Gophers football and men's basketball programs await a pair of north stars in Koi Perich and Isaac Asuma

John Gagliardi was the winningest coach in college football history and a leader with many theories. One of those was that every high school, no matter how small the dot on the map, had an exceptional, committed athlete.

"He's the best player on the football team and the homecoming king," Gagliardi would say. "He's the guard who handles the ball on the basketball team. He's the shortstop in baseball, or the sprinter and long jumper on the track team.

"And then he gives the class speech at graduation. There's one of those in every school."

John was a Division III coach at St. John's, so the theory had a much better chance to be helpful to his squad than if he had been recruiting for Division I competition.

Yet, as an individual who heard John go on about this several dozen times through the decades, it has been intriguing in the past few weeks to observe this:

The athletes being brought in as saviors for the two most important "franchises," revenue-wise, in the University of Minnesota are three-sport leaders from small towns in northeastern Minnesota.

Koi Perich from Esko High School, 9-through-12, enrollment 375, for football, and Isaac Asuma, Cherry 9-through-12, enrollment 142, for basketball.

Perich will be coming to football coach P.J. Fleck as a coveted recruit to play safety. And talent to play that position wasn't as important to Fleck as the fact the Gophers were able to get Perich signed before Christmas, despite an Ohio State effort to get him to flip that included (as we all know now) coach Ryan Day flying in for a late visit to Esko.

Forget name, image and likeness as a dealmaker. This was all-the-way capital IMAGE for Fleck, a recruiting triumph to help sell the idea that this shocking, losing 2023 doesn't have to be a trend.

Perich arrives as a four-star recruit, but there's little doubt that if Ohio State had landed him, he'd be five-star.

I mean, 247Sports, a site that lives because of football recruiting, rated Perich No. 5 on its list of "freakish athletes" in this recruiting class.

The site did this with mentions of the 6-foot-1 Perich's "posterizing dunks" in basketball, and a 10.89-second time for a 100-meter dash in 40-degree temperatures during a Minnesota spring. He was a long jump state champion as a sophomore in 2022.

Here's the deal: On Jan. 12, a Friday night, Asuma and Perich will be meeting in a basketball game at Esko.

"They're 60 miles away, and we're trying to play a good schedule," said Jordan Christianson, Cherry's coach. "The fact Isaac and Perich are both going to the Gophers is just a bonus."

The 6-3 Asuma is an even more important recruit for basketball coach Ben Johnson than Perich was for Fleck. Asuma is envisioned as running the show as a point guard, perhaps as soon as next season.

Plus, Fleck is several poor seasons from a coaching "hot seat," and Johnson is already there in his third season.

The Big Ugly, aka The Barn, has been mostly empty so far. The good news is this could be an OK club that wins seven or more Big Ten games, saves Johnson's job and allows him to welcome Asuma's arrival on campus in late June.

Isaac is a veteran of summer AAU wars all over the country. He might never have received as much fierce defensive attention as was the case Friday night.

Christianson had agreed to have his tiny-town team take on Park Center. There are some fellas with bad intentions in a basketball sense with Park Center — starting with Cash Chavis, a guard going to the Washington Huskies.

Chavis isn't "cash" as a shooter, but as a driver, and especially as an inside-your-jersey defender … "Oh, my," Dick Enberg would say.

James Ware, the Park Center coach, said, "Cash is undeniable out there. He's old-school, a 1990s throwback, when you defended up close."

Final: Park Center, 92-73, with a closing dunk from Chavis. He scored 27 on steals and drives; Asuma was held to 14 with rushed shots against Chavis and outstanding helpers when needed.

Asuma was getting ready for the 3½-hour night bus ride back to Cherry. He had praise for Chavis and the Pirates, then was asked about Perich.

"I know him, but not that well," he said. "We don't exchange texts or anything. We have the game in Esko. And we're both going to the Gophers, so we'll make a connection down there."