4:10Tracy Claeys spent 21 years building his career to the point where he had a chance to become a head football coach in the Big Ten. He spent 19 seconds blowing the interview.
After Jerry Kill retired as Gophers coach last week, Claeys became his emergency and interim replacement. Claeys helped the players position themselves to upset a ranked Michigan team. Then he managed to run only two plays in 19 seconds near the Michigan goal line, despite having a timeout. The Gophers lost and so, too, it seems, did Claeys.
The reaction on social media was rapid and predictable. Claeys had eliminated himself from consideration for the job. He had proved that Kill's remaining staff couldn't function without the boss. He had awakened the echoes of Gophers collapses past.
That's not the right way to look at Claeys and the program right now. The loss might have been for the best.
Claeys' botched clock management might position the University of Minnesota to make a considered and rational decision, which would be even rarer than a Gophers victory over the Wolverines.
Let's say Claeys orders a quick snap and a straight-ahead run on the goal line, and the Gophers score the winning touchdown. Wonderful, right?
Not if you're interested in what is best for the football program long-term.
Had Claeys upset Michigan in his first game as head coach following Kill's retirement, Minnesota might have felt compelled to make him Kill's replacement. A victory over Michigan, following a torturous week at the U, might have prompted a university with a less-than-proven president and an interim athletic director to wrap both arms around Claeys and wallow in irrational exuberance.
