Charley Walters: Vikings owners facing $56 million question

Whether or not the Wilf's decide to fire or retain Rick Spielman as general manager, the decision will be financial, not emotional.

The New Jersey real estate magnates have to decide if it's worth paying off the Minnesota Vikings' head coach and general manager or alienating season ticket holders.

The deal is about $56 million in cash.

The Wilfs gave the pair three-year extensions two years ago, but nobody knows what they thought of them.

There is a guaranteed $35 million salary cap hit for a 33 year old with a 58-59-2 career won-loss record.

It's not clear if the final two contract years are guaranteed, partially guaranteed or if there is a buyout. There were rumors last week that the Wilfs were going to fire Zimmer and that Spielman was going to be bumped to another position.

The Vikings are a team with no direction.

It would be interesting to know how many season-ticket holders would cancel if the Wilfs didn't make any changes. Those expensive seat licenses are not deductible.

Jim Harbaugh would be the best coach to turn the Vikings around in a hurry. Harbaugh, who is rumored to be interested in returning to the NFL, had a 44-19 won-loss record in four years as the San Francisco 49ers coach. In eight seasons with the Vikings, Zimmer is 71-56-1.

It's a good bet that Harbaugh would require a $10 million per season contract. Harbaugh and Zimmer are devoid of personality.

If Harbaugh's interest in the NFL is genuine, the Vikings would face stiff competition from the Miami Dolphins, who are owned by Stephen Ross, who is a big Harbaugh fan.

If the Vikings release Spielman, look for Dallas Cowboys vice president of player personnel Will McClay to be mentioned for the GM job.

Dennis Green was hired by the Vikings as their coach on the day that Zimmer was fired.

It wouldn't be a surprise if the 65-year-old Zimmer took next season off, then joined a team as a defensive coach. His head coaching days were over.

Even though Pete Carroll is likely to succeed in Seattle, he is unlikely to be hired by the Vikings at 70 years old.

Four years ago, Doug Pederson coached the Philadelphia Eagles to the Super Bowl title, and Josh McDaniels is the New England offensive coach who has developed Mac Jones into a 10-victory quarterback. Four years ago, he agreed to take the Indianapolis Colts' head job, but then backed out.

The son of Vince Lombardi Jr., who was an assistant GM of the Seattle Seahawks, is a good candidate. You may have heard of his grandfather.

If the Vikings lose to the Bears on Sunday, they could end up with the 12th or 14th pick in the draft. There is no first-round draft pick for the Bears.

Marcus Carr, who averaged 19.4 points for Minnesota last season, is currently leading in assists with 3.4 per game for Texas. Carr has played on three college teams.

The team captain for Minnesota, who averaged 9.2 points last season, is currently the second-leading scorer for Iowa State. The DeLaSalle grad went 0 for 6 from the field in the loss to the Bears.

Liam Robbins, the 7-footer who averaged 11.7 points, 6.6 rebound and 2.7 blocked shots for Minnesota, hasn't played for the Commodores after an early season foot injury.

New Mexico's leading scorer is a former Minnesota player, who averaged 8.2 points and 1.6 rebound for the Golden Gophers last season.

Williams, who averaged 5.8 points and 2.5 rebound for Minnesota, is currently averaging 3.8 points and 1.9 rebound for Oregon State.

It looks like it will take seven more victories for the Minnesota men's basketball team to get into the National Invitation Tournament. The basketball power index puts the Gophers at No.79.

Jordan Murphy is a former basketball player for the University of Nebraska and currently plays for the Puerto Rico team.

Khalid El-Amin is off to a great start as the head coach at St. Thomas Academy.

Sean Sweeney, who played at the University of St. Thomas and was a point guard for the Dallas Mavericks, is a regular NBA head coaching candidate.

I wouldn't be surprised if Eric Curry was the referee for the NCAA Final Four game in New Orleans in April.

The former men's golf coach at the University of Minnesota retired last week.

Happy birthday to Dick Mulkern, the legendary football and track coach at Hamline University, who will be 97 next Sunday.

Only players on the 40-man roster would be banned from playing if the baseball season continued. The Twins' Triple-A St. Paul Saints would play their regular schedule, which starts at Louisville on April 5 and ends with a game against Indianapolis on April 12.

The former NCAA Division III Most Valuable Player from Rosemount and St. John's signed with the Vienna Vikings of the European League.

The Usti nad Labem Blades in the Czech Republic have signed a quarterback, who was a three-year starter at Augsburg College. There are a lot of former MIAC football players in Europe.

The CEO of SPIRE Credit Union takes over as head of the Twin Cities Dunkers.

Condolences to the family of Gary Eikaas, a speed skater and golfer from Minneapolis Roosevelt who died last week at the age of 85.

The Keller Golf Course was the favorite. The site says it's country-club conditioning at a municipal price.

It's nice to see that the success of the ex-Vikings head coach who is the Buffalo Bills' assistant head coach and defensive coordinator is due to his good genes.

Jake Guentzel, a former Hill- Murray star, leads the Pittsburgh Penguins in scoring with 18 goals and 33 points in 27 games. Sidney Crosby has five goals and 24 points in 21 games.

Mark Grogan, who played for the 1981 Cretin state baseball champion, then in the College World Series for Wichita State, has written a memoir, "I Owe It All to Baseball," with anecdotes about Dennis Denning, Joe Meyer and other locals.

A graduate of Alexandria and Concordia (Moorhead) is a football coach. He wrote "Coach 'Em Up, the Skip Hall Story" on coaching and business. The forward is by Alabama coach Nick Saban, who was a graduate assistant to Hall at Kent State.

Robb Stauber was a goalie at the University of Minnesota and his son, Jaxson, is a goalie at Providence College.

After leaving the University of Minnesota after the 2002-2003 season, Frese went to work for the Maryland team and is looking for her 523rd victory. South Carolina's Dawn Staley is the highest-paid women's coach, with a seven-year deal that averages $3.2 million.

Don't print that.

The Vikings could be booed on Sunday at U.S. Bank Stadium if they lost to the Bears, as they might have lost last week in Green Bay if Kirk Cousins had not beenvaccinated.

The Vikings can't officially trade for him until March. A new three-year contract is probably what any team would have to work out with him. It's a good bet that the Vikings would have to pay at least $10 million of his salary in order to trade him.

Kevin Stefanski, the former Vikings offensive coach, thinks that New Orleans, Charlotte or Cleveland is a good place for him to go.

The Vikings owners gave a pass to their coach. COVID-19 banned summer practices and limited training camp. It didn't help that the Vikings brought in younger players after they defeated some high-paid veterans. The Vikings had a lot of injuries. The Wilfs thought the 7-9 season was not the fault of the coach.

The defense was abysmal for a guy who is supposed to be a defensive coach.

The season wasn't his fault because he didn't get vaccine. It's clear that the Vikings never wanted to sign the quarterback in the first place, and until midway through the season, there was little relationship between the two.

The Vikings were 8-7 before he tested positive. The Vikings invested $150 million in him.

Despite missing the Packers game due to covid, Cousins gets paid his weekly salary.

It appears former Marshall. The 49ers will have a new starting quarterback next season, as they will be led by the man who threw two touchdown passes in their 23-7 victory over Houston last Sunday.

The NHL's Winter Classic was held at Target Field, and a few employees were ignored by Covid-19.

The ticket price for the Vikings-Bears game is $30. Usually $100 minimum.

Even if not this month, Allen will eventually be voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

It appears that the Minnesota Academy grad will be a mid-high lottery pick in the NBA draft, but not among the top two, as previously projected.

Since the rating system began, the Gophers have never signed a five-star football recruit. The 1960 national champion would have had three five-stars and six others who were either four or three-stars, according to Dick.

John Anderson, a Hall of Fame baseball coach, will inform the university of his intentions to coach at least two more seasons.

The 1960 national champion team will be honored by the baseball program at a big alumni gathering in May. The 40th anniversary of the Big Ten champion of Anderson's first season will be included.

The program hasn't agreed to honor the last Big Ten championship team, which was coached by Jim Dutcher.

According to various reports, former Wayzata and Ohio State linebacking star James Laurinaitis is joining the Notre Dame staff.

Tim Herron is a golfer on the PGA Championship Tour and has a national TV commercial about a new device to get golf balls out of holes without bending over.

The Twins are owned by the Pohlad family, which is worth $3.8 billion. The Steinbrenner family owns the Yankees.

This year another 20 percent of the purchase price will be due.

Hearing was over.

Tubby Smith, the ex-Gophers basketball coach now at alma mater High Point, asked how long he intends to coach at a game at Kentucky, where he led the Cats to the 1998 NCAA championship, according to the Herald-Leader. I've been trying. She likes this lifestyle.