With mixed results, J. J. McCarthy is two games into what appears to be a 10-game audition to be the Vikings’ starting quarterback next season. The way it looks now, unless McCarthy, 22, improves steadily, the Vikings won’t simply hand him the job uncontested next year. They are expected to bring in a decent veteran—one better than Carson Wentz was this year—to legitimately compete for the starting role.
Vikings’ ownership, now in its 20th season, has to be dismayed over the brilliant season QB Sam Darnold is having with the 7-2 Seahawks, especially after spending an NFL-high $345 million last offseason to improve the team. The Vikings could have retained Darnold, 28, with a $40 million franchise tag.
The Vikings will face Darnold in Seattle in two weeks.
It will be interesting to see whether wide receiver Justin Jefferson, 26, under contract at $140 million through 2028, becomes frustrated enough to voice displeasure—albeit quietly to ownership—at not getting enough catchable passes from McCarthy.
Among Vikings jerseys, McCarthy’s No. 9 is the second-most sold, behind Jefferson’s No. 18, at the Lids apparel store in Mall of America. A Lowe’s Jefferson ice-bucket bling replica necklace promotion sold out in less than two hours recently, the hardware firm reports.
After McCarthy led the Vikings past the Lions 27-24 in Detroit, ex-NFL quarterback and NBC analyst Chris Simms remarked, “This kid has ice in his veins.”
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**Baseball Update**
How far are the Twins from World Series contenders like the Dodgers and Blue Jays? “Listen, when you play the way we played this year and you watch it, you feel like you’re really far away,” club president Derek Falvey told the Pioneer Press. “That said, it wasn’t long ago that you felt you were right there. I would argue, and this is credit to the Blue Jays, that a year ago there were discussions about (manager) John Schneider being on the hot seat. The challenges of that organization made people think they would win 75 or 80 games, yet they were three inches from a World Series win. Baseball turns fast.”
Even the Twins’ front office was surprised that new Angels manager Kurt Suzuki received just a one-year contract, while it’s believed new Twins manager Derek Shelton received a three-year deal.
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**College & Professional Sports Notes**
Gophers’ P. J. Fleck is mentioned only once—at distant 14-1 odds—for the Arkansas vacancy or any of the eight college football coaching jobs currently available, according to BetOnline.ag.
The Oregon team that recently clobbered the Gophers boasts six players among the top 50 projected for April’s NFL draft, including Heisman Trophy prospect QB Dante Moore, per The Athletic. The Gophers have none.
Former Gopher Dawson Garcia is on the Motor City Cruise NBA G League inactive list.
Woodbury’s Kendall Blue, who averaged 12.3 points for University of St. Thomas last season, is averaging 9 minutes and 1.3 points after three games as a senior guard for Nebraska. Senior guard Sam Hoiberg, son of coach Fred Hoiberg, is averaging 26.3 minutes and 7.7 points for the Huskers.
Ex-East Ridge star Kendall Brown, released by the Boston Celtics in training camp, is averaging 30 minutes and 14 points for the Maine Celtics in the G League.
Senior guard Miles Barnstable, who left St. Thomas for a $200,000 NIL deal, is starting for Tulsa and averaging 29.3 minutes and 16 points.
Former Orono 6-foot-5 star Nolan Groves, who flipped from Yale to Texas Tech with a $500,000 NIL deal, set a freshman rebounding record for the No. 11 Red Raiders with 16 boards in a 98-60 victory over Lindenwood.
After finishing among the top three in MVP voting in Australia last season, Matthew Hurt, 25—the 2019 Minnesota Mr. Basketball from Rochester Marshall—has signed with Sicily in Italy. His brother Michael, 27, a former Gopher, is now in business in Charlotte, N.C., and sister Katie is a senior playing at Lehigh University.
Tommy Ahneman, the 6-foot-10 Cretin-Derham graduate, has been sidelined for his freshman season at Notre Dame due to left knee surgery.
Jordan Schroeder, 35, former Gophers, Wild, Canucks, and Blue Jackets center, last week decided to retire after 15 professional seasons across seven different leagues. He most recently played in Sweden. “It’s been a great journey, a whirlwind, pretty crazy,” said the former St. Thomas Academy star who, with wife Gaby and three young sons, resides near Minnetonka.
Had Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul and Mariucci Arena in Minneapolis not been able to attract the World Junior Hockey Championship set for Dec. 26-Jan. 5, Minnesota’s next chance would be seven years from now. By the way, the best player in the 2017 junior tournament held in Montreal and Toronto was Russian Kirill Kaprizov, then 17 years old.
Gophers men’s hockey coach Bob Motzko, who will coach the USA in the World Junior Championship, said the tournament “is the greatest tournament for hockey outside of the Olympics. This is the best of the best under age 20. You name an NHL superstar, they played in this tournament.”
Craig Stammen, the new San Diego Padres manager, is married to Audrey Volstad, who starred in volleyball at Medicine East High and St. Olaf College before coaching stops at St. Olaf, Augsburg, Hamline, Maryland, and Dayton.
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**Team Ownership and Business Insights**
While the Twins are believed to be seeking $1.75 billion in a sale, the Padres—who last week decided to explore a sale—would be expected to cost at least $2.5 billion.
Three daughters of former Gophers/Indianapolis Colts Super Bowl tight end Ben Utecht and wife Karyn Stordahl, a former Gophers golfer and Miss Minnesota, played for the Lakeville South volleyball team that won its second straight state title last weekend.
Former Gophers basketball and track star Liz Podominick from Lakeville is assistant director of the USA women’s national basketball program in Colorado Springs.
Roseville’s Mike Muscala, 34, who spent 11 seasons as an NBA journeyman, is in his first season as an assistant coach for the Phoenix Suns.
Sanjay Lumpkin, the former Northwestern basketball captain from Benilde-St. Margaret’s, is an Atlanta Hawks assistant.
Former Rochester Mayo star Gabe Madsen is averaging 28 minutes, nine points, and seven rebounds, while ex-Park Center star Dain Dainja is averaging 26 minutes and 15.3 points for the G League Sioux Falls Skyforce.
Mike Grimm, 55, who is in his 20th season as the splendid play-by-play voice of Gophers football and men’s basketball, on how long he’ll continue: “Till I die.” Legendary predecessor Ray Christensen, who was behind the microphone for 50 years, died at age 92 in 2017.
GopherHole.com, a hub for University of Minnesota athletics discussion, receives about 100,000 clicks a day.
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**Golf Highlights**
Dalton Anderson, a club teaching pro, recently set a River Oaks golf course record with a nine-under-par 62 (10 birdies, one bogey) from the back tees.
Cretin-Derham Hall grad Sam Udovich, a freshman golfer at Texas Christian, shot rounds of 65-64-65 (19-under par) to finish runner-up in the recent Ka’anapali tournament in Maui, Hawaii.
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**Football & Coaching Notes**
Ex-St. John’s star Blake Elliott’s College Football Hall of Fame induction will occur at a black-tie dinner on Dec. 9 in Las Vegas.
Bob Wilber, son of former Twins Instructional League manager Del Wilber, has completed an entertaining non-fiction book, *Forever Hilanders*, about the travails of his 1978 Paintsville Hilanders minor league baseball team in eastern Kentucky.
There are no plans for the Pohlad family to sell the Twins during the 2026 season. Currently, two still-unannounced limited partners (one based in Minneapolis) willing to spend $500 million to bail out the team’s debt will decide—with a right-of-first-refusal agreement—whether to buy majority interest once Major League Baseball’s new economic model is set. Baseball’s labor agreement expires after next season, and a lockout of the 2027 season is virtually certain. Afterward, the Pohlads could decide, based on economic reform for baseball, to sell majority interest in the Twins to the limited partners.
This scenario is similar to Chicago businessman Justin Ishbia’s deal with White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf to eventually buy majority interest in the Chicago team. By the way, one of the limited partners considering the Twins, though not official yet, is a zillion-dollar corporation that easily could afford majority interest.
People who know say some form of a salary cap for baseball—which is ultimately expected—would allow the Twins to be significantly more competitive rather than trying to compete financially with the big spenders.
A little birdie says one potential buyer of the Twins has considered safety in downtown Minneapolis a big issue.
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**Technology and Scouting**
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has played a notable role with the Twins. Management used AI in the hiring process for new manager Derek Shelton, thoroughly checking “all the good things, all the bad things, all the challenges,” club president Derek Falvey told the Pioneer Press.
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**Twins Legacy and Future**
Kent Hrbek, superb first baseman for the Twins’ 1987 and 1991 World Series champions, said about the new Twins manager Shelton: “He’s been here, knows some of the guys already, knows the situation, he’s a great guy; I think the players will like him.”
“When they hired TK (World Series manager Tom Kelly after he was a coach), we were strong advocates for him. We liked the idea he had been around,” Hrbek added. However, he also noted, “As TK always said, you’ve got to have the horses to pull your wagon. That’s the sad thing. We had 10 guys they (Twins) got rid of near the end of last season; somebody wanted those 10 guys. I don’t know if Rocco (fired manager Baldelli) couldn’t make them play together or what.”
Among those traded was Ty France, recently named a Gold Glove first baseman with Toronto. “A Gold Glove first baseman, for God’s sake!” Hrbek exclaimed. “I don’t know what happened there, if they got in a panic mode.”
Hrbek, 65, is nearly recovered after a stroke in April.
Tom Kelly, 75, who managed the Twins to World Series championships in 1987 and 1991, will next be eligible for Baseball Hall of Fame Contemporary Era voting in 2027.
The low-budget Twins are expected to be especially active in baseball’s Rule 5 draft on Dec. 10.
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**Gophers and Venues**
Clem Haskins began a 13-year Gophers men’s basketball coaching career in 1986. Not much has physically changed at Williams Arena 39 years later; even Haskins’ office desk remains unchanged with a landline phone where the number still works.
Regarding a proposed $400 million renovation of Grand Casino Arena, chances of it moving forward appear better with the recent mayoral election of business-minded Kaohly Her.
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**NBA Notes**
Timberwolves coach Chris Finch pointed out at a Dunkers club gathering Wednesday at Interlachen Country Club that for 30 years the Wolves had not finished among the top 10 in NBA defense. But since acquiring Rudy Gobert, the team has three top-10 defensive finishes.
At the pace NFL team valuations are increasing, the Vikings—worth $6.8 billion this year—will probably be worth $7.5 billion next year.
Glen Taylor, asked by the Pioneer Press what it’s like to receive a check for $1.5 billion from selling the Timberwolves-Lynx, said, “It’s not something I ever imagined. But it hasn’t changed anything for us.”
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**Coaching and Honors**
Marc Trestman, 69, a former Gophers QB from St. Louis Park who went on to a resplendent coaching career, is working on an autobiography considered required reading.
Gerry Brown, 85, the legendary retired St. Thomas Academy football coach, was wonderfully sharp, thoughtful, and entertaining while being honored at the 50th anniversary of his Cadets’ 12-0 1975 state championship season Friday evening at DeGidio’s. Among highlights was 1975 captain Kevin Berg’s sincere thank-you to the team’s scout team members and managers for making the undefeated season a true team effort.
Adam Thielen, the Vikings hometown receiver, spoke to St. Thomas Academy players the day before their state semifinal loss to Spring Lake Park. Thielen mentioned his idols were Hall of Famers Cris Carter and Randy Moss, but his mentors came from a myriad of sources.
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**Upcoming Netflix Special & Local Basketball**
A Netflix special airing in February before the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy will feature members of the 1980 gold medal men’s hockey team, focusing on players’ views of Herb Brooks and how the legendary St. Paul coach orchestrated the momentous 4-3 upset of the Soviet Union.
Green Bay, which the University of St. Thomas men’s basketball team defeated 80-61 Thursday in St. Paul, played the Gophers Saturday evening in Minneapolis.
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**Local Issues and Community**
There is a movement to save the Les Bolstad Golf Course, managed by the University of Minnesota since 1916. A petition is underway to be forwarded to the University’s board of regents. The course is planned for sale and development.
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**Overheard**
In reference to J. J. McCarthy, Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell commented on the complex decision-making required in just seconds by NFL quarterbacks:
“The way I would equate it is if you’re a high-level chef making a meal. We try to put the ingredients out on the counter and leave the instructions right next to the ingredients, and then potentially have up until 15 seconds to help guide the crafting of that meal. I’ve always thought J. J. is a very high-level processor of information. I’ve known that from the first time I sat down with him in Ann Arbor.”
https://www.twincities.com/2025/11/15/charley-walters-j-j-mccarthy-auditioning-to-remain-vikings-starter/