Rand: NCAA Tourney is minimum requirement for Pitino's honeymoon to last

Winasota Gopher

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He took over a team that went to the NCAA tournament. Certainly a much better situation than Tubby took over, when he got us to the NCAA's in year 2. Yet you think if he misses the tournament his first two years no one has the right to find that unacceptable? No one is saying fire him or push the panic button. But if we end up in the NIT again, his seat should at least be warm next year.

If you want to build a program, it should absolutely not be warm.

If you cannot see the positive things Pitino brings to the table you're simply not looking.

The Strib/PP/Gopher Faithful should be a little bit more objective about the direction this program was headed pre Pitino and quit acting like he took over a team that made the NCAA and was a shoe in for one in the future. This program looked like it was headed for a painful decline when Tubby was excused. Pitino's style is 180 degrees different than Tubby's, if you don't give him at minimum 4 years to find his feet and reset the roster, you're chancing cutting loose a very talented and passionate coach.

As I've stated before, if this program cuts Pitino loose after 3 years, I'll no longer be a Gopher Basketball fan as it'll be blatantly obvious the school knows nothing about how to build a program (not saying I do). Nothing stymies growth like rapid wholesale change, even if Tubby was on a upward path, this large of a culture change was bound to have a negative step or two.

IF the program makes a decision that uptempo will never work in the B1G 10, that would be the ONLY reason to let him go in 4 years or less. Even then, how could you make that decision without giving it a solid try? And doing so would admit you made a massive mistake in hiring him and his style.
 




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