Sid Hartman: Ex-coach Monson expects Saunders to land job at U

Dan Monson, the former Gophers men's basketball coach, who was fired Nov. 30, said he is convinced that Detroit Pistons coach and Minnesota alum Flip Saunders is set to be his successor and that the deal was concluded before he was let go.

Saunders is under contract with the Pistons for two more years, but no doubt he is the top candidate for the job if he wants it. And Monson is convinced that Saunders is the guy who can turn the program around, adding that it's been harder on him to watch the Gophers lose on television as they did Saturday than it was from courtside when he was the coach.

"It's worse, because you can't do anything about it," he said Saturday. "... You feel like those are your kids, and when it's your kids -- whether it's biological or not -- you feel for them and you want to help them any way you can."

When the season started, Monson said he had no idea the Gophers, who lost to Michigan 62-51, would fall to 3-12 in the Big Ten and 9-20 overall.

"You have a lot of optimism at the start of the season and certainly we had that slow start, and it's just during slow starts like that the kids' confidence really takes a turn," he said. "Two years ago, when we won 21 games, we started that way, too. We were 2-3 to begin with, but then we won about 10 games in a row to get confidence up."

Monson said he believes the program can be turned around in a hurry.

"One thing about basketball -- it is different than football because one or two good players can turn a program around," he said. "Had one of those junior college players come in and been more of an impact player, it could have changed a 10-game swing in the season. Lawrence [McKenzie], Dan [Coleman] and Spencer [Tollackson] have all proven that they can play. You've just got to get a couple of guys to go with them."

Looking back, Monson said he believes a story that ran in the Star Tribune last March incorrectly reporting he was about to be fired killed the chance to recruit a couple of top junior college players he and his staff had lined up, contributing to the poor season. Other players considered transferring.

"The start of this year began last year with all the speculation [about my job status] and the pressure on them to perform right away," Monson said. "They weren't ready for that."

Monson praised his replacement, interim coach Jim Molinari.

"He's done a great job under tough circumstances," Monson said. "I think Jim is a great coach, but it takes a combination of things -- it takes players, it takes coaching, it takes confidence, it takes some luck."

Monson doesn't have anything on the line right now but definitely wants to coach again.

Hiring Saunders or Bobby Knight might turn this program around in a hurry. But bring in some unknown, and I'm convinced it will take more time. Monson was a lot better coach than a lot of the media ranked him. It's not that easy to recruit top talent to Minnesota, and this year's team proved you can't win with all Minnesota players. That was shown Saturday in the final 10 minutes, when Michigan dominated a Gophers team with four Minnesota starters.

Johnson unlikely to dash off to NHL

Bruce Johnson -- the father of Gophers hockey freshman Erik Johnson, who was the No. 1 pick by St. Louis in the 2006 NHL draft -- said he doesn't expect his son to join the Blues after the Gophers season ends, as has been rumored.

"We don't talk about it, because his attention needs to be on the University of Minnesota, but I think it's unlikely he could [join the Blues]," the elder Johnson said. "I don't think it's going to happen."

In fact, Bruce Johnson said it's possible his son might play another year in college.

Unquestionably, he added, Erik Johnson's decision to play his freshman year in college rather than turn pro was the right decision.

"It's been a learning process in lots of ways for him, and I've told him quite a few times it's better to learn these things at the University of Minnesota than it is to learn it in St. Louis in the National Hockey League," Bruce Johnson said.

Back together

George Stewart and Jim Hueber were young coaches who served on the Gophers staff under Lou Holtz in 1984 and '85 and are together again as assistant Vikings coaches.

Stewart recalled what a great recruiting class had committed to the Gophers for the 1986 season. Then, when Holtz left for Notre Dame, most of them, including outstanding quarterback Tony Rice, switched to the Irish.

"There were seven or eight top recruits headed for Minnesota when Lou decided to leave," said Stewart, who went with Holtz while Hueber stayed with Holtz's successor, John Gutekunst.

Holtz, incidentally, has a new book out in which he describes how he was ready to eliminate the "Notre Dame release clause" out of his contract at one time and stay at Minnesota, but things didn't work out.

The problem at that time was that Holtz was becoming bigger than the university president and one of the vice presidents at Minnesota, and they were likely happy to see Holtz go.

Jottings

The Twins will pass the 1 million mark in ticket sales by the end of the month for the first time since 1992, the year after the team last won the World Series. They have also sold more than 2,500 new season tickets to reach the 10,000 mark. More than 40,000 tickets have been sold for the season opener with Baltimore on April 2. ... The Twins will honor their individual award winners from April 12-15. Torii Hunter will get his Gold Glove on April 12; the Cy Young Award will be presented to Johan Santana on April 13; Justin Morneau will be given his MVP Award on April 14; and Joe Mauer will get his league batting championship trophy April 15.

Gophers assistant men's basketball coach Vic Couch apparently is the only one who has been interviewed for the Santa Clara job. Couch, who played at Santa Clara and was an assistant coach there, has a very good chance of getting the job.

Last Sunday, the Gophers won their fifth Big Ten men's swimming title in the past seven years and the seventh under coach Dennis Dale. The titles were two of the most closely contested in conference history, with both coming down to the final event, the 400 freestyle relay. Needing to win the relay each time to capture the team title, the Gophers came out on top both times. The meets were decided by a combined seven points. ... Mike Holmes, a former walk-on from Eagan, was one of the catalysts in the Gophers' championship run. In the first event on Sunday night, Holmes placed second in the 1,650-yard freestyle. He dropped 22 seconds off his career-best time and became just the second swimmer to go under the 15-minute mark in the event.

Paul Wiggin, a teammate of former Cleveland Browns great Gene Hickerson, who was recently inducted in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, had a lot of good words to say about the star guard to members of the group that voted Hickerson into the Hall of Fame. However, Wiggin, now a Vikings pro scout, described former Viking Randall McDaniel "as the greatest offensive guard I have ever seen." McDaniel, who wasn't among the 15 finalists, will be eligible again for the 2008 class.

J.B. Bickerstaff, who played for the Gophers and served as their director of basketball operations, said he is enjoying spending the time with his dad, Charlotte Bobcats coach Bernie Bickerstaff, that J.B. missed during his younger years. At 27, he is the youngest assistant coach in the NBA. "This is what I want to do," he said. "I think that I've found something that I love, and I couldn't ask for anything else, anything more in a job and with a group of people that I enjoy being around. And I just love teaching the game of basketball." Young Bickerstaff said Michael Jordan, now involved in the ownership of the Bobcats, and his father -- also the Bobcats general manager -- have a good working relationship.

Sid Hartman can be heard weekdays on WCCO AM-830 at 6:40, 7:40 and 8:40 a.m. and on Podcast twice a week at www.startribune.com/sidcast. shartman@startribune.com