Minnesota interim coach Tracy Claeys knows that this is crunch time.

For the four-win Gophers, it’s time to make a push and earn bowl eligibility. For recruiting, it’ll be time to lock down the foundation for the 2016 class once the “quiet period” ends in the last week of November. And for Claeys to do that, he needs to know whether or not he’s going to be part of those plans.

Claeys, who took over Jerry Kill following his sudden retirement last week, said Thursday on KFAN (100.3 FM) that he hopes the university will make a decision on his future within the next couple weeks.

“Hopefully there’ll be an end of this one way or another sometime in mid-November,” Claeys said. “That’s fair to everybody.”

Claeys replaced Kill for a total of eight games — including Saturday against Michigan — while he was battling epilepsy. For a guy that’s been on Kill’s staff for the last 20 years, transparency is what he’s seeking.

He did say that Minnesota interim athletic director Beth Goetz was moving forward with the hiring decision.

“It’s not like it’s standing still. They’re going through what they need to do to make that decision, and that process is going well,” Claeys said. “If it’s something they put off and said, ‘We’ll address it as we get closer to the end of November,’ then I think it’s going to be tough on everybody.”

Kill already came out and said he believes Claeys will be hired permanently in the next couple weeks. All signs would point to Minnesota making the in-house hire and keeping Kill’s staff together.

Claeys reiterated that there could be “real problems” if the coaching decision drags out past mid-November.

“I’m not trying to put pressure on anybody,” he said. “But I think that’s the real world situation we would be in if it would go much past that.”

Claeys will look to strengthen his credentials when the Gophers travel to take on unbeaten Ohio State on Saturday.