How many games does Claeys have to win, & enthusiasm for the program

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Some Day...Is Coming!

Some Day...Maybe?
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I think Claeys needs to win a minimum of 7 games to keep his job.

Where do you think the enthusiasm level will be this season on a scale of 1 to 10 among all fans worldwide? I think Kill did a phenomenal job of building the enthusiasm for the program, and excitement among Gopher fans. I'll say Kill brought it to an 8 out of 10. Do you think Claeys can keep it at an 8 this year, or will it slip to like a 6? I think he needs to win 8 games to keep it high. How much will the new AD help? Marketing, game day festivities, stability, leadership? Not sure how much of an effect he can have this early.

I'll say 6 wins this year and the program is heading in the wrong direction. 7 wins and a bowl win and I'm ok for giving Claeys another year. 8 regular season wins and I extend him a year or two. I guess it will all come down to winning, and I think with Coyle the expectations for the football program are going to be 7 win minimum seasons with 8 or more wins as a regular expectation, and some 9 and 10 win seasons expected. I also think this is what the majority of fans on this board would be content with as expectations.

Look forward to Mark Coyle's first year at the helm for all sports, also looking forward to see what Claeys can do with a full off season and season as the head man.
 

Some Day...Is Coming! said:
I think Claeys needs to win a minimum of 7 games to keep his job.

Where do you think the enthusiasm level will be this season on a scale of 1 to 10 among all fans worldwide? I think Kill did a phenomenal job of building the enthusiasm for the program, and excitement among Gopher fans. I'll say Kill brought it to an 8 out of 10. Do you think Claeys can keep it at an 8 this year, or will it slip to like a 6? I think he needs to win 8 games to keep it high. How much will the new AD help? Marketing, game day festivities, stability, leadership? Not sure how much of an effect he can have this early.

I'll say 6 wins this year and the program is heading in the wrong direction. 7 wins and a bowl win and I'm ok for giving Claeys another year. 8 regular season wins and I extend him a year or two. I guess it will all come down to winning, and I think with Coyle the expectations for the football program are going to be 7 win minimum seasons with 8 or more wins as a regular expectation, and some 9 and 10 win seasons expected. I also think this is what the majority of fans on this board would be content with as expectations.

Look forward to Mark Coyle's first year at the helm for all sports, also looking forward to see what Claeys can do with a full off season and season as the head man.
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Claeys isn't going to be fired for a six win season.
 

tikited said:
Claeys isn't going to be fired for a six win season.
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Agreed. Claeys will have a 6 win season 6 or 7 games into the season. Then he will build on that.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
 

With this years schedule, I think the casual fan really only cares about the Iowa and wisconsin games. And we've had our fair share of wins vs Iowa over the last few years....so IMO, finally beating wisconsin is what it will take to really build enthusiasm with the casual fans.

Go Gophers!!
 

Some Day...Is Coming! said:
I think Claeys needs to win a minimum of 7 games to keep his job.

Where do you think the enthusiasm level will be this season on a scale of 1 to 10 among all fans worldwide? I think Kill did a phenomenal job of building the enthusiasm for the program, and excitement among Gopher fans. I'll say Kill brought it to an 8 out of 10. Do you think Claeys can keep it at an 8 this year, or will it slip to like a 6? I think he needs to win 8 games to keep it high. How much will the new AD help? Marketing, game day festivities, stability, leadership? Not sure how much of an effect he can have this early.

I'll say 6 wins this year and the program is heading in the wrong direction. 7 wins and a bowl win and I'm ok for giving Claeys another year. 8 regular season wins and I extend him a year or two. I guess it will all come down to winning, and I think with Coyle the expectations for the football program are going to be 7 win minimum seasons with 8 or more wins as a regular expectation, and some 9 and 10 win seasons expected. I also think this is what the majority of fans on this board would be content with as expectations.

Look forward to Mark Coyle's first year at the helm for all sports, also looking forward to see what Claeys can do with a full off season and season as the head man.
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With this year's schedule, I think this assessment is about right. I also think we have a good chance to win nine or more games.
 


as far as the opening line of the OP - I absolutely do not see Claeys being fired - unless the season is somehow a complete disaster: 2 or 3 wins and major off-field issues. As long as the Gophers win at least 6 games and go to a bowl game, Claeys will not be fired.

Now, I think this team has the potential to win more than 6 games - but there are still questions about this team. How will they fare with the new OC and new OL coach? Who takes over for Maye at WR? how does the secondary adapt to the loss of Murray and BBC? On top of that, injuries are always a great unknown. one or two key injuries can totally change the course of a season.

So, for those reasons and more, as stated above, Claeys will not be fired unless there is a collapse of biblical proportions, or some kind of off-field scandal.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
as far as the opening line of the OP - I absolutely do not see Claeys being fired - unless the season is somehow a complete disaster: 2 or 3 wins and major off-field issues. As long as the Gophers win at least 6 games and go to a bowl game, Claeys will not be fired.

Now, I think this team has the potential to win more than 6 games - but there are still questions about this team. How will they fare with the new OC and new OL coach? Who takes over for Maye at WR? how does the secondary adapt to the loss of Murray and BBC? On top of that, injuries are always a great unknown. one or two key injuries can totally change the course of a season.

So, for those reasons and more, as stated above, Claeys will not be fired unless there is a collapse of biblical proportions, or some kind of off-field scandal.
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Ah, but you have a new AD with new facilities. Can you afford 2 potential years of lost momentum? Plus Claeys himself admits this should be their best year and best team since Kill and Co got there, Kill said the same thing. If Claeys can't muster up 7 reg season wins with this schedule and with the talent he and Kill both described as the best since the regime arrived, then what's the point of keeping them? It's not like the schedule is going to get easier in the following years. That being said, I think they can win 8 games this regular season.
 

Agree with Bleed. Beat the skunks. Everybody busts my chops about ragging on Becky, but deep down any diehard Gopher fan wants to kick the sh-t out of the Badgers and shut that arrogant fan base up. Tracy has a team that has the right stuff to pull off a 10 win season, but if we lose to the Skunks for the 13th time in a row a lot of Gopher fans will throw the baby out with the bath water in regards to the Gopher season. Remember when Wren was on this site he would always end his diatribes with: " Beat the stinking Badgers"
 

I think we need to win 8 games for the enthusiasm to level to remain the same and 9 games for it to build. In both cases we HAVE to beat Wisconsin. Claeys does not have the personality that will generate enthusiasm that Kill does. That's not a cut on him, just who he is. A 10 win season with wins over Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska and in a bowl would get the fan base really jazzed up.
 



Essentially a new AD and an almost a new HC and his new assistants so I doubt no matter how THIS season plays on the field out that Claeys will not be fired.
Then the AD has to decide to extend Claeys or start looking for a new HC.
Conference record, rivalry wins or losses, attendance and most importantly what the few remaining big donors want all will factor in his decision.
No extension will mean even more recruiting problems that year. But the promise of a new HC and a new start may be worth it.
 

tikited said:
Claeys isn't going to be fired for a six win season.
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With this schedule, and the self proclaimed best team in the Kill/Claeys era, winning two less games than they did 2 years ago and the same as they did last year, could absolutely get him fired with a new AD in place.
 

In a vacuum, I think 7 wins keeps his job 'safe' (either 6 wins and bowl victory or 7 wins and bowl loss) - but there are always unexpected situations. If, say, Leidner gets hurt early I think Claeys gets a pass and we'll see him at least get the start of next year to solidify his employment.

As far as enthusiasm, I think it will be pretty much 'status quo.' We diehards will live and die with every outcome, but with the Vikings opening up their new stadium, I think the Gophers will take a back seat this year in general interest and be pretty much ignored/forgotten unless things go especially good or bad. While this season's schedule is about as good as it gets, I think the Big10 is stronger than when Kill won 8 regular season games. I don't really think we will win the West - basically because I don't see us winning at Neb or wisc. I think the key game for the general audience is the PSU game - if we take care of business in the Non-Con, and win at PSU I think enthusiasm will begin to build.

I think Iowa will be very good this year (although they only seem to be good when you don't expect them to be) and beating them this year might be the best home victory of TCF's history (Nebraska in '13 being maybe the only other to rival). If we're sitting at 5-0, we will most likely be ranked in the top 20 and excitement will follow - and I think Claeys would get an extension at this point, so the rest of the season wouldn't really matter.
 

5-6 wins means Coyle is making calls. 4 or fewer means Claeys is gone. 7-8 means he stays on contract. 9+means he's extended. The 5-6 wins I can see Coyle looking around to gauge interest going from there. Let's be honest guys, we haven't exactly attracted big fish in our coaching searches so it's going to take a pretty rough first real season for there to be any perceived benefit to canning Claeys this fast. Maybe Coyle will be different in who he can entice, but I'm thinking 2 years for sure unless it's a total tank job
 



And as far as the keeping mojo going, it's got to be 9+wins and west contention into the last week. The causal fan won't care if we're not at that point and the die hards will be lamenting the blown chance with a relatively easy schedule
 

8 wins minimum.
 

In regards to Claeys I think qualifying for a bowl game will be enough for him to get another year. Failing to qualify for a bowl will almost certainly lead to Coyle buying him out and bringing in his own guy.

In regards to enthusiasm the team is in a dangerous place right now. The momentum Kill had going with the 8 win seasons ground to a halt last year with the way the season played out. Season ticket prices are going up and the season ticket base is shrinking. The team needs a good year to avoid more extreme season ticket losses next year and to get the public excited about Gopher football. With the new stadium opening up the Vikings are going to get even more attention then they usually do. If the Gophers have a bad year in connection with that the team runs the risk of falling even farther out of the sporting radar for most fans. The team absolutely needs to be in contention in the West and have a strong year.
 

upnorthkid said:
5-6 wins means Coyle is making calls. 4 or fewer means Claeys is gone. 7-8 means he stays on contract. 9+means he's extended. The 5-6 wins I can see Coyle looking around to gauge interest going from there. Let's be honest guys, we haven't exactly attracted big fish in our coaching searches so it's going to take a pretty rough first real season for there to be any perceived benefit to canning Claeys this fast. Maybe Coyle will be different in who he can entice, but I'm thinking 2 years for sure unless it's a total tank job
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Very similar to how I view the situation. It's bold of Claeys to talk about best team ever etc., competing for titles etc. He is the one building expectations. Win 5 or 6 games and a lot of people will be asking questions if this is the right guy.
 


8. With all the hype in talk coming from in and around the program anything less would be disappointing.
 





Some Day...Is Coming! said:
I think Claeys needs to win a minimum of 7 games to keep his job.
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He could win 6 and keep his job just fine, even 5. This is his first season for cripes sake. Dump him after his first season and THEN who wants to come?

As it is Nick Saban isn't waiting in the wings and the AD knows it.... let Claeys go and you're talking about reconstruction again. Claeys has a long long leash.

Trying to bring HCs to MN is hard enough, worse if you want to attract someone after dumping a dude after 1 full season.


Anyway:

To draw fan EXTRA fan attention / enthusiasm, pick 3 of 4:

- ~10 Ws

- Win 2 of the 3 Neb, Wisc, Iowa

- Win a bowl game

- Big 10 West Title


I'll be ok with less but I'm buying tickets no matter what so the bar is higher for other fans enthusiasm.
 

PMWinSTP said:
Eight or more probably gets him an extension.
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6 or more does for sure.

Can't recruit without a longer contract. Gotta show support. And he's cheap anyway so an extension is pretty much easy to do. If we balk at extending Claeys anyone after that is gonna wonder how stingy we are / not going to come.
 


A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
6 or more does for sure.

Can't recruit without a longer contract. Gotta show support. And he's cheap anyway so an extension is pretty much easy to do. If we balk at extending Claeys anyone after that is gonna wonder how stingy we are / not going to come.
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He's signed through 2018. He'll need more than six wins this year to get that extended, I think it will take eight or more. After what they did with Pitino, they will move much more deliberately going forward.
 

PMWinSTP said:
Ummm, the initial post asked exactly that, how many wins he needs to keep his job.
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It was never ASKED. An opinion about Claeys keeping his job was stated in the first post. There was no "?" used.

To keep his job he probably needs to win 8. We are not talking about a coaching greatness here. With all the hype coming from within the program about the talent level and the easy schedule this team better win 8. If not there are some serious questions to be answered.
 

PMWinSTP said:
He's signed through 2018. He'll need more than six wins this year to get that extended, I think it will take eight or more. After what they did with Pitino, they will move much more deliberately going forward.
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Ya only problem is it's hard to go into a recruits home guarantee that you'll be there for their four years when your contract is down to two. Even a token extension like the one Brew got before his last year solves that issue
 

TruDat said:
It was never ASKED. An opinion about Claeys keeping his job was stated in the first post. There was no "?" used.

To keep his job he probably needs to win 8. We are not talking about a coaching greatness here. With all the hype coming from within the program about the talent level and the easy schedule this team better win 8. If not there are some serious questions to be answered.
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Firing Claeys after winning 7 games would be a huge mistake - unless you have some 'top 10/15' name just waiting for you. Alabama fires coaches after 7 wins - not Minnesota. 7 wins is NEVER a bad year at Minnesota. Everybody harps on the easy schedule, but to win more than 7 games we will likely have to beat EVERYONE we are favored against and pull off one significant upset. People discount just how great our back-to-back 8 win seasons were (for a program like ours, obviously there are teams out there that expect more). I've said it before, but give me the option for 7 wins - no more no less - for the next 20 years and I take it in a second.

Enthusiasm, though, is a completely different scenario - I mainly agree that this year will take 8-10 wins to create any noticeable uptick in enthusiasm. But, in the end, the attention of the average Minnesota Meat-Head fan doesn't really concern me that much. I love a good atmosphere as much as the next guy - but results on the field matter SO much more to me than the passive fan's consciousness. I don't think one has anything to do with the other. Let the rubes have their Vikings and Timberwolves...they're simpletons (not all of them, obviously - but have you been to Mankato during training camp?).
 

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