Minnesota Golden Gofers (Basketball)

The formation of the basketball team (1895-1927)

The exact date of the formation of the men's basketball team at the University of Minnesota is not known. Unlike many other more modern universities, the team at the school was not founded by a decree of the administration. The university student newspaper Ariel began mentioning basketball in 1895 as a sport introduced from St. Paul's University of Minnesota A & M ^[2] . In 1896, a team from the university began to perform in the league with the Agricultural University, the YMCA teams and other local teams. After the construction of a new military training center on campus, the basketball team also started to play home games there. In February 1897, the director of the Minneapolis YMCA, Al Jay Cook, was hired on a part-time basis as a coach of the basketball team, and at the end of the year he received a permanent job ^[3] . Thus, Cook became one of the first professional coaches in student basketball and held this post at the university for 28 seasons.

Cook's arrival at Gofers significantly improved the team’s results. Under his leadership, there were also changes in the schedule of the Gofers games. Starting from the 1903/04 season, the team stopped playing with the YMCA teams, and since 1900 matches with large universities were added to the game schedule, which later together with Minnesota organized the Big Ten conference ^[3] . Competition with strong rivals made the team one of the best in the country. From the season 1899/00 to 1903/04, the Gofers won 59 victories and suffered only 6 defeats. Later, the team that played in the 1901/02 season was named the national champion of the Helms and Premo Polls. The Premo Polls also called the Gofers Champions of the 1902/03 season. After the formation of the Big Ten conference in 1905, the Gofers won the first two championship titles of the conference ^[4] .

After 1907, the dominance of the Cook team on the basketball scene of the country decreased markedly. He led the team to another two champion titles for the conference (1916/17, 1918/19) and one retrospective champion title in the 1918/19 season, but the Gofers stopped being permanent winners, as in the first decade of the twentieth century. After the 1923/24 season, Cook resigned, and Harold Taylor took his place, who worked as an assistant to Cook in his last season with Gofers, and also had experience managing university teams. However, he was never able to achieve success with Gofers - the team under his leadership for three years never ranked above sixth place in the conference and he was fired ^[5] .

Dave Macmillan and after his departure (1927-1959)

After the dismissal of Harold Taylor from the post of head coach, the administration began to look for a successor to this position. Among the candidates were many high-class specialists from all conferences of the country ^[6] . The team decided to hire Dave Macmillan , who had previously coached the University of Idaho for seven seasons, and had played for the Original Celtics in the 1910s ^[7] . Macmillan became the head coach of the team and held this post for 18 years: from 1927 to 1942 and from 1945 to 1948.

Since 1928, the basketball team has begun to play at the Field House of the University of Minnesota - a new arena located on campus. Prior to this, Gofers spent several years at home outside the university. Under his leadership, the team had a mixed success. In the 1930/31 and 1931/32 seasons, she occupied the top lines in the Big Ten conference standings, but then, until 1936, she again began to show poor results. In the 1936/37 season, John Kundla began to play at the Gofers, who helped the team win the title at the Big Ten conference. In 1936, the Macmillan team took part in the tournament, the winner of which was to represent the United States at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin . In the tournament, the team was able to go through several rounds until it was defeated by De Paul. ^[8] At that time, players came to the university from Minneapolis public schools and in some seasons made up the majority of the team ^[9] . In 1941, Macmillan resigned, but in 1945 he returned to the team. During his absence, under the direction of the acting head coach, Gofers had three unsuccessful seasons. In 1948, Macmillan finally left the team, and his place was taken by Osborne Coles ^{[10] [11]} .

Coles practiced basketball at a slow pace, like most teams in the 1920s and 1930s, and was known as a coach who was focused on defense, especially at the beginning of his career ^[12] . Under his leadership, played a two-time member of the All-American team, Jim McIntyre , the future three-time NBA champion Whithi Skug and the most valuable player of the Big Ten conference, Chuck Mensel . Among other well-known players of the team was the future member of the Hall of Fame professional football Bad Grant ^[13] . With Coles, the percentage of Gofers wins was 61.2%. For Coles' eleven seasons in the team, the Gofers took fourth or higher place in the conference seven times. Despite the fact that the team did not manage to win the conference title, this time is called the “golden age” of the program ^[14] .

Kundla and Fitch (1959–1971)

In 1959, John Kundla decided not to move with the Minneapolis Lakers to Los Angeles and replaced Coles as head coach of Golden Gofers and held this position until 1968. In 1963, for the first time in the history of the university, he took the team of African Americans. One of the three black basketball players was Lou Hudson , who later became an NBA player, and his number became the first assigned number in Gofers ^[15] . Two other African Americans: Archie Clark and Don Yates were also drafted in the NBA. This trio helped the team to take third place in the Big Ten conference in the 1963/64 season and second in the 1964/65 season, but these achievements marked the peak of Kundla's coaching career in college sports. Kundla himself believed that his insufficiently good job in recruiting new players was the reason for the unsuccessful game of the team ^[16] .

After Kundly left, his place was taken by the former coach of Bowlin Green, Bill Fitch . At Gofers, Fitch spent only two seasons, after which he moved to Cleveland Cavaliers , where he became the first coach of the club. He later won the NBA champion title with the Boston Celtics . Before he left, he took Jim Brewer to Gofers, who became the backbone of the team that won the conference title in 1972 ^[17] . As head coach, he was replaced by George Hanson , who had long worked as an assistant coach at the university, but was fired only after a season ^[18] .

Masselman and NCAA penalties (1971–1975)

In 1971, Marsh Riemann, the university’s sporting director, hired Kel Luther as head coach, who had previously worked at the Murray State , but soon after a positive response, Luther changed his mind and refused ^[19] . Bill Masselman was hired instead. Musselman defended defensive basketball and built his team around Brewer, recruiting several third-year students. Minnesota star for the baseball team, Dave Winfield, also performed on the team at the time ^[20] . Musselman’s strategy brought success, and for the first time since 1937, the Gofers won the title of champion of the Big Ten conference. Other conference team coaches did not approve Masselman’s recruitment policy, as they agreed not to take Ron Behagen, who had a bad reputation, into the conference. However, when this decision was discussed, Musselman did not yet hold the post of head coach, so he did not know about the internal agreement. On January 25, 1972, a fierce fight took place during the match against the Ohio State Backcats . The fight occurred after Corky Taylor, after a rough foul, pretended to want to help Ohio player Luke Witty, and instead kicked him in the groin. After that, several players from both teams ran onto the court and started a brawl. During the fight, Behagen kicked him on the head, lying on the floor of Whitty. This event led to the fact that sports director Paul Gil came to the site less than a minute before the end of the match and announced the winner of the Ohio State game, which would have become winners anyway. The events of this game have received much publicity in the magazine Sports Illustrated . According to eyewitness accounts cited in the article, the Minnesota Gofers players were guilty of assault and beating ^[21] . After the incident with the Ohio State, the starting five of the 1971/72 season was called the “Iron Five” ^[22] .

This scandal was not the only one during the leadership of Masselman team. In 1973, former Gofers player Greg Olson accused the coach of trying to hit him in training. During the investigation, it also became known that Olson was selling gift tickets ^[23] . Because of the coaching actions of Masselman, the “Gofers” left several leading players of the team, who moved to other universities. In 1975, Musselman was dismissed, after which he took the post of head coach of the American Basketball Association San Diego Sales . After retiring, he admitted that he gave players money for rental housing and travel. In total, over four seasons of Masselman in the team, during the NCAA investigation, more than 100 violations of the rules were discovered ^[24] .

Success and new scandals (1975–1999)

From 1975 to 1986, Golden Gofers head coach was Jim Dutcher . Under his leadership, the team won the Big Ten conference in 1982 (the last official champion Gofers at the moment) and reached the 1/8 finals of the NCAA championship, and he himself received the Henry Aiba award (coach of the year). In 1986, Clem Haskins became Gofers head coach. The leadership of the university hoped that he would be able to clean up and rebuild the team. At that time, several Gofers players were under investigation in the case of sexual violence in Madison (the players were later acquitted), which occurred in the last year of Jim Dutcher’s work ^[25] . In the first two years, the team under his leadership did not win many victories, but in the 1988/89 season, she received 11 sowing numbers in the NCAA championship and went to the Sweet 16 round. Officially, this release is the last exit of the Gofers in the post-season games ^[26] .

March 10, 1999, the day before the seventh sowing number of the Gofers was to meet with the tenth Gonzaga , the St. Petersburg newspaper . Paul Pioneer Press has published an article on massive frauds in the university’s men's basketball team ^[27] . Former university worker Jen Gangelhoff told the newspaper that she did written work and gave home examination questions to more than 20 Gofers players. On March 11, before the game, the university dismissed four players appearing on the list: Anthony Broxy, Kevin Clark, Jason Stanford and Miles Tarver ^[28] . With a weakened starting lineup, the Gofers lost to Gonzage, and at the end of the season, the university launched an internal investigation.

In June 1999, the university bought the Haskins contract, paying him $ 1.5 million. He also refused to participate in post-season games of the 1999/00 season and canceled 11 scholarships ^[30] . In the summer of 2000, Haskins admitted that he had paid $ 3000 for Hangelhoff for her services. This information surfaced after Haskins gave his financial records to the NCAA ^[31] . In addition, there was information about other fraudulent actions of Haskins, how he paid players money, sexual harassment of players and how his assistants persuaded professors to give his players better grades than they deserved ^{[29] [32] [33]} .

After the investigation, the university began the procedure for the return of the money that went to buy the Haskins contract. ^{[34] [35]} . The court ruled that Haskins should return almost half of the $ 1.5 million he received from the university ^[36] .

At the same time, the NCAA also conducted its investigation, which revealed many violations. The NCAA has stripped Gofers of all post-season awards, personal records and statistics since the 1993/94 season, with the words “lack of university control.” Haskins was banned from training student teams for seven years. The investigation also revealed that he had asked several players to lie to the NCAA ^[37] . Later, the Big Ten conference deprived Gofers of the title of champion of the 1997 conference, as well as of all the statistics since the 1993/94 season. Thus, the official statistics of the university from 1993/94 to 1989/99 - 0-0 ^[38] . If it were not for these sanctions, then Haskins would have taken second place in the history of the university in terms of victories won.

In addition, the NCAA withdrew five sports scholarships for the next three seasons, imposed restrictions on the recruitment of new players, and a four-year probationary period for the university’s sports department ^[39] . In addition to Haskins, sports director Mark Dinhart, vice president of sports and student development Mackinley Boston, associate sports director Jeff Shemmel and academic adviser Alonso Newby were also fired ^[40] . The university also agreed to return 90% (about 350,000 dollars) of income received for entering the Final Four in 1997 ^[34] .

The era of Monson (1999–2006)

After the dismissal of Haskins, the university management hired Dan Monson as head coach, who had previously coached Gonzaga University , who scored Gofers in the last year’s NCAA tournament ^[41] . In Minnesota, Monson spent eight seasons, but because of the sanctions imposed on the university, it was difficult for him to compete with other teams of the Big Ten conference. Gofers only managed to qualify for the NCAA tournament in the 2004/05 season ^[42] . Because of the failures, Monson practically left the university at the end of the 2001/02 season, but Tom Moe, the head of the sports department, persuaded him to stay ^[43] . However, he was not able to interrupt a series of failures.

The Gofers started the 2006/07 season with a 2-5 result, after which, on November 30, 2006, University Sport Director Joel Maturi announced the resignation of Monson ^[44] . Despite the unsuccessful performances of the team, the university management praised him for restoring the reputation of Golden Gofers ^[45] . Assistant trainer Jim Molinari was hired to take his place. Under his leadership, Gofers ended the season in a conference with a score of 3–13 and at the end of the season the contract was not continued with him ^[38] .

Era Tabby (2007–2013)

On March 23, 2007, Maturi, made an unexpected move, hiring Tabbi Smith , who had previously coached the University of Kentucky, as Gofers head coach ^[46] . Smith's reputation and accomplishments gave the team optimism, so needed by the Gofers in connection with the outflow of fans from the team ^[47] .

The arrival of Smith dramatically improved the results of the team. So the season 2006/07 "Gofers" finished with a score of 8-22, and after his arrival the season 2007/08 ended with a score of 20-13. His team reached the second round of the Big Ten Conference tournament, defeating the second number of sowing at Indiana University. Before the start of the 2008/09 season, he managed to attract several promising players to the team ^{[48] [49]} . Following the results of this season, “Gofers” for the first time since 2005 entered the NCAA tournament. The following season, Gofers participated for the first time in their history in the champion game of the Big Ten conference and for the second time in a row entered the NCAA tournament ^[50] .

Smith worked in Minnesota until 2013 and at the end of the season, on March 25, 2013, he was relieved of his post ^[51] .

Richard Pitino joins the team (2013 — present. )

On April 3, 2013, Richard Pitino , son of Louisville coach Rick Pitino , announced his agreement to become the head coach of the Gofers ^[52] . At the end of the season, Golden Gofers could not get into the NCAA tournament and took part in the NIT tournament, where they became champions, having beaten the team of the Southern Methodist University in the finals ^[53] .

In the early years of its existence, the Gofers had several rivalries that have not lasted to the present. Among these rivals was Hamline University of St. Paul , now serving in the third NCAA division. Hamline had one of the first basketball programs in the country and it took Gophers several years to compete with them on equal terms; teams met each other until 1935 ^[54] . One of the most serious rivals of the early years was the Minnesota Eggis team, representing the University of Agriculture and Mines of Minnesota, which later became part of the University of Minnesota and became a university campus in St. Paul ^[55] . “Minnesota A & M” dominated “Gofers”, having won 10 victories in a row and only in 1899 did Gofers manage to win their first victory over Eggis ^[3] . This confrontation ended more than 100 years ago and the teams did not meet each other after 1901. Currently, the University of Minnesota is the only representative of the state of Minnesota in the first division of the NCAA men's basketball championship, so the Gofers do not have serious opponents in their home state.

In the early years, Gofers also had many rivals among schools in the East and Midwest USA . Minnesota was able to interrupt the winning streak of Ivy League universities that became champions from 1901 to 1906, winning the 1902 championship. Strong teams in the early years of college basketball Yale , Colombia, and Dartmouth played strength basketball, and midwestern universities used various tactics. The Yale Hyatt player said that “The Minnesota and Wisconsin men's teams play like most women's teams in the East, and not in“ contact basketball ” ^[56] .

Currently, like most Big Ten sports teams, Minnesota's main rivals are Iowa Hawkeys and Wisconsin Badges . Recently, the rivalry with Wisconsin has become much more intense than with Iowa, mainly due to the fact that Wisconsin performs very well on the home site ^[57] . The games of Minnesota and Wisconsin are called “Battle at the Border” and each year are awarded a trophy to the university whose sports teams scored more points in the confrontation between two universities ^[58] .

Another contender for Gofers is Ohio State University . Despite the fact that teams do not often meet with each other, the fight that occurred in the 1972 game at the Williams Arena left a big mark in the confrontation of two teams ^[59] .

The team spent their first matches at the YMCA sites. In 1896, an army training center was built on the campus of the university, in which there was a large gymnasium, where they began to conduct their home games “Gofers” ^[3] . In this place the team has played for almost thirty years. In the 1924/25 season, the team began holding home games at Kenwood Armory , located in downtown Minneapolis. This move allowed to increase the attendance of games from 2,000 to 6,500. In the 1927/28 season, a field house (now known as Williams Arena) was built on the campus of the university, where the team moved on January 31, 1928 ^[6] .

In the new building games were able to attend 9,500 people. In 1950, the arena was rebuilt and expanded. After the restructuring, its capacity was 18,025 people, which for almost 20 years was a record for student team arenas. The facility was renamed "Williams Arena" in honor of the former head coach of the University football team Henry Williams ^[60] . In 1993, the arena was reconstructed again, so that the women's basketball team could also use it ^[61] . “Williams Arena” is still used by Gofers for home games, making it one of the oldest used arenas in student basketball and the oldest in the Big 10 conference ^[62] . The Williams Arena is one of the few arenas where the playground is elevated above the floor, so basketball players have to climb the steps to go to the court ^[63] .

Title

The basketball team, like other sports programs of the university, is called Golden Gophers ( Russian Golden Gophers ). Gophers have been a traditional mascot of the state since its inception. In 1857, in one of the caricatures depicting local politicians, Minnesota was named the State of Gophers. Later, the university took the nickname itself ^{[64] [65]} .

The adjective "Golden" was not always part of the nickname. It appeared in the 1930s, when Gofers performed in gold t-shirts and shorts. At that time, the famous radio commentator Halsey Hall coined the term Golden Gofers to reflect the team’s golden outfit. From 1932 to 1941, the university football team won seven titles at the Big Ten conference and five national championships, which was a real “golden era” of American football at the university. Later this name spread to other sports teams of the university ^[65] .

Colors

In the early years of the university, different colors were used at various official events. But before the spring edition of 1880, the University of Folwell put the tradition of using traditional flowers. He asked English instructor Agusta Smith to choose a pair of colors that could be used for ribbons at graduation and other events. She chose a dark burgundy and gold color, which left a positive impression on students and leadership. Over the years, these two colors have become the traditional colors of the university ^[65] .

Initially, Gofers did not have a coach. The first coach of the team was EJ Cook in 1897, who at the beginning of the year received a bid for part-time work, and at the end of the year he already worked at the university on a permanent basis. Thus, Cook is one of the first professional basketball coaches ^[3] . Cook spent 28 seasons as Gofers head coach. Under his leadership, the team scored victories in 64.9% of matches, which is the second indicator in the history of the university ^[66] . Eighteen seasons from 1927 to 1942 and from 1945 to 1948 the team was led by Dave Macmillan . His replacement was to be John Wood , but disagreements over the retention of Macmillan as assistant coach and the delay in telephone conversations forced him to take a job at the University of California at Los Angeles ^[67] .

Gofers also trained several NBA coaches. John Kundla joined the team after the Minneapolis Lakers moved to Los Angeles . Bill Fitch and Bill Masselman spent several years with the team before moving to the NBA and ABA respectively ^[68] .

Basically, Golden Gofers are distinguished by the stability of the coaching staff. For example , Tabbi Smith , who took over as Gofers head coach in 2007, became the 16th coach in the team’s history (this number also includes the duties of head coach Jimi Molinari and Jimi Williams ). The five coaches led the Gofers for more than ten seasons: Cook, Macmillan, Osborne Coles, Jim Dutcher and Clem Haskins ^[66] . On March 25, 2013, after the team failed again to enter the 1/8 NCAA Championship, Tabbi Smith was dismissed, and Richard Pitino was appointed on April 3, 2013 ^[52] .

List of trainers

During the existence of the university basketball program many successful basketball players have passed through it. In the early years, when Gofers successfully performed in the championship, the team recruited the best players from all over the country, such as center George Tak , who became the first Gofers player to be included in the national team ^[69] . The team was also played by Frank Lawler, who became the most productive player of the Big Ten conference in 1911, was included in the All-American national team and helped the Gofers win the title of the conference ^[70] . In 1950, Lawler was named the best player in the history of the University’s men's basketball team, but in the following decades he was hardly remembered ^[71] . In 1937, the future member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, John Kundla, helped the Gofers win another title at the Big Ten conference ^[72] .

As Golden Gofers deteriorated, fewer and fewer elite players began to join the team. However, the team still played for the basketball players, who subsequently achieved great success in professional basketball. University graduate Lou Hudson played thirteen seasons in the NBA , and after completing his career, he was assigned a number in Atlanta Hawks . Dave Winfield, a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame, played for the Gofers in the early 1970s with another star, Jim Brewer . Gofers player Michael Thompson was selected as the first number in the 1978 NBA draft . His teammates included future Minnesota Timberwolves coach, Detroit Pistons and Washington Wizards Flip Saunders and future member of the Basketball Hall of Fame Kevin McHale ^[73] . In 1982, Trent Tucker became the leader of the team that led the Gofers to victory in the regular championship of the conference. The key player in the early 1990s was Washon Leonard , who played in the NBA for more than ten years. Another Gofers player, Willie Burton , once scored 53 points in an NBA match against Philadelphia 76 ^[74] . Other famous Gofers players included Randy Brewer , Mark Alberding , Archie Clark and Ray Williams . Five players from the Final Four in 1997 began to play in the NBA later: Bobby Jackson , Sam Jacobson , Quincy Lewis , John Thomas and Trevor Winter . Currently, none of the Gofers graduates speak in the NBA. Jamal Abu-Shamala is in favor of the national basketball team of Jordan ^[75] .

Fixed Numbers

Individual awards and achievements

The most valuable player of the conference Big Ten ^[76]

• Chuck Mensel - 1955
• Jim Brewer - 1972
• Michel Thompson - 1978
• Bobby Jackson - 1997 (later selected due to fraud scandal)

Coach of the Year Conference Big Ten ^[76]

• Jim Dutcher - 1982
• Clem Haskins - 1997 (later selected because of fraud scandal)

Henry Aiba Award (Coach of the Year)

• Clem Haskins - 1997

Best Defensive Player of the Year of the Big Ten Conference ^[76]

• Bobby Jackson - 1997 (later selected due to fraud scandal)
• Travarus Bennett - 2002

Rookie of the Year Conference Big Ten ^[76]

• Rick Rickert - 2002
• Chris Humphreys - 2004 ^[77]

Consensual All-American Team ^[76]

• Jim McIntyre - 1948
• Dick Garmaker - 1955
• Michel Thompson - 1978

University All-American Team

• Blake Hoffarber - 2011 (second team) ^[78]

Current Composition

The composition of the “Golden Gofers” in the season 2015/16 ^[79] .

Participation in postseason games

In the 1980s, Gofers participated in the National Invitational Tournament in 1980, 1981, and 1983, and reached the 1/8 finals of the NCAA tournament in 1982 ^[80] . Since the end of the 1980s, Gofers regularly participated in post-season games. So, under the guidance of coach Clem Haskins, the team went out in 10 seasons out of 13 conducted under his supervision (6 participations in the NCAA tournament and 4 in the NIT). The team reached the Final Four, participated in the 1/4 finals ( Eng. Elite 8 ) and in the 1/8 finals ( Eng. Sweet 16 ). However, due to penalties almost all the results of the 1990s were canceled, so under the leadership of Haskins, the team officially participated in two NCAA tournaments and two NIT tournaments, reaching 1/4 finals in 1990, 1/8 finals in 1989 and became the NIT champion in 1993 ^{[81] [82]} .

In the 2000s, the team participated 6 times in the NIT tournament and 4 times in the NCAA tournament. The best result in the NIT was reaching the final of the tournament in the 2011/12 season, and in the NCAA - reaching the third round in the 2012/13 season ^{[81] [82]} .

General performance statistics

• Hugunin, Mark and Stew Thornley. Minnesota Hoops: Basketball in the North Star State. - Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2006. - 281 p.
• Perlstein, Steve. Gopher Glory: 100 Years of University of Minnesota Basketball. - Layers Publishing, 1995. - 182 p.

• - Minnesota Golden Gofers official website