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point guard 10

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If our Gophs can pull off a Bowl Win, then they will have the most wins they've had in a season in almost 15 years. That has to count for SOMETHING, doesn't it?

I know there has been a lot of Claeys hate, Leidner hate, easy schedule hate, etc., but when you take a step back, the boys have had a pretty darn successful season, imo.

Thoughts?
 

point guard 10 said:
If our Gophs can pull off a Bowl Win, then they will have the most wins they've had in a season in almost 15 years. That has to count for SOMETHING, doesn't it?

I know there has been a lot of Claeys hate, Leidner hate, easy schedule hate, etc., but when you take a step back, the boys have had a pretty darn successful season, imo.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

You are correct and right now everyone is rightfully pissed about losing that game, but going 6-1 at home with some good performances on the road was a good season for my Gopher fan standards.
 

Attendance tells you a large portion of the fanbase isn't buying that, most discerning individuals understood with our schedule our defacto interim needed to do better in the hopes of building excitement and recruiting.
 

I can't look at just wins with this team this year being what there schedule was, especially at home. The fact that they lost both border battles, especially with the an epic meltdown like the one yesterday really makes it hard for me to see this program currently going in the right direction despite the win loss record this year.
 

point guard 10 said:
If our Gophs can pull off a Bowl Win, then they will have the most wins they've had in a season in almost 15 years. That has to count for SOMETHING, doesn't it?

I know there has been a lot of Claeys hate, Leidner hate, easy schedule hate, etc., but when you take a step back, the boys have had a pretty darn successful season, imo.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Calling this a successful season is embarrassing. At the beginning of the season looking at the schedule 5-4 in conference play was basically the worst case scenario. The team had four chances for a win that would have made some fans take notice and they failed each time. We were 0-3 against Wisconsin, Nebraska and Iowa for the second straight year which are the three programs I feel we should be measuring ourselves against. Claey's was very lucky to land this job in the first place. The head coach resigns while we have no athletic director and then Claeys is handed the easiest schedule you could make up which helps his first year record looked much more impressive than it actually is. He has done nothing to earn this job and he had opportunities this season and lost them all.
 


GopherHole posters demand perfection. Anything less than 12-0 is not acceptable in these parts.
 

point guard 10 said:
If our Gophs can pull off a Bowl Win, then they will have the most wins they've had in a season in almost 15 years. That has to count for SOMETHING, doesn't it?

I know there has been a lot of Claeys hate, Leidner hate, easy schedule hate, etc., but when you take a step back, the boys have had a pretty darn successful season, imo.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...

My thought is Kill really moved this program forward and really built a lot of enthusiasm, the most since Holtz. Brand new facilities coming online. The unfortunate thing was he had to change the culture of an entire University and inept administration and he amazingly did that with his unique work ethic and communication skills. Based off of that, this season was a big disappointment. Claeys himself said this was the most talented team since he had been here and they were facing the easiest schedule. Recruiting has stepped backwards. Enthusiasm and support has stepped backwards. Claeys had a great opportunity to capitalize on what Kill built, and he couldn't.

Why should Minnesota continue to accept seasons like this when it just invested $150 million in facility upgrades to be able to beat the Iowa's, Wisconsin's, Nebraska's, and Penn St's? Supposedly we now have a competent AD who expects to win. He has to be concerned. Clay was the only option with an interim AD and an athletic department in disarray. The athletic department is now supposedly stable and just made a large investment in an AD to make sure football and basketball compete at a high level and actually beat a good team or two.


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mkAz said:
GopherHole posters demand perfection. Anything less than 12-0 is not acceptable in these parts.
Click to expand...

Not looking for perfection just looking for wins against good teams and I can't find any this year can you?
 

9-4 would be great with me. Experts had us pegged for 6.5 wins. Claeys said nine wins
before the start of the season. He has a vision for this team and it won't be all in in just
one season.
 



beatles said:
Not looking for perfection just looking for wins against good teams and I can't find any this year can you?
Click to expand...
They won 8 games, they have a chance to win 9 games, that's historically good for this program. Their only loses were in close games against ranked teams (with 3 of the 4 being on the road). I also see a young roster that will be around for awhile. To each his own I guess.
 

mkAz said:
They won 8 games, they have a chance to win 9 games, that's historically good for this program. Their only loses were in close games against ranked teams (with 3 of the 4 being on the road). I also see a young roster that will be around for awhile. To each his own I guess.
Click to expand...
I see this as the high water mark with a steady decline going forward. He is not a lead dog. Charisma of a Chia Pet.
 

metrolax said:
9-4 would be great with me. Experts had us pegged for 6.5 wins. Claeys said nine wins
before the start of the season. He has a vision for this team and it won't be all in in just
one season.
Click to expand...

Why do people keep factoring in the bowl game???? Let's base the win total off the actual season, not some meaningless bowl game. Ridiculous.


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mkAz said:
They won 8 games, they have a chance to win 9 games, that's historically good for this program. Their only loses were in close games against ranked teams (with 3 of the 4 being on the road). I also see a young roster that will be around for awhile. To each his own I guess.
Click to expand...
Call it the Rutgers and Maryland inflation effect.
 



Some Day...Is Coming! said:
Why do people keep factoring in the bowl game???? Let's base the win total off the actual season, not some meaningless bowl game. Ridiculous.


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Click to expand...

Since when do we not count bowl games as part of the win total? It is as much a part of the "actual season" as any other game.
 

Let's see...we lost to PSU on the road, they are playing for the conference title and spot in the playoffs. We lost to Wisconsin on the road and they are playing for the conference title and the playoffs. We lost to Nebraska on the road in a close hard fought game. We lost to Iowa at home and that one was simply unacceptable.

If we get some breaks we are 2-2 in those games and this is the most successful season since 1961. We didn't and it aint. But hard to call it a failure.

We will get a bowl game with a decent Pac 12 or SEC opponent and I expect a fun game to watch.

We win and it is a 9 win season. Hard to call that a failure by any metric.

Am I happy with the result this year? No, hell no and I don't suspect that anyone else is either. Do I think we should blow up this team? No, hell no. Give Claeys a 2 year extension with a raise and keep is buy out reasonable and see what he does in developing our 3 young QBs on the roster and our young defensive talent and see if he can recruit some players.
 

mkAz said:
They won 8 games, they have a chance to win 9 games, that's historically good for this program. Their only loses were in close games against ranked teams (with 3 of the 4 being on the road). I also see a young roster that will be around for awhile. To each his own I guess.
Click to expand...

As long as you are happy with middle of the pack status then this was a great season and you can hang your hat on the win total and pat the program on the back for not sucking.

I guarantee the players and coaches are not happy about how the regular season played out.

7-0 against bad teams that we don't want to be considered as equal to.
1-4 against good teams that we want to be competing with and beating on a somewhat regular basis.

So yeah the 8-4 looks pretty on paper but it is a really hollow 8-4 and this was not the kind of season that is going to do much to build fan interest back up for next season. Attendance declined sharply this year and I would guess that unless there are drastic price cuts next season we will see season ticket sales remain basically even going into next season.

The encouraging thing is that we were competitive against the good teams but that isn't a new thing around here. At some point the program has to actually start beating the good teams to really take the next step. Mason couldn't get it done, Brewster was a disaster, Kill couldn't get it done, Claeys is 0-1. Chances are Claeys will get some more time, hopefully he can figure out a way for this program to finally break through and win more of the games against the teams we want to be viewed as on par with. Until we do I guess it is good to know that at least a portion of the fan base is thrilled to be middle of the pack.
 

mkAz said:
They won 8 games, they have a chance to win 9 games, that's historically good for this program. Their only loses were in close games against ranked teams (with 3 of the 4 being on the road). I also see a young roster that will be around for awhile. To each his own I guess.
Click to expand...

I'm with you on this. All the games were competitive and count me as one fan that enjoyed going 6-1 at home and 8-4 overall. Right now it hurts because we lost a game where we could have scored a major upset.
 

beavergopher said:
I see this as the high water mark with a steady decline going forward. He is not a lead dog. Charisma of a Chia Pet.
Click to expand...
This is my fear. Tracy is probably a great football guy and a really good guy to have on staff. He does not have the charisma or exude the energy to be the head coach IMO. One thing about JK - I could imagine the parents being excited about having their son play for that guy. I'm just not picturing that with Claeys.
 

I don't understand people's thinking is 10-2 the least acceptable record people would've taken. How many top ten team have we played in our history and beat. Yes it sucks we lost 4 games against good competition but in each and every game we had a chance to win in the end. Would you rather they be blow outs so you had more justification. This team is a plawmaker away on offense from winning these games. You don't blow up the system for what occurred this season.

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Kill had the team playing disciplined, hard-nosed, smart football. Tackling was superb. Penalties were rare, and almost never cost us ballgames or even drives.

Under Claeys, it's gone backward. Tackling has badly tanked. Key penalties have cost us ballgames and several drives. The clock management? Don't even get me started, there. The icing on the cake was the complete implosion at Madison yesterday. We cannot, MUST not, extend this guy. He's not good enough! We have to aim higher. Coyle has a chance to put his stamp on this program, just like Richter did in Madison with Alvarez in the early 90's. Here's hoping Mark steps up to the challenge and begins the resurgence of Golden Gopher football excellence.
 

That 2003 Gopher team that many here praise highly played 0 power conference nc games, choked badly to the ranked teams they lost to, and beat teams with a combined 10-30 BT record in their 5 conference wins. Should have fired Mason after that season if one applies present logic.

They also avoided Purdue and Ohio State that season.
 

Gophers7NatTitlesBadgers0 said:
That 2003 Gopher team that many here praise highly played 0 power conference nc games, choked badly to the ranked teams they lost to, and beat teams with a combined 10-30 BT record in their 5 conference wins. Should have fired Mason after that season if one applies present logic.

They also avoided Purdue and Ohio State that season.
Click to expand...

They beat Wisconsin though.
 

Looking at wins & losses is a very simplistic view. It's who they beat (who we expected them too) and who and more importantly HOW we lost is the realistic view of the state of this team. Can this AD afford to have the same results with the amount of money that has recently been infused in the program? Coyles should expect more and seriously, should feel he needs to have his own hires running the ship.


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MNVCGUY said:
As long as you are happy with middle of the pack status then this was a great season and you can hang your hat on the win total and pat the program on the back for not sucking.
Click to expand...
I think that Claeys can move them past the middle of the pack. Some of you are overrating the talent on this years team, they had a bad QB, a rebuilt o-line, and a mediocre receiving crew, yet Claeys still got 8 wins out of them. He also has them playing some of the best defense that I can remember. He made changes in the coaching staff last year when it was needed and I trust he will again if he feels it's needed. Hiring a new coach could set you right back to step 1 if there is a change in coaching philosophy and I really don't want to sit through that again.
 

StCroix said:
Looking at wins & losses is a very simplistic view. It's who they beat (who we expected them too) and who and more importantly HOW we lost is the realistic view of the state of this team. Can this AD afford to have the same results with the amount of money that has recently been infused in the program? Coyles should expect more and seriously, should feel he needs to have his own hires running the ship.


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Click to expand...

Well said although Coyle really is in a tough spot. A solid case can be made for extending Claeys and a solid case can be made for moving on with someone else. I still think it comes down to how sure he is that he can get "his guy" if he lets Claeys go.

It wasn't a bad season by any stretch of the imagination and we clearly have a solid foundation on the program right now to keep us above the bottom feeders, the questions Coyle has to answer is if Claeys is the guy who will take the program to the next level. If he can't say that with a high level of confidence then the best thing he can do is move on with a new coach of his choice.
 


mkAz said:
I think that Claeys can move them past the middle of the pack. Some of you are overrating the talent on this years team, they had a bad QB, a rebuilt o-line, and a mediocre receiving crew, yet Claeys still got 8 wins out of them. He also has them playing some of the best defense that I can remember. He made changes in the coaching staff last year when it was needed and I trust he will again if he feels it's needed. Hiring a new coach could set you right back to step 1 if there is a change in coaching philosophy and I really don't want to sit through that again.
Click to expand...

Valid points however I don't totally understand how some can give Claeys a free pass in regards to the talent on the roster because he and the majority of the current staff were involved in recruiting/developing the talent on the roster. This isn't like when a new head coach takes over and inherits the previous coaches roster.

I have gone on record that my gut feeling is that Coyle won't make a change but I also really wonder if Claeys will have any better luck than Kill did in recruiting/developing the playmakers that this team clearly needs to get over the hump to actually become a legit contender on a regular basis.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Valid points however I don't totally understand how some can give Claeys a free pass in regards to the talent on the roster because he and the majority of the current staff were involved in recruiting/developing the talent on the roster. This isn't like when a new head coach takes over and inherits the previous coaches roster.
Click to expand...
I think the fact that he coached defense under Kill and didn't have anything to do with recruiting offensive players gives him a pass (at least for now). When he took over he also was quick to make changes to the offensive staff so I think it's obvious that he saw some shortcomings that needed correcting and took action.
 

I get the "8-wins is good for the Gophers" argument.

But, for me, this team fails the "eye test." As far as the changes to the offensive staff, I saw an offense that went backwards this season. Leidner was worse as a SR than he was as a JR. And the play-calling under Johnson was just as predictable as it was under Limegrover. But, the #1 issue for me is the inability of the coaching staff to make adjustments. When coaches start blaming the QB for not being able to execute the offense, I say - if the QB can't execute the offense, then change the offense or change the QB. Doing nothing is not an option.

If I could, I would keep the current defensive staff, and dump the head coach and the offensive staff.

But, in reality, if the defensive staff has to go in order to get a new head coach and offensive staff, so be it.

And, I do not buy the "It's Claey's 1st year" argument. He has been here for 6 years. He served as backup head coach when Kill had health issues. His fingerprints are all over this program.

Bottom line - no excitement for the program- falling attendance - concerns about recruiting - fund-raising issues = time for a change.
 

Give me the first half offense of the Wisconsin game and I am happy. I don't know what happened to it in the second half but it was as good as I've seen a gopher offense against a good defense. I'm a Gopher homer and always will be ... I think there are better days to come and it will be with Claeys as the coach. I don't think the Gophers make a move in coaches.
 

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