Will Tracy Claeys be fired before 2017?

Donate To GopherHole
In 2016 we lost about 4,000 people per game. Average attendance in 2016 was 43,814.
 

60's Guy said:
In 2016 we lost about 4,000 people per game. Average attendance in 2016 was 43,814.
Click to expand...

Pretty close to the equivalent of selling out, TCU, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Nebraska.

Story of Gopher attendance for over 20 years.
 


Iceland12 said:
I'm not on a lot of ignore lists (probably for good reason...) so here's some of the info. It's from an earlier post.

Average Attendance of BCS Programs in Cities with a Strong Pro Sports Presence

1. USC 73,196
2. UCLA 70,285
3. Washington 68,769
4. Arizona State 62,689
5. Miami 53,837
6. Stanford 50,726
7. Pittsburgh 49,741
8. California 49,329
9. Georgia Tech 49,077
10. Minnesota 47,797
11. TCU 43,598
12. Northwestern 39,307
13. Colorado 38,463
14. South Florida 34,702
15. Boston College 33,006
16. Cincinnati 31,771

Metro Population

1. USC 13 million
1. UCLA 13 million
3. Northwestern 9.5 million
4. TCU 6.7 million
5. Miami 5.7 million
6. Georgia Tech 5.5 million
7. Boston College 4.6 million
8. California 4.5 million
8. Stanford 4.5 million
10. Arizona State 4.3 million
11. Washington 3.5 million
12. Minnesota 3.4 million
13. South Florida 2.8 million
14. Colorado 2.6 million
15. Pittsburgh 2.4 million
16. Cincinnati 2.1 million

http://www.forums.gopherhole.com/bo...s-in-Cities-with-a-Strong-Pro-Sports-Presence
Click to expand...



So as a percentage of population, MN (1.40%) is 6th behind Pitt (2.07%), Washington (2.01%), Cincinnati (1.51%), Colorado (1.48%), Arizona State (1.46%)
 

Interesting to hear alums starting to really be outspoken in support of Claeys. They seem to really like the way he is doing thing. Ron Johnson and Tyrone Carter were on PA KFAN this morning and both commented on liking what Claeys is doing.

Pete Najarian was on the pregame radio show on Saturday and gushed a bit about how Claeys is doing.

Lee Hutton tweeting out his excitement for the Wisconsin game this week and how proud he is of Claeys, his staff, and players.

Seems that the support is there and any complaining is contained to Gopherhole. That's a good step.
 



MaxyJR1 said:
Interesting to hear alums starting to really be outspoken in support of Claeys. They seem to really like the way he is doing thing. Ron Johnson and Tyrone Carter were on PA KFAN this morning and both commented on liking what Claeys is doing.

Pete Najarian was on the pregame radio show on Saturday and gushed a bit about how Claeys is doing.

Lee Hutton tweeting out his excitement for the Wisconsin game this week and how proud he is of Claeys, his staff, and players.

Seems that the support is there and any complaining is contained to Gopherhole. That's a good step.
Click to expand...

Sean Hoffman on Gopher Lady's podcast is an example of a player who is not high on Claeys. There are a lot of former Gophers out there; not many on the air. I'm not saying they don't support him, but we really don't know.

We have to find Jim Carter for the definitive answer.
 


MaxyJR1 said:
Interesting to hear alums starting to really be outspoken in support of Claeys. They seem to really like the way he is doing thing. Ron Johnson and Tyrone Carter were on PA KFAN this morning and both commented on liking what Claeys is doing.

Pete Najarian was on the pregame radio show on Saturday and gushed a bit about how Claeys is doing.

Lee Hutton tweeting out his excitement for the Wisconsin game this week and how proud he is of Claeys, his staff, and players.

Seems that the support is there and any complaining is contained to Gopherhole. That's a good step.
Click to expand...

I'm completely shocked...:p
 



Hates Monikers said:
Sean Hoffman on Gopher Lady's podcast is an example of a player who is not high on Claeys. There are a lot of former Gophers out there; not many on the air. I'm not saying they don't support him, but we really don't know.

We have to find Jim Carter for the definitive answer.
Click to expand...

We already know. He's used a moniker and as been demanding that Claeys be fired for awhile now....:D
 

Hates Monikers said:
Sean Hoffman on Gopher Lady's podcast is an example of a player who is not high on Claeys. There are a lot of former Gophers out there; not many on the air. I'm not saying they don't support him, but we really don't know.

We have to find Jim Carter for the definitive answer.
Click to expand...

Carter commented on what he sees in practice from TC and how the players react and practice. Very complimentary of TC...
 

Beginning with Kill and continuing under Claeys, the Gophers have played at a consistently higher level on defense than I can ever recall before (at least since back to back Rose Bowl seasons). I've always felt it was lack of that level of defensive play that has stood in the way of a break out season. Imagine the current defense playing with one of Mason's top offensive teams. I've seen the defensive performance level steadily improve over the last few years to the degree that I'd say it's officially a trend. I'd hate to walk away from that by pulling the plug on Claeys after his first full year at head coach. While I was totally disappointed by the inability to finish against Iowa, Penn State and Nebraska, I've seen enough to be totally comfortable with the direction Claeys is headed. I love the effort level he gets from his players, and I love the type of players he's got coming into the program.

I've lived through a lot of years of inconsistent play where we've knocked off a Michigan or OSU and then gotten stomped by Indiana. I appreciate that we've managed to beat every team we were supposed to beat this year, and be seriously competitive in every game we've lost. I can live with that.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
Interesting to hear alums starting to really be outspoken in support of Claeys. They seem to really like the way he is doing thing. Ron Johnson and Tyrone Carter were on PA KFAN this morning and both commented on liking what Claeys is doing.

Pete Najarian was on the pregame radio show on Saturday and gushed a bit about how Claeys is doing.

Lee Hutton tweeting out his excitement for the Wisconsin game this week and how proud he is of Claeys, his staff, and players.

Seems that the support is there and any complaining is contained to Gopherhole. That's a good step.
Click to expand...

In all honesty, the discussion of whether or not Claeys deserves an extension is pure lunacy. It was pure lunacy BEFORE the NW win. It is pure lunacy for the following reasons.

Our program is in its best shape in over a decade (probably since around 2003ish).

I'm not re-hashing an old debate, but we are better today than when we fired Mason. The 2006 team almost lost to NDSU (a much worse version of NDSU than now). All of our wins were against bad teams and we went 6-6. When Mason was fired, the cupboard was bare. That contributed to the Tim Brewster dumpster fire. If Claeys was fired today, the next coach would be walking into a team with its best players all being JRs and SOs. I understand Mason built up a lot of equity that Claeys has not. I get it. I am just pointing out that our program is its best shape since the middle of the Mason years.

The critics will then point to recruiting. . .

We know very little about Tracy Claeys and his staff when it comes to recruiting. Recruiting is all about bringing in as much talent as you can to the program. Ranking services do matter, they are accurate and they do a decent job of predicting future success. However, for programs who can't bring those highly recruited players in, they must flourish at identifying under the radar guys and utilizing them in the right system. I normally wouldn't get into this debate because Claeys is in his first year as a coach because it is impossible to judge recruiting that early. However, since it has been brought up by the naysayers. . . this might be our best FR class in my lifetime. And, I'm in my 30's. Carter, Martin, Winfield, Devers have all showed that they can play at the Big 10 level, already. They are true freshman. It really looks like the first class Claeys signed will be special. Now, I realize that most of this recruiting was done with Kill as the head coach, my point is that, at a minimum, the jury is still out Claeys as a recruiter. We have to wait a year or two from now to really judge him on that point.


As far as the bulk of players supporting him, well yeah. They lived it. They understand that 8 wins, with a chance at 9 and then a Bowl Game equals a good season at Minnesota. Most of them probably only had 1 year that good and it was their highlight season.
 



The problem with changes is that they usually lead to the opposite. They would look for someone with an offensive philosophy. That would be a huge mistake. I think Johnson and Miller can continue to improve this offense while the defense leads the team. If that is the case, there will be on field success and recruits should follow.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
The problem with changes is that they usually lead to the opposite. They would look for someone with an offensive philosophy. That would be a huge mistake. I think Johnson and Miller can continue to improve this offense while the defense leads the team. If that is the case, there will be on field success and recruits should follow.
Click to expand...

I've been posting all year that the offense only needs to get a little better...ranked in the 60-70s...not around 100...with this defense. Look no further than our opponent on Saturday.
 

Old Goph said:
I've lived through a lot of years of inconsistent play where we've knocked off a Michigan or OSU and then gotten stomped by Indiana. I appreciate that we've managed to beat every team we were supposed to beat this year, and be seriously competitive in every game we've lost.
Click to expand...

This is a very underrated point. People dismiss the importance of holding serve and beating the teams that you're supposed to beat, which we've done at (I think) a 100% clip since Claeys took over. I posted this in a different thread, but we'll end the regular season favored in (I think) 8 out of 12 games this year, and probably end with an 8-4 record. It wasn't very long ago that we'd routinely be favored in (at most) 4-5 games per year. It's a big deal, regardless of what the naysayers think. And they want to hold it against Claeys, that he's merely doing what he's supposed to be doing, without considering his role in getting the team to this point. It's also worth pointing out that we haven't been blown out by anyone, which happened with somewhat regular frequency under Kill, Brewster, and Mason.
 

I think a lot of folks mistakenly think that you pull yourself out of the ****ter to good.... and then you go just as fast from good to conference champ. I don't think that's true.

I think that expectation is kinda bonkers. Historically speaking we're back on a roll that we would have begged for only a few years ago....

Pulling the trigger left and right on coaches and etc is a good way to go from 8-3 to 3-8. Let's ride this out and see where it goes.
 

A_Slab_of_Bacon said:
I think a lot of folks mistakenly think that you pull yourself out of the ****ter to good.... and then you go just as fast from good to conference champ. I don't think that's true.

I think that expectation is kinda bonkers. Historically speaking we're back on a roll that we would have begged for only a few years ago....

Pulling the trigger left and right on coaches and etc is a good way to go from 8-3 to 3-8. Let's ride this out and see where it goes.
Click to expand...

Yup. I am totally bewildered by people demanding coaching change. Somehow they feel they can demand change on the internet and the Gophers will be better. Doesn't work that way in real life.
 

PMWinSTP said:
I've been posting all year that the offense only needs to get a little better...ranked in the 60-70s...not around 100...with this defense. Look no further than our opponent on Saturday.
Click to expand...

is the offense in the 100s now?
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
In all honesty, the discussion of whether or not Claeys deserves an extension is pure lunacy. It was pure lunacy BEFORE the NW win. It is pure lunacy for the following reasons.

Our program is in its best shape in over a decade (probably since around 2003ish).

I'm not re-hashing an old debate, but we are better today than when we fired Mason. The 2006 team almost lost to NDSU (a much worse version of NDSU than now). All of our wins were against bad teams and we went 6-6. When Mason was fired, the cupboard was bare. That contributed to the Tim Brewster dumpster fire. If Claeys was fired today, the next coach would be walking into a team with its best players all being JRs and SOs. I understand Mason built up a lot of equity that Claeys has not. I get it. I am just pointing out that our program is its best shape since the middle of the Mason years.

The critics will then point to recruiting. . .

We know very little about Tracy Claeys and his staff when it comes to recruiting. Recruiting is all about bringing in as much talent as you can to the program. Ranking services do matter, they are accurate and they do a decent job of predicting future success. However, for programs who can't bring those highly recruited players in, they must flourish at identifying under the radar guys and utilizing them in the right system. I normally wouldn't get into this debate because Claeys is in his first year as a coach because it is impossible to judge recruiting that early. However, since it has been brought up by the naysayers. . . this might be our best FR class in my lifetime. And, I'm in my 30's. Carter, Martin, Winfield, Devers have all showed that they can play at the Big 10 level, already. They are true freshman. It really looks like the first class Claeys signed will be special. Now, I realize that most of this recruiting was done with Kill as the head coach, my point is that, at a minimum, the jury is still out Claeys as a recruiter. We have to wait a year or two from now to really judge him on that point.


As far as the bulk of players supporting him, well yeah. They lived it. They understand that 8 wins, with a chance at 9 and then a Bowl Game equals a good season at Minnesota. Most of them probably only had 1 year that good and it was their highlight season.
Click to expand...

Well stated Bob Loblaw.
 

dpodoll68 said:
This is a very underrated point. People dismiss the importance of holding serve and beating the teams that you're supposed to beat, which we've done at (I think) a 100% clip since Claeys took over. I posted this in a different thread, but we'll end the regular season favored in (I think) 8 out of 12 games this year, and probably end with an 8-4 record. It wasn't very long ago that we'd routinely be favored in (at most) 4-5 games per year. It's a big deal, regardless of what the naysayers think. And they want to hold it against Claeys, that he's merely doing what he's supposed to be doing, without considering his role in getting the team to this point. It's also worth pointing out that we haven't been blown out by anyone, which happened with somewhat regular frequency under Kill, Brewster, and Mason.
Click to expand...

Agree 100%. A (false) counterpoint is that we aren't winning against very good teams.

People, there are always sh!tty teams in the B1G Conference. We were just always one of them!
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
In all honesty, the discussion of whether or not Claeys deserves an extension is pure lunacy. It was pure lunacy BEFORE the NW win. It is pure lunacy for the following reasons.

Our program is in its best shape in over a decade (probably since around 2003ish).

I'm not re-hashing an old debate, but we are better today than when we fired Mason. The 2006 team almost lost to NDSU (a much worse version of NDSU than now). All of our wins were against bad teams and we went 6-6. When Mason was fired, the cupboard was bare. That contributed to the Tim Brewster dumpster fire. If Claeys was fired today, the next coach would be walking into a team with its best players all being JRs and SOs. I understand Mason built up a lot of equity that Claeys has not. I get it. I am just pointing out that our program is its best shape since the middle of the Mason years.

The critics will then point to recruiting. . .

We know very little about Tracy Claeys and his staff when it comes to recruiting. Recruiting is all about bringing in as much talent as you can to the program. Ranking services do matter, they are accurate and they do a decent job of predicting future success. However, for programs who can't bring those highly recruited players in, they must flourish at identifying under the radar guys and utilizing them in the right system. I normally wouldn't get into this debate because Claeys is in his first year as a coach because it is impossible to judge recruiting that early. However, since it has been brought up by the naysayers. . . this might be our best FR class in my lifetime. And, I'm in my 30's. Carter, Martin, Winfield, Devers have all showed that they can play at the Big 10 level, already. They are true freshman. It really looks like the first class Claeys signed will be special. Now, I realize that most of this recruiting was done with Kill as the head coach, my point is that, at a minimum, the jury is still out Claeys as a recruiter. We have to wait a year or two from now to really judge him on that point.


As far as the bulk of players supporting him, well yeah. They lived it. They understand that 8 wins, with a chance at 9 and then a Bowl Game equals a good season at Minnesota. Most of them probably only had 1 year that good and it was their highlight season.
Click to expand...

Very well stated.
 





I've only read the last page of this thread, but I totally agree with the sentiment about Claeys, a young team and promise for the future. They seem consistent and take care of business. They need some time to graduate to the next level. Talk of him being fired is crazy.

In fact, As these "firing/extension" threads become more prominent, I've started to feel more concerned if Coyle has NOT had some discussion with Claeys about an extension. This is very much a long shot, but what if we do win in Madison on Saturday? Claeys would be a first year coach with a 9-3 record, possible share of the Big 10 West title, coming off a road victory against our biggest rival that was also ranked in the top 10. Basically, this would be one of the most successful seasons in the past 40 years. Just think about that for a few minutes...
 

A win on Saturday would cap the best season since probably 1999. That is the closest we have been to the Rose. Owl in my lifetime.
 

gophmeister said:
A win on Saturday would cap the best season since probably 1999. That is the closest we have been to the Rose. Owl in my lifetime.
Click to expand...


Not sure if you meant the Rose Bowl or Red Owl but either way it has been awhile since we have been to either.

IMG_1034.JPG
 


You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom