Kill’s former team, Northern Illinois, will play Wisconsin at Solider Field in Chicago on September 17.

Kill attended the funeral of former Gophers national championship coach Murray Warmath on Monday.  Also in attendance was Governor Mark Dayton.

Former Gophers coach Joe Salem, who attended the funeral, said his beginning salary in 1978 was $38,000.  Famous NFL coach Mike Shanahan was a young assistant to Salem but earned only $27,000 and Salem couldn’t afford to keep him.

A tribute to Warmath on April 30 is being planned by former players.

Local emcee Dick Jonckowski recalled a funny Warmath story. The coach was reviewing empty lockers and saw the names of various players he recognized.  Then he came upon a locker he thought was labeled “Bustad.”  He wanted to know who this Bustad was?  An aide replied, “That’s not Bustad.  It says ‘busted.’  That locker doesn’t work.”

Former Cretin-Derham Hall All-American tackle Seantrel Henderson is among six Miami players suspended for undisclosed reasons for the team’s opening game next season, according to multiple media reports.

Gophers’ athletics director Joel Maturi said on KSTP TV’s Sports Wrap on Sunday he expects basketball coach Tubby Smith, 59, will finish his career at Minnesota.  That’s what Smith told Maturi last week.  Maturi said negotiations for a Smith contract extension are ongoing.

The Twins website is reporting that Michael Cuddyer, Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau will all play in tonight’s spring training game against Baltimore televised in this area by FOX Sports North beginning at 6:05 p.m.

Mauer ranked No. 2 behind Yankees superstar Derek Jeter in Majestic Athletic jersey sales during 2010, according to a story today by MLB.com.

Kevin Garnett, who turns 35 in May and is averaging only 15 points per game, could be making one of his last appearances ever at Target Center on Sunday when he and the Celtics play the Timberwolves.

Here are the five finalists for the prep Mr. Basketball award and their college choices: Lucas Brown (from Roseville), Wofford; Joe Coleman (Hopkins), Gophers; Shelby Moats (Waconia), Vanderbilt; Kyle Noreen (Minnesota Transitions), undecided on college to attend; Jake White (Chaska), Wichita State.

Ingrid Neel, the Rochester Mayo 12-year-old who is playing on the school’s boys’ team, attended John McEnroe’s tennis academy in New York last fall and impressed the legendary star, according to a New York Times story published in the Rochester Post Bulletin last week.

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Murray Warmath made a difference in my life.  For that influence I offered a prayer on Thursday night after the news came by telephone that the 98-year-old former Golden Gophers coach passed away.

In a silent prayer I thanked Murray for being my friend and coaching the Gophers to the heights of college football.  God bless you, Murray.

Today his admirers will say goodbye at St. Stephen’s Church in Edina.  The funeral will be attended by many of his former players, men who have revered him for decades.

Warmath, who coached the Gophers from 1954-1971, was a survivor who outlived not only many of his players and assistant coaches, but most of his family.  He was preceded in death by his wife, Mary Louise, daughter Carol and son Billy.  Another son, Murray Jr., was with the coach during his final hours last week.

In recent years Warmath’s memory declined but that didn’t stop a regular parade of visitors from going to his residence at Friendship Village in Bloomington.  I brought Tim Brewster out to meet the coach and also Brad Childress.  Chilly said: “Where do I sign up to be 95?”

Although Warmath was interested in the Vikings, his DNA was maroon and gold.  He coached the Vikings defensive line for two seasons in the late 1970s, several years after he was forced out as Gophers coach.  He sometimes attended Vikings practices at Winter Park, located just a few blocks from Friendship Village.

But it was at Gophers games that admirers could count on seeing the wheelchair- confined Warmath.  Even last fall, only weeks after old age seemed to have announced his passing was imminent, the former national championship coach was down on the field during a ceremony to recognize perhaps his greatest player, defensive tackle Bobby Bell.

During his lifetime Warmath saw the Gophers in three football homes: Memorial Stadium, the Metrodome and TCF Bank Stadium.  At the Bank the largest locker room in football is named after him.

In the five decades since he stopped coaching at the U, Warmath watched seven men try to replace him.  None of them has come close to accomplishing his national title, two Big Ten Championships and two Rose Bowl teams.  And that’s not to mention his longevity as Gophers coach.

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His great teams and players provided Gophers fans with memories for the ages.  And to think it almost didn’t happen.

Warmath was losing games and making enemies by the late 1950s.  The extreme critics dumped garbage on the lawn of the Warmath home in Edina, and hung him in effigy on campus.  Others raised money to buy out his contract.

Warmath stubbornly refused to fold in the middle of such criticism even though he had options to coach at other schools.  Warmath insisted he was a “good football coach” and would prove it.

That’s what he did, erasing the 1-8 and 2-7 seasons of 1958 and 1959 with a national championship in 1960.  During the early 1960’s the Gophers were among the elite of college football and then again in 1967 when Warmath won his last conference championship.

Warmath and his staff were excellent coaches.  But as with any coach, talent was needed, too.  Warmath, who often spoke with colorful phrases, liked to say: “No mule ever won the Kentucky Derby.”

Even as a kid I believed Warmath wasn’t fully appreciated in this state.  There were critics that seemed to resent his southern roots and Tennessee accent.  Then, too, he wasn’t supposed to be in Minneapolis leading the Gophers.  Former Gopher Bud Wilkinson, a Minneapolis native, was setting the college football world on its ear in the 1950s at Oklahoma and the Warmath critics said we had the wrong guy coaching on the sidelines at Minnesota.

As sports editor of the Minnesota Daily I developed a rapport with Warmath in the 1960s.  One summer I convinced him to spend hours with me tape recording interviews about his life and approach to coaching.  The result was a series of articles in the Daily titled: “From Garbage to Roses.”

Warmath recognized my passion for the Gophers.  It also didn’t hurt that I bought into his mantra of tough discipline for his players and his game day philosophy of total commitment to defense, field position and the kicking game.

Even though Warmath was more than 30 years older, he sometimes confided in me.  He was paranoid about the intentions of both the University administration and local media, believing neither one was particularly supportive of his Gophers.  His mood could turn cranky on any number of subjects, perhaps complaining about recruiting or even two hippies he saw copulating in the bushes near campus.  At times I am sure he couldn’t wait to get home and enjoy a Jack Daniels.

Warmath’s players could complain about him, too.  He pushed them so hard before the season began that some observers believed the Gophers had unnecessary injuries and were tired early in the season.  There was praise, however, when it was obvious the Gophers often were better conditioned than opponents during fourth quarters and in late season games.

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