Thoughts on a new AD and hring a coach

[Winnipegopher]

The idea that the Gophers cannot make a permanent hire until a new AD in place runs through all of the coaching threads. Many seem to take it as a given that a new AD will want to bring in his/her own guy. I disagree. I think any AD with an ounce of vision will understand that hiring a new coach as one of their first moves would be problematic and would immediately put their new role in jeopardy. Moreover, unless they hire Goetz, having to do so at such an early point in their tenure means they will likely be unable to fully understand what the program needs in a coach.

A much better scenario would be to have Claeys and staff in place with a 3 or 4 year contract. Once the athletic department is stabilized both Pitino and Claeys have two years under the new AD to prove themselves. If they both do well, great. If one or both falter, in two years the AD can bring in his own hire from a more knowledgeable position.

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

I also think they can't wait for a new AD. Kaler said it would be a LONG time until we had one, spring at the earliest?

Other than hiring a guy I also don't think that most ADs aren't that big an influence on Ws and Ls... and most don't know squat about football when they do pick a guy so it is a crap shoot there. There aren't many Alvarez's out there.

If Claeys is a good choice, get him a contract (shouldn't be too expensive) that shows some level of commitment beyond 2016. Something like 4 years if only for recruiting. Right now they're only under contract through 2016.... so they can say they'll be there for your red shirt year... maybe longer

If we want to keep the band together there's no reason to think a new AD would agree anyway.

If Claeys doesn't work out the AD will have been around for a bit and hopefully able to make an informed decision.

 

[citywok]

The idea that the Gophers cannot make a permanent hire until a new AD in place runs through all of the coaching threads. Many seem to take it as a given that a new AD will want to bring in his/her own guy. I disagree. I think any AD with an ounce of vision will understand that hiring a new coach as one of their first moves would be problematic and would immediately put their new role in jeopardy. Moreover, unless they hire Goetz, having to do so at such an early point in their tenure means they will likely be unable to fully understand what the program needs in a coach.

A much better scenario would be to have Claeys and staff in place with a 3 or 4 year contract. Once the athletic department is stabilized both Pitino and Claeys have two years under the new AD to prove themselves. If they both do well, great. If one or both falter, in two years the AD can bring in his own hire from a more knowledgeable position.

Great post. I bet many readers did not think of it from this perspective.

 

[Mulligan]

Great post. I bet many readers did not think of it from this perspective.

+10 Both jobs are crap shoots. Mega-Tongue proved that. More critical to fill coaching job. By the time the U bureaucracy gets done grinding, this program could have taken a big step backward.

 

[scools12]

This is making an assumption the new Ad does not have any knowledge of the situation at the U and no vision of what they would want in a football coach. Giving Claeys a 3-4 year contract to see how things go would be a bigger mistake.

 

[MNGoldenGophers1]

This idea of hiring Claeys on a budget and trial basis doesn't seem right. If he is the best candidate, then hire him the same way we would anyone else. If there is someone better, then go that route. I lean towards hiring Claeys assuming we go all in with the expectation that he is the best option for the next 10-years or more. I hate to think of the slow bleeding to the program it might cause if recruits and fans think this is some sort of three or four year experiment.

 

[Maverick]

This idea of hiring Claeys on a budget and trial basis doesn't seem right. If he is the best candidate, then hire him the same way we would anyone else. If there is someone better, then go that route. I lean towards hiring Claeys assuming we go all in with the expectation that he is the best option for the next 10-years or more. I hate to think of the slow bleeding to the program it might cause if recruits and fans think this is some sort of three or four year experiment.

This^^^^ Couldn't agree more.

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[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

This idea of hiring Claeys on a budget and trial basis doesn't seem right. If he is the best candidate, then hire him the same way we would anyone else. If there is someone better, then go that route. I lean towards hiring Claeys assuming we go all in with the expectation that he is the best option for the next 10-years or more. I hate to think of the slow bleeding to the program it might cause if recruits and fans think this is some sort of three or four year experiment.

I think the budget idea is largely just that Claeys wouldn't be earning 2 mil a year outright with lots of buyout stuff.

Not that we'd pay him hourly or something.

Keep in mind there are a lot of schools shopping this year. Claeys might be the best option, we can get at the moment. We could demand only the best candidate, but Saban isn't moving here.

10 year contract dude, for a coordinator. That's begging for a Charlie Weis situation.

 

[Tucker32]

There is no way they can wait past December/January to hire a coach, the same timeline as everyone else. If Kaler is going to wait beyond that to hire an AD, then he and our interim will be hiring a coach. If it is Claeys there is no way they can call it a trial run, or do anything less than a 5 year contract like you would give any other coach. If they were to do that, which I don't think they would even consider, you are are undercutting Claeys and setting up all kinds of negative recruiting.

In a sentence, I believe we will have a coach by December/January for the next five years. If it was up to me I would stick with Claeys, assuming he is going to be able to keep the staff together. That way the program continues to build, rather than taking an initial step back regardless of who the new coach is.

 

[howeda7]

There is no way they can wait past December/January to hire a coach, the same timeline as everyone else. If Kaler is going to wait beyond that to hire an AD, then he and our interim will be hiring a coach. If it is Claeys there is no way they can call it a trial run, or do anything less than a 5 year contract like you would give any other coach. If they were to do that, which I don't think they would even consider, you are are undercutting Claeys and setting up all kinds of negative recruiting.

In a sentence, I believe we will have a coach by December/January for the next five years. If it was up to me I would stick with Claeys, assuming he is going to be able to keep the staff together. That way the program continues to build, rather than taking an initial step back regardless of who the new coach is.

We can't repeat the mistake with Brewster and wait until January. No sitting coach is going to take the job past about Dec. 15th. We're not Michigan. There's no way this can wait for the new AD, as that will likely be March or later. I see very little choice but to give Claeys the job with a full 5-year contract but with a buyout low enough that they can move on after 2 years if necessary.

 

[Spoofin]

I think we should read everything into this Saturday's game. If we don't win it proves Claeys can't coach - fire him now. If we win it proves he is better than Kill and should get a huge contract on Sunday. This week can be extrapolated forward for certain.

Sound Crazy? I guarantee it will happen on this forum before the game is even over.

 

[Maverick]

I think we should read everything into this Saturday's game. If we don't win it proves Claeys can't coach - fire him now. If we win it proves he is better than Kill and should get a huge contract on Sunday. This week can be extrapolated forward for certain.

Sound Crazy? I guarantee it will happen on this forum before the game is even over.

It just happened [emoji318]

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[MNGoldenGophers1]

We can't repeat the mistake with Brewster and wait until January. No sitting coach is going to take the job past about Dec. 15th. We're not Michigan. There's no way this can wait for the new AD, as that will likely be March or later. I see very little choice but to give Claeys the job with a full 5-year contract but with a buyout low enough that they can move on after 2 years if necessary.

The message to recruits and fans, wait two years then commit or buy tix.

 

[MNGoldenGophers1]

I think the budget idea is largely just that Claeys wouldn't be earning 2 mil a year outright with lots of buyout stuff.

Not that we'd pay him hourly or something.

Keep in mind there are a lot of schools shopping this year. Claeys might be the best option, we can get at the moment. We could demand only the best candidate, but Saban isn't moving here.

10 year contract dude, for a coordinator. That's begging for a Charlie Weis situation.

I wasn't suggesting a 10-year contract but would say five is the minimum to show we are making a commitment. Yeah, I get it that we can't afford Saban, Meyer, Dungy, etc. Neither am I suggesting we pay Claeys or anyone else more than their market value. That said, why would a program with new practice facilities breaking ground, a relatively new stadium, etc. need to hire a HC on the cheap? If we can't pay our head coach a salary in the top third of the B1G, then I want some to explain to me why the f' I'm about to pay season ticket prices starting next year that are second highest only to Nebraska?!?

 

[A_Slab_of_Bacon]

I wasn't suggesting a 10-year contract but would say five is the minimum to show we are making a commitment. Yeah, I get it that we can't afford Saban, Meyer, Dungy, etc. Neither am I suggesting we pay Claeys or anyone else more than their market value. That said, why would a program with new practice facilities breaking ground, a relatively new stadium, etc. need to hire a HC on the cheap? If we can't pay our head coach a salary in the top third of the B1G, then I want some to explain to me why the f' I'm about to pay season ticket prices starting next year that are second highest only to Nebraska?!?

You want to pay Tracy Claeys, a top of the Big 10 salary? That seems beyond market.

What happens when he does fairly well.... a raise above Urban? Gotta pace yourself man, spending money just for show doesn't sound like a very good idea. What happens to your season ticket prices then?

 

[Tucker32]

We can't repeat the mistake with Brewster and wait until January. No sitting coach is going to take the job past about Dec. 15th. We're not Michigan. There's no way this can wait for the new AD, as that will likely be March or later. I see very little choice but to give Claeys the job with a full 5-year contract but with a buyout low enough that they can move on after 2 years if necessary.

Agree. The only reason I through out January is if they had someone they wanted to hire from a school that is still playing into January. Now that I say that, they could still hire an asst whose team may still be playing.

 

[bemidjigopher]

This is making an assumption the new Ad does not have any knowledge of the situation at the U and no vision of what they would want in a football coach. Giving Claeys a 3-4 year contract to see how things go would be a bigger mistake.

In the grand scheme of things years don't really matter, just for recruiting, especially if you can negotiate a friendly buyout, which The U would be able to do without much of an issue here. Brew got an extension the year before he was canned, for recruiting purposes, it didn't matter. If the current people believe Claeys can get it done long term, you sign him up now. If it's not working in a couple years, it's an easy situation to get out of.

 

[Tucker32]

I think we should read everything into this Saturday's game. If we don't win it proves Claeys can't coach - fire him now. If we win it proves he is better than Kill and should get a huge contract on Sunday. This week can be extrapolated forward for certain.

Sound Crazy? I guarantee it will happen on this forum before the game is even over.

It will happen. We already had a post a couple of weeks ago asking if Kill was the right person for the job. Kaler/Goetz will just have to decide if they like the direction the program has been going, regardless what happens the next four games.

Too many people think improvement is only measured by more wins than the year before, and you are taking a giant step back if you ever have less wins. No coach ever improves every year.

 

[Tucker32]

You want to pay Tracy Claeys, a top of the Big 10 salary? That seems beyond market.

What happens when he does fairly well.... a raise above Urban? Gotta pace yourself man, spending money just for show doesn't sound like a very good idea. What happens to your season ticket prices then?

I don't think he was suggesting that. He was suggesting we could afford that down the road. I don't know what we can afford, but Claeys wouldn't need to be in top 6, as I think Kill's new contract called for - or it may have been that total asst pay was in top 6.

 

[MNGoldenGophers1]

F

You want to pay Tracy Claeys, a top of the Big 10 salary? That seems beyond market.

What happens when he does fairly well.... a raise above Urban? Gotta pace yourself man, spending money just for show doesn't sound like a very good idea. What happens to your season ticket prices then?

I'm not trying to be argumentative, but I'm not suggesting we pay Claeys a top-third salary. What I'm trying to say is that we should open our checkbook and let the world know we are willing to pay at least $3million/year and see what interest comes our way. If there is a better value than Claeys at a higher salary, than pay the damn salary. If Claeys is who we think is our best long term option, then hire him but just don't do it because he comes cheap.

 

[Tucker32]

F

I'm not trying to be argumentative, but I'm not suggesting we pay Claeys a top-third salary. What I'm trying to say is that we should open our checkbook and let the world know we are willing to pay at least $3million/year and see what interest comes our way. If there is a better value than Claeys at a higher salary, than pay the damn salary. If Claeys is who we think is our best long term option, then hire him but just don't do it because he comes cheap.

Agreed.

 

[edma0012]

Interesting debate. I have a really hard time saying "hire Claeys and if it doesn't work out a 2-3 years down the road, we can him and move on then (with new AD leading charege)". 1. This assumes we have a new AD, Goetz could secure the job (I hope not, but she could). 2. If you think it's a remote possibility that Claeys would be able to show it's not working in 2-3 years, then he isn't ready to be a B1G head coach.

I've never really understood why it was always assumed to be a good thing that coaching staff had never seen and turnover in decades- it presumes turnover in coaching staffs is bad, it's not. Coach Kill's coaching tree is very sparse for a guy with 30 + years coaching. Really successful coaches surround themselves with great talent, great coaches coach up players but also their under coaches.

I think some of Kill's guys are good enough to be out on their own- Claeys, Stawvel they seem to be solid.
But Limegrover, Zebrowski- I mean, we can agree they have not been having the same success with their units as some others.

I guess the point I want to make is this- If Kaler feels Claeys is a B1G caliber head coach- then hire him fulltime, similar contract to the one kill started with, but with more money. Being a B1G caliber HC is not measured by being part of an allegedly really good staff, or by likly being able to keep an allegedly decent recruiting class committed. It's not measure by wins and loses the rest of the way, but how the team looks will matter. It's also the behind the scenes stuff- can he schmooze donors, is he good with media, can he do all the administrative stuff of that comes with the job his predecessors struggled with (Brew not knowing how and Kill letting the stress of it get to him more or less).

Ideally, we'd go hire the former Texas AD right now, and then let him run the show finding a new coach, and that coach would be awesome. But that isn't going to happen.

I think it's a big gamble to go with Cleays. But I am not so sure the administration sees it that way.

 

[GophersInIowa]

Interesting debate. I have a really hard time saying "hire Claeys and if it doesn't work out a 2-3 years down the road, we can him and move on then (with new AD leading charege)". 1. This assumes we have a new AD, Goetz could secure the job (I hope not, but she could). 2. If you think it's a remote possibility that Claeys would be able to show it's not working in 2-3 years, then he isn't ready to be a B1G head coach.

I've never really understood why it was always assumed to be a good thing that coaching staff had never seen and turnover in decades- it presumes turnover in coaching staffs is bad, it's not. Coach Kill's coaching tree is very sparse for a guy with 30 + years coaching. Really successful coaches surround themselves with great talent, great coaches coach up players but also their under coaches.

I think some of Kill's guys are good enough to be out on their own- Claeys, Stawvel they seem to be solid.
But Limegrover, Zebrowski- I mean, we can agree they have not been having the same success with their units as some others.

I guess the point I want to make is this- If Kaler feels Claeys is a B1G caliber head coach- then hire him fulltime, similar contract to the one kill started with, but with more money. Being a B1G caliber HC is not measured by being part of an allegedly really good staff, or by likly being able to keep an allegedly decent recruiting class committed. It's not measure by wins and loses the rest of the way, but how the team looks will matter. It's also the behind the scenes stuff- can he schmooze donors, is he good with media, can he do all the administrative stuff of that comes with the job his predecessors struggled with (Brew not knowing how and Kill letting the stress of it get to him more or less).

Ideally, we'd go hire the former Texas AD right now, and then let him run the show finding a new coach, and that coach would be awesome. But that isn't going to happen.

I think it's a big gamble to go with Cleays. But I am not so sure the administration sees it that way.

It's a gamble no matter which direction they decide to go.

 

[highwayman]

We have our AD and we have our coach. End of story.