Letter from Tracy Claeys

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Tlsbhansen said:
Has anyone informed PJ of this? ; )
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Or has anyone told GWG who has informed us all in no uncertain terms that the Coach IS the program?


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Studwell55 said:
I still like Tracy and I believe he was treated very poorly.

But I've moved on and so should he.
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After the report came out with it's theme of it was all the coaching staff's fault and with most of the media drumming that theme along, expecting him not to respond would be pretty unreasonable.

If he said nothing, it would seem as if he agreed with them.

Which would have been a much worse response.
 


We fired a good man, it's done with and there is no going back. What gets me is all of you that continue to say that Claeys is not head coaching material. What? He went 9-4 and was respected by his players. For those of you that think Fleck is the second coming of God's gift to coaching, beware! I hope Fleck leads us to the promised land, and when does he is not God, he's not even Moses.
 

Spoofin said:
Or has anyone told GWG who has informed us all in no uncertain terms that the Coach IS the program?


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Still the truth. Without a coach, there is no program.
 



Something that just occurred to me: I can't help comparing the way Mark Coyle handled this whole thing to the way Theo Epstein handled it when the Cubs got rid of Rick Renteria in favor of Joe Madden (I will grant the situations aren't identical as there was no sex scandal hanging over the Cubs). But if Coyle had just shown a little more decency and owned up to what he was doing, this would have gone a lot better for everyone. There's no easy way to tell someone you're letting them go in favor of someone you think is better for the job. But at least Epstein had the decency to publicly admit it was difficult, praise Renteria, and take the high road to the extent possible. With Coyle we got muddled communications and veiled shots at the "culture" of a program that was in a hell of a lot better shape when Claeys left than when he got there. I cannot blame him for bearing a grudge.
 


So this winning 9 games for only the second time since 1905 stuff annoys the hell out of me. Forty (40!) times since 1905, the Gophers have had fewer than the 4 losses they had in 2016. The Gophers also won 6 of their 7 national titles post 1905. It's tough to win 9 games when you often only played 8. A year when you go 9-4 and lose both of your rivalry games should not be touted as some huge accomplishment and you certainly shouldn't be glossing over NATIONAL TITLE years to pat yourself on the back.
 



dpodoll68 said:
Sure there is. Teams have existed without coaches before. The only 100% necessary ingredient is the players.
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When 100+ years ago? Who brings the players to the school? Do they just show up unannounced, draw plays in the sand, and we all pile into stadiums on Saturdays to watch it?
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
When 100+ years ago? Who brings the players to the school? Do they just show up unannounced, draw plays in the sand, and we all pile into stadiums on Saturdays to watch it?
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The players self-select to the school, just as they did when there were no coaches, and still do now on occasion. It is certainly not ideal, but it is possible. You don't need plays, or stadiums, or even a crowd. On the other hand, you absolutely cannot play football without players. Your statement is demonstrably false.
 

HoustonTXGopher said:
We fired a good man, it's done with and there is no going back. What gets me is all of you that continue to say that Claeys is not head coaching material. What? He went 9-4 and was respected by his players. For those of you that think Fleck is the second coming of God's gift to coaching, beware! I hope Fleck leads us to the promised land, and when does he is not God, he's not even Moses.
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1. This is how I feel too.
2. I also agree with others who have commented on the quality of writing in Claeys' letter. Not a smoothly written document.
3. I get the feeling that Coyle was hired with the condition that he fire Claeys.
4. I wish Claeys the best of luck. I hope that he gets another shot to be a HC. If not, I'm sure that he will be a great DC somewhere. I have followed this team since 1972 and Claeys is by far the best DC we have ever had.
5. My wife and I have discussed this, although I have not seen it commented here - Because Claeys is obese he was easier (not the only reason) to fire. We believe that obesity is one of the last acceptable forms of discrimination.
6. I am excited for the season and hope that Fleck leads us to many great victories, but Claeys got hosed.
Go Gophers!
 

EG#9 said:
So this winning 9 games for only the second time since 1905 stuff annoys the hell out of me. Forty (40!) times since 1905, the Gophers have had fewer than the 4 losses they had in 2016. The Gophers also won 6 of their 7 national titles post 1905. It's tough to win 9 games when you often only played 8. A year when you go 9-4 and lose both of your rivalry games should not be touted as some huge accomplishment and you certainly shouldn't be glossing over NATIONAL TITLE years to pat yourself on the back.
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Thought the was little odd myself. Though no, it didn't "annoy the hell out of me". ;)

Luckily all that info is available to the public. They did indeed play 12 games in 1898 and 1902. They played 12 games in 1900 and 1902. They played 11 in 1901 and 1905. They played 13 in 1904 and 15 in 1903.

They started playing 10 games again in 1931. 8 games until 1942 when they started playing 9 games. They started playing 10 in '67. Would have played '11 if they got to the Rose Bowl.

The 11 game schedule started in '71 with a Bowl Game making a 12 games season a possibility.

There was a 12 game season in '97. It became official in '99.

Oh and they've only had a 9 game Big Ten Conference Schedule since..last year.

But stating all of that would be damn exhausting.

Now Claeys or anybody else could list all THOSE qualifiers or ignoring them.

I would have gone with "the 2nd 9 win season officially since 1905, but realistically since '97".

His was was more concise.

Though your way was interesting. Hope nobody wants you to help them write their resume. :cool:
 



dpodoll68 said:
The players self-select to the school, just as they did when there were no coaches, and still do now on occasion. It is certainly not ideal, but it is possible. You don't need plays, or stadiums, or even a crowd. On the other hand, you absolutely cannot play football without players. Your statement is demonstrably false.
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I'm still waiting for the example of when college football teams played without a coach. Even if it happened a long time ago, it could not happen today. Players today choose a school because of the coach far more than because of the school. Why would they show up to play if a coach didn't want them?

If my statement is false, then Alabama would always be Alabama. Their program must have been exactly the same under Mike Shula as it is under Nick Saban or was under Bear Bryant. Ohio St. would always be Ohio St. Minnesota would always be Minnesota. It must be just pure luck that the the Gophers program went from winning national championships and Big Ten titles, to a mediocre to bad program for the last 50 years.

If the program is the same regardless of coach, why not just plug anyone at coach? Players show up to Minnesota just because it's called Minnesota right?
 

Coaching at a Big Ten University is more than just winning games and having players look up to you.


Some of you won't ever understand this.
 

xyz1 said:
Something that just occurred to me: I can't help comparing the way Mark Coyle handled this whole thing to the way Theo Epstein handled it when the Cubs got rid of Rick Renteria in favor of Joe Madden (I will grant the situations aren't identical as there was no sex scandal hanging over the Cubs). But if Coyle had just shown a little more decency and owned up to what he was doing, this would have gone a lot better for everyone. There's no easy way to tell someone you're letting them go in favor of someone you think is better for the job. But at least Epstein had the decency to publicly admit it was difficult, praise Renteria, and take the high road to the extent possible. With Coyle we got muddled communications and veiled shots at the "culture" of a program that was in a hell of a lot better shape when Claeys left than when he got there. I cannot blame him for bearing a grudge.
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You are 100% right. I have said the same thing on here more than once. Firing TC is not what gets most people upset - it is how MC did it.... with a load of BS and dishonesty. It was his right to do so and if he would have just said, "I want my guy" there wouldn't be 10% of the angst there is about letting Claeys go. On the bright side, between that and the way he handled the scandal - anyone paying attention knows everything they need to about who & what Mark Coyle is.


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denguegopher said:
1. This is how I feel too.
2. I also agree with others who have commented on the quality of writing in Claeys' letter. Not a smoothly written document.
3. I get the feeling that Coyle was hired with the condition that he fire Claeys.
4. I wish Claeys the best of luck. I hope that he gets another shot to be a HC. If not, I'm sure that he will be a great DC somewhere. I have followed this team since 1972 and Claeys is by far the best DC we have ever had.
5. My wife and I have discussed this, although I have not seen it commented here - Because Claeys is obese he was easier (not the only reason) to fire. We believe that obesity is one of the last acceptable forms of discrimination.
6. I am excited for the season and hope that Fleck leads us to many great victories, but Claeys got hosed.
Go Gophers!
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I made reference to this a while ago in a different thread. I believe Coyle didn't think Claeys should be the face of the program with his appearance. Coyle was looking for anything he could to get rid of Tracy. Coyle could have defended the tweet and came out right away against abuse but instead he let it fester and grow into an easy excuse to fire the coach.
 

I think I remember reading or hearing that Claeys was going to take a year off from coaching, and then look for a job for next year.

And he will land a job. His audition tape is ready and waiting to go - it's called the Holiday Bowl. The game where a team missing key players went out and played tremendous defense to shut down the Pirate's vaunted offense and defeated a higher-rated team.

Tracy Claeys will be coaching in a year - most likely as a Defensive Coordinator. Other coaches are not going to hold the incident against him. They know that they could just as easily be in the same situation.
 


Claeys will be a good coordinator again someday but he shouldn't be a head coach

Still can't believe he let the clock run out against Michigan
 


short ornery norwegian said:
I think I remember reading or hearing that Claeys was going to take a year off from coaching, and then look for a job for next year.

And he will land a job. His audition tape is ready and waiting to go - it's called the Holiday Bowl. The game where a team missing key players went out and played tremendous defense to shut down the Pirate's vaunted offense and defeated a higher-rated team.

Tracy Claeys will be coaching in a year - most likely as a Defensive Coordinator. Other coaches are not going to hold the incident against him. They know that they could just as easily be in the same situation.
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Bingo
 


Claeys didn't have the guts to tell Coyle he disagreed with the decision to suspend the players and then threw him under the bus during the player boycott fiasco. He deserved to get fired for that reason alone. However, by that time it should have been apparent to every Gopher fan that Claeys had lost control of the team both on and off the field. Gang bangs, underage drinking by players and recruits, too many stupid penalties, and a team boycott are more than enough evidence. Coyle's handing of the firing was spot on. No lies and no BS. He said exactly what Gopher fans needed to hear.
 

Claeys showed poor leadship in at least a couple of instances.
- somehow a large group of players were not clear on how they should represent the team/university in that they thought it was acceptable to treat a woman the way they did. Also, how can a host of an under age recruit not have clearly defined rules on what is acceptable behavior? They should clearly know that tag teaming a coed with a recruit is not acceptable!
- Claeys advised the players in the team meeting before he read the report. He new the report existed, he should have told they players to delay the meeting until he knew the "facts".

The donations and community enthusiasm died after Kill left. Trays is a good guys, an excellent coach, but he didn't have the charisma to light a fire under the fan base.


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Been waiting but finally for me I now have closure on the whole sordid affair. Thanks Coach Claeys for finishing this off...at least for me.

Still am neutral at best toward the AD...and even less respect for Kaler...but the Kill/Claeys era of Gopher football is the past.

A week and counting before we get to see Fleckball at the U of M.

I for one am hoping we for once come out and thoroughly dominate in the first game...even with uncertainty at QB.

Haven't seen THAT in a LONG time...but hope remains eternal. THAT would bode well for the remaining 11 games...

Go Gophers!
 

Guilt is hard to ID as the girl willingly was cavorting with more than one man - then it got out of control. It is undeniable that the men were denied due process by the university, something that has engendered lawsuits all over the nation in similar cases. Alleged criminal behavior requires police/court overview from the beginning.
Tracy was a good coach - maybe better than good - and will get another opportunity.
 

Great Plains Gopher said:
Tracy was a good coach - maybe better than good - and will get another opportunity.
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I think that's kind of the point people have tried to make over the last number of months and even longer.

Tracy is a good coach. He's good at Xs and Os. But being the head coach at a Power 5 football program is about more than just Xs and Os. Most head coaches are actually more like the CEOs of their program. There are a few who call plays, but that's very rare.

And that's just game day. What about the other stuff a coach does during the week, meeting with boosters and businesses. Was that something people saw Tracy doing well?

We've all seen over the past month a bit of a behind-the-scenes look at Fleck's program. Now compare that to Claeys' program.


Again, he's a good to great Xs and Os guy, but none of what I saw in that video generates any excitement for me as a fan. Yes success matters too, but you have success by recruiting good players and you get good recruits by selling your program.
 

In light of this new report, are there things I would’ve done differently? Certainly. First and foremost, I would’ve remained on campus with my team and coaches rather than attend a Holiday Bowl news conference in San Diego. I’m confident my presence would’ve better directed the conversation with our players and that I could’ve steered them toward something other than a decision to boycott the game.

I also would’ve refrained from using social media to state my support of the team’s decision. This was too complex and important of an issue to address in a 140-character message. It generated more questions than it answered and likely created more problems than it solved.

If that’s proof of “weak leadership” as outlined in the recent Dorsey & Whitney report, then I’m guilty and accept responsibility.
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It is proof of weak leadership, glad you finally get it and accept responsibility, but you almost seem to be writing this expecting we would read it and think the opposite.

I’m confident my presence would’ve better directed the conversation with our players and that I could’ve steered them toward something other than a decision to boycott the game.
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because your such a great leader you could have prevented the boycott if only you had been there? Then why couldn't you come back and end the boycott once it happened? Others had to step up and show leadership to make that happen while you cowered behind half supporting your team with a tweet and then regret of a tweet.

If he wanted any final warm fuzzies from gopher fans he should have just written a letter saying. Blah Blah 9-4 record, blah blah all about the kids, blah blah good luck in your future always be a gopher! Ski-U-Mah!

Instead he tries unsuccessfully to martyr himself and his smoking gun is that his boss one time in the past told him his job was safe.
 

HoustonTXGopher said:
We fired a good man, it's done with and there is no going back. What gets me is all of you that continue to say that Claeys is not head coaching material. What? He went 9-4 and was respected by his players. For those of you that think Fleck is the second coming of God's gift to coaching, beware! I hope Fleck leads us to the promised land, and when does he is not God, he's not even Moses.
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Lots of bad or unfortunate things happen to good people. Doesn't mean he is a great, or even good, head coach. He went 9-4 and didn't beat Penn State, Wisconsin or Iowa. So, while it was a good season as far as wins are concerned, he didn't beat any of our rivals. Wins are very important, but there are other things that go into being a HC that TC never really seemed to grasp. I honestly didn't want him to be let go, but I seriously feel better about the program now with Coach Fleck than I would have with Coach Claeys at the helm.

I wish him the best of luck. Odds are he probably never be a Head Coach again at the FBS level.
 

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