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Gophers: Claeys Out, Dissension In
Tracy Claeys was let go as football coach as part of the fallout from the University's suspension of ten of his players in a sexual assault investigation, in which the school's code of conduct may have been violated.
Claeys stepped into it with a tweet supporting his remaining players, who held a work stoppage of all football activities as a way of seeking justice for their suspended colleagues. That lasted until they got a look at the U's lurid report detailing what allegedly happened on the night in question. That, more than anything else, made Claeys' job status toast.
Claeys became Gophers coach in October 2015, when he was promoted from defensive coordinator following Jerry Kill's sudden resignation for health reasons. He never really shook the interim label, though he was given a modest contract extension. As far as the University was concerned, Claeys was a placeholder for the football program until they could find a better coach.
The Gophers finished this season at 9-4, which included a bowl win at San Diego. But it was a tepid 9-4, considering they beat bad teams like Purdue and Rutgers, lost to 'signature' conference teams Penn State and Wisconsin, and not even scheduling Michigan or Ohio State this year.
Now, as howls of protest swirl over the way Claeys was shown the door from former players and from Kill (who has landed at Rutgers as an assistant), recently hired athletic director Mark Coyle is about to pick his own coach. But how can you convince any coach, let alone a high-profile one, to come to a program that's pretty much a train wreck?
UPDATE (1/6/17): Well, somebody took the bait. The new Gopher football coach is P.J. Fleck, who led Western Michigan of the Mid-American Conference (same league Claeys and Kill came from) to an undefeated regular season. In his initial news conference, Fleck came across more like a politician and a motivational speaker than as a coach. He'll be the latest to try and convince Minnesotans that the Gophers' best days are just ahead, while at the same time looking out for a better offer from a bigger program. Fleck is already 0-1 against Wisconsin, with WMU losing to the Badgers in the Cotton Bowl.
Vikings: Falling To The Middle
Speaking of train wrecks . . . The Minnesota Vikings began their 2016 NFL season by winning five games in a row, thus becoming the talk of the league for awhile. They ended the season out of the playoffs with an 8-8 record, becoming only the fifth team to fall so far so fast. This is the second time they've done that.
Injuries to key players and the lack of an offense contributed to the Vikings' meltdown. You could also blame late-game miscalculations and mentally not showing up when it counted as other reasons why they finished .500.
Sometimes they had just plain bad karma. Kicker Blair Walsh, who never quite recovered from missing a possible playoff-winning field goal last season, was let go in the middle of this one. And coach Mike Zimmer had been having eye problems that required him to miss a game due to surgery.
Quarterback Sam Bradford, the emergency replacement for injured starter Teddy Bridgewater, had a good season even though he wasn't getting much help from his offense. Adrian Peterson, who was out most of the season with an injury, and Chad Greenway are both nearing the end of their careers. Cordarelle Patterson, a free agent, might have also played his last game in Minnesota as well.
The off-season challenge for the Vikings is to not only improve their offensive line, but also their special teams with maybe a new kicker. But they'll have to do it without a first-round pick in the NFL draft, which they traded away to the Philadelphia Eagles in exchange for Bradford. Another season like this, and Zimmer could be following Claeys to the unemployment line.
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Our projected matchup for Super Bowl 51 in Houston? New England Patriots vs. New York Giants.
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