John Shipley: A vote for Tracy Claeys is a vote for America

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per Shipley:

It’s hard not to root for Tracy Claeys, the bachelor coach of Minnesota football.

You may have noticed over the years that college football coaches are often, um, how does one put this without being untoward? Hard to be around — smug when successful, thin-skinned when losing, unimpeachable when questioned.

Not Claeys, who has yet to throw a tantrum after a game or an assistant under the bus, or belittled a reporter since he became the Gophers’ head coach midseason last year. It doesn’t appear to be in his DNA.

While the country continues to tear itself in two, appreciate the ingenuous man in the often disingenuous business, and hope he stays around long enough to rub off on his peers.

A vote for Tracy Claeys is a vote for America.

http://www.twincities.com/2016/09/24/john-shipley-a-vote-for-tracy-claeys-is-a-vote-for-america/

Go Gophers!!
 




BleedGopher said:
per Shipley:

It’s hard not to root for Tracy Claeys, the bachelor coach of Minnesota football.
Click to expand...

Reads like someone keeps checking their Grindr account to see if a certain coach has registered.
 


At any rate, Claeys’ football team improved to 3-0 on Saturday with a 31-24 victory over Colorado State, a game that wasn’t as close as the score would indicate — much like the season-opening, 30-23 victory over Oregon State. If we know anything after an unusually light nonconference slate (edit note: Mason-like ;) ) it’s that Minnesota has a better football program than its three opponents...

Most coaches would start tamping down expectations for next week’s Big Ten opener, a road game against a desperate Penn State team. But Claeys told reporters Saturday, “Offensively, I’m very pleased with where we’re at.” He has been, in fact, pleasingly optimistic since last spring, when he publicly opined that this team should win at least eight games.

Clearly, the man is fearless.

This is not how things are done in big-time football. Privately, you tell your players they can beat anyone in the country, but to the fans you map out the minefield your team must negotiate against all odds. When you win, you’re a genius; when you lose, well, what are you gonna do?

If this were a movie, Claeys would have the ghost of Bear Bryant haunting him in his modest, Columbia Heights ranch shouting, “You’re doing it wrong, kid!” while the Gophers coach pores over game film and with a bag of Bugles and a Diet Dr. Pepper at 2 a.m. “You suspended some of your best players? They weren’t even arrested!”

In that movie, we root for the protagonist to do things his way and exorcise that damn Ghost Bear Bryant.
 

For the reading-comprehension challenged:

This is a "cute" column - with the point being that Claeys is a regular guy - looks and acts like a regular guy, not a prima donna like other B1G coaches. He's not glamorous - just a football coach. The kind of guy that MN fans should be able to get behind. Put him in a feed company hat and jeans, and he'd fit right in at the local grain elevator or coop.

If you're suspicious of the media, you could read this as a knock on Claeys. If you take the writer as face value, it appears he likes Claeys.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
For the reading-comprehension challenged:

This is a "cute" column - with the point being that Claeys is a regular guy - looks and acts like a regular guy, not a prima donna like other B1G coaches. He's not glamorous - just a football coach. The kind of guy that MN fans should be able to get behind. Put him in a feed company hat and jeans, and he'd fit right in at the local grain elevator or coop.

If you're suspicious of the media, you could read this as a knock on Claeys. If you take the writer as face value, it appears he likes Claeys.
Click to expand...

Yep. Nearly impossible to read the column without thinking that. Even the earlier "old troll" probably understood that...
 




Good read! I like that Claeys is all in on this season and he I imagine he will take responsibility if the team falters (which I don't think will happen).
 


Cute story.

It's great he's a good guy and all, but serious infractions / sanctions aside, I don't care if my coach is likable if he gets Ws.
 

Am I missing some sort of oldtimer movie or pop culture reference? Or does the article say that Tracy Claeys lives in Columbia Heights?!
 






Gophers7NatTitlesBadgers0 said:
Is there anything wrong with living in Columbia Heights?
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Ha! I personally love CH and used to live there awhile back, but it just struck me as funny- if I were clearing a half mill a year, not sure that's the first place I would choose to live, unless I had a really deep Flameburger addiction to maintain.
 


citywok said:
Ha! I personally love CH and used to live there awhile back, but it just struck me as funny- if I were clearing a half mill a year, not sure that's the first place I would choose to live, unless I had a really deep Flameburger addiction to maintain.
Click to expand...

I could see him living in the NE part of CH, but I agree that he can afford to live in nicer areas of the metro.
 

I lived in NE CH for several years. Pretty convenient to the U, not much traffic, close to plenty of good stuff. However if I was moving in from out of town it would probably not be in the top 5 (or 10) neighborhoods on the radar.
 

Wasn't it Rick Majerus that lived in a hotel when he was at Utah? Maybe he is doing the same thing.
 


Also, I agree. I always felt like the fawning over Kill was a little undeserved. But I really like Claeys. He's not afraid to put his ass on the line. He's made smart decisions with his coaching staff/recruiting. He seems to value numbers and logic over intuition or "gut". He's not one to point the blame at other people or air dirty laundry.

I was against extending him before, but the more he's been the head coach the more he's really convinced me he's a good fit here.
 

GophersInIowa said:
Wasn't it Rick Majerus that lived in a hotel when he was at Utah? Maybe he is doing the same thing.
Click to expand...

Yep-I lived in SLC back during his tenure and he always lived in the Hilton near campus if I remember correctly


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

citywok said:
Ha! I personally love CH and used to live there awhile back, but it just struck me as funny- if I were clearing a half mill a year, not sure that's the first place I would choose to live, unless I had a really deep Flameburger addiction to maintain.
Click to expand...

Nice reference!
 

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