There has never been a better point guard at the University of Minnesota than Bobby Jackson.
Now 45, Jackson was at Target Center last week as player development coach for the Sacramento Kings, who were playing the Timberwolves. Jackson follows his alma mater Gophers closely.
“My honest critique? The Gophers are a good, young team, but I think they play too slow,” he said. “Especially for a young college team. I’d like to see them play faster, get up and down the floor, pick up full court, trap the ball. I want my guards to pick up 94 feet, get steals, push the tempo.
“But,” he added, “not everybody’s like me.”
For sure. As a Gopher, Jackson was omnipresent. In the NBA for Sacramento, he was popularly known as “Action Jackson.”
These days, his mission is to develop players.
“Helping them improve, but also helping myself improve,” he said. “I’d like to coach, be a head coach at some point in time. I wouldn’t rule out college. I’ve got my college degree.”
Coaching at Minnesota?
“Of course — it’s my alma mater,” he said.
If the criteria is on-court success, you can make an argument that Jackson’s jersey should hang in the rafters at Williams Arena.
But that’s unlikely to happen. There’s that 1999 academic fraud scandal under coach Clem Haskins that resulted in severe NCAA penalties for Minnesota. Jackson was a star player for Haskins.
“I would love that, to go up there in the rafters,” Jackson said. “But you’ve got to talk to the NCAA on that. Because of the academic scandal, that’s why they won’t retire it.
“But if not, I’m not mad or disappointed about it. I want what’s best for the university. I don’t hold grudges — that’s the thing about me — I move on, and I’ll always support the University of Minnesota.”
Despite their 18-10 record heading into Tuesday’s game against Purdue at Williams Arena, the Gophers still have a chance at a No. 11 seed for the NCAA tournament.
A two-year contract extension for Vikings wideout Adam Thielen, 28, who would then have four years remaining on the deal, is expected before training camp in July. The extra two years would allow for the money to be spread out through 2022. The overall annual worth would be about $13 million a year.
Among reasons for Brooks Bollinger’s resignation last week as head football coach at Cretin-Derham Hall is, besides a growing family, his growing role in his financial investment business. The former Wisconsin and Vikings quarterback was at the NFL combine in Indianapolis this weekend for business with clients that include NFL players and coaches.
“There’s a ton of responsibility being the head coach at Cretin-Derham Hall and a high standard, and I hold myself to a high standard,” he said. “I felt I was getting spread too thin and couldn’t be the kind of coach I wanted to be and that they need and deserve there.
“I wanted to focus on being great in my career and being a great husband and dad. That’s all I have time for.”
Bollinger said he’ll miss coaching.
“It’ll be tough — I’ll miss being around the guys, the kids,” he said.
Bollinger’s father, Rob, who is development director at Cretin-Derham Hall and was receivers coach under Brooks, will remain at the school.
Bollinger was a record-setting QB at Wisconsin. Badgers junior QB Alex Hornibrook has decided to transfer.
“A pretty interesting turn of events from where he was before last season and how last season unfolded,” Bollinger said. “They have that highly publicized freshman kid, (pro-style) Graham Mertz, and he’s supposed to be the real deal. I’m sure it’s a combination of those two things. Last year was a tough, strange year.”
The Wild’s leading scorer among forwards is Zach Parise with 53 points. Among defensemen, it’s Ryan Suter with 40 points. Both are 34 years old with six years left on their celebrated $98 million contracts signed in 2012.
Mark Dusbabek, the former Gophers-Vikings linebacker from Faribault, will be a U.S. Golf Association rules official for the inaugural 3M PGA Tour tournament at Hazeltine National in July. Dusbabek, 54, who has worked Masters and U.S. Open tournaments, is highly regarded as a USGA official.
That was Rice Lake native Henry Ellenson, whom the Gophers tried to recruit by signing brother Wally seven years ago, having a NBA career outing last week for the New York Knicks with 13 points, nine rebounds and five assists in a victory over Orlando.
A big part of St. Paul sports history died with the passing last week of Ken Mauer Sr. at age 91. There has never been a better competitor as an athlete and coach than Mauer, the Cretin and St. Thomas College grad whose immediate and extended family includes athletically accomplished brothers and sons. Former Twin Joe Mauer is a great-nephew.
Kenny Mauer Jr., is a longtime NBA referee. He played for his father, whose teams were exceptionally disciplined, at Harding High School. Ken Sr., who died of heart failure at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, coached at Harding and Humboldt for more than four decades and taught English.
“My father was always a perfectionist,” Kenny said. “When we would come out on the football field at Harding, we had to have our shoes shined and walk in a single-file line, and everybody had to be walking right on the line. Everybody’s shirttail had to be tucked in. Your chinstrap had to be buttoned, your shirt had to be washed and your socks had to be pulled up. When you walked on the field, you had your head up.
“We practiced this during the week, and if somebody didn’t have their shirttail tucked in or they got out of line, the whole group had to start over and do it again. He was big on you taking care of yourself. You dressed the part whether in street clothes or whether you’re on the field.”
Kenny, who has refereed numerous NBA Finals, dresses impeccably on and off the court, his shoes always with a glossy shine.
“My dad wanted our shoes to look like they were spit-shined,” he said. “If ever there was a role model, my dad should be the definition, what he taught us. Family was first. He was married to my mother for 60 years. His sons and daughter loved him more than anything in the world. He was all about the kids.”
Ken Sr., who played minor league baseball, was also a popular Minnesota Twins youth clinic staff member.
It will be a full Kessler & Maguire funeral home for Sunday’s 5 p.m.-8 p.m. wake. The same on Monday at St. Pascal Baylon Catholic Church at 10:30 a.m.
Hall of fame NHL broadcaster Mike “Doc” Emrick will do lead-ins for KSTC Channel 45’s telecasts of the boys state high school hockey tournament beginning Wednesday at Xcel Energy Center. Game broadcast talent: Sloane Martin, Wally Shaver, Doug McLeod, Clay Matvick, Dan Terhaar and Jim Erickson.
Martin will become the first female to broadcast a boys state tournament game.
“Because it’s the 75th anniversary of the boys tournament, everybody talks about the past and the present — I also wanted to look at the future,” KSTC executive sports producer Dennis Silva said.
Mike McGraw, the insightful Boston Bruins scout, will be a studio analyst.
This season’s state boys hockey tournament is the 50th anniversary of Edina’s 5-4 overtime victory over Warroad, which lost star Henry Boucha in the game with a concussion.
The Arizona State men’s hockey team the Gophers hosted this weekend will make the NCAA tournament as an independent. Minnesota probably will have to win the Big Ten tournament for a berth in the tournament.
The Sun Devils are in their fourth season since starting the hockey program. The Western Collegiate Hockey Association, which this season is providing on-ice officiating for Arizona State, and ASU officials were to talk last week with WCHA Commissioner Billy Robertson, who has been courting the school for several years.
ASU, which is two years away from building an on-campus arena, has six players each from Arizona and Canada, three from California, two each from Latvia and Alaska, and one — freshman Demetrios Koumontzis from Edina — from Minnesota.
Gophers athletics had total revenue of $124.8 million for the 2017-18 school year, which was nearly $8.5 million more than the previous year, according to an analysis by Cleveland.com. Media rights during the period increased to $40.9 million from $23.4 million.
Plans are underway for a 1,100-foot expansion that will include outdoor patio seating for Shamrock’s Grill and Pub sports hangout in St. Paul.
Condolences to the family of Jim Fritsche, the former NBA player and Hamline University star who coached at St. Paul Central and died at age 87 the other day.
Ex-North Stars Mike Modano, Dino Ciccarelli and Neal Broten headline the Let’s Play Hockey Expo next weekend at St. Paul’s RiverCentre.
DON’T PRINT THAT
It wouldn’t be surprising if the Vikings consider trying to acquire high-priced Oakland Raiders 6-foot-5, 330-pound guard-tackle Kelechi Osemele, 29, who played at Iowa State. But that could mean trading cornerback Xavier Rhodes, or releasing Everson Griffen and Mike Remmers for cash to pay him.
The obvious choice to succeed resigned Brooks Bollinger as football coach at Cretin-Derham Hall would be Dan O’Brien, who coached St. Thomas Academy to the Class A state finals last season. It’s unknown whether CDH could pull that off, though.
Names mentioned include Jordan High School coach Bo Wasurick and Presentation College coach Chuck Miesbauer.
If the Wild miss the playoffs, coach Bruce Boudreau could be gone by early summer. Assistant Dean Evason, brought in by first-year GM Paul Fenton, would seem a likely successor.
Without the playoffs, the Wild are expected to break even financially this season. Making the playoffs is worth about $2 million in profit per home game.
China’s Lizhang Jiang sold his 5 percent interest in the Timberwolves back to owner Glen Taylor because China balked at the money going out of the country. Instead, Lizhang plans to invest in soccer.
That 2.5-inch by 2.5-inch Fitbit sponsorship patch on Timberwolves jerseys is worth an estimated $3 million annually in advertising revenue for the organization.
The 28-points per game average by Augsburg junior Booker Coplin, the MIAC men’s basketball player of the year, broke the college’s single-season record set by Devean George (27.5 in 1998-99). George went on to play 11 seasons in the NBA.
Coplin, 6-3 from Shakopee, scored 46 points in a game against St. Thomas this season. He won’t play in the NBA, but the league’s G League and Europe should be possibilities based on his long-range shooting ability. By the way, he could immediately help the Gophers.
Prayers are welcome for beloved Chuck Mitch, 73, the hall of fame former boxer and St. Paul pub owner who is in Our Lady of Peace hospice care with stomach cancer. You’ll never meet a better guy than Mitch.
Among sport’s injustices has been Bill Fitch’s omission from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. The former Gophers and NBA coach (944 victories) who turns 87 in May and resides in Montgomery, Texas, is on the ballot again this year.
The Twins say their current roster is what they’ll take into the season.
Will the Vikings try to trade Mackenzie Alexander or Trae Waynes for an offensive lineman or draft pick?
Eleven NFL teams have requested video of 6-4, 215-pound strong-armed St. John’s record-setting junior QB Jackson Erdmann, the Gagliardi Trophy winner from Rosemount.
The zone-blocking offense that new Vikings assistant Gary Kubiak is expected to install is similar to that of former coach Mike Shanahan’s offense that seemingly would work best for QB Kirk Cousins.
A zone-blocking offensive line doesn’t require the biggest and most powerful linemen, but players who are fast and can get to their zone to block. Vikings center Pat Elflein is very quick and good at zone-blocking. If he can get fully healthy again, he would be ideal in that type of system.
Look for Carson Walch from Elgin, Minn., to be named a top receivers coach for the Philadelphia Eagles.
Retiring University of St. Thomas athletics director Steve Fritz, the Tommies’ hall of fame basketball player and coach, had some fun when he recently attended a ceremony for St. John’s retired basketball coach Jim Smith’s entry into the school’s Hall of Honor.
Fritz told the crowd of 300 that he had done some research that showed if people were exposed to the color red (St. John’s school colors) over a long period of time, it could skewer their view on things. So he presented Smith with a pair of purple (St. Thomas school colors) sunglasses.
Fritz, by the way, will be honored by St. Thomas at the school’s student center on April 17.
OVERHEARD
Sacramento Kings coach Dave Joerger, on the Timberwolves since Ryan Saunders took over as interim coach: “Offensively they’re playing a
little more free, a little more loose.”
