Tracy Claeys Hired as Washington State DC

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Word said:
Yep and he had every right to replace the coach. He was hoping to sell the savior aspect of cleansing the program so he trashed Claeys while firing him and used the scandal as the excuse. The public ended up seeing right through it though. Fleck was a good hire on paper and may well turn out to be a great coach. Coyle didn't need to trash Claeys and his staff in the process.

I actually won't be shocked if Coyle is gone within a couple years. The fact that he can't speak publicly without quivering is not a good sign. As AD he should be the face of the athletic department and doing PR work. He rarely does, and when he does, he doesn't do it well.
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Yes. This! I believe much of the fan base agrees with you. Not sure if Coyle is going anywhere because he seems to know how to survive, but I agree he isn't a very charismatic speaker.
 

I hope TC has great success at Wash. State. However I wonder what staff meetings will be like? With Leach just a little crazy and TC so inteverted will any message ever get out to the team? Wonder who will recruit players on the defensive side of the ball?
 

Pete smith said:
I hope TC has great success at Wash. State. However I wonder what staff meetings will be like? With Leach just a little crazy and TC so inteverted will any message ever get out to the team? Wonder who will recruit players on the defensive side of the ball?
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Jerry was a big personality too. Leach is crazy / silly for the cameras and players. I think he knows enough how to talk to his coaches.
 

STPGopher said:
Yes. This! I believe much of the fan base agrees with you. Not sure if Coyle is going anywhere because he seems to know how to survive, but I agree he isn't a very charismatic speaker.
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So you are saying Maturi and the serial sexual harasser who followed him were charismatic speakers? Very few college sports fans give a damn about the public speaking ability of their AD. Coyle is persuasive enough to convince one of the hottest young football coaches in the country to come to Minnesota. The two most important coaches at the U love Coyle and that should be good enough for every long suffering Gopher fan. Kaler and Coyle are the first president and AD in most of our lifetimes who have demonstrated a real commitment to improving the competitiveness of the football and basketball programs at the U. If they choose to leave their jobs to go to a school where they are more appreciated it will probably take decades for the U to recover from it. There is a better than even chance that both of them will be replaced by women. After all, this is Minnesota.
 

Cruze said:
So you are saying Maturi and the serial sexual harasser who followed him were charismatic speakers? Very few college sports fans give a damn about the public speaking ability of their AD. Coyle is persuasive enough to convince one of the hottest young football coaches in the country to come to Minnesota. The two most important coaches at the U love Coyle and that should be good enough for every long suffering Gopher fan. Kaler and Coyle are the first president and AD in most of our lifetimes who have demonstrated a real commitment to improving the competitiveness of the football and basketball programs at the U. If they choose to leave their jobs to go to a school where they are more appreciated it will probably take decades for the U to recover from it.
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Please, Mrs. Coyle. Stop. Just Stop.
 




Some guy said:
Agree.
I actually do think he may get another shot at a head job if he is willing to take a bad one.
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I think if he strings together a few good years at Wash St, he could definitely get attention from some low/mid tier P5 or top tier G5 programs.
 

PMWinSTP said:
I think if he strings together a few good years at Wash St, he could definitely get attention from some low/mid tier P5 or top tier G5 programs.
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If he and Leach turn Washington State into a Pac 12 power, which I think they will, he will be in serious consideration for a good P5 job if he wants it...especially if Phillip John doesn't light the world on fire.
 



jrock said:
If he and Leach turn Washington State into a Pac 12 power, which I think they will, he will be in serious consideration for a good P5 job if he wants it...especially if Phillip John doesn't light the world on fire.
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I can imagine Claeys pacing the Tennessee sideline singing "Old Rockytop" to his hearts content in 5 years.
Meanwhile, I hope things go well for him out on the dry plateau.
 

Word said:
Yep and he had every right to replace the coach. He was hoping to sell the savior aspect of cleansing the program so he trashed Claeys while firing him and used the scandal as the excuse. The public ended up seeing right through it though. Fleck was a good hire on paper and may well turn out to be a great coach. Coyle didn't need to trash Claeys and his staff in the process.

I actually won't be shocked if Coyle is gone within a couple years. The fact that he can't speak publicly without quivering is not a good sign. As AD he should be the face of the athletic department and doing PR work. He rarely does, and when he does, he doesn't do it well.
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Word.

No matter how many times people point out their displeasure with how badly MC handled the firing, there are always a few that somehow think that is commenting on their opinion of him being fired. It really shouldn't be that hard.

MC has/had the right to fire Claeys.
I wouldn't have, but don't begrudge MC for bringing in his guy.
I will not, however, simply brush aside the painfully transparent BS press conference he delivered in doing so. It speaks volumes about who MC is, IMO. MC is the exact type of arrogant pr!*k that thinks he is smarter than everyone and that folks will eat up whatever he spews because he is so great.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Cruze said:
So you are saying Maturi and the serial sexual harasser who followed him were charismatic speakers? Very few college sports fans give a damn about the public speaking ability of their AD. Coyle is persuasive enough to convince one of the hottest young football coaches in the country to come to Minnesota. The two most important coaches at the U love Coyle and that should be good enough for every long suffering Gopher fan. Kaler and Coyle are the first president and AD in most of our lifetimes who have demonstrated a real commitment to improving the competitiveness of the football and basketball programs at the U. If they choose to leave their jobs to go to a school where they are more appreciated it will probably take decades for the U to recover from it. There is a better than even chance that both of them will be replaced by women. After all, this is Minnesota.
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Hmmm...Where to start?

Oh, I know. Stop putting words into peoples mouths. Show me where I said Maturi or Teague were great speakers.

" Very few college sports fans give a damn about the public speaking ability of their AD."
The fans that fund things like new stadiums, or Athletics complexes do. Fans that buy tickets might as well.

"There is a better than even chance that both of them will be replaced by women. After all, this is Minnesota."

Hmmm. Not sure what you are trying to say there. But if you are trying to imply that a woman President wouldn't support football, you must have fell asleep for for the last twenty to thirty years.

Ever heard of this lady? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donna_Shalala

Last comment. Maturi had many warts, but he was sincere/ believable. Maturi also knew how to work boosters. Not saying Coyle doesn't, but I've met both and Coyle (at a fundraiser) seemed real uncomfortable talking to people. Just my impression.
 

jrock said:
If he and Leach turn Washington State into a Pac 12 power, which I think they will, he will be in serious consideration for a good P5 job if he wants it...especially if Phillip John doesn't light the world on fire.
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Claeys is a good DC and that's it. He definitely deserves to be a DC at a P5 school. Zero chance he ever becomes a head coach again. Zero.
 



After we totally handled their vaunted offense in the Holiday Bowl, is it any surprise Leach wants him? He'll do great there.
 


GopherWeatherGuy said:
Claeys is a good DC and that's it. He definitely deserves to be a DC at a P5 school. Zero chance he ever becomes a head coach again. Zero.
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Zero? That's bold coming from a weatherman.
 


I actually won't be shocked if Coyle is gone within a couple years. The fact that he can't speak publicly without quivering is not a good sign. As AD he should be the face of the athletic department and doing PR work. He rarely does, and when he does, he doesn't do it well.[/QUOTE]

Great point, all we heard was what a great find Coyle was, a true rabbit out of the hat when we all thought we were getting Beth G. or one of other guys. Well guess what, Coyle is terrible under pressure and terrible at the podium, and generally not a good public advocate for the U of M. In retrospect, I wish we had hired Beth G.

It is ironic that his determined critics still tell us every chance they get that TC was not a good "face of the program" because he was fat, plain spoken, and did not spew silly clichés all day, yet suddenly "quivering", nasally whining, double talking, mealy mouthed Coyle is some great leader and promoter of the U of M. The guy gives no impression of being a leader and has zero charisma to boot.

I think drunken huckleberry Norwood T gave a better impression at first blush than Mark Coyle.

The guy might be great behind the scenes and might have been a brilliant #2, hidden in the back somewhere, but he turns to crap under the bright lights and pressure. Maybe that works back in Ottumwa Iowa or wherever Coyle came from , but he has failed under pressure, and exposed himself at the same time. Being a self preserving weasel as he was in his dealings with Kaler and Claeys does not look good to the average person paying attention.

I would not give Coyle too much credit for Fleck, either although he did get it done. Despite the PR, Oregon was would have been the choice for PJ and they backed out (nice way to say it) or did not buy the act at all, so this was his best bet if he wanted to get paid.
 

Nice landing spot for Claeys. I wish him well.
 

I have always been a huge fan of Leach, and was concerned it would not go well at Wash St, but he has turned it around the last three years.

I think that this spot is perfect for TC as well, both in terms of the area itself being a good fit for TC and wrking for a HC like MIke Leach. Despite its remote location, WSU seems to get a fair number of good athletic players from California as well (as do the other 3 Northwest Pac12 teams) and that bodes well for the type defense TC showed us. I suspect he might be able to get better talent to Pullman than he did at the U of M in terms of fast DBs fast DEs and LBs. Claeys provided the best DB play I have seen in my lifetime at the U of M, and I think he can do even better at WSU, especially if he can get a few giant guys from Samoa or Togo on the D line.

If he can raise the profile of that program and they can break through TC could get a HC job, or even replace Leach at some point.

As a fan, I never cared how heavy he was, but for his own heath mainly (and to avoid some of the hate and bias about obesity we read on this board) it would be great if he had some sort of procedure done, much like Limegrover to drop some serious weight. As a relatively young guy, it could keep him coaching for another 30 years, and maybe as a P5 HC. People that are double their ideal body weight do not live that long, and that is a sincere concern.
 


Vandy said:
Good for coach Claeys. He got a raw deal from AD Coyle.

This looks awfully good on paper for Washington State. The front man Leach can orchestrate an offense, and the reserved Claeys can really build and coach a defense, and I think recruits parents like and will put their trust in him too. A great balance of personalities.

Very intriguing pairing, and looks to be a winner.
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As someone who paid attention to the whole situation, I thought that the biggest argument was that Claeys wasn’t a good recruiter or someone that would could be trusted due to how he handled the incident. I think that Claeys is good in terms of finding under the radar recruits, I know that he can evaluate talent. But in terms of being someone that parents and recruits can trust, I thought many Minnesota fans found that to be his weakness.

As a disclaimer, I think that he’s a solid DC, and had you guys playing at a high level. Not sure what would’ve happened had he been the coach this year, but I do commend him for going 9-4. I saw his D first hand, only once, because I played in the hear breaking game in which you guys beat us on a backwards lateral to Tevin Coleman in the final seconds. That was the only time I played Minnesota, but we had a lot of respect for your program. Watching film/from afar, I got the sense that Claeys was a solid coach, and got some great 2 star under the radar guys like Winfield Jr. Based on the fan base however, I got the impression that a big gripe with him was his personality, or lack thereof, so I can easily see him not being a guy who you want to out in front of parents if his personality and management skills are really that bad.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
He said it all here and unfortunately Claeys and Kill and some others only heard the word culture and got their feelings hurt.

I supported the decision then and now. Hopefully everyone can move on.
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It’s fairly simple. Some believe that Kaler believed the woman regardless of evidence and some believe the title ix system is broken. People may not come out and say it in this environment, but that’s the reality. Note that Kaler never mentioned the culture as being an issue until a bunch of young men questioned the status quo, and his beliefs. There’s no reframing it. i Think that it’s fair to say that Kaler wanted his own guy in, but it would be hard to get rid of Claeys had the protest not occurred. If Kaler was going to get rid of him, it would have been after the Wisconsin game. TC would not have been coaching the bowl game. Rarely do you hear of a coach getting fired after winning a bowl game. Kaler new about ticket sales and recruiting in November...

Also, ticket sales improve has wins improve, and the team was trending upward. Iowa and Wisconsin, yeah, they are doing just fine with 2/3 stars and Walk ons. You guys went 9-4 with those “low rated recruits”. Do to many people his reasoning/timing didn’t make sense.

People may not come out and say it, but the perception of what happened is bad/troubling. I don’t even think that people are that upset that Claeys was fired, but the “why” is the issue. Some feel that Kaler didn’t mention the culture until the players essentially said that they thought the school was biased against young men, due to the nature of sexual assault “trials” on college campuses in recent years. You had a situation in which players were suspended for allegations, in spite of a court system saying that there wasn’t enough evidence to pursue charges. Before they could even have the school “trial”, they were punished, which showed a stance of “guilty until proven innocent.” They questioned title IX. They questioned the school. They questioned kaler. They basically want the system to work similar to how it does in court, vs. the guilty until proven innocent system we have on campuses.

That struck a nerve with Kaler, and in our society is a PR nightmare. When Claeys said that he stood by the players, that was what tipped Kaler over the edge. What we saw here was an ideological battle over how sexual assault cases should be handled. Due to neglect for many years, schools have over corrected the system by biasing the system in favor of women. Some young men want a neutral approach, with honesty, and an improved version of the legal justice system. It didn’t square to them that guys could not be charged in court, but the U had a kangaroo court set up. Obviously the feminists, the liberals, the men who drank the coolaid, and Kaler didn’t like this, and Claeys supporting the players meant he had to go. Any questioning of the system had to be killed immediately. It was actually weird to see play out, looked like something from the book “1984”. The players were misrepresented entirely, called rapists, and the protestors said that Claeys supported sexual assault. Kaler then questioned the culture.

If kaler had been upfront about it, and not used the vague “culture” term, no one would be complaining. Some people may have no longer supported the U, but no one would be calling him dishonest. He could’ve simply said, “you’re guilty until proven innocent if it involves women, and we aren’t changing the system because we need to overcorrect for past errors. You challenge my beliefs and you’re gone.”


Not ironically, the side that a given fan is on goes along with their own views and beliefs. Typically those who have a certain mindset like kaler, and those with another mindset don’t like the way that he fired Claeys or why he fired him. It’s a simple ideological difference. Both sides seem to want to mischaracterize or demonize the other side. The reality is almost no one ever supports assault, and has the evidence been clear, everyone would’ve agreed, and the more liberal side doesn’t hate men, but they are scared of what would occur without the current system. So both sides have logical reasons for being skeptical of anyone who doesn’t agree with them. That’s what the firing came down to, but no one really wants to come out and say it. It’d be much easier if people forgot that happened, and moved on.
 

But what about our "donations"? [emoji102]

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk
 

oak_street1981 said:
I actually won't be shocked if Coyle is gone within a couple years. The fact that he can't speak publicly without quivering is not a good sign. As AD he should be the face of the athletic department and doing PR work. He rarely does, and when he does, he doesn't do it well.
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Great point, all we heard was what a great find Coyle was, a true rabbit out of the hat when we all thought we were getting Beth G. or one of other guys. Well guess what, Coyle is terrible under pressure and terrible at the podium, and generally not a good public advocate for the U of M. In retrospect, I wish we had hired Beth G.

It is ironic that his determined critics still tell us every chance they get that TC was not a good "face of the program" because he was fat, plain spoken, and did not spew silly clichés all day, yet suddenly "quivering", nasally whining, double talking, mealy mouthed Coyle is some great leader and promoter of the U of M. The guy gives no impression of being a leader and has zero charisma to boot.

I think drunken huckleberry Norwood T gave a better impression at first blush than Mark Coyle.

The guy might be great behind the scenes and might have been a brilliant #2, hidden in the back somewhere, but he turns to crap under the bright lights and pressure. Maybe that works back in Ottumwa Iowa or wherever Coyle came from , but he has failed under pressure, and exposed himself at the same time. Being a self preserving weasel as he was in his dealings with Kaler and Claeys does not look good to the average person paying attention.

I would not give Coyle too much credit for Fleck, either although he did get it done. Despite the PR, Oregon was would have been the choice for PJ and they backed out (nice way to say it) or did not buy the act at all, so this was his best bet if he wanted to get paid.[/QUOTE]

Perfectly stated.
 

If your AD is the face of the program, the coaches are not doing their jobs.
 


Pete smith said:
I hope TC has great success at Wash. State. However I wonder what staff meetings will be like? With Leach just a little crazy and TC so inteverted will any message ever get out to the team? Wonder who will recruit players on the defensive side of the ball?
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I am about 5-10 years older than the parents who will have recruiters in their living rooms next year. For me, I think Claeys' "what you see, is what you get" personna would go over just fine. IMO, he comes off as down home, honest and intelligent. It is clear he can coach, and I would trust him unconditionally with my kid. Leach can provide the backing rah rah.

The fact that he supported his players when the kangaroo court named 4-5 additional players in the scandal, (who were (all?) later cleared of life changing allegations) was a positive for me. Afterthought that the support might have been more subtle, and not on a social media platform may have been in his self interest as for job preservation. But I am of the thought that the decision to fire him was in the works the moment Coyle was hired. As a parent, I'd want to know that the coach is not going to throw my kid under a bus when the s*** hits the fan. Coach Claeys won't.
 

Love it... Loved Claeys. Great X's and O's guy. Will definitely pay attention to Washington State now.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
If your AD is the face of the program, the coaches are not doing their jobs.
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Shouldn't be the face of the program, but a prerequisite should be being able to put together a coherent sentence when speaking in public. If he struggles that much in front of a camera, it makes it seem like he'd have a hard time being a leader (not to mention stirring up donations, etc.). He's not exactly inspiring.
 

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