Former Gophers DC Tracy Claeys Announces Retirement

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Tracy Claeys: Virginia Tech linebackers coach Tracy Claeys has announced his retirement. Claeys began coaching at the Kansas high school level in 1994 and rose to become the defensive coordinator at Emporia State, Southern Illinois, Northern Illinois, Minnesota and Washington State, and spent a season and a half as Minnesota’s head coach. “Tracy is not only an outstanding football coach, but he’s also one of the finest people I’ve had the pleasure of working with in this profession. I appreciated the way he helped mentor members of our staff, as well as the manner in which he conveyed his knowledge of the game to our players. We all wish Tracy the very best going forward,” Justin Fuente said.
 

Only 52. Hope it is not because of health problems.

Wish him well!
 

Look for Tracy at a garage sale near you!
 


Crazy. If he was still our coach and was retiring today....who would be our top candidate?


I would target Tom Herman
 


Some guy said:
Crazy. If he was still our coach and was retiring today....who would be our top candidate?


I would target Tom Herman
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I would want Sean Lewis to come aboard --- its seems like the Big Ten is where he is angling to go.
 

MplsGopher said:
Only 52. Hope it is not because of health problems.

Wish him well!
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Given his size it would not shock me to find out health played a role in this decision but hopefully not. Pretty young to be walking away from football by choice but maybe he lost the fire for coaching and wants to try something else.
 

When you get to the big leagues in coaching, it is very cut throat. It just seems to me that maybe Claeys wasn't quite cut out for the politics in big league coaching and has decided to leave it. I'm sure he's made enough money to comfortably retire in Kansas.

Edit: I just looked at his Twitter page and read his retirement announcement. It really appears that he is not happy about being a positions coach. He states in his retirement announcement that he reserves the right to return to coaching if the right Defensive Coordinator position opens up.
 

GO4INLALALAND said:
When you get to the big leagues in coaching, it is very cut throat. It just seems to me that maybe Claeys wasn't quite cut out for the politics in big league coaching and has decided to leave it. I'm sure he's made enough money to comfortably retire in Kansas.

Edit: I just looked at his Twitter page and read his retirement announcement. It really appears that he is not happy about being a positions coach. He states in his retirement announcement that he reserves the right to return to coaching if the right Defensive Coordinator position opens up.
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He for sure isn’t cut out for politics of big league coaching. He didn’t even understand the consequences of publicly going against his university president.

he also ran a terrible defense in his last stop (wazzu) quit in what appeared to be an immature way (wazzu)


not sure how anyone could give him a DC Jon unless they already knew him and liked him. If you don’t know him he doesn’t have a record that would make him worth hiring. He has only had success under one person.
 




MNVCGUY said:
Given his size it would not shock me to find out health played a role in this decision but hopefully not. Pretty young to be walking away from football by choice but maybe he lost the fire for coaching and wants to try something else.
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I had actually heard he was down a bunch of weight.
 


I wish him the best of luck. Very nice down to earth man.

Proved that he could coach defense as well. The bowl game vs WSU remains one of my all time favorite efforts.

He was always kind enough and took the time to respond to emails from me too.

Enjoy retirement Coach Claeys.
 



UpAndUnder43 said:
I'd go Nick Saban.

He is on the older side but had success in the B1G and has done well in the SEC. Failed in the NFL but I think that was long enough ago recruits won't care.
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Could have just gone Urban Meyer - he's younger.
 

TC could coach defense, but I suspect he didn't have the PR or network that Jerry had that makes job hopping in the CFB world possible.
 

Vandy said:
I wish him the best of luck. Very nice down to earth man.
He was always kind enough and took the time to respond to emails from me too.
Enjoy retirement Coach Claeys.
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Ditto, including the replying to email part. Kind of funny how different coaches/ADs are with that stuff.
Keep in mind I've only emailed these people 1 or 2 times each so it's not like I spend a lot of time doing this...
Maturi replied with a personal message.
Claeys responded with a personal message.
Wished Lucia a happy retirement and he replied.
Norwood Teague invited me to meet in person after I complained (and we talked for an hour)
Kill replied, but they were pretty obviously copy/paste replies.
Coyle never has replied.
I don't think I've ever emailed PJ. I just assume I'd get the copy/paste reply from him though.
Pitino seems like a guy that might reply with a personal email, but I've never tried.
Ran into Doug Woog (when he was broadcasting) at a couple Gopher hockey games and he was soooo personable. Great guy.

A little bit unrelated, but I also ran into Dave St. Peter at Twins Fest and I said hi and he ended up talking to me for a few minutes and explaining some new things the Twins had going at Target Field. I've heard he can be a bit of a jerk though from people that have dealt with him on the business side.
 
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Maybe long after Fleck retires if Nick Saban is still alive, with all his money he's earned, he should consider Pro Bono coaching work coaching for the Gophers to further cement his legacy and outlive the legendary Bear Bryant. :cool02:
 

If I recall he was very thrifty and an active investor. With how well the market has done the last 4-5 years I'd imagine he's sitting on whole lot of $$. I wonder if he will keep his word, that if he wasn't coaching football he'd be tending bar in rural Kansas (his sister's place?)
 

balds said:
If I recall he was very thrifty and an active investor. With how well the market has done the last 4-5 years I'd imagine he's sitting on whole lot of $$. I wonder if he will keep his word, that if he wasn't coaching football he'd be tending bar in rural Kansas (his sister's place?)
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If I had a pile of money, I could think of worse things to do to kill time than tending bar. Although I would prefer somewhere other than rural Kansas.
 




balds said:
If I recall he was very thrifty and an active investor. With how well the market has done the last 4-5 years I'd imagine he's sitting on whole lot of $$. I wonder if he will keep his word, that if he wasn't coaching football he'd be tending bar in rural Kansas (his sister's place?)
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Not sure about the "active investor" part, but he always struck me as a guy who could live on about $30,000 a year and didn't seem to have much else to spend the money on. If I recall correctly, he did buy the bar/restaurant in his home town for the family to run, but I think that closed after a year or two.
denguegopher said:
Best of luck Tracy Claeys.
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Agreed. Hope he is well and finds something he enjoys to do with the rest of his life.
 


It’s all coming together. Some school will offer Jerry the hc job. Jerry will respond ‘ well, I wouldn’t even consider it except these kids are in a tight spot and I don’t see another way’. And boom they are altogether back at .......... UTEP.
 


balds said:
If I recall he was very thrifty and an active investor. With how well the market has done the last 4-5 years I'd imagine he's sitting on whole lot of $$. I wonder if he will keep his word, that if he wasn't coaching football he'd be tending bar in rural Kansas (his sister's place?)
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I thought he owned the bar and his sister ran it. I googled; this is from a 2016 StarTribune article. I suppose his sister could run a different place now, but there's an update.

Claeys owned Coach’s Grill & Pub in town for a couple of years, with his sister, Teresa, running the place. But the restaurant business has its hassles, and Claeys closed it last fall. For his next venture, he purchased a 70-acre pasture near brother Todd’s house, with 15 pairs of black angus cattle — calves and their mothers — and a 2-year-old bull. Todd tends the cattle before and after work as a mechanics supervisor at the Fort Riley Army base.
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Spaulding!No! said:
It’s all coming together. Some school will offer Jerry the hc job. Jerry will respond ‘ well, I wouldn’t even consider it except these kids are in a tight spot and I don’t see another way’. And boom they are altogether back at .......... UTEP.
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I was thinking the same thing. If I see Belushi and Aykroyd drive by I will know for sure.
 



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