Craig Smith is my vote, here’s why

Donate To GopherHole
Some Day...Maybe said:
I’m originally from Northern Minnesota, have a lot of friends who went to UND, and a lot of them are Gopher football and basketball fans. It’s the University of Minnesota, not Minneapolis. The guy was born in Minnesota and went to high school in Minnesota. Your view here is pretty ignorant.
Click to expand...
Meh. I'm just poking and prodding. No personal offense is meant, of course. Just testing the theory.

All good. (y)
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Here's another good video of Smith talking about growing up in Minnesota when he first arrived at Utah State.

Click to expand...
:sneaky:

The first 30sec of the ~4min video he describes growing up in Stephen(, Minnesota), where his high school class was 18 and they would go shopping in Grand Forks. (and is over 300mies and 5.5hr drive away from Mpls -- this point added by me)

He loved growing up in Stephen. He literally didn't say peep about feelings for the state of Minnesota.

Then goes on to talk about how much he coached in the Dakotas, as well as Colorado St. And how much he loves the weather in Utah in the summer -- no humidity or bugs.
 

MplsGopher said:
:sneaky:

The first 30sec of the ~4min video he describes growing up in Stephen(, Minnesota), where his high school class was 18 and they would go shopping in Grand Forks. (and is over 300mies and 5.5hr drive away from Mpls -- this point added by me)

He loved growing up in Stephen. He literally didn't say peep about feelings for the state of Minnesota.

Then goes on to talk about how much he coached in the Dakotas, as well as Colorado St. And how much he loves the weather in Utah in the summer -- no humidity or bugs.
Click to expand...
I'm totally with him about how nice the West is. I like the drier air and their version of winter. I wouldn't blame him if he wanted to stay there forever.

But he won't. His career trajectory is a P5 job, and he knows it. Unless he intentionally decides to call it a career at that level, he'll be moving on at some point, and with his accumulating accomplishments it won't be long. Of all the places he might go... One way or another, it's being reported that he'd take this job, and I believe those reports.
 

Bad Gopher said:
I'm totally with him about how nice the West is. I like the drier air and their version of winter. I wouldn't blame him if he wanted to stay there forever.

But he won't. His career trajectory is a P5 job, and he knows it. Unless he intentionally decides to call it a career at that level, he'll be moving on at some point, and with his accumulating accomplishments it won't be long. Of all the places he might go... One way or another, it's being reported that he'd take this job, and I believe those reports.
Click to expand...
If forced to pick right now, I would take Smith over anyone else. He was my pick last year too.

And yes, I also love the mountain west! Utah is literally one of the most beautiful states, highly recommended.


Wonder if U of Utah would be interested in him? Their current coach seems to have plateaued and then regressed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Krystkowiak#College
 



MplsGopher said:
If forced to pick right now, I would take Smith over anyone else. He was my pick last year too.

And yes, I also love the mountain west! Utah is literally one of the most beautiful states, highly recommended.


Wonder if U of Utah would be interested in him? Their current coach seems to have plateaued and then regressed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Krystkowiak#College
Click to expand...
I've wondered that, too. That's why I keep saying, if we don't snatch him up, somebody else will. Which is why...I love Brian Dutcher and would be ecstatic if we hired him, but if we did, we might be closing ourselves off to longer-term solutions like Smith. Even I've said that, if you went with Dutcher, you could find another excellent coach when he retires, but could you? Smith and Medved will end up in big-time jobs and may be as difficult to hire away as Musselman. This is a uniquely fertile moment to make a hire.
 

This is not important for this discussion but I find it interesting that the MWC plays the same teams twice in a row all season. I know its Covid related but kind of a fun way to do it. Little mini-series. Get to know your opponent. I’m guessing there were some heated games after seeing the same guys two days prior.
 





I think Smith is probably the best pick as well. My Dennis Gates infatuation has kind of came and went. He's just too unproven.

If Musselman or Craig Smith are the coach next year, I'm thrilled. Happy with Dutcher and then Medved as well. I know these names have been repeated over and over and probably will be until we hire a coach. They are all solid candidates.

Looking forward to the end of the year and that new guy coming in to rally around. Let's go!
 
Last edited:

If it helps to ease concerns on Dutcher's age, I look at someone like Lon Kruger, who it's hard to deny is a great coach, and is 68? Sure Dutcher's had just the one HC job, but he's had a big hand in developing a lot of great players both at Michigan and SDSU. And I think Dutcher will make sure he comes with a solid staff. If he elevates the program, hiring the next coach will not be an issue. I think the focus has to be on getting the best guy now. But all the other names people mention are good as well. Musselman being most insta-fix, then take your pick Smith, Medved. But I put Dutcher above them both, and neck & neck or close w/ Musselman.
 

dlnavra said:
If it helps to ease concerns on Dutcher's age, I look at someone like Lon Kruger, who it's hard to deny is a great coach, and is 68? Sure Dutcher's had just the one HC job, but he's had a big hand in developing a lot of great players both at Michigan and SDSU. And I think Dutcher will make sure he comes with a solid staff. If he elevates the program, hiring the next coach will not be an issue. I think the focus has to be on getting the best guy now. But all the other names people mention are good as well. Musselman being most insta-fix, then take your pick Smith, Medved. But I put Dutcher above them both, and neck & neck or close w/ Musselman.
Click to expand...

A mental excercise I like to do when comparing coaches is how well they would do in other jobs. I don’t think Dutcher wins more at Utah State than Craig Smith does. Some of this is style and fit to because I don’t know if Smith does as well at SDSU, but I still think he does fine. Depending on what you think of the Nevada job, Musselman could do just as good and vice versa. That’s why Smith and Musselman are in my first tier with Smith being my preference because of his belief in culture and defense being priority #1. He’s more of a builder than Musselman imo. My second tier is Dutcher and third tier is Medved and Gates.
 

manderson1984 said:
A mental excercise I like to do when comparing coaches is how well they would do in other jobs. I don’t think Dutcher wins more at Utah State than Craig Smith does. Some of this is style and fit to because I don’t know if Smith does as well at SDSU, but I still think he does fine. Depending on what you think of the Nevada job, Musselman could do just as good and vice versa. That’s why Smith and Musselman are in my first tier with Smith being my preference because of his belief in culture and defense being priority #1. He’s more of a builder than Musselman imo. My second tier is Dutcher and third tier is Medved and Gates.
Click to expand...
Makes sense, other than Dutcher's teams def play hard-nosed defense. And I might argue his teams play a style that almost has the look of B1G. Similar to your exercise, I look at the adjustments Brad Underwood made, after initially trying to instill his own philosophy at Illinois. He realized the B1G is just a different conference, and if you want to have success, you kind of have to adapt to it, vs. the other way. Crean and others have also discovered what happens when you don't. So credit to Underwood for adapting, and sure it helps to have a terrific guard and big man.
 



manderson1984 said:
A mental excercise I like to do when comparing coaches is how well they would do in other jobs. I don’t think Dutcher wins more at Utah State than Craig Smith does. Some of this is style and fit to because I don’t know if Smith does as well at SDSU, but I still think he does fine. Depending on what you think of the Nevada job, Musselman could do just as good and vice versa. That’s why Smith and Musselman are in my first tier with Smith being my preference because of his belief in culture and defense being priority #1. He’s more of a builder than Musselman imo. My second tier is Dutcher and third tier is Medved and Gates.
Click to expand...
This is the kind of analysis I come to the GopherHole for.
 

Any one of the three. Either Musselman, Smith or Gates! Just someone who can sell Minnesota.
 

dlnavra said:
Makes sense, other than Dutcher's teams def play hard-nosed defense. And I might argue his teams play a style that almost has the look of B1G. Similar to your exercise, I look at the adjustments Brad Underwood made, after initially trying to instill his own philosophy at Illinois. He realized the B1G is just a different conference, and if you want to have success, you kind of have to adapt to it, vs. the other way. Crean and others have also discovered what happens when you don't. So credit to Underwood for adapting, and sure it helps to have a terrific guard and big man.
Click to expand...

Great post. No doubt that Dutch’s teams defend like crazy. He also has the best players in his conference hands down. If we hire Dutcher, I will not be disappointed and I do believe he’d win here. Also you are 100 percent correct on the a certain style to be successful in the B1G.
 

manderson1984 said:
He also has the best players in his conference hands down.
Click to expand...
Is that because they want to play for him or they want to play for a top, winning, well supported program like SDSU? Or both?

Very difficult, impossible, to tease out the contribution of each factor individually.
 

MplsGopher said:
Is that because they want to play for him or they want to play for a top, winning, well supported program like SDSU? Or both?

Very difficult, impossible, to tease out the contribution of each factor individually.
Click to expand...

Agreed, it’s not fair to say Dutch doesn’t have some part in finding and getting his great players to SDSU. He’s kept that program in a place where they go toe to toe with Pac 12 programs in California. When I look at MN, I see it being more of a lower level program which is why I like Smith and Muss more because they’ve won in places that are tough to win.
 

manderson1984 said:
Agreed, it’s not fair to say Dutch doesn’t have some part in finding and getting his great players to SDSU. He’s kept that program in a place where they go toe to toe with Pac 12 programs in California. When I look at MN, I see it being more of a lower level program which is why I like Smith and Muss more because they’ve won in places that are tough to win.
Click to expand...
Both Utah St and Nevada have had some success though, prior to their Mountain West days. I think both have had a similar trajectory, in previous iterations of the Big West and WAC.

It's not like they're San Jose State or Idaho, or something like that.
 

Another separator for Smith over Dutcher for me is head to head. Two of SDSU's 3 conference losses are to Utah St this season. Overall Smith is 5-3 vs Dutcher, and has beaten Dutcher twice in the conference tournament championship game. This is with a less talented team.
 

2018-19 really was a remarkable job of coaching by Smith. USU was OK the year before, but nothing special. Then they tied for the regular season title with Nevada (Muss's last year there), split the regular season with both Nevada and SDSU (in both, the home team won all games). SDSU took out Nevada, and USU beat SDSU in the championship. Lost in the first round to Washington.

2019-20 everyone lost to SDSU (ranked top 10), including both in the regular season. But found a way to beat them in the conf championship. No big dance.

2020-21 they're right in the thick of things with the top 4 conf teams. SDSU won the regular season again and will be #1 seed, but USU did beat them both times (both at home though). Will prob get #2 or #3 seed for the conf tourney.
 

MplsGopher said:
Both Utah St and Nevada have had some success though, prior to their Mountain West days. I think both have had a similar trajectory, in previous iterations of the Big West and WAC.

It's not like they're San Jose State or Idaho, or something like that.
Click to expand...

What are you feelings of USD in the summit? I’d consider that job on par/worse than Idaho/SJSU
 

Well.....his offense looked very Pitino-like in the 1st half versus Fresno State.....16 POINTS!!!! 🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮
 

cheeseheadgophfan said:
Well.....his offense looked very Pitino-like in the 1st half versus Fresno State.....16 POINTS!!!! 🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮
Click to expand...
The movement was good as usual, but Fresno played rugged defense and didn't allow any good looks. State adjusted at halftime and are running different action in the 2nd half.
 

Bad Gopher said:
The movement was good as usual, but Fresno played rugged defense and didn't allow any good looks. State adjusted at halftime and are running different action in the 2nd half.
Click to expand...
Lol......"didn't allow good looks" imagine if it was Pitino coaching the opposing team, Gopher fans would be singing a different tune no doubt.
 





Utah State another W. Down 10 at half and outscore Fresno by 16 in 2nd half. Another solid one from Smith I'd say.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom