Who should be on the list?

The administration at the U can not afford to Replace Dick Pitino. They would have to buy he and his staffers out and then come up with the money to bring in a new big dollar coach and staff. Dick Pitino is saved by his long-term, relatively expensive contract. Life is good for the long-term contract holding coach, in spite of the dismal Big Ten winning percentage well into the five year mark. The Athletic Director would have to be replaced to bring in a new men's hoops coach. We Minnesota Gopher Fans deserve exactly what we allow the administration to hire, give long term contracts to, give pay raises to. Dick Pitino will be here for three to four more seasons...and we, the GOPHER faithful, deserve what ever the administration gives us. In the revenue sports...the administration can only change coaches IF there is a CHEAP option at this point in time. The State Legislators are watching their every move and are not especially big fans of the "general managing skills" of AD Coyle & the current head man at the U. 2-7 in Big Ten Football last season and 3-7 in Big Ten men's Hoops to date this season. We pretty much get what they give us...it would seem.

OMG, I think I'm going to throw up the next time some jackhole mentions the fb team's or bb team's or hk team's records as evidence that all three coaches should be fired. OMG. What world do you exist in? Give the fb coach a little time to figure things out, get some recruits in, etc.. Give the bb coach a break having 2-3 of his top 6 players out for most of the season, and give Lucia a break, seeing as he's played BY FAR the toughest schedule of any team in the country, and its not even close, I'm talking 50% more Top 20 opponents than the next toughest team ranked in the Top 20, not in the B1G. 21 for the Gophers, only 14 for the next toughest, outside of the B1G. And even B1G teams have only played 15 to 16. And its not like we lose all of those games, UMn's won the MOST games vs Top 4 teams and THE MOST games vs Top 20 ranked teams, as well, and UMn's LOST the least to bottom 40 teams. Meaning ZERO. Not a single loss to a team ranked below #20. Not even a tie. No other team in the entire country can claim the same. And no other current coach's resume compares to Lucia's, cept York, who is not perfect, either, this year will probably be the 2nd in a row his team won't even make the tourney.
 

So you mentioned integrity, do not go there. You do not care about the 5 year stretch of pathetic conference record and numerous character issues. Your right about that he can not control injuries . However you give him a pass on everything, what about terrible defense, year 5 and still not a single thing that identifies the program. What do you think he should have to be better at. What of that incredibly poor record. I am not comparing to blue bloods but what off mediocre programs that became great programs quick and clean by hitting a grand slam hire. Why are fans bad for wanting way more than what Pitino has delivered.

It's so simple, even with the Curry injury, the Lynch thing not coming up and Coffey not getting injured keeps us rolling and progressing and no one is talking about his getting fired. He WAS on schedule. The program WAS progressing. Then Curry gets injured, then McBrayer struggles with injuries, then Lynch is suspended and them Coffey gets injured and somehow the coach is supposed to rise above all of that and have the team playing stellar defense?? We're not playing in the MAC. The B1G has been an incredibly talented and deep conference for awhile now. 1 or 2 top players going down WILL torpedo any B1G team's season, there is no such thing as having so much incredible depth that losing 3 of the Top 6 players can be salvageable, not even at Duke or UNC or UK.

And you talk about grand slam hires by mediocre programs??? Those guys were NOT considered grand slam hires at the time they were hired. My god, how delusional could you be? UMn fans know that UMn is a great school, and how much potential is has, but outside of Minnesota, our bb program is considered A JOKE. Worse than a joke, its considered the jokes that the comic did NOT use in his stage performance. We are a BAD joke, discarded for not even being worthy to be considered a joke. It's cold as hell here. Why would any coach in his right mind want to come here??? Esp since we have gained a rep for firing coaches. Sure it was only Tubby, but he was our bb coach, so it caught the attention of BB people, so if we fire another BB coach, it will look like a pattern, whether we deserve the criticism or not, I was ok with the firing of Tubby, btw. But my perception is not the same as the rest of the nation's. No one outside of Minnesota wants Minnesota to succeed. So they look for reasons to put us down or keep us down. It's an exaggeration, but we are sort of like the Jews of Germany, no non-Jew in Germany wanted Jews to succeed, with a few rare exceptions of course. Thing is, our own people don't want us to succeed, there is a large contingent of Minnesota natives that actively cheer against us or that hope we don't succeed. Our situation is unique, no where else in the country can you find the same kind of dynamic. And we have become a Pro sports town, as well. People, the general public care so much more about the Twins and the Vikings and the Wild than they do about any Gopher sports team. Heck, even the T-wolves might get more love from the community? Coaches out there sense this and NO ONE outside of Mn considers UMn a great job, they just don't. Name me the last home run hire in a rev sport??? Lou Holtz? How did that turn out?
 

Terrible teams to even bring up. Nobody would complain about one bad season because they both have recent multiple national championships in their back pockets. Duke has had ONE losing ACC record since 1984. But lest you forget, North Carolina pushed out Matt Doherty three seasons in because he missed back-to-back NCAA tournaments.

This is what I find so hard to believe. A player gets injured and suddenly some Gopher fans elevate that missing player to NBA All-Star status. This team was struggling even when they were only missing Curry. They got dominated by a middle-of-the-pack SEC Arkansas team. Nearly every easier non-conference opponent lit them up from the outside. The defense couldn't get a stop against a Miami team that isn't exactly crushing the ACC. They've shot rather p!ss pour from 3 in most of their losses. This team looks poorly coached. Ah, **** it....I am wasting my breath. This team could finish 5-13 and I am sure you will think Lynch & Curry would have made them 16-2 Big Ten Champs.

I think you are not remembering correctly here. I could be wrong but I swear people were pretty excited for Tubby's second and/or third seasons. Gophers had made the tournament. Rodney and Royce signed up to play. Potential! Then everything fell flat for 2 seasons.

Hey, I am not saying that Pitino should be fired yet. I am just highly skeptical that he can get the job done. One 8 game conference win streak in 5 seasons seems a lot to pin your "certainties for greatness" on. Even Monson managed a winning 10-6 record one season.

WHY??? Why did Doherty miss back to back NCAA tournaments? Did he have 3 of his Top 6 players not play for both seasons, too??? And that's UNC. Coaches DREAM of coaching at UNC. NO ONE dreams of coaching in the frozen tundra, no one.

Oh, and no one is elevating Lynch to NBA All-Star status, but maybe B1G DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR status would be fair?

And middle of the pack in the SEC is pretty good this year, isn't it? And Miami was ranked last I saw.

And who shot piss poor from 3 in their losses, the team or Washington??


As for going 16-2 with Lynch and Curry? No, but maybe 15-3. You add all that inside skill and that helps give the shooters more room to shoot. You want to know why our shooters are having trouble? Well, when teams know that they don't have to worry about the inside game, because we have Konate and Gaston our there instead of Lynch and Curry, they can move out more. How hard is that to figure out???


As for being excited about Tubby's 2nd/3rd seasons, sure, they may have been, but he was old, and on his way to the hall of fame, he didn't bring potential, and that's not what we needed from him, we needed instant success and results basically. Instead we got disappointment and then lazy recruiting. Pitino's worked hard at recruiting, he's building something here, something real, something with tons of potential for the future. We haven't had a single Royce White yet. He started out slower than Tubby, and that first class of his is hurting us right now, but he has gained momentum each season, and Gaston and Konate graduate this year. Right now, without Lynch on the team indefinitely, we have FOUR recruits coming in to replace one legit contributing player, Mason. That should be an upgrade.


B1G was down this year, had Curry and Lynch been able to play all season, UMn truly would have had the chance to win the Conf Title, or come close to doing that and then no one would be complaining or asking for Pitino to get fired.

Great players make good coaches look great. Bad players make good coaches look not so good. MISSING players can have an even bigger effect.


Lots of Gopher fans expressed that losing just ONE player going into the B1G tourney and then the NCAA tourney made a difference and led to our losses to Wiscosnin, Michigan and MTSU. But now losing THREE players makes it Pitino's fault???
 

Why did Doherty miss back to back NCAA tournaments? Did he have 3 of his Top 6 players not play for both seasons, too???

And Miami was ranked last I saw.

And who shot piss poor from 3 in their losses, the team or Washington??

As for going 16-2 with Lynch and Curry? No, but maybe 15-3. You add all that inside skill and that helps give the shooters more room to shoot. You want to know why our shooters are having trouble? Well, when teams know that they don't have to worry about the inside game, because we have Konate and Gaston our there instead of Lynch and Curry, they can move out more. How hard is that to figure out???

Lots of Gopher fans expressed that losing just ONE player going into the B1G tourney and then the NCAA tourney made a difference and led to our losses to Wiscosnin, Michigan and MTSU. But now losing THREE players makes it Pitino's fault???
At this point you are really just talking out of your ass. You have no idea if North Carolina was missing any players due to injury back then (had nothing to do with my point) and I know you didn't bother to actually look anything up. How so? Miami is no longer ranked. Nice assumption that only Washington shot poorly. (I'll give you a hint: most of the team/other guards did too.) You appear to be saying that the Gophers lost to Wisconsin because Springs was hurt. (Nice try on that. He wasn't.) And you make statements speaking as if Lynch and Coffey have been out all year. Also, completely ignoring the defensive problems this team has had even when they were only down Curry. Does no defense have to be played to win the Big Ten? We must not have watched the same team earlier this year.
 

Agreed this team was far from perfect before the ill game. Our rpi was 52 lunardi has us out. The way the team performed against drake and Harvard, the season had been a disappointment to that point.

At this point you are really just talking out of your ass. You have no idea if North Carolina was missing any players due to injury back then (had nothing to do with my point) and I know you didn't bother to actually look anything up. How so? Miami is no longer ranked. Nice assumption that only Washington shot poorly. (I'll give you a hint: most of the team/other guards did too.) You appear to be saying that the Gophers lost to Wisconsin because Springs was hurt. (Nice try on that. He wasn't.) And you make statements speaking as if Lynch and Coffey have been out all year. Also, completely ignoring the defensive problems this team has had even when they were only down Curry. Does no defense have to be played to win the Big Ten? We must not have watched the same team earlier this year.
 


I'd be ok with Pitino coming back but it looks like he has lost this team, which is an exit sign for a coach. On the floor the guys are playing hero ball, particularly Mason and McBrayer. During timeouts and on the bench many of the players look away when he speaks to them. There is no life to this team.
 

Freshman at the level that we recruit rarely come in and set the world on fire. Mason was OK. Murphy was pretty good. But the idea that they're going to elevate us to another level next year is wishful thinking. Their only hope to be significantly better is if IW improves massively or we get another PG.

Correct. Next year was understood to be a step back, losing Mason and Lynch, and the conventional wisdom was that it wasn't going to be a tournament year. The evaluation of Pitino next year has to be realistic in this respect. Realistically, an NCAA berth the following year is possible if the incoming recruiting class pans out and serves as an able replacement for Murphy and McBrayer. Still feels fairly uphill to me, and even with the perspective of realistic expectations, struggling for an NCAA bid in Year 7 does feel like weak sauce.
 

To the poster who asked if our border rivals would be so patient with poor performance: I guess we'll see at the end of the year, as they're playing at the same level that we are.
 

ahhhh no I was referring to 5 years they are both having hicccups lets look at the conferences record of these teams, plus Mcaffery has won almost 400 games
Iowa
9-9
12-6
12-6
10-8
2-7
58-36
3 ncca tournaments 1 nit, likely to miss all this year.
Wisconsin-
12-6
16-2
12-6
12-6
3-5
55-25 4 ncaa tournaments will likely miss all this year
Minnesota
8-10
6-12
2-16
11-7
3-7
30-52
1 ncaa tournament, 1 nit, likely to miss all for the 3rd time this year.

Again even Gard has proven more than Pitino and one down season is more than likely a blip. Pitinos one good season definitely is the blip. The point is both of those coaches have done something and have earned some leeway Pitino has in my opinion has been bad to horrible here and has not earned much leeway, you combine the on and off court issues I just don't see it. 5.4 million gets him back here as a lame duck coach.


58

To the poster who asked if our border rivals would be so patient with poor performance: I guess we'll see at the end of the year, as they're playing at the same level that we are.
 



Did Davidson want to come to Mn? Just think how Wright and Davidson would be contributing now on both ends of the court. Recruiting head scratchers
 

It will be interesting to see if Pitino even beats Iowa and Wisconsin this year, two teams he still has a clear personnel advantage over. Thanks to Rivergopher for going to the work to show that both Gard and McCaffery are in much different situations than Pitino. I do think Wisconsin could have a quick trigger on Gard given all their success under Ryan, the poor year this year and the poor (on paper) recruiting class signed for 2018. Whatever they decide, they will probably make the right choice.

Where was this "conventional wisdom" that next year would be a miss the tournament year Bad Gopher? I missed that and would have certainly strongly disagreed. I don't know when the discussion took place, but we are due to have Seniors Murphy and McBrayer with a Junior Coffey and a (depending at the time of the conversation) Junior/Redshirt Sophomore Curry. Again depending on when this conversation took place you had one or two offseasons to build around those four.
 

It's so simple, even with the Curry injury, the Lynch thing not coming up and Coffey not getting injured keeps us rolling and progressing and no one is talking about his getting fired. He WAS on schedule. The program WAS progressing. Then Curry gets injured, then McBrayer struggles with injuries, then Lynch is suspended and them Coffey gets injured and somehow the coach is supposed to rise above all of that and have the team playing stellar defense?? We're not playing in the MAC. The B1G has been an incredibly talented and deep conference for awhile now. 1 or 2 top players going down WILL torpedo any B1G team's season, there is no such thing as having so much incredible depth that losing 3 of the Top 6 players can be salvageable, not even at Duke or UNC or UK.

And you talk about grand slam hires by mediocre programs??? Those guys were NOT considered grand slam hires at the time they were hired. My god, how delusional could you be? UMn fans know that UMn is a great school, and how much potential is has, but outside of Minnesota, our bb program is considered A JOKE. Worse than a joke, its considered the jokes that the comic did NOT use in his stage performance. We are a BAD joke, discarded for not even being worthy to be considered a joke. It's cold as hell here. Why would any coach in his right mind want to come here??? Esp since we have gained a rep for firing coaches. Sure it was only Tubby, but he was our bb coach, so it caught the attention of BB people, so if we fire another BB coach, it will look like a pattern, whether we deserve the criticism or not, I was ok with the firing of Tubby, btw. But my perception is not the same as the rest of the nation's. No one outside of Minnesota wants Minnesota to succeed. So they look for reasons to put us down or keep us down. It's an exaggeration, but we are sort of like the Jews of Germany, no non-Jew in Germany wanted Jews to succeed, with a few rare exceptions of course. Thing is, our own people don't want us to succeed, there is a large contingent of Minnesota natives that actively cheer against us or that hope we don't succeed. Our situation is unique, no where else in the country can you find the same kind of dynamic. And we have become a Pro sports town, as well. People, the general public care so much more about the Twins and the Vikings and the Wild than they do about any Gopher sports team. Heck, even the T-wolves might get more love from the community? Coaches out there sense this and NO ONE outside of Mn considers UMn a great job, they just don't. Name me the last home run hire in a rev sport??? Lou Holtz? How did that turn out?

Again, i want him back for one more go but you never addressed the poor defense, except 22nd last year (no fluke it was his best team ) . It has to be a constant. You never addressed recruiting players that had character issues that other coaches knew about. HOME Run hires are not defined by a big name. They can come from anywhere. Butler hired on coaches recommendations. UW reached twice on the advice first of Bob Knight and Al Mcguire and Gene Keady. Coaches from all over the world were coming to those clinics. This search was botched by a inept AD who used Villa to find someone that was the 7th choice. Xavier and Nova took the advice of several great coaches in their hires. They all established one identifiable piece to the program from day one, even at the expense of day one success and it was called defense. Do the research, no non blue blood built their success in a sustainable way without that. Defense also calls out great character because it requires it. It is selfless, all for the team. Are you pleased with the lack of effort and the lack of discipline to look for good shots and to stop them ? It is not too late...he has the chance from here on out to play lock down defense or pull players out. Work for good shots or you sit. It is a hard job but most fans can support a power 5 team that is above .500 near the end of .500. People would be estatic if this was a program that was anywhere a .500 record deep in year 5, especially in a very weak Big 10. I can deal with a off year by injury, he can not control that. But he can control defenses ranked below 60, poor shot selection and recruiting character. You make several good points but will not aknowledge in year 5 a complete lack of identity that speaks to all that this is what you hang your hat on day after day and year after year.
 


This is the only reason I want Musselman!

Give Pitino another season without the bad behavior of Lynch.
 



UW is not pulling the plug on Gard. That freashman class is quintissential UW. They have won with jr's and sr's, made use of red shirts and played defense. Forced to play young (part of that is his fault) along with injuries like here they can not ingrain that defense and offense in the time available. Fran is another story but Iowa is not going to walk away from what he has on the way. What he has done is largely mediocre.
 

We have some on here that would build Pitino a statue if he ever went 12-6 back to back.
UW is not pulling the plug on Gard. That freashman class is quintissential UW. They have won with jr's and sr's, made use of red shirts and played defense. Forced to play young (part of that is his fault) along with injuries like here they can not ingrain that defense and offense in the time available. Fran is another story but Iowa is not going to walk away from what he has on the way. What he has done is largely mediocre.
 

I think we can lock this thread up now that it's turned into a pissing match.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Best post today. Sorry for my over emphasis in my participation.
 

We have some on here that would build Pitino a statue if he ever went 12-6 back to back.

Well the last time this was done, not including vacated seasons, was in the 1950’s, so it would certainly be an accomplishment.
 

Always been a big Tim Miles fan and always will be.

Tim Miles' Big Ten conference record so far:
2013: (5-13)
2014: (11-7)
2015: (5-13)
2016: (6-12)
2017: (6-12)

What do you like so much about him? The way he coaches? Interviews? His before Nebraska job? Just curious.
 

Some would argue that his record is 3 games better than Pitino in the last 82 conference games at as tough or tougher place to win. I did think he was going to have more success there than he as, but yeah that hire would do nothing for me rather stick with Pitino.

Tim Miles' Big Ten conference record so far:
2013: (5-13)
2014: (11-7)
2015: (5-13)
2016: (6-12)
2017: (6-12)

What do you like so much about him? The way he coaches? Interviews? His before Nebraska job? Just curious.
 

It will be interesting to see if Pitino even beats Iowa and Wisconsin this year, two teams he still has a clear personnel advantage over. Thanks to Rivergopher for going to the work to show that both Gard and McCaffery are in much different situations than Pitino. I do think Wisconsin could have a quick trigger on Gard given all their success under Ryan, the poor year this year and the poor (on paper) recruiting class signed for 2018. Whatever they decide, they will probably make the right choice.

Where was this "conventional wisdom" that next year would be a miss the tournament year Bad Gopher? I missed that and would have certainly strongly disagreed. I don't know when the discussion took place, but we are due to have Seniors Murphy and McBrayer with a Junior Coffey and a (depending at the time of the conversation) Junior/Redshirt Sophomore Curry. Again depending on when this conversation took place you had one or two offseasons to build around those four.

There was certainly going to be a dropoff losing Mason and Lynch; I don't think anyone thinks otherwise. As far as whether next year was going to be a tournament year, I guess there wasn't a consensus necessarily, but the assessment seems to have been that it depends on how well the freshman guards panned out. The struggles Washington has had would seem to make the NCAA's a pipe dream next year, wouldn't you think?

As far as Wisconsin goes, it would seem safe that they'll beat our league record this year for the 20th straight year.
 

Tim Miles' Big Ten conference record so far:
2013: (5-13)
2014: (11-7)
2015: (5-13)
2016: (6-12)
2017: (6-12)

What do you like so much about him? The way he coaches? Interviews? His before Nebraska job? Just curious.

What rivergopher said. Additionally, even with the less-than-great results with the exception of '14, he manages to have an energized fan base.

I do believe you have to adjust for the Lincoln factor. He's got a lot of built-in disadvantages there. I know one thing: when the Huskers play the Gophers, he and his staff always seem to out-game plan us.
 

What rivergopher said. Additionally, even with the less-than-great results with the exception of '14, he manages to have an energized fan base.

I do believe you have to adjust for the Lincoln factor. He's got a lot of built-in disadvantages there. I know one thing: when the Huskers play the Gophers, he and his staff always seem to out-game plan us.

Yeah not sure what games he has coached against us in the barn where he and his staff have out game planned us. Not sure if you were impressed with 2012-13 season where he lost by 19 to the gophers or in 2014-15 where we beat him by 18 or was it last year when we beat him by 15? I want pitino to stay but if we make a change please no Tim miles!
 

Yeah please don't get me wrong I am not calling for Tim Miles to be hired I feel at best that would be a lateral move.

Yeah not sure what games he has coached against us in the barn where he and his staff have out game planned us. Not sure if you were impressed with 2012-13 season where he lost by 19 to the gophers or in 2014-15 where we beat him by 18 or was it last year when we beat him by 15? I want pitino to stay but if we make a change please no Tim miles!
 

For sure it would be. If we eventually change coaches , Tim miles is a good coach, just not the hire I would be looking for.
 

No one.

There isn't anyone that is going to succeed until the athletic culture changes at the U. They will hamstring even the strongest coach. Also, it is getting to the point now that there isn't anyone worth their salt that wants to take on this job anymore. There's been a few names through here and some hot up and comers, none of them have done anything. Clem was the last one to do any good. Unfortunately, the University sabotaged him and ran him out on a rail. That was the start of the decline of this program. It's been hovering at a little better than piss poor for quite a few years now. Let Richie try to build something for another couple years. Changing coaches all the time hasn't accomplished anything. If he can't hire someone from the Midwest or someone that is a part of the MN basketball scene.
 

Thats why i believe and i think gopherbbdude said it best. Longevity is the answer. I mean don't get me wrong if in 2 years this is going nowhere, let's change coaches, but changing all the time like you say isn't getting us anywhere. We have new facilities, we have a coach who wants to build this program, let's see how this goes before starting over again and again.
 

No one.

There isn't anyone that is going to succeed until the athletic culture changes at the U. They will hamstring even the strongest coach. Also, it is getting to the point now that there isn't anyone worth their salt that wants to take on this job anymore. There's been a few names through here and some hot up and comers, none of them have done anything. Clem was the last one to do any good. Unfortunately, the University sabotaged him and ran him out on a rail. That was the start of the decline of this program. It's been hovering at a little better than piss poor for quite a few years now. Let Richie try to build something for another couple years. Changing coaches all the time hasn't accomplished anything. If he can't hire someone from the Midwest or someone that is a part of the MN basketball scene.

Explain how the athletic culture is bad?

The U has invested $166 in a brand new facility for student-athletes, complete with new practice facilities for both men's & women's basketball & football. With the old football space re-purposed for other sports.

Is it because we expect athletes obey the rules of conduct for all students at the U?
 

Yeah not sure what games he has coached against us in the barn where he and his staff have out game planned us. Not sure if you were impressed with 2012-13 season where he lost by 19 to the gophers or in 2014-15 where we beat him by 18 or was it last year when we beat him by 15? I want pitino to stay but if we make a change please no Tim miles!

Well, the most recent game in Lincoln...

The best example was Pitino's first year, when they used double-team on-ball pressure to flummox Deandre, and it took our staff until a couple days later to figure out what happened.
 

I respectively disagree, I think this premise holds true in Football but to me 5 years is more than enough time in hoops, but like I said just my opinion. I do think he gets next year although.

Thats why i believe and i think gopherbbdude said it best. Longevity is the answer. I mean don't get me wrong if in 2 years this is going nowhere, let's change coaches, but changing all the time like you say isn't getting us anywhere. We have new facilities, we have a coach who wants to build this program, let's see how this goes before starting over again and again.
 




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