KSTP: Q&A: Former Gophers coach Tracy Claeys on Jerry Kill’s return Thursday, P.J. Fleck, and more; "year zero burns my ass"

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Former Gophers football head coach and defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys spoke with KSTP’s Darren ‘Doogie’ Wolfson.

The main talking point was Jerry Kill’s return to Minnesota Thursday night when his New Mexico State Aggies take on the Gophers. Claeys and Kills are close friends, having come together to Minnesota in 2011. Claeys was Kill’s defensive coordinator then shifted to head coach when health reasons caused Kill to walk away.

kstp.com

Q&A: Former Gophers coach Tracy Claeys on Jerry Kill's return Thursday, P.J. Fleck, and more

Former Gophers football head coach and defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys spoke with KSTP’s Darren ‘Doogie’ Wolfson. The main talking point was Jerry Kill’s return to Minnesota Thursday night when his New Mexico State Aggies take on the Gophers. Claeys and Kills are close friends, having come...
kstp.com kstp.com

Go Gophers!!
 


Still seems like a decent fellow. That said, this interview presents exactly why he should not be a Big 10 head coach. There was a point where he nearly dipped the topic in politics and oh man that could have made this interview the perfect train wreck. Anyway, aside from his naive expectations of big time college sports administration, Claeys can't live with hate in his heart and has definitely moved on. I mean, it burns his ass that the administration bad-mouthed the state of the football program, his views of 27/28 year old PJ he didn't want to share, he gives PJ credit for maintaining the program, but really the 11-2 was because of Kill's/Claey's players. I mean he hasn't watched a Gopher football game since he was fired and also won't watch this game. But Claeys has definitely moved on.
 

I could barely get through 6 mins...anyone want to recap the full 30 minutes?

I find it ironic that he spent time bashing the prior staff/state of the program (even though he said he wasn't doing that) and gets all pissy for PJ and year zero. Maybe he forgot about a rape scandal, suspensions, bowl game boycott, and PJ having to beg a walk-on QB to come back that season.

This staff keeps coming off as so thin skinned.
 



pharmacygopher said:
I could barely get through 6 mins...anyone want to recap the full 30 minutes?

I find it ironic that he spent time bashing the prior staff/state of the program (even though he said he wasn't doing that) and gets all pissy for PJ and year zero. Maybe he forgot about a rape scandal, suspensions, bowl game boycott, and PJ having to beg a walk-on QB to come back that season.

This staff keeps coming off as so thin skinned.
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I have watched most of it. I actually thought Claeys did a good job not letting Doogie drag him into the muck. I know what Doogie wanted from this interview but I don't think he got it.

First half was actually pretty interesting, especially the part about what happens when a coach is fired mid season the way Brewster was. I don't know that a lot of fans realize what that does to a program as they just focus on the new head coach search.

Claeys is a good dude, not a Power 5 head coach but based on this interview I bet he shows up as a defensive coordinator or position coach somewhere in the near future.
 

Talk about scraping the bottom of the barrel when it comes to hyping a game. But it is Doogie after all. If he isn't pandering trying to create news, he wouldn't have anything left to do.
 

I'm not gonna read any of that trash from a former failed, piece of crap head coach (who was a great DC by the way) but regarding year 0 "burning his ass", that's gonna be one heckuva LARGE fire, visible from outer space.
 

I actually have some sympathy for Tracy compared to Kill. Claeys definitely had to go, but his firing was handled poorly, and he didn't deserve to have his name dragged through the mud the way it was. He just wasn't cut out to be a head coach, and there's no shame in that. I give him credit that he has largely stayed out of the spotlight compared to Jerry who will find every microphone in sight.
 



Doogie seems to be trying to stir things up a bit. There really is no need to do that, and Claeys it seems to me responds to this with a degree of class.

Many/most of us have had or will have the experience of being passed over or let go from a position that we both wanted and felt we had deserved , based on our performance. Sometimes it just does not work out. For a myriad of reasons. I think Tracy Claeys did a nice job here of showing he has indeed moved on.
 


I always thought Claeys got a raw deal.

Still, Doogie comes across as kissing Claeys a$$. A little too enthusiastic.
 

I respect the former coaching staff, but the Goph program was a dumpster fire the minute they exited the Holiday Bowl going into 2017. Claeys and Kill don't understand that Fleck wasn't bashing the former coaches when saying his team will have a different culture, zero 0, etc. Fleck's referring to his own system and the wish to elevate the program...which he has.

BTW, Kill/Claeys had a lot of trouble on the offensive side of the ball. They are not blameless.

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Such emotionally fragile people they are. Nothing PJ did or said was directed towards or intended to denigrate their program. I get they feel that way but has to do with how the TC tenure ended more than anything. They seem to be hyper sensitive because they tie any attemp of the new coach to begin installing his system as an attack on theirs because of the negative attention they had at the end of the TC tenure.
 

MNVCGUY said:
I have watched most of it. I actually thought Claeys did a good job not letting Doogie drag him into the muck. I know what Doogie wanted from this interview but I don't think he got it.

First half was actually pretty interesting, especially the part about what happens when a coach is fired mid season the way Brewster was. I don't know that a lot of fans realize what that does to a program as they just focus on the new head coach search.

Claeys is a good dude, not a Power 5 head coach but based on this interview I bet he shows up as a defensive coordinator or position coach somewhere in the near future.
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The Michigan handshake thing, balcony donation were interesting tidbits. Those two Jerry and Tracy definitely carry a chip on their shoulders and feel the narrative portrayed by Fleck upon his arrival was unfair even if most of us realize it’s just part of Fleck’s schtick. The corollary to this is they probably feel they aren’t given enough credit (I’d disagree - there has been plenty of acknowledgement of their success). Randoms: there are clearly unsaid things on the U administration and their history with PJ. He stated he knew he was a dead man walking - Coyle visited practice once - but wished the U were more transparent in their plans as he heard all the rumors about coaching searches, interviews that fall and winter.

Claeys looks substantially healthier, is apparently running a cattle ranch, is doing some coaching consulting, and he has a podcast on Iheart. He stated he wasn’t ready to return to coaching full time, and made more money than he’ll ever know what to with.

Little talk about the player protest outside of “that one incident”. Probably hashed over enough here and elsewhere.
 

CentralGopher said:
Such emotionally fragile people they are. Nothing PJ did or said was directed towards or intended to denigrate their program. I get they feel that way but has to do with how the TC tenure ended more than anything. They seem to be hyper sensitive because they tie any attemp of the new coach to begin installing his system as an attack on theirs because of the negative attention they had at the end of the TC tenure.
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Yeah I agree, PJ was a product of the new AD. Coyle took over and wanted to clean house. Why is their narrative all about PJ and not the Coyle? Coyle was the one who wanted to distance the school from the Kill/Claeys era.
 

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