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Minnesota fires coach Tracy Claeys
Published:
The Tracy Claeys era is over in Minnesota.
Claeys has been fired as Minnesota’s coach after leading the team to its second-best win total in program history:
We have learned that Tracy Claeys has been fired as head coach of the Gophers
— Mark Rosen (@KFANRosen) January 3, 2017
That news came on the heels of Minnesota’s upset win against Washington State in the Holiday Bowl.
In his season-and-a-half on the job after taking over for Jerry Kill, Claeys led the Gophers to back-to-back bowl victories and helped Minnesota cap off its best four-year stretch in school history.
RELATED: How one tweet could cost Tracy Claeys his job
Claeys took a public stance in the boycott that Minnesota players staged over the suspensions of 10 Gophers for the Holiday Bowl, who never had charges pressed against them in an alleged sexual assault.
He tweeted that he “had never been prouder” of his football team, who were protesting the decision made by Minnesota president Eric Kaler and athletic director Mark Coyle to suspend the 10 players.
Claeys was under contract through the 2018 season, and he will receive a buyout of $500,000.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Tradition. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.