How should Kaler/Goetz handle the full time HC hiring process?

How should Kaler/Goetz handle the full time HC hiring process?

  • Hire Claeys no matter what happens rest of season

    Votes: 75 54.7%

  • Wait and see how season unfolds before making decision on Clayes

    Votes: 32 23.4%

  • Hire a national search firm and conduct a legitimate national search

    Votes: 20 14.6%

  • Bring back the Maturi/Mona duo who brought us Kill & Co

    Votes: 1 0.7%

  • Other

    Votes: 9 6.6%
  • Total voters
    137
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ncgo4 said:
Does Claeys even want the job? I know it sounds crazy, but I'm not sure. He has had to have had other opportunities and not pursued them. Also, he does not appear very comfortable handling the PR things necessary as a head coach. Things like the press, where he always appeared very uncomfortable. He will be required to do these things, however, if he assumes the job. He's also necessary if they want to keep the coaching team together. If he really does want it then I really, really hope they give him the opportunity!
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How is Belicheck with the press? Smooth? From what I've seen, Claeyes does fine in social interactions. Sometimes more introverted personalities just need an opportunity to shine.

Somewhat unrelated, I have no idea, none, of how some posters thought Norwood Teague was good at schmoozing/fundraising. Slime ball from word go, which was sensed by some of the donors.

On the other hand, Claeyes has a lot of the traits of Kill. He seems genuine, sincere, honest, and most important is competent at his job. I believe donors gravitate to people like this. They tend to be smart people that sense the bull****ters.

I will be very upset if Claeyes and his crew are not retained by Kaler. We have not seen defense in these parts for a long time. It would be a shame to toss it out and take a flier.
 

There is no choice but to hire Claeys. It's a totally unique situation in that we are hiring a full staff with total continuity. This isn't at all like hiring Gutekunst. You don't even bother with a coaching search, we aren't getting anyone better. Hire Claeys ASAP, keep this recruiting class in place, keep the program together and move forward. There is absolutely no option. I'm not saying it will turn out the best, or that it's full proof, but rather that this is a decision you must make.
 

ncgo4 said:
Things like the press, where he always appeared very uncomfortable. He will be required to do these things, however, if he assumes the job.
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I don't see that at all....other than being quiet.

Just yesterday for example....

Asked about how they look at the next 3 night games.

"Kind of like they say, how you eat an elephant, one bite at a time"

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Then he was asked about the Nebraska game and did the typical "that's all my fault". Sure thing, coach, that's what they all say. Then he went on to actually explain why it was his fault....gave all the reps to an injured player that ended up not playing. Refreshing.

Love his press conferences.
 

Section2 said:
There is no choice but to hire Claeys. It's a totally unique situation in that we are hiring a full staff with total continuity. This isn't at all like hiring Gutekunst. You don't even bother with a coaching search, we aren't getting anyone better. Hire Claeys ASAP, keep this recruiting class in place, keep the program together and move forward. There is absolutely no option. I'm not saying it will turn out the best, or that it's full proof, but rather that this is a decision you must make.
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Agreed. The tricky part is the AD stuff, but overall I think this is the answer.

And why do people keep going to this Gutekunst guy (who admittedly I am too young to know) when FSU recently won a title hiring their OC after Bowden retired. Fisher has a more established (BCS) resume than Claeys, but that could also be because he wasn't "tied" to a HC necessarily.
 

scher215 said:
Agreed. The tricky part is the AD stuff, but overall I think this is the answer.

And why do people keep going to this Gutekunst guy (who admittedly I am too young to know) when FSU recently won a title hiring their OC after Bowden retired. Fisher has a more established (BCS) resume than Claeys, but that could also be because he wasn't "tied" to a HC necessarily.
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Yup. And I realize that most people didn't see this coming so soon, but I thought many-if not most- folks assumed/knew that Claeys was essentially the coach in waiting anyway. Obviously the head coach is the most visible, but assuming every coach still here wants to stay after this year, we will have them all back next year. Plug Claeys in as HC, every other coach gets a promotion (Jay Sawvel to DC maybe?) and the only spot to fill by next year will be GA spot probably.
 


I don't think there is a right answer with what the department is facing right now. All I'll say is that I was very confused when Richter didn't hire Soderberg as head basketball coach at Wisconsin when Bennett stepped down a dozen or so years ago. It's what Bennett wanted and I thought it was a no-brainer. I was very, very wrong in that assessment.

That said, sucks to see this for Kill and the program. He seems like a really good man, and he's certainly the coach that Minnesota needed after the Brewster debacle. Here's hoping that whatever the department decides to do that the steps that Kill made for the program continue.

Best of luck, Gopher fans.
 

I'm not pro or anti Claeys long term but the only way Gutekunst is even relevant is he was promoted to head coach from assistant coach. That's it. As far as I can tell, the only time he ever worked for Holtz was during those two seasons at Minnesota. They did reunite many years later at So. Carolina.

There are plenty of examples of the promotion to head coach that were successful (Chris Peterson) and several that were an utter disaster (Bobby Williams)

So for the "this is Gutey all over again"....that is your opinion with nothing to back it up with.
 

I think it is pretty obvious to work behind the scenes to see if you can make a big time splash hire with a proven record.


And if you don't, you offer TC full time whenever that is the official word. I would guess my way would end up naming TC the coach, but you should look into other coaches behind the scenes first.


I don't think TC gets the 5 year plan. I would've given Kill until 2017 to show something serious, and I would give TC until 2017 to show something serious.
 

I voted for wait and see how the rest of the season plays out, but the real answer is we need an athletic director. NOW. If we hope to land a coach who has a power 5 resume, then we need to have a permanent AD in place. I said this in a private email to someone, but Claeys wouldn't even be considered with his resume if he wasn't currently at Minnesota. I've been impressed with what Claeys has done as a defensive coordinator, but there's a reason why guys first head coaching job is usually not at a power 5 school.
 



This is a set back. A big time set back. It is fraught with short term and long term peril. Short term we may lose some momentum, including some of the highly rated commitments. Long term, though is the larger risk to our football program and selecting the wrong Head Coach is a risk with fatal consequences.

TC may prove to be the best short term answer to retain those recruits. But based on our last two head coaches without HC experience (that'd be Brewster and Gutekunst) it might by a good idea to fully satisfy ourselves that he's the best long term choice. If so, great, but we really need to proceed with full care.
 



GoUgophers said:
True, but as noted, any of the available options here will have some downside. It's not like Minnesota is hitting it out of the park recruiting right now, anyway, and plenty of interim staffs do just fine in that regard. Instate kids should want to play there anyway, regardless of the who the coaches end up being.

Giving Claeys the full-time job now, just to save one or even two classes that are still likely to finish near the bottom of the conference rankings no matter who the coach is, is a fairly significant gamble. And as someone else noted earlier in the thread, the players coming in this year were targeted specifically to fit Kill's fairly unique system, so doing a wholesale staff change at this point basically wastes that class, anyway.
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I don't think that is a certainty. The 2016 class looks pretty dang good right now.
 



Put me in the Claeys camp. There is a foundation. Tom Osbourne won more than Devaney and Bret Bielema won more than Alvarez. Stick with the plan.
 

citywok said:
Yeah, maybe. Terrible for recruiting though, which Jerry even said in his press conference is of utmost importance.
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+1. It would be akin to Monson's last season after he was 'fired' and then 'unfired'. No coach wants to be in that situation. It's impossible to recruit. If I were Claeys I wouldn't even accept it under those conditions. Just give him the job. You don't have to break the bank and lock yourself into a Ferentz type deal, so if it's not working in 2-3 years, so be it.
 


Hope they look into Matt Campbell in Toledo. He's in his mid-30's and has done some great things there, he is defiantly a guy on the rise
 

Something nobody is talking about, Would Claeys keep the entire staff together? It is easy to assume that they would all just stay together, but how many of them were in it for Kill? Does Claeys agree with Limegrover offensively? The staff has been together a long time but it has been in the direction Kill pointed them. Maybe Claeys would have his own direction if he were put into the head coach position? I think that the job is definitely Claeys to lose. With the interim AD right now and fundraising for the practice facility etc etc I doubt that we would be able to splurge for a highly sought after coach.
 

howeda7 said:
+1. It would be akin to Monson's last season after he was 'fired' and then 'unfired'. No coach wants to be in that situation. It's impossible to recruit. If I were Claeys I wouldn't even accept it under those conditions. Just give him the job. You don't have to break the bank and lock yourself into a Ferentz type deal, so if it's not working in 2-3 years, so be it.
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Yep, that's what Maturi would do. Good call, Howie.
 

I would say there is about a 2% chance Claeys is head coach going into 2017. New AD. New Coach.
 

Face The Facts said:
I would say there is about a 2% chance Claeys is head coach going into 2017. New AD. New Coach.
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I'd put at 50/50 myself but this is way down the road since Kaler has said the current investigation will be finished the the search for an AD then the coaching search will be done.
 

Mase indicated if asked he'd assist in all facets on Barreiro today.

I think the U should take him up on it.

Dead serious.
 


badgergopher said:
Put me in the Claeys camp. There is a foundation. Tom Osbourne won more than Devaney and Bret Bielema won more than Alvarez. Stick with the plan.
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Both had their former successful coaches as their AD. You need a strong AD who knows and is invested in football.
 

Maximus said:
I'm not pro or anti Claeys long term but the only way Gutekunst is even relevant is he was promoted to head coach from assistant coach. That's it. As far as I can tell, the only time he ever worked for Holtz was during those two seasons at Minnesota. They did reunite many years later at So. Carolina.

There are plenty of examples of the promotion to head coach that were successful (Chris Peterson) and several that were an utter disaster (Bobby Williams)

So for the "this is Gutey all over again"....that is your opinion with nothing to back it up with.
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Promoting Claeys to HC is more of a Chris Peterson hire than a Gutenkunst hire. Holtz took most of his staff to ND and left Gutey behind who has two years of history with him.

Tracy Claeys on the other hand, has a fully functioning staff and system that have been together as a family for years with new branches added on as time goes by.
 

IAGopherfan said:
Something nobody is talking about, Would Claeys keep the entire staff together? It is easy to assume that they would all just stay together, but how many of them were in it for Kill? Does Claeys agree with Limegrover offensively? The staff has been together a long time but it has been in the direction Kill pointed them. Maybe Claeys would have his own direction if he were put into the head coach position? I think that the job is definitely Claeys to lose. With the interim AD right now and fundraising for the practice facility etc etc I doubt that we would be able to splurge for a highly sought after coach.
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Have wondered the same thing.
 


BilldGopher said:
Mase indicated if asked he'd assist in all facets on Barreiro today. I think the U should take him up on it. Dead serious.
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If he's genuine and could let Claeys be the HC. I'd be fully on board with Mase as OC.
 

scher215 said:
If he's genuine and could let Claeys be the HC. I'd be fully on board with Mase as OC.
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Uhhhhhh.... you realize that Mase meant "assist with all facets of the coaching search" and not "be an assistant on a heretofore unnamed head coach's staff"... right? RIGHT?!?!?!
 

Mase said that he would be glad to assist with the Athletic Dept, saying that he knows more about the Big Ten than anyone in the state which is likely true. He did not imply he wanted to coach the team.
 

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