Marcus: Sources said it's possible Pitino will interview for the New Mexico coaching opening this weekend.

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Cayman said:
If Pitino gets a new job fresh off of his departure from Minnesota, will he ever actually be formally "fired?" Or will it just be New Mexico "hiring Pitino away" from Minnesota, in the same way that Minnesota "hired Tubby away" from Kentucky? How does the buyout situation work? Would New Mexico have to pay Minnesota to take Pitino off our hands? Would Minnesota, New Mexico, and Pitino all decide that no buyout gets paid to anyone, since New Mexico wants to have Pitino, and Minnesota wants to offload him?
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I think you just waive the buyouts or severances... This would be an example of excellent leadership on the part of Coyle. NM is happy, Pitino makes the best out of the situation and Minnesota is happy.
 




alchemy2u said:
I think you just waive the buyouts or severances... This would be an example of excellent leadership on the part of Coyle. NM is happy, Pitino makes the best out of the situation and Minnesota is happy.
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If this does happen it would be one of the first times I can remember where a coach that everyone knew was going to get fired just went ahead and got a new head coaching job before it happened.

I know it happens with assistant coaches a lot in football where they might take another job somewhere as opposed to being fired by their current school but seems like it would be far less common with head coaches.
 


nooram said:
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I was thinking this even before this was tweeted. The Big Ten is definitely a meat grinder of the best-coached conference in America from top to bottom, but the Mountain West is no slouch either. He's going from the fire into the frying pan. But if he deserves a long career in this profession, he needs to compete against the best.
 


In Pitino's defense, his team faced more adversity this season than any other team in the country. I know, because he said so.

Besides, who wouldn't want to live in "The Land of Enchantment."

Does that mean they have a lot of witches there?
 




cjbfbp said:
He actually wasn't that bad at Iowa but he followed the most continuously successful period in Iowa history: 1979 to the late nineties. Timing is very important. Iowa fans found out quickly that they could do far worse than Alford after suffering through Todd Lickliter's awful three years.

Alford has had at least reasonable success everywhere he has gone. In 26 years of coaching he has had only 2 losing seasons and 15 seasons with 20 or more wins. At Iowa, he won the Big Ten tournament twice. I think his personality has been more of a problem than his coaching record. At Iowa, he also rubbed people the wrong way for being a little too willing to defend sexual assaulter Pierre Pierce.
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Alford was kind of a jerk in Iowa too. His being run out was as much that as on floor performance.
 


nooram said:
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- UNLV has been a strong program in the past, as well?
- Nevada a solid program
- Air Force has had some good seasons? No, Air Force has only made the NCAAT in 2004 and 2006, in modern history.

Seems like a very tough league.
 
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MNVCGUY said:
If this does happen it would be one of the first times I can remember where a coach that everyone knew was going to get fired just went ahead and got a new head coaching job before it happened.

I know it happens with assistant coaches a lot in football where they might take another job somewhere as opposed to being fired by their current school but seems like it would be far less common with head coaches.
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I think this is basically how Alford went from Iowa to New Mexico. He grabbed the job before he got canned. I’m open to clarifying details but that’s how I remember it. Maybe that’s how the Lobos roll.
 





whalenfan said:
The Dutcher steam is interesting because I havent heard his name come up at all. I still believe its either Smith or Gates.
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I thought Gates wife worked for BC....that would seem to be a more natural fit for him than the U.
 



cjbfbp said:
Well, if all of that is true, he will deserve praise but I suspect we'll never know the whole story even if those events do happen.
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No. We will. Public contracts are public.
 

Holy Man said:
I think this is basically how Alford went from Iowa to New Mexico. He grabbed the job before he got canned. I’m open to clarifying details but that’s how I remember it. Maybe that’s how the Lobos roll.
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And it worked out for them in that case
 

MNVCGUY said:
If this does happen it would be one of the first times I can remember where a coach that everyone knew was going to get fired just went ahead and got a new head coaching job before it happened.

I know it happens with assistant coaches a lot in football where they might take another job somewhere as opposed to being fired by their current school but seems like it would be far less common with head coaches.
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There are a few cases of this happening where a coach knew he was close to getting fired and left for a perceived lesser job to beat the posse out of town. Tubby to Minnesota from Kentucky, Alford to New Mexico from Iowa, Greg McDermott to Creighton from Iowa State, Jim Christian from TCU to Ohio, Trent Johnson to TCU from LSU, and to a lesser degree Cuonzo Martin to Cal from Tennessee.

But, you're right, nothing quite like this, where fans are waiting to see an announcement that the guy will be fired, while the guy is interviewing to get another job.
 


Cayman said:
If Pitino gets a new job fresh off of his departure from Minnesota, will he ever actually be formally "fired?" Or will it just be New Mexico "hiring Pitino away" from Minnesota, in the same way that Minnesota "hired Tubby away" from Kentucky? How does the buyout situation work? Would New Mexico have to pay Minnesota to take Pitino off our hands? Would Minnesota, New Mexico, and Pitino all decide that no buyout gets paid to anyone, since New Mexico wants to have Pitino, and Minnesota wants to offload him?
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Technically, I believe Pitino/NM has to pay a buyout to leave. I agree, I assume all would agree to waive buyouts and sing kumbaya.
 

alchemy2u said:
I think you just waive the buyouts or severances... This would be an example of excellent leadership on the part of Coyle. NM is happy, Pitino makes the best out of the situation and Minnesota is happy.
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NM happy, Pitino happy, short term many Gholers happy, long term Minnesota fans not that happy unless new coach works some miracles.
 


Pitino "quitting" to take another job would be ideal for Coyle. It'd play a lot better in the public relations world than having to pay him a few million to leave. Kudos to Coyle if he really makes that happen. I went to a game in "The Pit" a while back, New Mexico fans are really into their basketball.
 

jblass said:
NM happy, Pitino happy, short term many Gholers happy, long term Minnesota fans not that happy unless new coach works some miracles.
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Long term Gopher boosters like me and those are know are thrilled if he is gone. We think it would be hard to do worse.
 

Full Speed Ahead said:
Pitino "quitting" to take another job would be ideal for Coyle. It'd play a lot better in the public relations world than having to pay him a few million to leave. Kudos to Coyle if he really makes that happen. I went to a game in "The Pit" a while back, New Mexico fans are really into their basketball.
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That's about all they got going on in ABQ sports wise. That and UFC
 



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