It's interesting to me that Jeter was making $250,000 at UNLV and Kimani was making $185,000 at Minnesota. I would suspect that Jeter is not leaving UNLV to come in to the Gophers situation for a pay cut, and likely not without a pay raise. A Ryan James tweet made it appear that Jeter chose to come to Minnesota over an offer to coach at Memphis as well. Kudos to Coyle for opening up the purse strings here as Jeter has a better pedigree than I expected for this opening given the uncertainty going forward. It's kind of strange that Pitino started his career at the U with a young inexperienced staff and now that he's going in to his 6th year he will have two former head coaches on his bench.
As for recruiting Wisconsin, the only player the Gophers have made a priority since Pitino was hired was Sandy Cohen who committed to Marquette. That was in 2014 which was after Pitino's first year (Tyus/Rashad/Reid) class. Since then there have been a couple of plan B/C/D guys who never had an opportunity to commit to Minnesota. Haliburton was "offered" late in the process last year and they were trying to set up a visit with him after Anthony Nelson who himself was like Plan C if Eric Hunter didn't commit. Haliburton ended up committing to Iowa State before the Gophers lost out on Hunter to Purdue. The Henry Ellenson recruitment obviously ended the minute the Wally Ellenson relationship went sour.
Maybe the Gophers will focus more on Wisconsin/the Midwest in general with this hire, but even Wisconsin has struggled to get the best players out of their state to stay home despite their success. I think a potential shift in recruiting priorities/strategy is on of the more interesting aspects of this hire. It's also interesting that Jeter is a longtime Bo Ryan disciple as I see that style of play being almost polar opposite to Pitino's desired style.
As for recruiting Wisconsin, the only player the Gophers have made a priority since Pitino was hired was Sandy Cohen who committed to Marquette. That was in 2014 which was after Pitino's first year (Tyus/Rashad/Reid) class. Since then there have been a couple of plan B/C/D guys who never had an opportunity to commit to Minnesota. Haliburton was "offered" late in the process last year and they were trying to set up a visit with him after Anthony Nelson who himself was like Plan C if Eric Hunter didn't commit. Haliburton ended up committing to Iowa State before the Gophers lost out on Hunter to Purdue. The Henry Ellenson recruitment obviously ended the minute the Wally Ellenson relationship went sour.
Maybe the Gophers will focus more on Wisconsin/the Midwest in general with this hire, but even Wisconsin has struggled to get the best players out of their state to stay home despite their success. I think a potential shift in recruiting priorities/strategy is on of the more interesting aspects of this hire. It's also interesting that Jeter is a longtime Bo Ryan disciple as I see that style of play being almost polar opposite to Pitino's desired style.