Unless I'm Missing Something....

[John Galt]

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.

o
If you like how the defense is performing, why wouldn't you buy this argument? Our shortcomings are primarily due to the o-line, QB, and WRs. 3 areas Claeys had no impact on until last November. To fix these deficiencies, he brought in a new OC, QB coach, and o-line coach. He recruited Seth Green, one of the higher rated QBs we've had in a while. He found 2 JUCOs that were starters on the o-line. I'm on the fence with Claeys, but there isn't much more he could have done to fix the offense in 1 year.

 

[Pompous Elitist]

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.

Well that's the problem isn't it. I don't have any hard numbers in front of me but going on memory it seems like the team consistently played worse in the second half than the first half, particularly in the big games and second half collapses vs PSU, Iowa, and Wisconsin. Coaching decisions/lack of adjustments/failure to prep the team for, eg, screens and sweeps; depth, conditioning all probably play arguable parts in that phenomenon. We all know the offense has had major issues but the defense has struggled for stretches with getting off the field with ill-timed gambles our opponents seemed ready to exploit.