First, I'd like to thank all of the posters on GH who are capable of maintaining a level of perspective, as this season continues to go awry. Some of you understand the following things:
- Losing Eric Curry, Reggie Lynch, Amir Coffey, McBrayer (at times, and not full health), and even Nate Mason (for a few), has had a negative impact on the season
- The scholarships of Bakary and Gaston have hamstrung the front court depth. Yes, this is on Pitino, but it's a mistake he made four years ago. His recruiting since then has been far superior to that of any Gopher coach in the past 20 years.
- Last year was a major success, mostly due to incredible player development. Nate, Dupree, Jordan, Reggie. None of these guys were heralded recruits, yet they all thrived under Pitino. Was that a miracle, or can he develop talent?
- He just landed the best in-state recruiting class probably ever. For all of the petty griping that people do on here, he landed your precious in state talent, so seriously, get on board or shut the H*LL up.
I agree that Pitino is not the best coach out there, but he's young, and he can recruit, and all signs point to him being a good player developer (of those who are competent to begin with). Would you naysayers really like to start all over again, with yet another coach who is unproven and/or not that great? Who do you think that we're going to be able to attract to the job? I'll make it easy for you, the answer is some middle of the road guy, or taking a chance on another young unproven coach. That's what we get here, so accept it and make your choice wisely.
I can't guarantee success with Pitino, but I can guarantee failure for at least the next three seasons with a new coach.
Seriously, I hate GH for crappy thoughtless threads like this one. Grow up people.