The Gophers, who play Michigan tomorrow, have only won twice against the Wolverines since 1978, both times in Ann Arbor, 2005 and 1986.  All-time Gophers rushing leader Darrell Thompson recalled that before the 1986 game Minnesota assistant coaching legend Butch Nash spoke to the team, urging players to never look back regretting their efforts.  Nash was also credited with inspiring the Gophers in their 1977 upset of then No. 1 ranked Michigan in Minneapolis.

Brady Hoke, the first year Michigan coach, was contacted by Minnesota last fall when the Gophers job was open.  The guess here is that Hoke, then coaching at San Diego State, wasn’t interested in coming to Minnesota and perhaps was already thinking about a return to Ann Arbor where he had once been an assistant.

Gophers’ offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover is “1-0” at Michigan having been on the winning side as a Northwestern grad assistant in 1995.

Kyle Washington, the 6-9 forward from Champlin who is a junior at the Hotchkiss School in Lakeville, Connecticut, received a scholarship offer this week from Louisville coach Rick Pitino, according to prep basketball authority Ken Lien.

Because of demand, the Lynx are selling tickets in the upper level of Target Center for Sunday’s opening WNBA Finals game against Atlanta.  Tickets are available starting at $15.

Lynx chief operating officer Conrad Smith said the franchise has sold over 500 new full season tickets in the last two weeks since the playoffs started.

Former governor Jesse Ventura and ex-Vikings running back Chuck Foreman spoke to the Lynx yesterday at practice.  Ventura is a Lynx season ticket holder.

The song “Apache” has been the Lynx players’ theme song since 2006.  Sunday The Sugarhill Gang will perform its hit single “Apache” during a halftime concert.  The Sugarhill Gang is a hip-hop group comprised of Wonder Mike, Master Gee and Henn-Dog.

The Wild will practice on Monday and Tuesday at AMSOIL Arena in Duluth.  A team spokesman said via email the visit to Duluth is part of a “team building” effort on the North Shore.  The Wild have about one week between the last preseason game tonight and the regular season opener on October 8.

Augsburg’s football team will try to stay unbeaten tomorrow when it hosts Carleton (1-2). The 3-0 Auggies earned their first win in Collegeville since 1980 last Saturday defeating Saint John’s, 32-31.  Augsburg defensive back Tyler Phillips had 13 tackles while quarterback Marcus Brumm threw four touchdown passes including the game winner as time expired.  Phillips and Brumm are the MIAC’s defensive and offensive players of the week.

Minnesota native Karl Gregor is the new assistant men’s tennis coach at Tufts University.  He has previous tennis coaching experience at Harvard, Boston University and Air Force.

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News and comments on Gophers football:

Offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover said today that MarQueis Gray is still the No. 1 quarterback.  Limegrover said there is not a clear enough distinction between the abilities of Gray and freshman Max Shortell to make a change in the No. 1 status of Gray.

Gray, a junior, has started all four games this season.  He was only 5-of-12 passing for 52 yards and no touchdowns last Saturday against North Dakota State.  Shortell, who has surprised most everyone with his first season of play, has participated in each game and against the Bison was 4-of-8 passing for 71 yards and one touchdown.

As of today head coach Jerry Kill remains at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester as doctors try to figure out how to control his seizures.  Defensive coordinator Tray Claeys will be the coaching staff leader if Kill can’t be in Ann Arbor Saturday for the Michigan game.

“I expect him to be there,” Claeys said.  “I will be shocked if he’s not there.”

The inept and embarrassing performance by the Gophers Saturday night in their 37-24 loss to FCS power North Dakota State provoked a blunt assessment by assistant head coach Bill Miller.

Miller, interviewed on WCCO Radio’s Sports Huddle last Sunday, criticized the collective effort of the team.  “Very simply, North Dakota State took the fight to us.  What we’re trying to change here is the mentality.  How you approach the game. …It’s very disappointing.”

The North Dakota State loss was the second in five years to the Bison and follows last season’s loss to FCS South Dakota.  The Gophers, who begin the Big Ten season against Michigan, compiled a 1-3 nonconference record including losses to 3-0 North Dakota State and 1-3 New Mexico State.

“We gotta recruit more tough kids, more physical kids,” Miller said.  “I am not saying our guys here are soft, but we didn’t play with the mentality that you have to play with.  The bottom line in this game ─ North Dakota State took the fight to us ─ and that’s got to be our mentality.  It isn’t right now. …”

Kill, Miller and the other staff members are in their first season at Minnesota.  Their success will be determined by not only improving the fight in the Gophers, but also the mental focus to play with minimal mistakes including penalties and the ability to execute the fundamentals of blocking and tackling.

The critics among the public are already being heard including questions about the coaching.  That won’t surprise Kill or anyone else who understands how emotional things can become when a team is losing most Saturdays, and turns in a performance like the Gophers did against North Dakota State.

It’s been a difficult beginning for Kill, trying to regain his health and improve the Gophers.  Supportive Gophers fans will take a deep breath and embrace a two or three year perspective while trying to envision the sort of success Kill had at other coaching stops turning around programs.

That assignment in patience has been asked of Gophers fans way too many times over the decades but in late September of 2011 it’s reality.

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Michael Chang has fond memories of Minnesota but during an interview last week wasn’t ready to move back here despite a pitch from a sportswriter about the warm and sunny late summer weather.

“I think you need to tell me what the weather is like maybe a few more months down the road,” he said.  “Believe it or not, I really enjoyed it in Minnesota.  We lived in St. Paul until I was about seven years old.”

Chang enjoyed the outdoors here including fishing but the family realized his tennis development was limited by the Minnesota climate. “I think after awhile my mom was a little bit tired of shoveling snow at five o’clock in the morning just to get out, and we decided to pack up and move down to San Diego,” Chang said. “But we certainly did enjoy our time there.”

Chang is part of the 12-city Champions Series that makes a stop at Target Center on Friday night.  Eight tennis legends are competing in the series with the top three finishers sharing a bonus pool of $1 million.  The Minneapolis players will be Chang, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier and John McEnroe. The other series players are Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors, Pete Sampras and Mats Wilander. 

Sampras won in two of three cities last week as the series began and he leads the field with 900 points, according to the series website.  Chang is tied for second with Courier at 500 points each.

The format in each city has the four players paired off in one-set semi-finals matches, followed by the winners contending for that evening’s championship in an eight-game pro-set match.

At 59 Connors is the oldest of the players, while Chang is the youngest at 39.  “As far as the level of tennis, I think we’re still able to play some great tennis,” Chang said.  “Just not able to sustain it I think from day to day, playing three, four, five tough matches, or playing three out of five set match.  But certainly in the Champions Series format, I think it fits us pretty well.”

Billed as the LeeAnn Chin Challenge here, newspaper ads have Chang’s opponent being the 52-year-old McEnroe.  The two have played against each other many times including in 1991 when Chang defeated McEnroe in a memorable match at the U.S. Open

“I think it’s special to play against John no matter where you play against him,” Chang said.  “But I think to have the opportunity to play against him in New York in a night match was something special.  Obviously it was great that I won the match, but to play him in his backyard with the New York crowd just going absolutely nuts was a lot of fun to be part of.”

Friday night may not be as memorable but Chang’s enthusiasm for tennis is still present.  “It’s important for me to go out there and play with a lot of heart…and play smart tennis,” he said.

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