2009

Barack Obama was elected president of the United States in 2008 and took office in 2009, the first black person to do so. George W. Bush left office in disgrace, regarded as one of the worst president in American history due to the disasters occurring in Iraq and in the American economy.

The Minnesota Vikings rented long-time Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre for a year, and he led the Vikes to a 12-4 record and a date at New Orleans for the NFC championship and a berth in the Super Bowl. The Vikings lost that game 31-28 in OT.

• Joe Mauer was the AL MVP, winning his third batting title at .365, but the Twins got swept by the Yankees in the ALDS.

• The Hopkins boys basketball team won their sixth state title and their fourth under national high school coach of the year Ken Novak, Jr. 

• The Minnesota Gopher women’s hockey and women’s volleyball teams both went to the Final Four. The hockey team (23-2-3), led by coach Brad Frost and all-American Gigi Marvin, won the WCHA regular season title but lost to Wisconsin 5-3 in the playoff final. They beat Boston College but lost to Mercyhurst in the NCAA tournament. The volleyball team (28-9), finished third in the Big 10, and lost to Texas in the national semis. Lauren Gibbemeyer won all-America honors. The Gopher track & field teams, both men and women, excelled. The men, under coach Steve Plasencia, swept the Big 10 indoor and outdoor titles while the women, under coach Matt Bingle, won their third straight outdoor title. 

• Concordia (St. Paul) volleyball won their third straight NCAA D2 championship with an undefeated 37-0 record under coach Brady Starkey.

#29 (tie) Event

New Orleans Saints Edge the Minnesota Vikings and QB Brett Favre in the “Bountygate” NFC Championship Game

The Minnesota Vikings rented long-time Green Bay Packer QB Brett Favre for a year, and he led the Vikings to a 12-4 record and a date with the New Orleans Saints for a spot in the Super Bowl. This was the first of three seasons in which the Saints paid players bounties for hurting their opponents and knocking them out of the game. They pounded Favre and never got called, and the Vikings lost the game in 31-28 in OT. The Saints went on to win their first and only Super Bowl, beating the Baltimore Colts 31-17. 

The Saints remained a high-powered team in 2010 and 2011, going 24-8 in the regular season, but they won only one playoff game over those two seasons. 

The, in 2012, Saints defensive assistant was fired, and then informed the NFL of the bounty program. An investigation ensued that showed that Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams not only ran the program, he had run similar programs for more than a decade with at least three other teams. Video surfaced on Williams’ pre-game pep talk before a 2012 playoff game, in which he instructed his played which of the 49ers were to be targeted and what their vulnerabilities were—a previously injured knee or ankle, etc. He was suspended “indefinitely,” but was reinstated a year later and has coached in the NFL continuously ever since. Head coach Sean Payton was found to have been completely aware of the scheme. He was suspended for the 2013 season, but came back in 2014 and continues to coach the Saints to this day. Assistant head coach Joe Vitt was suspended for the first half of the 2013 season, but when he came back, he took over as interim head coach of the Saints, where he remained until 2016. 

Eventually, suspensions of four players were announced, but after eight witnesses lied to a federal judge, the NFL backed down. The Players Association decided that it represented the thugs and not the players who had been injured by their thuggery. And, it all blew over. One ESPN reporter said the scandal threatened the integrity of the game, to which a reasonable person would have to ask, What integrity is that?

#14 (tie) Dynasty

#18 (tie) Coach

Kenny Novak, Jr., Leads Hopkins Team Called “Greatest Ever”

Hopkins won the boys state basketball title in 2005 on Blake Hoffarber’s historic “butt shot.” In 2009, they needed no such heroics to claim their third state title in five years. The Royals were going to be a powerhouse in any event, but then the best player in the state, Royce White, got expelled from DeLaSalle. As an expellee, he had carte blanche to enroll anywhere he wanted and nobody could say no. He chose Hopkins, and the Royals demolished opponents by an average of 89-59. In the section, it was 95-54. At state, 64-40. In the first round, Hopkins routed Blaine 68-26 as eleven different players scored for the Royals. In the semis, St. Cloud Tech slowed it down and stayed within one point at halftime. But, Hopkins ripped off a 15-1 run in the second half to pull away. In the finals, Osseo stayed within 33-29 at the half, but a 7-0 run put Hopkins in command. White scored 45 points in three state tournament games while post Mike Broghammer scored 37. 

Hopkins finished 31-0. They were called the greatest team in Minnesota history, and coach Kenny Novak was named the national high school coach of the year. The Royals would go on to three-peat in 2010 and 2011, and then add coach Novak’s sixth and seventh titles in 2016 and 2019. Heading into the 2020 state tournament, Novak’s 18^th, he was third all-time with 894 wins.

#15 (tie) Dynasty

#28 Coach

Concordia (St. Paul) Volleyball Wins Third (of Nine) NCAA Title(s) Under Coach Brady Starkey

Coach Brady Starkey was named Concordia volleyball in 2003, and they were always good, winning 30+ matches his first year and then ten more. But Bears volleyball was not always bearable. In fact, they were 0-18 in the Northern Sun in 1999. Starkey came in 2000 as an assistant to Geoff Carlston and Concordia improved to eleven, then 17, then 24 wins. Carlston then left to become head coach at Ohio State, where he has since taken the Buckeyes to ten NCAA tournaments. Starkey took over and Concordia won eleven straight NSIC titles with a total record, in conference games, of 163-7. Overall, the Bears were      311-32.

They won their first NCAA title in 2007, then added six more in succession. After a two-year hiatus, the won two more in 2016 and 2017. 

The best of the best came in 2009, when Concordia was undefeated at 37-0. In six NCAA tournament matches, they won 18 sets while losing one, that being the first set of the semi-finals against #2 seed Cal State-San Bernadino. Previously, the Bears had won twelve straight sets by an average of 25-16, and afterward they won six more by an average of 25-19. They averaged four more kills, four more digs and an extra block as compared to their six playoff opponents. Cassie Haag, Sadie Kessler, Megan Carlson, Emily Palkert and Ellie Duffy all had more than 50 kills and all of them hit for a .212 kill percentage or better. Haag was twice that at an amazing .445. Tournament MVP Maggie McNamara had 248 set assists and a phenomenal total of one set error. Mary Slinger had more than 90 digs.

McNamara was in her third all-America season. Amanda Konetchy and Riley Hanson won their third all-America recognition in 2013 and 2016, respectively. McNamara was national player of the year twice. After 17 years on the job (as of 2019), Starkey has won 550 games while losing just 66 for an .893 winning percentage and was named national coach of the year three times. 

Year	Athlete of the Year	Team of the Year	Coach of the Year	Event of the Year
2009	1. Mauer, Minnesota Twins baseball  2. Brett Favre, Minnesota Vikings 3. Gigi Marvin, Minnesota Gopher hockey	1. Hopkins basketball (31-0, state champion) 2. Concordia (St. Paul) volleyball (31-0, NCAA D2 champions) 3. Minnesota Vikings football (13-5 including playoffs, North Division champion)	1. Novak 2 (tie). Matt Bingle, Minnesota Gopher women’s track & field Steve Plasencia, Minnesota Gopher track & field (both Big 10 champions) 3 (tie). Frost Hebert	1. The New Orleans Saints beat the Minnesota Vikings 31- 28 in OT to win a trip to the Super Bowl. 2. The Yankees swept the Twins. 3 (tie). The Gopher women’s hockey team lost to Mercyhurst 5-4 in the NCAA semis. Texas beat the Gopher volleyball team 3-0 in the NCAA semis.