Is Tracy Claeys a good fit as Washington State’s new defensive coordinator?
Jan 9, 2018, 11:44 AM | Updated: 3:59 pm
Tracy Claeys' Minnesota team beat Mike Leach's Cougars in the 2016 Holiday Bowl. (AP)
(AP)
Washington State will welcome a new defensive coordinator in 2018, following the departure of former coordinator Alex Grinch.
Tracy Claeys joins Mike Leach’s staff from Minnesota, where he spent five years on the coaching staff, first as a defensive coordinator and eventually as a head coach in 2016.
710 ESPN Seattle’s Brock Huard got to know Claeys while covering a handful Minnesota games and believes the former Golden Gophers coach could be a good fit for Mike Leach’s culture.
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“He was always one of those guys who I sat with during our meetings and I really enjoyed,” Huard said during his Blue 42 segment of Brock and Salk. “He kept it pretty simple, but he was very blunt and he was very honest, which I think are good characteristics when you’re dealing with Mike Leach. I don’t think Mike Leach wants a really cute answer, I don’t think he wants to hear how brilliant you are; I think he wants the basics and the black and white, and, ‘This is what we’re going to do and how we’re going to go about doing it.”
Claeys and Leach have come head-to-head before in the 2016 Holiday Bowl, when the Golden Gophers beat the Cougars 17-12.
“(Claeys) has a wonderful football mind… he has done more with less, and I think that’s a mighty big deal in this case.”
Huard also answers questions about Nick Saban and Bill Belichick, and whether or not he thinks Washington’s star running back Myles Gaskin will return for 2018 in today’s Blue 42. Listen to today’s full episode, embedded above.
