In what has been the most over-hyped, yet inevitable NFL quarterback free agent signings in recent Minnesota Vikings history (or at least since they got Brett Favre), the team finally got Kirk Cousins to sign on the dotted line. For this to happen, they had to let last year's quarterback roster scatter to the winds: Case Keenum to the Denver Broncos, Sam Bradford to the Arizona Cardinals, and Teddy Bridgewater to the New York Jets. This is kind of risky because, if you're a team on the cusp of playing in a Super Bowl, you do not change horses in midstream unless you're forced to. That's what happened last year when Bradford got injured after the first game of the season, leaving Keenum (who had just arrived from the Philadelphia Eagles) to take the Vikings to the NFC championship game, losing to the team he had just left.
Cousins did not have that opportunity during his years as the starter in Washington, but is expected to perform much better with an improved cast of characters in Minnesota. The Vikings also signed Trevor Siemian from the Broncos to play backup when they could have kept Keenum, Bradford or Bridgewater to do the same job. Depending on how the Vikings' 2018 schedule is set up (they're reportedly playing the Eagles in Philadelphia as the Thursday night season opener), Cousins will have plenty of chances to prove he's worth the money they spent on him.
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Don Lucia is stepping down after nearly two decades of being men's hockey coach at the University of Minnesota. His resume is one of success: Over 19 seasons with the Golden Gophers, his record was 457-248-73 (Overall, including prior stops at Alaska-Fairbanks and Colorado College, he had a 736-403-102 record in 31 years behind the bench). His teams have won several conference championships, 13 NCAA tournament appearances, and two national titles in 2002 and 2003.
But Lucia and Minnesota became victims of the changing times in college hockey. The Gophers switched from the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) to the new Big Ten conference, which meant trading in traditional rivals like North Dakota and St. Cloud State for the likes of Ohio State and Michigan--football schools that have hockey programs. They haven't made the NCAA tournament in two of the last three years, and they're hosting this year's Frozen Four in St. Paul. And they no longer have a monopoly on Minnesota talent with St. Cloud, UMD and Minnesota State Mankato rising in prominence.
For athletic director Mark Coyle, it's nearly decision time on what to do about his coaches besides naming a replacement for Lucia. The jury is still out on football coach P.J. Fleck, whose team finished 5-7 in his first season. Men's basketball coach Richard Pitino, after his team made the NCAA tournament last year, finished out of the running with a squad decimated by injuries and suspensions. Marlene Stallings would have been a good candidate to be let go had her women's basketball team not gone as far as the second round of the NCAA women's tournament.
Don Lucia deserves the credit for keeping Gophers hockey near the top for all these years. Now it's time for another coach to keep Minnesota competitive in the ever-changing world of college hockey, and to deal with fans and alumni who want nothing less than another national championship. It won't be easy.
UPDATE (3/28/18): The next Gopher men's hockey coach is going to be one of Lucia's former assistants from the national championship years. He's Bob Motzko, who until recently had been the head coach at St. Cloud State. The Huskies have had pretty good teams under Motzko, but moving down I-94 is going to be a step up in terms of talent and expectations. Maybe he can handle it.
