Hours later, that same MLB Network and New York Post reporter, Jon Heyman, put out two more realistic candidates that the MN Twins have touched base, both of whom will sound very familiar to the local fanbase.

Minnesota Twins trying to bring the Bomba Squad back?

According to Heyman and his confidant at The Post, Joel Sherman, Falvey and his front office have received permission from the New York Yankees, to interview their hitting coach, James Rowson, for their vacant manager position.

The Yankees have granted the Twins permission to speak with Rowson about their vacant managerial position, league sources confirmed to The Post…on Tuesday.

The upbeat, well-regarded 49-year-old remains a popular figure in Minnesota, as he spent plenty of time catching up with members of his former organization when the Yankees visited Target Field in September.

NY Post

Rowson — who has never been an MLB manager — took over as the Bronx Bombers’ hitting coach before the 2024 season. Prior to that, he was the assistant hitting coach for the Detroit Tigers (2023), a temporary job he held for one season, after being let go as Miami Marlins bench coach, a job he held for two seasons, from 2020-2022.

For four seasons from 2017 to 2019, however, James Rowson made a name for himself as the hitting coach of the Minnesota Twins Bomba Squad, which set an MLB record for team home runs his final year on the job, before he was hired away for a promotion in Miami.

Twins speaking to Bomba Squad coaches James Rowson and Derek Shelton

Coincidentally, the other candidate the Twins have been in contact with, according to Heyman, is another assistant coach who left after that 2019 season, Derek Shelton. The now 55-year-old served as Rocco Baldelli’s bench coach from 2018-2019, before he was hired away to be manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Former Pirates manager Derek Shelton and Red Sox bench coach Ramon Vazquez are among the other candidates for the job, which opened up when the Twins fired Rocco Baldelli following their 70-92 season.

NY Post

Related: ALCS Favorite Thankful for Fired Twins Coach

Shelton held that position for the start of five seasons, until the Pirates fired him 38 games into 2025. Clearly, he wasn’t the biggest problem in Pittsburgh, being the Pirates went on to finish with a 71-91 record, just one game better than the MN Twins’ 72-90.

As manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates, Derek Shelton went 306-440. Before he worked for the Minnesota Twins for two seasons, Shelton coached in the Cleveland (2005-2009), Tampa Bay (2010-2016) and Toronto (2017) organizations.

Interesting enough, both Rowson and Shelton were seriously considered for the Twins manager job back in 2018, before they landed on Baldelli. Both guys stayed/came on as assistants — advanced their careers from there — and now find themselves in the same situation.

New Gophers defensive coordinator will be a great leader, likely from the outside

Fleck wants someone who can lead the defense. Not just the players on that side of the ball, but the coaches too. PJ made it clear in his National Signing Day press conference this week that he likes the foundation of his defense and the new defensive coordinator isn’t going to come in and make wholesale changes.

Related: Minnesota Gophers National Signing Day Signees – 2024

An incredible leader, great presence, really intelligent. And a great connector of people, because that’s the thing. I’ve got three staff members in there. They’re all good. They’re all signed for the following year. So this isn’t like bringing in an entire staff and starting over. We’ve got incredible recruiters and incredible coaches, but you’re looking for that presence in front of the room. That leader in front of the room that’s going to be able to add to what we do.

PJ Fleck on what he’s looking for in the Gophers next DC

While the head coach may not want a completely new identity on defense, he appears determined to hire someone from the outside. Fleck used language like ‘add to what we do‘ and talked about how the new coordinator “won’t be bringing in an entire staff and starting over”.

Minnesota Gophers defensive coaches show talent, lack experience

PJ talked about the three coaches already on defense that he likes, but he must not like them enough to consider promotions to defensive coordinator. Now, part of PJ’s hesitation to promote from within has to do with the age of his assistant coaches on that side of the football.

Their safeties coach, 31-year-old Danny Collins, is expected to call the defense at the Quick Lane Bowl. The defensive line coach, Winston DeLattiboudere, has played more college football in the last three years than he has coached.

Related: Minnesota Gophers Football Transfer Portal Tracker 2023-24

The only defensive coach over the age of 32 is cornerbacks coach and co-defensive coordinator, Nick Monroe, who graduated from my alma mater — the prestigious St. Cloud State University — in 2001 has only been on Minnesota’s staff for one season… and it was the worst defensive season in the last five years.

Does that mean Monroe would be a bad hire? No, but it’s just another reason why an outside hire makes more sense than keeping in in-house. So… who are some rumored candidates? The job has been unfilled for weeks now. Well, there aren’t any real hot rumors out there, mostly because they haven’t started the search yet.

Too much going on to focus on coaching search

Why? Because there’s too much going on right now for him to commit the requisite attention needed to operate a proper assistant coaching search. His focus will shift to hiring a new DC, after the bowl game is over.

“I want to be able to give 100% of my attention, like I just did [for recruiting leading up to National Signing Day]. That was 100% of my attention. My mind was nowhere else. For me to be able to put 100% of my attention right now into the hire, I’d be shortchanging our team, our staff, our players and the state of Minnesota.

I have an obligation to make sure that I do my due diligence, and not spottingly. There’s a lot going on right now. We have bowl prep, we got the transfer portal, we got NIL fundraising and we’ve got obviously Signing Day. We got all these things going on. And oh yeah, by the way, you gotta go make an important, really, really massive hire.”

PJ Fleck on when to expect a new DC

As mentioned briefly, earlier in this blog, the Minnesota Gophers bowl game is on December 26 (Quick Lane Bowl) vs the Bowling Green Falcons. Fleck wants to move swiftly once he does shift focus to hiring a new defensive coordinator.

Related: Top In-State 2024 Recruit Koi Perich Officially Signs with Gophers

Expect hire to happen by first week of January

The Gophers would prefer to have a DC in place for January and February recruiting, both in the transfer portal and at the high school level, not to mention eventual preparation for the Spring Game. So, while Fleck is asking for patience, he himself expects a hire to be made in the first week of January.

“I’ve told our team, be patient. It’s going to be a little while. I’d like to be able to have that done in the first week of January, because this is about getting to see people face to face. Again, I owe it to our team to do the due diligence necessary to find them the best leader of the defense, and our staff has been incredibly supportive of that.

PJ Fleck on when to expect a new DC

Here is the entire PJ Fleck presser. He talks about the defensive coordinator hire at the 43-minute mark.

But late Monday night, Michigan Football’s most plugged-in insider, Sam Webb, told his 247Sports subscribers just how serious Jim Harbaugh really is. “Several” sources tell Webb that Jim has already reached out to possible staff members and would accept the Minnesota job if offered. Harbaugh is reportedly “pursuing the opportunity hard“.

I was told by multiple university sources today that Harbaugh’s desire to return to the pros… if he can… has been made clear. Wednesday’s interview isn’t merely another step in the feeling out process. He is pursuing the opportunity hard. And as should be expected under those circumstances, I’ve heard he’s made overtures toward potential targets for his would-be staff.

Should that interview progress to Harbaugh being offered the job, every Michigan source I spoke with today… and there were several… shared their expectation that he will accept it.

Sam Webb – The Michigan Insider (247Sports)

Adofo-Mensah Wants Harbaugh; Others Not Sold

It was the hire of Kwesi Adofo-Mensah that made initial Jim Harbaugh to Minnesota steam unbelievable. If the Vikings want “collaboration” and “intentional decision making”, why would they hire Harbaugh, who would want A LOT of say in personnel?

But according to Webb’s reporting, it’s Adofo-Mensah who has Harbaugh at the top of his list. Apparently it’s Harbaugh who needs to convince some of the Vikings top brass, with the help of Adofo-Mensah, that he’s the right guy for the job.

This time that agent shared buzz from NFL circles suggesting that Harbaugh is at the top of Adofo-Mensah’s list, but that Michigan’s headman still needs to be sold to others in the organization. There’s reportedly a perception in league circles that ‘Harbaugh can be tough to deal with.’ But that’s a concern that his already-established rapport with Adofo-Mensah might quell.

Sam Webb – The Michigan Insider (247Sports)

Minnesota or Bust

According to both Webb and John U. Bacon, who wrote a book on Harbaugh and has been on top of the Harbaugh steam since the beginning, Jim is all in on joining the Minnesota Vikings. But if he doesn’t get the job, he’s going back to Michigan. There is no 3rd option. For Harbaugh, it’s Minnesota or bust (back to Michigan).

Harbaugh Watch, Day 31: Nobody Knows How It Ends, but…
-Harbaugh 2nd interview with MN Wed. Harbaug serious, MN intrigued.
-Word is Ross determined to honor his promise not to interfere with UM football. Miami looks out.
-Down to MN and UM.
-I'm still at 60-40 Harbaugh stays.

— John U. Bacon (@Johnubacon) February 1, 2022

The Ball is obviously in the Vikings’ court. Jim Harbaugh wants to be the next coach here and if he can convince the Wilfs or other doubters inside the organization that he isn’t a crusty old-school personality like Mike Zimmer was, then he’ll be the next coach of the Minnesota Vikings. Something we never would have thought possible when this process started.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan

Richard Pitino was fired over the weekend. Mark Coyle and the University of Minnesota can use whatever synonym makes their conscience and/or pocketbooks feel lighter, but they fooled no one. Certainly not Richard himself, who admitted to being a fired head basketball coach yesterday, in an interview with Dan Barreiro on KFAN radio.

I’m not mad at Coyle for what he had to do. Two months ago, the Gophers were coming off of EIGHT straight games vs top-25 teams, beating TWO in the top-10. They went 4-4 in what was the most difficult start to a conference schedule, nationwide. I wrote a blog after their last big win of the season vs (7) Michigan, an 18-point stomping at The Barn, on just how bright the outlook was coming out of that stretch.

Pitino’s squad had fought their way to the top of the scheduling hill and they were now looking down on a much easier path to a top seed in the Big Ten Tournament. Then, injuries and reality hit like a mack truck. The Gophers went 2-10 to finish the regular season, after that victory over the Wolverines. Just two of those twelve opponents were ranked in the top-25.

The final record? 14-15 after one Big Ten Tournament win over Northwestern and a loss vs (6) Ohio State, that ended the season. Yes, the 2020-21 Minnesota Gophers battled a lot of key injuries. But, that’s been a problem for Richard late in seasons for his entire tenure. At what point do you turn the finger on yourself and stop blaming the basketball gods?

Mark Coyle Presser

After Richard Pitino’s firing was finally made official on Tuesday, Mark Coyle met with media over Zoom. With Mark, you normally get more ‘buttoned up’ than you do ‘eye opening’. This time, some of his words were careful and buttoned up. Others, however, were quite eye opening.

But there was one exchange that grabbed my attention above all others. Chip Scoggins (Star Tribune) asked Coyle how the pandemic and the University’s financial squeeze will affect the search for the next men’s head basketball coach. At that point, the Minnesota Athletic Director went on the campaign trail and he didn’t sound like someone unwilling to spend money.

Mark Coyle doesn't sound like a dude who hires head coaches because they're cheaper than other options. #Gophers pic.twitter.com/KtyqsXubIJ

— Minnesota Sports Fan (@realmnsportsfan) March 17, 2021

“We feel that we have a great opportunity here at the University of Minnesota. Chip, you see it personally at Athlete’s Village and what this facility has turned out to be. It’s given us a huge, huge boost for our department. In terms of who we go out and hire, we want to be very competitive in our market. As I said earlier, we feel like we can compete in the best conference in America, the Big Ten conference. So again, we’ll be very competitive with our salary to find the next best right fit for our program.”

Mark Coyle

What’s it going to take?

Legendary Minnesota sportscaster, Joe Schmit (KSTP, CH. 5), had the next question. He asked Mark Coyle what it’s going to take for the Gophers to get back to winning Big Ten championships, which they haven’t done since 1982. At that point, Coyle doubled down on his expectations for the men’s basketball program and whoever he hires as the next head coach.

“I did not come to Minnesota to be .500. I am very aware that it’s been since 1982 and there is no reason why we can’t compete at a high level. I’ve been very blessed. I had a chance to be at the University of Kentucky for 7 years, be around that basketball program. I had a chance to be around Syracuse and Coach Beheim and that program for the one year I was at Syracuse. Again, I’ve been very fortunate to see it at a high, high level. And we have the pieces in place here at Minnesota. We’ve got great facilities. We’ve got Williams Arena, a historic facility.

And based on the calls that I started to receive last night, as I was watching our Men’s hockey team beat Michigan in the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament, the calls that I received this morning. There’s great interest in this opportunity because everything is in place. We have a great academic institution. Again, we feel very optimistic about the opportunities we have in front of us and we feel like we’ll get a great coach for this program.”

Mark Coyle

Put The U’s money where your mouth is, Mark.

Those are some pretty big-dollar words for an AD who couldn’t announce the firing of Pitino until he found another school to take Richard as a head coach and pay his minimal $1.75 million buyout. Now, the word around town is that Minnesota won’t go deep sea fishing for a power-5 coach who might be interested. Guys like Eric Musselman (Arkansas) or Mike Boynton (OK State) would cost $3 million or more per year to reel in. That’s rumored to be too steep of a price tag for what the U of M wants to spend. Musselman and Boynton currently make $2.5 million and $1.85 million respectively. Both will need significant raises to part with their current situation.

Pitino was making $2.4 million and most believe Minnesota is looking to save money, rather than spend more, with this next hire. They could easily do that by hiring one of many Mountain West candidates looking to move up in rank, most of which have heavy Minnesota ties and would be half the cost of the power-5 candidates listed above.

But, IF MARK COYLE WANTS TO MAKE A HIRE FOCUSED ON WINNING, he will hire (and pay) one of the two power-5 guys listed above. Musselman wins everywhere he goes, even Arkansas, and Mike Boynton landed Cade Cunningham at Oklahoma State. Obviously, both Muss and Boynton have higher qualifications than what I can write in a couple of sentences but just this paragraph alone makes either one a more qualified head coaching candidate than anyone winning games in the Mountain West.

Put up or shut up, Mark.

I love what Coyle had to say yesterday. But now it’s time to put up (the cash) or shut up. If you want to win basketball games in the best conference in the country, then you need to hire a coach who you know is ready for the bright lights of the Big Ten. No more fucking around. No more excuses. Open your wallet, flip middle fingers to the woke STrib reporters and U of M gymnasts nobody cares about and go pay for the men’s head basketball coach that this great Minnesota basketball fan base deserves.

We’re not talking $10 or even $5 million dollars extra per season. A couple million bucks means absolutely nothing to this department in the long run. Not when we’re talking about their second-biggest revenue generating sport.

Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan