Reusse: Mark Coyle leaves his mark with coaching changes

BleedGopher

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per Pat:

Coyle has the personality of a beige wall in public, and enjoys releasing statements over answering questions. He also took credit with Kaler for ending the brief walkout in December 2016 by the Gophers’ football team, when the decisive outreach to the athletes involved neither of them.

What Coyle has been is aggressive in remaking the coaching staff.

He saw the need for an overhyped salesman in football and already had P.J. Fleck in his pocket when the Gophers went to San Diego for the Holiday Bowl on Dec. 27, 2016. That’s why he and Kaler looked as if the family dogs had died as Claeys’ team completed a 17-12 upset of Washington State.

Motzko was Coyle’s target all winter, as Lucia’s Gophers continued to play mediocre hockey in front of small audiences. Even with a successful season, Stollings made no connection with Minnesota prep coaches or fans — and it was an easy call to bring in the all-time connector, Whalen, experience and Lynx duties be danged.

Beige wall or not, Coyle has done the job in hiring coaches.

http://www.startribune.com/mark-coyle-leaves-his-mark-with-coaching-changes/479781023/

Go Gophers!!
 

You have to wonder if the men's BB coach had a different last name, there would be a change there also.

It seems like he makes hiring decisions based on media exposure.
 

He's "in the neighborhood".

I'm usually all up for knocking Coyle but Pat's hot takes here are terrible as usual.
 

His "big" hires have:
1. Never coached a game at any level.
2. Most recently fell flat on his face in an embarrassing loss as the top seed in the entire tourney.
3. Ended his first season by getting shut out twice in the same season, a feat that the biggest laughingstock in Gopher history also accomplished.
 

His "big" hires have:
1. Never coached a game at any level.
2. Most recently fell flat on his face in an embarrassing loss as the top seed in the entire tourney.
3. Ended his first season by getting shut out twice in the same season, a feat that the biggest laughingstock in Gopher history also accomplished.

1. Someone who will immediately improve recruiting and generate more interest in the program than it’s seen in years.
2. One of the most respected coaches in college hockey who turned SCSU into a perennial tournament team. Also coached team USA to the Gold Medal at the world juniors.
3. Arguably the hottest commodity in college football coaching at the time of his hiring who took lowly Western Michigan to the Cotton Bowl. Two time MAC coach of the year.
 


The multiple Frozen Fours I’ll be attending over the next few years will be because of Mark Coyle. When I’m sitting in Indianapolis watching the Gophers play in the Big Ten Championship it will be because of Mark Coyle. He is flat out the best AD we’ve had in my lifetime (I’m 42).
 

1. Someone who will immediately improve recruiting and generate more interest in the program than it’s seen in years.
2. One of the most respected coaches in college hockey who turned SCSU into a perennial tournament team. Also coached team USA to the Gold Medal at the world juniors.
3. Arguably the hottest commodity in college football coaching at the time of his hiring who took lowly Western Michigan to the Cotton Bowl. Two time MAC coach of the year.

The multiple Frozen Fours I’ll be attending over the next few years will be because of Mark Coyle. When I’m sitting in Indianapolis watching the Gophers play in the Big Ten Championship it will be because of Mark Coyle. He is flat out the best AD we’ve had in my lifetime (I’m 42).

POLLYANNA!
 

Coyle’s career summary has yet to be written - could be glorious, spotty, or Hindenburg-like. We just don’t know how the coaches will work out. His big decision in the near term will be what to do with Pitino if he continues to have underperforming teams most years. Hockey should be good despite the coach and phenomenal with the right one. PJ has question marks as far as delivering wins but he delivered on upping the recruiting profile and has a long leash. Very hopeful the team turns the corner this season and breaks through in year 3 or 4.

None of that has anything to do with how we feel about him as a public figure.
 

POLLYANNA!

Breaking the planes’ post was ridiculous. He cherry picks a single hockey game to criticize Motzko and two football games to criticize Fleck. Never mind the fact that both have track records of winning over their respective careers.
 



1. Someone who will immediately improve recruiting and generate more interest in the program than it’s seen in years.
2. One of the most respected coaches in college hockey who turned SCSU into a perennial tournament team. Also coached team USA to the Gold Medal at the world juniors.
3. Arguably the hottest commodity in college football coaching at the time of his hiring who took lowly Western Michigan to the Cotton Bowl. Two time MAC coach of the year.

You are correct on points 2/3. Great hires.
I love LW, but your point on #1 is pure speculation. No one has any clue if she can recruit or coach better than I could.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Breaking the planes’ post was ridiculous. He cherry picks a single hockey game to criticize Motzko and two football games to criticize Fleck. Never mind the fact that both have track records of winning over their respective careers.

You're right. I should be ecstatic that the hockey program was able to snare a guy with a 5-7 NCAA record in the NCAA tournament. And now that I look closer at Fleck's coaching record, I mean, wow! The guy's best win as a head coach is beating a Toledo team that went 9-4. Now, I'm not easily impressed, but that's really eye-opening!
 

You're right. I should be ecstatic that the hockey program was able to snare a guy with a 5-7 NCAA record in the NCAA tournament. And now that I look closer at Fleck's coaching record, I mean, wow! The guy's best win as a head coach is beating a Toledo team that went 9-4. Now, I'm not easily impressed, but that's really eye-opening!
You really don’t get it at all that’s obvious.
 




My opinion, obviously too early to tell if any of these hires win us championships.

But the one thing you have to give Coyle credit for, whether you like him or not, is when he has a opening, he seems to already have his #1 choice in mind, and he goes out (without a search firm) and hires the person quickly and effectively.

This is something that is really unusual for U of M sports.
(1. Hiring the #1 target and
2. doing so without a ton of bureaucracy / search firms)

I think he's doing an excellent job so far, but the way the football walkout was handled, he didn't get out in front of that like he should.
 

And now that I look closer at Fleck's coaching record, I mean, wow! The guy's best win as a head coach is beating a Toledo team that went 9-4. Now, I'm not easily impressed, but that's really eye-opening!

Kill's best win before coming to Minnesota was beating an 8-5 Fresno St team. So by your logic Fleck > Kill
 

My opinion, obviously too early to tell if any of these hires win us championships.

But the one thing you have to give Coyle credit for, whether you like him or not, is when he has a opening, he seems to already have his #1 choice in mind, and he goes out (without a search firm) and hires the person quickly and effectively.

This is something that is really unusual for U of M sports.
(1. Hiring the #1 target and
2. doing so without a ton of bureaucracy / search firms)

You don't think an adjunct professor of art history ought to have a say in who the football coach is? Come on, become enlightened.
 

You really don’t get it at all that’s obvious.
Pour me some Kool-aid, Page, cause a lot of the skeptics have 50 years of mediocrity, scandal and failure to overcome.
 


I have been highly critical of how Coyle handled the Claeys firing, but if he was going to hire someone new at that time, Fleck would have been my choice. Motzko is also a great hire - only knock against him is age.
Whalen is a very high risk high reward hire. Love Lindsey as a player and she bleeds maroon and gold, but she's also never coached any basketball. She will need to hire some very experienced assistants.
In the end I hope Coyle goes down as the greatest AD in Gophers history because that means we've had some great teams.
 

I'd hope so. Kill couldn't deliver Big Ten Championships. They're a foregone conclusion with Fleck.

I would sure hope that the fans expect the new coach/PJ to leads us to the B1G title. It’s called optimism, many also had it with Kill or Brew.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

My opinion, obviously too early to tell if any of these hires win us championships.

But the one thing you have to give Coyle credit for, whether you like him or not, is when he has a opening, he seems to already have his #1 choice in mind, and he goes out (without a search firm) and hires the person quickly and effectively.

This is something that is really unusual for U of M sports.
(1. Hiring the #1 target and
2. doing so without a ton of bureaucracy / search firms)

I think he's doing an excellent job so far, but the way the football walkout was handled, he didn't get out in front of that like he should.

I am not a Coyle fan - but I still think getting the U to pay what was needed to get PJ was an incredible accomplishment no other AD has accomplished.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Passage of time and the Big Ten Won/loss percentages will set the record straight. Time will tell with all sports at the U. LW, PJF. DP & Motzko. Beat the stinking badger, GOPHER! Good luck to all. They are all tough gigs. They each face the hype, the big bucks, the tv competition and the competition for selling tickets from the NFL, NHL NBA WNBA and even soccer & MLB. It is a hard, cold world to compete for the hard, cold cash in the hard, cold world of the sports fan...
 




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