What grade would you give the Gophers' hire of Tracy Claeys as next HC?

[bottlebass]

F. We will see a new coach in about 3 years. Hopefully they do a national search and with the stadium and athlete's village get a top-notch coach.

And that is just fine. If we see a new coach in "about 3 years" doesn't mean hiring claeys right now wasn't the right choice for RIGHT NOW. Also who is to say Claeys isn't a top notch coach? Maybe Claeys is the reason Kill was able to rise to where he did, you don't know, but now we get to find out! Go Gophers

 

[gopherhoopsguy]

A

Great hire!! Well done Beth and Kaler

 

[EG#9]

"C" really the only move the "U" could make at the moment. Obviously a lot of concerns with Claeys transitioning to head coach, how this staff handles the clock, and whether this staff can put together a good passing game/develop a quarterback. This staff really needs to beat Iowa or Wisconsin this year to have at least a little bit of something to build on going in to 2016.

 

[dbaldrich1]

To assign a "proper" grade to this hire, we have to keep the current situation in mind. Additionally, there is no such thing as a sure-thing in hiring a college coach, so we have to consider what we believe the overall impact of the hiring will be over the next 3-5 years. With that in mind, I believe that this hire deserves an A grade.

Here's the situation:
- Current HC retires in middle of the season. Jerry Kill was not fired, and his overall tenure (locally and nationally) at the U of M has been viewed as successful in getting the program trending in the right direction. A big part of his success has been attributed to the stability of the coaching staff.

- An Interim AD is in place, so it will probably be more difficult to lure a new head coach who would be perceived as an upgrade over Claeys until the new permanent AD is hired. Although Football is extremely important to success of the athletic program, taking time to choose the right AD candidate make sense because it will impact the program as a whole.

- The team has what looks to be a solid recruiting class based on verbal commitments. Uncertainty regarding who the head coach will be runs the risk of losing kids who had already said they want to play football at Minnesota. The risk of losing some (or all) of those kids by bringing in a new head coach, who may or may not be successful, made naming the new head coach quickly a high priority.

- Claeys has already shown that he can get a team prepared as the "acting" head coach while Kill was out with health issues in the past, and again this year against superior teams from Michigan and Ohio State. The current team has shown it is bought into Tracy Claeys as their leader, and that they will play hard for him.

- With 20+ years of experience working with coach Kill to build programs, Claeys has witnessed first hand what it takes to be a successful head coach. While Claeys certainly has a different personality than Kill, he's stated that the philosophy will stay the same, just with a different personality at the helm. This should provide continuity for the current players, which should help in getting new players acclimated to the program more quickly.

- There will probably be roughly 25-30 (or more) head coaching vacancies at the end of this year. Hiring Claeys now means that we avoid losing him (and perhaps the rest of the staff) to another program, and we don't have to deal with the circus of trying to hire a new coach while competing with everyone else who is trying to do the same thing.

Given the current situation, the risks of waiting to name the new head coach until after season were high, and the benefits of doing so relatively low. Under that criteria, hiring Claeys has to be given an A-grade. Whether the grade will stay an A when we look back in 3 years remains to be seen.

Go Gophers!

 

[Otis]

F. We will see a new coach in about 3 years. Hopefully they do a national search and with the stadium and athlete's village get a top-notch coach.

I just can't take you seriously with an avatar of Paris Hilton.

I gave it an A! Claeys has done a very good job of getting the team ready the past two weeks against Top 20 opponents! I think he will continue to do so going forward and will prove to be n excellent hire.

 

[DougMN]

Doesn't everyone start out with an A? Ask again in a year.

 

[MaxyJR1]

I give it an A as it's the first time that we are hiring a coach to carry out a plan and momentum in the program. When was the last time this was done? I don't call 1.75 years that Lou Holtz was here a plan or momentum. Nearly all new coaches here have been brought in to change the culture. Claeys is a guy who wants to extend and build on our culture.

 

[Gophers7NatTitlesBadgers0]

I want the gophers to win the Big Ten West and beat Iowa and Wisconsin every year.

...This is why we need Lane Kiffin a proven winner. He has more coaching talent in his nose hair than Claeys has in his whole body. Oops, I think I just peed myself.

 

[Old Goph]

"C" really the only move the "U" could make at the moment. Obviously a lot of concerns with Claeys transitioning to head coach, how this staff handles the clock, and whether this staff can put together a good passing game/develop a quarterback. This staff really needs to beat Iowa or Wisconsin this year to have at least a little bit of something to build on going in to 2016.

That's an interesting grading rationale. You say they did the only thing they could really do and that action merits a C grade? Would it stand to reason there was no way for them to get an A or a B from you?

 

[EG#9]

That's an interesting grading rationale. You say they did the only thing they could really do and that action merits a C grade? Would it stand to reason there was no way for them to get an A or a B from you?

Pretty much. They put themselves in a bad spot with previous decisions, so that getting an A or B was going to require exceptional work (technically an A should always require exceptional work, but the Gopher Hole tends to hand them out like candy...The Gophers Basketball recruiting class that signed yesterday is a good example of something that would deserve "A" consideration and certainly the Volleyball team is having an "A" season. It would be hard to find a power 5 school that couldn't promote their own defensive coordinator to head coach. Claeys more than doubles his salary and gets a chance to run a power 5 program without ever having been a head coach before. It's a no brainer for him. I think in most activities earning an "A" involves lots of preparation (studying, researching, practicing) before the event to be graded. The "U" failed in some of these areas and had to scramble. I am not sure they could have done better in the situation (we can always hope someone with a better resume would take the job), but they are largely responsible for the situation they were in.

 

[NorthernLakesGopher]

Doesn't everyone start out with an A? Ask again in a year.

I had a college math professor who started out with a C. Then said, "A C is average. I expect that from everyone. You need to impress me. If you do, you get a B. If you really impress me, maybe an A."

 

[oak_street1981]

I had a college math professor who started out with a C. Then said, "A C is average. I expect that from everyone. You need to impress me. If you do, you get a B. If you really impress me, maybe an A."

This was the only choice and I will give the U a B plus.

Like an earlier poster I would have given the hire an A if had happened one week sooner and they had found a way to publicly state that it was a four or five year deal. Some enemies of the program will try to make an issue over the three year deal.

I give credit to the leadership for getting this done, when it would have been easier to dither and do nothing, and that would have cost the program dearly.

The critics have this all wrong. This is not about one recruiting class, but about stopping a number of players from transferring or finding a way to get ineligible in the transition. Players do not the instability of not knowing who they will be playing for or what a new coach is going to be like, even if one is hired fairly soon.

Even if the program hired the right coach externally, and that is a big IF, there would have been a big drop off for a year or two, most likely.

Claey has a very good chance to keep up what Kill started, and possibly improve the flow on Offense, since I think there was some hard headedness with Kill, and some general staleness on that side of the ball. He is not going to go all Jedd Fisch or Mike Dunbar on Offense, but I think things might be better over time. I'd be thrilled if he'd bring back T. Peterson, Gordie Shaw and Mitch Browning who used to know how to get running game going, while opening the downfield passing game. That is not going to happen, but I think he is going to empower the Offensive staff and if he does not like what they do he may make further changes next year.


The bottom line is that elite defenses go a long way towards having a good to great program, and Claeys is more than capable of recruiting the right players on Defense and improving them over time. Not very many coaches in CFB can do what Claeys can do, even with "better" recruits. Having a back 7that can run and cover one on one opens up a lot of possibilities. This kind of defense can win games almost on its own at times.

 

[Old Goph]

Pretty much. They put themselves in a bad spot with previous decisions, so that getting an A or B was going to require exceptional work (technically an A should always require exceptional work, but the Gopher Hole tends to hand them out like candy...The Gophers Basketball recruiting class that signed yesterday is a good example of something that would deserve "A" consideration and certainly the Volleyball team is having an "A" season. It would be hard to find a power 5 school that couldn't promote their own defensive coordinator to head coach. Claeys more than doubles his salary and gets a chance to run a power 5 program without ever having been a head coach before. It's a no brainer for him. I think in most activities earning an "A" involves lots of preparation (studying, researching, practicing) before the event to be graded. The "U" failed in some of these areas and had to scramble. I am not sure they could have done better in the situation (we can always hope someone with a better resume would take the job), but they are largely responsible for the situation they were in.

Thanks for the response. Although I got lost after "pretty much."

 

[Iceland12]

No trolls voting yet? That's a surprise.

Still not many trolls voting. Only 4 "F" grades. Not too bad.