If Claeys was the right coach then why couldn't he survive a national search? I don't understand this "we have to hire him in November or we lose a recruiting class" talk. A recruiting class ranked 39th is precious enough to save?
You do realize that Country Jer never won more than 8 games in a season? You do realize the gophers aren't going to make a bowl game this season.
Do you really believe Country Claeys is the best coach the gophers could hire?
Followed up by this:
According to Rivals the gophers are ranked 39th. Let's say it is around 30 for the sake of argument. Ok. Now what has Country Jer and Claeys done to warrant getting the job? Mason got 10 wins in a season. We've gone through Brewster and Kill for this?
Yes I am part of the "never should have fired Mason" crowd, but history has proven us correct. You who couldn't wait to get rid of Mason suddenly fall in love with a coaching staff that never got more than 8 wins and will not make a bowl game this year after 8 wins last year.
How in the f' can someone contradict themselves this badly? These posts made back to back are literally some of the worst takes ever posted on GopherHole, right up there with anything ever written by Rambler or the Lunatic.
I think you make a couple of valid points in your original post, but the bottom line is that a National search isn't realistic without an A.D. in place. The candidates were weak the last time we attempted to hire a coach because we also didn't have an A.D. When Brewster was hired we had guys like Strong, Kiffin, and Pelini actually interviewing for the job we just hired the wrong guy (and Brewster turned down the job at Iowa State at one point prior to taking the Minnesota job, so he wasn't exactly a nobody in the coaching ranks as far as desirability). When Kill was hired we had less attractive guys turn down opportunities to interview. The difference? No A.D. in place. While I am certainly not excited about the Claeys hire, it was the prudent move and the "U" structured the deal in a way that it will be very easy to get out of it at this time next year. Whether the class is 39th or 28th right now is immaterial, it's highly unlikely to stay that high because a lot of the top schools (the Oklahoma types who are behind us currently) are going to land some nice recruits and finish ahead of the Gophers. It still will be a solid class, buoyed by a strong in state crop, but it's certainly not amazing for a staff's 5th class. It is a good class though and it is a sign of some progress (really need to hang on to the JUCO DE) on the recruiting front, but more importantly there is basically no way to improve on this class no matter who the "U" hired after a national search. The kids who are still out there available (for the most part) are deciding between offers from perennial top 25 teams. Essentially the top kids in this class move to schools where they built relationships with coaches still employed and the Gophers replace those kids by poaching kids from the MAC or Sun Belt under a new coach.
Of course the much bigger issue is that you are arguing for a higher bar at Minnesota in your first post which I completely agree with. It's embarrassing to me that this program is 1-7 in it's last 8 power conference teams, has never finished better than .500 against fellow power conference teams under this staff, and is also 0-4 against Wisconsin AND we have fans acting like everything is great and we have some sort of "momentum". Every time I don't think the bar can get any lower at Minnesota, somehow it does. That's not to say I don't think there are valid reasons to give the job to Claeys right now, but they are much more circumstantial than resume based. It's an acknowledgement that the "U" is in a really tough spot right now.
However you are part of the "Never should have fired Mason crowd" and "History has proven us correct? What in the f@%^? are you talking about? I am sure I am falling for some troll job here because your posts completely contradict themselves. You are asking for a higher bar for Kill/Claeys in one post then advocating for a coach who had TEN YEARS and never accomplished anything of note.
During Mason's Ten years, TWO Big Ten teams failed to finish in the top 3 of the conference (and there were only 11 teams then not 14) at least one time: one was Indiana and the other was Minnesota.
Amazingly in TEN years, Mason never defeated a team that finished in the top 3 of the conference.
Mason's career B1G record at Minnesota was 32-48...and you are arguing for higher standards now, but wanted to continue this?
Mason called the rivalry games "trinket games" and had a losing record against both Iowa and Wisconsin and blowout losses were becoming more frequent in the series.
The "10 win" vs "8 win" thing is a complete joke. In 2003, Minnesota lost to Michigan (1st place), didn't play 2nd or 3rd place, and lost to the other two teams that finished tied for 4th in MSU and Iowa in an embarrassing loss to end the season. They were very clearly the 6th best team out of 11 in the conference that year. The idea that those 10 wins in 2003 were significantly better than the 8 achieved last is a joke. The non-conference slate in 2003? Tulsa, Troy State, Ohio, and Louisiana-Lafayette. The Gophers defeated a grand total of ZERO ranked teams that year. Obviously Missouri was a much better team in 2014 than Oregon was in 2003.
After that 10 win season, Minnesota went 3-5, 4-4, 3-5 in conference play in the 8th, 9th and 10th seasons of Mason's tenure. They also went 1-5 (!) against Iowa and Wisconsin during those final 3 seasons. If you couldn't see that we had seen the ceiling of the Glen Mason era, then you are blind. The Gophers have gone 4-4 and 5-3 in years 3 and 4 under this staff. IF THE GOPHERS CURRENT STAFF DOESN'T WIN ANOTHER GAME THIS YEAR THEY WILL STILL MATCH MASON'S BIG TEN WIN TOTAL FROM HIS 8-10 YEARS IN THEIR 3-5 YEARS.
Quite simply if you are "should have never fired Mason guy", you simply can't be a "the expectations are too low"/"can't hire Claeys guy".