Tim Brewster told Sports Headliners on Monday that he was contacted by other schools last year about their football vacancies but declined to speak with their representatives because of his commitment to the Gophers.

The Gophers’ head coach is expected to receive a contract extension soon from athletic director Joel Maturi but Brewster declined to give details about the timing of an announcement and number of years to be added.  Noting that Maturi has “reached out” regarding the extension, Brewster said specifics are being reviewed.

Brewster, who coached Minnesota to a 7-5 regular season record in 2008 after being 1-11 the year before, agreed to a five year contract for about $1 million in compensation after succeeding Glen Mason as coach in January of 2007.  The Gophers were national news last fall after their surprising 7-1 start, but injuries and better opposition led to a 7-6 finish including an Insight Bowl loss to Kansas.

His usual enthusiasm and positive approach was evident on Monday.  He said it’s “imperative” that the Gophers make as much improvement in 2009 as they did last year.  Part of that process includes effective work by his assistants and Brewster is now evaluating the staff.

Yesterday came separate announcements that offensive coordinator Mike Dunbar and defensive coordinator Ted Roof have resigned.  News releases from the athletic department said Dunbar will “pursue other professional interests” while Roof will become defensive coordinator at Auburn.  By the time spring practice begins the Gophers figure to have their third different defensive coordinator and second offensive coordinator of the Brewster era.  No doubt everyone involved with the program will want more longevity from coordinators in the future.

Brewster spoke from Phoenix on Monday where he was waiting to attend the Fiesta Bowl, an opportunity to watch his son Nolan Brewster play for Texas against Ohio State.  The younger Brewster, a freshman, played on special teams and is a reserve strong safety.

After leaving Phoenix, Brewster was planning to spend the rest of the week recruiting in Los Angeles, Houston and Denver. “We gotta get us some guys,” he said.

Brewster plans to sign between 22 and 25 high school and junior college players.  The Gophers will have three or four scholarships to offer if the players who have already verbally committed for national signing day next month keep their pledges.

Those players are expected to do just that including all the in-state players who made verbal commitments.  Brewster is excited about sweeping the state recruiting except for one player (believed to be wide receiver Bryce McNeal of Breck).  The 2009 recruiting class will be “equal (to) if not better” than the nationally ranked top 20 class of last season, he said.  “We’re going to have an outstanding class every single year,” he added.

For next season Brewster will have a more experienced and talented team.  There were only three senior starters on the 2008 team (plus senior punter Justin Kucek and place kicker Joel Monroe) and the staff has been upgrading the talent pool since 2007.  A Website even has the Gophers (No. 18) ranked among the nation’s top 20 teams for next season (www.nationalchamps.net).

Brewster valued the 15 practices allowed for the bowl game and mentioned how helpful they were to the improvement of junior defensive end Cedric McKinley.  He played with a high motor in the bowl game producing four tackles and a team high two sacks.

In other news, Brewster said cornerback Marcus Sherels recently had successful surgery on the right shoulder he injured last fall.  He expects Sherels to participate in spring practice but not have contact.

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Brewster’s boss before coming here, Mike Shanahan, was fired last month after the Broncos missed the playoffs for a third consecutive season.  “He’s the best coach I’ve been around,” Brewster said.

Shanahan, who was once a Gopher assistant, wants to coach again, according to Brewster.  The 56-year-old Shanahan will be paid $21 million for the next three years by the Broncos if he doesn’t take another job and he won’t have to “rush” into another position, Brewster said.

Although the Gophers wore maroon jerseys and pants for their home uniforms late in the year, Brewster doesn’t consider that the team’s primary home uniform for next season.  Instead, the Gophers will mix maroon jerseys with gold pants.

The Big Ten Conference finished 1-6 in bowl games with Iowa the only winner, defeating South Carolina in the Outback Bowl.

Adrian Peterson is a goal setter.  He wanted to lead the NFL in rushing last season and did with 1,760 yards.  In the Sporting News issue of January 5, Peterson admitted to thinking about the rushing title during the season, but the No. 1 goal is to help the Vikings to the Super Bowl.  Peterson’s teams never won a state championship in high school or national title in college.

While other storylines received more attention immediately after Sunday’s playoff loss to Philadelphia, the Vikings’ special teams drew notice by close observers.  Eagles’ punt returner DeSean Jackson had 109 yards on five punt returns.  This included a 62 yard run that set up a field goal in the first half.  A second half return of 30 yards didn’t lead to any points but the almost complete absence of initial tacklers near the sideline and Jackson was glaring.

Reggie Bush of New Orleans returned two punts for touchdowns in a Monday night game against the Vikings and almost had a third.

The Vikings were 11^th among 16 NFC teams in kickoff return average during the regular season at 22.4 and 12^th in punt return average at eight yards per return.  Peterson, replacing Maurice Hicks, was sent out to return the last kickoff of the day against the Eagles in the 26-14 loss.

Cal Clutterbuck, 21, leads all NHL rookies in hits with 132.  The 5-11, 195-pound wing joined the Wild in November and has played in 35 games.

Wild general manager Doug Risebrough said on WCCO Radio’s Sports Huddle on Sunday that he thinks both of the team’s goalies, Niklas Backstrom and Josh Harding, will have to contribute for the team to make the playoffs.  Backstrom is fourth in the league in wins with 19 and tied for first in shutouts with five.  Harding has played in eight games, Backstrom, 33.

Former Wild goalie Manny Fernandez is second in the NHL in goals against average at 1.96 and lost to Minnesota last night 1-0.

Six MIAC schools are ranked in the top 100 of the fall Division III Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup Standings. Carleton leads in the standings among MIAC schools with 165 points (22nd place nationally).  St. Thomas in 45th place with 98 points is followed by Saint Benedict (67th place, 73 points), Augsburg and Concordia (both 72nd with 64 points each), and Saint John’s (83rd place, 55 points).  Points are based on performances in various men’s and women’s sports.

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Common theory before yesterday’s playoff game was that if the Vikings could avoid turnovers, a win was likely against Philadelphia.  Among those holding that thought was coach Brad Childress who said on the KFAN pre-game show that the most important aspect for his team was not “to turn the ball over.”

The Vikings made good on minimizing mistakes, with only one interception and also a bad snap from center recovered by the Eagles.  The interception, though, was turned into a 44-yard touchdown by the Eagles’ Asante Samuel in the second quarter.  That score was Philadelphia’s only touchdown in the first half but the Eagles had three field goals and led 16-14 at halftime.

The result of the game came down to this: the Vikings offense, as so often true in the past, wasn’t good enough to win a game.  Two touchdowns won’t advance many teams in the playoffs, not unless the defense creates scores, too, and yesterday the Vikings’ defense, among the best in football, didn’t generate points in the 26-14 loss.

The pre-game concern about turnovers, at least among fans and media, focused on quarterback Tarvaris Jackson.  Although he only had the one official interception, the Eagles were close to having others.  With some frequency, he threw inaccurately and after a first half when third down conversions were consistent, he and the offense became ineffective in the second half keeping Chris Kluwe busy with five punts.

For the game Jackson completed 15 of 35 passes for 164 yards and Childress told a post game KFAN audience that regarding the interception “you can’t excuse the seven that goes the other way.”  To some observers, Jackson looked unsettled late in the game when the Vikings were trying to come back from a 23-14 deficit.  Bothered by pressure in the past, the third year quarterback seemed off in his timing and perhaps locked in on a primary receiver.

For a third consecutive off-season the Vikings’ staff and others are left to ponder the quarterback situation and the effectiveness of the overall offense.  Jackson was a much better quarterback in the last three games of the regular season then he was in the first two.  While his development is clearly too slow for hypercritical Vikings’ fans, he might be progressing enough to be a decent bet for a good season in 2009. Plus, what are the franchise’s other quarterback options?

The Vikings have home work to do in the off-season.  The offense needs help on the right side of the line including where right tackle Ryan Cook seems to have “false start” DNA.  The acquisition of wide receiver Bernard Berrian added juice to a sub-par receiving group, but more explosiveness is welcome.  The Vikings seem likely to try to help themselves in the college draft with offensive linemen and receivers.

Yesterday, they substantiated what didn’t have to be proven. Fourteen points from your offense in a playoff game isn’t the stuff of Super Bowl contenders.

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