Minnesota isn’t starting from scratch.
Even heading into his first full season as a head coach, Tracy Claeys isn’t exactly a rookie, either.
The torch has been passed to Claeys from Jerry Kill, of course, and that change at the top will have an impact as the former puts his own stamp on the program. But the two of them had been working together to build the roster up and turn the Gophers into an annual contender in the West Division, and this was the kind of year they were pointing toward when they arrived.
“We have five years invested in the program and the group of kids we've got,” Claeys said at Big Ten media days.