Statement from Mark Coyle

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West Fargo Gopher Fan said:
If Claeys gets fired AND Its not Fleck some people are gonna blow a gasket.
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Doesn't make any difference who the "retread" coach is. Claeys should be treated with respect for supporting his players when they didn't know what was going on. Many people are going to blow a gasket if Claeys is let go.
 

GopherRock said:
Who makes the decision to sack Kaler? Dean Johnson? Or does it have to come from a quorum of the Regents?
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Like any good manager of a large company, he's keeping the fray two layers below him so his job is not in jeopardy. He has two fall guys built in.
Plausible deniability of any wrong doing.
 

Face The Facts said:
nukedwedges said:
The criteria Coyle is using to determine whether Claeys stays or goes.

#1 What is the best opportunity for Coyle to impact the whole athletic department via moves made in football.
#2 What will make the football team most appealing to the masses for public donations.
#3 How do we get past this black eye the football program has taken from a PR perspective.
...

... #365 How many wins the team had this year
#366 How many bowl games the current coach has won in a row
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You actually think that firing Claeys is the answer to the first two? I say winning solves some of that. #3 is a separate problem and related to the AD allowing the reinstatement of players prior to the administration performing their investigation. He should understand that, don't you think? And carry the responsibility for both the reinstatement and the mishandling of confidential information?


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#2Gopher said:
Doesn't make any difference who the "retread" coach is. Claeys should be treated with respect for supporting his players when they didn't know what was going on. Many people are going to blow a gasket if Claeys is let go.
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The response you will hear...

"We can't help those who are opposed to ensuring sexual assault does not become problematic at the University of Minnesota. As leaders of this institution, we need to ensure we are always providing an environment of learning that is safe for all."
 

nukedwedges said:
Face The Facts said:
You actually think that firing Claeys is the answer to the first two? I say winning solves some of that. #3 is a separate problem and related to the AD allowing the reinstatement of players prior to the administration performing their investigation. He should understand that, don't you think?


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Yes.
It happens all the time in business. Tossing out the token fall guy to move ahead is the easiest choice. That's why many companies have multiple layers of management. Each layer below is to protect the layer above from getting fired if something bad happens.

Regarding #1, any Athletic Director hired for any college job HAS to believe coming into the program that he can do a better job hiring his own coach (especially for football) than the previous AD who he is replacing. If not, you wouldn't even win an interview because you're not showing confidence in yourself.
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Face The Facts said:
The response you will hear...

"We can't help those who are opposed to ensuring sexual assault does not become problematic at the University of Minnesota. As leaders of this institution, we need to ensure we are always providing an environment of learning that is safe for all."
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bingo. its such a bull**** virtue signaling copout too
 

Face The Facts said:
nukedwedges said:
Yes.
It happens all the time in business. Tossing out the token fall guy to move ahead is the easiest choice. That's why many companies have multiple layers of management. Each layer below is to protect the layer above from getting fired if something bad happens.

Regarding #1, any Athletic Director hired for any college job HAS to believe coming into the program that he can do a better job hiring his own coach (especially for football) than the previous AD who he is replacing. If not, you wouldn't even win an interview because you're not showing confidence in yourself.
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Really? I sure hope we have left this decision to Coyle. He certainly shows a great track record of hires thus far.....


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short ornery norwegian said:
Again, this is all speculation - BUT -

My sense is that Coyle is a fence-sitter. Before he takes any action, he is trying to figure out how to put himself in the best light possible. Coyle knows that no matter what he does, he will be criticized. He'll be criticized if he fires Claeys, and he'll be criticized if he extends Claeys.

In the immediate aftermath of the bowl game victory, Claeys and his staff look pretty darn good - getting a lot of praise for their game-planning, and getting the players to buy in to that game plan and play hard.

My gut says if Coyle was going to extend Claeys, the time to do it is right after the game. But, if Coyle has already made up his mind to let Claeys go, then he will wait until the after-glow of the game dies down.

The key word in the statement for me is "expectations." That is how Coyle is trying to set himself up to not look like the villain.

My prediction - Coyle waits a few days or more, then comes out and states that he and Claeys have different expectations for the program - positioning Coyle as the guy supporting values and character, and painting Claeys as not being willing or able to reign in the out-of-control players.

I hope I'm wrong - but everything I've seen and heard from Coyle makes me think that Coyle is going to offer up Claeys as the sacrificial lamb to the people who see the team as a bunch of rapists.
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This! ^^^^^^^^
 

Iceland12 said:
Via Doogie on Twitter:

" Now that our football team has completed it's season following an exciting win in Tuesday Night's Holiday Bowl, Coach Claeys and I will take this opportunity to reflect on this past season before sitting down together to about about the future and my expectations for our football program."
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Spoken like a weak manager that makes nearly $1 million a year. We deserve a leader at the helm of our athletic department.
 



Face The Facts said:
nukedwedges said:
Yes.
It happens all the time in business. Tossing out the token fall guy to move ahead is the easiest choice. That's why many companies have multiple layers of management. Each layer below is to protect the layer above from getting fired if something bad happens.

Regarding #1, any Athletic Director hired for any college job HAS to believe coming into the program that he can do a better job hiring his own coach (especially for football) than the previous AD who he is replacing. If not, you wouldn't even win an interview because you're not showing confidence in yourself.
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Please provide a list of the companies at which you have worked so I can be sure to avoid them. There are layers of management so the top layers can use the bottom layers as fall guys? Really?
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hungan1 said:
Be careful what you wish for.

A man saw a ball of gold in the sky;
He climbed for it,
And eventually he achieved it --
It was clay.

Now this is the strange part:
When the man went to the earth
And looked again,
Lo, there was the ball of gold.
Now this is the strange part:
It was a ball of gold.
Aye, by the heavens, it was a ball of gold.
Stephen Crane
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Perfect
 

westcoastgopher11 said:
If Coyle cans Claeys without someone the caliber of Miles/Fleck on deck he'll split the fanbase.
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Coyle will be gone in short order if he does let TC go. Kaler too. Miles does nothing for me, Fleck is way over-hyped.
 

Face The Facts said:
Like any good manager of a large company, he's keeping the fray two layers below him so his job is not in jeopardy. He has two fall guys built in.
Plausible deniability of any wrong doing.
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He's not a "good" manager and his job absolutely is in jeopardy. There are three regents he's looking over his shoulder at right now. After the AP sportsguy article he looks like a self-serving, untruthful administrator who was outmaneuvered by the players.
 



I have a hard time believing coyle is really making this statement or running the show here. This sounds like Kaler to me.


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Is there any way Coyle could have fuc*ed up this whole situation more than he has? Fire this clown now.
 



So Kaler and Coyle are going to get fired for taking a conservative approach to a group of players who ran a train on a girl consenting or non-consenting?

I agree that communication seemed poor, and that's a problem. Outside of some of the players and some die hard fans, nearly everyone thinks Kaler and Coyle took the right approach. Whether what they did was legal or illegal, it was morally disgusting.

Zero chance either get fired for taking a stance against that.
 

If we assume that most AD's want to hire their own FB coaches we could guess that Coyle may want to fire Claeys. Please note, I am not saying he should fire Claeys, I am just trying to figure what's gonna happen. I sure wouldn't be surprised either way. The bowl game win is only a consideration. It's a nice feather in the cap, but I compare it to Tubby's tournament win before he was axed. I can see the arguments for both sides. Should be interesting.
 

#2Gopher said:
Doesn't make any difference who the "retread" coach is. Claeys should be treated with respect for supporting his players when they didn't know what was going on. Many people are going to blow a gasket if Claeys is let go.
Click to expand...

Outside of the gopherhole I don't think this is so true. Supposedly the petitions saying he should be fired is running about 2-1 over the petition saying he should be retained (not saying that is an accurate poll). Not every gopher fan is on this site. So no matter how prolific a poster is, they still only speak for themselves.

Is it possible that the whole controversy has helped Claeys case to continue as coach? Let me get this straight, a sexual assault scandal erupts, coach makes statement supporting players concern for due process, voila due process concerns = he is a good coach.
 

GopherBulldog said:
Face The Facts said:
Please provide a list of the companies at which you have worked so I can be sure to avoid them. There are layers of management so the top layers can use the bottom layers as fall guys? Really?
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I'm not going to give you a copy of my resume, but yes. I've seen examples of it (not to the point of where people get fired) but definitely cases where Management doesn't want to know the dirt on what is really happening. So between a couple layers of management, there is enough plausible deniability that the boss doesn't need to take the hit.

Take the Wells Fargo deal where they were creating the false accounts. People were doing it wide-spread, but the CEO didn't know.

Middle management's role is basically to be the buffer between what the CEO tells the investors and what is really happening at ground level.
Recruits come to town and get laid. Players know this. The coach can't say it, (at any university) but they set up the environment to ensure recruits are happy. The AD has to have a hunch that something could happen, but he doesn't want any proof of it. He wants a successful program but wants it "clean" of course. The President wants to act like he's too big of a figure to watch every detail. He assumes everything is in line. "that's what he has coaches and AD's for!"

Until something goes wrong. Then the President can act shocked that something horrible is happening. The AD can play the same game. The coach is caught in the middle of the players and the coach.

It's corporate America everywhere I've worked. It's not always about sex or even breaking laws, but it could be about sales figures. CEO is saying sales will be higher, but the forecast is showing half of last year. Three layers of management to tell the story from "Weak pipeline" to "We're getting some traction on some big accounts" to "Looks like we have a good future" to CEO saying "Things are incredible".
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Gogogopher said:
If we assume that most AD's want to hire their own FB coaches we could guess that Coyle may want to fire Claeys. Please note, I am not saying he should fire Claeys, I am just trying to figure what's gonna happen. I sure wouldn't be surprised either way. The bowl game win is only a consideration. It's a nice feather in the cap, but I compare it to Tubby's tournament win before he was axed. I can see the arguments for both sides. Should be interesting.
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I'm just trying to forecast this as well. The way Coyle is approaching this, which I feel is very back-seat-driver-ish makes me feel that from my experience of middle managers like this, is that he is going to replace Claeys. He may not even want to. It might be forced on him from Kaler, but he's being very passive in his actions. It's not a ringing endorsement of Claeys the day after a win.

Instead of talking about a win or a successful season on the field, he's talking about reviewing "expectations".

If you ever had a boss sit down to talk to you about "expectations" you are either getting fired, or getting the conversation telling you that you will be fired shortly.

If you have a job for more than 3 months, any misunderstanding of and a need to review "expectations" is already failure in the eyes of management.
 

Coyle is in a tough spot. He has people like a lot of folks on this board who love Claeys. However, the recent events of the last month have many in this state what a change in leadership. Interesting to see which way he goes.
 

I look at it this way. Call it taking a stand against management I you want but I don't see the tweet as a fireable offense. It was inartfully worded due in part to a poor choice of medium. As he explains his position to the administration the decision will have a chance to focus more on football, and if that's the case I don't see how it's a good decision to fire him. Therefore they'll probably for him lol. No, I think he stays.
 

PMWinSTP said:
He's not a "good" manager and his job absolutely is in jeopardy. There are three regents he's looking over his shoulder at right now. After the AP sportsguy article he looks like a self-serving, untruthful administrator who was outmaneuvered by the players.
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Doesn't just look like what you describe he is what you describe
 

Gogogopher said:
If we assume that most AD's want to hire their own FB coaches we could guess that Coyle may want to fire Claeys. Please note, I am not saying he should fire Claeys, I am just trying to figure what's gonna happen. I sure wouldn't be surprised either way. The bowl game win is only a consideration. It's a nice feather in the cap, but I compare it to Tubby's tournament win before he was axed. I can see the arguments for both sides. Should be interesting.
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And he better have a Tubby or better hire lined up. This program has won 8+ games 3 of the last four years and has built a well respected defensive system. I'd hate for it to go backwards.


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Gogogopher said:
Outside of the gopherhole I don't think this is so true. Supposedly the petitions saying he should be fired is running about 2-1 over the petition saying he should be retained (not saying that is an accurate poll). Not every gopher fan is on this site. So no matter how prolific a poster is, they still only speak for themselves.

Is it possible that the whole controversy has helped Claeys case to continue as coach? Let me get this straight, a sexual assault scandal erupts, coach makes statement supporting players concern for due process, voila due process concerns = he is a good coach.
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Everyone realizes that you can be anonymous on these petitions, right? It's more rigged than our political system. One is getting media run and one isn't.


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GopherWeatherGuy said:
So Kaler and Coyle are going to get fired for taking a conservative approach to a group of players who ran a train on a girl consenting or non-consenting?

I agree that communication seemed poor, and that's a problem. Outside of some of the players and some die hard fans, nearly everyone thinks Kaler and Coyle took the right approach. Whether what they did was legal or illegal, it was morally disgusting.

Zero chance either get fired for taking a stance against that.
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I think they should both be fired, but Coyle should be fired because he is the face of the U of M athletics program. He walked into a mess and has since made it messier by being in the background and not improving the image. He is paid close to a million dollars a year to be a leader and enhance the programs both on the playing surface but in the public as well. It appears to the public that he is not a leader, he is simply a manager. Quite frankly there are a lot of people who can manage the programs that do not demand his salary. He needs to be in front of situations like that, instead he let it become a national news story and the U of M football team was on the front page of cnn.com.
 

MNfootballfan said:
I think they should both be fired, but Coyle should be fired because he is the face of the U of M athletics program. He walked into a mess and has since made it messier by being in the background and not improving the image. He is paid close to a million dollars a year to be a leader and enhance the programs both on the playing surface but in the public as well. It appears to the public that he is not a leader, he is simply a manager. Quite frankly there are a lot of people who can manage the programs that do not demand his salary. He needs to be in front of situations like that, instead he let it become a national news story and the U of M football team was on the front page of cnn.com.
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I disagree. To people on here and some within the football program it may appear that way. And I'm not defending Coyle for what appeared to be a lack of communication.

But to the majority of the public locally and nationally, it appears that Coyle took a stance on bad behavior, whether legal or not legal, and that has been viewed positively. How much worse would Coyle have looked had they not suspended the players for the bowl game, and then the report leaked?
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
I disagree. To people on here and some within the football program it may appear that way. And I'm not defending Coyle for what appeared to be a lack of communication.

But to the majority of the public locally and nationally, it appears that Coyle took a stance on bad behavior, whether legal or not legal, and that has been viewed positively. How much worse would Coyle have looked had they not suspended the players for the bowl game, and then the report leaked?
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Fine and dandy, but why were they allowed back on the team the first time?
 

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