Here's What They Are Saying About Richard Pitino in Albuquerque

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From the Albuquerque Journal:

www.abqjournal.com

UNM to hire Richard Pitino as next Lobos basketball coach

www.abqjournal.com www.abqjournal.com

UNM to hire Richard Pitino as next Lobos basketball coach​

The future of Lobo basketball is in the hands of Richard Pitino. The 38-year-old son of Hall of Fame coach Rick Pitino on Tuesday morning accepted an offer to become the Lobos’ 22nd head coach — about 12 hours after his departure as University of Minnesota coach was officially announced by the Big Ten school on Monday night. “My wife Jill, our children and I are very excited to join the Lobo Family,” Pitino said in a prepared statement released by UNM after news of the hiring initially broke on social media. “I want to extend my sincere thanks to President Stokes, Eddie Nuñez and David Williams for extending this opportunity. Lobo Basketball holds a special place in the hearts of New Mexicans, and I cannot wait to get started.” He replaces Paul Weir, who was let go in February at UNM after four seasons as head coach, though he did coach through the remainder of the season including last week’s Mountain West Tournament. Pitino interviewed Saturday in Chicago with UNM Athletic Director Eddie Nuñez and Deputy Athletic Director David Williams. His agreement with UNM is believed to be a six-year contract offer, though financial terms as of Tuesday morning were not available. Also not yet certain are any arrangements between Pitino and Minnesota, which per his contract was owed $1.75 million if fired, but also had language about that money being mitigated if he found comparable work.Pitino made $2 million per year at Minnesota. Weir was earning $775,000 annually at UNM and Nuñez said the next coach would be offered a similar compensation package, but added he would get “creative” in how that was paid out, including the likelihood of backloading the deal if the candidate had buyout money coming from another job. Pitino has a career record of 159-137 — 18-14 in one season at Florida International and 141-123 at Minnesota, an eight year stint in one of the top one or two conferences in the country that saw one NIT championship and two NCAA Tournament appearances. After it was announced he was let go from leading the Gophers program on Monday night, Pitino posted on his Twitter account a picture of him walking with his children out of the basketball offices at the school with the following message: “One of my favorite pictures. Always wanted to represent Minnesota the right way on a daily basis with class and integrity. Thank you for a special 8 years. Fired up for what the future holds!” One of my favorite pictures. Always wanted to represent Minnesota the right way on a daily basis with class and integrity. Thank you for a special 8 years. Fired up for what the future holds! pic.twitter.com/mUgM8Dpao9 — Richard Pitino (@CoachPitinoMN) March 16, 2021 The messaging was similar to Nuñez’s message two weeks ago about who would was targeting as the next Lobos coach. “I want someone who will win with class and integrity,” Nuñez said on Feb. 27, the morning after the Weir news was announced. Tuesday morning, Nuñez said he felt he found exactly what he was looking for. “It is a great day for Lobo Basketball and for everyone who loves our program and our University,” said Nuñez in a statement. “Richard Pitino is a proven winner with a track record of success on the court, including deep tournament runs and wins over nationally ranked programs, as well as proven success off the court by creating a tremendous student-athlete experience and supporting them as they earn their degrees. I welcome Richard, Jill and their three children to The University of New Mexico and to Duke City, and I am excited for the future of Lobo Basketball.” Current Lobo assistant Dan McHale, the only staffer with a multi-year contract that runs beyond this season, was Pitino’s assistant at Minnesota from 2013 through 2015 and fellow UNM assistant Scott Padgett was recruited to play for Kentucky by Rick Pitino and has also coached in the past in deep Pitino coaching tree. That tree also has branches that include Billy Donovan, the current Chicago Bulls coach who coached Nuñez at Florida and was also a longtime Rick Pitino assistant. Donovan was a big influence in Nuñez’s search that eventually brought the younger Pitino to Albuquerque. Pitino is just 38-years-young, just one year older than Weir was when he was hired in 2017. One primary difference between the two, however, was Weir had been a head coach just one season, albeit very successful season, at New Mexico State University in the WAC prior to taking over the Lobos. Pitino has more than cut his teeth on running a program with nine seasons of head coaching experience under his belt. Pitino took over at Minnesota for the 2013-14 season at the age of 30. In his eight seasons, the Gophers qualified for two NCAA Tournaments where they went 1-2, won the NIT once and he was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year in 2017 when, in his fourth season, Minnesota went 24-10 (11-7 in the B10) and were a five seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Lobos, meanwhile, haven’t played in a postseason game since 2014. The current seven season drought is the longest without either an NCAA or NIT appearance in the unofficial modern era of Lobo basketball that began when Bob King was hired for the1962-63 season and began figuratively rebuilding the program while also spearheading the literal building of the Pit — the iconic arena that, along with the fans who fill it, have been the foundation of the program for the better part of the past six decades. Ensuring those fans, and that support, come back was a big factor in Weir’s ouster. While Lobo basketball was lightyears ahead of any other sport in the department in terms of ticket revenue even in Weir’s worst season at the gate, the reality is things were trending downward, even before the pandemic-stricken 2020-21 season played out without a home game played in the iconic arena.All the while, fans were seemingly losing interest from their socially distanced seats at home following the team through what became a historically bad season on the court that featured a last place finish and numerous unanswered questions about the team choosing not to play a pair of games in February or about why some players left the team in January or just stopped playing without any explanation to fans or media by March. Nuñez, facing a current fiscal year athletics department deficit projection of between $12.4 and $13.8 million had to decide if adding what ended up being a $590,000 buyout to get rid of Weir was better for the longterm finances of a department still very much dependent on keeping men’s basketball ticket revenue from dipping below $3.5 million per year, especially as football and women’s basketball ticket revenue in recent years was pulling in just about $1.2 million, combined. As for the Pitino hire, it isn’t as if the formula hasn’t worked before in these parts. In February 2007, with a few weeks left in a season with dwindling fan support, UNM announced the firing of Ritchie McKay, but allowed him to coach out the rest of the season, one in which the Lobos lost in the play-in round of the Mountain West Tournament after a last-place finish. After the season, the university turned to a young Big Ten coach with a recognizable name in Steve Alford who was being pushed out after eight seasons at his previous job at Iowa, only to find a soft landing spot at UNM with the task at hand being to restore the passion in one of the country’s top college basketball fan bases. Alford, who was 43 when hired at UNM, had three NCAA Tournament appearances with Iowa, Pitino two with Minnesota. Both had losing Big Ten records in their eight seasons there, but winning records overall.
 

They haven't played in a postseason game since 2014.
 


I briefly stopped by one of their message boards to see the reaction. Most were excited for the hire and had preferred him over Tim Miles.

I got a kick out of one poster "hoping Pitino will recruit some shooters" to supplement their roster.
 




Gold Vision said:
I briefly stopped by one of their message boards to see the reaction. Most were excited for the hire and had preferred him over Tim Miles.

I got a kick out of one poster "hoping Pitino will recruit some shooters" to supplement their roster.
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Only long , lanky, raw athletes are allowed.
 

Gold Vision said:
I briefly stopped by one of their message boards to see the reaction. Most were excited for the hire and had preferred him over Tim Miles.

I got a kick out of one poster "hoping Pitino will recruit some shooters" to supplement their roster.
Click to expand...
He recruited some shooters they just never played.
 




He won't have any trouble with admissions at new Mexico. Big ten and Minnesota is/was a different animal academically
 

Go U Phars said:
He won't have any trouble with admissions at new Mexico. Big ten and Minnesota is/was a different animal academically
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No doubt. It's likely impossible that any Big Ten school would ever admit a player that the NCAA said had to be an academic redshirt, in any sport.
 

Decent assistant coaches already on staff.
 

Gold Vision said:
I briefly stopped by one of their message boards to see the reaction. Most were excited for the hire and had preferred him over Tim Miles.

I got a kick out of one poster "hoping Pitino will recruit some shooters" to supplement their roster.
Click to expand...
He recruited a ton of shooters. Unfortunately none of them committed to Minnesota.
 



Odds that any current players, younger tenure or incoming freshman will follow Pitino to NM? I could see Martice Mitchell or Sam Freeman, those types following Pitino...
 


Gopherfan1000 said:
Odds that any current players, younger tenure or incoming freshman will follow Pitino to NM? I could see Martice Mitchell or Sam Freeman, those types following Pitino...
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Pohto definitely a possibility. Wouldn’t be too sad if he did. Mitchell I don’t think goes with him. May transfer though. He didn’t get minutes I wouldn’t follow him if I was martice
 


Gold Vision said:
I briefly stopped by one of their message boards to see the reaction. Most were excited for the hire and had preferred him over Tim Miles.

I got a kick out of one poster "hoping Pitino will recruit some shooters" to supplement their roster.
Click to expand...

Well, you can't blame them. We said the same thing every year too.
 



#2Gopher said:
New Mexico's?
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In the middle of the o.p.:

Current Lobo assistant Dan McHale, the only staffer with a multi-year contract that runs beyond this season, was Pitino’s assistant at Minnesota from 2013 through 2015 and fellow UNM assistant Scott Padgett was recruited to play for Kentucky by Rick Pitino and has also coached in the past in deep Pitino coaching tree.
 


Glad to see him land on his feet, but I doubt the results will be any different in NM.
 


There is really no need to continue bashing Richard. Everyone has said what they have wanted to say in the past.

Happy for him to land on his feet in a good spot. He is a classy guy who tried to always have a sense of humor. Will miss his candor in interviews. I think he will prosper at that level and most likely make more appearances to the NCAA at New Mexico than he did at the U.
 


alchemy2u said:
There is really no need to continue bashing Richard. Everyone has said what they have wanted to say in the past.

Happy for him to land on his feet in a good spot. He is a classy guy who tried to always have a sense of humor. Will miss his candor in interviews. I think he will prosper at that level and most likely make more appearances to the NCAA at New Mexico than he did at the U.
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A home and home with them in non-conference should happen.
 

Did the lobos just get the coach under 40 with the most victories against ranked teams?
 


howeda7 said:
A home and home with them in non-conference should happen.
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I think Richard would get a pretty big ovation at the Barn if that would ever get done. Most Gophers fans will wish him the best of luck and want him to succeed. Very likeable guy.

I'm pretty sure VCU has a clause in their contracts that if a coach ever leaves (can't be fired), a home and home must be set up between the two schools the following two years. Always thought that was awesome.
 

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