University of Minnesota tuition increase will hurt athletic director search

Candidates to become the next Gophers athletic director are no doubt going to examine the positives and negatives of the position, currently held by interim AD Beth Goetz.

If there weren't enough negative issues to discourage candidates from applying, now the University of Minnesota's Board of Regents have approved a tuition raise between seven and 12 percent for out-of-state students and those not eligible for tuition reciprocity. The increase could run as high as $12,000 per year.

It could be that President Eric Kaler and the board had no choice because the university needs additional funding, but the timing is going to hurt the AD selection process. You wonder if the decision could have waited until they made that hire.

Consider that of the 107 players on the Gophers football roster, 65 are not from Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota or Manitoba, Canada — players who don't get in-state tuition or reciprocity. So the increase would be felt tremendously by that and other athletic programs.

For the 2014-15 academic year, the Gophers athletic department paid $9,033,052 in scholarship aid to athletes. While the exact figure of how much a tuition increase for out-of-state athletes will cost the athletic department is not known at this point, it will be considerable. Board spokesmen have said the move was trying to get out-of-state tuition in line with other Big Ten schools, but with the Gophers having so many other issues in the athletic department, keeping tuition lower could have had a positive effect on recruiting.

The athletic department has been trying to raise money to complete their facilities plan, and might use a bond program to generate additional funds. The university has struggled to raise $80 million to date, and they need almost double that.

To add to the department's problems, an AD candidate also might look at dropping revenue from men's hockey and men's basketball. So to put it mildly, most candidates would consider this tuition increase a big negative.

However, Kaler saw ways Kill could benefit the university but not be connected to athletics. Kill felt he could help both the administration and athletics, but he wasn't interested in any job that wouldn't be part of the athletic department.

Kill said he has received a number of calls from potential Gophers athletic director candidates, but he won't reveal them to be fair to their possible candidacy.

Kill also has had offers to join various coaching staffs, but for now he is making speeches all over the country. On Friday, he will speak in Fargo at North Dakota State.

A headline in Saturday's New York Times read: "Twice Retired, Ex-Purple People Eater Is Still Passionate About Goals," on top of a nice story about former Vikings star and Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Alan Page, who retired after turning 70.

Retirement from the bench at that age was mandatory, but one of his former Supreme Court colleagues talked about his career to the Times. "I witnessed him focusing on getting the law right," said retired Justice Paul Anderson. "He was very focused on equity and the elimination of discrimination."

The Times wrote: "But having reached pinnacles of success in two very different careers, surely it must be time to kick back, maybe hit the golf course, and the nostalgia circuit?" But the article also pointed out that Page is becoming even more of an advocate for children in the Twin Cities and is making that his latest career goal.

• The Wolves' 121-114 overtime victory over the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday was one of their biggest victories in nearly a decade. If you want a sign of how well the staff has done coaching up the team's young players, consider that over three games, reigning league MVP Stephen Curry has shot only 41.8 percent against the Wolves — his second-lowest field-goal percentage against any team this season. The only team to defend Curry better was the Boston Celtics, who played him only twice. Curry has shot 50.2 percent from the field this season.

• ESPN.com reported this week that former Wisconsin-Milwaukee junior guard Akeem Springs will visit the Gophers this weekend. Springs, who decided to leave the program after coach Rob Jeter was fired, scored 15 points on 6-for-11 shooting and added seven rebounds in the Panthers' 74-65 victory over the Gophers in nonconference play this season. Springs averaged 13.2 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.7 assists.

• Terrin Vavra, the son of Twins bench coach Joe Vavra, is hitting .413 for the Gophers baseball team. Vavra, a true freshman, hit his first home run in the Gophers' 12-10 victory over Northern Illinois on Wednesday. The Gophers play at Michigan this weekend.

• Heading into Thursday night's contest at Sacramento, Karl-Anthony Towns needed to score only 54 points over the final five games of the season to become the Wolves' rookie scoring leader. Christian Laettner holds the record with 1,472 points scored during the 1992-93 season. Towns already has passed Kevin Garnett to become the best shot-blocking rookie in Wolves history with 132. … Towns ranks eighth in the league in rebounding (10.5), 10th in blocks (1.69), eighth in field-goal accuracy (54.2 percent) and second in point/rebound double-doubles (49). He leads all qualified rookies in scoring (18.2), rebounding, field-goal percentage, double-doubles and minutes (32.1), and ranks third in free-throw percentage (81.5 percent) and 10th in steals (0.71).