Stadium Update
11/5/2008 8:15 AM | | The centerpiece of the Minnesota Tribal Nations Plaza will be 11 "sky markers," modern interpretations of the teepee. ILLUSTRATION COURTESY OF HOK SPORT |
Tribal Tribute
Lofty both in design and significance, a tribute to Minnesota’s Native communities—plans for which were unveiled at the Board of Regents meeting in September—will grace the main entrance to TCF Bank Stadium. The tribute plaza is in recognition of a $12.5 million gift to the University last fall from the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community (SMSC): $10 million for the new stadium and $2.5 million in matching funds for a $5 million endowment that will be used for scholarships, with a preference given to American Indian students. The tribute will be named the Minnesota Tribal Nations Plaza.
The plaza will consist of 11 18-foot-tall “sky markers,” each of which will incorporate information about one of Minnesota’s tribal nations. Tribal flags, images, and facts about each nation will be displayed on the soaring glass structures. The design was created by Kansas City–based HOK Sport, the same firm responsible for the design of TCF Bank Stadium. HOK is working closely with the tribes in designing the plaza.
HOK Sport planner Kobi Bradley says the design of the plaza is intended to convey multiple meanings and images of Native American culture. “The entirety of the plaza is an abstraction of the landscape biomes in the state of Minnesota, from the southern prairie grasslands to the unifying deciduous forests to the northern coniferous forests. The most significant elements are the 11 sky markers representing each Minnesota tribe. The form of the sky marker is a modern interpretation of the Indian tipi.”
Minnesota’s 11 tribes comprise seven Anishinaabe (Chippewa or Ojibwe) reservations and four Dakota (Sioux) communities. The Anishinaabe reservations—Grand Portage, Bois Forte, Red Lake, White Earth, Leech Lake, Fond du Lac, and Mille Lacs—are located in central and northern Minnesota. The four Dakota communities—Prairie Island, Lower Sioux, Upper Sioux, and the Mdewakanton— inhabit the southern portions of the state.
SMSC Chairman Stanley R. Crooks says the plaza will convey to those who pass through it that the University sits on historic Dakota territory. “Our true story hasn’t always been taught in schools so we acknowledge the University for their willingness to do so,” Crooks adds. “It is important to put accurate information out in the world so that others might better appreciate the historic and ongoing contributions made to the state of Minnesota by the sovereign Tribal Nations who have called Minnesota home since time immemorial.”
Since making its initial $12.5 million gift, SMSC has added $2 million for the plaza, making its total contribution $14.5 million. “We’re grateful to the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community for their support, and for their commitment to recognizing all 11 of Minnesota’s American Indian communities in this stunning plaza,” says Gopher Athletics Director Joel Maturi. “This will be one of the most vibrant and visible parts of the TCF Bank Stadium and serve as a lasting tribute to the importance of Minnesota’s American Indian people.”
Final commissioning of TCF Bank Stadium will occur in summer 2009, and the first game versus the United States Air Force Academy will be held on September 12. Next year also marks the 40th anniversary of the Department of American Indian Studies at the University, the oldest such program with departmental status in the country.
—Judd Spicer
Sports Notebook: Gopher sports news and notes
Gopher women’s hockey fans will see fewer ties this season. To add extra drama to games, Western College Hockey Association women’s teams will use a shootout to determine the winner of games that end in a tie. The winner of the shootout will receive two points and the loser will get one point for the overtime tie. Shootout results will count only in league standings.
Minnesota will host NCAA postseason men’s hockey competitions for the next three seasons. The west regionals in 2009 and 2010 will be held at Mariucci Arena on campus and the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, respectively, while the 2011 Frozen Four (NCAA finals) will be at the Xcel.
Both the men’s and women’s Gopher tennis teams won All-Academic Team honors from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, and six athletes won individual recognition as scholar athletes. The team award is presented to teams with a cumulative grade point average of 3.2, and the individual award goes to student athletes who earn a GPA of 3.5 or higher.
University of Minnesota civil engineering alumnus Matt Schnobrich (M.S. ’04) won a bronze medal as part of the United States’ eight-man rowing team at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Schnobrich, an engineer, lives and works in Philadelphia.
Coaches’ carousel: Head assistant wrestling coach Marty Morgan (B.S. ’93, M.S. ’01) resigned after 16 years on the staff of coach J Robinson so he can train former Gopher All-American Brock Lesnar full-time in the Ultimate Fighting Championships. Morgan was a three-time All-American for the Gophers and won a national title in 1991. Women’s basketball coach Pam Borton signed a new six-year contract that will extend her tenure to the 2013-14 season. She had signed a new seven-year contract following the 2004 season, when the Gophers made it to the Final Four, but the new deal dissolved the final three seasons of that contract. With a base salary of $405,000 for this season and various incentives, the new contract places her among the top third of the highest-paid women’s basketball coaches in the Big Ten. Former Gopher great and two-time United States Olympian Natalie Darwitz (B.S. ’07) has joined the staff of women’s hockey as an assistant coach. Darwitz helped lead Minnesota to back-to-back national championships in 2004 and 2005. Before the U hired Darwitz she was an assistant coach at Eagan (Minnesota) High School. Steve Plasencia was named head coach of the men’s track and field program, replacing Phil Lundin (M.S. ’76, Ph.D. ’83). He will continue as head coach of the men’s cross country team as well. Plasencia was an All-American for the Gophers in the 1970s.
—Cynthia Scott
 | | | |  | | Sports Quotebook | “We’re all football fans. When football is doing well, everything else seems to go well.”
—Gopher volleyball coach Mike Hebert in the Minnesota Daily, reflecting on how the volleyball, football, and soccer teams fed off each other’s success to start their seasons. At the time, football was 4-0, volleyball was 10-2, and soccer was 10-0. (Web editor's note: When this issue was mailed, the fun continued - football was 7-2, volleyball was 18-6 and second in the Big Ten with two matches to go, and the soccer team was17-2 and tied for the Big Ten title going into post-season play.) |
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