10 most interesting options to replace Richard Pitino

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TheBarnyard said:
Gates is a fantastic recruiter and he has proven that. I think kids really want to play for him and he teaches in a way that provides very valuable lessons for the kids.

Forgive me if this has been posted elsewhere but this is a really cool look at ‘Gates Way’

I think he is an excellent candidate regardless of the small sample size being a head coach.
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Why did i watch that??? Now I like Gates. FML.

Seriously though, great video. So i just saw Cleveland state hasnt had a winning season since 14-15.

Gates has them winning in his 2nd year. I do like that.
 


PMWinSTP said:
Three as a player. In Championship game twice as a player.
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Do players make good coaches?

Anyway, not a hill worth dying on. I was just trying to say, it possible that one great year can be enough to put someone over, in the context of their entire coaching career.


I mean, if someone is going to use such an argument to try to blow up Medved, then it also blows away Gates.
 

bigyetti18 said:
I'm not sure if this has been mentioned or discussed before but does anyone think that demons from Clem are still haunting us? Will they ever bring him back to the arena? Will they ever retire Bobby's number? Our program has been going nowhere for the past 25 years. It's actually really hard to refer to it as a program.
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Someone should burn some sage at williams arena then. Let's meet in the back door at 11pm tonight
 

Funny thing is ... we as fans argue X,Y,Z about all these different coaches .... but Coyle could've already decided against any of these particular coaches, for any particular reason of his choosing.

He could've said "No Horizon League" back when he was going to fire Pitino last season and probably had already gone through some vetting. And that's would be that, but we're still here arguing it, unaware. Is what it is.
 


MplsGopher said:
Funny thing is ... we as fans argue X,Y,Z about all these different coaches .... but Coyle could've already decided against any of these particular coaches, for any particular reason of his choosing.

He could've said "No Horizon League" back when he was going to fire Pitino last season and probably had already gone through some vetting. And that's would be that, but we're still here arguing it, unaware. Is what it is.
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That's part of the fun of being a fan though.

Nobody on here has the hot's for any one coach because they think they'll be the same of worse than Pitino.

We all want a coach that will make the Gophers basketball program successful.
 

I have to think the odds on favorite is Dutcher. He seems to be the best puzzle piece to fit the current puzzle constraints...successful coaching career, great recruiter, salary, buyout, etc.
 

SanDiegoGopherFan said:
Why did i watch that??? Now I like Gates. FML.

Seriously though, great video. So i just saw Cleveland state hasnt had a winning season since 14-15.

Gates has them winning in his 2nd year. I do like that.
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It’s a great video. I really like Gates. I think he would be able to take advantage of the MN and Illinois recruiting markets and bring in some good talent.
 

TheBarnyard said:
Gates is a fantastic recruiter and he has proven that. I think kids really want to play for him and he teaches in a way that provides very valuable lessons for the kids.

Forgive me if this has been posted elsewhere but this is a really cool look at ‘Gates Way’

I think he is an excellent candidate regardless of the small sample size being a head coach.
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Wow. Impressive guy 🤩
 




SanDiegoGopherFan said:
Why did i watch that??? Now I like Gates. FML.

Seriously though, great video. So i just saw Cleveland state hasnt had a winning season since 14-15.

Gates has them winning in his 2nd year. I do like that.
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He has to be in the mix especially if they make the dance and if they were to win a game or two? He'd be HOT.
 

Bad Gopher said:
I'd be overjoyed if it's Muss; pleased as heck if it's Dutcher, Smith or Gates; satisfied and optimistic if it's Nagy or Medved; and disappointed if it's anyone else.
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Why Gates over Medved? Can't be a logical reason. Emotional/gut/racial/other reasons certain are valid, though.
 

Bad Gopher said:
Wow. Impressive guy 🤩
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One concern is that Leonard Hamilton is 72 (even though he looks 50). Would FSU lure Gates away in a couple years? I don't think it's really a better job than MN, but could happen.
 




MplsGopher said:
Why Gates over Medved? Can't be a logical reason. Emotional/gut/racial/other reasons certain are valid, though.
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You're right; part of it is gut feel, especially after consuming some Dennis Gates content over the last week including the video posted here. If I were 18 I'd be on my way to Cleveland to walk on. Nothing against Niko--I mean, he's an alumnus of my younger daughter's high school and my own college!--but Gates is inspiring. I feel like he could recruit just about anyone. Not to mention that he's already an accomplished head coach.
 

BarnBurner said:
Why do you think Stephens as never moved to HC?
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Don’t know, that’s a good question.

I think Izzo has always said he doesn’t want his assistants to take just any head coaching job. It’s also possible he and/or Fife want to stay with Izzo and be his replacement when that day comes.
 

SelectionSunday said:
Don’t know, that’s a good question.

I think Izzo has always said he doesn’t want his assistants to take just any head coaching job. It’s also possible he and/or Fife want to stay with Izzo and be his replacement when that day comes.
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That day seemed near earlier this season.
 

SelectionSunday said:
Don’t know, that’s a good question.

I think Izzo has always said he doesn’t want his assistants to take just any head coaching job. It’s also possible he and/or Fife want to stay with Izzo and be his replacement when that day comes.
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Always wondered. How old is he?
 

howeda7 said:
One concern is that Leonard Hamilton is 72 (even though he looks 50). Would FSU lure Gates away in a couple years? I don't think it's really a better job than MN, but could happen.
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That’s actually a very fair concern. I haven’t thought about that until just now. Something to think about but I wouldn’t use that as a deterrent to go after him if that’s who Coyle really wants.
 

Bad Gopher said:
I'd be overjoyed if it's Muss; pleased as heck if it's Dutcher, Smith or Gates; satisfied and optimistic if it's Nagy or Medved; and disappointed if it's anyone else.
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I'm very close to right on with you here. I might move Nagy up somewhere between that 2nd and 3rd tier but that's nit picky. I'm where you're at. It feels to me like that 2nd tier is where it's going to be coming from, and I really like all those guys. Gates just keeps growing on me 👀
 
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Bad Gopher said:
You're right; part of it is gut feel, especially after consuming some Dennis Gates content over the last week including the video posted here. If I were 18 I'd be on my way to Cleveland to walk on. Nothing against Niko--I mean, he's an alumnus of my younger daughter's high school and my own college!--but Gates is inspiring. I feel like he could recruit just about anyone. Not to mention that he's already an accomplished head coach.
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Fair enough!
 

skiumah1 said:
I'm very close to right on with you here. I might move Nagy up somewhere between that 2nd and 3rd tier but that's nit picky. I'm where you're at. It feels to me like that 2nd tier is where it's going to be coming from, and I really like all those guys.
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I don't think Nagy will get a call, unless things go badly in the hiring process.

Muss doesn't mean anything to me, because I don't think there's any reasonable chance he comes here.

Then based on everything folks have posted, any of the following are "pleased, satisfied, and optimistic": Smith, Medved, Gates, Dutcher.
 

MplsGopher said:
I don't think Nagy will get a call, unless things go badly in the hiring process.

Muss doesn't mean anything to me, because I don't think there's any reasonable chance he comes here.

Then based on everything folks have posted, any of the following are "pleased, satisfied, and optimistic": Smith, Medved, Gates, Dutcher.
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Fair enough. Medved and I'm satisfied. He's just faded on me a little bit. I don't have a great reason besides just pure resume.

Dutcher and Smith very satisfied. Smith just seems like the definition of a solid hire. I'd feel very confident we'd be a Top 8 Big 10 team every year with Smith running things.

Gates I'm a little nervous but I think it would be awesome and potential seems huge.
 

skiumah1 said:
Fair enough. Medved and I'm satisfied. He's just faded on me a little bit. I don't have a great reason besides just pure resume.

Dutcher and Smith very satisfied. Smith just seems like the definition of a solid hire. I'd feel very confident we'd be a Top 8 Big 10 team every year with Smith running things.

Gates I'm a little nervous but I think it would be awesome and potential seems huge.
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Gates and Medved haven't proven it yet, but there is still this season to see what happens.
 

skiumah1 said:
Fair enough. Medved and I'm satisfied. He's just faded on me a little bit. I don't have a great reason besides just pure resume.

Dutcher and Smith very satisfied. Smith just seems like the definition of a solid hire. I'd feel very confident we'd be a Top 8 Big 10 team every year with Smith running things.

Gates I'm a little nervous but I think it would be awesome and potential seems huge.
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Not good enough. Better hire someone that can elevate the program much farther north.
 


TheBarnyard said:
That’s actually a very fair concern. I haven’t thought about that until just now. Something to think about but I wouldn’t use that as a deterrent to go after him if that’s who Coyle really wants.
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I agree it's not a deterrent if he's absolutely your guy. But if it's a toss-up between him and Smith or Medved, I might go with the later two.

Not that it changes the concern, but I saw that Hamilton signed a 6 year extension yesterday. Kind of makes worrying about Dutcher's age seem silly.
 

BarnBurner said:
Not good enough. Better hire someone that can elevate the program much farther north.
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Gates 👀 I also think Dutcher is higher ceiling than Smith. I'm not bailing on Musselman until he's officially stated he doesn't want it and/or the job is given to someone else.
 

Reusse was on the Strib's "Daily Delivery" podcast yesterday to talk about Pitino. There were two interesting nuggets (take with a grain of salt). The first was that someone who Reusse described as "lets just say extremely connected to the world of college basketball" has told him that Musselman is interested in the job. The second was that Reusse said "you hear from people that Coyle doesn't want to go big on this, he doesn't want to go above 2 (million)".

Because most of you are Minnesotans, you are far more likely to belive the latter nugget than the former. Two million obviously takes us out of the running for any sitting head coach at a high major and any accomplished coach currently sitting out (Beilein, Matta, etc). That said, it's enough to get most any mid major coach that Coyle is interested in. For reference, Mike Young at Virginia Tech and Juwan Howard make $2 million. From the research this amount seem completely in line with hiring a mid major or unproven coach.
 

On DeVries: He has a son that's ranked around #90 in the country committed to play for him next year. I would assume it would be attractive to DeVries to at least triple his salary and have his son play at a high major with his peers if he had that opportunity.

I do think it's likely that DeVries would prefer to coach in Iowa if possible. His staff is made up of Iowans and he himself grew up in Iowa and played at UNI. His brother was a really good defensive lineman at Iowa. There is a chance Iowa State could open. Would Iowa State be interested when his mentor's (McDermott) tenure there did not go well? Would DeVries be hesitant of ISU because of McDermott's experience? Don't know. There is a small chance Iowa opens too (would probably require Brey to be out at Notre Dame and for the Irish to want Fran) so a high major in Iowa could be on the table for him. I think it's a bit ridiculous to expect any mid major coach to turn down high majors for years hoping that a job comes open in their home state. One or two bad years at a mid major and you are off the grid of that 3X pay raise. Look at what happened to someone like Chris Lowery at SIU.

The other issue is the Drake staff was not happy with how the Liam Robbins transfer went down. Now there is a lawsuit that I believe is still pending involving a Drake coach allegedly telling a player to lie about a shooting. There are questions on both sides here: Does DeVries have hostility toward the Gopher program as a whole or just the coaching staff? and How does Coyle view the situation? He's a big culture guy and it's certainly possible DeVries isn't even on his list depending on how he viewed the Robbins transfer and that lawsuit situation.
 

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