Gopher football coach Tim Brewster told Sports Headliners that selection of plays for the Insight Bowl against Kansas will be a “collaboration” between himself, newly arrived offensive line coach Tim Davis and offensive coordinator Mike Dunbar.

Davis replaced coach Phil Meyer after Minnesota’s season ending loss to Iowa.  In two of the last three games the Gopher offense didn’t produce a touchdown.  The arrival of Davis as offensive line coach and running game coordinator offers a new start for an offense that rushed for 189 yards in the last three games, including seven against Iowa, and finished last in Big Ten Conference rushing at 105.8 yards per game.

Brewster described Davis as a “spectacular hire.”  Davis has had coaching stops at USC, Wisconsin and most recently Alabama.  “I believe he’ll help our offensive line improve across the board,” Brewster said.

Vikings quarterback John David Booty, while playing at USC, roomed with linemen who had Davis as their position coach.  “He’s just real high energy…and really a lot of fun to be around,” Booty said.  “And I think that’s what a lot of these guys coming out of high school saw. …”

Davis, who Booty described as “big time” for his sincerity with players, is expected to impact not only the coaching but will also help upgrade the Gophers personnel.  “He’s a fantastic coach and recruiter,” Brewster said.

The Gophers begin practice this afternoon for the December 31 bowl game.  Brewster said Dunbar, the offensive coordinator for the last two seasons, will “verbalize” the calls during the game, but that he and Davis will have input, plus advance preparation of the game plan.

Brewster disagreed with the suggestion that the Gophers may run the ball more in the bowl game, asserting that the offense has been balanced between the pass and run in the past and likely will have a similar mix in Tempe, Arizona, site of the Insight Bowl.  What’s likely to be new, though, is that quarterback Adam Weber will be under center at times and the Gophers will do some power running.

The Gophers receive 15 practices from the NCAA to prepare for the bowl game.  Brewster said the Gophers are among the “two or three” youngest teams in the country and he’s excited about having the equivalent of “two spring practices” to work with the team.  “We’re really going to improve between now and the bowl game,” he said.

Brewster is justifiably proud about the progress of his team and program. The Gophers, 1-11 last season, were one of the surprise success stories of college football this fall.  The talent pool Brewster and his staff took over in 2006 was minimal by Big Ten standards and it takes to time build a program.

After starting 7-1, the Gophers lost their last four games.  Brewster said the team’s lack of depth was a contributing factor and the Gophers just “ran out of gas.”

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As a recruiter Davis will focus on offensive linemen.  He will recruit nationally and be assigned selected Minnesota high schools including Cretin-Derham Hall where offensive tackle Seantrell Henderson, a senior next fall, is a highly sought player.

Brewster expects all his players to be healthy for the bowl game.  This includes wide receiver David Pittman, who has played minimally because of a hamstring injury.

Brewster was scheduled to fly back from New York this morning where he attended the College Football Hall of Fame awards dinner last night.  Among those honored was former Gopher coach Lou Holtz, an inductee into the 2008 hall of fame.

The 10 finalists for the prep Mr. Football Award are quarterbacks James Peterson, Blaine High School; Anders Lee, Edina; and Tydan Storrusten, Pelican Rapids;  running backs Jake Gibbons, Becker; Kurtis Huisman, Atwater Cosmos Grove; and Colby Ring, Brainerd; offensive tackle Casey Dehn, Owatonna; linebackers Cole Jirik, Northfield, and Brett Skoog, Orono; and defensive back Varmah Sonie, Apple Valley. The winner will be announced on Sunday at the Mr. Football banquet at the Doubletree Hotel in St. Louis Park.  The Mr. Football program is sponsored by the Minnesota Football Coaches Association and the Minnesota Vikings.

Bad timing: the Gophers Insight Bowl game starts at 5 p.m. on December 31, the same day and time as Minnesota’s Big Ten home basketball opener with Michigan State.

The Gopher basketball team, 8-0, is off to its best start since the 1976-77 season when Minnesota won its first 11 games.  Coach Tubby Smith was asked after Saturday’s comeback 71-54 win over Cornell if the progress has exceeded expectations.  He answered by talking about not being satisfied with execution of the team’s offense.  “I expect more but it’s efficient enough right now,” he said.

The Gophers have four nonconference games remaining including tonight against South Dakota State.  The one anticipated game is December 20 against No. 9 ranked (AP poll) Louisville.  The game will be played in Glendale, Arizona as part of the Stadium Shootout doubleheader.  “I wish the game were tomorrow,” Gopher guard Lawrence Westbrook said on Saturday.

Detroit quarterback Daunte Culpepper talking about his search for employment during the last off-season and whether he spoke with his former team, the Vikings: “Yes, I did talk to somebody up there but the conversations didn’t really go too far.”

Four MIAC players have been named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-America® Football Team, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America.  Concordia’s Levi DeVries was a first team selection while Saint John’s Jeff Schnobrich, Bethel’s David Benjamin, and Gustavus’ T.J. Ridley were named to the second team.

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Randy Wittman is coaching for his job and he knows it.  After coaching the Wolves to a 22-60 record last season, the team is 4-15 this fall, having lost five straight and seven of the last 10 games.  As bad (perhaps worse), the Wolves last two losses have been by scores of 113-84 and 107-84.

Wittman was asked by Sports Headliners on Saturday afternoon if his termination is imminent.  “You know what, I don’t know,” he said.  “Obviously if we don’t win, those kinds of things happen.  I mean it’s already happened three times in our league already. …”

Coaching changes in the NBA occur, even early in the season, as P.J. Carlesimo in Oklahoma City, Eddie Jordan in Washington and Sam Mitchell in Toronto learned this fall.  Media and fans have asked for Wittman’s dismissal.

Wittman, a likeable guy and effective with media relations, said he’s accepting of the local criticism.  “That’s our business and I know that better than anybody,” he said.  “We’re here to win games.  We’re struggling right now so that kind of talk is always going to come up.

“I don’t worry myself with that.  I really don’t because there aren’t very many Jerry Sloans (Utah coach) that stay around for 21 years in the NBA left, and so all I can do is make sure our team is prepared every night.  That we’re doing our job as coaches to make them prepared and have an opportunity to win games in the fourth quarter.  For the most part we’ve done that. …”

Kevin McHale, the team’s vice president of basketball operations, was on the team’s three game road trip that concluded Friday.  When asked, Wittman speculated that McHale made the trip to evaluate the coaching and the players.

Wittman said the Wolves, who collectively looked discouraged and shaken after Saturday night’s loss to a Clippers team that had a 3-16 record, need to regain confidence.  “Losing those games early in the season that we had won hurt our team’s confidence,” he said.  “Now it’s my job to try to get that confidence back to these guys.  That’s where we’re struggling a little bit.  I think that really put us behind the eight ball.  If we could have won three or four of those games that we had won, that we let get away early in the season, we wouldn’t be talking about this right now. “

The Wolves decision makers need to take a serious look at themselves before doing anything about Wittman who has played and coached in the NBA for most of the last three decades.  The team’s personnel fits about as well as a jigsaw puzzle missing a few pieces.

It was suggested that the Wolves are still without quality players at two of basketball’s most important positions, point guard and center, although the search has been on for years.  “Those are the things that we have to look at as an organization,” Wittman said.  “As a coach I’ve got to coach who I’ve got.  That’s all I can do.  Obviously, I think there are some things that we have to look at and try to get to help complement this team with the players that we have, and we’re not there yet. …”

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