Athlon: Ranking the Big Ten's College Football Coaches for 2016 (12. Tracy Claeys)

[dpodoll68]

Smith will be out after season 2. he is #12.

Ha, zero chance - unless you mean that he wows and leaves for a better job after season 2. He's the brand new AD's handpicked coach - zero chance he gets fired after season 2. It would make the brand new AD look like a complete buffoon if he gives up on him after 2 seasons.

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

Ha, zero chance - unless you mean that he wows and leaves for a better job after season 2. He's the brand new AD's handpicked coach - zero chance he gets fired after season 2. It would make the brand new AD look like a complete buffoon if he gives up on him after 2 seasons.

Yeah, it's not like Illinois has a backlog of better coaches waiting. Short of a scandal they'll stick it out with him for a while.

 

[GopherWeatherGuy]

Overrated:
Pat Fitzgerald. It's not as if NW was awful before they hired him. Each of his predecessors did just as well as he did. So where does this "no one else could win at NW" come from? It's apparently harder to win at MN.
Kevin Wilson. Really? You would rank him ahead of Claeys? I don't see it at all. He's probably gone soon.
Lovie Smith. College and Pro are different. Many good NFL coaches can't win in college and vice versa. Way too early to judge.
Franklin. Great recruiter of STARS. Nothing else shown.

I would rank Claeys ahead of all of them, which puts him solidly in the 6-8 range. He's an elite coordinator, and I like what I've seen so far as a HC. I don't think it's fair to call out his regular season record without adding in the circumstances, and how well we played in those games.

This wins the homer post of the weekend award. If Claeys is an elite coordinator, then Ash and Durkin are more elite coordinators.

I like Claeys, but he has a lot to prove this year. I don't think you can rank him above anyone outside of Hazell. If Claeys wins 9 this year, then he jumps into the 6-8 range.

 

[Section2]

This wins the homer post of the weekend award. If Claeys is an elite coordinator, then Ash and Durkin are more elite coordinators.

I like Claeys, but he has a lot to prove this year. I don't think you can rank him above anyone outside of Hazell. If Claeys wins 9 this year, then he jumps into the 6-8 range.

I don't agree on Ash and Durkin. I mean, how many first rounders did Ash have at OSU? Durkin definitely impressed, but again, Michigan's recruiting the previous 4 years was almost all top 10. Both had a ton of talent to work with, and most of it was inherited.
Claeys is 5-7 in Big Ten games in which he acted as head coach. And obviously, none of those were under ideal circumstances. It's more of a track record as HC than those others. And I'm sorry, but I'm damn impressed with our defenses under Claeys.
I don't mind being called a homer, I am, but Claeys is an elite coordinator and a great coach. Very excited about this year.

 

[GopherWeatherGuy]

I don't agree on Ash and Durkin. I mean, how many first rounders did Ash have at OSU? Durkin definitely impressed, but again, Michigan's recruiting the previous 4 years was almost all top 10. Both had a ton of talent to work with, and most of it was inherited.
Claeys is 5-7 in Big Ten games in which he acted as head coach. And obviously, none of those were under ideal circumstances. It's more of a track record as HC than those others. And I'm sorry, but I'm damn impressed with our defenses under Claeys.
I don't mind being called a homer, I am, but Claeys is an elite coordinator and a great coach. Very excited about this year.

Our scoring defenses under Claeys have been solid. Best was ranked 25th in 2013, and have been mostly ranked 25-60th. Much better than what they had been, but not elite. And this is working with one of the slowest paced offenses in the country, focused on keeping the D off the field.

Ash and Durkin just didn't roll out of bed and land the Ohio State and Florida/Michigan DC jobs and all the talent that comes with it. They both had to work their way up and were responsible for recruiting along the way. Ash had the 13th and 17th best scoring defenses his 2 years at Wisconsin.

Do you think Claeys could land a DC job at Michigan, Florida, or Ohio State? I don't, which is why I would rank Claeys lower. None of them have experience running their own program until this year. Claeys could end up being the most successful, or he could be the first to be fired. They could all succeed, or all fail, only time will tell.

 

[Section2]

Our scoring defenses under Claeys have been solid. Best was ranked 25th in 2013, and have been mostly ranked 25-60th. Much better than what they had been, but not elite. And this is working with one of the slowest paced offenses in the country, focused on keeping the D off the field.

Ash and Durkin just didn't roll out of bed and land the Ohio State and Florida/Michigan DC jobs and all the talent that comes with it. They both had to work their way up and were responsible for recruiting along the way. Ash had the 13th and 17th best scoring defenses his 2 years at Wisconsin.

Do you think Claeys could land a DC job at Michigan, Florida, or Ohio State? I don't, which is why I would rank Claeys lower. None of them have experience running their own program until this year. Claeys could end up being the most successful, or he could be the first to be fired. They could all succeed, or all fail, only time will tell.

I didn't say our defenses have always been elite, I said he's an elite DC. Wisconsin and Minnesota are not comparable programs, unfortunately (yet).

I have zero doubts that if Claeys had been interested in becoming a helmet school DC that he could have. I know that he has fielded many offers from NFL teams. He was happy being the DC for Jerry, and it worked out pretty well for him.

Of course, I could be absolutely 100% wrong. But the question was how would you rank them right now, and I gave my reasons. It's a homer pick for sure, but not without basis.

 

[GopherHomer]

This wins the homer post of the weekend award. If Claeys is an elite coordinator, then Ash and Durkin are more elite coordinators.

I like Claeys, but he has a lot to prove this year. I don't think you can rank him above anyone outside of Hazell. If Claeys wins 9 this year, then he jumps into the 6-8 range.

I don't understand where you stand on the 2016 season. You seem to be discounting Claeys, but also will be disappointed with anything less than 9 wins. You appear to be setting yourself up for the right to bitch either way...which I guess is par for the course around here. I've said it before and I'll say it again - give me 7 wins every year until the day I die and I'll be content with the program.

 

[GopherWeatherGuy]

I don't understand where you stand on the 2016 season. You seem to be discounting Claeys, but also will be disappointed with anything less than 9 wins. You appear to be setting yourself up for the right to bitch either way...which I guess is par for the course around here. I've said it before and I'll say it again - give me 7 wins every year until the day I die and I'll be content with the program.

I've been skeptical of the Claeys hire since the way the end of last season played out. They should win at least 9 with this year's schedule and the amount of time Claeys and the majority of the staff has been here. He's our guy this year and I'll back him unless he fails.

You can have your 7 wins a year and losses to Wisconsin/Iowa. I'll keep hoping we get the right coach to get us at least to Wisconsin/Iowa's level. Hopefully Claeys is that guy, but he hasn't proven anything yet.

 

[Hates Monikers]

I don't understand where you stand on the 2016 season. You seem to be discounting Claeys, but also will be disappointed with anything less than 9 wins. You appear to be setting yourself up for the right to bitch either way...which I guess is par for the course around here. I've said it before and I'll say it again - give me 7 wins every year until the day I die and I'll be content with the program.

Dear lord. You would never see a winning conference record.

 

[GophersInIowa]

Dear lord. You would never see a winning conference record.

2-1 in non conference and 5-4 in BT play.

 

[Hates Monikers]

2-1 in non conference and 5-4 in BT play.

I actually had "probably" in my post to indicate that I could do the math, but deleted it.

1973 was the last time we had seven wins and a winning Big Ten record.

 

[bemidjigopher]

I actually had "probably" in my post to indicate that I could do the math, but deleted it.

1973 was the last time we had seven wins and a winning Big Ten record.

Was that the year we beat both Rose bowl participants

 

[Hates Monikers]

Was that the year we beat both Rose bowl participants

No, that was 1977, when we finished 7-5 and 4-4 in the conference. In 1973 we finished 7-4, 6-2 (lost to Nebraska and Kansas in non-conference games). Back in those days we played much stronger non-conference schedules.

For the past few decades, the Gophers winning seven games has required mopping up in the non-conference schedule. It's not impossible to win seven games and have a winning conference record. It's just very unusual for us to be good enough to have a winning conference record yet stumble through (mostly) lighter weight non-conference opponents. The additional conference game does make it more possible.

 

[salzie]

Consistent 6-7 wins with runs at 9-10 and 1 ? rose bowl trip before i die...all i ask

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