Posted September 21, 2009    

•Tim Brewster

•Brett Favre

•Adrian Peterson

•Dave Mona

•Ron Gardenhire

AD to Review Brewster Contract at Season End 

Athletic Director Joel Maturi told Sports Headliners he will wait until after the season to evaluate coach Tim Brewster’s contract situation.  Brewster is in the third season of his five year contract and the team is 2-1 in 2009 after losing to No. 8 ranked California on Saturday.   

“I think the appropriate thing is to do things at the conclusion of the year, as it should be because you measure in many ways a 12 month body of work, not just wins and losses," Maturi said last week. "There are other aspects that go with it.  Everything from compliance to academics to social to department responsibilities to budgets. …All those kinds of things should play a role in evaluating an employee of this athletics department.  And that’s how we’ve done it and I will continue to do it that way.” 

Brewster has brought a renewed spirit to Gopher football by setting goals such as a Big Ten championship.  He’s been an aggressive recruiter who has attracted some promising players to Minnesota.  He’s placed an emphasis on academics and responsible behavior by his players.   

Last year the Gophers were 7-6 after being 1-11 in Brewster’s first season.  The team lost to Kansas in the Insight Bowl last December. 

“I have always been pleased with his work,” Maturi said.  “I would be surprised if Tim Brewster is not the football coach at Minnesota for a long time.”   

There was awareness that Brewster might receive a contract extension after last season but Maturi said none of his coaches in the department received extensions because of the economy and budget concerns at the University. 

 

"I have always been pleased with his work.  I would be surprised if Tim Brewster is not the Minnesota coach for a long time."
 Joel Maturi
 

Profiles in Courage: Favre, Marshall 

Brett Favre broke Jim Marshall’s NFL record for consecutive career starts yesterday when the Vikings beat the Lions 27-13 in Detroit.  It was Favre’s second regular season game with the Vikings and his 271^st career start.   

Only those who have played football realize the physical and mental challenges, and good fortune, required to achieve such longevity.  Favre, who turns 40 next month, is playing with a partially torn rotator cuff.  This off-season he had surgery on his right shoulder. 

During Favre’s pro career he's had ankle, knee, thumb and other injuries.  He’s suffered a concussion and at one time reportedly was dependent on the pain killer Vicodin.   

Marshall played until he was 42 years old.  All but one season of his 20 year NFL career was spent with the Vikings where he played on four Super Bowl teams and showed a remarkable determination from week to week, season to season. 

Former Viking teammate Bob Lurtsema recalled a game in the 1970s when he expected to substitute for Marshall who was in the hospital with pneumonia the day of the game.  But Marshall was delivered to and from the game by ambulance, returning to the hospital when his work was finished.   

Lurtsema recalled congratulating Marshall after the game and the legendary defensive end told him to “cut out all this mushy crap.”  Lurtsema laughed telling the story and said despite 13 surgeries during his own career he seldom missed practices because of injury or illness.  

Even today at 67, Lurtsema has no arthritis.  “I feel great but I am freak, just like Jim,” Lurtsema said recently. 

Just like Brett Favre.

   

Worth Noting 

The Lions had two players, outside linebacker Julian Peterson (No. 72) and wide receiver Calvin Johnson (No. 82), in the Sporting News magazine list of the top 100 NFL players published earlier this month.  The Vikings had seven including five ranked in the top 50: running back Adrian Peterson (No. 3), offensive guard Steve Hutchinson (No. 14), defensive end Jared Allen (No. 21), and defensive tackles Kevin Williams (No. 30) and Pat Williams (No. 47).  Quarterback Brett Favre ranked No. 51 and cornerback Antoine Winfield No. 76.  

With speedy receivers in Bernard Berrian and Percy Harvin, the Vikings might make a smart move in next year’s NFL draft by picking Gopher wide receiver Eric Decker. He’s a possession type receiver who could be available when the Vikings draft beyond the first round.  Vikings director of college scouting Scott Studwell was at Saturday’s Gopher-California game looking at players. 

Vikings kicker Ryan Longwell saved a few bucks after his alma mater beat the Gophers on Saturday, 35-21.  He told a certain Web columnist he would buy dinner at DQ or McDonald’s if the Gophers won.  

TCF Bank Stadium has been certified as the first collegiate or professional football facility in the country to win the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. The stadium has been awarded the LEED Silver Certification established by the U.S. Green Building Council and verified by the Green Building Certification Institute. 

WCCO Radio talk show host Dave Mona will make a presentation on the “Future of Sports in Minnesota” at a luncheon on Wednesday at the Minneapolis Club.  The public is welcome to attend and more information is available by calling Margaret Letso, 612-332-2292. 

Tony Mortensen, a reserve quarterback for the Gophers last season, is working as an intern in the Athletic Department to associate athletics director Marc Ryan.  Mortensen is interested in a career working for a college athletic department.  

Ryan, WCCO Radio broadcaster Dave Lee, Twins vice president Patrick Klinger and Wild vice president Bill Robertson are all friends and live within a few miles of one another in the Apple Valley and Eagan areas.  

On a busy football weekend that included the Gophers game in Minneapolis and the Vikings game in Detroit, the Twins drew large crowds at the Metrodome against the Tigers.  Saturday’s attendance was 43,338 while Sunday was 36,335. 

Figure the Twins off-season to-do list includes committing to a set outfield, rather than so much rotation of players.  Manager Ron Gardenhire said on his Sunday KSTP Radio show earlier this month that there are too many limited at-bats with an outfield rotation of Michael Cuddyer, Denard Span, Carlos Gomez, Jason Kubel and Delmon Young. 

A regular outfield of Cuddyer, Span and Kubel packs a punch at the plate with Cuddyer and Span exceptional in the outfield.  If Kubel gives up the left handed DH role, first baseman Justin Morneau, and catchers Joe Mauer and Jose Morales could frequently fill that spot.   

The Twins have committed only 67 errors this season and the club record is 74 set in 2002.

Fox Sports North will televise the Champlin Park at Blaine game starting at 7 p.m. on Thursday.  Other 7 p.m. games to be telecast are October 9, Wayzata at Lakeville North, and October 20, Cretin-Derham Hall at Woodbury.   

 

Eric Decker
 

Adrian Peterson

 Ron Gardenhire
Photo courtesy of Minnesota Twins