Souhan: As for Pitino, Gophers fans should stop treating him like he ruined the program. Don't blame him. Blame Teague

[GringaGopher]

I don't know if Whalen should be held accountable for Bueckers. However, nobody knows better what's really going on inside of a program than recruits, especially local recruits, and their families. My guess is that the grapevine is pretty reliable and if you aren't getting premier recruits it's not just because the elite programs are involved.

Agreed. Whalen went to many of Buecker's games , spoke with her family n coaches frequently n pushed hard to sell " come n put MN back on the map". I listened to a few interviews with her and she described Whalen as a role model and that the only poster in her room was of Whalen. She didn't come here because she wanted to play for a National championship instantly and that's exactly what she will be doing this year. Going forward Whalen will need to sign some of the future stars from MN, like Battle n others, but she has already brought in good talent and has the 1st 5 star recruit, A. Smith. Too early to know if she will have long term success.

 

[howeda7]

Tubby Smith was run out of KY because after his recruits were on the team it did not match the expectations of KY fans.
Having his son on the team was not helpful.
KY is a school like many others who do not have any reputation for scholarship and depend on sports for national recognition.
To me his time at MN was semi retirement for Smith.
He seemed more interested in his missions to Africa than recruiting.
So he was fired without a certain replacement.
That was a serious failure of the AD.
I hope Coyle has a certain replacement in hand.

I think that's a bit unfair to Tubby. He was all in the first 3-4 years. After the White/Mbakwe team blew up and then the next year's team got ruined by Nolen's foot, he disengaged.

 

[Ewert86PC]

Should we blame the kid who left the flaming paper bag on the door step of Williams Arena, the fact we stomped on it to put it out or what was inside the bag?

 

[Bad Gopher]

From what I have seen and heard from RP is that his philosophy and program ID has not been established nor effective. He came her touting tough, aggressive D, press and up temp offense. Teague bought in. Problem is we saw none of the above. We all saw a different and ineffective, predictable version of PitinoBall. Opposing coaches always knew how to game plan against the Gophers as RP was predictable and seldom adjusted his approach. NM saw PitinoBall in action and somehow hired him in spite of his ineffective program ID and jack of success. Strange.

In all walks of life, all industries, all businesses, the issue is all the same: someone might have the best ideas and schemes, but are they implementable? That's the hard part. Anyone can read a book on basketball strategy, but can you teach it; can you coach it? I think that's a way more pertinent question than whether a scheme is a fit to a conference or a program.

 

[cjbfbp]

In all walks of life, all industries, all businesses, the issue is all the same: someone might have the best ideas and schemes, but are they implementable? That's the hard part. Anyone can read a book on basketball strategy, but can you teach it; can you coach it? I think that's a way more pertinent question than whether a scheme is a fit to a conference or a program.

Yes! I suspect RP is also a good interview as well. I know I've been sucked in before by people who interviewed well.

 

[mnhoopboy]

I am not buying the Suggs and Hurt argument that the gophers never had a chance with them because of Gonzaga and Duke are premiere programs. Richard had 8 years to build relationships with local recruits and coaches and he didn't do it. By year 4 he should have been competitive for the elite prospects from MN like the Jones brothers, Suggs, and Hurt and so many others.

I also think Whalen should be held accountable for Bueckers never seriously considering the gophers.

Unless Auriemma was going to be coaching the Lady Gophs, Bueckers was never coming.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

It seems like a lot of the media types are following the Justin Gaard line:

They like Pitino as a person, so they look at his time as Gopher coach more favorably.

BTW - Barreiro will have Pitino on his show this (Tuesday) afternoon.

As to Souhan's point - it comes down to: "The Gophers have never been very good, so the fact that they weren't very good under Pitino is not a knock on Pitino. He simply performed at the same level the program always reaches." yeah - put that on a billboard and let's sell some tickets.

"Gopher Basketball - we were average last year, we're average this year, and we'll be average next year. Order those tickets now!"

In contrast, Coyle at the presser said "I didn't come here to be .500." So Coyle is putting himself on the line. If the next coach does not move the Gophers up in the conference standings, it's going to be on Coyle as much as the coach.

 

[Bayfieldgopher]

Coyle has gone on record in the past that he expects championship levels. RP knew this.

 

[salzie]

I do not think he ruined the program. He simply did not improve it and did not succeed at his job. Teague was a fool for hiring him. This is a tough job but a great job. Finding and hetting the right person is the hard part.

B1G is not a conference to learn on job and Pitino forced to. He also continually lost good assistance to different jobs, which always seemed to hurt (johnson, jeter)

 

[Bad Gopher]

It seems like a lot of the media types are following the Justin Gaard line:

They like Pitino as a person, so they look at his time as Gopher coach more favorably.

BTW - Barreiro will have Pitino on his show this (Tuesday) afternoon.

As to Souhan's point - it comes down to: "The Gophers have never been very good, so the fact that they weren't very good under Pitino is not a knock on Pitino. He simply performed at the same level the program always reaches." yeah - put that on a billboard and let's sell some tickets.

"Gopher Basketball - we were average last year, we're average this year, and we'll be average next year. Order those tickets now!"

In contrast, Coyle at the presser said "I didn't come here to be .500." So Coyle is putting himself on the line. If the next coach does not move the Gophers up in the conference standings, it's going to be on Coyle as much as the coach.

It's not even accurate to say it that way. If you throw out interim coaches and the one-and-done George Hanson, you have to go back, I think it was, upwards of 80 years to find a Gopher coach with a worse conference winning percentage. People who say Richard is the same as we've always had is wrong or lying.

 

[Ralph]

The standard for gopher basketball should be final fours and national championships. If Wisconsin can make final fours under Bennett and Ryan then the Gophers need to held to be that standard.

We should be furious that those idiots in Madison have had better success in hoops.

 

[Spaulding!No!]

The standard for gopher basketball should be final fours and national championships. If Wisconsin can make final fours under Bennett and Ryan then the Gophers need to held to be that standard.

We should be furious that those idiots in Madison have had better success in hoops.

 

[Bad Gopher]

The standard for gopher basketball should be final fours and national championships. If Wisconsin can make final fours under Bennett and Ryan then the Gophers need to held to be that standard.

We should be furious that those idiots in Madison have had better success in hoops.

It starts with going to the Final Four with guys like Jon Bryant and Duany Duany in key roles. Which means you've coached the hell out of that team. Which speaks to needing your coach to be a hell of a coach.