We still have months for worthy candidates to surface on the local scene, yet the Chairman of the Turkey of the Year committee has been having sleepless nights in recent weeks. He's plagued by the idea we have too much competence among the coaches and/or managers of our more prominent local entities.

Yes, there is some bad front-office and administrative work taking place, but the Turkey Chairman is largely impressed by the people in charge of the game-to-game performance of the athletes.

Which isn't good, because the Turkey Chairman through the decades has thrived on being large and unimpressed.

The Chairman has gone so far as to make notes with letter grades, adjust those, look for flaws, but he wasn't able to come up with a D in the bunch.

There were two rules:

  1. No + or - could accompany the grade, because that's the easy way out.
  2. No public input was sought, because let's face it, fans are basically emotional youths when it comes to assessing coaches.

This is one old-timer's assessment, and a collection of teams in which he takes an interest. Which means you won't find the Aurora outfit here, even though that amateur soccer team with a 10-game schedule does receive big pub here at the Minnesota Star Tribune.

Don't ask me. I'm stumped, too.

OK, the Turkey Chairman digresses, but here goes the crew of coaches:

Grade C

Niko Medved, Gophers basketball

Bunch of transfers with C-level credentials. Nothing to judge yet, really, but he's a C until the Chairman sees the nonconference schedule. If St. Thomas is on it, we'll move him up to B.

Brad Frost, Gophers women's hockey

Once went 41-0, which was definitely an A. Frost's Gophers now haven't won a national title since 2016 and were 0-6 patsies vs. Wisconsin this season.

And if there's a more annoying coach to go 0-6 against than Wisconsin's pontificating Mark Johnson, it would be an upset.

Eric Ramsay, Minnesota United FC

OK, the Loony Tuners aren't losing, but their favorite result with Ramsay has become 0-0. Last time the Chairman ventured into the singing wackos in St. Paul, we were being offered an exciting new pressing style allegedly favored by new soccer boss Khaled El-Ahmad.

Then his young coach showed up. Now, reading our Strib guy Jon Marthaler, we don't want the ball. We want the other team to have the ball. Keep singing, you Loonies … the Chairman would rather watch Christian Vázquez hit.

Rocco Baldelli, Twins

Speaking of which — enough of the chubby catcher. Forget framing. Release him. Find a different warm body.

Meantime, The Chairman knows Rocco isn't the problem. And he knows we can't go back 40 years, when manager Billy "Slick" Gardner would happily give you quotes about how rotten his team was in most areas.

But "C" is the best we can do for anyone associated with this mess.

Grade B

Kevin O'Connell, Vikings

Lot of Vikings yahoos would be rushing to give this poised young family man an A. The Chairman has higher standards. And he watched the entire Rams playoff fiasco as a terrible offensive game plan was ripped apart.

Cheryl Reeve, Lynx

Another A recipient from the public, presumably. And 2024 was her best coaching job in a long tenure. Yet, it was also the year when Reeve's ego prevented her from drafting Angel Reese, and she again preferred endless complaining about the officials to celebrating a great final series — this time with New York.

Bob Motzko, Gophers men's hockey

Heartbreaking defeats at the end of great seasons. Rebuilding the program to a point that Mariucci Arena is bursting with fans and energy again.

P.J. Fleck, Gophers football

He was right about Max Brosmer as a quarterback. Good 2024 season, but no coach who crowd surfs his players after a win over Rhode Island will ever get more than a B from The Chairman.

Rico Blasi, St. Thomas men's hockey

Getting better already, and he's going to have himself a potent force in college hockey within a few years of moving into the 5,500-seat arena on campus next fall.

Ty McDevitt, Gophers baseball

John Anderson's first-year replacement, he has been tireless in trying to save the oldest program on campus with minimal resources in the unbalanced world of college baseball. Recently had a nine-game winning streak.

Dawn Plitzuweit, Gophers women's basketball

Plitzuweit can coach. If she stops playing a nonconference schedule more worthy of a Big Sky team and ends the "young ladies" bit for her athletes, Dawn could join the A list.

Grade A

Chris Finch, Timberwolves

Rolls with the punches, a basketball lifer doing a tremendous job handling the most volatile personalities and biggest egos in sports. And the Wolves trading Karl-Anthony Towns late meant changing dramatically how this team would attack opponents at both ends of the court.

John Hynes, Wild

Hey, if Finchy gets an A, why not Hynes? And wait until he gets Zeev Whiz in the lineup playing 25 minutes with Brock Faber next season. Parade upcoming.

John Tauer, St. Thomas men's basketball

Most impressive coach in Twin Cities. Watching the Tommies run their screen-heavy offense is a treat to behold. Bring on the Gophers!