College coaching searches are a wild time, and when you add in one of the craziest coaches in the country to the mix you can bet they’ll stay wild.
It appears that the “Mad Hatter” himself, Les Miles, has flown himself to Minneapolis to have a meeting with the Gophers’ athletic staff.
Former LSU football coach Les Miles flew to Twin Cities Wed. and is meeting with Univ. of Minnesota officials, sources tell @120Sports.
— Michael Kim (@michaelkimHD) January 5, 2017
Minnesota fired head coach Tracy Claeys on Tuesday in large part because of his awkward handling of a sexual assault investigation involving 10 of his players.
Gophers players were furious about Claeys’ firing, and an underclassman even went as far to say that “countless people will transfer if possible”, regardless of the new coach:
Minnesota underclassman: “Doesn’t matter who coach is we don’t want to play for administration. Countless people will transfer if possible”
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) January 3, 2017
Emotions have been at a high level in the Gophers’ football area for some time now. We’re guessing that these players are going to at least hear out the new coach, whomever it is, and make informed decisions.
Miles, who was fired after a slow start to the 2016 season and one of the most awkward finished to a season in 2015, has indicated all along that he would like to get back into coaching if the right situation arose.
Miles’ name was brought up frequently in the Purdue search, but the level of mutual interest didn’t seem to be there. In this case, Minnesota appears to have the mix of academic and athletic commitment Miles has been looking for all along.
Just when we thought we’d have to miss the “Mad Hatter” for at least one season, it appears we could be getting his crazy sideline hijinx once again.
Of course, that is if Western Michigan’s P.J. Fleck isn’t the man the Gophers go with:
https://twitter.com/JoeSchmitKSTP/status/816867366101454848
Either way, it appears the Gophers may be getting an upgrade at coach. After all, Miles has a career record of 141-55 and Fleck just got done leading Western Michigan to the Cotton Bowl and an undefeated regular season.
