Case for Ken Niumatalolo of Navy as the HC

Donate To GopherHole
I kind of like "Dilly Bar Dan's" image for head coach of the Gophers. I have to confess when I first saw that picture I thought it was Claeys...

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
 

Wisconsin and Iowa have won without the triple option. We can win without the triple option. Bielema won at Wisconsin - he's not pretty, and he's not a very nice guy.

I like Tracy Claeys as a possible coach because he's well spoken, connects with kids well, seems to have the respect of his colleagues, and seems to know football pretty well.
 

snyds said:
I think there's a lot of coaches who could win at Minnesota. I think most of those guys are already at jobs where Minnesota would be considered at best a lateral move or at worst a step down.

My thinking is maybe think outside the box instead of keeping TC because you fear changing and want to keep the Kill era for ever or hiring the next MAC hot name or Power 5 Coordinator.
Click to expand...

You're making a big assumption there. If they feel the program is going in the right direction and like how Kill was doing, why is sticking with the same staff (minus Kill) mean they fear change? It could just mean they really like the way the program is going and think Claeys can pick up where Kill left off.

All we have to do is look at the Vikings to see a case of a coach being an assistant for a very long time before becoming a head coach. Zimmer was an assistant in college and the pros for over 30 years before his first head coaching job.

I'm not against bringing in Niumatalolo if they don't think Claeys will get it done, but I think it is ridiculous to just assumed Claeys can't get it done.
 

Coaching threads are stupid right now. There are no options other than Claeys since there is no permanent AD.
 

snyds said:
Claeys probably deserves a shot at the HC job but, let's be honest he doesn't pass the eyeball test of a HC / Face of the Program. Sorry but that's the truth (in my opinion), even if he gets the job he has a ceiling that is not that high. Is he really the guy who will take the team to the Conference Championship? Or is he a guy who everyone wants cause he's the closest thing to Kill?

He saves this years recruiting class, but what about future classes? I just can't see a 20 year assistant with no HC experience anywhere being a great face of a program in a conference loaded with big name, big personality HC's.

Obviously when ever a job like this comes up the best small conference guys get mentioned, Fleck and Campbell are those guys right now with some recruiting ties to the region.

Schiano is a program builder down right now who would probably jump at this job to get back in the game? His style of play isn't that far from Kill...

But the best candidate for long term success (ie win the Big 10) is Niumatalolo and the triple.

Minnesota will never be Michigan or Ohio State or MSU. They will only be Wisconsin every few years. The ceiling for them running the pro style or generic spread is low because they will always play teams who are better at it, who see it often and have better players. Minnesota will never out recruit OS / UM / MSU.

Look at what Paul Johnson did to Georgia Tech, same sort of situation, a school who was just plugging along but was going to struggle to ever beat the top ACC teams except in that once in a life time special year. His offense provided them with an advantage as it was different to prep for in a conference match up week, it allowed him to recruit players in his region who he could realistically land (guys who were maybe an inch too small or a tenth of a second too slow to end up at the top schools.

Niumatalolo is a PJ disciple, he's been mentioned at this job in 2010, Minnesota is a step up from Navy (scholarships, easier to recruit a kid if he doesn't have to join the Navy after etc). This hire would put Minnesota on the map and make it very interesting in the Big 10 in 2 years.

If Minnesota is serious about being a Big 10 champion they need to consider this hire.
Click to expand...

Ridiculous. Starting completely over is absolutely the last hing to do. This staff is the most cohesive group in football. Cleays is not Kill. Cleays was second in command and now on top. The recipe is not going to change with any significance with Cleays at the helm. It is foolish not to keep this staff intact here at the University with a contract no less than 4 years.
 


snyds said:
Guess I just want Minn to be more then Belk Bowl Champions once every 4 years.
Click to expand...

Ah, you're one of those "If you disagree with me, then you're okay with mediocrity" people. Pretty much impossible to have a conversation with these kinds of people.
 


Looks like someone needs to get that pesky little then/than thing figured out before they begin their ascendant and lucrative career as a coaching search consultant.
 

if we are going to suck for the next 10 years I'd buy tickets to watch the triple option :D
 



snyds said:
let's be honest he doesn't pass the eyeball test of a HC / Face of the Program. Sorry but that's the truth (in my opinion), even if he gets the job he has a ceiling that is not that high.
Click to expand...

Sounds like what many said about Kill.

Eyeball test....seriously! To quote Mason, "Are you nuts?"
 


snyds said:
Off topic but... PJ has been 1st in his division 4 times in 7 years at Tech
1 previous to him taking over (2006)

PJ has 1 ACC conference championship.
In the 60 years before PJ... 2

So say what you want, Johnson is winning more at Tech then they were before (by winning I mean winning con titles, not beating MAC teams).

57 for KN since 2008, 3
First off let me say besides navy for family reasons they're my number two team, but comparing win totals Navy has played multiple FCS teams in some years, schedule not nearly as tough. As for PJ, he's done well at GT, but that stat about two conference titles in 60 years, before him, GT was an Independent for about forty of those years so not sure how that's relevant The irony is KN is kinda like Navy's version of Claeys if you really break it down. He is a good coach, but even if Minnesota doesn't hire Claeys I bet they try about 15 other people before KN. It's funny in 06 I wanted Johnson because I thought the type of lineman mason recruited for his scheme, the Triple could work with those guys.
Click to expand...
 

Kill didn't pass the eyeball test. I'm not sure if there's a less helpful thing to think about when hiring a coach.

Ditto what others have said about a rebuild being out of the question if it's as big of an unknown as the triple option with a guy who's coached Navy to be above mediocre most of the time.

And our ceiling is NOT being Wisconsin every once in a while. Our ceiling is the NC, especially once the new facilities are built.
 



dpodoll68 said:
Looks like someone needs to get that pesky little then/than thing figured out before they begin their ascendant and lucrative career as a coaching search consultant.
Click to expand...

If it is anything like the searches that the U has done for other high profile jobs.... it doesn't take much effort on the consultant's part ;)
 

Jeez, tough crowd. Guy throws out an opinion with info backing it and gets destroyed. The "that's the truth" line was probably a mistake, but I've seen much worse statements of "fact" on this board go uncontested. Gopherhole is a bit prickly these last two days.
 


MNBadgerGuy said:
Jeez, tough crowd. Guy throws out an opinion with info backing it and gets destroyed. The "that's the truth" line was probably a mistake, but I've seen much worse statements of "fact" on this board go uncontested. Gopherhole is a bit prickly these last two days.
Click to expand...
He/she joined the board today with the sole intention of promoting Niumatalolo. Seems like someone pushing an agenda, which is why people are more than a little prickly.
 

Claeys aside, one problem with going the triple-option route is that you are virtually guaranteed 1-2 brutal years at the beginning (and probably 1-2 brutal years at the end, whenever that may be.) Trying to jam a square peg into a round hole by playing an offense with guys who weren't recruited for it isn't pretty. See the 2007 Gophers. Passing on Claeys to bring in Ken N and probably have him go 1-11 or 2-10 (with our D perhaps it wouldn't get that bad, but still) in his first year is not setting him up well with the fan-base. It would have been far more tolerable in 2010.
 

Here we go again with recommendation of can't missed experience coaches.

It sounds like all over again like when Brewster was fired. Al Golden, Brady Hoke, Marc Tretsman, and others were paraded as the next mesiah. Look at where these guys are today.

What's wrong with giving Tracy Claeys a try first? We've got a core of good coaches with Tracy Claeys that have been together will Kill that have a system in place.

If for some reason, they have a massive fail they can be replaced down the road by the newly appointed AD.
 

Although I mostly agree that he doesn't pass the 'look test', Jerry Kill didn't pass the look
test, either, and Tim Brewster did.

Brewster looked, sounded, 'acted' like a big time head football coach....
...but Jerry Kill actually was one.

Claeys knows Xs and Os that would implode most coaches minds..
 

MNBadgerGuy said:
Jeez, tough crowd. Guy throws out an opinion with info backing it and gets destroyed. The "that's the truth" line was probably a mistake, but I've seen much worse statements of "fact" on this board go uncontested. Gopherhole is a bit prickly these last two days.
Click to expand...

People are ripping him because he essentially said Claeys has no shot of improving the program. What info did he provide to back up these things?

even if he gets the job he has a ceiling that is not that high.
Click to expand...

If you think Travy Claeys will be a Big 10 championship coach then you need to take your Minnesota glasses off.
Click to expand...

Hire Tracy Claeys, save the recruiting class, but 2017's class will slip and in 2 years the program will be celebrating a bowl birth when they could be celebrating a conference championship with some outside the box thinking.
Click to expand...

He stated these as facts and then essentially said that if you don't agree with him, you're okay with being mediocre.
 

We have an interim head coach and no permanent AD right now. No coach with a current contract at another place is even worth discussing regarding level of interest because of these two facts. I'm inclined to stay with coach Kill's successor in Tracey Claey's until he or the staff would prove otherwise. You have to give them the opportunity first before you consider making any judgement's. Right now we have a head coach, it is Claey's let's run with it and see what we have. We didn't terminate a coach for cause like Brewster, circumstances out of anyone's real control forced our head coach to retire.
 

Totally Agree

John Galt said:
Coaching threads are stupid right now. There are no options other than Claeys since there is no permanent AD.
Click to expand...

Claeys needs to be the head coach next year...then see where things are next year.
 

gopherdudepart2 said:
We have an interim head coach and no permanent AD right now. No coach with a current contract at another place is even worth discussing regarding level of interest because of these two facts. I'm inclined to stay with coach Kill's successor in Tracey Claey's until he or the staff would prove otherwise. You have to give them the opportunity first before you consider making any judgement's. Right now we have a head coach, it is Claey's let's run with it and see what we have. We didn't terminate a coach for cause like Brewster, circumstances out of anyone's real control forced our head coach to retire.
Click to expand...

Brewster wasn't terminated for cause.
 

You're right! He was terminated BECAUSE of ______________. (There's probably a thousand reasons that could be inserted there. .... )

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
 

hungan1 said:
Here we go again with recommendation of can't missed experience coaches.

It sounds like all over again like when Brewster was fired. Al Golden, Brady Hoke, Marc Tretsman, and others were paraded as the next mesiah. Look at where these guys are today.

What's wrong with giving Tracy Claeys a try first? We've got a core of good coaches with Tracy Claeys that have been together will Kill that have a system in place.

If for some reason, they have a massive fail they can be replaced down the road by the newly appointed AD.
Click to expand...

If Claeys is the guy, so be it, but I worry about a "Gutey" reaction in the way he was tapped to replace Holtz without giving the process much thought. But there's no question Claeys is a solid football guy.
 


Congratulations, this is one of the worst posts in the history of the GopherHole! You can join an illustrious group that includes infamous posters the Renegade Rambler and the Loon.

I can't decide what part of your post is most offensive/ridiculous: the idea that Minnesota should go to the TRIPLE OPTION or the idea that Minnesota will only "be Wisconsin every few year". Honorable mention goes to you letting us know that Minnesota is a "step up" from Navy. That's like saying Texas, Florida, or Ohio State is a "step up" from Minnesota.

It's amazing that you edited this post for "clarification of thoughts", yet still managed to tick off an entire fan base that you are trying to get to hire your dad, brother, or husband. When you post the same thing on the Virginia/Purdue/Wherever board at the end of November, you might want to work on your sales pitch.
 

50PoundHead said:
If Claeys is the guy, so be it, but I worry about a "Gutey" reaction in the way he was tapped to replace Holtz without giving the process much thought. But there's no question Claeys is a solid football guy.
Click to expand...
Instead of worrying about a "Gutey" response why don't you think it might be a "Pat Fitzgerald" response. That's more appropriate anyway due to the "suddenness" similarity of these two situations.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk
 

Navy is 4-0 in the conference and 6-1 overall
Minnesota Fighting Claeys just lost due to the worst clock management of the season
Still not interested in at least considering the possibilities?
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom