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When former Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi hired Jerry Kill as head football coach, he relied on the recommendations of a number of trusted sources including Barry Alvarez, the former Wisconsin football coach and current athletic director, before making the decision.
So when the Gophers and Badgers clash on Saturday for the right to face Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship Game, Alvarez will be on the opposite side of the coach he recommended.
Maturi worked at Wisconsin as assistant athletic director and associate AD from 1987-96, and was part of the hiring process when Alvarez was named the Badgers football coach in 1990. Maturi then watched Alvarez go 1-10 his first season, only to eventually lead his team to three Big Ten titles and victory in three Rose Bowls.
Pat Richter was the athletic director when Alvarez was hired at Wisconsin, while Maturi was associate AD. So Maturi was instrumental in rebuilding the football programs on both sides competing for Paul Bunyan's Axe. But on Saturday, he said he will be definitely be pulling for the Gophers.
"I had a long conversation with a lot of people before I hired Jerry Kill," Maturi said. "But I have a lot of confidence in Barry Alvarez and he's a good friend of mine. I confided in him about a lot of things."
Alvarez had been impressed with the performance of Kill's Northern Illinois team when they almost upset a good Badgers team in 2009, losing 28-20 in Madison.
"[Alvarez] just said that [Kill's] team was very well prepared, they were fundamentally strong, and how he felt that he had developed the program and his kids got better throughout the course of the year," Maturi recalled. "Obviously that is a blueprint that was important to Minnesota, and I think it's a plan that Coach Kill has had since he got here. Obviously we're seeing the fruits of all that labor and effort come true. Nobody is more excited than I am about where we are with our program."
However, Maturi said he told University of Minnesota President Robert Bruininks at the time that "we weren't going to win the press conference" when Kill's appointment was announced, "but that Kill is the best coach for Minnesota."
"I knew there was a lot of heat on me, because obviously Coach [Tim] Brewster did not succeed and, in fact, the program took a step backwards," Maturi said. "There were many people that thought that I should not be involved in the decision-making. I just believed we needed to hire somebody that had a history of building programs, which is something that needed to be done here, somebody who was compliant with the rules and the philosophy and someone who could bring it from the ground up and who made people better."
Kill had done just that every place he had coached, and now he has done the same at Minnesota.
"He doesn't recruit four- and five-star athletes; in many ways, he couldn't in the places that he was," Maturi said. "He just made people better. He made them competitive. I loved the stability of his staff, which was obviously something Coach Brewster did not have. You look at certain strengths that the new coach will hopefully have that the past coach did not have. Jerry was not a flashy name, he was not a flashy person. As I said to President Bruininks, he's not going to win the press conference, but in my heart I believe he's the best coach for Minnesota. And then he won the press conference."
Now that Kill has turned the program around, no doubt he's the most popular coach in the area today.
Iowa moved ball
The Wisconsin defense is ranked third in the country in total defense, and they are as good as there is in the Big Ten. They also have running back Melvin Gordon, who is leading the country in rushing with 2,109 yards. But Iowa, a team Minnesota beat 51-14, completely dominated the Badgers statistically in the second half last Saturday, even though the Badgers edged the Hawkeyes 26-24.
The Gophers have been perhaps the best second-half team in the Big Ten this season. But Wisconsin, in the second half against Iowa, allowed 21 points in the final 18 minutes and they allowed more than 400 total yards in a game for the first time all season. Gordon rushed for 200 yards, but 88 of them came on a single run. And Iowa passed for over 300 yards against Wisconsin.
So if quarterback Mitch Leidner has a good day and they can defend Gordon like Iowa did, the Gophers will get that second shot against Ohio State.
Jottings
• The Vikings will have to try and contain Panthers quarterback Cam Newton on Sunday. Newton's 293 rushing yards are the third-highest total for a QB in the NFL, behind Seattle's Russell Wilson and San Francisco's Colin Kaepernick. Vikings coach Mike Zimmer talked about the added degree of difficulty with preparing defensively for Newton: "He's really strong in the pocket, too. He's hard to get down once you get your hands on him, if you get your hands on him."
• One big booster of Vikings offensive tackle Matt Kalil is his brother, Ryan, who has been with Carolina for eight years. "I've watched him this year and I think he has done a lot of good things," Ryan said. "Unfortunately, what happens is that [left tackle] is a real hard position to play. And when your team gets down a bunch and you are behind, you are in a lot of passing situations. The percentage of pass blocks goes up and that's tough. When you are winning, when your team is good, you don't get in those situations. … But he's a good kid. He works hard. I am proud of him and I think he will play a long time in this league."
Louis Nanne, grandson of former North Stars General Manager Lou Nanne, was leading the RPI hockey team in scoring as a freshman winger with three goals and four assists in 11 games before he injured his shoulder. … On another subject, the senior Nanne mourned the death of former North Stars teammate and coach Murray Oliver, who he described as not only a great team hockey player but an even better person.
• Rockford (Ill.) Boylan quarterback Demry Croft was paid a visit by Penn State coach James Franklin after the 6-5 quarterback had verbally committed to Minnesota. He recently took in a Gophers game and made firm that he will sign with Minnesota and not Penn State. … The Gophers have offered a scholarship to Eden Prairie linebacker Carter Coughlin. … Sean Engel, younger brother of former Gophers wide receiver Derrick, is playing at Chaska and was recently selected to the U.S. National U-18 football team that will play Team Canada in Arlington, Texas. The Gophers have shown some interest in Sean. Derrick, meanwhile, is recovering well from ACL surgery.
Sid Hartman can be heard weekdays on 830-AM at 7:40, 8:40 and 9:20 a.m. and on Sundays at 9:30 a.m. shartman@startribune.com
