Tracy Claeys Named Minnesota Head Coach: Latest Comments and Reaction

Minnesota announced Wednesday that Tracy Claeys signed a three-year contract to become the Golden Gophers head coach after serving in an interim role following the retirement of Jerry Kill.  

Ryan Burns of Scout.com noted the players were informed of the decision at a team meeting Wednesday morning. Joe Christensen of the Star Tribune reported Claeys, 46, will make $1.4 million next season in the first year of the deal and then receive a $100,000 raise in each of the final two years of the contract.

Claeys said the following in a program release:

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I want to thank President Eric Kaler, Interim Athletic Director Beth Goetz, the Board of Regents and the University for believing in me and providing me with this opportunity. The circumstances of the past few weeks have been unpredictable. This certainly is not the way anyone wants to become a head coach. Coach Kill is one of my best friends and I am thankful that he took a chance on me 21 years ago. I am looking forward to continuing what we have built at Minnesota, but will do so in my own way. One thing that won’t change will be our relentless pursuit to field a team that will make the state of Minnesota proud. We have tremendous fans and they deserve a highly competitive football team. Our student-athletes will play smart, tough and accountable football and will be held to the highest standards on and off the field.

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Minnesota interim athletic director Beth Goetz cited "improvement of this program, both academically and athletically, and coach Claeys' integral leadership role" as reasons for the hiring, according to Marcus R. Fuller of the Pioneer Press.

Andy Greder of the Pioneer Press noted that the new head coach, who arrived at the school as a defensive coordinator in 2011, stated Tuesday that he was hopeful this would happen soon so the focus could shift to other matters.

First and foremost is the battle for the Floyd of Rosedale trophy against Iowa on Saturday. Then, there's the recruiting work, which he mentioned on his radio show last week would be impacted without a coach locked in, per Greder: "If it gets past the middle of November, I think you are going to start to see some problems."

He got his wish, and now, the real work begins.

The Gophers currently sit at 4-5 with a 1-4 mark in Big Ten play. There's no doubt they have played hard under Claeys' leadership, losing to Michigan and Ohio State by just 17 combined points over the past two games, but there's still a lot of work to do.

Beating the Hawkeyes this week would be quite a statement in Claeys' first game as full-time head coach. Not only would it shake up the College Football Playoff race, but it would also provide a nice recruiting boost as the coaching staff ramps up those efforts with more stability in place.