fiopadp7791
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Guys... First off, some disclaimers and apologies.
I know there are multiple threads regarding Claeys status as our HC. I skimmed the threads last night after the game. Emotions were (rightfully) running high. It's mostly anti-Claeys posts. Once again, a lot of that is totally understandable with how bad a taste yesterday's game left in all of our mouths.
But I apologize if I'm piling on any other posts that are actually in support of him getting an extension (or remaining here next season). I know I'm also a lurker, but I come in here a lot to read the content of what you guys post and it's cool to see so many others that rube out to Gopher sports when it can be tough to do so with all the losing.
I want Claeys to get a 2-3 year extension. Keep the buyout low and minimal to-no raise in annual pay. The loss yesterday takes what little negotiating power he had away from him. He'll take it. But what extending him does is at least allows him to recruit without potential recruits asking about his contract status if he only has 2 years left on his deal. If this is left in limbo it'll be extra damaging to our chances to get any kind of decent recruiting class in here.
If Coyle isn't willing to extend him now, get rid of him now. As said in the paragraph above, I don't want him to be let go, but at the same time doing nothing will kill any potential recruiting class Claeys/the Gophers are trying to pull in this year if the HC job is in limbo in the next 1-2 years.
So with that being said- Here's a few arguments for why TC should get an extension:
1) Maybe I haven't read enough posts to see others post this argument, but I haven't seen this from anyone on here: If Claeys is our coach, we'll never have to worry about defense. I genuinely believe this. Regardless of the supposed rankings of our recruiting classes, we've found a lot of nice players on the defensive side of the ball. I think this will continue if he stays our coach.
2) I wanna see how good our team can be now that Mitch is gone. As Gopher fans, we all cheered for Mitch. Claeys had 3+ years to see that Mitch couldn't hack it, and continued to start him. So that blame falls totally on Claeys. But I mean seriously guys, could any of us in our wildest dreams imagine Mitch would've been THAT bad in the 2nd half yesterday? Whether Croft has progressed enough to get his shot with the offense, Green gets thrown in the fire, or some random JuCo or other transfer gets his shot, we'll have 2 really good JR RBs, a solid defense, and a solid O Line to maintain what has been built to this point. It'll be interesting to see one of these QBs get to run Jay Johnson's offense in year 2, where they're probably more comfortable with his system. Also, look at what's happening at Texas Tech. They put up 40+ points every game, and maybe win half their games.
I'd prefer to ugly up games with defense than trying to outscore teams 50-49.
3) I keep seeing these arguments that "the stadium will be as empty as ever" if Claeys stays. The only coaching names that would make casual fans say "OOOHH he's our coach now!? I want season tickets!" would be Les Miles or Tony Dungy. Both are pipe dreams. Charlie Strong won't evoke that reaction out of people. The Western Michigan guy would be a nice hire but people won't flock to TCF next year just because he's hired. NO MATTER WHO THE HEAD COACH IS NEXT SEASON, TCF WILL BE AN EMPTY PLACE FOR A LOT OF GAMES. It'll stay that way until the Gophers start consistently winning. No coach on his name alone will draw people to the games. Guys, the stadium has always been empty because the Gophers haven't been that good and this is a Vikings town. The level of play over the years has done nothing to change that (that includes the random blips of good play under Mason). Also, say... by some miracle Coyle finds enough money to pay Strong (who gets a significant reduction in his $10mil buyout if he takes a job right away) or Miles to come here- They'd probably taste success right away with Claey's players, and jump ship for much greener pastures in the next year or 2. I want a guy that will stay here and build something.
4) I think what Kill/Claeys have built is on par with what Mason had accomplished here. But the difference is: I think with the way the defense continues to play at an above average level, there's the potential that this team could achieve more in the near future. We have all seen how bad it could get after we let go of Mason. Admittedly I was in favor of letting Mason go when it happened. Not only because of all the horribly blown games, but I felt the level of success he had once achieved was slowly slipping. The key difference between him and Claeys- Claeys has almost the same caliber of a rushing attack, but Claeys has a defense. Mason's defense towards the latter part of his tenure were pretty terrible.
I'll shut up now. In the end we all want the same thing- to emerge from below-average-mediocre Big Ten play, beat our main rivals, and make a run to meaningful bowl games once every few years. I totally get the main argument that "staying with Claeys means staying with the same mediocre expectations", but I genuinely believe because of his ability to recruit good defensive players, that we can eventually have a break-through under him if we can just get a little bit better Offensive/QB play.
Go Gophers! (Feel free to rip me to shreds now).
I know there are multiple threads regarding Claeys status as our HC. I skimmed the threads last night after the game. Emotions were (rightfully) running high. It's mostly anti-Claeys posts. Once again, a lot of that is totally understandable with how bad a taste yesterday's game left in all of our mouths.
But I apologize if I'm piling on any other posts that are actually in support of him getting an extension (or remaining here next season). I know I'm also a lurker, but I come in here a lot to read the content of what you guys post and it's cool to see so many others that rube out to Gopher sports when it can be tough to do so with all the losing.
I want Claeys to get a 2-3 year extension. Keep the buyout low and minimal to-no raise in annual pay. The loss yesterday takes what little negotiating power he had away from him. He'll take it. But what extending him does is at least allows him to recruit without potential recruits asking about his contract status if he only has 2 years left on his deal. If this is left in limbo it'll be extra damaging to our chances to get any kind of decent recruiting class in here.
If Coyle isn't willing to extend him now, get rid of him now. As said in the paragraph above, I don't want him to be let go, but at the same time doing nothing will kill any potential recruiting class Claeys/the Gophers are trying to pull in this year if the HC job is in limbo in the next 1-2 years.
So with that being said- Here's a few arguments for why TC should get an extension:
1) Maybe I haven't read enough posts to see others post this argument, but I haven't seen this from anyone on here: If Claeys is our coach, we'll never have to worry about defense. I genuinely believe this. Regardless of the supposed rankings of our recruiting classes, we've found a lot of nice players on the defensive side of the ball. I think this will continue if he stays our coach.
2) I wanna see how good our team can be now that Mitch is gone. As Gopher fans, we all cheered for Mitch. Claeys had 3+ years to see that Mitch couldn't hack it, and continued to start him. So that blame falls totally on Claeys. But I mean seriously guys, could any of us in our wildest dreams imagine Mitch would've been THAT bad in the 2nd half yesterday? Whether Croft has progressed enough to get his shot with the offense, Green gets thrown in the fire, or some random JuCo or other transfer gets his shot, we'll have 2 really good JR RBs, a solid defense, and a solid O Line to maintain what has been built to this point. It'll be interesting to see one of these QBs get to run Jay Johnson's offense in year 2, where they're probably more comfortable with his system. Also, look at what's happening at Texas Tech. They put up 40+ points every game, and maybe win half their games.
I'd prefer to ugly up games with defense than trying to outscore teams 50-49.
3) I keep seeing these arguments that "the stadium will be as empty as ever" if Claeys stays. The only coaching names that would make casual fans say "OOOHH he's our coach now!? I want season tickets!" would be Les Miles or Tony Dungy. Both are pipe dreams. Charlie Strong won't evoke that reaction out of people. The Western Michigan guy would be a nice hire but people won't flock to TCF next year just because he's hired. NO MATTER WHO THE HEAD COACH IS NEXT SEASON, TCF WILL BE AN EMPTY PLACE FOR A LOT OF GAMES. It'll stay that way until the Gophers start consistently winning. No coach on his name alone will draw people to the games. Guys, the stadium has always been empty because the Gophers haven't been that good and this is a Vikings town. The level of play over the years has done nothing to change that (that includes the random blips of good play under Mason). Also, say... by some miracle Coyle finds enough money to pay Strong (who gets a significant reduction in his $10mil buyout if he takes a job right away) or Miles to come here- They'd probably taste success right away with Claey's players, and jump ship for much greener pastures in the next year or 2. I want a guy that will stay here and build something.
4) I think what Kill/Claeys have built is on par with what Mason had accomplished here. But the difference is: I think with the way the defense continues to play at an above average level, there's the potential that this team could achieve more in the near future. We have all seen how bad it could get after we let go of Mason. Admittedly I was in favor of letting Mason go when it happened. Not only because of all the horribly blown games, but I felt the level of success he had once achieved was slowly slipping. The key difference between him and Claeys- Claeys has almost the same caliber of a rushing attack, but Claeys has a defense. Mason's defense towards the latter part of his tenure were pretty terrible.
I'll shut up now. In the end we all want the same thing- to emerge from below-average-mediocre Big Ten play, beat our main rivals, and make a run to meaningful bowl games once every few years. I totally get the main argument that "staying with Claeys means staying with the same mediocre expectations", but I genuinely believe because of his ability to recruit good defensive players, that we can eventually have a break-through under him if we can just get a little bit better Offensive/QB play.
Go Gophers! (Feel free to rip me to shreds now).
