sports

When Maturi and Brown made their offer at about 11 p.m. Monday in a Denver hotel, the decision had been made that Brewster was the right man.

Jottings

A lot more will be known about the condemnation of the land for the new Twins stadium when a crucial meeting is held Jan. 22, according to Dan Rosen, lawyer for the land owners' group. Rosen claims the Twins could be building the stadium while condemnation hearings are being held to determine the price.

The Vikings will have three former Gophers coaches on their staff now that George Stewart, who was with the Atlanta Falcons last season, has been named wide receivers coach. Stewart was a graduate assistant at Arkansas in 1983, joined Holtz here for two years and then was on Holtz's Notre Dame staff rom 1986 to '88. Stewart also had an interest in the Gophers coaching job. The other two former Gophers coaches are offensive line coaches Pat Morris and Jim Hueber. ... Former Gophers tight end Matt Spaeth, who missed the Insight Bowl after undergoing shoulder surgery, has been invited to the NFL combine in Indianapolis, but he won't be able to go through most of the drills.

One tough job Brewster will have is persuading some of the better outstate recruits to stay with Minnesota. Cincinnati Archbishop Moeller linebacker Greg Jones and Barrington, Ill., running back Andre Anderson Jr. both had recent favorable visits to Michigan State.

Another challenge for Brewster will be to try to stop the flow of Cretin-Derham Hall players to Notre Dame and Iowa. Irish coach Charlie Weis was in town this week to try to keep the interest of Raiders receiver Michael Floyd in Notre Dame. Floyd was the only junior named to recruiting analyst Tom Lemming's high school All-America team. Look for Southern California to make a strong bid at Floyd. ... Gophers officials said they had sold about 250 season tickets since Brew-ster's hiring.

The Gophers men's tennis teams is 34th in preseason national rankings. ... Gophers baseball recruit Trip Schultz, an outfielder from Forest Lake, was coached by former Gophers and Twins infielder Brian Raabe.