Provo, Utah. He played volleyball for the Cougars from 1991-1993. He earned his bachelor’s degree in physical education there, then played professional volleyball in Finland and Japan before returning to BYU to receive an MBA.

McCutcheon has been a lot of places and had many experiences, and along the way he has learned coaching is a powerful platform. But it’s often relatively easy to gain entry to coach in youth sports and sometimes even on the college and professional levels. Many who carry the title of coach are far from prepared in knowledge of their sport and how to relate most effectively with athletes.

“You might have someone who was a good player who is now asked to coach,” McCutcheon said. “It’s like taking someone who was a good shopper at Target and making them a manager at the store.”

Trouble awaits those who aren’t open enough to learn and change. A coach who is unqualified won’t be successful in developing trust with his team. And trust is one of McCutcheon’s pillars for success. Ideally, athletes must learn to trust themselves, their teammates and coaches.

Coaches need to be aware of who they are and what they’re doing because they can harm others, McCutcheon said. Athletes need to be coached in three areas: physical, emotional and social which includes being a good teammate who tries to make others better. Unfortunately, many coaches have neither degrees or backgrounds in coaching.

Respect between athletes and coaches can start with an honest approach. Despite McCutcheon’s inspiring resume prior to becoming Gopher volleyball coach, he told his first team, “I know I have to earn your respect.”

Just the introduction you would expect from this extraordinary teacher.

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Time Expired on Whalen Experiment

Posted on March 3, 2023March 3, 2023 by David Shama

Lindsay Whalen and Mark Coyle announced the right decision yesterday regarding Whalen stepping down as the University of Minnesota women’s basketball coach. Whalen had five seasons to make winning progress with the program and she was unable to do so.

On the street and among media there was a common view that Whalen was going to receive one more year to show she was the right coach for Minnesota. But Coyle is justified in moving on now from Whalen who had never coached before accepting the job at her alma mater.

The women’s program is capable of not only more on court success but coming closer financially to operating in the black. The program has never paid its own way, and now the disastrous season by the men’s basketball program has resulted in revenues being far less than the potential for that cash cow. Maybe Coyle, who waited too long to part ways with former men’s coach Richard Pitino and made an iffy hire in Ben Johnson, wanted to move on from Whalen and not wait a year when he could be dealing with change in the men’s program, too.

Whalen remains one of the most revered sports heroes in state history for her on-court play for the Gophers, Lynx and U.S. Olympic teams. The Hutchinson native had an emotional day yesterday and understandably chose at the last minute not to participate in a news conference with Coyle who described the departure of his coach as a mutual decision.

Maybe not. Whalen posted this on Twitter last night: “I will be ‘appearing’ and ‘showing up’ for a press conference in the near future. My sincere apologies for not being there today as I was overcome with emotion in the elevator on my way to the press conference. I am a human being.”

The season ended with a thud Wednesday afternoon. Playing in the opening game of the Big Ten Tournament—a home environment in front of supporters at Target Center—Whalen’s team lost to Penn State, another bottom feeder in the league who the Gophers had defeated twice earlier in the season.

It wasn’t a pretty loss. The Gophers trailed by as many as 18 points and struggled against a full court press. Minnesota rallied late in the fourth quarter before losing, 72-67, and the team received obligatory praise for its efforts from Whalen.

The Gophers finished the season with a record of 11-19. Their regular season conference record was 4-14. That landed Whalen’s fifth Gopher team in next to last place in the Big Ten.

Not an uplifting way to recognize 50 years of women’s basketball at the U.

Since taking over the Gophers Whalen’s teams never finished above .500 in the Big Ten, with the best showing 9-9 her first season. A legendary Final Four player for the Gophers, she never coached her team to the NCAA Tournament. Whalen’s three predecessors this millennium have all been more successful by far than she has been.

Whalen will stay with the department as a special assistant to the AD through April 12, 2025. That is the date her five-year coaching contract ends. It’s not known what her compensation will be in the new role.

Starting in contract year four (was to begin next month) her base salary was to be $574,761. Most recently she earned $547,391.

Worth Noting

St. Thomas is fast earning respect and attention for its success in Division I sports. With wealthy alums and admirers, it wouldn’t be surprising to see NIL become a bigger success with the Tommies than the Gophers.

The No. 1 ranked U men’s hockey team has a talented line for the ages in freshmen Logan Cooley and Jimmy Snuggerud, and sophomore Matthew Knies, but all three could be gone to the pros next season. Cooley might be the most likely returnee, with chances greatest that Snuggerud and Knies will leave.

Former MLB umpire and St. Paul native Tim Tschida speaks to the Capital Club March 8 at Mendakota Country Club. More information about the club is available from Patrick Klinger, patrick@agilemarketingco.com

Burl Oaks Golf Club is the Minnesota Golf Association’s Club of the Year for 2022. The Minnetrista course hosted the MGA Players’ Championship last year.

Minikahda pro Jeff Sorenson recently won the Pebble Beach ProAm at Pebble Beach and Spyglass, earning his 157^th career win in harsh conditions including cold, wind and snow.

Kaat, Carew & Oliva. Photo contributed by Marshall Tanick.

Rod Carew, Jim Kaat and Tony Oliva, a trio of Cooperstown Hall of Famers, entertained a recent crowd of about 500 at a Minnesota Breakfast Club gathering in Naples, Florida. The former Twins all played together including on the West Division championship teams of 1969 and 1970. Baseball’s efforts to speed up the game is welcome news to Carew who said he has lost interest.

Players earn a lot more now than when Carew, Kaat and Oliva played. MLB player salaries averaged a record high $4.2 million last season, per Front Office Sports.

Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell will give a video presentation at the 2023 Minnesota Football Coaches Association Clinic. The nationally admired annual clinic will again feature Gopher coaches including P.J. Fleck. Clinic dates are March 30, 31 and April 1 with more information available at https://www.mnfootballcoaches.com/

The U Athletic Department has suites available for the upcoming football season starting at $4,500 per game. The home schedule is attractive with games that include Illinois, Michigan, Michigan State, Nebraska and Wisconsin.

Elite Ink is promoting a Kirill Kaprizov memorabilia sale that includes a signed $890 white jersey.

Taylor Heise and Grace Zumwinkle, Gopher forwards and native Minnesotans, are two of 10 finalists for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award given annually to the top player in Division I women’s college hockey.

Former Gopher Jamal Mashburn Jr., now at New Mexico, leads the Mountain West in scoring at 19.4 points per game. The Lobos, led by coach Richard Pitino, are 21-9 overall but only 8-9 in league games and are questionable to make the NCAA Tournament.

Former Viking Herschel Walker is 61 today.

I am speaking to the CORES lunch group about my column and career Thursday, March 9 at the Bloomington Event Center. Reservations can be made by emailing Jim Dotseth, dotsethj@comcast.net. CORES is an acronym for coaches, officials, reporters, educators and sports fans.

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