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All-American Matt Spaeth, the nation’s top college tight end. Photographs courtesy of Gopher Athletics

The UMAA Web site has a link to the live webcam that overlooks the construction site for TCF Bank Stadium. You can keep an eye on demolition of grain elevators and other changes to the stadium site landscape by going to www.alumni.umn.edu/stadium.

Minnesota sophomore Chris Rombough became the first Gopher in 35 years to win conference medalist honors when he took the crown at the Big Ten Men’s cross country championships in October.

The volleyball Gophers narrowly missed making their third Final Four appearance in four years as they dropped a five-game match to No. 1 Nebraska in the NCAA Regional Finals in December. They finished the season with a 25–7 record, second in the Big Ten. Senior Malama Peniata was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and Coach Mike Hebert earned Regional Coach of the Year honors for the third time since he has been at Minnesota.

Five Gopher men’s hockey players were named to the 2007 U.S. Junior National Team: center Mike Carmen, forward Ryan Stoa, goaltender Jeff Frazee, defenseman Erik Johnson, and center Kyle Okposo. The team represented the United States in the International Ice Hockey Federation World Junior Championships in Sweden. No other institution had as many players named to the team as Minnesota.

Gopher football’s Matt Spaeth was named first-team all-American and the 2006 recipient of the John Mackey Award, given annually to the nation’s top college tight end. This past season Spaeth, a senior, became the school’s all-time leader in career receptions and receiving yards by a tight end. Also this season, quarterback Bryan Cupito (B.S. ’06) became Minnesota’s all-time leader in career passing yards.

The day after his team

Jim Molinari, Gopher men’s basketball interim head coach

suffered its fifth straight loss—a humiliating 90–68 shellacking at home by Clemson—Gopher men’s basketball coach Dan Monson resigned, accepting a $1.3 million contract buyout. Assistant coach Jim Molinari took over as interim head coach for the remainder of this season.

Monson, who was in his eighth year at the U, was hired in the wake of the academic fraud scandal during the Clem Haskins era. That scandal resulted in severe recruiting and scholarship restrictions from the NCAA that were lifted only last October.

During his seven-plus seasons at Minnesota, Monson compiled a 118–106 record overall and 44–68 in the Big Ten. His tenure was marked by a previously unknown phenomenon to Minnesota fans: games at Williams Arena went from standing-room-only to sitting-space-aplenty. Attendance in Monson’s first season averaged 13,767 but fell to 10,567 in 2004–05 before rebounding to about 11,000 last season. Filling seats is a must in a revenue producing sport like basketball, and the fact that Monson’s squads fell short on that count undoubtedly contributed to his departure.

Athletics director Joel Maturi told Minnesota that he wants a program that excels both on and off the court. “I will do my best to hire a coach that will best represent the University of Minnesota. We want to win a Big Ten Championship! We want to do it without compromising our values and it is important for our student athletes to leave the University with a degree.”

Two Gopher men’s basketball games will be broadcast nationally this season. ESPN2 will air the Illinois game on January 17, and CBS will broadcast the Ohio State game on February 18. Both will be played at Williams Arena.      

Quotebook

“Iowans won’t get tickets anymore.”

—Regent David Metzen responding to another regent, who wondered how the 50,000-seat TCF Bank Stadium will accommodate fans for the Iowa game, which drew 60,000 fans this year.

Cynthia Scott (M.A. ’89) is managing editor of Minnesota.