Fox Sports: Richard Pitino isn't his father -- but he has the same aspirations

A good read, per Fox Sports:

“The decision for me when I was an assistant coach to leave Louisville and go to Florida, I always knew it was the best thing for me growth-wise, but it just showed how much it paid off,” Pitino said. “I’m not going to sit here and say I deserve to be the head coach at Minnesota at age 32. I’m a realist. I understand (being Rick Pitino’s son) has opened up a lot of doors. But being Rick Pitino’s son isn’t going to help me beat Tom Izzo on the road or beat Thad Matta. Now it’s my opportunity, so I’ve got to do something with it.”

But what Pitino is attempting to do at Minnesota is something more long-sighted. He’s looking for a complete stylistic and cultural change in a basketball program that last made a Sweet 16 in 1997, the same season that an academic fraud scandal ended up derailing everything that had been building there. Like he had to do when he moved from being an assistant under his father to being an assistant under Donovan, Pitino knew he had to set things in a different direction in order to move forward.

It’s hard not to sound like you’re insulting Tubby Smith when you talk about where Minnesota basketball stood at the end of his six seasons there. And Smith is a hugely respected coach in his profession, a national champion at Kentucky, a guy who might be considered the single most likable man in coaching. He’s not a guy you want to insult.

But the truth is, Minnesota basketball had been stuck in some form of neutral ever since that 1997 scandal meant forfeiting the school’s only Final Four appearance. Things hadn’t gotten demonstrably better under Tubby. Under Tubby, Minnesota basketball was … fine.

Not great. Not bad. Just fine.

http://www.foxsports.com/college-ba...father-but-he-has-the-same-aspirations-102014

Go Gophers!!

I like this!

At a fast-paced September workout, Pitino’s voice echoed through that practice gym, trying to wake up his team from its offseason break. A rough-and-tumble, Big Ten-style rebounding drill ended with one player heading to the trainer to jam cotton in his bloodied nose; he quickly rejoined practice. When defenders forgot to switch on a pick-and-roll, Pitino had the same exasperated look you’d expect from his father. Close your eyes and the son’s throaty shouts – “Don’t let him grab that ball! Squeeze it!” – could have easily been the father’s.

It’s a scrappy, energized style of basketball he’s brought here, the type of basketball that affords players to have individual freedom within a structure. It also can take a long time to learn. When players seemed a bit fed up at that recent, relentless practice – rolling eyes, shaking heads – Pitino lit into them.

“Did we win the Big Ten last year?” Pitino shouted to a now-silent gym. “Did we make the NCAA tournament last year?” The gym somehow got more quiet. “No! So all the head-shaking stops.”

The intensity ramped up. After practice, Pitino kept on that theme: Don’t settle.

Work harder.

“What I saw there was constant bitching,” he said to his players. “What is that? Stop doing it. I can understand that if we just had been to the Elite Eight or the Sweet 16. But we weren’t.”

Great article. Great recruiting tool.

Also gives me comfort that he's here for the long haul.

Some good articles on Fox Sports about the Gophers lately