Spaeth, Tomlin eye another Bowl

Former Gophers tight end Matt Spaeth is in his fourth year with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

And if coach Mike Tomlin is successful in guiding his team to victory over the Jets on Sunday, both Spaeth and Tomlin -- the former Vikings defensive coordinator -- will be taking part in their second Super Bowl. The Steelers beat Arizona 27-23 to win Super Bowl XLIII in 2009.

Spaeth, a third-round pick in the 2007 NFL draft, missed the last two games of his senior year with the Gophers because of a serious shoulder injury. He needed surgery and was concerned it might end his football career.

"I had no idea that [the Steelers] were going to draft me," Spaeth said. "When they called, it was pretty much a shock that they were drafting me.

"It took a while to get [the shoulder] rehabbed and strong again, but once I was back, it's been fine," he said.

Asked about being one victory away from playing in a second Super Bowl, the former St. Michael-Albertville star said: "Yeah, it's pretty incredible, it's great. A lot of guys play their whole careers and never get a chance to play in one or win one, and I've already won one. Hopefully after this week, I'll have another chance."

Spaeth caught nine passes for 80 yards and one touchdown during the regular season.

When Ben Roethlisberger was suspended for the season's first four games for violating the NFL personal conduct policy, nobody expected the Steelers to do as well as they did with their great quarterback on the bench.

"We were 3-1, and we lost our fourth game to the Ravens at the very end," Spaeth said. "It was a game that we definitely were in and had a chance to win, and we could have been 4-0 without him, but we ended up being 3-1."

The Steelers went on to compile a 12-4 record. One of those four losses was a 22-17 defeat against the Jets on Dec. 19 at Heinz Field. Spaeth had three receptions for 27 yards and his lone touchdown of the season in the game.

Spaeth can't say enough good things about Tomlin, who left the Vikings in January of 2007 at age 34 to become head coach of the Steelers. He has a 43-21 regular-season career record since.

"He is a great coach," Spaeth said. "It's hard to explain what he does. He's a guy that you love playing for and kind of would do anything for. He's a straight shooter and a great motivator and always seems to say the right thing."

"A lot of guys on our team have already won two Super Bowls; I've only been around for one," Spaeth said. "When we get down or we get in big games, there's no panic. I think one thing that's pretty special about our team is everybody checks their egos at the door, not a lot of big egos. We know we're all in it together and we all need each other to win."

Insurance important The Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission, which owns and operated the Metrodome, doesn't yet have all the facts about what insurance will pay regarding the damaged roof, but they will discuss it Thursday at a meeting.

"We have all these tests being done, and we have to get all of the results back, then analyze it," MSFC executive director Bill Lester said. "There's an engineering firm out of Texas called Walter P Moore, and they're going to give us a recommendation and that's what we're going to do to fix it.

"We have very good insurance, but there will be some negotiations with the insurance company. But if the only remedy is a new roof, then we're counting on being covered by the insurance.

"It'll definitely cover the [panels] that are torn apart now, plus we did a whole battery of tests on the roof and other patches. Those were sent to the laboratory to be analyzed and we'll have a recommendation. We won't have it Thursday. It's going to be a couple of weeks."

Lester added that some Dome events have been resumed. "We started up with the events on the concourse -- the roller skating and the running and walking -- so they're up again," he said.

Jottings J Robinson, now in his 25th season as Gophers wrestling coach, has signed a five-year contract calling for $100,000-plus a season. Robinson, who went without a contract for more than five years, has coached the team to three NCAA titles (2000-01, 2001-02 and 2006-07). He has been college wrestling coach of the year twice (1998 and 2001) and helped develop 46 All-Americas, 12 individual national champions, six Big Ten team winners and 27 individual conference champions. His .745 winning percentage is a program record, and his 357 dual-meet victories stand as the second-best mark in Minnesota wrestling history. The Gophers are currently ranked fifth in the country.

There still are six executive boxes in Williams Arena and Mariucci Arena available for sale. ... Gophers baseball coach John Anderson is in Arizona making final arrangements for the playing of the Dairy Queen Classic, which had to be moved because of the Metrodome roof's collapse, and he is also trying to raise money for the building of the new baseball stadium. One other series has been rescheduled, with the Gophers playing at Cal Poly on March 25-27 instead of at the Dome.

The Gophers football program got a good break when running back Donnell Kirkwood, who missed all but four games last season because of a leg injury, was granted a medical hardship waiver and still will have four years of college eligibility.

The Gophers are awaiting a decision on an appeal for a sixth year of competition for safety Kim Royston, who missed the entire 2010 season because of a leg injury.