MinnesotaSportsScene.com

The Minnesota Vikings had one Brad too many this past season and today the organization let one of them go. Coach Brad Childress is still in charge as the head coach, but the NFL’s oldest active quarterback, Brad Johnson, was given his walking papers today.

Despite a decade and a half of good will in Minnesota, it was long past due for Johnson to be sent packing. This past season, the Johnson-led offense was so feeble and unexciting that it acted as a better appetite suppressant than Ionamin.

Sure, Coach Brad had some responsibility for transforming the Vikings’ kickass offense into a “getting our asses kicked” offense. Sure, with all our troubles at wide receiver, it would have been hard for any QB to look good under center.

But QB Brad was completely uninspiring, would only have been worse next season and, frankly, deserved to try and find a better gig with another team, out of respect for his overall career.

Bye-bye Brad. You will be missed, but not for what you did last year and not because we wanted you back next year. Thanks for all the good seasons that actually were good.

Beating the Golden State Warriors isn’t exactly the same as upsetting the dominant Phoenix Suns, but after their most humiliating loss of the season to Houston, after which new coach Randy Wittman ripped his teams’ guards for underachieving, the team responded by posting their most dominant win of the season, a 121-93 romp.

Despite being such a guard-heavy team, the play of the Wolves guards, especially that of veterans Mike James and Ricky Davis, has been a thorn in the side of Coach Wittman. The new lineup for the Wolves puts the younger guards, especially rookie Randy Foye, in a bigger spotlight.

The Wolves posted 38 assists in the game, a season high, and despite the benching, James and Davis posted good nights. It’s nice the focus for the Wolves is back on the court and not on nightclub incidents or behavior that could lead to a future paternity test.

But whether the club has turned the corner yet or not remains to be seen. With the trade deadline fast approaching, if any changes are going to be made, they have to happen soon or wait until the off-season.

With the long wait and speculation and no comments and did I mention the long wait, University of Minnesota athletic director Joel Maturi had better be able to deliver Flip Saunders as the new Gophers head men’s basketball coach when it’s all over.

If it’s anyone but Saunders, a lot of people will be justifiably mystified as to why, exactly, Maturi didn’t hire someone else sooner. For example, if it’s going to be Rick Majerus, the guy’s not even with another team right now; announce it and get on with building Majerus up.

While Saunders isn’t tipping his hand and is genuinely in pursuit of an NBA title with the Pistons, anyone less than Saunders or Majerus is going to be a huge letdown. He cannot pluck another Tim Brewster-style hire out of thin air and have it work, not with the men’s basketball hire.

Sure, the Gophers have no tenders available next season, so if he waits until spring, summer, even after the NBA Finals are over (or at least until Detroit is bounced from the playoffs), it’s not going to hurt recruiting that much.

But if Maturi does wait until after the NBA Finals and Saunders says no, it’s going to be a heartbreaker than most Gophers fans will not tolerate. Indeed, it could lead to Maturi’s ouster from the U.

I’m not saying Maturi needs to be fired if he doesn’t deliver Saunders. But if it’s not going to be Saunders, it had better be announced sooner and it had better be Majerus.

If the Gophers wait until after the NBA Finals only to find out that interim coach Jim Molinari will stay on in a permanent capacity because he’s a nice guy who gives the kids of everyone at the U nice first communion gifts, or some other uninspiring hire is made, it’ll be the kiss of death for Maturi. And ought to be.

National letter of intent day has come and gone and while the Gophers let a few get away, they saved more recruits than many expected, given the relatively short timetable Gophers head coach Punky Brewster was given to work with.

One notable recruit who wouldn’t have come here otherwise is Brewster’s own son, Clint, ranked by RIVALS as the eighth-best QB in the nation. He’s a blue-chipper and possibly the best QB the Gophers have recruited in years, if not decades. Probably the best since Tony Dungy was under center for the maroon and gold.

The arrival of Clint, though, meant two other QB recruits are likely headed elsewhere; however, since they weren’t as highly-rated as Clint, it’s probably not a problem.

Coach Brewster also grabbed some recruits that were headed elsewhere until he spoke with them. WR Harold Howell of Jacksonville, FL, is a great catch. Duane Bennett, a RB from Illinois, is also considered a top-notch recruit. Most notably, the recruiting class Mason had assembled ranked last the in 11-team Big 10 when Brewster came on board, and with his efforts adding more players to the mix, that ranking improved to ninth in the Big 10 - not bad, considering he had about three weeks in which to pull it off.

So, with 22 new recruits now in the market for a loft bed for their on-campus dorm rooms, I’d have to say that Brewster’s rep as a recruiter is well-earned so far. Let’s hope he can translate the talent he’s bringing onto campus into a team that wins more often.

Indianapolis Colts defensive assistant Leslie Frazier has been named the new defensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings, replacing Mike Tomlin, now head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, according to the Pioneer Press.

At first blush, this appears to be a great hire. It keeps our top defensive line and linebackers coaches in place, and Frazier has been a specialist in coaching defensive backs. Considering that pass defense was the weak point of the Vikings’ defense this past season, Frazier’s expertise could help shore up that weakness. Plus, he coaches the same Cover-2/Tampa-2 scheme that Tomlin installed and that head coach Brad Childress wants to see continued.

Coach Frazier met the local press at a press conference on Thursday, and while he wasn’t exactly given an address plaque for it, he seemed to be a welcomed hire. Frazier, like Tomlin before him, hopes to be a head coach in the NFL someday. If he does well, and Childress continues to annoy folks, Frazier’s opportunity might even come with the purple and gold! Stranger things have happened. Kudos to the Vikings for hiring a top-notch guy, rather than a Denny Green-style, Richard Solomon yes-man type.

While his humble demeanor is a welcome respite, I’m sure, for the Minnesota Vikings, one has to wonder if QB Tavaris Jackson really wants to be the starter next season.

After spending a second-round draft pick on Jackson, he’s been Minnesota’s most exciting QB prospect, and yet he seems almost hesitant to want to take on the role of starter.

That was understandable in his rookie season, when aging QB Brad Johnson was the undisputed starter and Jackson was one of the “QBs of the future” for the team. And yet, this off-season, with Johnson almost certainly not returning to the team - and not the projected starter, even if he does - he’s still sounding hesitant.

“I’m confident,” Jackson told columnist Charley Walters. “I saw a lot, and I learned a lot last year. If it’s Brooks and me, I feel either of us can do the job.“

There are team players, but this might be getting a bit ridiculous. Where’s the swagger of a starter, T-Jack? Where’s the part of you that believes you can lead this team? I hope you find it soon, or instead of a professional QB, you might find yourself in a job making professional business cards.