BleedGopher
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These notes are not verbatim, but close from afternoon interview with Dean Johnson on the Bumper to Bumper show:
- There is a saying that the "buck stops here" and I take some responsibility. This goes down to me, to the President, to the AD to the coaches to the players to the young woman. We learn and move on.
- Most of the players thought when the police didn't file the charges they thought this was over. They didn't realize the University was still doing the student code of conduct investigation. That wasn't communicated to the players in the most clear way. That was confusing for the public, the players and the University community. That is important to remember.
- Yesterday's meeting with President Kaler, Coyle and Regents we talked about crisis management and messaging. How do you manage and message these instances going forward. That is very important to learn. The public has a right to know what in fact is occurring. The two things we talked about yesterday is as we move into January the hearings of the alleged 10 players, their attorneys will plea their case. There will be 30 days to render an opinion. The second thing we talked about was Coach Claeys, his tenure. He's an honorable human being he and his staff have done great things here which makes this difficult. I asked Coyle to give me some plus and minuses. Graduation has gone up, GPAs have gone up. Team was 9-4. That's good. On the concern side the fact that recruiting services tell us we're 14 of 14 in recruiting in the Big Ten. We lost about 6,200 season ticket holders. That is in part due to raising season ticket prices. In that discussion as Regents it's not our job, it's our job to govern. Coyle said on behalf of the University it would be best to change leadership of the program. I went out and took a drink of water. The decision was made to move forward at that time.
- People are angry, people are pleased. Lessons learned, how do we move forward. Moving forward will be Mr. Coyle visiting to attract a new coach. I think the sooner the better for recruiting and stabilization of the team. We also talked about soft landing. When you get disappointing news, Tracy Claeys will receive $500,000 and the assistants will get a year of salary and benefits.
- My wife and I traveled to San Diego to the bowl game. Nothing but respect for the entire team and coaches. They played their coaches and won the bowl game. I think what Mr. Coyle was alleging is what happened on September 2. That kind of activity in culture and conduct we cannot accept at the University of Minnesota. We need more mentoring, monitoring and sensitivity training. We need to address the issue of binge drinking. We need to care for one another. Think of you sending your son and daughter to Minneapolis, apartment or dorm and there isn't much supervision. That needs to change, to care for one another. To coach at this level is more than just coaching, it's making sure your athletes are going to class, not getting in trouble, mentoring them, gain a diploma. That's all part of being a coach today.
- There was missed communications when Coach Claeys sent his tweet. I tell young people to be careful what you tweet, text as it gets you in trouble. I believe in my heart of hearts that Coach Claeys meant to stand up for his team that didn't include the 10 players. But it looked like he was sticking up for the 10. They did not feel that due process and they were being heard. That is a communications issue.
- Bear in mind that among the 10 players, different allegations are against different players. That's why the hearing is so important so each player can answer their side of the story.
- I do not know what the availability of the 81-page report to Kaler, Coyle and Claeys. I expect that all three had access to it but I do not know that as a fact.
- #1 priority of the Board of Regents is to hire and hold our President accountable. President Kaler is in his 6th year at the University which is 4th or 5th in tenure in the Big Ten. We have an annual performance review in May where we get feedback on the President and the three of us in leadership from the Board sit down with him. The last 12 months or so have been a blemish on the athletic department. We are now in the same category with Penn State, Baylor and Stanford. My resolution is to get the athletic department off the front pages of the papers unless we win a championship. We have to turn this around.
Go Gophers!!
- There is a saying that the "buck stops here" and I take some responsibility. This goes down to me, to the President, to the AD to the coaches to the players to the young woman. We learn and move on.
- Most of the players thought when the police didn't file the charges they thought this was over. They didn't realize the University was still doing the student code of conduct investigation. That wasn't communicated to the players in the most clear way. That was confusing for the public, the players and the University community. That is important to remember.
- Yesterday's meeting with President Kaler, Coyle and Regents we talked about crisis management and messaging. How do you manage and message these instances going forward. That is very important to learn. The public has a right to know what in fact is occurring. The two things we talked about yesterday is as we move into January the hearings of the alleged 10 players, their attorneys will plea their case. There will be 30 days to render an opinion. The second thing we talked about was Coach Claeys, his tenure. He's an honorable human being he and his staff have done great things here which makes this difficult. I asked Coyle to give me some plus and minuses. Graduation has gone up, GPAs have gone up. Team was 9-4. That's good. On the concern side the fact that recruiting services tell us we're 14 of 14 in recruiting in the Big Ten. We lost about 6,200 season ticket holders. That is in part due to raising season ticket prices. In that discussion as Regents it's not our job, it's our job to govern. Coyle said on behalf of the University it would be best to change leadership of the program. I went out and took a drink of water. The decision was made to move forward at that time.
- People are angry, people are pleased. Lessons learned, how do we move forward. Moving forward will be Mr. Coyle visiting to attract a new coach. I think the sooner the better for recruiting and stabilization of the team. We also talked about soft landing. When you get disappointing news, Tracy Claeys will receive $500,000 and the assistants will get a year of salary and benefits.
- My wife and I traveled to San Diego to the bowl game. Nothing but respect for the entire team and coaches. They played their coaches and won the bowl game. I think what Mr. Coyle was alleging is what happened on September 2. That kind of activity in culture and conduct we cannot accept at the University of Minnesota. We need more mentoring, monitoring and sensitivity training. We need to address the issue of binge drinking. We need to care for one another. Think of you sending your son and daughter to Minneapolis, apartment or dorm and there isn't much supervision. That needs to change, to care for one another. To coach at this level is more than just coaching, it's making sure your athletes are going to class, not getting in trouble, mentoring them, gain a diploma. That's all part of being a coach today.
- There was missed communications when Coach Claeys sent his tweet. I tell young people to be careful what you tweet, text as it gets you in trouble. I believe in my heart of hearts that Coach Claeys meant to stand up for his team that didn't include the 10 players. But it looked like he was sticking up for the 10. They did not feel that due process and they were being heard. That is a communications issue.
- Bear in mind that among the 10 players, different allegations are against different players. That's why the hearing is so important so each player can answer their side of the story.
- I do not know what the availability of the 81-page report to Kaler, Coyle and Claeys. I expect that all three had access to it but I do not know that as a fact.
- #1 priority of the Board of Regents is to hire and hold our President accountable. President Kaler is in his 6th year at the University which is 4th or 5th in tenure in the Big Ten. We have an annual performance review in May where we get feedback on the President and the three of us in leadership from the Board sit down with him. The last 12 months or so have been a blemish on the athletic department. We are now in the same category with Penn State, Baylor and Stanford. My resolution is to get the athletic department off the front pages of the papers unless we win a championship. We have to turn this around.
Go Gophers!!
