STrib: U regents frustrated with Pitino big-money buyout push for contract authority

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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I thought I'd post here too since this could have an impact on future football contracts.

per Amelia:

The University of Minnesota president and athletic director would need Board of Regents approval on contracts for the highest-paid Gophers coaches under a new regent proposal.

Regent Michael Hsu told the Star Tribune he will introduce a resolution at Thursday’s meeting to return contract-approval power to the board, which has not had that authority since 1996.

Hsu said “a group” of like-minded regents favor the change, prompted by their frustration with what has been learned about the 2015 contract extension for Richard Pitino. The deal, finalized days after athletic director Norwood Teague’s sudden resignation, gave the men’s basketball coach the highest potential buyout in Gophers coaching history — $7.1 million.

http://www.startribune.com/u-regent...buyout-push-for-contract-authority/374073421/

Go Gophers!!
 

The money is flying fast and furious. What did little Pitino do to deserve such a contract?

Somebody cue the Benny Hill music.
 

Pompous Elitist said:
The money is flying fast and furious. What did little Pitino do to deserve such a contract?

Somebody cue the Benny Hill music.
Click to expand...

I would have rather you asked for some Zac Brown Band or Drake White, but if I must...


Go Gophers!!
 

The extension and increased buyout for Pitino is "tainted" because it was negotiated under Mega Tongue.
And, let's face it, Pitino's team tanked last season. Put those two things together, and it looks like a really bad deal. (OK, it is a really bad deal)

but, if Pitino wins 20+ games next season, and attendance goes up significantly, nobody - or almost nobody - will be talking about the buyout.
 

BleedGopher said:
. The deal, finalized days after athletic director Norwood Teague’s sudden resignation, gave the men’s basketball coach the highest potential buyout in Gophers coaching history — $7.1 million.
Click to expand...

How was the deal finalized after Teague left? Who signed it?
 


The good news is that the buyout is only 5.7 million after next season. The bad news is that the buyout is 5.7 million after next season.

You guys have a lot more faith in Pitino than I do. He has literally proven nothing at any level. I'm stumped by the hire, his team, and the contract extension. I don't follow b-ball that closely but I can smell it from afar.
 

So far no comments have anything to do with the subject.
 

Everything is turning out to be a cluster over there. Hurry up and get an AD for starters! Wasted enough time trying to decide if they even needed a search committee.
 




If you're asking whether the regents should have final say; I'm not sure about that. One would like to have and AD and President with some common sense.
 

Nice timing

How are you going to hire a competent aggressive athletic director looking to raise the bar for Gopher athletics when you undermine and meddle with their power before they start?
 

60's Guy said:
How are you going to hire a competent aggressive athletic director looking to raise the bar for Gopher athletics when you undermine and meddle with their power before they start?
Click to expand...

And that's the real trick, isn't it. I agree with you guys, less is more sometimes. But 7.1 million for a guy that should be cutting his teeth at a lower tier school doesn't add up. Sometimes when power is abused there is a backlash, as there ought to be. Regent Johnson had it right. After the sputtering and excoriations die down this will hopefully go away.
 

Again..... If mega tongue was gone, who signed his contract? Who agreed to this?
 



If it was Beth Goetz she just found herself out of the running for AD.
 

When a university President and AD give this contract to a very young, inexperienced and so far unsuccessful coach like Lil Ricky, they should be questioned. It's confusing and frankly, totally unearned. I don't blame the regents at all.
 

No reason the worst coach in Gopher Sports history shouldn't have the highest buyout / least friendly contract for the U. Amazing how much money this dude has/will make off of his Last Name. That is his only qualification.
 

Pompous Elitist said:
The good news is that the buyout is only 5.7 million after next season. The bad news is that the buyout is 5.7 million after next season.

You guys have a lot more faith in Pitino than I do. He has literally proven nothing at any level. I'm stumped by the hire, his team, and the contract extension. I don't follow b-ball that closely but I can smell it from afar.
Click to expand...

The "I don't follow b-ball that closely.." was self evident from the first part of your comment.

Many people don't want to understand that after his first season, Pitino's name was starting to pop up as a hot young coach for several openings across the country. We don't know if any other schools were really interested, but a large buyout stops all that chatter (so does losing). Everyone, including Pitino, knows that he was giving this opportunity much earlier than he earned it, but with that goes the understanding that you have to be a little more patient and may need to go through a learning curve.

It is what it is. At our current status we are not going to attract a superstar coach unless we get them very early in their career before they are a superstar. Pitino has the potential to be a superstar coach, but we need to give him time. Next year much of the Babel will fade away.

To get back on topic, no the regents should not have direct control over the contracts. It would not be wise to have a board that is not familiar with what it takes to run a top tier Athletic Department making the finial say on contracts. The board of regents has too many conflicting interest to be the one deciding how much we pay our coaches, etc. I doubt if any of our coaches contracts would have passed through the board of regents. Also, wouldn't that type of control scare away some good AD candidates?
 

alchemy2u said:
The "I don't follow b-ball that closely.." was self evident from the first part of your comment.

Many people don't want to understand that after his first season, Pitino's name was starting to pop up as a hot young coach for several openings across the country. We don't know if any other schools were really interested, but a large buyout stops all that chatter (so does losing). Everyone, including Pitino, knows that he was giving this opportunity much earlier than he earned it, but with that goes the understanding that you have to be a little more patient and may need to go through a learning curve.

It is what it is. At our current status we are not going to attract a superstar coach unless we get them very early in their career before they are a superstar. Pitino has the potential to be a superstar coach, but we need to give him time. Next year much of the Babel will fade away.

To get back on topic, no the regents should not have direct control over the contracts. It would not be wise to have a board that is not familiar with what it takes to run a top tier Athletic Department making the finial say on contracts. The board of regents has too many conflicting interest to be the one deciding how much we pay our coaches, etc. I doubt if any of our coaches contracts would have passed through the board of regents. Also, wouldn't that type of control scare away some good AD candidates?
Click to expand...

this. all of this.
 

ncgo4 said:
When a university President and AD fire a future HOF coach and give the job <strike>give this contract</strike> to a very young, inexperienced and so far unsuccessful coach like Lil Ricky, they should be questioned. It's confusing and frankly, totally unearned. I don't blame the regents at all.
Click to expand...

FIFY
 

I don't know if Pitino has ever been discussed much, if it all, on the football board. The tenor of it here as opposed to the b-ball board is dramatically different. For reasons I can't fathom, most (not all) of the b-ball posters would go balls deep on the guy if given the opportunity. It's bizarre.
 

dpodoll68 said:
I don't know if Pitino has ever been discussed much, if it all, on the football board. The tenor of it here as opposed to the b-ball board is dramatically different. For reasons I can't fathom, most (not all) of the b-ball posters would go balls deep on the guy if given the opportunity. It's bizarre.
Click to expand...

replace pitino with kill and you have the same result on this board.
 

Go4 said:
replace pitino with kill and you have the same result on this board.
Click to expand...

Probably because people respect Kill for bringing himself up to the top of the profession from nothing, while Pitino, at an age when he was barely old enough to rent a car, was handed an unearned opportunity on the basis of his last name and literally nothing else. Kill has also won more games than Pitino has even coached, despite basketball playing 3-4x as many games each year.
 

dpodoll68 said:
When a university President and AD fire a future HOF coach and give the job give this contract to a very young, inexperienced and so far unsuccessful coach like Lil Ricky, they should be questioned. It's confusing and frankly, totally unearned. I don't blame the regents at all.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

FIFY
Click to expand...

 


short ornery norwegian said:
The extension and increased buyout for Pitino is "tainted" because it was negotiated under Mega Tongue.
And, let's face it, Pitino's team tanked last season. Put those two things together, and it looks like a really bad deal. (OK, it is a really bad deal)

but, if Pitino wins 20+ games next season, and attendance goes up significantly, nobody - or almost nobody - will be talking about the buyout.
Click to expand...

Yes, because he will be gone. He's not a guy who sticks around.
 

Gopher028 said:
If it was Beth Goetz she just found herself out of the running for AD.
Click to expand...

Goetz and Phenix signed it. The terms had been agreed to before Teague's departure. While the contract is defensible, that Goetz has not been out front on the contract is not. Her silence has just led to $7 million dollars!!!!! sports talk silliness.

Hsu said the regents were not informed of the extension until after Goetz and Phenix signed, seven days after Teague resigned
 

alchemy2u said:
The "I don't follow b-ball that closely.." was self evident from the first part of your comment.

Many people don't want to understand that after his first season, Pitino's name was starting to pop up as a hot young coach for several openings across the country. We don't know if any other schools were really interested, but a large buyout stops all that chatter (so does losing). Everyone, including Pitino, knows that he was giving this opportunity much earlier than he earned it, but with that goes the understanding that you have to be a little more patient and may need to go through a learning curve.

It is what it is. At our current status we are not going to attract a superstar coach unless we get them very early in their career before they are a superstar. Pitino has the potential to be a superstar coach, but we need to give him time. Next year much of the Babel will fade away.

To get back on topic, no the regents should not have direct control over the contracts. It would not be wise to have a board that is not familiar with what it takes to run a top tier Athletic Department making the finial say on contracts. The board of regents has too many conflicting interest to be the one deciding how much we pay our coaches, etc. I doubt if any of our coaches contracts would have passed through the board of regents. Also, wouldn't that type of control scare away some good AD candidates?
Click to expand...

I dont even...really? Is there such a bubble over there you were worried about him leaving? Based on what? We used to celebrate meritocracy instead of name recognition. How many times does the spawn equal daddy? Not very often.

Anyway, we havesome arguing top AD candidates will only talk to a search firm, because they don't want their names getting out, despite seeing time after time that mediocre at best performers (that name 'do!) are handsomely rewarded for even rumors of a wandering eye.

I cannot process all the machinations going on down there. Donors are shaking their heads.
 

Pitino makes 1.4 million, next to last in the Big Ten, if he gets canned he will end up coaching at a mid major and will be off the hook for the buyout in one year tops, really not that big of the deal, and even if we had to pay it for a year, it still about half of Tubby's buyout
 

The Regents need to understand that the UM is in the Big Ten. This is the big leagues of college sports. I don't like the way contracts are constructed either but that is the way it is if you want to compete.

Plus they need to get out of the way of the staff so they can do their jobs in a competitive manner.

Maybe the Regents should pass a resolution to drop the BIG and join in with the Dakota and Montana schools.
 

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