Reusse blog: Keegan's the man to beat drum: Claeys to KU

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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per Pat:

I’ve been trying to get my guy Tom Keegan to start a campaign for Tracy Claeys to become the next head football coach for the downtrodden Kansas Jayhawks. Keegan is the sports editor of the Lawrence Journal-World, the hometown newspaper for KU.

I’ve seen what can happen when Keegan puts his mind to making something happen on his home turf.

The Jayhawks would be doing themselves a favor by bringing in Tracy Claeys and giving him a rock-solid five years to turn around the train wreck.

Mark Mangino had the Jayhawks at 12-1, rated seventh in the country and as Orange Bowl winners in the 2007 season. Then, he was accused of ugly behavior toward his players and was run out after the 2009 season.

Turner Gill went 1-16 in the Big 12 and lasted only two seasons. He was replaced by Charlie Weis, who was fired during this season, only his third in Lawrence.

Claeys is a fellow of ample size, and it’s probably impossible to bring him up as a Jayhawks’ candidate without mentioning the ample Weis and the extra-ample Mangino as recent holders of the job.

There’s no comparison beyound girth, though. Mangino was fired for being a lout. I heard horror stories from Notre Damers on how Weis dealt with players there, and I can’t imagine he was a more charming individual in Lawrence.

Claeys is a down-home Kansas boy … so Kansan, in fact, that he turned the old Dairy Queen in his hometown of Clay Center (pop. 4,200) into the Coach’s Pub and Grill. His sister Teresa is running the restaurant/bar, Tracy’s mom makes potato salad on Wednesday, and there’s a woman in town providing her famous pies.

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/282430891.html

Go Gophers!!
 


Out of all the things to write about the Gopher football team, he chooses this.
 


supadupafly said:
Don't take the bait folks. He is just fishing.
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Agree that he is just fishing but if Claeys ever did emerge as a legit candidate this is one of the places I could see him leaving Kill to go to given his background.
 



The Gophers are playing their toughest home game of the season and Reusse writes a spec piece on a coach leaving. I guess it couldn't wait.
 

Someone may know...when was the last time an assistant coach from Minnesota was hired away as a head coach? At the BCS level?

Their fans would probably react much like we did when Kill was hired....but listen to Tracy talk and he would quickly instill confidence.

He would be a great hire. Would Sawvel want to be a D-Coord here or in Lawrence?
 




Nice use of the word "beyound," which I can't seem to find in my dictionary. "Professional" writers who criticize coaches and athletes for mistakes in the split-second heat of competition, then make lazy typos, lose credibility.

If Claeys wants to try his hand at being a HC, doing it in Kansas makes the most sense. If he's able to win there he could run for governor. I don't think he's going anywhere for now. He's good enough that good opportunities will come his way every year.
 

Reusse rankles but

he is maroon and gold through and through. he is crabby about how the football program was allowed to languish from being a top 10 contender. cut him some slack - don't you all have some uncles who feel the same way?
 

We're mad at Reusse about what? Writing about how good our defensive coordinator is?
 

Relax, it's a blog and not in print. He has another on Klein today and will be running a print version on Klein tomorrow.
 



DougMN said:
The Gophers are playing their toughest home game of the season and Reusse writes a spec piece on a coach leaving. I guess it couldn't wait.
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Yeah, this is all that really struck me about this piece, the timing. Why not save this for end of season? Why not write something of substance about your opinion on the game this Saturday, and where the program is, in from the perspective of his own squinty, beady little eyes.

Instead, we get another lazy article that no doubt took less than 2 minutes of research to throw in a fun blurb about Claey's sister running a local bar and grill and waste column space on listing out the woes of Jayhawk football (and how his buddy was some how involved - which he never explains BTW). Oh, and don't forget the hilarious (and likely coincidental) fact that KU has had some large coaches, and Claeys is a big man too. HAHAHAH. Great stuff there, Pat.

Sigh. Nothing to really be angry about, but this isn't even interesting writing. Just filler.
 

wait!what? said:
he is maroon and gold through and through. he is crabby about how the football program was allowed to languish from being a top 10 contender. cut him some slack - don't you all have some uncles who feel the same way?
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Yes, but my uncles don't coddle and protect the Twins while pissing all over the U at every turn.
 

Maximus said:
We're mad at Reusse about what? Writing about how good our defensive coordinator is?
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This is what I thought. Everyone wants Reusse to write something complimentary. Then he does and we're pissed.
 

Breakin' The Plane said:
Yes, but my uncles don't coddle and protect the Twins while pissing all over the U at every turn.
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Coddles the Twins....hilarious. Wish I had more time this morning...so I'll just leave this:

Patrick Reusse @1500ESPN_Reusse

Mauer is poster boy for the ethic that has taken over Twins' clubhouse. And Prince is same for the Tigers. To quote me: #playyousissies
------------------------
Edit: Google's too easy

Patrick Reusse ‏@1500ESPN_Reusse

I'm hearing Wild had Jason Bartlett on Skype in locker room for motivational pre-game speech.
------------------

Not just Twitter, but in the Strib:

It was uncomfortable listening to Twins telecasts last season as Dick Bremer and, to a lesser extent, Bert Blyleven spent most of the three hours nightly trying to explain away the 99 losses as something other than a disaster wrought upon the public by the front office.

And we can't forget that a Bremer-Blyleven telecast is always rich with the fable that there's a Twins Way of playing baseball: exceptional fielding, being smart and aggressive on the bases, and throwing strikes. No matter that you have to go back to 2006 to find a Twins team that stuck to those principles.
 



Not sure what there's to complain about. It's a positive piece about the Gophers' D coordinator. Could have gone without the weight references to Weis, Mangino, and Claeys, but in that respect Patrick "walks in their shoes", so to speak, so no big deal.
 

SelectionSunday said:
Not sure what there's to complain about. It's a positive piece about the Gophers' D coordinator. Could have gone without the weight references to Weis, Mangino, and Claeys, but in that respect Patrick "walks in their shoes", so to speak, so no big deal.
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Reusse wrote it therefore to many it is bad no matter what the content is. Reusse is not paid to write serious journalistic pieces he is paid to write humorous (some don't like his style of humor) opinion pieces like the one he wrote about Claeys which as others have pointed out is very positive other then a joke about weight.
 

wait!what? said:
he is maroon and gold through and through. he is crabby about how the football program was allowed to languish from being a top 10 contender. cut him some slack - don't you all have some uncles who feel the same way?
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read your own username to yourself ten times. So if what you said is true... why they hell is he suggesting that we "break up the band" after having our best two-year run in decades?
 

BarnBoy said:
read your own username to yourself ten times. So if what you said is true... why they hell is he suggesting that we "break up the band" after having our best two-year run in decades?
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Because Tracy Claeys has convinced a legendary curmudgeon that he would be a great fit as head coach at Kansas?

HAHAHAH....just kidding.....

Clearly to distract and demoralize the players before tomorrow's game. It's diabolical!
 


Our defense is statistically pretty good.

But it benefits from:

(1) Playing in the B10.

(2) Our ridiculously slow tempo, which shortens the game.

Having said that, Tracy is better after halftime than just about anybody in the business.
 

Fat Pat is an angry old negative Nancy. He is like rain on a parade. I sincerely doubt that Kansas or Tracy Claeys would give even a moments notice to anything he says or writes. Pat who?
 

Didn't Pat have the nickname Phatrick? Why would he of all people pick on someone elses weight?
 

STPGopher said:
Didn't Pat have the nickname Phatrick? Why would he of all people pick on someone elses weight?
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He is the first to make fun of his own size.....it was a joke.....as much as I don't want to be someone defending Pat people need to relax and not always be looking for a reason to be offended all the time.
 

Great article by Ruesse...maybe there's an opening at the New York Times.
 

wait!what? said:
he is maroon and gold through and through. he is crabby about how the football program was allowed to languish from being a top 10 contender. cut him some slack - don't you all have some uncles who feel the same way?
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Stupid post. If he was, he wouldn't be proposing other programs to take a good look at taking away the Gophers' best coordinator; nor would he be bringing up this distraction the week before a huge game. It's an a-hole move, at best.
 

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