The Death Penalty

        Minnesota Gophers football program may have just sentenced its own program to the ultimate Death Penalty. The suspension of players and firing of coach Tracy Claeys in the recent month may have started a fire at Minnesota that no one person can put out. 
     

 Let's first discuss the players being suspended. The players were accused of sexual assault and was cleared through a police investigation, and an internal investigation both found that the players were clear of any unlawful crimes. A 90 second video was released in which a female is seen giving oral sex to one player while another player is having vaginal intercourse from the back. The video also indicates that at no point did she want it to stop, it appeared entirely consensual. At no point did these players break the law. (Picture above and below provided by Google)
       Now on to the Coach being fired. He was reportedly fired because of ticket sales decreasing, challenges in recruiting, and the culture of the program. Well let's talk about his resume thus far; his name 9 wins this season are the second most since 1905. He is also the first coach in program history to win his first two bowls games. 

       So why was he fired? How have they sentenced themselves to the death penalty you might  ask. Well it's simple, NO player or current player trust the administration; any coach or program is going to use that against the university when recruiting. A coach stood up for his players and got fired simple. Administration has hurt its recruiting chances with any top prospects in my opinion, no coach is going to want this job. Things have gotten so bad that even former coach Jermey Kill blasted the administration by saying, "the program has been ran in a first class manner." And also stating," this program has come a long way, not by Mark, that new facility they are building isn't cause of him." In my opinion this school has served itself the death penalty. Absolutely no way can Minnesota recover anytime soon. For a program who hasn't seen much success may have hit rock bottom. Players are wanting to transfer, recruits backing out, this may have been the worst thing this administration could have done and they will pay dearly for it. The Death Penalty is in store for the Minnesota Golden Gophers.