Fox 9: AD Mark Coyle belives better days ahead for Gophers Football

Thank you for those replies as they only reinforced my point. Coyle gets the blame while Claeys gets a pass. Nevermind the fact that he is the head frickin coach. Nevermind the fact that these are his players and his responsibility. Nevermind the fact that the recruit involved has parents who trusted that their son would be properly taken care of. Nevermind the fact that Claeys didn't kick the involved players off the team and end this whole thing in September. It was Claeys' program, it was Claeys' players, and it's Claeys' mess.

Thank you Mr Coyle. You are wrong, but thanks for playing.
 


Thank you for those replies as they only reinforced my point. Coyle gets the blame while Claeys gets a pass. Nevermind the fact that he is the head frickin coach. Nevermind the fact that these are his players and his responsibility. Nevermind the fact that the recruit involved has parents who trusted that their son would be properly taken care of. Nevermind the fact that Claeys didn't kick the involved players off the team and end this whole thing in September. It was Claeys' program, it was Claeys' players, and it's Claeys' mess.

I agree with you. I just don't quite understand all of the love for Claeys. Afterall, it was Claeys who wrote his own obituary when he himself agreed to the 3-year deal with very low buyout before any of this happened knowing that a new AD will be coming in and could very likely agree to bring in his own coach regardless of the wins/losses in 2016.

Coyle's job status will ultimately depend on the success of the football, basketball and hockey programs. Can you blame him for wanting to bring in his own guy? Have you ever thought that maybe Coyle was getting some pressure from some big-time boosters to bring in some new leadership for the football program? While Claeys was a very good coach, he just did not seem to connect with the fans and get them excited. Sure, they won 9 games, but look who they beat. They didn't win a single trophy game. Attendance for Iowa, Rutgers (homecoming) and Northwestern were all very disappointing. This team should have won 10 or 11 games in my mind.

We have seen what PJ Fleck has done in just a few weeks with his recruiting. I also read that the Signing Day Social is sold out as well. Has this ever sold out before? People are actually talking about Gopher football again which is exciting.
 

Nevermind the fact that the recruit involved has parents who trusted that their son would be properly taken care of.

Wait what does that mean?

How were these players not taken care of?
 

Thank you for those replies as they only reinforced my point. Coyle gets the blame while Claeys gets a pass. Nevermind the fact that he is the head frickin coach. Nevermind the fact that these are his players and his responsibility. Nevermind the fact that the recruit involved has parents who trusted that their son would be properly taken care of. Nevermind the fact that Claeys didn't kick the involved players off the team and end this whole thing in September. It was Claeys' program, it was Claeys' players, and it's Claeys' mess.

Coyle could have fired Claeys in September over the incident and specifically the recruit being involved. He didn't. Once he didn't do anything he is involved.

If the incident was why Claeys was fired, it needed to be done in September to have any moral high ground. He fired Claeys in late December because he felt he could get a better coach- that would be fine if he would just admit it. He won't.
 



Coyle could have fired Claeys in September over the incident and specifically the recruit being involved. He didn't. Once he didn't do anything he is involved.

If the incident was why Claeys was fired, it needed to be done in September to have any moral high ground. He fired Claeys in late December because he felt he could get a better coach- that would be fine if he would just admit it. He won't.

You don't get it Winnipegopher... this was all very inconvenient for Coyle. I mean how is a guy supposed to sit in his office all day?
 


Coyle could have fired Claeys in September over the incident and specifically the recruit being involved. He didn't. Once he didn't do anything he is involved.

If the incident was why Claeys was fired, it needed to be done in September to have any moral high ground. He fired Claeys in late December because he felt he could get a better coach- that would be fine if he would just admit it. He won't.

Except the EOAA report wasn't done in September. Why would you fire someone in the middle of a season after the players were cleared by the police?
 




What is / was Tracy supposed to do about that?

Seriously?? This is what I mean when I say Claeys gets a pass. It's HIS program that recruit was visiting. That recruit for that weekend is Tracy Claeys responsibility. It comes with the territory of leading a program.
 

Seriously?? This is what I mean when I say Claeys gets a pass. It's HIS program that recruit was visiting. That recruit for that weekend is Tracy Claeys responsibility. It comes with the territory of leading a program.

He's not there due.

Best you can do is teach the kids and hope they make the right choice. Being human they won't sometimes. They're not robots.
 





Except the EOAA report wasn't done in September. Why would you fire someone in the middle of a season after the players were cleared by the police?

You are firing Claeys in September because a 17 year old recruit was brought into that situation. Claeys, Coyle, Kaler all knew that the recruit was involved in September. Once that is tolerated, any moral high ground is gone.
 

You are firing Claeys in September because a 17 year old recruit was brought into that situation. Claeys, Coyle, Kaler all knew that the recruit was involved in September. Once that is tolerated, any moral high ground is gone.

Completely agree.
 

You think he was fired for no reason?

From Coyles statement:
I determined that the football program must move in a new direction to address challenges in recruiting, ticket sales and the culture of the program. We need strong leadership to take Gopher football to the next level and address these challenges. - See more at: http://btn.com/2017/01/03/read-minn...-on-tracy-claeys-firing/#sthash.33C1aMo1.dpuf

Challenges in Recruiting? Signing day was still 2 months away when he made this statement. You can speculate all you want, but nobody can say for certain that the recruiting was a challenge for Coach Claeys.
Ticket Sales? There were many factors that led to lower ticket sales. From the donation fiasco for Mega, to the not so great schedule. Neither of those were things Claeys had any control over. Along with that, the complete negative take on the season by the media and people on here also didn't help. I also feel the lack of a better long term deal for Tracy played a role in that negativity. That was his mistake when he signed on to be the Head Coach.
Culture? Yes there was the incident from Sept. 2. But that was one thing with some players. The culture within the program also produced 27 All-Academic Big Ten Players, a team GPA above 3 and an APR in the 90th percentile in the country. Along with that they did many great things in and around the U.
So the reasons given for his firing were indeed untrue.

Now, I get that Coyle can do whatever he wants. Just be truthful about it and don't make stuff up and be negative to both Kill and Cleays in doing it. All he had to say is we are making a change and I want to thank Coach Claeys for maintaining the foundation the was started with Kill and Claeys. That is why I don't have any faith in what Coyle says.

I am also excited with the hiring of PJF. He has brought some excitement that hasn't been seen around here for awhile. I support the program and hope to see it reach the next level of competing for BIG Championships and more. SKI-U-MAH!!
 

There is plenty of blame to go around to both of them.
Where the differences happen in that blame are:
Claeys was a first time head coach and Coyle was a seasoned athletic director.
First time people in any job make some poor decisions and learn from them as they go. People who have been around a position for sometime are there to help out new people and help them grow from those decisions. Coyle did none of that.
Then in the end he used that as a reason(one of many that were all untrue) to get rid of Claeys. To me those are the reasons I have no faith or trust in anything Coyle says.

Can we all at least agree that we hate Kaler?
 


From Coyles statement:
I determined that the football program must move in a new direction to address challenges in recruiting, ticket sales and the culture of the program. We need strong leadership to take Gopher football to the next level and address these challenges. - See more at: http://btn.com/2017/01/03/read-minn...-on-tracy-claeys-firing/#sthash.33C1aMo1.dpuf

Challenges in Recruiting? Signing day was still 2 months away when he made this statement. You can speculate all you want, but nobody can say for certain that the recruiting was a challenge for Coach Claeys.
Ticket Sales? There were many factors that led to lower ticket sales. From the donation fiasco for Mega, to the not so great schedule. Neither of those were things Claeys had any control over. Along with that, the complete negative take on the season by the media and people on here also didn't help. I also feel the lack of a better long term deal for Tracy played a role in that negativity. That was his mistake when he signed on to be the Head Coach.
Culture? Yes there was the incident from Sept. 2. But that was one thing with some players. The culture within the program also produced 27 All-Academic Big Ten Players, a team GPA above 3 and an APR in the 90th percentile in the country. Along with that they did many great things in and around the U.
So the reasons given for his firing were indeed untrue.

Now, I get that Coyle can do whatever he wants. Just be truthful about it and don't make stuff up and be negative to both Kill and Cleays in doing it. All he had to say is we are making a change and I want to thank Coach Claeys for maintaining the foundation the was started with Kill and Claeys. That is why I don't have any faith in what Coyle says.

I am also excited with the hiring of PJF. He has brought some excitement that hasn't been seen around here for awhile. I support the program and hope to see it reach the next level of competing for BIG Championships and more. SKI-U-MAH!!

Yup. Coyle is a liar and covers his a$$ at every turn.

Tell weather guy. He thinks Coyle is a great leader and manager.
 

Coyle did not handle the scandal and the firing of Claeys very well we all agree on that but it was one incident. What if we were all judged by one incident that we happened to not handle well? You don't know the man calling him a sleazeball is over the top. He was quite respected prior to coming here. I'm willing to give him more time to prove himself and show who he is.

Well, you are entitled to your opinion, but I do not agree. There were multiple steps along the way for this "one incident" where I think we got to see exactly what MC is all about. Folks show their true colors in tough situations and MC did just that. I learned everything I need to know about him.


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Oh no - a sleazeball AD! Sadly that is what is needed to succeed in the NCAA. We should get used to it - we experienced what it was like to have a 'nice' AD (Maturi) and people were not satisfied. I welcome the sleaze. Claeys was fired because he was average and we finally have an AD that doesn't feel that we need to cap ourselves at average.

No matter the results, this was a good move - it's encouraging. Fleck is enthusiastic and telegenic. We will at least get the benefit of coverage for a length of time to see if he can coach. Attractiveness matters.
 

Oh no - a sleazeball AD! Sadly that is what is needed to succeed in the NCAA. We should get used to it - we experienced what it was like to have a 'nice' AD (Maturi) and people were not satisfied. I welcome the sleaze. Claeys was fired because he was average and we finally have an AD that doesn't feel that we need to cap ourselves at average.

No matter the results, this was a good move - it's encouraging. Fleck is enthusiastic and telegenic. We will at least get the benefit of coverage for a length of time to see if he can coach. Attractiveness matters.

Guess we should have kept Norwood, huh?
 

I think it is very hard to separate Mark Coyle and whatever you think of him and PJ Fleck. Fleck has clearly said that he and Coyle connected on the values and vision of a football program. If you think Coyle is a "sleazeball", then that is an indictment of PJ Fleck's character and values. The only other option would be that Fleck failed to do his due diligence to investigate what happened with the player boycott situation, and I very much doubt that.
Fleck not only made the choice to lead the Gopher Football Program, he elected to do it with Coyle. No ethical head coach elects to join an athletic program of an AD that they think is a "sleazeball", especially when he likely would've had other options following the next season at WMU.
Please explain to me otherwise, just how you separate Fleck's ethics from Coyle's?
 

I think it is very hard to separate Mark Coyle and whatever you think of him and PJ Fleck. Fleck has clearly said that he and Coyle connected on the values and vision of a football program. If you think Coyle is a "sleazeball", then that is an indictment of PJ Fleck's character and values. The only other option would be that Fleck failed to do his due diligence to investigate what happened with the player boycott situation, and I very much doubt that.
Fleck not only made the choice to lead the Gopher Football Program, he elected to do it with Coyle. No ethical head coach elects to join an athletic program of an AD that they think is a "sleazeball", especially when he likely would've had other options following the next season at WMU.
Please explain to me otherwise, just how you separate Fleck's ethics from Coyle's?

You can't be serious...
 

I think it is very hard to separate Mark Coyle and whatever you think of him and PJ Fleck. Fleck has clearly said that he and Coyle connected on the values and vision of a football program. If you think Coyle is a "sleazeball", then that is an indictment of PJ Fleck's character and values. The only other option would be that Fleck failed to do his due diligence to investigate what happened with the player boycott situation, and I very much doubt that.
Fleck not only made the choice to lead the Gopher Football Program, he elected to do it with Coyle. No ethical head coach elects to join an athletic program of an AD that they think is a "sleazeball", especially when he likely would've had other options following the next season at WMU.
Please explain to me otherwise, just how you separate Fleck's ethics from Coyle's?

What?

At what point did I ever bring up Coach Fleck?

I can think of 3.5 million reasons a year that PJ would take this job regardless of who is AD. Honestly his statements regarding Coyle at his presser seemed as though they were written by Coyle and I would not be surprised if a strong endorsement/show of unity with the AD at the presser was a part of the contract negotiations (Though if someone was giving me that type of money, I'd probably kiss their ass too with or without negotiations).

I've no reason to question Coach Fleck's character because he hasn't shown that he is lacking any. Whereas Coyle has shown reasons to doubt his.

Please take your strawman argument somewhere else
 


I think it is very hard to separate Mark Coyle and whatever you think of him and PJ Fleck. Fleck has clearly said that he and Coyle connected on the values and vision of a football program. If you think Coyle is a "sleazeball", then that is an indictment of PJ Fleck's character and values. The only other option would be that Fleck failed to do his due diligence to investigate what happened with the player boycott situation, and I very much doubt that.
Fleck not only made the choice to lead the Gopher Football Program, he elected to do it with Coyle. No ethical head coach elects to join an athletic program of an AD that they think is a "sleazeball", especially when he likely would've had other options following the next season at WMU.
Please explain to me otherwise, just how you separate Fleck's ethics from Coyle's?

Norwood brought on Pitino, so....how's your logic work with that one?
 

You can't be serious...
I'm completely serious. I'm seeing a lot of outrage, but I'm not seeing any rational explanations as to why a head coach would chose to work for an AD that he thought was a "sleazeball".
Curveball says it was simply for the money. Wrong! Coaches don't take jobs just b/c of the money, and I'd question his logic or character if he did. Fleck was going to make a bunch of money at his next job wherever that may have been. Fleck specifically pointed out his mutual vision for the program with Coyle as being the key factor in his decision to take this job.
We can believe your non-theories or money theory, or we can believe Fleck's own words. Are you saying he's just BSing us?
 

I'm completely serious. I'm seeing a lot of outrage, but I'm not seeing any rational explanations as to why a head coach would chose to work for an AD that he thought was a "sleazeball".
Curveball says it was simply for the money. Wrong! Coaches don't take jobs just b/c of the money, and I'd question his logic or character if he did. Fleck was going to make a bunch of money at his next job wherever that may have been. Fleck specifically pointed out his mutual vision for the program with Coyle as being the key factor in his decision to take this job.
We can believe your non-theories or money theory, or we can believe Fleck's own words. Are you saying he's just BSing us?

Didn't Fleck say that Minnesota was his dream job, and they when he heard it was open he and his wife knew this was the place ?
 




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