Metro Sports Report

Twins have rare talent in Jake Mauer

I wonder if the Minnesota Twins truly believe that Jake Mauer has the right stuff to become a coach or manager in the Major Leagues some day.

They say they do, but do they mean it?

The Twins had a chance to promote Mauer this year when Paul Molitor succeeded Ron Gardenhire as the manager of the big club in Minnesota, yet they assigned Mauer to Cedar Rapids as the Kernels' manager for the third straight year.

Terry Ryan, the Twins General Manager, told the Metro Sports Report in an interview last year that he thinks Mauer could manage the Twins some day. They wanted him in Cedar Rapids in 2013 for the first year of the new agreement between Cedar Rapids and Minnesota and sent him back here again in 2014, but now he's coming back for a third year.

Questions surround new Liberty H.S.

They've selected a location, a mascot, school colors and when it will open for business, but there are still many questions to be resolved before the new Liberty High School in North Liberty starts classes in 2017.

What grades will it serve initially? What conference will it join? Where will its teams play before its own facilities are finished in 2019? Who will be on the coaching staff?

Stephen Murley, the superintendent of the Iowa City Community School District, said those answers will unfold in the months and years ahead as Liberty High School becomes part of his district.

Liberty High School might join the Mississippi Valley Conference, but that is not certain at this point.

"That is a great question," Murley told the Metro Sports Report last week. "We just had an initial dialog with the boys and girls athletic associations. And we just started that conversation internally."

Murley said the next step will be talking to MVC league officials and MVC school officials.

Part of the answer about conference affiliation will depend on whether Liberty High School begins as a full high school with grades 9 through 12, or whether it begins with grades 9 through 11 or just grades 9 and 10.

"Eventually it will be 9-12, that's for sure," said Murley. "The question is, when will it be 9-12? And I don't know the answer to that, either. Hopefully we will have that decided by the end of January."

Jaime welcomes Dad's help with Lions

It was just a couple of weeks before the Linn-Mar girls basketball season started when first-year head coach Jaime (Printy) Brandt introduced the team to her newest assistant.

"This is my dad,” she said. “And that’s probably going to be the last time you hear me call him that."

Since then, he’s simply known as “Coach Printy,” the same as her other assistant is “Coach Suther.”

“And I call her ‘Coach,’” says Jaime’s dad Jeff of the unique daughter/father coaching relationship. “Oh, we slip occasionally. But it’s her team. She runs the show. I’m just on board to help out in any way I can.”

It isn’t something that had been in the works for a long time.

Jaime does say, however, “I used to joke that if someday I ever became a head coach I’d hire Dad as my assistant.

“Why not? He’s taught me everything I know.”

Mount Mercy applies to 2 leagues

Mount Mercy University has applied to two leagues for conference membership for the 2015-16 school year and expects to learn in January or February if it has been accepted for membership into either one.

Mount Mercy is currently a member of the Midwest Collegiate Conference, but that league is disbanding after this school year. The Mustangs applied for membership in the Chicagoland Conference earlier this year, but they fell one vote short of admittance.

Scot Reisinger, the athletic director at Mount Mercy, declined to identify the leagues it hopes to join, but the options are fairly limited in terms of an NAIA conference that serves the Midwest. He said one of the leagues will vote in January whether to admit the Mustangs and the other league will vote in February, assuming the Mustangs are still looking at that time.

Reisinger said he is "very confident" Mount Mercy will be accepted by one league or the other - or possibly both. "We've gotten good feedback," he said.