Fleck
Harsin
Shiano
Neal Brown

always follow the money. Season tickets are down, Coyle and any new AD only gets a few signature hires. He's itching to make one...
And just when he was forced to extend Claeys.

He got an out and he will try his best to take it

It's my understanding that the football staff does not know if they'll be back next year. I do know that there's been contact with Western Michigan's PJ Fleck. Two months ago I first got word that PJ Fleck had "very strong" interest in Minnesota, and this was confirmed by multiple people. I'm not sure when Minnesota was first in contact with Fleck (I imagine a couple weeks now), but I heard today that Minnesota and Fleck had talked shortly before the Cotton Bowl. Now, I don't mean to say that Fleck will for sure be the next coach. I have not yet hard that he's been commital, just that he's reciprocated interest.

Coyle said tomorrow he'll meet with Claeys about the season. I'm not sure if that meeting is actually set (it may be, but I haven't been able to confirm that). Claeys on the radio sounded as if the meeting wasn't a for sure thing.

It's also pretty clear that Minnesota is not interested in firing Tracy Claeys solely for the sake of firing Claeys. If they were set on moving on from him, a move would have been made in the day or two after the Holiday Bowl.

PJ Fleck is the only target I know about. I do not know if Coyle has contacted other coaches or not, but right now he seems to be the top target. I also don't know if it's Fleck or bust, Fleck or Coach X or Coach Y or bust. As I said above, Coyle does not appear to be hellbent on firing Claeys and I think would only do so if he has his guy in place.

With the Cotton Bowl having taken place today, I would think we'll hear news by tomorrow afternoon, and if not by then, for sure by Wednesday.

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TUESDAY AM UPDATE

Pretty sure the Regents did meet last night, although it obviously was not a scheduled meeting and not everyone was there, as someone said.

I'm still expecting news to come today in some form. That's not new information but I just don't see how there's not going to be a move made.

Also, a couple tweets:

Login to view embedded media Football Scoop says "there is nothing to this", which is false. Claeys certainly may keep his job but it's not true to say there is nothing to Minnesota and Fleck right now.

Login to view embedded media That would be an offer to Western Michigan, I believe. Also worth noting that this guy has 142 followers and should not necessarily be taken seriously.

Thanks for taking over for when Jerry Kill had to suddenly retire, and keep the program stable. And congratulations on being able to leave this dumpster fire of a school with an extra 500k in your pocket. I have no doubt you will succeed in whatever the future holds for you. You deserved better.

Rosen tweeted Claeys has been fired.

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You can also read my notes here.

What y'all got?

two coaches have had winning records: Glen Mason and Tracy Claeys (JK was 29-29). The best winning percentage? Tracy Claeys. Last time a coach had a better winning percentage? George Hauser 1942-1944.

Tracy Claeys has been fired as Minnesota's football coach, as first reported by WCCO.

it's never the obvious guy. So Fleck is disqualified cause that's just how these deals work. Miles would be fools gold.

I'm sticking here....who's with me?

of the firing to me. Why wait until now, as opposed to after Wisconsin, when you know that you have this Title IX thing coming down the pipe or already know it. Why wait until now to do it?

First off, I was wrong. Big time.

I can't make sense of this. Help me with this logic:

Coyle has now put himself on-the-clock. Because if the new coach fails, that could put Coyle himself on the hot-seat. So he can't hire a mediocre coach. Mediocre coaches always fail here.

But the Regents won't approve a good coach, will they?? Good coaches now cost $4M. Purdue's guy even cost $3.33M. I think, right? Will the Regents approve $4M?

What is going on?? Is there a good coach that will come riding in on a white horse to save the program....who doesn't require a huge salary? Or maybe Kaler tricked Coyle by promising him he won't get fired no matter what, even in 5 years??

I made a difficult decision today on behalf of the University of Minnesota. With the support of Board of Regents’ leadership and President Eric Kaler, I have decided to take the Gophers football team in a different direction with new coaching leadership.

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.

This decision is about the future of Minnesota football.

Moving forward, we need a leader who sets high expectations athletically, academically, and socially.

I also want to address the unfortunate blurring of the football suspension decision.

On December 13, 2016, Coach Claeys, Deputy Athletics Director John Cunningham and I met to discuss 10 student-athletes.

I informed Coach Claeys of my judgment that athletic suspensions were appropriate.

Without any objection, Coach Claeys said he understood that decision to bench student-athletes.

Coach Claeys, Deputy Athletics Director John Cunningham, and I met with the student-athletes to advise them of our decision. Coach Claeys subsequently informed me that he agreed with the suspension decision.

And let me be clear: this was the right thing to do.

Coach Claeys’ Tweet later that week was not helpful. I accept that Coach Claeys intended it to support the boycotting players. Understandably others did not see it that way. I hope you will appreciate I cannot say more about the athletic suspensions in this case.

I will say, as a general matter, athletic suspension decisions – essentially a decision to bench a player – are different from a prosecutor’s decision to charge someone with a crime.

Different standards, different policies.

An athletic suspension decision is also different from a panel decision whether there has been a student conduct code violation.

Different standards, different policies.

For example, we suspend student-athletes for attitude problems. We suspend student-athletes while criminal investigations are ongoing. We suspend student-athletes when University investigators present credible evidence of inappropriate conduct. What happens in a student conduct process is not for me to say. Like the U and all involved, I simply want a just and fair process. That is not determined by who prevails; if justice is done, then the University of Minnesota and the public win, no matter the outcome.

Again, this has been a difficult decision. I thank Coach Claeys and his staff for their years of service. Coaches Dan O’Brien and Mike Sherels have agreed to remain during the coaching transition to ensure that our student-athletes have strong and active leadership in the interim.

Absurd.

In this day and age how can something so small like this, when compared to a bunch of positives, result in termination?

I don't know if I've ever been this frustrated regarding the U.

Reading between the tea leaves on different sites, it seems there is a very good chance(70% +) that Claeys will be released from his contract tomorrow or whenever he meets with azz clown Coyle. The U isn't usually the school that goes out and gets the top coach available. So with that history, I'm crossing Harsin and Fleck off the list. So which coordinator, DII coach or retread do they hire? Only at The U would you fire a coach that won 9 games his first year as a HC.

I know the general public is stupid and will buy into the BS if a new coach, but not me. I have seen them come and go my entire life. Outside of Holtz, Mason's offense and this defense represent the only times we have had capable coaches in nearly 40 years.

With Tracy Claeys reportedly now out as Minnesota head coach following a mess of a player boycott before the Holiday Bowl, the Gophers will have to enter the coaching carousel a little later than usual.

News of Claeys’ firing was met with a massive wave of speculation around Western Michigan coach P.J. Fleck, who is coming off an undefeated regular season out of the MAC and a Cotton Bowl loss to Wisconsin.

It was reported by Football Scoop earlier Tuesday that the move is “not happening,” but that didn’t stop several reporters around college football from throwing out Fleck’s name.

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Don't why I didn't think of this before:

Dino Babers of Syracuse.

Possible?

I hate Kaler

I hate Coyle

I'm convinced they don't have any desire to win.

Thanks for firing the best defensive staff in 50 years you smug, half-witted, jagoff bureaucrats.

Operating under some mythical standard maintained by nobody. This better be a home run hire or they've set the program back 10 years.

1) They come out and say Claeys is their guy with a long term contract and their 100% support. This would be a good thing. 2) Claeys is being extended but will be watched very closely and see how things go this next year. This would be a bad thing like being on probation, no confidence to recruits. 3) Claeys is being let go and we would like to announce the new coach is ---------- and he has a long term contract and our full support. This would be a good thing if it is a name coach like Fleck or better. 4) Claeys is being let go and we have formed a committee to immediately start looking for the very best possible coach out there. This would be a disaster and would set the program back years.

Will be led by female members of the EOAA and the cheerleader that shall not be named. Inside sources say Mary Jo Kane and Cheryl Reeve are the current leaders in the clubhouse.

One month to signing day and no coach. What kid wouldn't want to sign up for that??

60 minute replay on btn right now.

11.