Gophers coach Tracy Claeys said Monday that it was a tough decision to fire offensive coordinator Matt Limegrover and quarterbacks coach Jim Zebrowski, adding that they're "very good people."
Limegrover and Zebrowski collaborated on play calling, and Claeys said the primary reason for the hire was to find one offensive boss. He said that the new offensive coordinator would ideally serve as quarterbacks coach but that he's open a running backs coach in the OC job, too. Claeys said the team's other three offensive coaches -- Brian Anderson, Pat Poore and Rob Reeves -- have all been asked to stay.
"I love 75-80 percent of what we do" on offense," Claeys said. He added that he's "not going to blow up the whole offense."
Claeys said he won't hire an offensive coordinator without face-to-face interviews and said it might get to be January at the annual coaches convention before the hire gets made.
After adding Dan O'Brien as a defensive backs coach on Monday, Claeys said he's leaning toward making Jay Sawvel the defensive coordinator and has spoken to Sawvel about that. That won't be official for a couple weeks.
I'll have more from Claeys later today on StarTribune.com
