Richard Pitino Expected to be Out at Minnesota
According to CBS Sports Matt Norlander, the Minnesota program is expected to part ways with Richard Pitino after eight seasons. Pitino had a record of 141-123 and went to the big dance only twice.
Always seemed like fool's gold to me. Every time it looked liked he'd be gone, he'd pull in big recruit or win a big game but they never seemed like a program that was going anywhere. I'm not sure if it is Pitino or whether the program will ever compete at the top level. The next guy could be worse.
I could be wrong, but Minnesota basketball has only made one final four in their history.
I don't think they can ever be an elite program. A good/very good one? Probably. But they won't be a blue blood.
And for whatever reason, their fans seem much more fairweather than all the other Upper Midwest schools'.
They've only made the tourney 14 times ever. Most of those under Haskins, but 3 of his teams were later penalized, including his Final 4 team.
Minny has often gotten good coaches, luring Dan Monson from Gonzaga (paving way for Few) and getting Tubby to leave Kentucky (though his days there were numbered).
Both of those guys had better runs with the Gophers than Lil Pitino.
Monson leaving the Zags for Minnesota - ouch. Talk about brutal career moves.
I’m with you. I’m no fan of pitino but success at Minnesota is unlikely. It would take a big name established coach or some large McDonald’s bags to change this. Not an attractive job if you’re a coach looking to boost your resume.
Schools don't have reputations for winning, or winning big, until they do. That's obvious, but sometimes the obvious is helpful to state--there's not necessarily anything that keeps schools from doing better. (I'd start with Northeastern.)
A huge problem today, though, is that ADs are under enormous pressure to win. And that can take more time than most schools are willing to wait. Hence the arms and money race, with uninspired choices like Pitino Fils at Minnesota. They fired a guy who had won an NC at KENTUCKY, fired him, and kept Pitino longer. Inexplicable.
The Gophers theoretically have some potential. Minnesota produces a surprising amount of talent. Just off the top of my head from the last few years: current #1 overall recruit Chet Holmgren, current Michigan commit Will Tschetter, current Gonzaga star Jalen Suggs, Duke's Matthew Hurt, Trae Jones, and Tyus Jones, Wisconsin's Nate Reuvers and Brad Davison, probably a lot more.
Williams arena is tons of fun when it's rocking, but doesn't look like much without crowds.
The fans are fickle after being beaten down so badly by our local sports teams at all levels, but we love a bandwagon and throw big parties for the few bright spots (see: vs. Penn State football 2019).
Despite recruiting pretty well nationally and bringing in some good transfers, Richard Pitino never seemed to be able to pull in the top tier local kids, or put a coherent coaching strategy in place, (which may be connected). After seven years following his Gophers teams I couldn't tell you what he was trying to accomplish on either end of the floor. With his win-loss record in the Big 10 it's amazing he lasted as long as he did.
Good. Not a fan.
I have to think it's hard to recruit at Minnesota. Kuddos to them for swinging for the fences. I think a grinder like Fleck is a good choice. They also built that new football stadium on campus which has to help. I don't know as much about basketball, but I have to assume simply having the name Pitino is helpful in recruiting. But, it can't be easy recruiting there against all the southern schools plus OSU, UM, ect. in your conference.
I don't really see why it would be hard to recruit there. The weather isn't that different from Ann Arbor or Madison, and it's in a big city which seems attractive for 18 year-old kids. Obviously being in a big city hasn't helped Northwestern, either, but I think NW has other problems being a smaller private school.
Ann Arbor in January: average high 31, average low 18
Minneapolis in January: average high 24, average low 8
That's a big difference dude. You get into the single digits and it is freaking cold.
It's not hugely different from Madison's climate though (High 26, Low 11). The west coast of Lake Michigan is quite a bit colder than the east coast.
As someone who's lived both places they're not really that close. AA is mild compared to the TCs.
Madison is reasonably comparable to the Twin Cities in terms of climate. As a former resident of Madison who went to the Twin Cities moderately often on business, I felt Madison was a little warmer and got a little less snow (for the little that's worth).
I would keep in mind that Madison had very little football success until Barry Alvarez. They lost the 1963 Rose Bowl in a 42-37 shoot-out with USC and went to a couple of other Rose Bowls in the fifties. Other than that, their big period of success was in the eighties when the late Dave McClain made them into a marginal bowl team (which had Ohio State's number for a while, which was great).
There's no reason Minnesota couldn't do something similar--it's just not easy. I just don't know if Fleck is the guy who can do it.
I don't really see why it would be hard to recruit there. The weather isn't that different from Ann Arbor or Madison, and it's in a big city which seems attractive for 18 year-old kids. Obviously being in a big city hasn't helped Northwestern, either, but I think NW has other problems being a smaller private school.
It's been a looong time since I've lived in AA and I've never really spent much time in the Midwest since my family moved away as a young child. But, my general impression is that AA & Madison have the feel of college towns, whereas the twin cities do not. I know USC has some draw to LA, but generally kids seem to like the college town vibe more often than not. Maybe being in a city also means fans are divided amongst college & professional teams whereas in a college town all sports fans there are likely fans of college and maybe less so of the professional leagues.
I think they would have done better this year if it were not for some key injuries.
true. they were basically .500 in the BIG before losing two of their top 3 players. ended up losing all of their remaining 7 games.
yeah I didn't realize they were injured and was surprised to see them where they ended up. Maybe they can do better, may they won't. But this seems like more of a hopeful firing than one that is actually super deserved (despite the fact that I don't like him that much)
This year Minnesota beat Michigan, OSU, Iowa, and Purdue . . . and lost to PSU, Nebraska and Northwestern.
I wonder if Beilein will be pursued or if he'd even be interested.
Richard Pitino had some great players but could never get over the hump.
I remember that game in Minny in 2013 when they were supposed to challenge us but we went in there and a GRIII ripped Jersey later and kicked some ass! That game probably derailed that season for them.
I think Burke ripped his jersey that game. He's wearing number 12 if you watch highlights of that game
GRIII got his jersey ripped on a breakaway dunk against vcu. Though he did have a 360 dunk in that Minnesota game, so that's something
It was Burke’s jersey that ripped/shredded into nothingness.
San Diego man and no mention of Butcher? That's their obvious plan 1A. But if Beilein doesn't go to Indiana, where does he go?
I read somewhere that they may go hard after Brian Dutcher (former assistant under Steve Fisher) at SDSU. Apparently his father was the Gophers coach way back when. That would be a huge get for them.
jim dutcher coached the kevin mchale teams. i still remember them losing a close one to ralph sampson's virginia team in the NIT final. yes, NIT. much tougher to get in the big dance back then.
Dutch junior has done a nice job at SDSU after taking over from Fisher.
Would he move to Minnesota?
- He's 61 and (you'd think) close to retirement.
- Minneapolis is a civilized place and Dutcher is a Midwesterner by birth and breeding, but do you suppose he wants to leave arguably the nicest weather in the US for the tundra?
One other thing: He sounds like Fisher to an amazing degree. I suppose that can happen with a long association where you're the assistant.
I bet they hire his dad. They were playing the long con in getting the fans comfortable with seeing the name Pitino everywhere.
They don't even need to tell anyone they did it. Get the old man a face lift and put out a statement that coach now wants to be called Rick and no one will be able to tell the difference.
If you consider Suggs last year, and now Holmgren....that state will probably never have a better crop of talent deciding not to stay home.
Look at WI's roster. 3 contributors from the TC area. There's no shortage of talent here.
Wow, eight seasons? I'm shocked that it has been that long.
And the results are decidedly underwhelming.
I think Uncle Leo is mostly right with the first comment; I believe the Gophers only made one FF... which was vacated. Minnesota is not a program that is ever likely to be in the top tier of the B1G.
But there's a lot of room to succeed without permanent membership in that tier. Half the B1G makes the tournament in a bad year, and 2/3 in a good year. It's not unreasonable for Minnesota to make the tournament most seasons and make a run to the second weekend every once in a while... but they don't.
If Beilein were to coach in the B1G again, I think Minnesota would be a much better fit than Indiana. The ceiling for him is exactly the same, but the pressure and the environment is much more favorable.
The most shocking thing about this post to me was the realization that he’s been there for 8 years. I’d have guessed no more than 5.
He’s not that bad but of course it’s Minnesota!
Hire Beilein!!
The just don't have the same quality of hookers in Minny that his dad had access to in Louisville.
The blow is much better in Minny, though.
His tenure seems a lot like Amaker's at UM, though he did make the tournament a few times.
Maybe Minny can swap and get poppa Rick and junior can go to Iona-just kidding.
they're currently trying to coax his father away from Iona, prepared to rename Minneapolis "Greece" if that's what it takes.....
he might be the only guy with a moral standard (or lack there of) that would allow him to accept a job his son was just fired from
This is going to be a bad look after UM wins the national championship. Why fire the guy that was able to beat the champs?
/s
Iona's coach could probably be convinced to move to the Twin Cities.
I’d be surprised if one of the B1G openings didn’t take a long look at Pikiell. I think he’s actually a decent fit for Minnesota. Not sure he’d leave Rutgers for that job though.
I disagree with some here, in that IMO with the right coach Minnesota could do well. They're based in a big city, in a state with a lot of tall people. They've got a pretty strong fan base and a good arena atmosphere.
Minnesota's similar to Wisconsin, except Minneapolis/St. Paul is much larger than Madison, and they're the only major hoops school in the state (Wisconsin has Marquette). That's probably offset by being a bit colder/more distant from population centers.
Back in the day Dutcher had a pretty strong pipeline to Flint, and had Kevin McHale and Mychal Thompson. Those teams were damn good.
I have to believe there are 3-5 good h.s. players in Minnesota every year - if you can keep them in-state you've got a strong foundation.
Blue blood? Probably not. But consistent NCAA team and competitive in B1G? Absolutely.
I agree with this take. At the very least, it seems like they could be Wisconsin light.
I mean, look at Iowa. They've got a little more than half the population of Minnesota and still put out better teams than the Gophers. MSP combined would be the 4th largest city in the midwest behind Chicago, Indy, and Cbus (bigger than the cities of Detroit and Milwaukee).
They clearly have potential, as the first half of the season demonstrated.
You must be talking about the cities proper. By metropolitan area it’s Chicago, then Detroit, then Minneapolis.
He probably needs to go because his teams tend to crater as the season progresses, but there's a huge chasm below Minnesota now and how bad they could be in this conference so they desperately need to make a good hire here. It's not an unappealing job by any means but for a team that has gotten out of the first round of the tourney once since the 90s, they gotta hire someone smart and not just go for a name.
Not commenting on his prior seasons, but they actually had a good thing going this time until getting hit twice by major injuries. Hard for any team to sustain losing two starters - especially those ones.
will big dick be a potential replacement for little dick? time will tell
Pitino was hired by former AD Norwood Teague, since fired/resigned for sexual harassment charges. Teague was instrumental in organizing the "Villa 7" the annual gathering of mid major assistant coaches and AD's with a "get to know you" vibe. This resulted in Shaka Smart's hiring at VCU and a subsequent memorable run in the tourney.
When Teague was hired, Tubby Smith was the coach at Minnesota. Tubby was fired and Pitino was hired as an up and comer, and a product of Villa 7 process. It looked at the time like a procuring a Rose about to bloom.
Alas, he has failed to recruit the top talent in the State (the Jones brothers and Matthew Hurt to Duke example) and the many who made their way to Wisconsin, the ultimate insult to a Gopher.
I don't profess to know the hoops scene in AAU or High School ball, but he did not seem to connect with the coaching community here. He also came across as a bit smug, and the cultural fit was a little rough initially.
Wish him well. Competing in the Big Ten is a b&$#@!
Saw where BC hired Earl Grant from Charleston for their vacancy. Probably good for them that they went ahead and landed someone with some of these better vacancies opening up.
PJ Fleck. Row the boat.