Written by Adam Rittenberg at ESPN.com
Minnesota has fired embattled football coach Tracy Claeys after meetings with school officials, the school announced Tuesday.
Claeys met only with athletic director Mark Coyle on Tuesday, but Coyle had the full support of the board of trustees and university president Eric Kaler, a school source said.
Coyle said in a statement that he made the decision 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.”
“Academically the team was doing well. We finished 9-4. But if I could show you all the emails I got after the Wisconsin game,” Coyle said of the 31-17 loss in Madison to end the season. “That’s the great thing about our fans, you hear from them. Moving forward, there’s no reason we can’t compete at a high level academically, athletically and socially, through all 25 programs, through all 700 student-athletes.”
Minnesota’s initial preference to be Claeys’ successor is Western Michigan coach P.J. Fleck, although a source close to Fleck told ESPN there has not been any contact between the school and the coach. Other candidates immediately expected to be considered for the opening include former LSU and Oklahoma State coach Les Miles and Boise State’s Bryan Harsin, who was hired by Coyle when he worked there. Minnesota is also expected to target Penn State offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead and North Dakota State coach Chris Klieman, a source told ESPN’s Brett McMurphy.
“I won’t be up here freezing my ass off, so y’all enjoy the winter,” Claeys told Minneapolis TV station KSTP a few hours after being fired.
Minnesota’s decision comes just over two weeks after the football program became embroiled in a standoff with the administration over the suspension of 10 players in connection with allegations of sexual assault.
To continue reading this article, click here.
