Coaching Carousel Winners and Losers - Pat Forde Yahoo Sports

[Iceland12]

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/coaching-carousel-winners-and-losers-210455034-ncaaf.html

Among the Winners:

Minnesota. Tracy Claeys has done some fine work filling in for Jerry Kill, though little of that happened this year. (The end of the game against Michigan was particularly regrettable.) Still, continuity should be valuable at a school where the athletic department is in turmoil and may not have been able to attract a great outside candidate in a crowded job market.

Among the Losers:

Greg Schiano. The former coach at Rutgers and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was expected to make a re-entry into college as a head coach – perhaps at a really good program. Instead, Schiano never got the call and wound up taking the defensive coordinator position at Ohio State. That’s a really good job in the grand scheme of things, but going two years without landing a head-coaching position indicates that Schiano was not as highly regarded on the market as he probably thought he’d be.

Illinois. Fresh off a stirring 5-7 season and having fired Tim Beckman in August, Illinois gave interim coach Bill Cubit a two-year contract. That was a tacit admission that a school without a full-time chancellor or a full-time athletic director didn’t have its stuff together sufficiently to make a real hire. This was basically punting on third down, and it should absolutely torpedo recruiting for at least a year.

 

[MaxyJR1]

Now that's putting two spins on MN and IL. Could be flipped and said the same thing.

 

[Iceland12]

No that's putting two spins on MN and IL. Could be flipped and said the same thing.

Kinda what I thought too. Only difference is Kill/Claeys and Company had a bad year following three Bowl Game seasons and two seasons at 8-5. Beckman/Cubit had seasons of 2-10, 4-8 before their 5-7 season.

But yeah, there are similarities.

 

[GopherHomer]

Any time you get rid of Beckman, it has to be considered a 'win.'

As for Claeys, I have really been on a rollercoaster about how I feel about him. At first I thought it was the right move because I figured it would basically be an extension of the Kill era (which I view as positive). Then I got a little nervous when he started making changes thinking that we might be starting over...again. After the last couple of weeks, though, I have started getting excited again BECAUSE of the changes. I am always going to support the Gophers so maybe my blind homerism obscures my objectivity but the further we get away from Kill the more I see the 'flies in the ointment' of his tenure and am appreciating Claeys' fresh take on the program. The true test will come on the field, though (I mean 2016 and beyond as I don't really consider this bowl game as a litmus test for anything - positive or negative).

 

[gopher7]

Now that's putting two spins on MN and IL. Could be flipped and said the same thing.

Two things make it different. One, Claeys had a positive stint as acting HC a couple years ago. Two, Kill and his staff did enough things here in four years where it made sense to promote internally.

 

[Iceland12]

Two things make it different. One, Claeys had a positive stint as acting HC a couple years ago. Two, Kill and his staff did enough things here in four years where it made sense to promote internally.

Cubit had a lot of experience as a Head Coach and most of it was pretty good too.

Cubit was head coach at NCAA Division III Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania from 1992–96. He led the Pioneers to a 34–18–1 record. He also was the Head Coach at Western Michigan where he was 51–47, with a conference record of 36–27, and a 0–3 bowl record. Those three bowl game appearances under Cubit were more than the two total bowl game appearances made in the history of the program prior to his arrival.

Makes one wonder if Cubit was the guy who "negatively recruited" against Kill?

 

['13Gopher]

Any time you get rid of Beckman, it has to be considered a 'win.'

As for Claeys, I have really been on a rollercoaster about how I feel about him. At first I thought it was the right move because I figured it would basically be an extension of the Kill era (which I view as positive). Then I got a little nervous when he started making changes thinking that we might be starting over...again. After the last couple of weeks, though, I have started getting excited again BECAUSE of the changes. I am always going to support the Gophers so maybe my blind homerism obscures my objectivity but the further we get away from Kill the more I see the 'flies in the ointment' of his tenure and am appreciating Claeys' fresh take on the program. The true test will come on the field, though (I mean 2016 and beyond as I don't really consider this bowl game as a litmus test for anything - positive or negative).

I too am enjoying the fresh take. The fact that Claeys got rid of Limey so quickly means that he had no respect for Limey. As a very, very good D coordinator I trust his judement with the offense. He might not know how to run one, but he sure as heck knows how to stop one and my guess is he laughed at some of Limey's gameplans. Now, with the way recruiting is going I truly believe Claeys has some sort of vision for this offense. I think it's time to start throwing the ball more and get more excitement. I'm very encouraged by the moves made thus far and I hope a bowl win can keep this momentum going.

 

[Hates Monikers]

Any time you get rid of Beckman, it has to be considered a 'win.'

As for Claeys, I have really been on a rollercoaster about how I feel about him. At first I thought it was the right move because I figured it would basically be an extension of the Kill era (which I view as positive). Then I got a little nervous when he started making changes thinking that we might be starting over...again. After the last couple of weeks, though, I have started getting excited again BECAUSE of the changes. I am always going to support the Gophers so maybe my blind homerism obscures my objectivity but the further we get away from Kill the more I see the 'flies in the ointment' of his tenure and am appreciating Claeys' fresh take on the program. The true test will come on the field, though (I mean 2016 and beyond as I don't really consider this bowl game as a litmus test for anything - positive or negative).

I've ridden the same ride. I've gotten the impression that Claeys has a clear vision of what he wants and he's going to take the steps to try to make it happen. Time will tell if his vision -- and ability to execute it -- will be successful. But he's definitely acting like a head coach who knows where he wants to go and how to get there.

 

[e.bigelow]

I've ridden the same ride. I've gotten the impression that Claeys has a clear vision of what he wants and he's going to take the steps to try to make it happen. Time will tell if his vision -- and ability to execute it -- will be successful. But he's definitely acting like a head coach who knows where he wants to go and how to get there.

+1. Totally agree with this.

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

I think the difference between MN and Illinois is that MN maybe has a better perceived foundation program wise. But yeah they are very close and you could spin either one either way.

 

[killme]

Disparaging Kill so soon? Sheesh. TC could very well be a genius tactician and the future could be especially bright as he reaps the fruits of the improved talent base due to a recruiting crescendo under Kill. But, TC will be the first to tell you that the new facility wouldn't be underway, and he could not have turned around this program in his first HC gig. Kill did that with charm, charisma, discipline and most of all, a plan. Tracy, as the new face of the program, will be able to continue that development, perhaps even take it to a new level. But, if the Gophers have a 10-2 season next year, I bet he gives a fair amount of credit to JK.