Ryan tree has roots in Minnesota

The Jets-Vikings game has this local touch: Buddy Ryan was the Vikings defensive line coach in 1976 and 1977, and his twin sons, Rex, the current Jets head coach, and Rob, the defensive coordinator for the Browns, spent those years attending school in Edina and hanging around the Vikings complex.

Jim, a third son, attended the University of Minnesota before going to law school and is now an attorney in St. Louis.

Buddy Ryan's coaching career began at the high school level and spanned almost 40 years. When he was in Minnesota, he coached the "Purple People Eaters," the great defensive line of Jim Marshall, Alan Page, Doug Sutherland and Carl Eller.

With Buddy on the staff, the Vikings won the NFC title in 1976 before losing to Oakland in the Super Bowl and won the NFC Central the following year.

Ryan coached 25 years in the NFL -- including seven as a head coach (Eagles, 1986-90; Cardinals, 1994-95) -- and was part of three Super Bowl teams: the Jets in 1969, the Vikings in 1976 and the Bears in 1985.

Ryan left the Vikings after the 1977 season when Vikings defensive coordinator Neill Armstrong became the Bears' head coach. Ryan was Armstrong's defensive coordinator.

NFL observers have said that what Bill Walsh was to offense, Ryan was to defense with his 46 defense that many other teams adopted. And Rex Ryan certainly has the Vikings worried about Monday night's game because of the unorthodox defenses that he employs. A chip off the old block.

Jim, his oldest son, heeded that advice even though he was exposed to the NFL at an early age and was a ballboy for the Jets during the season they won their only Super Bowl.

Rex and Rob, however, didn't follow the advice.

"I listened to him," Jim said. "He strongly urged us to not go into coaching.

"But I knew, literally, from the time Rex and Rob [who are six years younger than Jim] were in second grade that they wanted to go into coaching. No question about it."

Regarding Rex's and Rob's coaching careers, Jim said: "They both worked very hard to get where they are. Rex started out as a grad assistant at Eastern Kentucky, and Rob started out as a grad assistant at Western Kentucky."

Jim said Rex was just as happy making $19,000 per year at Eastern Kentucky as he is now in his second year as Jets head coach.

"Sure, it's more gratifying in the NFL, but he has always done what he loves."

"Rex has been criticized for being too close to his players, but he still has made the difficult decisions, like letting running back Thomas Jones go [in March] and trading running back Leon Washington [in April]. The Jones move made financial sense. The Jets signed LaDainian Tomlinson, and that's worked out," said Jim.

Jim said Rob "is a little more like Buddy. He's a little more outspoken."

Buddy Ryan lives in Kentucky, where he is involved in raising race horses. He recently was hospitalized for diverticulitis and is recovering from surgery.

• Jets offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer coached Brett Favre in 2008 and sang the praises of the Vikings quarterback.

"Brett was one of those guys where you always were going to get everything from him," Schottenheimer said. "He was a legend. We were 8-3 because of him. When we hit that slump, it wasn't because of Brett. Looking back, no regrets."

• Former Gophers wide receiver Logan Payne, recently cut by the Vikings, was picked up by the Jets and put on their practice squad.

• After the Twins were eliminated from the playoffs on Saturday night in New York, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said this to the New York Times about his team's nine-game postseason losing streak to the Yankees: "On the record-wise, yes, they've won nine in a row. That's not dominating us, other than wins and losses. The games are really close and could go either way. We come up with a big hit or a bit pitch they can turn the other. We just haven't been able to do that."

• Twins General Manager Bill Smith, who is on the scheduling committee for Major League Baseball, said there has been some small talk about extending the league playoffs to three rounds.

• "Tubby's Tipoff," the official start to the Gophers men's basketball season, will be at 10 p.m. Friday in Williams Arena.

• New Mexico State has a Gophers touch. Former Minnesota football player, athletic director and vice president McKinley Boston is the athletic director, ex-Gophers defensive back DeWayne Walker is the head football coach, and former Gophers offensive coordinator Mike Dunbar holds the same position for the Aggies. You think the Gophers have problems? New Mexico State is 1-4, got beat 59-0 a week ago by national power Boise State and has been outscored 184-47 in its four losses (the Aggies beat New Mexico 16-14 on Saturday). By the way, New Mexico State will be paid $800,000 to play here both next season and in 2016. That will be the highest amount ever given to a Minnesota nonconference opponent.

• Marty Morgan, who wrestled and coached for the Gophers, has developed ex-Gopher Cole Konrad into one of the best MMA heavyweights. Morgan also is working with another ex-Gopher, Brock Les- nar, who is one of the best in the business. On Thursday in Kansas City, Konrad, who is 6-0 in his career, will go against Neil Grove (10-2) as part of a tournament where Konrad has reached the final. If Konrad wins, he can earn up to $100,000. Meanwhile, Les- nar is healthy again and will fight Cain Velasquez on Oct 23 in Anaheim, Calif., in a real test.