Tracy Lee Claeys (born December 25, 1968) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

coach. Claeys served as the head football coach at

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

from midway into the 2015 season through the end of the 2016 season. He was an assistant coach under

Jerry Kill Gerald R. Kill (born August 24, 1961) is an American football coach. He is currently the head coach at New Mexico State University. He played college football at Southwestern College in Winfield, Kansas from 1979 to 1982. Kill served as the head ...

for 21 years at

Saginaw Valley State University Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU) is a public university in University Center, Michigan in Saginaw County. It was founded in 1963 as Saginaw Valley College. It is located on in Saginaw County's Kochville Township, approximately north of ...

Emporia State University Emporia State University (Emporia State or ESU) is a public university in Emporia, Kansas, United States. Established in March 1863 as the Kansas State Normal School, Emporia State is the third-oldest public university in the state of Kansas. ...

Southern Illinois University Carbondale Southern Illinois University (SIU or SIUC) is a public research university in Carbondale, Illinois. Founded in 1869, SIU is the oldest and flagship campus of the Southern Illinois University system. The university enrolls students from all 50 st ...

Northern Illinois University Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a public research university in DeKalb, Illinois. It was founded as Northern Illinois State Normal School on May 22, 1895, by Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld as part of an expansion of the state's system ...

, and Minnesota—the last 16 as his

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator is a coach responsible for a gridiron football (American football) team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, the offensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's c ...

. Claeys was the defensive coordinator at

Washington State University Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant uni ...

from 2018 to 2019 and the linebackers coach at

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also has educational facilities in six re ...

in 2020. He announced his retirement in January 2021.

Early life, education, and high school coaching

Claeys was born and raised in

Clay Center, Kansas Clay Center is a city in and the county seat of Clay County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 4,199. History Clay Center was first settled in 1862. It was named from its position near the geographi ...

, where he began playing football in junior high school at Clay Center Community High School. Claeys got his start in coaching at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...

and served as a student trainer, and later as an unpaid assistant coach for head coach

Glen Mason Glen Orin Mason (born April 9, 1950) is a former American football player and coach. Mason served as the head football coach at Kent State University from 1986 to 1987, the University of Kansas from 1988 to 1996, and the University of Minnesota ...

. After three years at Kansas, he transferred to

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public inst ...

and took a job as an assistant at his old high school, earning a salary of $1. After graduating with a degree in Mathematics Education in 1994 from Kansas State, he was hired at Santa Fe Trail High School as a math teacher and co-defensive coordinator of the football team.

College coaching career

In 1995, Claeys was hired as the defensive line coach at Saginaw Valley State under head coach

. When Kill took the head coaching job at Emporia State in 1999, Claeys followed and was promoted to defensive coordinator. He continued to serve as defensive coordinator at Kill's future head coaching stops at

Southern Illinois Southern Illinois, also known as Little Egypt, is the southern third of Illinois, principally along and south of Interstate 64. Although part of a Midwestern state, this region is aligned in culture more with that of the Upland South than the Mi ...

Northern Illinois Northern Illinois is a region generally covering the northern third of the U.S. state of Illinois. The region is by far the most populous of Illinois with nearly 9.7 million residents as of 2010. Economics Northern Illinois is dominated by t ...

, and

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over t ...

. Southern Illinois led the nation in defensive scoring in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight ...

, while allowing only 13.2 points per game, giving up only 101.7 rushing yards per game, and snagging 17 interceptions. In 2007, they reached the FCS national semifinal; their defense ranked as the 10th-best FCS scoring defense in the country, and the second-best scoring defense at SIU since 1983. They intercepted 21 passes, which ranked fourth in the nation. In his first season at

, Claeys and the defensive staff coached the Huskies into leading the MAC in pass defense, scoring defense, and total defense. They also finished in the top 20 nationally in those three categories: fifth in pass defense, 14th in scoring defense, and 17th in total defense. Claeys' defense topped the MAC and ranked 30th in the country in total defense the following year, and were also among the top 30 FBS teams in scoring defense that season. In 2010, Claeys led a Northern Illinois defensive unit that was ranked No. 14 in the nation and No. 1 in the MAC in scoring defense, allowing an average of just 19 points per game. The Huskies were also 32nd in the nation in pass efficiency defense, 27th in total defense, and 27th in rushing defense. Claeys joined the

staff on December 10, 2010, when Kill hired him as defensive coordinator. He was nominated for the Frank Broyles Award (top college assistant coach) in 2013 and 2014 and was promoted to Associate Head Coach prior to the 2014 season. He transformed the Gopher defense into one of the best in the Big Ten.

allowed 380 points in 2011 and 321 points in 2012. By comparison, in 2013, the Gopher defense allowed only 289 points, which marked the first time that Minnesota allowed fewer than 300 points in a full season since 2004. He also coached four First Team All-Big Ten defensive selections—

Briean Boddy-Calhoun Briean Boddy-Calhoun (born January 21, 1993) is an American football cornerback who is a free agent. He played college football at Minnesota, and was originally signed by the Jacksonville Jaguars as an undrafted free agent in 2016. He has also ...

(2014),

Damien Wilson Damien Wilson (born May 28, 1993) is an American football linebacker who is a free agent. He played college football at Minnesota, and was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the fourth round of the 2015 NFL Draft. He has also played for the K ...

(2014), Ra'Shede Hageman (2013), and

Brock Vereen Brock Vereen (born August 17, 1992) is a former American football Safety (gridiron football position), safety. He was drafted by the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) in the fourth round of the 2014 NFL Draft. He has also play ...

(2013)—at Minnesota in five years. In contrast, Minnesota had five First Team All-Big Ten defensive selections from 2000 to 2010.

Head coach at Minnesota

Due to

's health problems throughout his career, Claeys filled in as acting head coach when Kill was unable to coach. This first occurred in 2005, when Kill suffered a seizure on the sideline during a Southern Illinois game; Kill was later diagnosed with

kidney cancer Kidney cancer, also known as renal cancer, is a group of cancers that starts in the kidney. Symptoms may include blood in the urine, lump in the abdomen, or back pain. Fever, weight loss, and tiredness may also occur. Complications can include sp ...

and

epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. Epileptic seizures can vary from brief and nearly undetectable periods to long periods of vigorous shaking due to abnormal electrica ...

. Claeys filled in for Kill when Kill missed parts of three games in his first three years at Minnesota, and for the entire game when Kill had a seizure before a game at

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

in 2013. On October 10, 2013 it was announced that Kill would take an open-ended leave of absence from coaching to focus on treating his epilepsy. Claeys was appointed acting head coach until Kill's return. The Gophers went 4–3 under Claeys during the regular season, a stretch that included a four-game Big Ten conference win streak (the Gophers' first since 1973). They lost their bowl game to

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy * Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' * Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York ** North Syracuse, New York * Syracuse, Indiana *Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, M ...

, in which Coach Kill returned to the sidelines in the second half. Kill retired for health reasons on October 28, 2015, and Claeys was named interim head coach for the remainder of the season. On November 11, 2015, Minnesota dropped the "interim" tag from Claeys' title and formally named him as its 29th head coach. On January 3, 2017, he was fired after public outrage over a team-led boycott in response to suspensions of 10 Minnesota football players accused of having a role in a sexual assault case. Claeys was on-record stating he "supports isplayers’ 1st amendment rights!"

Washington State

Claeys was hired by Mike Leach on January 8, 2018 to be the defensive coordinator at

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a U.S. state, state in the Northwestern United States, Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first President of the United States, U.S. p ...

after

Alex Grinch Alexander Gregory Grinch (born May 29, 1980) is an American football coach who serves as the defensive coordinator at the University of Southern California (USC). He previously served as defensive coordinator at the University of Oklahoma, Ohio S ...

accepted a position at

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

. The Cougars ended the 2018 season with the fourth-ranked defense and led the

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Divisi ...

in sacks with 38. He resigned on October 4, 2019; at the time, Washington State's defense was ranked 107th in the nation and was allowing over 30 points per game. This came after the Cougars blew a 49–17 lead at home to the

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

, losing 67–63 in a game in which Cougars quarterback Anthony Gordon threw for a record nine touchdowns.

Head coaching record

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Claeys, Tracy 1968 births Living people Emporia State Hornets football coaches Minnesota Golden Gophers football coaches Northern Illinois Huskies football coaches Saginaw Valley State Cardinals football coaches Southern Illinois Salukis football coaches Virginia Tech Hokies football coaches Washington State Cougars football coaches High school football coaches in Kansas Kansas State University alumni People from Clay Center, Kansas Coaches of American football from Kansas