Remembering legendary Gopher baseball coach John Anderson

NINA MOINI: Each week around this time, we turn our attention to the latest in Minnesota sports. Today, we begin with some sad news. John Anderson, a celebrated former University of Minnesota baseball coach, died yesterday. He was 71-years-old.

Sports contributors Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson are on the line to tell us more about Anderson's career. Hey, guys. Thanks for being here.

ERIC NELSON: [INAUDIBLE]

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yeah, no problem.

NINA MOINI: Wally, John Anderson became the Gophers head coach in his mid-20's, I'm reading here. That's amazing. And he held that post for decades. Can you tell us more about what really makes his career stand out?

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Oh, lots. 43 years as the head coach. And as you mentioned, he came in as a 26-year-old head coach.

NINA MOINI: Wow.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: That's the youngest head coach in Big Ten history. He won over 1,000-- Well, he won 1,390 games as their head coach. That would stand out. That's the winningest coach in Big Ten history, which oh, by the way, he's 20th all time in all of college baseball history.

NINA MOINI: Wow.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: He came in as a player, a pitcher back in 1974, transitioned into a student coach, and then he became an assistant coach, and then he became head coach. He ran camps. He's coached 25 Major Leaguers. So in his years as head coach, 25 guys have gone on to become Major League players, including Glen Perkins and others.

His teams finished first or second in the Big Ten 24 times. He was 8-time Big Ten Coach of the Year. He led his teams to 19 NCAA postseason appearances. In 2018, the Gophers made it to the NCAA Super Regional for the first time since 2000. I could go on with these accolades, as far as the baseball.

But John, the person, was as good or better. My kids went to his camps for about 10 years. So I would go and I would watch the camps and listen to John. I learned more about baseball sitting and listening to John Anderson for an hour during those camps then I knew, probably, my whole life.

NINA MOINI: Amazing.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Yeah. He's an Iron Range guy that was just true to his word, salt of the Earth, all the good things you hear. And we said these things when he was alive. It's not just because he has passed, but John Anderson was great.

I loved John Anderson for what he's done for Minnesota Baseball and the friendship that he was for Eric and I. He came on our show many times over the years on TV and radio. I could go on and on and on. But yeah, really sad day losing John.

NINA MOINI: And only at 71-years-old and already left this tremendous legacy. Eric, what else would you like people to about Johnny Anderson?

ERIC NELSON: Yeah. I mean, the accolades do keep coming, and he was, literally, down to Earth, the most humble guy you'd ever want to meet, given all the success he had as the coach at the U of M. He was simply loved by his players. They called him 14. That was his jersey number.

It wasn't John. It wasn't coach. It was 14. And I was around John a lot when I broadcast University of Minnesota Baseball for a few seasons.

He was a very bright guy and he had this low key approach. He was like a college baseball version of Bud Grant. He was stoic, unflappable, calm, poised. He rarely got rattled.

And John was an outlier. He was a coach who had a successful program at a northern school. Minnesota's known as the Arctic Circle of college baseball. This is a very regional sport, Nina.

It's a weather sport, with most of the powerhouse programs located in the Sun Belt. To put that in perspective, Iowa State and Wisconsin don't even have baseball teams. So the schools located in the land of ice and snow are constantly playing catch up. The season starts in mid-February.

John tried for years to push back the beginning of the season to try to even the playing field, but unfortunately, that never happened. But I will say this, he was universally respected. For decades, the Gophers would stage a winter tournament at the Metrodome, or now US Bank Stadium, and John was able to coax teams, like Arizona, Arkansas, Hawaii, Ole Miss, Pepperdine, Texas Tech, UCLA, West Virginia, other programs from mild climates to the frozen North.

So if you can get those schools to come to Minnesota in January or February, you have a lot of respect. And one other tidbit, a guy who did play for him, and the Royals are going to play the Twins beginning tomorrow night in Minneapolis. Their television broadcaster, Ryan Lefebvre, played for the Minnesota Gophers and is just one of the many products that John had off of his coaching tree that went on to success, either as a player, or in this case, a broadcaster in Major League Baseball.

NINA MOINI: Thank you both for sharing about him. We appreciate that tribute. Eric, I do want to talk about this big golf tournament that just wrapped up in Blaine. What happened at the 3M Open this year?

ERIC NELSON: All right. Imagine, Nina, you're pitching a script to Hollywood for a sports movie. The main character is a 21-year-old golfer, barely old enough to drink, playing in just his 3rd PGA tournament. In that same event is the top-ranked golfer on the globe, a guy who has made over $210 million in his illustrious career. And your script has the young newbie actually winning the tournament by shooting a course record minus 25 to finish ahead of the superstar golfer.

I think Hollywood would say, No, that's too hokey. We're going to reject it. But that's exactly what happened at the 3M Open in Blaine.

NINA MOINI: It's incredible.

ERIC NELSON: Jackson Koivun. He out-dueled Scottie Scheffler in the sauna like heat yesterday to win his first tournament. He takes home a cool $1.584 million. This guy played golf at Auburn.

He was ranked the World's Top Amateur in 2025, winning in the Twin Cities. Could be a springboard to many more PGA TOUR victories for Koivun. And I want to say this. I was out there yesterday for about four hours.

Kudos to Minnesota golf fans for braving the wicked heat. And the crowds around Scheffler, it was like the swallows flocking to San Juan Capistrano. It was huge. And by the way, Scottie Scheffler finished 2nd at minus 22, but it was definitely a memorable 3M Open, no question about it.

NINA MOINI: Yeah. And Wally, we're coming off the WNBA's All-Star weekend. Two Lynx players, Courtney Williams and Olivia Miles, were on the winning team. Catch us up on what happened Saturday.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Well, the Team Spoon, so to speak, coached by Minnesota Lynx head coach, Cheryl Reeve, they were the winners in this game, 129 to 122. Get this, there were 127 3-point shot attempts in the game.

NINA MOINI: Wow.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: I mean, completely off the charts. So needless to say, there wasn't much defense being played. A record crowd, an All-Star record crowd, I should say, of 19,783 were at The United Center. That, of course, is the longtime home of the Chicago Bulls.

So they brought in the people. The game was relatively close. They got what they wanted out of it. Cheryl Reeve's team won. Oh, by the way, Caitlin Clark played on Cheryl Reeve's team.

She finished with 17 points. But the leading scorer was Jonquel Jones. She had the all-around performance, finished with 22 points and 13 rebounds and 8 assists in the victory for Team Spoon. Oh, by the way, the Lynx play tomorrow night. They will play Toronto at Target Center tomorrow night.

NINA MOINI: OK. And Eric, we've just about a minute left. Tell us about Minnesota United's season back in full swing after the World Cup. How did the Loons do this weekend?

ERIC NELSON: Well, they had a 0-0 draw Saturday against Vancouver, one of the top teams in Major League Soccer. The bright spot was the goalkeeper, Drake Callender, who had the clean sheet in that 0-0 match.

Loons are off to a bit of a slow start, though, Nina. They lost to Sporting Kansas City on Wednesday down in Kansas. They will be back on the pitch Saturday in St Paul. They host San Diego, a team with 20 points.

Minnesota United has 23. They're ninth in the MLS West. You want to get to at least number 8 so you can make the postseason.

NINA MOINI: All right, you guys. Have a great rest of your week. Really appreciate your time, as always. Take care.

WALLY LANGFELLOW: Thanks, Nina.

ERIC NELSON: See you, Nina.

NINA MOINI: Sports contributors Wally Langfellow and Eric Nelson for us.