Mixed emotions

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You'd have to think that the lost to Wiscy in the Cotton Bowl is not too far from PJ Fleck's mind.
 

Kill did a great job as compared to Brewster. If Mason had the facilities like Kill he would have been close to Kills success. You need a great recruiter and coach em up. Fleck may be that guy. Coyle knew what he wanted. Didn't need a search firm. Way more excitement around the program now. Nobody likes the way they get fired. I have no mixed emotions about the change. A upgrade to the program. The program and Fleck will give the student athletes much more they are getting now.
 

Gopho Sapiens said:
I feel for Claeys and the staff. I think they are good and honorable people. They shouldn't have to make sure that any of the people on his team are not pulling train or muling drugs or cheating in class or a thousand other stupid things.

But ultimately they are/were responsible. It may not be right, but it is reality. Blame it on fostering a hundred years of BMOC mentality.

Initially, I thought Coyle bungled this completely. Then it occurred to me that he must have had an inkling of what he needed to do a while ago. Maybe before he even took the position of AD here at MN. Maybe when he was interviewing coaches for the Syracuse position he met a coach that was an obvious winner, but was still a nobody. Maybe he said to himself, remember this guy.

One way or the other, i've come to the conclusion that there are no innocents here. Just ordinary people relying on empowered eighteen to twenty year old males to act responsibly. It would take a herculean effort by a lot of people and a VERY special coach to handle that. While Claeys may have been a good coach, he just wasn't the guy for the big picture. Coyle recognized that. There was no moving forward from that without Coyle being the bad guy.

In the end, he took a bite of the s*** sandwich and in the process let EVERY other coach know that he is not to be trifled with.
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Lots of thoughtful comments on this thread, and this one sums up my feelings the best. Hard to say what percentage of the blame should be assigned to each party. I know I've gone from being really ticked at Kaler and Coyle and hoping Claeys would stay to, "I can't believe we got Fleck!" and trying to see this from Coyle's point of view. Don't know if that makes me a hypocrite or a realist.

Elmore was impressive in his interview and Coyle looked bad. But it was from Elmore's perspective, and I sure don't know what the atmosphere in that room was like. They were angry and maybe it was such a chaotic and disrespectful an atmosphere, Coyle said the hell with it. Seems somebody really should have been ahead of this educating the players. At the same time, why didn't the players just insist that the second group be reinstated? Would have been much less of a firestorm if they had done that.

People have been piling on Coyle for this being a master plan all along. He said Claeys would be back as coach at the end of the season. I don't think that was a devious, dishonest sidetrack. The report came out, the suspensions were given, and, all of a sudden, you had a rebellion. Doesn't matter if the players felt they were justified; you've got to wonder about how much in control your coach really has, especially with all that has gone on before this.

Then the tweet came which I at one time felt, "Good for you, Tracy!" Still confused about who decided what and who agreed to what, but I saw somewhere where Claeys did acknowledge the suspensions weren't just dumped on him, and he was told about them before the boycott. If he went along then or protested then, we'll never know.

I really think Coyle was going to bring Claeys back until then, but the boycott and the tweet burned up any capital 9 wins and a hell of a coaching job in the Holiday Bowl earned him. You've got a bunch of players involved in a tawdry gang bang at best and a possible sexual assault at worst even if it couldn't be proven in court. Please don't give me the, "It's a fascist attack on their freedom by feminazies b.s." It's a public university that people take great pride in and perception matters. Just because a relative handful of fanatics on GH are going apesh*t doesn't mean the rest of the state has to agree with them. Have not seen anything about boosters, but I have a feeling the rich folks who matter the most, were pleased with the boycott and the tweet. This came on top of restraining orders and another public gang bang by athletes last year. Yet Elmore seems to indicate the players had no clue as to how women might feel about this issue? I would think Claeys would have been all over this from the first day of the season educating and warning these guys. I know if this happened at another BIG school, GH would have been full of gloating and self-righteousness.

Just no winners here. I think Coyle went overboard after he fired Claeys and it was classless. At the same time, pretty clear a new sheriff is in town. Willing to bet some of the same people on GH who were always bitching about Maturi being weak have been the same ones throwing the most crap at Coyle.

As for Kaler ... well ... I do think his days are numbered. He might want to look like he's cleaning this place up, but he can't escape the fact he hired Teague, now affectionally known as "Mega-Tongue" and whom the beginning of this mess can be traced back to.
 

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