Mason always knew Maroney would star

After watching on television as Laurence Maroney rushed for 122 yards and a touchdown vs. the Jaguars and another 122 yards and one touchdown vs. the Chargers in two Patriots playoff victories, former Gophers coach Glen Mason said he expected great performances like this from Maroney in the NFL.

After missing three games early in the season because of a groin muscle injury, Maroney is healthy. The result is that in his past five games, the former Gophers running back has rushed for 550 yards and six touchdowns, more than the 529 yards he rushed for through 13 games.

When the Patriots beat San Diego 21-12 Sunday to advance to the Super Bowl, Maroney outrushed the Chargers 122-104. And in last week's playoff game vs. Jacksonville, Maroney outrushed the two great Jaguars running backs, Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones-Drew, 122-66.

Looking back before Maroney was taken 21st overall in the 2006 draft, I recall a lot of scouts questioning Maroney's toughness and whether he would produce in the NFL. An ankle injury slowed him considerably in his last four college games after he rushed for 258 yards against Wisconsin. He was held to 85 yards by Indiana the following week, then missed the Michigan State game and ran for only 10 yards against Iowa. He did rush for 109 yards as the Gophers beat Virginia 34-31 in the Music City Bowl.

"Even though [Maroney] was saying all through the latter part of that season that he had not made up his mind to go pro football, all my information was that he was going to be a first-round pick," Mason said. "I knew he'd be gone."

One big advantage the Patriots had was that Ben McDaniels, brother of Patriots offensive coordinator Josh, was a graduate assistant on Mason's staff, so New England had inside information on Maroney's health, toughness and also whether he was going to pass up his senior year and turn pro. So they took a chance after 20 other teams passed him up.

"Obviously, I never talked to Josh McDaniels, he got information from his brother, but I had talked to coach Bill Belichick and also their director of player personnel," Mason said. "And they were very interested in the character issues, as you well know, and they wanted to hear it from the horse's mouth what kind of kid he was."

But how many Big Ten schools have four running backs off one team playing in the NFL? In addition to Maroney, Thomas Tapeh is with the Eagles, Marion Barber III is a Pro Bowl player with the Cowboys and Gary Russell played some for the Steelers.

Weather not a factor Former Vikings coach Bud Grant, who wouldn't allow his players to have heaters on the sidelines or wear extra clothes when they played several regular-season games and a number of playoff games in below-zero temperatures, doesn't believe the players were handicapped playing in the cold weather in the Patriots-Chargers game, where it was 25 above when the game started, or in the Giants-Packers game, which was played in subzero weather.

"The worst place to be in a cold-weather game is in the stands," Grant said. "When you are playing, the adrenaline is running, and the blood is running to the extremities and players are not nearly as cold as people on the sidelines or in the stands.

"I remember a season when we played Green Bay and the Bears late in the season on successive weekends, and I think the windchills were in the 20s and 30s below."

Grant didn't believe the cold weather at old Metropolitan Stadium gave the Vikings any advantage other than mental.

Jottings The one thing that might cause Tony Dungy to coach one more year is that the Colts move into their new stadium next year. Owner Jim Irsay is working hard to get Dungy to coach one more year.

After failing to get the Dolphins job after an interview, Vikings defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier spent time the past weekend being interviewed for the Atlanta job. Again the word is that he made a great impression. Falcons owner Arthur Blank hasn't give up on getting Southern California coach Pete Carroll to take the job. But if they don't get Carroll, Frazier might have a chance.

J Robinson, coach of the fifth-ranked Gophers wrestling team, insists the team will defend its 2007 NCAA championship once the squad gets healthy. "At the National Duals we didn't have NCAA champion Dustin Schlatter and NCAA champion runner-up Roger Kish, who both were out with injuries," Robinson said. "Once they get healthy, we will be as good as last year." The Gophers meet No. 1-ranked Iowa here Feb. 1.

Gophers hockey coach Don Lucia said commissioners of all of the college hockey leagues plan to meet soon with NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman to make sure teams don't sign players in midyear as the Islanders did with the Gophers' Kyle Okposo this season. The commissioners also would like to work out a deal where players could be protected in college for a period before they are drafted. Okposo has seven points in four games with Bridgeport of the American Hockey League.

Lucia's father, Mario, 79, who coached high school hockey at Big Fork and Grand Rapids, was recently voted into the Minnesota High School Hockey Coaches Hall of Fame. ... And Lucia's oldest daughter, Ali, recently landed a job as a news anchor at a Rochester television station.

Checking on the records of former Gophers basketball coach Dan Monson and his assistants: Monson is 4-12 as head coach at Long Beach State, where Vic Couch is an assistant. Jim Molinari, the interim coach last year, is an assistant at Ball State, where they are 3-13. Bill Walker is on the staff at Texas A&M, where they are 15-3. ... Two former Gophers football assistant coaches, Joker Phillips and David Lockwood, who have been assistants at Kentucky, made news this past week. Lockwood left Kentucky to become an assistant at West Virginia, while Phillips was named the future Wildcats head coach when current coach Rich Brooks retires.