Souhan: With Mark Coyle at the helm, Gophers sports rising to 'amazing' level of success

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BleedGopher

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per Souhan:

This is a sweet and rare moment for the University of Minnesota. The Gophers’ traditional excellence in lower-revenue sports is this month pairing with successes in larger-revenue sports.

“The Rouser” can no longer be mistaken for a dirge.

The Gophers volleyball team, despite Thursday’s semifinal loss to Stanford, qualified for its third Final Four in five seasons, a remarkable accomplishment considering this did not appear to be one of coach Hugh McCutcheon’s strongest teams.

McCutcheon, a New Zealander who won an Olympic gold medal with the U.S. men’s Olympic team and a silver with the women’s team, has bolstered his reputation as one of the world’s best volleyball coaches while discovering the joys of black ice.

The women’s basketball team led by Lindsay Whalen has won nine consecutive games since a loss in the season opener. That includes a victory over a rebuilding Notre Dame team that usually ranks among the country’s best. Whalen is 30-12 as a head coach.

P.J. Fleck is taking the football team to the Outback Bowl following its first 10-victory season since 2003, in an attempt to win 11 games for the first time since 1904. Safety Antoine Winfield Jr. is a consensus All-America.

Facing Auburn is daunting, but the last time the Gophers faced an SEC power in a bowl game, the Gophers beat Alabama 20-16 in the 2004 Music City Bowl, while punishing the Tide. Marion Barber III and Laurence Maroney rushed 66 times for 292 yards in that game, while Alabama rushed 21 times for 21 yards.


Gopher men’s basketball on Sunday beat No. 3 Ohio State at The Barn for the program’s first victory over a top-five team since 2013. Richard Pitino has made the NCAA tournament in two of the past three years. In March, he beat Louisville 86-76 in the NCAA tournament. Louisville just replaced Ohio State at No. 3 in the AP poll.

Pitino has missed on entire recruiting classes of quality Minnesota athletes, but he shouldn’t be judged by his team’s 5-5 record. Pitino had the guts to take on a difficult nonconference schedule that included a loss to Utah. On Wednesday, Utah beat Kentucky.

The Gophers softball team qualified for its first College World Series last year.

“Minnesota is a place where you can chase your dreams,” coach Jamie Trachsel said at the time.

Baseball remains in good hands with John Anderson, another Gophers lifer. Gophers wrestling is ranked 15th in the nation.

Last year, Minnesota was the only school from a Power Five conference to post winning records in every team sport. During the 2018-19 seasons, Gophers sports finished behind only Michigan in average finish of team sports in the Big Ten Conference.

www.startribune.com

With Mark Coyle at the helm, Gophers sports rising to 'amazing' level of success

It's truly a golden time for athletics at the University of Minnesota.
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!
 


I wonder how many pages this thread is going to run before it fades away in a slow and agonizing death? I will be there every step of the way cheering for the Mark Coyle supporters and providing pertinent input whenever the haters try to convince GopherHolers how badly Coyle handled the Gopher's sexual abuse scandal, how he mistreated Tracy Claeys, how terrible he is at public speaking, and how he still hasn't raised all the funds needed to pay off the Athlete's Village debt.
 
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"Last year, Minnesota was the only school from a Power Five conference to post winning records in every team sport. During the 2018-19 seasons, Gophers sports finished behind only Michigan in average finish of team sports in the Big Ten Conference. "

Take that Bucky...
 



The Rouser as a dirge made me chuckle. Great time to be a Gopher!
 

Cruze said:
I wonder how many pages this thread is going to run before it fades away in a slow and agonizing death? I will be there every step of the way cheering for the Mark Coyle supporters and providing pertinent input whenever the haters try to convince GopherHolers how badly Coyle handled the Gopher's sexual abuse scandal, how he mistreated Tracy Claeys, how terrible he is at public speaking, and how he still hasn't raised all the funds needed to pay off the Athlete's Village debt.
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For a long time, I have had to muster discipline and refrain from replying to the tedious critical posts from Coyle’s detractors - mainly one - in this forum. As time goes by, and the ongoing successes in the Athletic programs pile up, the complaints and finger pointing grow more embarrassing - just as Coyle’s decisions are proving to be both correct and vindicated. That even Souhan - Souhan! - has to accept this and is compelled to write the article referenced, while the scant few remaining in the peanut gallery brays, is telling.
 

Cruze said:
I wonder how many pages this thread is going to run before it fades away in a slow and agonizing death? I will be there every step of the way cheering for the Mark Coyle supporters and providing pertinent input whenever the haters try to convince GopherHolers how badly Coyle handled the Gopher's sexual abuse scandal, how he mistreated Tracy Claeys, how terrible he is at public speaking, and how he still hasn't raised all the funds needed to pay off the Athlete's Village debt.
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A good portion of the Coyle hatred has died down with the success of the football team last season. There will always be those that moan and complain about how the Claeys situation was handled (have a current thread at over 4 pages of people rehashing the same tired topic over and over and over and over again).

The Fleck hire will make or break him as an AD and so far it is trending in a very positive direction and it looks like he made a very good hire.

Edit - The Claeys thread is now up to 5 pages and counting :)
 



MNVCGUY said:
A good portion of the Coyle hatred has died down with the success of the football team last season. There will always be those that moan and complain about how the Claeys situation was handled (have a current thread at over 4 pages of people rehashing the same tired topic over and over and over and over again).

The Fleck hire will make or break him as an AD and so far it is trending in a very positive direction and it looks like he made a very good hire.

Edit - The Claeys thread is now up to 5 pages and counting :)
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Football is kind at most schools, and as long as Fleck is winning it will hold back the majority of those who have an issue with Coyle.
 

I don’t see what the positive traits re: hiring coaches, negotiating contracts, running the day to day department managers has to do with his negative traits. Everyone has strong points and weak points. Keep changing our best and evolving, every day.
 

Cruze said:
I wonder how many pages this thread is going to run before it fades away in a slow and agonizing death? I will be there every step of the way cheering for the Mark Coyle supporters and providing pertinent input whenever the haters try to convince GopherHolers how badly Coyle handled the Gopher's sexual abuse scandal, how he mistreated Tracy Claeys, how terrible he is at public speaking, and how he still hasn't raised all the funds needed to pay off the Athlete's Village debt.
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Just because he may or may not have made a couple good hires and was lucky enough to inherit a few great coaches and a couple teams flat out got lucky doesn't mean Coyle didn't mishandle the allegations and doesn't mean he's a great public speaker. I believe he is doing things to help the teams win, and that's great. Finally, the department has the support it needs. But that doesn't mean he was right in everything he did. The two are not mutually exclusive.
 

Cruze said:
I wonder how many pages this thread is going to run before it fades away in a slow and agonizing death? I will be there every step of the way cheering for the Mark Coyle supporters and providing pertinent input whenever the haters try to convince GopherHolers how badly Coyle handled the Gopher's sexual abuse scandal, how he mistreated Tracy Claeys, how terrible he is at public speaking, and how he still hasn't raised all the funds needed to pay off the Athlete's Village debt.
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Well, it seems you were the first to try and lead it down that path - so the answer is 1 page, post #3. Tool.

Funny thing is every one of the bolded statements is true.
 



Coyle is still a weasel and souhan is still a third rate hack writer. That said, I'm glad Coyle is AD and Fit Jim is a complete dink and can kiss my ass!
 


Coyle's next big challenge will be to hire a MBB coach to replace Pitino.

Yeah the huge upset over Ohio State was nice. And who knows, maybe that was a major turning point in the season and we'll go on to have an amazing season this year. Maybe even with a crappy season, he'll get another year. Don't know.

But I think hiring someone like Craig Smith (hopefully a PJ Fleck type of hire, for MBB) would be a wise move. Guess we'll see what happens.
 

MplsGopher said:
Coyle's next big challenge will be to hire a MBB coach to replace Pitino.

Yeah the huge upset over Ohio State was nice. And who knows, maybe that was a major turning point in the season and we'll go on to have an amazing season this year. Maybe even with a crappy season, he'll get another year. Don't know.

But I think hiring someone like Craig Smith (hopefully a PJ Fleck type of hire, for MBB) would be a wise move. Guess we'll see what happens.
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Pitino is just fine. He's had better than average success and notoriety in a program that has had limited to poor levels of success from its inception.
 



Some people seem to forget a couple of things about the athletic department when Coyle took over. The previous AD was "Mega-tongue;" not exactly who you want to be the face of your athletics. Also, Coyle had to deal with J. Robinson, a legendary coach who seemed to be telling his players not to cooperate with a police investigation. Coyle took charge immediately and made it apparent an adult was in charge to the people who counted: coaches, athletes, regents, boosters, U administration, businessmen, etc.
 

MplsGopher said:
That this is your intuition, just confirms more for me that Pitino needs to go. You seem to have a knack for the "wrong" thing. Sorry, no offense meant.
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Offense taken. Never wavered in my support of Gopher sports, but you can’t say the same...

Pitino is a good coach, not a great one. Maybe the next one will be better, but be careful what you wish for.

You can count the number of great Gopher coaches on one hand, in fact one finger. John Kundla.
 

MplsGopher said:
That this is your intuition, just confirms more for me that Pitino needs to go. You seem to have a knack for the "wrong" thing. Sorry, no offense meant.
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highwayman said:
Pitino is just fine. He's had better than average success and notoriety in a program that has had limited to poor levels of success from its inception.
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So what's the motto for MBB, Change your Average?
 

Spoofin said:
Funny thing is every one of the bolded statements is true.
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No. No they're not.

Coyle was handed a ****-sandwich, made much worse by Claeys' bungling, and Coyle not only handled it, he handled it incredibly well, diffusing an extremely ugly national scandal. And managed to somehow rescue the program with a home run hire as a bonus.

Coyle is a great hire.
 

Spoofin said:
Well, it seems you were the first to try and lead it down that path - so the answer is 1 page, post #3. Tool.

Funny thing is every one of the bolded statements is true.
Click to expand...

Oh no, not the name calling, right Spoofy?
 

.
USAF said:
No. No they're not.

Coyle was handed a ****-sandwich, made much worse by Claeys' bungling, and Coyle not only handled it, he handled it incredibly well, diffusing an extremely ugly national scandal. And managed to somehow rescue the program with a home run hire as a bonus.

Coyle is a great hire.
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Do you forget it was after a conversation with Coyle that the players boycotted and then it was the regents that had to diffuse the situation? Let’s not even get in to the tone Coyle set afterwards about the incident. I’m not saying Claeys handled it well, but to suggest Coyle handled it “incredibly well” is just nonsense.
 

MinnGopher said:
Oh no, not the name calling, right Spoofy?
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Tool: (noun) Someone who in post #3 makes some statement about what they don’t want a thread to be about and the whole argument against why those things aren’t true.

Seemed to fit.
 

highwayman said:
Pitino is a good coach, not a great one. Maybe the next one will be better, but be careful what you wish for.

You can count the number of great Gopher coaches on one hand, in fact one finger. John Kundla.
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This is just fine. If you had put this in post #17, you'd have been fine. But that's not at all what post #17 was implying. Hence why I replied like that.

Still, and you'll of course agree that this is correct: you can't use such logic to justify never hiring a new coach ever again.
 

Spoofin said:
Do you forget it was after a conversation with Coyle that the players boycotted and then it was the regents that had to diffuse the situation? Let’s not even get in to the tone Coyle set afterwards about the incident. I’m not saying Claeys handled it well, but to suggest Coyle handled it “incredibly well” is just nonsense.
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That’s the story and we’re sticking to it. ?
 

scools12 said:
That’s the story and we’re sticking to it. ?
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I can only go by the facts and what the players said.
www.twincities.com

What really ended the Gophers football boycott

Interviews with players and others involved revealed a lingering divide between UMN administrators trying to actively investigate allegations from a woman who says she was pressured into sex with m…
www.twincities.com

Kaler and Coyle left talks with the players before 9 p.m. without an agreement and players prepared to skip the game. The players invited the regents in, according to three people who were there, and a marathon discussion lasted until dawn.

“We weren’t negotiating,” Hsu said. “We had nothing to give them. We were only there to talk to them, help understand them, help them understand us, the university, us as regents. Help them think through the ramifications.”

They talked about criticism the team received after announcing the boycott with a statement that paid little attention to the allegations made by the woman. If they pulled out of the bowl game, would they look like they were defending sexual assault?

Would the coaching staff lose their jobs?

They talked about their legacies. Carrying through with the boycott would have made them the first team in college football history to pull out of a bowl game under protest. Did they want to be known for that?

“They appeared to really want to get it right for all involved: the reporting student, the public, the university, the team,” Rosha said. “While they didn’t seem sure about what the right approach was, they did conclude it wasn’t maintaining the boycott.”

The players voted around 6 a.m.

The boycott was done, but the hard feelings remained.
 

scools12 said:
That’s the story and we’re sticking to it. ?
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IIRC at least two players (correction: three per story above) said as such, and commented on the administration publicly. Specifically the defensive end from Wisconsin that transferred out. Thus, common knowledge of what allegedly happened behind closed doors. But hey, hang on to your prejudice.

If some of you need the phenomenon with Coyle spoon fed it is analogous to the ways some view politicians. For just one example let’s imagine a scenario where some some support a president or senator for his or her policy stances on certain things (not others) but can’t stand his or her personality, lack of decorum and tact, and respect for history. Others go whole hog and blindly support 100% because agenda item XYZ.
 

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