Jerry Kill Retires, Exposes Gopher Holes

English: Logo for the University of Minnesota (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The news on Wednesday that Jerry Kill had retired from coaching the University of Minnesota football team due to health concerns came as a shock to nearly everyone.  Having seen him deal with some of those health problems since becoming coach in 2011, maybe we shouldn't have been surprised.

Kill quit midway during his fifth season and days before an important home game against Michigan.  He said he could no longer justify being a football coach and taking care of his epilepsy at the same time.  He had given three decades of his life to coaching, which can be stressful in itself--just ask Urban Meyer of Ohio State, and apparently he didn't want to die that way.

With all the credit Kill had gotten for turning the Gopher football program around, it's easy to forget that what he really did was to make them acceptably mediocre.  His record at Minnesota in four and a half seasons was 29-29 (career wise it was 152-99).  His teams have been to three bowl games, all of which they've lost.  This season so far ranks as a disappointment given the high expectations from last year, mostly due to injuries, lack of offense and key losses to Texas Christian, Northwestern and Nebraska.

Kill's interim successor, defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys, will find a more difficult road to win a game the rest of the Big Ten season with opponents such as Ohio State, Iowa and Wisconsin.  Heck, they'll be lucky just to be eligible for one of those bowls sponsored by a pizza chain.

Kill's resignation has opened another gaping hole into the credibility of the University's athletic department.  Right now, there is no permanent athletic director or football coach, only substitutes with the 'interim' tag.  The previous AD, Norwood Teague, left because of allegations of sexual harassment and alcohol abuse.  The University can't even begin to search for Teague's replacement because of ongoing investigations into the athletic department.  Beth Goetz is the acting director.

This also puts the 'U' in a bind when it comes to choosing a new football coach.  As it stands, no top-level coach or assistant is going to want to come to Minnesota and work with a dysfunctional athletic department and the football program's culture of losing.  Not even as new practice facilities, which Kill has long fought for, are being built.  That's why the 'U' keeps hiring guys like Tim Brewster to coach, because that's all they could get.

One of the things that was unique about Kill was his ability to recruit a coaching staff that has stuck with him throughout his career.  Now that Kill is gone, that staff will be put to the test as Claeys spends the rest of the season trying to remove the 'interim' from his job title, and not just for continuity's sake.

Jerry Kill is putting aside his football career to stop and smell the roses.  Real ones, that is, and not for a bowl game on New Year's Day.  He's the latest coach to understand that there's more to life than X's and O's.  Everyone around him--his family, friends, fans and players--will appreciate him more for doing what's best before it's too late.

UPDATE (11/11/15):  Despite losing the past two games due to dubious clock management and a vastly superior opponent, Tracy Claeys has been named the new Gopher football coach.  It was the only thing the University could do, really, with no permanent athletic director and recruits needing an answer on who's gonna coach the team.  Now we're going to find out whether Claeys can build on the modest success of Jerry Kill, or be the next Tim Brewster.

Phil "Flip" Saunders (1955-2015): Leaving a Basketball Legacy

Flip Saunders, head coach of the Washington Wizards Washington Wizards v/s Cleveland Cavaliers November 18, 2009 at Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Phil "Flip" Saunders, general manager and coach of the NBA Minnesota Timberwolves, died at the age of sixty days before the team was to start its 2015-16 regular season.  It had been only a few months since Saunders said he was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphona, then took a leave of absence from the team for treatment.

Saunders first came to Minnesota from his native Ohio in the 1970s to play on the men's Gopher basketball team.  After graduation, he coached community college and minor league ball before breaking into the NBA with the Wolves.  His first stint with the team ran from 1995-2005, leading them to playoff appearances for eight consecutive seasons beginning in 1997 and ending with the Western Conference finals in 2004.  Of course, having players like Kevin Garnett, Sam Cassell and Latrelle Sprewell didn't hurt either.

With the Wolves in decline after that, Saunders was let go.  After coaching stops with the Detroit Pistons and Washington Wizards, he returned to the Wolves as President of Basketball Operations.  When coach Rick Adelman announced his retirement following the 2013-14 season and no one else wanted to coach a team with an uncertain future, Saunders stepped in to coach a second time in addition to his other duties.

In his other job as President of Basketball Operations (another way of saying he was a general manager), Saunders moved disgruntled Wolf Kevin Love to the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2014 for (among other players) Andrew Wiggins, who turned out to be last season's NBA Rookie of the Year.  Then, with the first-ever Number One pick in the 2015 Draft, Karl-Anthony Towns of Kentucky was chosen along with local hero Tyus Jones of NCAA men's champion Duke.  Now, people were expecting big things from the Wolves that they never did before.  Oh yes, and Garnett returned too.

Saunders will not have the chance to coach this squad of promising starters and mentoring veterans, so what you'll see on the floor this season and in the future is his legacy.  How the players will react to Saunders' passing on and off the court is another matter.  Sam Mitchell, who used to play under Saunders, takes over as the head coach.  Milt Newton is the general manager.

Phil "Flip" Saunders will go down as one of the most influential figures in Minnesota sports history, through his leadership as the winningest coach in Timberwolves' history with a record of 411-326 over 737 games, and as an executive.  If the current Wolves team Saunders helped create eventually become winners, then that should be tribute enough for him.

Lynx 2015: Three In Five

The Minnesota Lynx won the 2015 WNBA title with a 69-52 victory over the Indiana Fever at Target Center in Minneapolis, winning the series three games to two.  This is the Lynx' third championship in five years, having won the same way the San Francisco Giants did in baseball's World Series.  That is, by winning every other year.

In the first WNBA Final to go the distance since 2009, the series had been a hard-fought battle between two teams that turned out to be nothing but a showcase for the league:  Maya Moore's Game 3 buzzer beater.  Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve challenging her players to back up Moore on the court after they lost Game 1.  Fever coach Stephanie White ripping the officials.  The play of Tamika Catchings, who led the Fever to a desperation Game 4 victory.

After a shaky start, Game 5 and the series belonged to the Lynx.  Moore only scored five points, but it didn't matter as her teammates more than picked up the slack.  Sylvia Fowler, who came in a mid-season trade with the Chicago Sky, scored 20 points and 11 rebounds.  It was enough to make her the playoff MVP.

During the regular season, the Lynx won the Western Conference like everyone said they would, but it wasn't easy.  Seimoine Augustus and Lindsay Whalen had to miss games due to injuries, so the team added Fowler, Anna Cruz and Renee Montgomery to the lineup.  They won their playoff series against the Los Angeles Sparks and Phoenix Mercury who, let's face it, would have been the favorite if Diana Taurasi had not chosen to sit out the season.

This is the first time the Lynx had clinched the league championship on their home floor, which came just in time for Target Center's 25th anniversary.  Hard to believe, but it is one of the oldest venues in professional basketball.  So the place is getting a makeover, which means that the Lynx will have to play somewhere else in the 2017 season.

But let's not worry about that right now.  After all the champagne baths, ticker-tape parades and private Prince concerts have ended, it's time to stop and consider what the Minnesota Lynx have accomplished in the last five years.  Augustus, Moore, Whalen, Reeve, Rebekkah Brunson and others who have come and gone have won everywhere they went--championships in college and the pros plus Olympic gold medals, and will be remembered as part of the cornerstones for the evolution of women's basketball in America.  No, make that the evolution of basketball, period.

Twins 2015: Worst to Second Place

Former Minnesota Twins and Milwaukee Brewers baseball star Paul Molitor is introduced to the crowd Sunday, July 24, 2005, at a Tee Ball game on the South Lawn of the White House, where he participated as first base coach. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The bad old days of 90 losses per season for the Minnesota Twins are over, at least for now.  The team finished 83-79 under first-year manager Paul Molitor, just shy of making the playoffs as an American League Wild Card.

The Twins started the season getting hammered at Detroit, and ended it by getting swept at home by the Central Division-champ Kansas City Royals.  In between, the quality of play that had been eluding them for four seasons caused the Twins to leapfrog over three other teams to take second place in the division behind the Royals.  Never mind that they were a distant second, twelve games back.

In this era of extended playoffs, the Twins kept things interesting by competing with the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Angels for the final wild card spot.  The combination of having to outpace two teams in the final weeks, and the lack of timely hitting and pitching ultimately did in the Twins.  The Wild Card went to the Astros, who had been doormats themselves for the past few years.

So what happens in 2016?  Molitor, who did better than most of us expected with the hand that general manager Terry Ryan dealt him with, will try and do as much as he can with this collection of Twins.  But there are many things to answer for the team to move forward:

• Will Torii Hunter be back?
• What are you going to do about Joe Mauer, who has become an albatross with his contract and declining play?
• Are Byron Buxton, Aaron Hicks and Miguel Sano living up to the hype?
• Can the bullpen survive another meltdown like the one Glen Perkins had in the second half of the season, forcing the Twins to make Kevin Jepsen--who they had just gotten from the Tampa Bay Rays in a trade--their new starter?
• Will Phil Hughes, Trevor May, Tommy Milone and Ervin Santana improve as starting pitchers?
• Can anyone other than Sano and Trevor Plouffe hit?  Out of the infield?

The Twins did have their best season in five years, no question about it.  The next season will tell us whether they can improve on it, or to go back where they came from.

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Our World Series pick:  Toronto Blue Jays vs. St. Louis Cardinals.

NHL 2015-16: Slap Shots

Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane in a game against the Vancouver Canucks at GM Place on November 22, 2009. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Chicago Blackhawks are the defending Stanley Cup champions, which usually means that they've got a big target on their backs.  But not this kind of target.  Patrick Kane is currently embroiled in an alleged rape scandal that's under investigation, even though he has yet to be charged.  The NHL and the Blackhawks are standing by Kane.  But with all the bad publicity other leagues have gotten about players who may or may not have committed acts of domestic violence, shouldn't Kane be kept off the ice unless and until this is cleared up?

The New York Islanders have moved to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.  Apparently, Brooklyn's considered part of Long Island.  Or are they using the same logic the New York Giants and Jets do for playing in New Jersey?

Las Vegas and Quebec City are the frontrunners for NHL expansion within the next couple of years.  Seattle's still in the mix, but they might be better off waiting for the NBA to return.  So what is the NHL going to do with the struggling franchises they already have?

The two biggest-deal rookies--Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers and Jack Eichel of the Buffalo Sabres--take the ice this season.  If McDavid and Eichel lift their teams beyond sub-mediocre status and into Stanley Cup contention within five years, then mission accomplished.  If not, it's just further proof that tanking games for the chance to land a top draft pick isn't always a good idea.

Canada is the cradle of hockey.  It is in their life, their heart and soul.  It is their greatest contribution to Western civilization.  So how could they stand the Toronto Maple Leafs?

The three-on-three overtime period is the NHL's latest gimmick to avoid ties and reduce the number of shootouts during the regular season..  It won't do that, because exhausted teams will still be going through the motions for five minutes.  But it's a start.

The Minnesota Wild didn't do all that much to improve themselves over the summer, except to sign goaltender Devan Dubnyk to a new contract.  They have to hope he's more than a half-season wonder who got them into the playoffs.  Otherwise, it shouldn't surprise anyone if the Wild struggles through the season in a tough Western Conference, only to find they still couldn't compete with the Blackhawks or some other elite team.  Or make the playoffs at all.

Our choices for who will be in the playoffs come April:

EASTERN CONFERENCE  Tampa Bay Lightning, New York Rangers, New York Islanders, Detroit Red Wings, Boston Briuns, Montreal Canadiens, Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals.

WESTERN CONFERENCE  Colorado Avalanche, Los Angeles Kings, Anaheim Ducks, St. Louis Blues, Chicago Blackhawks, Nashville Predators, Calgary Flames, Dallas Stars.