MavBlog

Higher

2012-01-23T11:15:00.000-08:00


Keyvan Rudd cleared 7-1 Saturday in a meet held at Iowa State

In 1971, Gene Bygd became the first high jumper in the history of Minnesota State to clear the seven-foot barrier.

There have been several since to accomplish the feat including Mike Fairchild, who was the NCAA Division Indoor Track & Field high jump champion in 1988 when he went 7-3 and, of course, Jim Dilling. All Dilling did as a Maverick was win four NCAA DII national championships (2005 & 2007 NCAA Division II Outdoor Track and Field champ and 2006 & 2007 NCAA Division II Indoor champ) and establish current outdoor (7-6.5 set in 2007) and indoor (7-6.5 set in 2007) records.

Dilling's now back at MSU, working on a master's degree, training and competing internationally, and coaching. One of his current pupils with the Mavericks, sophomore Keyvan Rudd, became MSU's latest member of the seven-foot club, when he cleared 7-1 to finish second at a meet at Iowa State last Saturday (Jan. 21st).

"It's great that he's gotten the national qualifying standard out of the way so soon in the season," said Dilling. "Now he can just focus on getting ready for conference and nationals. And getting over that seven-foot barrier is a big mental hurdle and he has the potential to go even higher. There haven't been that many guys here, or anywhere, who have hit the seven-foot level, so it's great to see him accomplish that."

Rudd, who also is a wide receiver for the MSU football team and hails from Davenport, Iowa, qualified for the 2011 NCAA Indoor National Championships last year as a freshman where he posted a 12th-place finish with a 6-5 (1.96m) effort. His 7-1 leap at Iowa State ranks third amongst all Division II high jumpers this year, standing only behind Christopher Copeland (St. Augustine's) and Briar Ploude (Emporia State), both who have cleared 7-1 3/4.

"It feels great to finally overcome that six-foot area and join the seven-foot club," said Rudd. "It's more overwhelming than some think because that seven-foot threshold can be a jumper's best friend or worst enemy. This past weekend, I made it my best friend!"

MSU hosts the 2012 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Track & Field Championships Feb. 24-25 and the 2012 NCAA Division II National Championships March 9-10 in Myers Field House.

2012 or Bust

2011-12-27T13:26:00.000-08:00

Just a few notes as we head toward this weekend.

1) Jim Rueda of the Mankato Free Press has a nice feature on former Minnesota State (nee Mankato State) baseball and men's basketball stand-out Gene Glynn, who has been named field manager of the Minnesota Twins triple A affiliate Rochester. The story is located here.

2) Chad Brownlee (former Minnesota State men's hockey defenseman) cracked the Canadian Country Music top ten charts last week with his single Love Me or Leave me. If you take a look a little further down on the list, you'll see that another Brownlee song has just entered the charts at #41. His recently released video for (Christmas) Baby, please come home is located here.

3) Men's hockey this Friday (Dec. 30) vs. the U.S. U18 team here in Mankato with the Mavericks wearing a special edition camouflage jersey in a salute for Miliary Appreciation Night.

School starts up again Jan. 9 and our first home event for 2012 is Jan. 7 when track hosts the Alumni Open. Our basketball teams are on the road with games at MSU-Moorhead (Jan. 2), UM-Crookston (Jan. 3) and Southwest Minnesota State (Jan. 7). Women's Hockey is at Bemidji State (Jan. 6-7) and Men's Hockey is at St. Lawrence (Jan. 6-7). Jim Makovsky and his wrestlers are at the National Duals Jan. 7-8. The weekend of Jan. 13-14 is chock full of home activity with several home events. Be sure to check out the schedule at msumavericks.com for additional information. Or you could just jump there by going here.

Until then, Happy Holiday's from all of us at Minnesota State Athletics. It's great to be a Maverick!

Merry Christmas from the Mavericks!

2011-12-20T10:42:00.000-08:00

Thought we might post some of these. Maybe they would make great Christmas gifts. Several former Minnesota State student-athletes have gone onto professional careers in sports and have their own baseball, football and hockey cards.

From our collection, and pictured above, are former Minnesota State tight end/receiver Tywan Mitchell, former MSU righthanded pitcher Gary Mielke, former MSU infielder Jerry Terrell, former MSU multi-sport star Bob Will, and former Maverick men's hockey forward David Backes.

Mitchell, who played football for the Mavericks from 1995-98, played in the National Football League with the Ravens, Cardinals and Lions and was inducted into the MSU Hall of Fame this year. Tywan's card is available here for $2.95*

Mielke, who was the North Central Conference Pitcher of the Year for the Mavericks in 1985, spent four years in Major League Baseball with the Texas Rangers from 1987-90. He was inducted into the MSU Hall of Fame in 1999. An assortment of Gary's cards are available here, ranging from .25 to $3.83.*

Jerry Terrell, a native of nearby Waseca, Minn., was an infielder at the school from 1965-68 before turning pro and enjoying an eight-year MLB career with the Minnesota Twins and Kansas City Royals. He was inducted into the MSU Hall of Fame in 1981. One of Jerry's cards is available here for $2.95.*

Bob Will, who played baseball, football and basketball at Mankato State College from 1952-58, toiled in the outfield for the National League's Chicago Cubs from 1957-1963. He was inducted into the MSU Hall of Fame in 1966. A cool-looking Bob Will Topps card from 1959 is available here for $5.00*

Named captain of the National Hockey League's St. Louis Blues in the summer of 2011 and a member of the U.S. Olympic men's hockey team in Vancouver in 2010, David Backes was a member of the MSU men's hockey team from 2003-06. There are probably a 1,000 cards for sale on the internet for David Backes. Here's one you can buy right now for $1.25*

Here's hoping you and yours enjoy a terrific Holiday Season!

*does not include shipping

Catching Up With an Alumni

2011-12-05T12:07:00.000-08:00

Former Minnesota State softball player Abby Morris has transitioned from a student-athlete at Minnesota State to a graduate assistant at the University of Missouri. A four-year standout with the Mavericks, Morris left Minnesota State as the school's career leader in walks (79), runs scored (153), and stolen bases (61) and was third in career on base percentage (.421). A native of Johnston, Iowa, Morris spoke with Mavblog about her new role at the Missouri.

Mavblog: Abby, you wrapped up your playing career at Minnesota State in 2010. Take us through when you have left Minnesota State and where you are now?

Abby Morris: Post graduation and following the completion of softball season (which ended too early), I packed everything up, said goodbye to a University and city that was beyond generous to me, and headed back home to Urbandale, Iowa. Thanks to my awesome parents, who seem to have a revolving front door, they let me live with them for a year while I “figured my life out.” Trust me that definitely does not happen overnight. Having a Psychology degree, a father and sister who are counselors, and a passion for people, I had an interest in Mental Health Counseling.

With that in mind, I pursued the field of counseling and was given the opportunity to work as a Remedial Counselor in a school-based counseling agency. Although I learned a lot and am thankful for the opportunity, I always felt like something was missing. That something, I discovered later, was athletics and being part of an athletic department.

This past January, I was back in Mankato visiting friends/coaches/etc. I vividly remember sitting in Coach Meyer’s office explaining to her that I loved the part of my job which involved working with individuals, but didn’t love other parts. I expressed how I missed softball and just being around athletics in general. Coach then introduced me to the field of Academic Affairs/Life Skills departments inside an Athletic Department. She read the job description and I instantly was drawn to it and almost immediately felt this was my calling. I thanked her and headed back home with this intense drive of somehow getting into this field. Every day from that point on, I checked NCAA for job postings.

A few weeks later, a Graduate Assistant position at the University of Missouri in the Total Person Program (TPP) opened up. I quickly filled out all the necessary application requirements, gathered my reference letters, and sent everything in. Leaving it out of my control and trusting it was not in my hands, I received a call saying I was given an interview. Guess I did alright on that and that is where I am now. I started the Grad Assistant position in the TPP and began my Master’s program. I am loving it all and soaking in every experience possible.

Mavblog: What is your job title at the University of Missouri and your duties?

AM: My job title at Mizzou is Graduate Assistant in the Total Person Program (a holistic approach involving academics, student athlete development, career planning, social responsibility, and community service). I work specifically in academics with the football, soccer, and gymnastic teams. My specific duties involve assisting the full-time coordinator for my sports with anything and everything she may need help with. Personally, I work study tables, mentor students, schedule classes, check classes, am part of our Honorary Coaches Program, plan Faculty-staff luncheons, and any other odds and ends that manage to keep me extremely busy! Oh, and then when I find time, I do my schoolwork.

Morris was a member of four MSU teams which qualified for the NCAA
Division II tournament playing both the outfield and second base.

Mavblog: How has working inside a college athletic department changed your opinion on how an athletic department functions?

AM:Participating as an athlete in an Athletic Department really doesn’t give you the most accurate or clear view of how the department functions. Now that I am physically working inside the Missouri Athletic Department, I have a pretty good idea of how things work (or so I like to think). Obviously I do not know everything that goes on, but being part of full-Faculty staff meetings and being in communication with people from different areas of the Athletic Department, I have learned a lot.

I have seen the importance of every single person, from the Graduate Assistants to the Athletic Director himself, everyone has a purpose and is a function of making Mizzou Athletics the best they can be. All individuals must have the same vision, goals, and means of reaching those goals; otherwise there will be inconsistency and lack of unity. Each person must support each other at the end of the day, whether they agree with certain decisions or not. Not one decision is made impulsively or without speaking with the team, coworkers, etc to make sure all parties are on board.

With all of the scandals that have gone down at Division I Universities within the last couple years, all Athletic Departments must protect their image and work their hardest to do things the right way. Because nobody is perfect, when things do not always go smoothly or right, it is important to accept consequences, stay positive, and move on. College athletics are constantly in the spotlight, especially in a city that has the #1 Journalism school in America (aka Columbia). There are students everywhere who are trying to get that big story, so it is our job to represent Mizzou well and stay consistent to the vision of the Athletic Department.

Mavblog: You have been at Missouri during an interesting time as it has announced it is leaving the Big 12 for the SEC, tell us how that progress all went about?

AM: How did I know this question would come up?! I suppose it is a rather big deal with Missouri leaving the Big 12 for the SEC. Working internally in the Athletic Department, it was interesting going through this process. I say that because each day there would be a new rumor or headline in the news about Mizzou’s decision, when really no decision was made for a few months. I wish I had some juicy details to share, but all I can say is that our Chancellor and Athletic Director worked their tails off for several days in a row trying to decide which conference would be the best fit for the University. They wanted to make sure the conference would be one in which we could excel in all facets (academically, athletically, socially, medical-research wise, etc). From the very beginning, the administrators had set out guidelines that must be fulfilled in order for them to make a decision.

Once they felt that all of those were covered, and of course once the SEC extended and invite to us, they decided that the Southeastern Conference is going to be the best fit for Mizzou, starting in Summer of 2012. I am looking forward to this transition. Although on a daily basis for myself, not much will change for me, there are some academic rules that will affect our program slightly, but ultimately at the end of the day, they are all still student-athletes who will have to go to school. I am excited to be part of two different conferences during my time here at Mizzou and am anxious to see how we compete!

Mavblog: Did you ever think when you signed up to be a graduate assistant that you could potentially be a part of something that is one of the major talking points in college athletics and will most likely be a key cog in the ever-changing landscape of Division I?

AM: The landscape of Division I athletics is most definitely evolving due to all of the conference realignments that have taken place over the last few years. When I was hired for this job, I really didn’t think about that aspect of it, but it for sure is changing several things about Division I athletics. I think that some of those long-standing traditions that Universities have had will fizzle out and new traditions will take place. I know at Mizzou for example, the Border Showdown between Mizzou and KU may no longer be played every season (due to us leaving for the SEC and KU not wanting to keep that tradition). Also, now that we are moving into the SEC, one of their “rules” is that fans cannot leave the stadium once they are in. Mizzou has always allowed tailgaters to leave at halftime and come back in so I believe this could really affect our crowd. With the SEC never having a team leave their conference in its history, I am pretty excited to be moving into that conference. It seems to be stable, well reputable, and all-around excelling.

Mavblog: One of the sports you oversee is football? How are those study tables?

AM: Study hall for football, as with most of the other sports at Mizzou, are a big part of the student-athlete’s week. All freshmen are put in 8-hours of mandatory study hall. Within those 8 hours, they are plugged in with a Mentor (big-picture person who helps them stay organized) as well as a class-specific tutor for each one of their courses. If they are not meeting with their mentor or tutor, they have “free” hours in which they can either study in the lab, individual study rooms, or quiet study. When they first enter our academic wing, they insert their hand into our hand scanner which clocks them in and out. We pull a report several times a day to make sure they are still present, and were on time. Each morning, we send a report up to the Football Staff saying who was tardy, left early, or was absent. From that point on, they decide how they want to deal with each athlete. Our study is objective-based, meaning that each Sunday when they meet with their mentor, they fill out a weekly to-do list. They must get all of these objectives crossed off by one of our staff members by the end of the week. We feel that this gives them more direction and purpose while they are in study hall.

Mavblog: Have you thought of your plans following the University of Missouri?

AM: To be honest, I haven’t really thought that far ahead yet. Being in my first semester down here at Mizzou and still having a year and a half remaining, I am just really living in the moment and soaking in everything. Every day I am learning new things and building relationships with people everywhere. With how much I am enjoying it however, I think it is safe to say I would love to continue working somewhere in Student-Athlete Affairs in the Athletic Department. Whether that be in Academics, Student Athlete Development, Life Skills, etc, I am really interested in all of them at this point. This job as a whole seems to be a great fit for my interests and personality, so continuing on this path is a goal of mine.

Mavblog: How did Minnesota State – academically, athletically and personally – prepare you for this new adventure in your life?

AM: Academically, MSU prepared me extremely well. Being in the Health Education and Promotion Master’s Program, we can basically take any electives that we want and essentially choose our “emphasis track.” Using my Psychology Bachelor’s degree, I am doing the Psychology/Sports Psychology track and have found so far this semester, that my undergrad classes prepared me better than I ever would have expected. Many of the things discussed in class, I have already been educated on and it feels great to come in with that knowledge and keep up just fine in class.

My classes at MSU most definitely pushed me academically and challenged me in ways that have made Graduate School very manageable. Athletically, although I am no longer using the skills I developed while playing ball, I mentally understand what the athletes are going through. Being a student-athlete at any level is a stressful, but enjoyable experience. Not only do you have to perform well on the playing field, but you also have to do well in school while staying out of trouble and essentially “doing the right thing” at all times. Athletes are set to a higher standard than the average student because they are constantly in the spotlight. This brings more pressure, more eyes, and more people to impress. I am able to empathize with the student-athletes I work with and completely understand (for the most part) what they are going through on a daily basis.

Personally, I grew in many ways during my time at MSU. Being on my own and exploring what it is like to be independent can really help a person come into their own. I embraced the independence, responsibility, and opportunities I was given and am forever grateful for. I credit the Athletic Department as a whole at MSU; for because of how much I enjoyed being part of it, it made me want to have a career in one. I have no regrets or things I wish were different during my time at Minnesota State.

Mavblog: What’s the one thing you miss most about your time at MSU?

AM: Definitely not the frigid cold weather! Seriously though, there are several things I miss about MSU. I miss playing ball competitively and having to workout everyday (it’s not as easy when nobody is forcing you to be there). I miss all of my teammates who became my family away from home. From the road trips to hanging out on the weekends in good old Kato, I have so many memories that will stay with me forever. I am very thankful for all of the people and opportunities I was given at MSU; it built on the foundation of who I am today.

On the Griddle

2011-11-15T13:02:00.000-08:00

A pair of NCAA postseason appearances and now a visit to the Mineral Water Bowl in four seasons. Not too shabby!

Minnesota State coach Todd Hoffner has led his Maverick football program to a 33-13 mark during his time in Mankato and in addition to a trip to Ashland, Ohio in 2008 (Ashland downed the Mavericks 27-16), the Mavericks hosted a NCAA postseason game vs. Hillsdale in the 2009 NCAA tournament (Hillsdale won 27-24 in overtime at Blakeslee Stadium). The Mavericks of 2011 will travel to Excelsior Springs, Mo., to compete in the Mineral Springs Bowl where they will square-off against Northeastern State University (Okla.).

Hoffner's record in four seasons at the Maverick helm stands at 33-13.

The Mineral Springs Bowl pits the top team from Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference not making the NCAA Division II tournament vs. the top team from the Mid-American Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA). Information about the game can be found here.

A couple of other significant things happened for this program along the way this year. Most notably the school-record 7,011 fans for Homecoming in a 24-14 win over Winona State on Oct. 1. And a thrilling 27-26 home win over Augustana in a Thursday night game televised nationally by CBS Sports Oct. 27.

A pretty good year, all in all and the trip to Missouri will serve to give the program additional positive exposure. And along with giving the underclassmen additions reps and game experience, will provide the seniors with a tremendous way to close out their careers.

Has it Really Been a Decade?

2011-11-01T11:53:00.000-07:00

Kevin Buisman

Why yes, it has! Named Minnesota State's director of athletics in July of 2002, Kevin Buisman leads a department that includes 20 sports and more than 500 student-athletes. MSU has hosted two NCAA championship events during his tenure and in addition to a national championship by the women's basketball program in 2009, the Mavericks have proven to be a juggernaut in the Directors' Cup standings - the metric used to determine the top athletic departments in the country.

MavBlog took some time to talk with Kevin recently.

MavBlog: When you came to MSU in the summer of 2002, you were taking a job after a successful four-year run as an assistant Director of Athletics at the University of Northern Iowa. Looking back, can you recall what your expectations were upon coming to Mankato?

KB: As I recall, when I first started, I was really excited about the opportunity to finally run my own program and the great potential I saw for our teams at Minnesota State. As I said during the interview process for this position, I believed MSU Athletics was sitting on the “launching pad” and was simply looking for someone to put the countdown sequence into motion. I felt very fortunate to be at the controls.

_________________________________________________________________________________

MavBlog: MSU Athletics has steadily risen up the Directors' Cup standings in the last ten years. Beginning with a 22nd-place ranking in your first year, the Mavericks ascension has been steady and impressive - 20th in 2003-04, tenth in 2004-05, 8th in 2005-06, 4th in 2006-07, 3rd in 2007-08 and 2nd in 2008-09. What has been the key to MSU continually moving up the ladder on a national basis?

KB: I think our rise in the Director’s Cup standings has been due to a combination of things. First, I think it begins with President Davenport’s vision for a program committed to excellence and broad-based success. To his credit, President Davenport has helped provide a lot of the resources to make that possible. Next, it takes an outstanding coaching staff to identify, recruit, and retain great student-athletes. Another major factor has been the dramatic improvement of our women’s programs. We have really invested in our women’s teams and as result, we are experiencing strong finishes on a more consistent basis and they have made some major contributions to our overall success in recent years.
__________________________________________________________________________________

MavBlog: At the time you joined MSU the Mavericks were members of the North Central Conference and the Western College Hockey Association was rolling along, boasting a half century of stability. There are several questions regarding these conference affiliation developments. How soon did you see the breakup of the NCC coming and how has the subsequent reaffiliation to the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference gone?

KB: Not long after I started at MSU, I think it was becoming pretty evident that the North Central Conference was in trouble with regards to its long-term viability, with several schools wanting to leave the league to pursue Division I status. As things began to wind down in the NCC, we evaluated our options and decided that remaining in Division II was the best option available at the time. Since that decision, I think it has been a fairly smooth transition for us into the Northern Sun. The NSIC has offered a nice home for our programs and we have competed very effectively there in recent years.

_________________________________________________________________________________

MavBlog: The WCHA will stay intact for this year and the next, but then things change drastically with several teams leaving and others coming aboard. What challenges does the men's hockey program face in the coming years as a result of this?

KB: Recently, the name of the game in college athletics has been “CHANGE”. At a broader level, there have been some major developments mostly driven by money and television related to basketball and football contracts that have dramatically changed the landscape for many of the major Division I conferences.

Television and money were also driving forces in changing college hockey, as major donor money made the start-up of Penn State hockey a reality and the programming needs of the Big Ten Network hastened the formation of member-driven affiliation in that sport. From there, it unwound pretty quickly with the start-up of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, which then put the rest of the members of the WCHA and CCHA into play in terms of finding future homes for their programs.

As noted, there are major changes ahead for college ice hockey beginning with the 2013-14 season. As remaining members of the WCHA, we will now be more closely aligned with other schools of similar resources, which should immediately make us more competitive. Because of that, I believe we will be better positioned to compete for conference titles and postseason playoffs and thereby also contending for NCAA championship bid opportunities.

The changes will also impact us financially. The new alignment is more geographically diverse, so we will see some additional expenses there. Our recruiting will also change a bit, so I anticipate some added costs there. On the revenue side, the loss of revenue related to the Final Five will be significant. And while we won’t have some of our “marquee” opponents like Minnesota, UM-Duluth, North Dakota, and St. Cloud in here as conference opponents, we are optimistic about establishing scheduling relationships that will create a non-conference schedule that is very appealing to our fan base and that will be good for us at the gate.

________________________________________________________________________________

MavBlog: Every athletics department in the nation is facing rising costs from everything from tuition, equipment, travel and salaries. At the same time, there are factors such as diminishing allocations and the shaky economy. How is your department working to address these challenges?

KB: Budget and finance are issues that are never going to go away and are a factor for every intercollegiate athletic program in the country—from the largest to the smallest. Each and every year, a growing proportion of our budget will need to come from self-generated revenues. To that end, we are currently negotiating an opportunity to outsource the sales of our marketing inventory and corporate partnerships, as we see this as the best possible strategy to fully leverage the complete potential of those opportunities.

________________________________________________________________________________

MavBlog: Tell us about the student-athletes at MSU relative to programming you've invoked outside of the field of play. How have you and your staff worked to ensure that they have an all-encompassing experience during their time as Mavericks.

KB: The quality of the experience is often dictated by the recruiting process and by having our coaches committed to identifying prospective student-athletes that our equipped to not only compete effectively, but to also hold their own in the classroom. Minnesota State athletics is branded by the tag line “Building Champions”, which outwardly communicates the expectations we have that our student-athletes will achieve at a high level both in sport and in life by excelling competitively, in the classroom, and in the community. Hopefully, the experiences of our student-athletes transcend competition and helps prepare them to become future leaders, both professionally and in their community.

________________________________________________________________________________

MavBlog: Can you point to a couple of moments during your time as the Director of Athletics that you can point to where you've felt your proudest?

KB: There have been a lot of bright spots along the way, but the run to the 2009 national championship in women’s basketball will always hold a special place. It was an amazing season fueled by a highly committed group of young women who personified passion, desire, and teamwork, which was ultimately capped by an unbelievably gritty and inspired performance in the championship game.

On a broader basis, I am also very proud of the academic record of our student-athletes. Each semester we consistently have nearly 200 student-athletes or more on the Dean’s List with a 3.50 GPA, which is quite an accomplishment. I also take a lot of pride in being able to balance our commitment to gender equity with broad-based success across all of our programs. To maintain proportionately in participative opportunities, while also consistently placing in the Top 10 of the Director’s Cup requires everyone’s cooperation in working together to achieve common goals.

_______________________________________________________________________________

MavBlog: In October of 2007 you had to deal with the death of a young female cross country student-athlete, Caty Delwiche, who tragically passed away after being struck by a car while out on a training run. Can you describe what that was like?

KB: Caty’s passing was the single most difficult thing I have ever dealt with professionally. I remember getting the call from Coach Blue and being overwhelmed by the emotion of the moment, while also struggling with how to provide leadership during this difficult time. I don’t think there is anything that can prepare you for dealing with this kind of tragedy and you can only hope that your best is good enough in trying to determine how to guide others through their pain, suffering, and loss.

It’s amazing the impact that Caty has had on me. Ironically, she was a freshman and being early in the school year, I had not yet had the opportunity to meet her before the accident. And despite the lack of an established personal relationship, she continues to have a profound effect on my life. I think about her often when I pass the memorial site on Warren Street or when I see the commemorative plaque in Highland. Caty Delwiche was quite a remarkable young woman and exemplified all of the best virtues in life. As a parent of two young daughters and as Director of Athletics, I think all you can hope for is the same from your own children and the other student-athletes who will follow in the legacy she leaves behind.

_______________________________________________________________________________
MavBlog: During your time here the department has hosted several regional NCAA events, along with the NCAA Division II wrestling national championship tournament in 2004 and the NCAA Division II indoor track & field championships in 2008. The school is preparing the host the national track & field meet again in March. What's your philosophy regarding hosting these events?

KB: We have been blessed with some truly great facilities and as good stewards of the resources we have been provided, I think that hosting these championship events provides an outstanding platform to not only showcase our programs, but the University and Greater Mankato, as well. Our fans and business partners also invest a lot in our programs and the economic impact of these events also provides an excellent way to acknowledge and give back to all those who help to support Maverick athletics.

_________________________________________________________________________________

MavBlog: What are your hopes for your teams in 2011-12?

KB: As is always the case, you hope for the best in terms of the student-athlete experience. It’s not always about winning and losing, as there are some many valuable “life lessons” that are part of sport, along with the bond that develops amongst players and teammates and ideally those personal relationships extend long after their careers as Maverick student-athletes end. I do, however, think we have some individual programs that have an excellent chance to be very successful and to compete very effectively during the regular season schedule and into the postseason. As a department, we would like to get back into position to win the NSIC All-Sports trophy and return to a Top 10 finish in the Learfield Sports Director’s Cup competition.

________________________________________________________________________________

In the News - 2011 Halloween Edition

2011-10-25T14:09:00.000-07:00

A few items for you to digest as Oct. 31st approaches.

Longtime Northern State director of athletics and former men's basketball coach Bob Olson has announced that he will retire at the end of the 2011-12 school year. Olson has spent a total of 37 years in the school located in Aberdeen, S.D.

Minnesota State's football team will play its final regular-season home game of 2011 when it hosts Augustana this Thursday evening at Blakeslee Stadium. The game will be broadcast live by the CBS College Sports Network and is available on Charter Mankato Channel 412, DirectTV Channel 613, Dish Network channel 152, MediaComm channel 171, Comcast channel 854. Our release regarding the broadcast is located here. In addition to game action between the Mavericks and the Vikings, the MSU women's soccer program will be the subject of a halftime feature.

Speaking of the Maverick women's soccer program, coach Peter McGahey's crew currently owns a 13-1-2 record and is undefeated in NSIC play with a 10-0-1 mark. Positioned to capture a NSIC title, the Mavericks are also poised to make a run in the NCAA Division II postseason tournament. The NSIC tournament is slated for Nov. 2-6 with NCAA regional action scheduled to get underway Nov. 11.

After posting a tenth-place finish at the regional meet a year ago, longtime men's cross country coach Mark Schuck did a bit of retooling with his program that has paid off in spades this fall. Led by the insertion of a couple of NCAA Division I transfers into the lineup in juniors Garret Eklof and Joshua Mellman, who both came from Iowa State, and the addition of freshman Josiah Swanson (Fond du Lac, Wis.), MSU captured team titles at St. Olaf and Black Hills State. The Mavericks, who finished second at the 2011 NSIC meet in Moorhead, Minn., Oct. 22nd, boast a fifth-place regional ranking and are rated 13th in the nation. The 2011 NCAA DII Central Region Championship meet is scheduled for Nov. 5 in Denver, Colo. Meet information is located here.

The MSU women's cross country team, which also participates in the NCAA DII Central Region Championship meet Nov. 5 in Denver, Colo., finished fifth at this year's NSIC championship meet and has reason to be optimistic about its future. The Mavericks had ten individuals post PRs at the league meet with ten of its 12 competitors at the event competing as freshmen or sophomores.

Disconcerting news out of Alabama-Huntsville with the school deciding to discontinue its NCAA Division I men's hockey program at the end of this academic year. The Chargers, who captured NCAA Division II titles in 1996 and 1998 and made appearances in the NCAA Division I tournament in 2007 and 2010, come to Mankato for a pair of nonconference games with the Mavericks Dec. 9 and 10 in what we will assume will be the last meetings between the two schools. A synopsis regarding the developments at UAH is located here.

And, don't forget that it's Trick or Treat With the Mavericks Sunday, Oct. 30th in Taylor Center, 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. Admission is free and plenty of Minnesota State student-athletes on hand to play games and hand out candy to the kids.

It's great to be a Maverick!

Scars & Victories

2011-09-14T07:47:00.000-07:00

As we have written previously, former Minnesota State team captain Chad Brownlee has been making the transition from college hockey and professional hockey player to rising Canadian country music artist. Two days ago, in Hamilton, Ont., Brownlee was presented with the Rising Star Award at the Canadian Country Music Awards.

Brownlee, who released his self-titled debut album last fall, has had several of his songs shoot up the Canadian country music charts and he's done a couple of videos along the way for songs that appeared on his album - Day After You and Carried Away.

Shane Frederick wrote about Chad's recent success in today's Mankato Free Press (Freddie also highlights David Backes being named captain of the St. Louis Blues in this column) and that is available here.

About a year ago we contributed this to Minnesota Hockey Magazine. Enjoy.

Guitar Hero - December • 2010

He’s not sure when, but at some point Chad Brownlee realized it was time. And while it took both of his hands to hold the guitar, it was now the guitar that had a hold of him.

Chad Brownlee was a hockey player and had been one since he was really little. He was good at it almost from the beginning and quickly rose through the youth hockey ranks in Kelowna, British Columbia.

Soon the junior hockey bird dogs started to take notice and is wasn’t long before he left home as a 17-year old to play for Vernon of the British Columbia Hockey League. He spent two years with the Vipers and was selected by Vancouver in the sixth round of the of the 2003 National Hockey League draft. His parents, Al and Laura, had instilled the need for education and when the coaches at Minnesota State offered him a scholarship that would allow him to continue his schooling while preparing for a shot at professional hockey, his career path seemed determined.

Something else was lurking, however. His parents had given him a guitar when he was 17 and he had an aptitude for music. He liked it and it liked him. Still, there was school and the Canucks were waiting.

A defensive-defenseman, he scored four goals and had seven assists in 135 career games with the Mavericks and his 201 penalty minutes placed him 13th on MSU’s all-time list. He earned a degree in psychology and, best of all, he met his future bride when he started dating a Maverick women’s golfer from Red Wing, Minn., named Katie Mettling.

Brownlee enjoyed his four years in Mankato, but it was here that the plan began deviate.

He had started to write and play his own songs, playing mostly for the guys on the team. And in his last year with the Mavericks, he wrote an ode in memory of Anthony Ford, a young local youth hockey player who, unfortunately, lost his battle with leukemia at the age of nine. The song, entitled The Hero I See, was part of the reason Chad was nominated for an NCAA hockey humanitarian award.

After graduating from MSU, he went to camp with the Canucks and the guitar was along for the ride. It was still there with him months later when he was riding the bus as a member of the Idaho Steelheads of the East Coast Hockey League.

“My shoulders were shot and with my style of play, it made it difficult to do what I wanted to do,” said Brownlee. “I had lost my identity as a player and at that point it was becoming tough to enjoy the game . It (hockey) had always been the most important thing in my life. But I realized it was time give something else a try.”

The transition from hockey player to country music performer then started in earnest. Following the end of the season with the Steelheads, Brownlee went back to British Columbia, hoping to break into an industry in which many try, but very few actually make the big time.

“I guess I kind of jumped off the cliff hoping I would land on my feet,” he said. “I knew I had to play and started going to open mic nights. I didn’t know anyone in the music industry, let alone other musicians and wasn’t sure about the genre. I asked questions and started building relationships. Eventually I was introduced to Mitch Merrett. He had worked in country music for ten years. Now, in addition to serving as my manager, he’s also my co-writer and lead guitarist. Meeting him was the key.”

So far, so good.

After a couple of years dedicated to song writing, Brownlee released his first album in August of 2010. One of the songs from the self-titled album, Hood of My Car, reached number 16 on the Canadian Country Music charts and he was a finalist for the Canadian Country Rising Star Award (top newcomer) at the 2010 Canadian Country Music Awards. At the 2010 B.C. Country Music Awards in October, Brownlee was honored with three awards. He was named male vocalist of the year, songwriter of the year (with Mitch Merrett and Kelly Archer, for Hood of My Car), and the Ray McAuley Horizon Award winner.

And so it continues for the former blueliner. He’s been touring Canada with other acts and the crowds have been getting larger. The album is moving up the Canadian country music charts, he’s made a of video for one of his songs and the future appears to be bright.

“We’re going to continue to write and perform,” said Brownlee about the road ahead. “The next steps happen after you make great music. We talk about that all the time. We want to write great songs and want to perform great music. But the music has to come first.”

Brownlee’s website is located at chadbrownlee.com and his songs are available on iTunes.

It's great to be a Maverick!

One in the Bank

2011-09-08T09:00:00.000-07:00

MSU's Joey Keillor won a NCAA
DII steeplechase championship in
1995.

So we're a week into it now with competition officially started for our football, volleyball, soccer and women's golf teams.

And, as pointed out by Scott Nelsen, we're off to a pretty decent start with our programs racking up an impressive 6-1-1 mark. This includes a 4-0 start by the volleyball crew at a tournament hosted by Alaska-Fairbanks. Peter McGahey's women's soccer program is 1-0-1 after claiming a 4-1 win over Augustana and earning a 1-1 tie with #1-rated Grand Valley State. Following those performances, the volleyball team moved up to #12 in the national polls, while the Maverick soccer team made its debut at #21.

Our men's and women's cross country team are set to embark on their 2011 seasons beginning tomorrow (Friday, Sept. 9) with the Oz Memorial at the University of Minnesota's Les Bolstad Golf Course. This year's team photos and mugs, by the way, have been uploaded at the Maverick men's cross country and women's cross country team roster pages.

The men's golf team will be the last of our fall teams to get going with the first competition for that crew slated for Sept. 11-12 at the Fall Preview taking place at Troy Burne in Hudson, Wis.

And so it continues. Our first home football game is slated for Saturday with Northern State making the trek from Aberdeen, S.D., for a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference tilt. The MSU grounds crew had done a tremendous job of preparing iconic Blakeslee Stadium for the home opener. Take a look.

We should also mention that former Minnesota State All-American and national champion Joey Keillor stopped by the office a couple of days ago. Joe, who won a NCAA Division II steeplechase championship in 1995, is being inducted into our Hall of Fame at the end of this month. He still runs competitively and according to Mark Schuck, is turning in times for the mile in the 4:20 range. Needless to say, he looks like he could win another national steeple championship if it was held today. Here's a Q & A on Joe from a couple of years ago - it's provides some great insight on one of MSU's all-time great distance runners - Running Minnesota - Joey Keillor.

Be sure to check out msumavericks.com for all the information on all of our sports. You can also find additional information on our facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/maverickathletics) and Twitter account (msumavericks).

It's great to be a Maverick!

Jump around

2011-08-26T09:40:00.000-07:00

Jim Dilling won four NCAA high jump
titles during his career at Minnesota State

Jim Dilling, a Minnesota State high jumper who captured the NCAA Division II outdoor title in 2005 and 2007 and indoor national titles in 2006 and 2007, isn't quite done yet.

A five-time All-American during his MSU career, Dilling claimed the USA national outdoor track & field high jump championship in 2007 and competed at the world championships as a member of Team USA that same year. He's battled through injuries since then, but judging by recent results, finally appears to be healthy again. The Fon du Lac, Wis., native was in Mankato this past week and stopped by for a chat.

What's being going on in your career since you left MSU in 2007?
JD: Well, after the 2007 season, where I finished up at MSU and then made the USA world team, I met Cliff Rovelto (head track & field coach at Kansas State and head high jump coach for Team USA) and became friends with Jesse Williams (USC high jumper), who was training with Coach Rovelto. So I moved to Manhattan, Kan., and have been based out of there the last three-four years. I originally went to train for the 2008 Olympic Trials and stayed. Around that time I began to deal with some foot injury issues and some issues with my achilles tendon. I tried to deal with that nonsurgically for about a year, but then I ruptured the bursa sac at the 2009 USA championships and had an MRI where they found a tear. I had surgery in fall of 2009 and another in March of 2010. So, I basically sat out for 16 months and missed the 2010 USA championships. But I started training again last year, opened with my first meet this past February and had my best opening-height ever (7-4.25) at the Kansas State Wildcat Invite. Then I placed fifth at indoor nationals and trained for outdoor nationals where I went 7-5.34 - my best result since the 2007 season.

What are you doing now?
JD: I just got back from Europe after six weeks of competing. Now we'll go back to Kansas to train for a couple months to train for the Pan Am Games, which take place in Mexico in October (he's a member of Team USA). After that I'm coming back to MSU work on my master's, to help coach the Mavericks and to train for my last season.

Last season?
JD: Well, possibly my last season. The Olympic Trials for 2012 London are in Eugene in July. We'll give it a shot there and see how it goes.

What are your chances?
JD: We'll see what happens that day. You have to jump two rounds and you have to finish in the top three at the end. I've met the world standard (7-5 3/5), so that's my goal.

Here's a question. Cuba's Javier Sotomayor set the high jump world record in 1989 when he became the first to clear 8 feet (in 1993 he upped his record to 8-0.5) Can anyone approach that these days?
JD: That's a good question, I don't know. At his time, Sotomayor was Usain Bolt - someone with freakish talent and way better than anyone else in his event. Someone who comes along once every century. You never know, there's a few guys. Ivan Ukhov has consistently been going 7-9, 7-10 indoors this year.

Eventually, Jim, long-term, what's in store?
JD: We'll see. I have these short term goals now. If you recall, I came here originally to play football and ended up high jumping, so you never know what life is going to hand you. I'd like to take this high-jumping thing as far as I can.

It's great to be a Maverick. Be sure to follow us on twitter at @msumavericks.

Gone Fishin'

2011-08-19T12:00:00.000-07:00


Minnesota State asst. women's hockey coach Jon Austin (pictured second from the left) captured the 2011 Fort Frances Bass Championship title in July.

Minnesotan's aren't just known for hockey or for loving the Vikings and the Twins (or the Mavericks!). As you may know, they also like to fish.

Several members of the Minnesota State Athletics department are active and experienced outdoorsmen and women.

One such Maverick coach earned the 2011 Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship title, which took place July 17-23 on Rainy Lake in Ontario.

Along with his fishing partner Richard Rud, assistant women's hockey coach Jon Austin finished in a tie for top honors with a three-day total weight of 52.42 pounds.

A short story regarding Jon's victory is located here. You will note that it's kind of difficult to determine who Jon's main sponsor is as we don't see any ads located on the sweatshirts he's wearing. Congrats to our own Fishin' Magician!

You could have a bumper car, bumping

2011-08-08T11:05:00.000-07:00


Jim Dilling

A couple of notes as we move forward through the dog days of August.

Former Minnesota State high jumper Jim Dilling, the 2007 USA Outdoor Track and Field national champion, has battled through injuries the past couple of years, but appears to be healthy and now ready to resume his career at the international level. A five-time All-American and four-time national champion (two indoor, two outdoor) for the Mavericks, Dilling finished 12th at the Viersen Internatinionales Hochsprung meet held in Germany Saturday with a 2.18 meter effort (actually tied for fifth, but finished 12th on misses). Dilling was sixth with a leap of 2.26 (7-5 3/4) at the USA Outdoor Track and Field Championships held June 26th in Eugene, Ore.

After moving up from rookie ball Kingsport of the Appalachian League, former MSU righthanded pitcher Bret Mitchell debuted for the Brooklyn Cyclones of the Class A New York-Penn League Sunday. Mitchell, who had gone 5-1 with a 2.95 ERA and struck out 38 batters in 39.2 innings for Kingsport, went the first 4.2 innings and gave up one earned run and six hits as the Cyclones claimed a 6-4 win over the Staten Island Yankees. Mitchell played one season for the Mavericks and helped lead MSU to league and regional championships and a spot in the NCAA Division II national tournament before getting drafted in 2010 by the New York Mets in the 12th round (362nd overall).

It's great to be a Maverick!

Not Forgotten - Korey Stringer

2011-08-01T08:51:00.000-07:00

Korey Stringer 1974-2001

When it comes to weather, those of us who live in Minnesota are extremely familiar with a couple of "extended stats" numbers other than temperature and wind speed to determine how it feels outside. In the winter it's wind chill which measures the effect of wind on air temperature. Simply put, the windier it is, the colder it feels. In the summer heat index combines heat and humidity. The more the humidity we have, the warmer it feels.

The weather in Mankato today is what you would expect for this time of year. It's the morning of August 1st and the temperature is heading toward 90 degrees and while the humidity stands at 87%, it's continuing to rise. The air feels heavy and if you're outside for an extended period of time, without any exertion, you will sweat through your shirt.

It was like this ten years ago and the Vikings were in camp on campus. Hot and humid with the heat index well into triple digits.

That night, my wife Lori was watching the six o'clock news and said "Hey, Perry (Dyke) just said that they took Korey Stringer to the hospital today."

Stringer was a 27-year old offensive tackle coming off of an All-Pro season. Checking in at 6-4 and 335 pounds, the former Ohio State Buckeye had suffered heat stroke after a full-pads, full-contact practice on a day when the heat index in Mankato was nearly 110 degrees.

I responded to Lori with a casual "No need to worry. Those big guys always struggle with the heat this time of year and one or two of them always end up in the hospital during camp. They'll pump him full of fluids, cool him down and he'll be back on the field in a day or so."

It seems so flippant now.

At about 4:00 a.m. the phone rang in our house. I used to occasionally get calls at that time in the morning from my college buddies. No so much anymore and in the rare times those calls come now, it's usually not good. This was one of those times. It was Tom West from the Vikings media relations department. I can't remember his exact words, but he was calling to say that Korey Stringer had passed away and that the Vikings would need some assistance with the media attention the organization was expecting with the developing story.

And, obviously, it was a big story. Stringer was one of the top young offensive linemen in the National Football League on a team that included high-profile players such as Duante Culpepper, Randy Moss and Cris Carter. Later that day, the national media descended on Mankato and MSU and at a press conference held in the Centennial Ballroom (the largest room we had available to accommodate the large contingent of journalists), Denny Green, Carter and Moss all gave testimonials to Stringer. It was sad and gut-wrenching and I'll never forget Moss struggling through a tear-filled ten minutes at the podium in trying to convey his sentiments for his fallen teammate.

Things have changed since that day.

Green and Culpepper are both out of the NFL, reunited with the United Football League's Sacramento Mountain Lions last fall. Carter is an analyst for ESPN and Moss is a free agent, looking for a team to play for after spending the 2010 season with three different teams, including a short-lived four-game stint with Minnesota.

Stringer's death brought about major changes to how NFL teams run training camp and, in particular, heat stroke prevention.

"The awareness has became greater, certainly (relative to heat stroke prevention and recognition)." said Jeff Chambers, MSU's director of sports medicine. "It changed our approach. We've became more acutely aware of signs of heat stroke. We were doing a lot before, but now there's much more stress on rehydration, monitoring weight loss, practice duration and timing, etc."

It's ten years today and, hopefully Korey Stringer's passing wasn't in vain with lessons learned and no Viking falling on the Blakeslee Stadium practice fields.

Post post Note: About an hour after I posted this, Randy Moss announced that he was retiring. I also thought I might add these links - Vikings honor 10th anniversary of Stringer's death & Vikings Remember Stringer.

Where or where.

2011-07-18T14:11:00.000-07:00


MSU's Blakeslee Stadium & Highland Complex in 1962

Named for former athletic director and coach C. P. Blakeslee, who spent forty years at MSU (1921-1961), Minnesota State's iconic football field - Blakeslee Stadium - opened in 1962 and undoubtedly harkens back to a different era.

In response to its burgeoning enrollment during the late 1950s-early 1960s, the school was making the transition from its lower campus (Valley Campus) location to upper campus (initially known as Highland Campus). In addition to the football stadium and spreading over 240 acres, new construction also included Crawford and McElroy dormitories, Wilson Campus School and the physical education complex, which included Highland Arena (renamed later in honor of Bob Otto), the Highland Pool complex and the Field House (later renamed in honor of Bud Myers). The student union and other buildings had yet to be constructed.

It took until the 1970's, but eventually the entire campus shifted to the area atop the hill. Many of the buildings that used to make up the school's campus have been repurposed with Old Main now serving as an independent and assisted living option for choosy seniors and the Searing, Buck and Cooper dormitories now known as Cherry Ridge and Colonial Square apartments.

In the last ten years on the newer campus, change has also been afoot with Otto Arena retrofitted and now serving as the center piece to MSU's excellent campus recreation offerings. Myers Field House was torn down and totally rebuilt. Beautiful Taylor Center came online in 2000, but Blakeslee Stadium remains mainly untouched from its original state.

An earthen berm was added on the south end a few years ago, but the stadium still seats around 6,500 and the cramped press box still crowns the stands on the west side of the field. The sight lines are unmatched. Unlike many football facilities from this era, Blakeslee was built with out a track so fans get an unusually close up view of the action and the original concessions, bathrooms and ticketing areas give the facility an old-timey feel. The fields that MSU legends Bernie Maczuga, Jim Leitzke and Bob Bruer patrolled sported real grass, as does the Blakeslee turf of 2011.

So when you take a look at this list trumpeting the Top Six College Football Stadiums in NCAA Division II, remember this. There's something to be said for character and charm.

All the evolution we know of proceeds from the vague to the definite. Charles Sanders Peirce

Thought we might make it easy on you. Lots of links listed below regarding the recent announcement by five current members of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association - University of North Dakota, Nebraska Omaha, Minnesota Duluth, Denver, Colorado College, along with Miami University of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, that they would be forming a new men's college hockey league with a scheduled start-up set for 2013-14.

Carrying On

2011-06-23T09:45:00.000-07:00

Thought we might take a look at this year's National Hockey League Draft, given the fact that it's taking place in St. Paul at Xcel Energy Center. A place our Mavericks are familiar with having played a trio of WCHA Final Five games there (1999-00 vs. Minnesota and 2002-03 vs. Minnesota and Minnesota-Duluth), along with a regular-season game vs. Minnesota in 2004-05 and again vs. the Golden Gophers in Nov. of 2008 in the WCHA Minnesota College Hockey Showcase.

While no current Mavericks are expected to be selected this year, a total of 12 former and/or current members of the purple and gold have been chosen, beginning with defenseman Tom Anderson when he was picked in the seventh round, 111th overall by the California Golden Seals back in 1974.

A few notables regarding MSU's draft history. Of the 12 selections, four have played in the NHL (Tim Jackman, David Backes, Travis Morin and Jon Kalinski). Forward Tyler Pitlick owns the distinction as the highest MSU draftee at #31 and in Justin Jokinen, one is a current Maverick. Ten of the draftees were native Minnesotans and two were Canadians (Chad Brownlee and John Kalinski).

SIDEBAR - Brownlee's recently-completed video for his new single Carried Away is available here.

Here's a look at MSU's draft history over the years.

Name	Yrs @ MSU	Drafted By	Year	Round	#
Tom Anderson*	1975-77	California	1974	7th	111
Eric Burrill*	1990-92	NY Rangers	1987	9th	178
Dan Brettschneider*	1989-92	Washington	1987	12th	240
Tim Jackman	2000-02	Columbus	2001	2nd	38
Jake Brenk*	2000-05	Edmonton	2001	5th	154
David Backes*	2003-06	St. Louis	2003	2nd	62
Chad Brownlee*	2003-07	Vancouver	2003	6th	190
Travis Morin	2003-07	Washington	2004	9th	263
Jon Kalinski	2005-08	Philadelphia	2007	6th	152
Andrew Sackrison*	2007-11	St. Louis	2006	5th	124
Justin Jokinen*	2008-SA	Buffalo	2008	4th	101
Tyler Pitlick	2009-10	Edmonton	2010	2nd	31

*selected while a member of high school or junior team

Lots of 2011 NHL Draft coverage available here.

Enjoy the weekend. It's great to be a Maverick!

Super Bowl Hardware

2011-06-16T19:30:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in the previous post, former Maverick offensive lineman Adrian Battles received his Super Bowl ring today. This is what it looks like.

Didja Know?

2011-06-16T11:04:00.000-07:00

A few things about Minnesota State Athletics you might not have been aware of.

Elisha McSweeny

The National Basketball Association draft is slated for June 23rd. And although no Minnesota State players will be selected this year, MSU has had one player chosen in the annual event, which has been held every year since 1947. Center/foward Elisha McSweeney was picked in the tenth round (171st overall) by Cleveland in 1976.

The Green Bay Packers are doling out Super Bowl championship rings tonight (Thursday, June 16) at a ring ceremony. Former Minnesota State offensive lineman Adrian Battles, who played for the Mavericks from 2005-09 and was a member of the Packers' practice squad during their 2011 championship run, will be a recipient of a ring.

The 1979-80 Maverick men's hockey team that captured the NCAA Division II national championship scored 293 goals in 40 games. Turns out that's an all-division record with MSU's 293 besting the 292 goals scored by the University of Maine in 1992-93. Plattsburgh State, with 290 goals in 1985-86, owns the Division III mark.

It's great to be a Maverick!

Maverick Minor League Update

2011-05-27T09:21:00.000-07:00

Minnesota State has a pair of former righthanded pitchers and an outfielder on minor league professional rosters this summer.

Bret Mitchell, selected by the New York Mets in the 12th round of the 2010 Major League Draft, is on the roster of the Kingsport Mets of the Appalacian League (Rookie). Kingsports starts its season June 21st.

Chris Odegaard, selected by the Diamondbacks in the 23rd round of the 2009 MLB draft, started the spring with Visalia of the California League (Advanced A), but was recently reassigned to South Bend of the Midwest League (A). Odegaard currently sports a 0-0 record and has a 0.00 earned run average and has eight Ks in 7.2 innings in six appearances with the Silver Hawks.

Mark Dolenc, who is in his sixth season of professional baseball after the Twins took him in the 15th round of the 2006 draft, is playing the outfield for New Britain of the Eastern League (AA). Dolenc is currently hitting .275 in 40 games with the Rock Cats.

This year's MLB Draft is slated for June 6-7-8.

It's great to be a Maverick!

Vaulting To the Top

2011-05-20T13:02:00.000-07:00

Athletic Director Kevin Buiman (left) women's track coach
Jen Blue and assistant coach Matt Kolb pose with Lauren Stelten
following her indoor title this past winter.

Some schools are synonymous with producing a certain athlete. The University of Miami is known as “Running Back U” while Penn State has been called “Linebacker U”.

In the track world, one can think of Adams State or Western State as the “Birthplace of Distance Runners” at the NCAA Division II level and believe it or not, MSU has quietly become “Pole Vaulters U”.

The Mavericks will look to continue their reign in pole vaulting dominance next weekend as senior pole vaulter Lauren Stelten heads to Turlock, Calif., to participate in the NCAA Division II Outdoor Championships hosted by Cal State Stanislaus.

A victory for Stelten would mark the school’s eighth national title in the pole vault – indoor or outdoor – since 2004. A victory would also break a tie between Minnesota State and Abilene Christian for the most titles in the pole vault since the event was added to the NCAA DII circuit in 1999.

The meet for Stelten is also the opportunity to capture an outdoor title that has been just within her reach the last couple of years.

Stelten – who won this year’s indoor crown – is looking for a clean sweep as she looks to become the first Maverick to sweep the vault since Katelin Rains did so in 2009.

“I have been a little bit injured this outdoor season,” said Stelten, a native of Colgone, Minn. “I haven’t been able to get as high as I have wanted to. I can’t worry about that next weekend though, I just need to go out and do my best. If I win, great.”

But MSU’s dominance in the pole vault doesn’t begin with Stelten, she is simply just a chapter in a story.

In fact, the first pole vault champion at Minnesota State wasn’t a female, but a member of the men’s track and field team in Charles Zheng who went 16’ 8 ¾” at the national championships. Zheng’s assistant pole vault coach was a former Maverick, Matt Kolb, who was just cutting his teeth as a track coach.

Fast-forward the clock to 2004. MSU junior Amanda Frame becomes MSU’s first female to win a national championship as she cleared 13’ 0 ¾” setting a meet and school record en route to the victory and much like Zheng, 12 years earlier, Frame was coached by Kolb.

Frame laid the framework for the future at MSU as she would repeat as the indoor champion in 2005 with a height of 13’ 1 ½”.

Abilene Christian’s Angie Aguilar would win the title in 2006 only to be dethroned by Rains, then a sophomore who would win titles in 2007 (14’”), 2008 (14’ 1 ¼”) and 2009 (13’9 ¼”). Rains is the only vaulter in the history of the Division II meet to surpass the 14-foot mark.

Truman State’s Katrina Biermann would claim the title last year only to hand the crown back over to a Maverick – this time Stelten – this past winter when she climbed 13’ 6 ½” en route to the title.

The success isn’t limited to the indoor ranks however as Rains also won the outdoor title – MSU’s only outdoor title in 2009 with a vault of 13’7” – a height which still sits as the best at the national meet.

Think about that information for a moment. Six indoor titles in the last eight years. Since the NCAA has added the pole vault to the women’s championships in 2009 MSU has six indoor national champions. Fellow perennial power, Abilene Christian has three.

“Abilene Christian and Grand Valley State are always up there,” said MSU head coach Jen Blue in regards to the competition at the national level. “They may have more qualifiers but we have more national titles on the indoor level.”

When talking to both Blue and Stelten they say that the success starts at the same point – Kolb, a former MSU vaulter who was a seven-time North Central Conference champion and a three-time All-American for the Mavericks.

“Matt Kolb is by far the reason we have had success,” said Blue, who is in her 11^th year coaching the Mavericks. “Recruiting and getting talented kids is important but you have to get the kids that fit in with your program. Matt fine-tunes their skills and can challenge them to push themselves to the next level.”

Stelten echoes Blue’s sentiments. “What some people don’t know or realize is that he (Kolb) is also the head coach at Mankato West,” said Stelten. “He is such a good coach and he juggles a lot for us. He does a great job at making sure we are prepared and ready to go.”

Being able to coach themselves has proven key for the Mavericks as Kolb can’t make every meet due to his high school coaching and teaching responsibilities.

“A lot of times it's hard to believe that we can vault without him there,” said Stelten. “He trains us so we can coach ourselves."
Kolb, however, was quick to deflect the praise.

"It starts with the Jen Blue and Mark Shuck (MSU's men's track and field coach)," said Kolb. They have committed to make this event a signature event of MSU's and are bringing in talented athletes.

Though Stelten is a senior the vaulting cupboard isn’t bare at MSU. Freshmen Aubrie Bowers and Leanna Rose each narrowly missed qualifying for this year’s outdoor championships.

“They (Aubrie and Leanna) have really come around and have kept progressing,” said Blue. “Next year we should be ready to go in the vault again. Bryann Sudman – a freshman who redshirted this year due to back problems – is ready and she was a state champion for Eden Prairie as a senior. We have also signed Mankato East’s Alex Miller who is an all-state performer.”

Stelten has done what Frame and Rains have down before her – laid the groundwork for the underclassman on what it takes to be a champion at Minnesota State.

“I am a lead by example type of captain,” said Stelten. “When I vault, I tell the underclassmen to watch me and see what they can do. I had someone to look up to and by me showing them, it is my way to motivate them.”

One can only assume the motivation of a pair of fourth-place finishes (2008 and 2009) along with a second-place finish (2010) coupled with the opportunity to join Rains as MSU’s only outdoor pole vaulting champions is all that Stelten needs next weekend.

"I think she has a good chance," said Kolb. "I believe that she is the vaulter to beat. She has the mental toughness and experience that will be in her favor."

NCAA DII Indoor/Outdoor Pole Vault Individual Titles Since 1999
School	Titles
Minnesota State	7
Abilene Christian	7
Cal State Stanislaus	2
Cal State Chico	2
MSU Moorhead	2
UC Davis	1
South Dakota State	1
South Dakota	1
Truman State	1
Northwest Missouri State	1

Got 'em right where we want 'em

2011-05-09T12:24:00.000-07:00

John Belushi as Bluto

"Did you say over? Nothing is over until we decide it is!" - Bluto from Animal House.

There's been alot to celebrate during the course of the past quarter century for Minnesota State Athletics.

National championships in women's basketball in 2008-09 and men's cross country in 1988. A total of 26 individual national championships, including four by high jumper Jim Dilling from 2004-07 and dominance in the women's pole vault led by the triumvirate of Amanda Frame, Katelin Rains and Lauren Stelten that began in 2003-04 and has totalled seven NCAA titles to date.

MSU reaffiliated its men's hockey program to Division I in the mid-1990s and in addition to a national tournament appearance in 2002-03 on a team featuring All-American forwards Shane Joseph and Grant Stevenson, the Mavericks have produced six National Hockey League performers, a Stanley Cup champion in Ryan Carter (Anaheim in 2007) and an Olympian in David Backes. The MSU women's program boasts a Patty Kazmeier finalist in goaltender Shari Vogt and Olympians in Nina Tikkinen and Emilia Andersson.

The football team broke through to win a North Central Conference championship in 1987 and during the span of the last 25 seasons has made six NCAA postseason appearances.

Gorgeous Taylor Center opened 2000 and in addition to the aforementioned success of the women's program basketball program, the men's program has become a Division II powerhouse with its litany of league titles and NCAA appearances. The wrestling program competes annually for a spot in the top five in the nation. The baseball, softball, track and cross country, soccer and golf teams have captured more than 50 league titles between them over the course of this period.

So, that being said, and given the success of MSU teams during this time, surely we can point to situations where Mavericks teams have had to battle back from what would have appeared to be an unwinnable situation to win games.

Well, yes we can. There are many, as a matter of fact, with a quartet of these situations immediately come to mind.

Feb. 2, 1991, St. Cloud, Minn. (Halenbeck Hall). The MSU men's basketball team trailed North Central Conference rival St. Cloud by ten (93-83) with 1:27 left in the game on SCSU's home court. With the Mavericks surging, guard Bryon Lindsey scored eight points in the final 39 seconds as MSU fought back to tie the game, 97-97, at the end of regulation. MSU eventually won in overtime, 108-106.

Oct. 2, 1993, Mankato, Minn. (Blakeslee Stadium). The Mavericks trailed #1-rated North Dakota State 21-0 in its annual Homecoming game, but MSU scored near the end of the third quarter and then twice more in the fourth to make it 21-21. The Bison, who had never lost to the Mavericks in Mankato, scored with 1:55 left in the game, but a missed PAT left the score at 27-21. Following the kick-off, the Mavericks lost the ball on downs, but got it back when NDSU fumbled on its next possession. Jamie Pass hit diminutive receiver Jeff Spikner on a 23-yard strike with :22 left and Kenny Navitsky's successful kick gave the Mavericks an incredible 28-27 win in front of 6,100 rollicking fans.

Dec. 20, 2003, Mankato, Minn. (Midwest Wireless Civic Center). The eventual national champions from Denver built a 7-1 lead before a goal by defenseman Lucas Fransen midway through the second period started the ball rolling for the Mavericks. Travis Morin tallied on the power play and Shane Joseph scored two more power play goals before the end of the period to make it 7-5. Then after Adam Gerlach and Brad Thompson scored to tie it up, Joseph completed his hat trick with the game-winner with five minutes left. The Mavericks, by the way, used three goaltenders in the game and Chris Clark, who was making his first varsity appearance, stopped all 13 shots he faced to get the win.

May 4, 2011, Sioux Falls, S.D. (Bowden Field). In its opening game of the 2011 NSIC softball tournament, #12 Minnesota State trailed #19 Winona State 7-1 heading into its last at bats. Abby Sonner lit the fuse after her two-run homer made it 7-3. Infielder Amanda Umhoefer's solo shot cut the deficit to three and after Melanie Upchurch and Lauryn Morris singled, Natalie Spicer's three-run homer tied the game. Julie O'Neal then singled and came around to score after Kelly Wood's drive to right was misplayed to end the game.

As mentioned, there are several other instances in which the Mavericks found a way to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. And as Greg Marmalard said in Animal House in reference to the fraternities at Faber College - "They're each outstanding in their own way."

See you at the ballpark this weekend with MSU hosting the 2011 NSIC baseball tournament at Franklin Rogers and the 2011 NCAA Softball Central Subregional on campus.

It's great to be a Maverick!

Drafthouse

2011-04-29T12:25:00.000-07:00


Jeff Reinke

The 2011 National Football League Draft started with the first round selections taking place Friday night.

While those who follow the Minnesota Vikings were left to ponder whether Christian Ponder was right or wrong with the twelfth overall pick, for some it led to a question such as "when was the last time a Minnesota State (or if you come from a different era - Mankato State) was selected in the NFL Draft?"

While he's not one to dwell on the import of such things, Jeff Reinke is a person who can shed some light on the subject.

An All-North Central Conference offensive lineman as a senior for the Mavericks in 1985, Reinke was selected in the tenth round (275th overall) by the Los Angeles Raiders in the 1986 NFL Draft and as such, owns the distinction as the last MSU player to have picked in the NFL Draft.

A native of Sacred Heart, Minn., and now living with his family in New Prague, where he runs his own small welding business, Reinke is one of three former MSU players to have been taken in annual NFL lottery. Tight end Bob Bruer, who went on to play five years with the Vikings, was picked by the Houston Oilers in the ninth round (221st overall) by the Houston Oilers in 1976 and defensive lineman Phil Driscoll went to the Miami Dolphins in the 11th round (279th overall) in the 1980 draft.

Reinke, who was drafted and played in the NFL as a defensive lineman, also saw action with Cincinnati in 1987.

"I had been told that I would go a little higher in the draft then I did, so I remember being disappointed on draft day," recalled Reinke. "But once I got the call, which I think came around 10:00 p.m. that night, it was pretty cool. I believe we went over to the Albatross to celebrate."

Things happened fairly quickly following that, said the former Maverick lineman. "They brought us to Los Angeles for physicals and then after mini-camp it wasn't long before camp started."

Reinke went to a Raiders team that, while loaded with familiar names such as Lyle Alzado, Marcus Allen, Howie Long, Matt Millen and Jim Plunklett, was a few years removed from the Super Bowl-winning teams from 1981 and 1984. He then spent the 1987 campaign with the Cincinnati Bengals which went 4-11-0 and finished fourth in the AFC Central.

"Yes, it's something that I'm proud of," said Reinke. "But to tell you the truth, it's not something I think of a whole lot. The people who know me will tell you that I'm not one to talk about those things."

Reinke's son, Jay, is continuing on the family football tradition and was a freshman with Bemidji State this past fall. An AP All-State selection as a high school senior at New Prague, Jay, like his dad, is a defensive lineman.

Every Mile a Memory

2011-04-21T12:36:00.000-07:00

Country music recording artist Dierks Bentley is in Mankato and performs at the Verizon Wireless Center tonight.

Before he performs tonight however, Bentley spent about an hour and half scrimmaging at All Seasons Arena with a few members of the Minnesota State men's and women's hockey teams, along with some local senior amateur players earlier this afternoon.

Bentley, who is from Phoenix but now resides in Nashville, has written or co-written many of his hit songs, including "What Was I Thinkin' and My Last Name." Bitten by the hockey bug a few years ago when he moved to Nashville, Bentley plays rec league hockey and was profiled in 2009 on the Nashville Predators website. The story appears here.

MSU presented Bentley and Dan Hochhalter, a White Bear Lake, Minn., native who plays fiddle in Bentley's band, with Maverick hockey sweaters.

Here's what Dierks had to say following the scrimmage:

It's great to be a Maverick!

On the Inside

2011-04-19T11:38:00.000-07:00

An email from one of our athletic communications alums - Mike Vail - regarding former Minnesota State players in the Arena Football League spurred this post.

Dating back to the early 1970's MSU has had a handful of former football players play in the various professional football leagues including Kreg Kapitan (went to camp with Minnesota in the NFL 1972-73 and played with Calgary in the CFL), Marty Kranz (went to camp with the Chicago Bears in 1974 and 1975) and Bob Bruer (after getting drafted by the Houston Oilers in 1975, he played with the Chicago Bears in 1976, Saskatchewan of the CFL in 1978 and 1979 and the Vikings from 1980-84). Then, the following years saw a number of players accept invitations to camps with NFL teams with some playing in the CFL before receiver Tywan Mitchell had a couple of years of action with the NFL's Arizona Cardinals from 2000-2002. Offensive lineman Adrian Battles won a Super Bowl ring this year as a practice squad member of the Green Bay Packers.

In the last decade, several former Mavericks have continued playing on the gridiron following their collegiate careers by hooking up with teams in the AFL2 and the UIFL in the indoor professional football ranks.

A recent gander of the current rosters of teams in the Arena Football League produced the names of two former Mavericks. End Colin Bryant, who played for MSU 1999-2000 under the guidance of Dan Runkle, is a member of the Tulsa Talons. Speedster Kelvin Rogers, who holds MSU records for career punt and kick-off return yards and played for the Mavericks from 2006-09, is toiling as a defensive back/wide receiver with the Milwaukee Mustangs. The AFL regular-season schedule runs from April until the end of July.

It's great to be a Maverick!

The Grass is Always Green

2011-04-05T09:55:00.000-07:00

We can actually see the grass.

There's still some remnants of this past winter lingering with pockets of snow here and there and the digital thermometer in the kitchen read 31 degrees this morning. But for the most part, we've moved on.

The winter sport seasons are officially in the books, spring football is in full swing and we've actually hosted baseball and softball games here in Mankato.

The Maverick baseball team suffered a bit of a set-back last weekend with eighth-rated St. Cloud State taking three of four games in a NSIC series played in Mankato Friday and Saturday. To say that doesn't happen very often might be a bit of an understatement. The last time an opponent took three of four games from the Mavericks at the MSU Baseball complex in a conference home series prior to this weekend was in 2008 when Nebraska Omaha accomplished the feat. Before that was in 2003 when Nebraska Omaha won all four games vs. MSU in Mankato. There's still a lot of the schedule left, though, so we don't see our guys fretting too much. And, just a reminder, the Mavericks, who are the defending league regular-season, post-season and regional champions, are scheduled to host the 2011 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference tournament at Franklin Rogers Park May 11-14.

As evidenced by a program best-ever start at 27-4, Lori Meyer has her Maverick softballers in fine form. Ranked eighth in the nation and 4-0 in NSIC play, MSU has won 11 of its last 12 games, but with 22 games to play before the conference tournament, still a ways to go here. Winona State is rated 11th and Augustana is 20th. Concordia (Minn.), currently ranked fourth in the region, looks also to be a factor and the fifth-rated team in the region (MSU is first in the region, Winona State second, Augustana third, Concordia fourth) is the defending regional champion from Metro State (Colo.).

The men's golf team will attempt to claim its third consecutive NSIC golf crown this weekend with the final three rounds of the five-round league tournament taking place at The Jewel in Lake City. At this point it looks like a two-horse race with the Mavericks owning a one-stroke edge over St. Cloud State at the top of the team leader board. Concordia stands in third place, 22 strokes back of the Mavericks.

The MSU women's golf team has a couple of invitational tournaments to play prior to the concluding rounds of the league tourney, which is scheduled for April 23-24 in Brandon, S.D. The Mavericks stand 49 strokes off the pace set by first-place Augustana, so have some work to do. Nick Campa's charges are attempting to qualify for the NCAA tournament for the fourth consecutive season and are coming off an 11th-place finish at last year's national championship tournament.

The Maverick Walk for Women's Scholarships is this weekend. A great event that's experienced growth every year and provides funding for MSU's female student-athletes.

That's about if for now. And, oh by the way, just got a text from Matt Magers. Our baseball games vs. Concordia WILL be played in St Paul tomorrow (Wednesday), as scheduled.

It's great to be a Maverick!

Riding the Wave

2011-03-27T16:58:00.000-07:00

It was a simple question.

"What effect does the Minnesota State men's basketball success this year have on MSU and the community?"

Under the guidance of head coach Matt Margenthaler, the Mavericks had just completed their 2010-11 season having advanced to the semi-finals of the NCAA Division II Elite 8 national championship tournament held in Springfield, Mass.

Over the course of the year MSU had crafted a 28-5 record and captured the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference regular-season title before hosting the NCAA Division II Central Region Tournament. The Mavericks won three straight games in claiming the regional title in earning their first-ever trip to the Elite 8. Margenthaler was NSIC and Region Coach of the Year. Senior forward Jefferson Mason was All-NSIC, All-Region and All-American. Senior forward Cameron Hodges was the NSIC Defensive Player of the Year and along with senior guard Marcus Hill, was also an All-NSIC selection.

As the season extended deeper into the season, attention continued to grow. The local media entities provided extensive coverage with KEYC featuring Maverick players and Coach Margenthaler as in-studio guests on a regular basis. The Mankato Free Press and the MSU Reporter provided their regular coverage during the season, but both entities devoted additional resources as the postseason evolved including printing comprehensive tabs for the eight-team NCAA Regional held in Mankato. And when the Mavericks went to Springfield for the championship tournament, so did personnel from both publications. Radio Mankato carries every Maverick men's basketball live with MSU Hall of Famer Casey Lloyd courtside on the mic. Casey called both Elite 8 games and while people tuned in on the radio, many others caught the broadcast via the world wide web streaming audio.

And the Twin Cities took notice as well with WCCO coming down for a feature and Margenthaler in demand for interview requests from KFAN and several other media outlets throughout the upper midwest. Margenthaler became the feature of a story in his hometown newspaper and the players were the subjects of stories in their hometown publications, as well. The Associated Press, the Minnesota News Network and the major newspapers in Minneapolis and St. Paul did pieces. The Mavericks were the subjects of innumerable postings on blogs, Facebook and Twitter feeds and Youtube videos.

At the Elite 8, MSU's quarterfinal win over Alabama-Huntsville was streamed live on NCAA.com and in addition to a couple of hundred students and staff watching the game on the big screen in Taylor Center, watch parties in bars and restaurants around town were overflowing with patrons. Same thing for the semi-final game against Bellarmine in which the Mavericks fell to the eventual national champions.

When we host a regional, as we have the past two years, people from all over come to Mankato to watch the games and they, as well as the seven other teams attending the tournament, stay in local hotels, partake at our restaurants and visit River Hills Mall.

"What effect does the Minnesota State men's basketball success this year have on MSU and the community?" Short term....see above. The long term answer is somewhat more complicated.

With the women's basketball team capturing a national championship two years ago and the men's team advancing to the Final Four, the University derives publicity and notoriety from coast to coast. Same thing when the other teams at MSU do well, too. While we're unsure exactly how many column inches, television features, blog postings, Youtube video uploads, Facebook and Twitter mentions these successes have generated, we can assume the public relations effect has been massive. Not only do our students currently attending MSU follow along with pride, but we can be assured that a large many of our 90,000 alums are proud to be associated with our teams as well.

What does it mean? Student-athletes want to compete and win, so the easy answer is that we've proven we can do that with these programs at Minnesota State. Recruiting is extremely important to the success of any collegiate team and when our coaches can tell potential student-athletes that not only can you come here and play in an unbelievably great facility like Taylor Center, they can also come here and have an opportunity to be a part of teams that will have a chance to compete for not only conference and regional championships, but national championships, as well. Pretty powerful stuff.

And, of course, there are other implications such as fundraising in that people want to be associated with successful entities. So, in theory, this should help us in our developmental activities. With our corporate partners, with our sponsors and advertisers, with those who purchase season and single-game tickets and with our alums who so generously give back to their alma mater.

The reality is that MSU has been to the NCAA postseason seven straight years and broke through to make the school's first appearance at the Elite 8 this year. While we pause to revel in this season's achievements for a moment, my sense is that the Minnesota State men's basketball program is still ascending.

Thanks for the wonderful ride, fellas - it's great to be a Maverick!

Ghosts on the Hardwood

2011-03-14T13:44:00.000-07:00

With five consecutive NCAA appearances, five conference titles in the last six years and the Mavericks prepping for a men's regional championship game tomorrow night in Taylor Center, it's been a great time for those whose passions run deep for Minnesota State Basketball.

Minnesota State has a proud history with the game played on the hardwood dating back to its inception at Mankato in 1921-22 under iconic first-year coach C.P. Blakeslee. Under Blakeslee, Mankato State Teachers College built a 123-85 record from 1921-22 to 1938-39 and in addition to capturing one Little Ten title in 1930-31, also won a Minnesota Teachers College Conference championship in 1932-33.

Head coach Jim Clark, who guided MTC for five years in the forties, had a 27-41 ledger before legendary Jim Witham came along. Witham, who was hired after coaching at Bemidji State, built a 160-73 record in Mankato while leading his team to seven conference titles and two national tournament appearances. His second team in 1946-47 advanced all the way to the National Association of Intercollegiate Basketball championship game, where it eventually fell to Marshall by a 78-59 margin. MSU's first basketball All-American Hank Epp was a member of this team and later on, near the end of Witham's career, other familiar names such Norm Ness, Manny Beckman, Lee Loewen, Bob Will, Hal Peper and Virg Goertzen and Duane Mettler emerged.

Bob Otto filled in for one season before one last year with Witham and then Bill Morris coached Mankato State College from 1956-57 until 1966-67. Morris guided his charges to a 134-112 mark and in addition to a pair of league titles, led the program to its first NCAA tournament appearance in 1963-64. After Morris pulled the pin in 1965-66, Art Ollrich put together a 9-38 mark the next two seasons and Red Severson crafted a 42-61 record from 1969-70 until 1972-73.

Lloyd "Butch" Raymond ushered in a period in which the Mavericks went 164-133 over the course of the next 11 seasons and in addition to a North Central Conference title in 1975-76, won a NIC crown in 1978-79. Raymond's 1978-79 team hosted a NAIA play-off game vs. St. John's (Minn.) in front of a huge crowd in Otto Arena. Raymond's Running Mavericks featured the dynamic back-court tandem of Gene Glynn and Curt Clark along with a player some have described as the North Central Conference's best-ever player in forward Elisha McSweeney.

Following Raymond's departure for St. Cloud State after the 1983-84 season, Dan McCarrell was brought in from North Park in Chicago and he led MSU to a 284-189 record in his 17 seasons at the helm. McCarrell, who recruited one of the top-scoring guards in the history of the program in sweet-shooting Brian Koepnick and also brought in Mankato native Pat Coleman - an All-American and the NCC's MVP in 1996, coached the team for 16 years in Otto Arena before christening Taylor Center in 2000-01.

That leads us to the current incarnation of the program. Since the 2001-02 campaign Matt Margenthaler has built a 217-85 record and is in his tenth year with the Mavericks. And under the former South Dakota State assistant the Mavericks can boast All-Americans such as Jamel Staten, Luke Anderson, Atila Santos and Travis Nelson. Senior guard Jefferson Mason will undoubtedly receive All-America consideration this year, as well.

You can bet that the luminaries of the program - from Hank Epp, Butch Meyeraan, Jon Hagen, Dewey Mettler, John Schultz and Gene Glynn to Brian Koepnick, Blaine Joerger, Pat Coleman, Drew Carlson, Kory Kettner, Monte Dufault, Paris Parham, Nick Ellenberger, Jevon Budde, Luke Anderson, Chris Whitfield, Tony Thomason, Jesse Clark et al - will all be watching with pride as the Mavericks take on Ft. Lewis Tuesday in the NCAA Division II Central Region championship game on their home hardwood.

It's great to be a Maverick!

It's Not Over

2011-02-25T10:10:00.000-08:00

Just some recent items regarding goings-on with schools and leagues relative to the NSIC, the WCHA and Minnesota State Athletics.

The transition for Nebraska Omaha from the CCHA to the WCHA has gone quite well for the Mavericks. And according to Tom Shatel...UNO fits the WCHA Like a Glove.

And speaking of schools joining leagues, 'twould appear that the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference is open for business. We're hearing that the RMAC has extended invitations to three schools. Black Hills State, South Dakota School of Mines and Eastern New Mexico are in the mx and you can find coverage regarding this development here, here, here and here. Along with teams from the NSIC, teams from the RMAC make up the NCAA Division II Central Region.

Long-time St. Cloud State director of athletics Morris Kurtz announced that he intends to retire at the conclusion of the 2011-12 school year. That announcement was followed by another in which SCSU announced that former University of North Dakota men's hockey coach and athletic director Gino Gasparini has been hired as "special advisor of athletics." Not sure exactly what this means, and we could be wrong, but it seems unlikely that Gino is the "Athletic Director in Waiting." He was the Sioux men's hockey coach from 1978-94 and served as the AD up until he left the school in 1994. He was the commissioner of the United States Hockey League for 13 years up until 2009. Morris Kurtz announces his retirement now to give the school 16 months to work on finding its replacement. More likely Gino is brought in to assist with the renovations of the National Hockey Center, fundraising and the potential break-up up the WCHA. Interesting, though that this announcement comes on the heels of administrative cuts within Athletics at SCSU.

Here's hoping you all have a good weekend. It's great to be a Maverick!

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end

2011-02-15T13:47:00.000-08:00

Just some random thoughts as we wrap the comforting blanket around us that is the traditional second college sports crossover season.

For us here at Minnesota State that means we start thinking of the possibility of hosting a men's basketball regional for the second consecutive year. The Mavericks were #1 in the region last week. We defeated St. Cloud State Friday, but dropped a 79-73 decision to Concordia Saturday, so there is some uncertainty that the top spot will be retained. MSU is rated 14th in the most-recent national poll. The next highest-rated team in the poll in our region is Colorado School of Mines, which comes in at #20, but is riding a 12-game winning streak. So, that being said, we'd like to think that we'll still be rated #1 once the poll comes out tomorrow (Tuesday). MSU has three regular-season games remaining prior to the start of the NSIC tourney March 2.

Others soon heading to the postseason include women's hockey (WCHA first round games are Feb. 25-27), men's hockey (WCHA first round games are March 11-13), women's basketball(NSIC tourney, March 2), men's and women's indoor track (NSIC Championship meet in Bemidji, Feb. 25-26), wrestling (NCAA regional tourney, Feb. 27 in Sioux Falls) and swimming (Midwest Conference Championship meet in Omaha, March 16-19) and diving (conference championship in Mankato this Friday and Saturday).

There's that and then there's the official start to our spring seasons. Men's and women's tennis are both well underway. Softball started its year this past weekend with a pair of wins over Mount Mercy in the UNI Dome. Baseball starts its season March 4 in Florida with a slate of nonconference games over the course of nine days. The women's golf team will also get going over the course of spring break with a trip to California the second week of March. The men start March 27-29 with a tournament in Wayne, Neb.

Good times. It's great to be a Maverick!

A One-on-One Chat With Adrian Battles

2011-01-25T12:21:00.001-08:00


Battles went to training camp this past summer with the Minnesota Vikings

As mentioned earlier, MavBlog set up a phone interview with Green Bay Packer practice squad player Adrian Battles who is gearing up for next week’s Super Bowl. Battles took a few minutes to chat with us Tuesday and this is how the conversation went.

Mavblog: Has it sunk in yet, going to the Super Bowl?

Adrian Battles: It really hasn’t sunk in yet. I have gotten a lot of phone calls from my family. It is starting to sink in more once we travel to Dallas on Monday.

MB: So you went to training camp with the Vikings and got cut during the final cut down day. After that you don’t get picked up until December. Walk us through that process

AB: When I got released, it was a hard time for me. A lot people would give up at that time, but I used it as a positive and trained harder each and every week. I felt like it would come some day that I would get picked up by another team. I just tried to stay positive during the whole situation, train hard each and every day and always have positive. When the call finally came from the Packers, it was like a dream come true, because they had always been my favorite team growing up. I live 100 miles from this place and it was unbelievable. When I got this call, it was a dream come true and I came here just ready to work.

MB: When you joined this team, did you see a deep playoff run?

AB: I knew that they had a rough season with some tough losses and players on injured reserve. When I got here it was clear that it was playoff mode already with the last two games of the season being must win games to get into the playoffs. I felt like, even when I was a fan of this team that they had the firepower to get into the playoffs, especially with the quarterback, Aaron Rodgers. Just watching the guys practice and watching how much they wanted it, I knew it was a possibility. They went out and performed the last two weeks of the season and got a late playoff push and we got a lot of momentum.

MB: When you got into that locker room for the first time, was it hard to separate yourself as a fan and as a player or did it come naturally?

AB: It was kind of natural. Starting with meetings on that first day that I got here, they made it feel like a family. Everyone was on my side, cracking jokes and stuff like that and it made me feel at home when I got here, so it helped a lot.

MB: Postseason games, did you get make any travel?

AB: No.

MB: But you do get to go to Dallas… What is your mindset going into that?

AB: I am going to soak it all in. Every football player, college and even the NFL veterans, you watch the game from the couch every year with a dream of going there. If you asked me when I got released from the Vikings, that I would be going to the Super Bowl and be a part of and be on a team that was in it, I wouldn’t even know what to say. I am going to soak it in, we got a couple of work days but I am going to enjoy every minute of it.

MB: Is there anything in particular you are looking forward to down there?

AB: The entire thing. I am looking forward to being on the sidelines for that game and watching it up close. All the fans and cameras flashing, it’ll be crazy.

MB: When you left here did you envision this happening this fast or was it what you thought it would be?

AB: Leaving MSU, I knew it was going to be an uphill battle coming from a small school. I always felt if I worked hard enough, I felt I would be able to show someone or some team that I was capable of giving it a shot. When I got the shot with Minnesota, it made even more hungry when I got cut. I felt like I could find a home in this league. I feel like I have found a home here.

MB: Talk about your time at MSU, who had the biggest impact on you

AB: Mike Cunningham, the offensive line coach. He has had a great impact on me. He always treated me like a son, checked on my grades, brought me over for dinner and stuff like that. He had the biggest impact. He always had a positive outlook on things. When I got there, things didn’t go my way right away and he always told me that better days were going to come.

MB: Talk about Mike and how he helped you prepare to get to this level.

AB: He is a great offensive line coach. He is really detailed on what he teaches us. He learns a lot by going to camps himself in the offseason and he relays the information himself onto us. A lot of the stuff I learned from him I was able to use that when I got here. Combing that with my athletic ability, I think that is part of the reason I have been able to excel so fast. He taught me a lot of technique things that have helped me out a lot.

MB: Have the Packers given you any indication on the future?

AB: I am going to be here in the future.

Super Bowl Bound

2011-01-23T16:07:00.000-08:00

By virtue of the Green Bay Packers 21-14 victory over the Chicago Bears this afternoon, former Minnesota State offensive lineman Adrian Battles and his employer - the Green Bay Packers - are Super Bowl Bound.

Battles, who is a member of the practice squad, will help the Packers prep for the Super Bowl, which will be held Feb. 6, 2011, in Arlington, Tex.

Look for more on MavBlog in the near future, including hopefully, an exclusive interview with Battles. Until then, you can follow him on twitter.com/absworld77.

So whether you are a fan of the Packers or not, it will be tough to cheer against a former Maverick and his team in this year's Super Bowl.

As always, it is great to be a Maverick.

Closing the Book on Expansion & More

2011-01-21T06:21:00.000-08:00

Another busy weekend of Maverick Athletics. Men's hockey is on the road at Wisconsin for a big WCHA series. The Mankato Freep's Shane Frederick previews the series HERE.

The women's hockey team travels to Bemidji to take on the Beavers while the Beavers hoops squads travel to Mankato this evening for a date with the Mavericks. Always great to play Bemidji State, but even better now that former Athletic Communications GA Dax Larson is working for BSU and making the trip down.

Speaking of Dax, he will be the guest on Maverick Magazine today at 10 am (CST) on KMSU. You can listen live HERE

The MSU swimming and diving team travel to the UW Stevens Point Invite this weekend while the Maverick Bowlers are in action in the Big Red Invitational hosted by the University of Nebraska.

Track and Field will spill their competition up over three venues this weekend. MSU will send participants to the Iowa State Open, the UW Stout Invite and the University of Minnesota in what expects to be another great weekend of Maverick track and field.

Last night, the MSU wrestlers, ranked seventh in the nation, survived a dual against MSU Moorhead, earning a 19-18 win. You can read about the victory, HERE

Thought I would wrap-up the expansion talk with a bunch of links from around the league regarding the addition of the University of Sioux Falls and Minot State.

Mankato Free Press: HERE (There is an additional story in the print and on-line subscriber version as well).

Sioux Fall Argus Leader: Here (Story) (Blog): Here (Blog): Here

Minot Daily News: Here

St. Cloud Times: Here

Winona Daily News: HERE

Since we are closing the book on some info, HERE is an updated link on the Metrodome and how it could take up to six months to repair.

Thanks for reading and remember, it is Great to be a Maverick

Oh my, yes....Minot State and the University of Sioux Falls Are Both in

2011-01-20T21:24:00.000-08:00

The results have been tabulated and both Minot State and the University of Sioux Falls have both been accepted as the newest members of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. The addition of the Beavers and the Cougars in 2012-13 gives the NSIC 16 teams.

Plenty of stuff to read on this development including these right here, here, here and here.

The link to Minot State's website is located here and the USF website is located here.

It's great to be a Maverick.

Sixteen Candles?

2011-01-18T15:15:00.000-08:00

Currently there are 14 members of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. Come Thursday afternoon it could be 16. Or maybe still 14.

The University of Sioux Falls has announced that it will hold a press conference Thursday to share information regarding the decision by the the NSIC Board of Directors. USF's press release regarding the press conference is located here.

The Sioux Falls Argus Leader's Matt Zimmer offered up a fairly lengthy piece detailing the subject of USF's and Minot State's candidacy for the NSIC about a week ago and that appears here.

It's great to be a Maverick.

Brownlee's New Video is Out

2011-01-03T12:57:00.000-08:00

Former Minnesota State defenseman Chad Brownlee's new video, which debuted Dec. 26 (Boxing Day for you Canadians out there), is entitled "Day After You" and is now available on youtube.

Brownlee, who played for the Mavericks from 2003-07 after matriculating for a couple of years of junior hockey in the British Columbia Hockey League, is a rising star in the Canadian country music ranks.

Here's the link to Chad's video....enjoy.

It's great to be a Maverick.

The Sky Is Falling

2010-12-30T07:40:00.000-08:00

Well, okay, maybe not literally, but as everyone knows by now, the sky did fall on the HHH Metrodome in Minneapolis on Dec. 12 (video can be found HERE for those who somehow missed it).

Not only did the Dome collapse screw up two of the remaining four Minnesota Viking games, it is now effecting some 300 college baseball games this up coming winter and spring. Mavblog spoke with Minnesota State head coach Matt Magers today and he had this to say about the Dome, "The biggest thing is you can't control the weather. Even if it is not in the Dome, baseball in Minnesota, in the spring, weather is something you have to deal with. We are trying to decide if we go back to Colorado in February or down to Missouri or add a couple of games on our spring trip. There are other teams in our situation so now it is the matter of getting together with them, finding a location and seeing if we can play."

Several newspapers around the NSIC have localized this story, including the Argus Leader, The St. Cloud Times, Minneapolis Star Tribune (part two of the Stibs Coverage) and the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

The Mavericks were slated to play four series (eight games) in the MetroDome, including their season opener on Feb. 15, against Lincoln. MSU was also to play Concordia in a nonconference twinbill (Feb. 18), as well as nonconference double-dips against the University of Mary (March 14) and Bemidji State (March 22).

Here is a breakdown of how the NSIC will be affected by the Dome's temporary closing (unofficially)

School Dome Games
Bemidji State 16
St. Cloud State 16
Concordia 10
Minnesota State 8
Winona State 8
Wayne State 8
Minnesota Duluth 6
Minnesota, Crookston 6
Southwest Minnesota State 6
Northern State 4
Augustana 4
U-Mary 3
Upper Iowa 0
Total 95

Providing the estimates of 300 games will be played in the Dome this winter are accurate, 31.6 percent of them were to include teams from the NSIC.

Finally a non-baseball related read. Tuesday night, the University of Iowa defeated Missouri, 27-24, in the Insight.com Bowl. One of Iowa's Co-MVPs for the season is senior defensive lineman Karl Klug, twin brother of former Maverick (and 2009 First-Team All-NSIC South Division Linebacker) Kevin Klug. The Winona Daily News ran THIS story on the brothers, well worth the read.

In closing, we in the Athletic Communications Office wish everyone a Happy and Safe 2011!

Go Mavericks

Merry Christmas from the Mavericks!

2010-12-22T20:22:00.000-08:00

Former MSU DB Dan Rotchadl mans the Red Kettle

So I'm heading to Walmart for some last minute stuff and on my way into the store, as I'm dropping a buck into the Salvation Army kettle, the guy ringing the bell and wearing the Santa hat says to me...."Merry Christmas, PA!" It was noneother than former Maverick safety Dan Rotchadl!

Rotch, who played for MSU from 1975-79, is a former head football coach at Loyola High School here in Mankato where he skippered the Crusaders for six seasons. Dan has served as a clock operator at Maverick football home games for the past several seasons and took Loyola to the state tournament in 2007.

A very Merry Christmas back at yah, Rotch and to everyone out there in Maverick Country, a very Merry Christmas to you as well!

All the best to you all from everyone at Minnesota State Athletics.

It's great to be a Maverick.

Field of Dreams......

2010-12-17T06:32:00.000-08:00

Add caption

Every little girl dreams of being in a movie someday. For former Minnesota State softball player Erin Goettlicher that childhood dream came true.

Goettlicher - a Mankato native - and MSU softball standout from 1998-2001 appears in a cameo role in the new Reese Witherspoon comedy, "How Do You Know?"

The Mankato Freep's Amanda Dylson penned an article about Goettlicher in today's print edition of the paper. Unfortunately the story never made it to the online edition of the paper's website but a check back to the www.mankatofreepress.com often to see if it gets posted.

For those who don't remember, Goettlicher went onto play professional softball on the East Coast following her career at Minnesota State. HERE is a link to Jim Rueda's column from 2007 discussing Goettlicher's exploits.

You can follow Goettlicher on Twitter by clicking HERE

Below you will find the trailer for "How Do You Know?"

Snowpes

2010-12-13T11:47:00.000-08:00

Yeah, we live in Minnesota, so typically a few inches of snowfall and a drop in the temperature in the second week of December isn't really that big of a deal. But this past weekend was, as Ron Burgundy would say, "kind of a big deal."

After freezing rain late Friday, the worst part of this winter storm came rolling through Saturday with about nine inches of snow accompanied by strong winds causing drifting and white-out conditions that would have made Yetis in Nepal cringe.

We were able to get our women's hockey game vs. Bemidji State in, but with on-ice officials unable to make it to Mankato for the MSU vs. North Dakota men's hockey game later in the evening, that game was postponed until yesterday (Sunday, Dec. 12).

In case you were wondering if a postponed WCHA game is unusual, the folks from North Dakota don't think they've ever had a game cancelled or postponed and that program dates back to the 1929 season. The University of Minnesota, by the way, also postponed its men's and women's hockey games from Saturday to Sunday. And our men's and women's basketball teams and our wrestling team, which were in St. Cloud for Saturday competition, ended up spending the night in St. Cloud.

It's great to be a Maverick.

Friday Funday & Link-O-Rama

2010-12-10T07:57:00.000-08:00

A George Jones once sang, it's Finally Friday and this is the last "busy" Friday prior to the New Year.

The Minnesota State men's and women's hoops teams open a four-game roadtrip tonight, while the men's and women's hockey teams close the books on a pair of four-game homestands this weekend.

Additionally, the Maverick wrestling squad will head to the Granite City (good ole St. Cloud for those who aren't down with the Upper Midwest vernacular) to participate in the St. Cloud State Open, its final tune-up before next week's ever so prestigious Reno Tournament of Champions.

Lots to read about with Maverick Athletics in the paper over the last couple of days.

The Maverick men's hockey team is playing well right now following four consecutive victories including its first-ever home sweep against Minnesota. Sophomore netminder Phil Cook turned away 82 of the 85 shots he faced last weekend and was named the league's Co-Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts. The Mankato Free Press's Shane Frederick previewed this weekend's WCHA series with North Dakota and highlight cook in this article. Senior forward Ryan Galiardi previews the weekend for a video on msumavericks.com which can be found HERE.

For those wondering about this weekend's series with North Dakota, tickets are still available for each night - contact the Verizon Wireless Civic Center (507.389.3000) for details.

A final couple of notes on last weekend's win over Minnesota - video highlights of the sweep can be found HERE. Head coach Troy Jutting and sophomore Eriah Hayes join Paul Allan and Kyle Bradt on the Maverick Magazine today at 10 a.m. (CST). To listen live, click HERE or listen to the podcast HERE.

The women's hockey team looks to get back on track this weekend as it hosts Bemidji State in its final series before the holiday break. Head Coach Eric Means previews the weekend in a video which can be found HERE.

The Maverick men's and women's basketball team take to the road this weekend to open a four-game roadtrip. The Mavericks play tonight at Concordia University (women's game starts at 5:30, men's at 7:30) and then tomorrow afternoon and evening at St. Cloud State (women's game at 4, men's at 6). Always a great roadtrip. Livestats and live video for the weekend can be found on the schedule page on msumavericks.com for each team.

Juniors Laura Weber and Lauren Barber preview the weekend in video which can be found HERE. Additionally, Chad Courrier pens this column in today's Mankato Free Press about the men's basketball team, discussing how the team is tougher this year and playing better defense.

A live chat with Scott Nelsen will be available for both the men's and women's games this weekend. The link for the chat can be found HERE.

In a follow up to Mavblog's discussion with head wrestling coach Jim Makovsky following his hip replacement surgery, Jim Reuda of the Mankato Free Press inked this column about Makovsky.

In closing former Maverick golfer Bryant Black - now a graduate student at Minnesota State - was mentioned in a front-page story today in the Freep about his class collecting and donating new and used sports equipment to charity. The article can be found HERE

One last sidenote. It was reported this morning that the voice of the Maverick men's hockey program and Oldies 100.5 FM Deejay Mike "Sully" Sullivan as playing this classic Christmas hit. Enjoy.

Taking Solace

2010-12-02T18:18:00.000-08:00

Jim Makovsky

"I wasn't the best technician in amateur wrestling. But I was strong, had great conditioning, and a hard head. Nobody could break me." Brock Lesnar, former NCAA wrestling and UFC heavyweight champion.

You can see it in his eyes. Minnesota State coach Jim Makovsky thrives on working in the wrestling room with his team. He'd played football and wrestled at Valley City State (N.D.) as a student-athlete prior to embarking on his now lengthy coaching career and the years of drilling with the boys have started to take its toll. Makovsky, who's in his 18th year with the Maverick wrestling program, recently had his right hip replaced and although the pain from the procedure is undoubtedly tremendous, you just know that not being able to work like he normally would with his team is something he's struggling that pains him even more.

MavBlog: "I suppose this hip-replacement thing isn't something that just cropped up."

Makovsky: "(laughing) No, no. It's been chronic for a while and have known since 2004 that I was going to have to get this done eventually."

MavBlog: "Can you describe what you had done and how's the recovery going?"

Makovsky: "I had what's called a Birmingham Hip Resurfacing Procedure. Basically it's a pretty new procedure for people that are younger and active and need hip replacement. I was pretty excited to have this rather than the other procedure which involves a total hip replacement. You retain more bone with this process."

"The recovery is going o.k. It's probably been mentally harder than physically. I'm not good at sitting around. I like being around the program with the comaraderie you have with the guys. I like the work part of it and being around positive people. I started rehab right away and I'm at the point now where it's more of a workout pain and feels pretty good."

MavBlog: "Where does it go from here?"

Makosky: "I'm going to listen to my doctors and physical therapists. Try not to push too much, which I'm not good at. I'm not going to to our meet at UNI this weekend and that was a tough decision. But long term it will be good for me."

MavBlog: "What are your thoughts on the team this year and have you had a chance to be back into the room this week?"

Mavovsky: "It's tough, because we're relatively inexperienced and don't have that national championship meet experience you like to see. But I think we have a chance to be good. We won't really know what we have until we get into the second half of the season. But, I love our guys. I'm not sure if they were happy to see me or not when I came into the room today. They gave me some grief about my cane, but that's the nature of our guys. Just another experience along the way."

Currently ranked seventh in the nation, Minnesota State is at the UNI Open in Cedar Falls, Iowa this weekend.

It's great to be a Maverick.

Anthony Herrera and Pilosec OTC

2010-11-27T19:42:00.000-08:00

There are five words you never thought you would see on MavBlog, but here's an explanation. Minnesota Viking offensive lineman Anthony Herrera shot a commercial for Prilosec OTC during training camp and Minnesota State was showcased throughout (great shots of Blakeslee Stadium, Julia Sears Dorms, the weight room, the locker room, etc.). Additionally, a Mankato staple - Zanz - was also shown in the piece. The extended version of the commercial - nearly two minutes long - can be found below. Pretty cool to see MSU on a national spot!

Mavericks Continue to Give Back

2010-11-24T06:37:00.000-08:00

KEYC did a feature last night (Tuesday) on the Engineers Without Borders who are traveling El Salvador. Former Minnesota State golfer Kassie Ellsworth is among those making the trip. KEYC did a piece on the group, which can be found HERE while the Free Press wrote an article about the group, HERE.

Kenny the Kicker Stops By

2010-11-17T12:30:00.000-08:00

Ken Navitsky with NCC championship ring

Former Minnesota State (he would say Mankato State) football placekicker Kenny Navitsky stopped by the office today, just to say hello.

Kenny, a Sarasota, Fla., native who played here from 1991-94 and was a part of a MSU team that captured a North Central Conference title in1993, still owns school records for season and career PATs made, career field goals attempted and career points.

MavBlog took the opportunity to ask "The Kicker" a few questions.

Tell us a little about your favorite memories from playing football with the Mavericks.
"Well, you know the team from that time, the coaches, the campus. It seemed like we were all one, culminating with that great team in '93 with the conference championship, beating Missouri Southern in a first round game and then playing the Fighting Sioux up in Grand Forks in the NCAA quarterfinals. We had a great team, obviously, and they (UND) did the one thing we thought no team could do against us. They beat us twice. We were 10-3 that year and they got us once during the regular season, we lost at home to SDSU in a shootout and then we lost to UND in the playoffs."

How does the school look now to you after all these years?
"It's a whole different level now. It's almost like a health spa. Everything's so open and beautiful. The mall across the street looks a lot different. The student union is beautiful and has all the amenities. The new buildings, the walkways. The name of the school has changed since we were all here. We often wonder what it would be like if we had this when were were here. My gosh, I think about the old weight room we had under your office in the hallway Otto Arena compared with what we have here now. Everything's so nice, we're all so happy these changes have been made and it makes me proud to be an alum."

What are you up to these days?
"I rep for Forest Healthcare. I also travel the country on weekends as a professional MC in the monster truck industry. I volunteer coach for the RCTC football program (they play in the North Star Bowl this weekend). I'm on the zoning and planning commission in Rochester and I'm heavily involved in the running of Team Navitsky which consists of my wife, Kelly (who was a MSU cheerleader), my son Parker (8) and daughter Peyton (10). Life is good."

It's great to be a Maverick.

Backes Inks Contract Extension

2010-11-12T12:59:00.000-08:00

Former Minnesota State forward David Backes has signed a five-year extension with the St. Louis Blues. Backes, who was in the final year of his current deal, has spent all five of his professional seasons in St. Louis and is now under contract with the team until the 2016 season. The Blues issued a release on the signing, which can be found HERE. Last night, Backes scored his second goal of the season (sits 2-4--6 on the campaign) in a 3-2 shootout loss to Nashville.

Backes comments on the extension can be found HERE

General Manager Doug Armstrong's comments on Backes' extension can be found HERE.

Finally, Backes netted his second goal of the season last night in a 3-2 shootout loss to Nashville. Backes, who sits 2-4--6 on the season, absolutely blew up a Nashville defender prior to his goal, which can be found HERE.

King Pins

2010-11-03T10:50:00.000-07:00

Not sure how many instances there of of this, but the MSU women’s bowling program head coach is also the director of compliance and eligibility for the Maverick women’s bowling program.

Shane Drahota, who is in his second year skippering the MSU keglers after guiding the team to a 48-42 in 2009-10, is in his second go-round with MSU and in his fourth year with the department in his current role.

Drahota has compliance responsibilities that relate to all university, conference and NCAA rules and regulations governing the operation of intercollegiate athletics. He supervises ongoing rules and compliance education programs for university staff, administrators, coaches and student-athletes. He is the primary resource person for all athletically related rules, regulations and interpretations. He certifies eligibility and financial aid for the more than 600 MSU student-athletes, and is the department liaison for all academic reporting (retention, graduation & other statistical data) to the NCAA.

So, yeah, combined with coaching responsibilities with the bowling program, he’s a busy individual.

Given his intercollegiate background, however, Drahota should have a pretty clear understanding of the intercollegiate athletics culture. A native of nearby Jackson, Minn., where he played high school baseball, football and basketball, Drahota started working on a degree in business at the University of Minnesota before transferring to MSU. Recruited to work in MSU’s athletic communications office as a sophomore, he spent eight years assisting with publicizing Maverick teams, student-athletes and coaches before becoming an assistant director of athletics at the University of South Dakota in 2006. He returned to Mankato in 2007 when he accepted his current role handling the school’s athletics compliance and eligibility.

“Honestly, it's challenging, but ultimately rewarding," said Drahota summing up his feelings regarding juggling his responsibilities. "I've certainly gained a greater appreciation what the demands on our coaches are from a compliance point of view. Hopefully this had benefitted me, as well as our coaches. As far as bowling goes, I'm pretty lucky that I have a great bunch of student-athletes I get to work with on a daily basis. And, I will say this. I really do love MSU and am appreciative for what the school has given me. To get the chance to come back, still be here, I must lead a charmed life."

Seth Wickersham of ESPN the Magazine penned this article entitled Internal Affairs back in August and it covers alot of what college athletics compliance and eligibility directors do. You might find it interesting.

It's great to be a Maverick.

NSIC Showcase

2010-10-28T11:31:00.000-07:00

The first installment of the Northern Sun Showcase will debut on Fox Sports North Friday, October 29th at 6:00 p.m. followed by re-broadcasts on Sunday, October 31st at 10:30 p.m., Monday, November 1st at 10:00 p.m. and on Tuesday, November 2nd at 7:30 a.m. The show will have a feature on the Augustana Women's Golf Team, UMD's All-American Cross Country runner Morgan Place, a story on SMSU Football Player Derek Klinkner, a look at the fall sports as well as a look ahead at the winter sports. There will also be a update on the NSIC's NCAA Woman of the Year Award finalist Mary Slinger of Concordia-St. Paul.

Additionally, you can listen to the NSIC weekly radio show on our website by going to "Podcasts" under multi-media.

Speaking of radio shows, another installment of Maverick Magazine comes tomorrow at 10 a.m., on 89.7 KMSU. You can listen online HERE. Tomorrow's show will feature MSU junior setter Brittany Stamer and a soccer player to be named later. If you can't listen live, be sure to check out the podcast of the show on the aforementioned Podcasts page on www.msumavericks.com

Until next time- It's Great to be a Maverick

Saturday in October

2010-10-23T15:15:00.000-07:00

Former Minnesota State men's hockey trainer Jason Bushie, who now works with the men's hockey team at Colorado College, just characterized today as a Hound of the Baskervilles kind of day. And, given the 70 degree temperature and 70% humidity, he just might be right.

Truly a great day in Mankato that started off with the inaugural running of the Mankato Marathon. Today's festivities, which included a KidsK, a 10K and a half marathon, featured more than 2,000 entrants in the marathon. For those of us in MSU Athletics, we proudly join women's cross country/track and field coach Jen Blue in celebrating her first-place finish in the women's division of the marathon. Blue, who was running in her fourth marathon, turned in a personal-best time of 3:06 in finishing 21st overall. Her husband, MSU men's hockey coach Darren Blue, is believed to have provided many great training tips for Jen.

And just to recap yesterday, in addition to the MSU men's hockey team getting its first win of the season with a 5-4 victory over #19 Colorado College, the MSU women's hockey team also picked up a big win with a 4-2 victory over #6 North Dakota at All Seasons Arena. UND, which features Olympians Monique and Jocelyne Lamoureux, was coming off of a two-game sweep of Minnesota. Also Friday, the #14 Maverick women's volleyball team captured a 3-1 NSIC win over Upper Iowa at Taylor Center. So, yeah, a pretty good night for Maverick Athletics.

Gary Mielke

And thought I might pass this along. I was doing some baseball research this morning and came across a site that's mission is to do in-depth biographies of every player who has played at least one game in the major leagues. A Herculean-task no doubt as www.baseball-almanac.com lists the number of people who have achieved this feat at 16,219. The site is a work in progress, and the long story short here is that of the 1,454 bios that have been completed, two are of former Maverick baseball players. Gary Mielke's bio appears here. And Jerry Terrell's bio is available here. They're still working on bios for Bob Will and Todd Revenig.

It's great to be a Maverick.

Soccer Team Giving Back To Community

2010-10-15T12:22:00.000-07:00

The Minnesota State soccer program returns to the friendly confines of The Pitch at Gage Towers this weekend after a three-game roadtrip. The Mavericks open competition Saturday at Noon against Minnesota, Crookston before hosting MSU Moorhead Sunday at 1 p.m.

Despite the action on the field, the Mavericks have been busy in the community as well. This afternoon (Friday) the Mavericks will host the hold a clinic with the Mankato United Top Soccer Program, a group which teaches soccer to students with special needs in the Mankato Area. Head coach Peter McGahey, sophomore Cassie Weik and redshirt freshman Ashley Sjkora stopped by the KEYC Studios Thursday afternoon to discuss the event. You can see footage of their inteview, HERE.

Additionally, Saturday, the Mavericks will wear pink uniforms in honor of those who are battling breast cancer and those who have survived the disease. The weekend concludes Sunday with Youth Soccer and Tops Soccer recognition day.

Minnesota State, owners of a four-game winning streak, stands 7-4-1 on the season and 5-1-1 in the NSIC.

Friday Readings

2010-10-08T12:20:00.000-07:00

As mentioned last week, crossover season officially begins this weekend with the start of men's and women's hockey. In four and a half weeks, the Maverick wrestling squad will take the mat when they participate in the Iowa State Open.

Senior Ben Becker returns to the mat this year for the Mavericks after a 20-17 season last season and earning his second straight trip to the NCAA Tournament. Becker, a 174-pounder from Fort Dodge, Iowa, joins 125-pounder Andy Forstner as the only seniors on the Maverick wrestling squad this season.

Speaking of Becker, he has recently been named a finalist for Cosmopolitan Magazine's 2010 Bachelor Blowout, an honor which he was nominated for by his sister. Robb Murray of the Mankato Free Press penned a piece on Becker and Cosmo and it appeared in today's paper. You can read the story, HERE. You can also read Becker's bio on Cosmo's website, HERE.

Speaking of the Free Press, Shane Frederick wrote a piece on Maverick senior captain Ariel Mackley. The article, which can be found HERE, discusses the hockey exploits of Ariel and her older sisters Brittany (who played at MSU from 2004-08) and Melissa (who played at Gustavus from 2006-10). Additionally, Freddy also wrote this piece on Rylan Galiardi in today's paper, you can find the link HERE

In the event you missed Maverick Magazine (airs every Friday during the school year on www.kmsu.org and 89.7 fm) PA and I sat down with the one and only Casey Lloyd to discuss the 2010 Minnesota State Hall of Fame ceremonies. The show – which is available on podcast – can be found HERE. I invite you to sit back, pour yourself a big bowl of Green Chilli, and enjoy.

The St. Cloud Times took a look at the connection between Minnesota State AD Kevin Buisman, St. Cloud State Head Coach Scott Underwood and Minnesota Duluth AD/Head Coach Bob Nielsen. The story can be found HERE.

Finally, as mentioned in a previous blog post, the Traveling Training Kit is up for grabs this weekend. Check out a video below to see how important the kit is to several of Minnesota State's seniors.

Happenings

2010-10-06T12:54:00.000-07:00

There's a buzz in these parts these days. The Wild season is about to start (Thursday vs. Carolina in Helsinki, Finland). And, obviously, in addition to Randy Moss heading back to play for the Vikings, the Minnesota Twins host the Yankees in the first round of the American League play-offs beginning tonight at Target Field.

Speaking of the Twins, one of the commercials that's received regular play talks about grass roots baseball in the state. Youth baseball, high school baseball and amateur ball. Take a close look and you will see Maverick head baseball coach Matt Magers featured for a split second throwing for his town team in Gaylord, Minn. He's the southpaw in the purple #33 at the :13 mark. It's great to be a Maverick!

Crossover Season is Officially Upon Us

2010-10-01T08:30:00.000-07:00

Today the Calendar turns to Oct. 1. Not usually a major moment over the course of the year, but for the next six to eight weeks this is what is known as "Crossover Season" in the business.

The Maverick football, cross country, golf, volleyball and soccer teams are all in full force right now and the men's and women's hockey teams will open up their season next week. Not too far down the line is the opening of the men's and women's swimming and diving season as well as Midnight Madness, signifying the beginning of the 2010-11 men's and women's basketball season.

This is one of my most favorite times of the year. Sure we stay busy but the campus and the website is buzzing with news on all of our programs.

Yesterday (Thursday) the Maverick soccer squad earned a 9-0 win over Southwest Minnesota State. It was a beautiful day on the Pitch and a great win by the Mavericks. The win pushed MSU's record to 4-4-1 on the season heading into a nonconference trip this weekend to former North Central Conference and current NCAA Division I opponent North Dakota.

On the way out to soccer I took an opportunity to snap a photo of the Maverick volleyball team practicing in the Taylor Center. Minnesota State - which is ranked #13 in the nation - hosts Minnesota, Crookston (10/1, 7 p.m.) and Minnesota State Moorhead (10/2, 4 p.m.) this weekend to open a four-game homestand. Check out this video with Dennis Amundson as he discusses this weekend's matches. The video can be viewed HERE

Here's a fun little tidbit for you: There are currently five teams from the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference ranked in the top-13 in the nation, including the top-three teams (Minnesota Duluth #1, Wayne State #2 and Southwest Minnesota State #3). Three-time defending national champion Concordia University is ranked #6. As Anna Schultz once said, "It goes without saying that the NSIC is arguably the best volleyball league in the nation."

Leaving soccer I noticed the Maverick softball team - fresh off its fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance - holding one of its fall workouts. Kind of weird to see softball in the fall but the photo snapped shows just how beautiful of a day it was in the Key City.

The Maverick football team takes to the road this weekend as it travels to Winona State to take on the Warriors at 6 p.m., Saturday evening. The game will have an interesting twist as Minnesota State junior linebacker Ross Jirgl will face his brother - Winona State senior linebacker - Ryan Jirgl. Ross took a few moments to discuss playing against his brother and you can find that interview HERE.

Next weekend is Homecoming here at Minnesota State which is always exciting. It will be even more exciting with St. Cloud State coming to town for the game. Of course when these two teams get together they play for one of the best traveling trophies in all of sports - The Traveling Training Kit. And it's not just my opinion on the awesomeness of the TTK, check out THIS story by ESPN a few years ago on the top-10 traveling trophies. In addition to the Homecoming festivities, the Mavericks will also induct four former student-athletes (Gene Bygd - Track and Field '72, Patt Dunn - multi-sports '52, Josh Nelsen - football '04 and Heidi Schnagl Ulwelling - Volleyball '95) as well as former administrator Jim Schaffer and swimming and diving coach Phil Rhoade. Additionally the 1979 and 1980 baseball squads will be inducted. To view the release on this year's HOF class, click HERE.

Finally, the Minnesota Timberwolves just wrapped up training camp here in Mankato. The camp - which lasted just five days - allowed new Timberwolf Michael Beasley and new Maverick Andre Gilbert the opportunity to reconnect. Both played at Kansas State. Chad Courrier of the Mankato Free Press discussed the two's relationship HERE.

That's a lot to digest, but there you have it. Remember, it is GREAT to be a Maverick.

Guiding Light

2010-09-30T12:49:00.000-07:00

At this point last year we here at MSU were making the transition from our old website to our new website. And at the same time we were making a transition in our publications, having made a decision that while we would still produce media guides, the documents would be available, primarily, to the public electronically.

Probably not that big a deal to most of you, but to our coaches and to some members of the media, this was a lightning bolt (yeah, I know, everything's relative). Although the industry had been headed this way for some time, the tipping point for us was a budgetary one. We needed funding to build a new departmental website and the cost of producing publications was continuing to rise. There was that and then there's fact that the information-gathering habits of recruited student-athletes (and the public, in general) had changed. Unquestionably, kids nowadays are more apt to take a look at msumavericks.com then at a publication. And the information on the website is similar to the information available in a media guide. It's just packaged and accessed differently.

The other thing that came along during this time was the development of high speed color copiers which can print with a resolution such that the layman would have a tough time differentiating between publications done in this fashion compared to ones done on a traditional printing press. And the beauty of the technology - called print on demand - is that there isn't a minimum number. You can print one or one hundred. It meant that our coaches, student-athletes, parents, alumni, etc., can still get our publications, but without the cost borne by us. As Scott Nelsen told Shane Frederick of the Free Press last year (I'm paraphrasing a bit here), in response to his question about us discontinuing the media guides..."Not much has changed really. We're still doing the media guides. The difference is how we're distributing them."

So we pulled the trigger on everything - the new website launched last October, we discontinued printing media guides in mass quantities and went ahead with print on demand. In the event you want to look at the media guides that are available for this year (with more to come), be sure to check out the page located here.

It's great to be a Maverick!

Just a Few Things

2010-09-23T06:44:00.000-07:00

After the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference decided to table St. Cloud State's request regarding having football in order to stay in the league, the Huskies have unveiled additional options to address their budget shortfall and a story outlining possibilities appears here. Tennis, golf, nordic skiing and swimming and diving are now implicated and SCSU coaches are disappointed.

Tim Jackman

Now back to our originally planned programming...former Minnesota State forward Tim Jackman made an impression on his new coach in Calgary when Jackman was toiling with the New York Islanders and the Calgary Sun has the story here.

And, 'twould appear that former Maverick forward and 2010 Olympic silver medalist David Backes, who had two assists in a 5-1 St. Louis preseason win at Minnesota last night (Sept. 21), might be seeing a lot of action on right wing for the Blues this season. At least according to this story.

It's great to be a Maverick!

Ruminations - Big Ten Hockey

2010-09-14T10:32:00.000-07:00

News broke a couple of weeks ago regarding the possibility of Penn State elevating its men's club hockey program to varsity status.

There has been on-going speculation relative to Penn State making this type of move for some time. Given the fact that varsity programs at Kent State (1994), Iona (2003), Fairfield (2003), Findlay (2004), and Wayne State (2008) have been mothballed in the last six years and that there are only 58 schools who compete at the NCAA Division I level, any time that this type of news occurs, it's going to draw alot of attention. But, not unlike years of similar rumors about schools such as Iowa State transforming club teams into varsity sports, this time the PSU story has legs.

There's a Penn State alum named Terry Pegula who is apparently a fan of college hockey. He recently sold land to Royal Dutch Shell for $4.7 billion in profit and he wants to take some of that money and give it to Penn State for the purpose of building an 8,000-seat (approx.) arena on campus in State College. Assuming the Pegula connection is true, now the story has credibility and reports have the Nittany Lions prepared to make an official announcement this Friday.

So, connecting the dots, once Penn State has its program established, the next step is to determine what conference does it join. The CCHA would seem to be a natural because of the vicinity of Ohio State and Notre Dame. However, Penn State is a member of the Big Ten in its other sports and in these parts, any time one mentions the Big Ten and hockey in the same sentence, more salivation starts collecting then you would see from a bunch of dogs attending a Pavlov Convention.

Links regarding this development are located here, here, here and here.

It's great to be a Maverick!

Brownsville Station

2010-08-31T10:56:00.000-07:00

Former Maverick defenseman turned country musician Chad Brownlee's self-entitled album debuts today.

Brownlee, who played for Minnesota State from 2003-07, went to camp with the Vancouver Canucks and spent a year with Idaho of the East Coach Hockey League before hanging up his skates to embark on his new career. His first single (Best that I can (Superhero)) reached as high as #19 on the Canadian Country charts and his current single, Hood of My Car, is currently 16th. The Canadian Country Music charts are located here. You can order Chad's CD on itunes by going here.

In the Hunt

2010-08-27T14:03:00.000-07:00

Tony Hunter

Former Minnesota State linebacker Tony Hunter stopped by to check in with us the other day.

Hunter, a Kansas City, Mo., native who played for the Mavericks from 2005-08, will complete an undergraduate degree in athletic training in the spring of 2011. He totalled 147 tackles in 29 games during the course of his three years as a defensive stalwart for MSU.

Hunter spent this summer interning with the Green Bay Packers and we asked him a few questions about his experience with the Green & Gold.

MavBlog: How is it that you ended up with the Packers and how long did it last?

TH: “Our athletic trainer here at MSU, Jeff Chambers, helped me get in with them. He knows one of their orthopaedic doctors, put in a good word and it went from there. I was with the team in Wisconsin from July 26 until August 22

MavBlog: What were your responsibilities during the course of camp?

TH: Basically I worked as an athletic trainer. Taping, providing preventative measures, wrapping. Therapeutic modality treatments and assisting with rehabilitation programs. Then, of course, we’re there to provide first aid response during practice. I also assisted doctors during game day.

MavBlog: Game day? So you had a chance to work some games. How did that go for you?

TH: Yes, it was great. I went to a home game vs. Cleveland and traveled with the team for an away game in Seattle. We took a charter charter for the game vs. the Seahawks, stayed in a five-star hotel in downtown Seattle off of University Ave.

MavBlog: How would you describe your experience with in working with NFL players?

TH: It was overwhelming, but great. The hours are long, but I appreciated all the opportunities that they gave me.

MavBlog: Do you think your background, in which you played college football, gave you an advantage in this role as an athletic trainer?

TH: It really did and does. I think it gives me a little bit of an edge – especially in understanding the football culture with my football background and experience. But the players treated me well and I really enjoyed working with them. I got to know Donald Driver, Al Harris, Nick Barnett and A.J. Hawk.

MavBlog: Can you tell us how the internship experience benefited you specifically?

TH: I think when you experience something different of this nature, it’s really an opportunity to grow as a person and professionally. To see how things work at the professional level, what the hours are like, the intensity, how the business aspect of athletic training works at that level, that will help make me better on a number of different level. It was a chance to network, see the different things that they do clinically-wise, athletic training operations, etc. Lot’s of little things are different. You have the ability to provide X-Rays and MRI’s on site. The team doctors are right there, on site. You get a feel to see if it is something that you’d like to do, and I did.

I also found that the staff with the Packers was great…..Pepper Burris, Kurt Fielding, Nate Weir and Brian Engle all treated me as a certified ATC, as a bonifide part of the staff. Right from the get-go, they said to me that what ever you’ve learned, you’re welcome to use it here. Lot of responsibility, but also accountability.

MavBlog: So what’s next in store for you, Tony?

TH: I have a year of school left, then my goal is to either do a seasonal intern with a professional football team or go on to grad school to get a master’s degree. But, I’m open to both.

MavBlog: Thanks for stopping by, T. It's great to be a Maverick!

Linkorama Time

2010-08-25T14:25:00.000-07:00

Former MSU forward Zach Harrison has signed on with the Elmira Jackals of the East Coast Hockey League. The release from Elmira is here. A four-year letterwinner for the Mavericks, Harrison registered career-highs for assists (16) and points (24) in 2009-10 and his 152 career games played places him second on MSU’s all-time list. He's probably most well-known for what's known as the "Harry Hat-Trick" in which his three shorthanded tallies helped the Mavericks to a 5-1 win over North Dakota, Oct. 17, 2008.

St. Cloud State recently unveiled three potential solutions to its financial conundrum as it relates to its athletic program and there has been plenty of media discussion surrounding this development, including items located here, here, here and here.

Can you believe it's only eight days until the Maverick football team kicks-off 2010 by hosting Northern Michigan in a nonconference contest at Blakeslee Stadium? Action for a couple of Northern Sun football teams actually gets underway this Thursday with MSU-Moorhead playing at Missouri Southern and Bemidji State making the trek to Minot State. A reminder that you can find scores for all NSIC teams at the conference website.

And this just in........since launching in October of 2009, the official website for Minnesota State Athletics, msumavericks.com has generated 3,059,494 page views by 538,697 distinct viewers.

It's great to be a Maverick!

One Camp Ends....Another Begins

2010-08-13T06:46:00.000-07:00

As we mentioned yesterday, the Minnesota Vikings concluded their 45th training camp in Mankato yesterday. The camp included a former Maverick in Adrian Battles, who is battling for playing time at guard for the Vikings and Mankato Free Press writer Chad Courrier featured Battles in an article which can be found HERE. In addition to his time on the offensive line, Battles has also worked with the kick return squad.

Speaking of the Mavericks, they opened their training camp for the 2010 season Thursday evening before the thunderstorms rolled in. Courrier penned an article previewing the 2010 season HERE and a column discussing the high expectations that are placed on both the Vikings and the Mavericks ran in the print edition but did not appear on the paper's website.

Remember to tune into KARE 11 Saturday evening for the Vikings first preseason game against the St. Louis Rams at 7 p.m. If you are looking for Battles, he wears #79 and will be in the purple helmet.

A Maverick and a Viking

2010-08-12T08:52:00.000-07:00

For those who did not see today's Mankato Free Press, sports editor Jim Rueda did a great piece on Minnesota State Maverick senior Laura Leber and Minnesota Viking linebacker Ben Leber. The article can be found HERE

Speaking of Maverick athletics, Minnesota State football kicks off practice today, to read the practice release, click HERE. The Maverick volleyball team opens practice Monday, as does the soccer team. To read the releases about those two practices starting, click HERE and HERE.

In other news, the Vikings brief stay in Mankato ends today with their final practices. School starts the 23rd, hard to believe summer has gone by so quick.

Regional News...

2010-08-07T13:14:00.000-07:00

This just in via the world of Twitter...

The University of Nebraska-Kearney is considering leaving the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference for the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. If UNK leaves the RMAC, it would join the MIAA in 2012. UNK has been the most successful school in the RMAC 13 of the last 17 seasons. To view more about this click HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE.

Obviously a move like this doesn't directly affect us here at Minnesota State, but it will be interesting to see how this shakes out regionally.

McKelvie Gets New Post

2010-08-04T12:04:00.000-07:00


Ryan McKelvie has joined UAA's coaching staff

Former Maverick forward Ryan McKelvie has accepted an assistant coaching position with Alaska Anchorage.

McKelvie, who had 9-30--39 in 134 games with the Mavericks from 2002-06, has spent the last two seasons as a member of the coaching staff of the Wenatchee Wild of the North American Hockey League after serving as a graduate assistant coach with Bemidji State the previous two campaigns.

UAA's announcement regarding McKelvie's hiring appears here.

A three-year captain for the Mavericks, the red-headed McKelvie was a hard-working, gritty performer who played both ends of the rink. And for those who have seen most of MSU's games the last couple of decades, it would be hard to disagree that his dust-up with North Dakota defenseman David Hale during the 2002-03 season was one of the best college tussles during that time.

It's great to be a Maverick.

Musings

2010-08-03T07:38:00.000-07:00

Former Maverick forward Travis Morin enjoyed an impressive year in the American Hockey League in 2009-10 with the Texas Stars. So much so, in fact, that the Brooklyn Park, Minn., native has earned a two-way contract from the parent Dallas Stars. Morin was featured recently on the Stars' website and that article is available here.

Former Maverick defenseman Chad Brownlee, who has transitioned to a career in the country music industry, is set to release his first cd at the end of August. Brownlee, a Kelowna, B.C., native who compiled 4-7-11 and 201 PIMs in 135 games in four years with Minnesota State from 2003-07, had his first single, The Best That I Can (Superhero), reach as high as #19 on the Canadian country music charts this past winter. You can pre-order a copy of Chad's new cd by going to his website located here.

Only 30 days until Minnesota State hosts Northern Michigan in nonconference football action at Blakeslee Stadium Sept. 2.

It's great to be a Maverick!

Battles Battling Away at Vikings Training Camp

2010-08-02T08:44:00.000-07:00

Former Minnesota State offensive tackle Adrian Battles (#79) is fighting for a spot with the Minnesota Vikings during the team's annual training camp at Minnesota State University.

Battles, who was a four-year starter for the Mavericks as an offensive tackle, has moved to offensive guard and added about 22 pounds to his frame from when he played at Minnesota State.

As one would expect the Mankato media has been all over the Adrian Battles angle, as it can be found here and here.

Photos from today's practice can be found here and fans can follow Battles on Twitter, here.

Speaking of Minnesota State, Vikings head coach Brad Childress had this to say about the new turf installed in Blakeslee Stadium over the summer.

Mavinnovation

2010-07-28T09:57:00.000-07:00

An innovative idea produced and implemented by members of the MSU Department of Athletics during the course of the 2009-10 basketball season has been adopted by the NCAA. A story regarding MSU's Don't Cross the Line tape appears in the latest issue of NCAA Champion magazine and is available online here.

It's great to be a Maverick.

Happy Birthday to "The Voice"

2010-07-21T06:51:00.000-07:00

Casey Lloyd (left), pictured here with NSIC commissioner and former MSU men's basketball coach Butch Raymond, has been calling MSU basketball and football since 1971.

Minnesota State Athletic Communications would like to wish a very happy birthday to young Casey Lloyd today (7/21). Despite the fact that we haven't found the rock tablet that has his birth certificate on, Facebook has confirmed that today is Casey's birthday.

Be sure to drop him a note (yes, he's on Facebook) or shoot him an email (ac503@earthlink.net) to pass along your greetings.

Piling On

2010-07-20T13:32:00.000-07:00

Not unlike the mutation of an amoeba, the reshaping of Division II conferences continue as schools ponder league affiliation. The latest news has the University of Central Oklahoma and Northeastern State (Okla.) potentially moving to the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA).

The departure of UCO and Northeastern would leave the Lone Star with 11 schools.

And, along these lines, word has it the Lindenwood and Nebraska-Kearney are also potential new members of the MIAA, which would give that league 16 teams. Lindenwood, a member of the NAIA, will become a full-fledged NCAA Division II institution in 2013-14. UNK is currently a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletics Conference (RMAC).

It's great to be a Maverick.

Not just the big schools

2010-07-16T08:34:00.000-07:00

Sure, sure, we can talk about realignment amongst the Big Ten, the Pac 10, the Big 12, the Mountain West et al. And while we've posted extensively about possible expansion in the Northern Sun here on MavBlog, other NCAA Division II conferences are making moves as well.

Nine DII schools in Arkansas and Oklahoma, who currently are members of the Lone Star Conference and the Gulf South Conference, have applied to the NCAA to form a new to-be-named league.

Arkansas-Monticello, Arkansas Tech, East Central University, Harding, Henderson State, Ouachita Baptist, Southeastern Oklahoma State, Southern Arkansas and Southwestern Oklahoma State are the schools involved and in order to meet a deadline so that the league can become reality by next year (2011-12), it must submit a strategic plan, conference constitution and conference bylaws to the NCAA by Dec. 1.

In the event the plan does come to fruition (a likely possibility), the Lone Star would still have 11 teams, but the departure of the six Arkansas schools from the Gulf South would leave that league with seven teams (Alabama-Huntsville, Delta State, North Alabama, Valdosta, West Georgia and West Alabama). We all know what happened when the North Central Conference went to six teams after losing North Dakota, North Dakota State, South Dakota, South Dakota State, Northern Colorado and Morningside and we've heard some concern from the Gulf South about the league's future viability.

Here's the statement from the GSC website about this recent development. Lone Star commissioner Stan Wagnon comments about the new league appear here.

By the way, just 48 days until Minnesota State hosts Northern Michigan in a nonconference match-up on the newly-planted grass at Blakeslee Stadium on Sept. 2.

It's great to be a Maverick!

It was Frank Zappa who said "Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible"

2010-07-13T12:19:00.000-07:00

Black Hills State and South Dakota School of Mines have both been awarded membership in NCAA Division II. Both schools, who are both members of the Dakota Athletic Conference (DAC) and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), will remain in the NAIA and the Dakota Athletic Conference for the 2010-11 season, followed by a year of candidacy and then a year of probation before gaining official NCAA Division II status.

Here are the releases from the BHSU site and the SDSMT site. Other stories regarding this development appear in the Rapid City Journal, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader and KELO TV.

Jackman Signs With Flames

2010-07-02T07:22:00.000-07:00

Former Minnesota State men's hockey forward Tim Jackman has signed a free agent contract with the Calgary Flames.

Jackman, who played for the Mavericks for two seasons (2000-01 and 2001-02), holds the distinction of being the first MSU player to play in the National Hockey League.

Drafted in the second round (38th overall) by Columbus in 2001, Jackman made his NHL debut Dec. 20, 2003 with the Blue Jackets in a game played in St. Paul, Minn., vs. the Minnesota Wild. Since that time he has seen action with Phoenix, Los Angeles and the New York Islanders. Jackman's career numbers are available here.

It's great to be a Maverick.

Natural Selection

2010-06-25T07:49:00.000-07:00

The National Hockey League Draft is slated to start at 4:00 p.m. (PST) Friday in Los Angeles and Maverick Hockey fans will be watching to see which team will select forward Tyler Pitlick.

Pitlick, who tallied 11 goals and had eight assists for 19 points in 38 games as a freshman for MSU in 2009-10, is projected to be the highest-ever draftee ever to come out of the Maverick men's hockey program. Forward Tim Jackman was selected in the second round (38th overall) by Columbus in 2001 and 2010 Olympic silver medalist David Backes was selected by St. Louis in the second round (62nd overall) in 2003. Pitlick has been projected to go anywhere from 18th overall (by the NHL's Central Scouting Bureau) to 35th by McKeens and several places in between.

Pitlick's NHL Draft card appears here and a draft preview bio by THW is located here.

MSU has had a total of 11 players selected in the NHL Draft since the Maverick men's hockey program was inaugurated in 1969.

More on Expansion

2010-06-23T06:59:00.000-07:00

Matt Zimmer of the Argus Leader in Sioux Falls penned a great piece on the potential changes that the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference would have to make if the league presidents vote to add the University of Sioux Falls and Minot State University to the league in 2012-13. You can view the article HERE.

A couple of things in this article raised my eyebrow a bit. Zimmer stated that the league would have to go to divisional play for all sports (currently the league only uses divisional play for football) and I would have to agree with that. One thing that struck me was Augustana's head men's basketball coach Tom Billeter saying that he thinks Augustana should stay with Wayne State as a travel a partner and USF should join with Southwest Minnesota State. If that logic were to come into play, Minnesota State would be forced to change travel partners, as MSU is currently paired with the Mustangs. The good news is, Concordia University is currently in the South Division for football, while their traveling partner St. Cloud State is in the North Division. So, if divisional play was instituted league wide, the Mavericks and Golden Bears would seem like logical travel parteners.

Of course all of this is pure speculation but it's good to see the Argus Leader hitting this story like they are. It's obvious why, but the idea of expansion hasn't been looked into too much by newspapers around the league.

Keeping the Faith

2010-06-22T09:48:00.000-07:00

“The good ole days weren't always good, and tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems.” - Billy Joel, American poet.

Believe it or not, as we begin to embrace the heat and humidity of a fine Minnesota summer, there's a ton of things going on these days here at MSU.

Former Maverick offensive lineman Adrian Battles continues to work out in anticipation of attending the Minnesota Viking training camp which starts here in Mankato July 29th.

And along these lines, it's expected that workers will begin laying new sod on the playing field at Blakeslee Stadium sometime this week. We'll post some new photos in the next few days relative to that.

It's been announced by the Northern Sun that MSU Athletics legend Manny Beckman will be inducted in to the league's Hall of Fame Wednesday, July 14, at the Best Western Kelly Inn/St. Cloud.

We have a press conference scheduled for later on today to announce a major indoor track & field meet which MSU has been selected as the host institution. Be sure to check out msumavericks.com this afternoon after 3:30 p.m. for details.

A couple of key fundraising events for MSU Athletics on the docket include the 34th Annual Women's Sports Classic, which takes place June 26th and the Dan Meyer Blue Line Club Golf Classic which takes place Friday, July 26. Both tournaments occur at the Mankato Golf Club. Former MSU men's hockey forward David Backes is playing in the Dan Meyer Tournament and there's a live auction prior to the tournament to have him on your team. Please call Cindy Hobbs at 507.389.5351 for more information.

And, as it considers the possibility of expanding, the NSIC has announced that it will do site visits in December to Minot State and the University of Sioux Falls. Black Hills State and South Dakota School of Mines are also interested in joining the league but won't get a visit just yet. According to an article in the St. Cloud Times, SCSU's president, Earl H. Potter III, has said that he's in favor of league growth.

It's great to be a Maverick!

The question isn't "what are we going to do," the question is "what aren't we going to do?"

2010-06-15T12:56:00.000-07:00

Minnesota State junior righthander Bret Mitchell has inked a deal with the New York Mets to become, officially, a professional baseball player. Congratulations to the Lakeville, Minn., native, who spent just one season hurling for the Mavericks after matriculating for two seasons at Iowa Central Community College in Ft. Dodge, Iowa. We suspect he'll be assigned by the Mets to their shortseason A team in the New York-Penn League, the Brooklyn Cyclones.

Mitchell, who fanned a school-record 108 batters in 2010, went 10-4 record in 14 starts with a 4.31 earned run average and 108 strike outs in 94.0 innings pitched this year. Mitchell, who helped lead the Mavericks to their first trip the NCAA Division II Championship tournament for the first time since 1986, finished the year ranking seventh in the nation in total Ks and was 29th in the nation in strike outs per nine innings (10.34).

It's great to be a Maverick.

School's Out

2010-06-04T08:24:00.000-07:00

The conclusion of the 2010 NCAA NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Charlotte, N.C., last weekend officially signalled the end of the competitive season for Minnesota State student-athletes and teams.

And while we anticipate another top-five finish in the final NACDA Directors' Cup standings for the Departement (MSU finished second behind Grand Valley State last year and was fourth in this year's standings prior to championship events for softball, baseball and track & field), we also look forward to following several Maverick baseball players as they perform for teams in the Northwoods League and other summer collegiate baseball leagues around the country.

In the Northwoods League RHP Blake Schwartz, LHP Ryan Demmin and OF Danny Miller are all plying their trades with the local Mankato Moondogs. RHP Bret Mitchell is with the Rochester Honkers. Ss Zach Rowles is with the Willmar Stingers and RHP Luke Putz is throwing for the Waterloo Bucks.

The New York Collegiate Baseball League features three Mavericks with the Watertown Wizards with RHP Eugene Sturm, RHP/IF Ben Kincaid and OF Patrick Dockendorf.

RHP pitcher Mahlon Zimmermann will his spend his summer with the Laramie Colts of the Mountain Collegiate Baseball League.

The 2010 Major League Draft is also nearly upon us with the annual selection of amateur players slated for June 7-10 (next Monday through Wednesday). Two Mavericks were picked last year in RHP Chris Odegaard (23rd round, 696th overall by Arizona) and IF Geno Glynn (43rd round, 1309th overall by Tampa). In all, and dating back to 1968, 30 MSU players have been selected in the MLB Draft.

It's great to be a Maverick.

Battles Still Battling For A Spot

2010-05-30T11:24:00.000-07:00

Chad Courrier of the Mankato Free Press penned a piece today on former Minnesota State offensive lineman Adrian Battles who is currently with the Minnesota Vikings.

Battles, who started for four years on the Maverick offensive line participated in last month's rookie mini-camp and is currently participating in Organized Training Events (OTAs) with the Vikings. Minnesota is scheduled to hold a mini camp next month as well.

To view the piece, click HERE

I got a lot to say

2010-05-26T14:52:00.000-07:00

I believe it was Joey Ramone who said...."I got a lot to say, I got a lot to say, I got a lot to say. I can't remember now, I can't remember now, I can't remember now."

Remember one of our first posts entitled......Wither Thou? The gist of that post consisted of a piece written by Dustin Monke of the Dickensen (N.D.) Press speculating on the future of teams from Black Hills State and South Dakota School of Mines. Here's a more-recent article (May 22) from the Rapid City Journal, in which, it appears, the schools have been green-lighted to apply for NCAA Division II membership and to start application for conference affiliation. Butch Raymond, the commissioner of the MSU's league, the Northern Sun, is quoted extensively in this article. The commissioner of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, J.R. Smith, also chimes in.

Monke added to his original post in March, deducing that the non-contract renewal of Minot State's men's basketball coach Mike Hultz was due to his not being a big fan of Minot State's impending move to NCAA Division II. Minot State, not unlike Sioux Falls College, is looking to make a move and, again, it's been speculated, that the NSIC might possibly be the favored destination.

And you thought it was just Notre Dame, Texas, Rutgers, Missouri, Nebraska, et al that have big decisions to make regarding their athletic programs.

Spring Hockey

2010-05-21T09:21:00.000-07:00

There's a couple of former Mavericks still playing this spring with forwards Grant Stevenson and his Hamilton Bulldogs teammates taking on Travis Morin and his Texas Stars cronies in the western finals of the American Hockey League play-offs. Hamilton currently holds a 2-1 edge in the best-of-seven series. Stevenson has played in all 15 play-off games to date for the Bulldogs and is tied for seventh on the team scoring charts with 1-8--9. Morin has 3-8--11 in 14 games to tie for third on the Stars' scoring list.

2010 College World Series Info

2010-05-18T13:50:00.000-07:00

Fans can follow the Mavericks at the 2010 NCAA Division II World Series from the comforts of their own home.

To view a webpage full of tournament information, click HERE

To follow a blog of behind the scenes information and up to the minute news, click HERE

Update on Blakeslee Stadium

2010-05-18T07:43:00.000-07:00

When the Minnesota State football team takes the field on historic Blakeslee Stadium this fall, it will do so with new turf under its feet.

Work began last week to remove the old playing surface, drainage and sprinkler systems and install new sod to go with updated drainage and sprinklers.

Here are some photos of the progress, which is on schedule for completion prior to the arrival of the Vikings for their annual training camp in late July.

Alas, the more things change, the more they stay the same....

Kind of a Big Deal Around Here

2010-05-18T07:39:00.000-07:00

We're not quite finished yet with the Maverick baseball team capturing the Central Region title to earn a spot in the 2010 NCAA Division II championship tournament which begins this weekend in Cary, N.C. More on that later, but as an FYI, MSU plays its first game Sunday vs. Southern Indiana. Members of the MSU track and field teams will also be heading to North Carolina for the national championship meet in Charlotte, May 27-29.

Regarding baseball, the last MSU team to go to the DII CWS was in 1986 and there's several memorable moments from that trip. It was the first time they had hosted the tournament in Montgomery, Ala., and the tournament organizers did a tremendous job. The University of Tampa, who played in the first game that day and was one of the top teams coming in, had a first baseman named Tino Martinez. Yep, that Tino Martinez. Troy State, which had a very good team, was the host institution and was ranked #1 coming into the tourney, had a large and raucous crowd supporting them in MSU's first game of the championship. The Mavericks played well against the Trojans and were up 6-4 heading into the ninth and, with one out and the umpire compressing the strike zone, starter Wes Weber walked the next two batters. Scott Toop was brought in to relieve Weber and walked the first batter he faced to load the bases. The next batter, Wendell Stevens, launched one over the fence in the deepest part of the park for a grand slam. We lost that game, but went on to beat Tampa in our next game before heading home after losing to Columbus. One other memory from that trip - Hank Williams, Sr., is buried in a grave site adjacent to the ballpark where the tournament took place and several of the Maverick ballplayers had a looksee while we were there.

Finally, we did do a Maverick Magazine on KMSU last Friday in which we went over some of the top moments of the year that was 2009-10 in MSU Athletics. The podcast for that show (dated May 14) is available here.

Speaking of Hank Williams Sr., enjoy one of Scott Nelsen's favorite songs honoring him.

A little something about something

2010-05-06T13:24:00.000-07:00

Linkorama time. Former Maverick men's hockey forward Ryan Carter has been named to the Team USA Roster for the upcoming IIHF World Championships which are scheduled for May 7-23 in Germany. In doing so he joins David Backes as former MSU men's hockey players to participate in the World Championships. A native of White Bear Lake, Minn., Carter departed MSU following his sophomore year in 2005-06 to sign with the Anaheim Ducks. He won a Stanley Cup with Anaheim in 2006-07 and has totalled 11 goals and 15 assists for 26 points in 120 NHL games for his three-year pro career. Anaheim's release on Carter being named to Team USA is located here.

Wrestler Brady Wilson cleaned up at MSU's annual Maverick Achievement Awards and Senior Honors Dinner, winning both the school's senior men's athlete of the year award and the Don Buchanan Award as the top student-athlete. Faribault Daily News scribe Mark Remme has a nice piece regarding Wilson's accomplishments at MSU and it's located here.

In the event you didn't see it, Liz Trauger won the Georgene Brock Award and Brittany Henderson was named MSU's Women's Senior Athlete of the Year. It hasn't been updated with this year's award recipients yet, but the list of MSU previous award recipients, both male and female, is located here.

How 'bout MSU catcher Kelsey Thompson being named NSIC Softball Player of the Year and MSU pitcher Blake Schwartz being named NSIC Baseball Pitcher of the Year!

As usual, it's great to be a Maverick.

Ca Va?

2010-04-30T12:43:00.000-07:00

Not sure how many people outside of our men's and women's track and field programs are actually aware of this, but there's a tremendous amount of excitement surrounding the construction of the new facility on the south end of campus.

"Obviously it means a lot for our programs," said Jen Blue, head coach of the Maverick women's track and field team. "Everyone from our student-athletes to our alums are really happy with what's happening for a number of different reasons. For example, it's always been tough on our athletes as they've had to get their workouts in on an off-campus facility while at the same time making sure they made it to their classes. This will make that issue far easier to address. It's also been a safety issue with the travel to on off-campus facility. But the reality is that it's going to be in our back yard. We're going to have something we can be proud of and a facility that will even out the competitive advantage other schools have had with their own on-campus tracks."

The new track will feature a 400m Mondo surface track (the same as used in Bejing Olympics). The facility will be lighted with a long jump pit, pole vault pit, two shot put rings, two discus rings, a hammer throw area and two javelin rings.

It's been a while since MSU has hosted a track and field meet. MSU Athletics used the old facility during the course of the Cerebral Palsy National Games which were held on campus in 1989, but it's been more than a quarter of a century that MSU has hosted a collegiate track and field meet.

It's great to be a Maverick!

As it Pertains to...

2010-04-21T11:52:00.000-07:00

My, my how time, it really does fly. The harsh reality is that once we get past spring break, MSU student-athletes and teams have approximately two and half months left of regular-season competition. Most of our spring teams will participate in NCAA postseason competition, so that will extend things somewhat past MSU's graduation commencement ceremony which takes place in Taylor Center May 8.

NCAA softball regional action is slated for May 14-16, super regional action is May 21-22 and the eight-team championship finals take place in St. Joseph, Mo., May 27-31. The NCAA Division II softball page is located here.

The NCAA Division II baseball regionals are scheduled for May 13-16 and the NCAA Championship, scheduled for May 22-29, will be held in Cary, N.C. The NCAA Division II baseball page is located here.

Postseason action for men's and women's tennis gets underway May 6-8 with regional competition. Championship action takes place in Altamonte Springs, Fla., May 12-15. The NCAA Division II tennis page is located here.

Maverick track & field student-athletes, usually the last of our competitors to compete, will be looking to qualify for the NCAA National Track & Field Championship Meet, which is hosted by the city of Charlotte, N.C., May 27-29. The NCAA Division II outdoor track & field page is located here.

For the Good of the Cause

2010-04-16T13:59:00.000-07:00

Just a couple of quick things as we head off into what is sizing up to be a great weekend here in Minnesota.

Former Maverick men's hockey forward Ryan Carter has been named to Team USA for the IIHF World Men's Championship, May 7-23, in Cologne, Gelsenkirchen and Mannheim, Germany. Carter played at Minnesota State for two seasons (2004-05 and 2005-06) before signing as a free agent with the NHL's Anaheim Ducks.

Another former MSU forward, Jon Kalinski, was called up from Adirondack of the American Hockey League by the parent Philadelphia Flyers prior to the start of the 2009-10 NHL play-offs. Kalinski, in his second season as a professional, had 28 points (10G,18A) in 69 games with the AHL Phantoms this year.

In case you missed it, today's Maverick Magazine featured junior catcher Steven Helget and head coach Matt Magers from the 20th-ranked Maverick baseball program. A podcast of the half-hour program, which takes place every Friday on KMSU FM 89.7, is located here.

Senior Ashley Clinchoc, who led the 14th-rated Minnesota State women's bowling program to a 48-42 overall record this year, has been named a Third-Team All-American by the NTCA.

Not sure how many folks were aware of this, but April 14th was a key date for athletic departments around the country because it signalled the day when schools could announce another round of recruit committments. MSU had a few - be sure to check out our front page at msumavericks.com, with men's basketball, women's basketball and women's soccer making some roster additions for the 20010-11 school year. Pretty sure there will be a few more to come next week.

Before ending, let me just say the the new ballpark up in Minneapolis sure is nice. Good times.

It truly is great to be a Maverick.

Stay Thursday, My Friend

2010-04-09T12:34:00.000-07:00

Back in the fall we started featuring Maverick student-athletes on our website using the Get to Know format. We recently rolled out four more of these with tennis players Adam Doll and Heather Jensen, along with baseball infielders Kosuke Hattori, from baseball, and Abby Morris, from softball, highlighted.

The winners of eight of their last nine games, the Maverick baseball team stands 23-7 for 2010 and is rated 23rd in this week's NCBWA poll. MSU, which heads off to Bismarck, N.D., for four games with NSIC-foe University of Mary this Saturday and Sunday, was rated third in the region by the NCBWA this week. The most important poll, issued by the NCAA, hasn't come out yet, but it's likely the Mavericks will be around third in that poll, as well. New Mexico Highlands and St. Cloud State are rated first and second, respectively in the NCBWA regional poll.

The NCAA began releasing its Division II regional softball poll a couple of weeks ago and MSU, which stands 17-5, recently moved from fourth to second in the rankings. The Mavericks, who claimed a home league sweep over St. Cloud State Wednesday, hosts the University of Mary Saturday and Northern State Sunday in their next action.

And while MSU's spring sports are well into their seasons, it should be noted that Todd Hoffner's Maverick football team has been working its way through spring practice at Blakeslee Stadium and on the adjacent practice fields. MSU's annual spring football game is slated for 1:00 p.m. on April 24th.

Other key dates coming up include the Sixth Annual Women's Walk on the morning of April 10th and the 24th Annual Maverick Achievement Awards and Senior Honors Dinner May 2nd.

It also not unimportant to note that there are several familiar names at MSU's Distinguished Alumni Awards which take place April 23rd. Former MSU Reporter sports writer Steve DiMeglio (MSU '87), one of the pre-eminent golf writers in country who currently covers golf for USA Today, will receive the Achievement Award. Longtime MSU men's cross country and track coach Mark Schuck (MSU '69) will recieve the Harold J. Fitterer Service Award. And former MSU football tight end John Hoffman (MSU '99) is slated to receive a Young Alumni Award.

It's great to be a Maverick.

Thursday Grab Bag

2010-04-01T07:35:00.000-07:00

Transactions

Former Maverick punter Joel Nielsen (MSU 1984-85) was named Director of Athletics at Kent State late last week. Nielsen, an All-North Central conference pick as a senior while at MSU, spent the last seven years as the AD at the University of South Dakota. He was the AD at Colorado College prior to that and also served under Ron Wellman at Wake Forest from 1993-2001. Wellman, you will recall, was the men's AD at MSU for one year in 1986-87.

Former MSU women's soccer assistant coach Mandy (Brettingen) Green has been selected as head coach for the women's soccer program at the University of South Dakota.

And in coaching movements around the NSIC, Northern State introduced its new football coach back in January in Tom Dorsch and its new men's basketball coach, Paul Sather, last week. Southwest Minnesota State announced that Cory Sauter is its new football coach. Back in February Augustana selected Mike Aldrich to guide its football program. And yesterday, Upper Iowa announced that Carol Russell is its new women's basketball coach.

The NHL Draft and MSU's Tyler Pitlick

Freshman forward Tyler Pitlick, who had 11 goals and 8 assists for 19 points in 38 games in his first year with the Mavericks this winter, was rated 21st in Central Scouting's Mid Term Rankings. The Centerville, Minn., native has received an invitation to attend the annual NHL Scouting Combine. The combine, which will run May 24-29 in Toronto, is an opportunity for teams to meet and interview prospects, as well as see them tested in an off-ice setting. Two of five bloggers on NHL.com have Pitlick going in the first round of their mock drafts. The actual NHL Draft is scheduled for June 25-26 in Los Angeles.

Lastly

Hey, it's supposed to be in the high 70s, low 80s today in Mankato. And with that in mind - Maverick Baseball vs Southwest Minnesota State in a NSIC doubleheader scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m. at the MSU Baseball Complex. Just a thought.

Mavericks in the Minors

2010-03-30T09:44:00.000-07:00

Several former Mavericks are working their way through the farm systems of major league clubs these days.

Outfielder Mark Dolenc, who was drafted by the Twins in the 15th round in 2006, spent last year with Ft. Myers in Class A and is expected to land at AA with New Britain this summer. Dolenc has seen action in three games with the big club during spring training and his stats with the Twins appear here.

Righthanded pitcher Chris Odegaard, who was selected by Arizona in the 23rd round of the 2009 draft, spent last summer in class A with Yakima of the Northwest League.

Picked by Tampa in the 43rd round of the 2009 draft, infielder Geno Glynn played rookie ball with Princeton of the Appalachian League last summer.

All three players should find out early next week what team they will be assigned for this summer.

Other former Mavericks still playing pro ball include a trio that will play with independent professional teams in pitchers Nick Fellman and Nathan Kafka, along with outfielder/infielder Rich Austin.

Drafted by the Braves in 2007, Fellman is slated to suit up for Fargo-Moorhead of the Northern League this summer, while Kafka will play for the Midwest Sliders of the Frontier League. Austin, who played for the Mavericks in 1999-2000 and epitomizes the term career minor leaguer as evidenced by this story which ran last spring, will be a player-coach for Rockford Riverhawks of the Northern League this year.

A complete list of Mavericks who have been drafted and/or played pro baseball appears here.

A Couple of Good Reads

2010-03-22T15:15:00.000-07:00

A couple of stories written recently pertaining to Minnesota State Athletics.

First, the Chronicle of Higher Education sent a writer our way back near the end of February and Libby Sanders's piece entitled College Sports, How the Other Half Lives, appears here.

Then, found this posting on former Minnesota State men's hockey forward Travis Morin, who skates for the Texas Stars of the American Hockey League. After spending a couple of years with the South Carolina Stingrays of the East Coast Hockey League, T-Mo has worked hard in establishing himself as a top-six forward with the Stars, who are affiliated with the NHL's Dallas Stars.

Six Degrees of Separation....

2010-03-18T13:18:00.000-07:00

The NCAA Division I men’s and women’s basketball tournaments are now upon us and there are a couple of story lines in each tournament that can be directly related to Minnesota State athletics.

In the men’s tournament, Wake Forest earned the #9 in the East Region and play #8 seed, Texas tonight (Thursday) at 8:35. Former Maverick athletic director Ron Wellman is the current AD at Wake Forest.

The University of Northern Iowa men’s program is the #9 seed in the Midwest Bracket and opens the tournament against the #8 seed UNLV, tonight (Thursday) at 6:10. The Panther’s point guard, Kwadzo Ahelegbe is the younger brother of former Maverick player and current Maverick assistant coach Gameli.

On the women’s side, there are also two connections to the Mavericks. Minnesota State head men’s basketball coach Matt Margenthaler’s younger brother, Ty, serves as an assistant coach for the University of Wisconsin. The Badgers – who are in the tournament for the first time since the 2002 season – are the #7 seed in the Kansas City Regional and take on the #10 seed, Vermont Sunday at 11 a.m., in South Bend, Ind.

Minnesota State assistant women’s basketball coach Megan Vogel was a four-year standout and an assistant coach for former North Central Conference member South Dakota State who won the Summit League and advanced to the tournament for the second straight year. The Jackrabbits, are the #14 seed and will play 3rd-seeded Oklahoma Sunday in the Norman, Okla.

Are there more connections that I am forgetting? If so, post them in the comments.

Thursday Grab Bag

2010-03-18T09:08:00.000-07:00

Quicker then you can say "Bob's your uncle," the Minnesota State winter sports season came to a crashing halt last weekend.

Just to recap, All-American performances by senior Brady Wilson (2nd, heavyweight), junior Andy Forstner (4th, 125), senior Travis Elg (5th, 149) and sophomore Aaron Norgren (7th, 184) paced the MSU wrestlers to a sixth-place at the national championship tournament in Omaha.

Led by the national championship performance of junior Denise Mokaya in the 800m, the MSU men's track & field team finished eighth in the final team standings of the national indoor track & field championships in Albuquerque. Junior pole vaulter Lauren Stelten finished second as the Maverick women's indoor track & field team turned in a 16th-place finish at the national meet. And the MSU men's and women's swimming & diving teams both placed 26th at the national meet held in Akron, Ohio.

Throw in a NCAA regional semi-final appearance by the MSU men's basketball team and a first-round WCHA play-off loss in a best-of-three series to St. Cloud State absorbed by the men's hockey team and you can put a bow on things.

Not counting the sixth consecutive trip to the NCAA postseason by Matt Margenthaler's men's hoops squad, the performances by the MSU winter sports teams have boosted the Mavericks up the Directors' Cup standings from 54th to sixth place.

So, moving on, as we must do, the focus turns to Minnesota State's spring sports. Currently rated 23rd in the NCBWA poll, the baseball team stands 11-5 on the year and is expected to open NSIC action this weekend with four games against Northern State. The two doubleheaders are/were supposed to take place in Aberdeen, S.D., but stay tuned. There's a good possibility MSU could have its home opener this weekend. The Mavericks, which just returned from a spring break trip to Florida, have played eight games in the Metrodome this year. Check out this interesting story from the N.Y. Times regarding the goings-on that take place in the Homer Dome during the winter months. The Mavericks went 6-2 in games played there this year.

The Maverick softball team, which stands 10-4 for the year and is receiving votes in the NFCA poll, is scheduled to host Waldorf March 25th in a nonconference doubleheader in its home opener.

The MSU women's golf team claimed a tournament title in Arizona when they finished first at the Poston Butte Invite last week and a schedule change has the men's golf team participating in the UC-San Diego SoCal Intercollegiate tournament March 22-23. The Maverick men's and women's tennis teams were the first teams to get going with their schedules starting in late February.

So there you go. As Scott Nelsen loves to say...."No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow."

Mozeltoff, everyone. Mozeltoff.

March Madness

2010-03-03T07:50:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's time for the March Madness here around Minnesota State as many of our winter sports seasons are entering the playoff run.

The Minnesota State men's basketball team opens the 2010 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference tournament tonight as the #1 seed and entertains Southwest Minnesota State, the #8 seed.

Chad Courrier of the Mankato Free Press wrote a great piece in today's paper about Minnesota State senior guard Jesse Clark and former Maverick great Gene Glynn (1976-80), which can be found here. Clark currently sits second on the school's all-time assists list with 520, while Glynn holds the school record for assists with 760. Both are the only two players in school history to surpass the 500-assist barrier.

To get a different perspective of the game, click here, as the Marshall Independent looks into this do-or-die game for the Mustangs.

The Maverick's women's team is traveling to St. Paul today for its opening round game of the NSIC/Sanford Health tournament. This is a rematch of last year's opening round game, only the roles are reversed. Concordia owns the #1 seed in this year's tournament, while MSU is #8. Last year, the Mavericks - who were the #1 seed - fell to Concordia - who was the #8 seed - 86-77.

To view either game tonight, log onto www.pennatlantic.com and you can view it for free. For those who wish to follow the livestats, they can follow the men's game here and the women's game here.

As some tournaments are beginning, two tournaments which recently completed found a former Maverick and a current Maverick with medals around their necks. Former Maverick David Backes - now of the St. Louis Blues - and his American teammates came home with a silver medal from the 2010 Vancouver Olympics in men's ice hockey. As most know by now, Canada bested the USA in what some are calling one of the best hockey games ever, Sunday afternoon, 3-2 in overtime.

Current Maverick forward, junior Nina Tikkinen earned the Bronze Medal as Norway beat Sweden, 3-2 last Thursday in women's ice hockey. The following day, Tikkinen rejoined the Mavericks as they played Minnesota in the first round of the WCHA playoffs.

Tuesday, MSU hosted a press conference with Tikkinen and head women's hockey coach Eric Means and the bronze medal was on display. To read Shane Frederick's story on the press conference, click here and here.

I got a chance to hold the medal and I didn't really realize how big it was till I put it in my paw:

In the words of Porky the Pig from Loney Tunes....

This Week in MSU Athletics

2010-03-01T14:02:00.000-08:00

If you follow Maverick Athletics, then you just might also find something relative to what Thoreau was thinking when he said "Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it."

A quick gander at the MSU Athletics Calendar shows a lot going on this week with no fewer then 21 events listed between Tuesday and Sunday. And this doesn't include a press conference scheduled for Nina Tikkinen, who will showcase her newly-minted bronze medal from the 2010 Winter Olympic Games Tuesday at All Seasons Arena.

The MSU basketball teams begin NSIC play-off action Wednesday with first-round games. The Maverick women are the eighth seed and play at Concordia, while the men are seeded first and host Southwest Minnesota State. Both games are slated for 7:00 p.m. starts. As the top seed, the Maverick men would host the four-team, two-day NSIC Tournament at Taylor Center Saturday and Sunday should they get past the eighth-seeded Mustangs Wednesday.

The MSU men's hockey team closes out the 2009-10 regular season schedule with a home-and-home series vs. St. Cloud State Friday (in Mankato) and Saturday (in St. Cloud). The baseball team plays Bemidji State in a pair of nonconference double headers in the Metrodome Tuesday and Wednesday, then along with the MSU tennis and softball teams, begin action in Florida Sunday.

And, of course, a big shout out to the MSU men's track and field team which captured the 2010 NSIC Indoor Track and Field Championship which was held in Myers Field House this past weekend. And another incredible weekend for MSU senior heavyweight Brady Wilson, who became not only MSU's first four-time wrestling regional champion over the weekend, but also MSU's career wins leader.

As always, it's great to be a Maverick.

Maverick Olympic Update - We're Getting a Medal!

2010-02-23T13:06:00.000-08:00

It's medal-round time at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. And with Finland taking on Sweden in the bronze medal game of the women's competition, someone with ties to Minnesota State is assured of taking home a medal.

Forward Nina Tikkinen and her teammates from Team Finland went 2-1 in pool play before falling to the Canadians by a 5-0 margin Monday in a semi-final contest. Tikkanen has two goals for two points in four games played.

Defensman Emilia Andersson has one assist in four games for Team Sweden. The Swedes, who dropped a 9-1 decision to the United States Monday, also were 2-1 in pool play.

The other Maverick competing at this year's Olympics is forward David Backes of the U.S. men's team. Including a key 5-3 victory over Canada Sunday, Backes (1-2--3 in three games of pool play) and his American mates went 3-0 to capture their pool and received a bye straight to the quarterfinals of the medal round. The U.S. will play Thursday against the winner of Switzerland and Belarus.

You can follow how Nina, Emilia and David and their respective teams are doing by logging on to the official 2010 Winter Olympic website located here.

Go Mavericks!

The Matrix......Northern Sun Style

2010-02-22T13:50:00.000-08:00

Undoubtedly Neo would be proud.

Pete Roberts of Augustana College has created a page whereby NSIC junkies can get all of the up-to-date information for every sport for every team in the 14-team league. Pete's creation, located here, includes direct links to live stats pages for each school, links to logos, cumulative stats links and links to the front page of each school's website. And, mind you, not just for the Northern Sun, but also for the other league in MSU's (and the rest of the schools in the NSIC) region - the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. The page is nicely laid out and easy to navigate.

It doesn't end there however, because Mr. Roberts just sent out a missive detailing some of his latest work, which has culminated in this page. Basically a live, gamenight scoreboard.

Carry on Pete. And thanks - as Morpheus said .... "Your mind makes it real."

Hoop Dreams

2010-02-17T10:35:00.000-08:00

Currently 22-2 overall and 15-2 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference action, the Minnesota State men's basketball team is headed for a sixth consecutive appearance in the NCAA Division II postseason tournament.

The Mavericks, who are 15-0 in games played in Taylor Center this year, have three games left on the 2009-10 regular-season schedule - at Southwest Minnesota State Saturday, Augustana in Mankato Wednesday Feb. 24 and at the University of Mary Feb. 27.

Bob Sansevere the St. Paul Pioneer Press did a Q & A with MSU head coach Matt Magenthaler and that feature appears here.

Maverick Olympians All Win Opening Games

2010-02-16T15:21:00.000-08:00

All three of Minnesota State's Olympic athletes debuted successfully in Vancouver with Emilia Andersson's Team Sweden downing Switzerland, 3-0, Saturday, Nina Tikkinen's Team Finland earning a 5-1 win over Russia Sunday and David Backes and his Team USA teammates claiming a 3-1 decision over Switzerland Tuesday afternoon.

More information on all three players and their teams is available here. Competition for the women's tournament continues on until Feb. 25 when the gold and bronze medal games are played. The men's tournament wraps up Feb. 28th when the gold is decided in the last game of the tournament.

An Olympian Task

2010-02-12T10:27:00.000-08:00

The 2010 Winter Olympics are officially slated to get underway this afternoon with ski jump qualifying serving as the first event for competition. The opening ceremonies take place later this evening in downtown Vancouver.

This year's Olympics takes on added meaning for those affiliated with Minnesota State University and Maverick Athletics with three former or current student-athletes suiting up for their respective countries.

Nina Tikkinen is a member of Finland's women's hockey team and Emilia Andersson will wear the blue and gold of Team Sweden. Forward David Backes makes his debut as an Olympian with the United States men's hockey team.

The women's competition is scheduled to start tomorrow (Feb. 13) with Andersson getting the first taste of competition with the Swedish women taking on Switzerland. Tikkinen and Team Finland start off with a tilt against Russia Sunday. Backes and his American compatriots are in a pool with Canada, Switzerland and Norway and start with a game vs. Switzerland Tuesday, Feb. 16.

The schedule for the men's and women's hockey competition is located here.

MSU Reporter Tyler Buckentine profiled Backes here as did the Minneapolis Star Tribune's Michael Russo and his story appears here. Stl.com has a story on Backes here along with WCCO.com.

MavBlog

Higher

2012 or Bust

Merry Christmas from the Mavericks!

Catching Up With an Alumni

On the Griddle

Has it Really Been a Decade?

In the News - 2011 Halloween Edition

Scars & Victories

One in the Bank

Jump around

Gone Fishin'

You could have a bumper car, bumping

Not Forgotten - Korey Stringer

Where or where.

Trending

Carrying On

Super Bowl Hardware

Didja Know?

Maverick Minor League Update

Vaulting To the Top

Got 'em right where we want 'em

Drafthouse

Every Mile a Memory

On the Inside

The Grass is Always Green

Riding the Wave

Ghosts on the Hardwood

It's Not Over

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end

A One-on-One Chat With Adrian Battles

Super Bowl Bound

Closing the Book on Expansion & More

Oh my, yes....Minot State and the University of Sioux Falls Are Both in

Sixteen Candles?

Brownlee's New Video is Out

The Sky Is Falling

Merry Christmas from the Mavericks!

Field of Dreams......

Snowpes

Friday Funday & Link-O-Rama

Taking Solace

Anthony Herrera and Pilosec OTC

Mavericks Continue to Give Back

Kenny the Kicker Stops By

Backes Inks Contract Extension

King Pins

NSIC Showcase

Saturday in October

Soccer Team Giving Back To Community

Friday Readings

Happenings

Crossover Season is Officially Upon Us

Guiding Light

Just a Few Things

Ruminations - Big Ten Hockey

Brownsville Station

In the Hunt

Linkorama Time

One Camp Ends....Another Begins

A Maverick and a Viking

Regional News...

McKelvie Gets New Post

Musings

Battles Battling Away at Vikings Training Camp

Mavinnovation

Happy Birthday to "The Voice"

Piling On

Not just the big schools

It was Frank Zappa who said "Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible"

Jackman Signs With Flames

Natural Selection

More on Expansion

Keeping the Faith

“The good ole days weren't always good, and tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems.” - Billy Joel, American poet.

Believe it or not, as we begin to embrace the heat and humidity of a fine Minnesota summer, there's a ton of things going on these days here at MSU.

Former Maverick offensive lineman Adrian Battles continues to work out in anticipation of attending the Minnesota Viking training camp which starts here in Mankato July 29th.

And along these lines, it's expected that workers will begin laying new sod on the playing field at Blakeslee Stadium sometime this week. We'll post some new photos in the next few days relative to that.

It's been announced by the Northern Sun that MSU Athletics legend Manny Beckman will be inducted in to the league's Hall of Fame Wednesday, July 14, at the Best Western Kelly Inn/St. Cloud.

We have a press conference scheduled for later on today to announce a major indoor track & field meet which MSU has been selected as the host institution. Be sure to check out msumavericks.com this afternoon after 3:30 p.m. for details.