Next Gopher Head Coach

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He still needs to feed his family so he probably needs the job.
 

Bad Gopher said:
Thanks for the report. I'm with you on all that.

I need to watch myself some Loyola and re-familiarize myself with what they do. The guy is showing that the FF run wasn't a complete fluke.

If indeed Smith isn't one of the main options, that would be strange, as he was reportedly the/a choice back a year ago.

This is getting more confusing, not less. What Lake has going for him is that he turned out to be 100% right in his earlier reporting on Pitino's status.
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I don't know if I buy this report.

But there will always be discussions and changes of opinion/heart behind the scenes that fans will never get to know about.

For all we know, Coyle called up CS saying "Craig, you ready to roll this year!" and he said something like "you know, I was ready last year, but after another year here ... my family and I have decided we want to stay out West".

I made that up, just to illustrate the point. But who knows ...
 


MplsGopher said:
I don't know if I buy this report.

But there will always be discussions and changes of opinion/heart behind the scenes that fans will never get to know about.

For all we know, Coyle called up CS saying "Craig, you ready to roll this year!" and he said something like "you know, I was ready last year, but after another year here ... my family and I have decided we want to stay out West".

I made that up, just to illustrate the point. But who knows ...
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That thought occurred to me. I've been to Utah, and I'd live in Utah.
 

Porter Moser would be an outstanding hire. If Coyle pulls that off it would be quite the accomplishment.
 
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MplsGopher said:
I don't know if I buy this report.

But there will always be discussions and changes of opinion/heart behind the scenes that fans will never get to know about.

For all we know, Coyle called up CS saying "Craig, you ready to roll this year!" and he said something like "you know, I was ready last year, but after another year here ... my family and I have decided we want to stay out West".

I made that up, just to illustrate the point. But who knows ...
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for twice the money dangling in front of his face i would be a little surprised if that was the case. But your right. Who knows whats going on behind the scenes
 

Bad Gopher said:
That thought occurred to me. I've been to Utah, and I'd live in Utah.
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Have you been to Logan Utah? Beautiful place. Nice University. But you have a two hour drive to get to a major airport. And unofficially it is the end of civilization. I would think smith is looking to move on. The big question, and this is true of all the candidates, is does this guy really understand that the Big Ten is a different animal, and can he find players to compete on that level.
 



I think I will be happy with any of the rumored names. My preferred list is : Smith, Dutcher, Moser, Gates. Muss is definitely out of the realm of possibility if Arkansas does well in the tournament.

Hindsight is 50/50 but I wish Coyle would have dumped Pitino right off the bat and hired Mussleman from Nevada.

If you were UNM would you rather have Tim Miles or Richard Pitino? I would say its a wash. I bet Miles gets hired though. Pitino just has too much stink of desperation on him right now.
 

TurfGopher said:
I think I will be happy with any of the rumored names. My preferred list is : Smith, Dutcher, Moser, Gates. Muss is definitely out of the realm of possibility if Arkansas does well in the tournament.

Hindsight is 50/50 but I wish Coyle would have dumped Pitino right off the bat and hired Mussleman from Nevada.

If you were UNM would you rather have Tim Miles or Richard Pitino? I would say its a wash. I bet Miles gets hired though. Pitino just has too much stink of desperation on him right now.
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Disagree. It will be RP at NM. just speculation
 

scools12 said:
Porter Moser would be an outstanding hire. If Coyle pulls that off it would be quite the accomplishment.
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No issues with Porter Moser, good hire, but in ranking the challenge of the hire, I'll take a shot and rank them like this, and this assumes we've all decided a shocker Eric Musselman-type hire is not gonna happen:
1. Brian Dutcher - people want to make his age an issue, but there's really not a super close 2nd
2. Craig Smith - both offense and defense pass the eye test, and he finds the right pieces/talent
3. Dennis Gates - momentum and fast riser-type, but see notes below
4. Porter Moser - solid, but what will Loyola look like once Krutwig isn't around, not sure
5. Niko Medved - good energy, good staff, finding way to lure talent to Ft. Collins

For some of these that we've all talked about, there are plenty of others that Coyle could be talking to that are just as capable, eg. Ohio U head coach Jeff Boals. I do think Coyle knows hoops.

I also didn't compile the list above on basis of Minnesota ties (homer mentality). They are all a good match IMO for the Gopher job for variety of reasons, maybe Moser being the least so. Some like a Boise State Leon Rice, very good coach, but I see him as West Coast-oriented.
 

TurfGopher said:
I think I will be happy with any of the rumored names. My preferred list is : Smith, Dutcher, Moser, Gates. Muss is definitely out of the realm of possibility if Arkansas does well in the tournament.

Hindsight is 50/50 but I wish Coyle would have dumped Pitino right off the bat and hired Mussleman from Nevada.

If you were UNM would you rather have Tim Miles or Richard Pitino? I would say its a wash. I bet Miles gets hired though. Pitino just has too much stink of desperation on him right now.
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I think Tim Miles has the much better resume. He was successful at NDSU, turned Colorado State around and had a higher Big 10 winning percentage than Pitino.
 



Go U Phars said:
Have you been to Logan Utah? Beautiful place. Nice University. But you have a two hour drive to get to a major airport. And unofficially it is the end of civilization. I would think smith is looking to move on. The big question, and this is true of all the candidates, is does this guy really understand that the Big Ten is a different animal, and can he find players to compete on that level.
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Smith knows the B1G well. He was a lead assistant in the conference for multiple years.
 

Go U Phars said:
Have you been to Logan Utah? Beautiful place. Nice University. But you have a two hour drive to get to a major airport. And unofficially it is the end of civilization. I would think smith is looking to move on. The big question, and this is true of all the candidates, is does this guy really understand that the Big Ten is a different animal, and can he find players to compete on that level.
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I lived in Salt Lake, about the same distance as Red Wing is to the U. Almost commutable.

Provo direction much more desirable though.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I think Tim Miles has the much better resume. He was successful at NDSU, turned Colorado State around and had a higher Big 10 winning percentage than Pitino
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Gopherbbdude said:
Disagree. It will be RP at NM. just speculation
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I also think it will end up being RP. It's a really interesting dynamic in NM, as there are ties to both RP and Miles, moreso to RP. It's really a challenge for Miles when you have a respected guy like Billy Donovan pulling for RP (with Rick Pitino also in the background). Topic for another day or year, but won't be surprised if RP grows and becomes a solid coach. It was just requiring too much patience on Gophers (8 years), and couldn't ignore the game management-related and at the least "bad luck."
 

dlnavra said:
I also think it will end up being RP. It's a really interesting dynamic in NM, as there are ties to both RP and Miles, moreso to RP. It's really a challenge for Miles when you have a respected guy like Billy Donovan pulling for RP (with Rick Pitino also in the background). Topic for another day or year, but won't be surprised if RP grows and becomes a solid coach. It was just requiring too much patience on Gophers (8 years), and couldn't ignore the game management-related and at the least "bad luck."
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Yeah, I have no idea who it will be. I just think Miles has the better resume. As far as Pitino being a good coach, maybe. I hope so, he seems like a nice guy. I don't think he's a very good coach right now (results aside) in really any aspect of being a coach (roster management, recruiting, in-game decisions, allocation of minutes, player development, etc.)
 




scools12 said:
Porter Moser would be an outstanding hire. If Coyle pulls that off it would be quite the
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We can do a lot better than Porter Moser. Winning in the B1G is a whole lot different than MVC. As well as the Drake coach. Nothing against them personally, but they wouldn’t be a step up from Pitino.
 

Pete smith said:
We can do a lot better than Porter Moser. Winning in the B1G is a whole lot different than MVC. As well as the Drake coach. Nothing against them personally, but they wouldn’t be a step up from Pitino.
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Porter Moser made a Final Four with Loyola. I'd say he has proven he can win games outside the MVC.
 


scools12 said:
Porter Moser would be an outstanding hire. If Coyle pulls that off it would be quite the accomplishment.
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I don't know about outstanding. There has only been consistency the last 4-5 years I believe. correct me if im wrong. Prior to that, he's been very up and down (mainly down from what I remember)

I'd still support him if he was hired.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I think Tim Miles has the much better resume. He was successful at NDSU, turned Colorado State around and had a higher Big 10 winning percentage than Pitino.
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the few reports that are out there all say RP is the top candidate for the job at NM.

The AD there also said he wants the hire done before the tourney starts, so technically by end of business day Wednesday (pacific time) is the latest we should hear of something.

Much like the rest of the non-technical world, it's who you know in that business, not what you know.
 

SanDiegoGopherFan said:
I don't know about outstanding. There has only been consistency the last 4-5 years I believe. correct me if im wrong. Prior to that, he's been very up and down (mainly down from what I remember)

I'd still support him if he was hired.
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Funny how our expectations for a top coach has now evolved to hopefully we can get a second line coach.
 

Put me in the small camp who doesn't understand the excitement about Craig Smith.

I mean, sure, I think he'd do fine as a coach, etc.
But to me it's not the "Oh, we better grab him now or we'll miss out like we did with Musselman!" people are playing it off to be.

There will always be other hirable coaches next go-round again.

I don't think when Duke hired Coach K, they were worried about missing out on some other hot small-conference coach at the time if they went with Coach K.
 

Face The Facts said:
Put me in the small camp who doesn't understand the excitement about Craig Smith.

I mean, sure, I think he'd do fine as a coach, etc.
But to me it's not the "Oh, we better grab him now or we'll miss out like we did with Musselman!" people are playing it off to be.

There will always be other hirable coaches next go-round again.

I don't think when Duke hired Coach K, they were worried about missing out on some other hot small-conference coach at the time if they went with Coach K.
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I'm not sure most here are saying that's how Craig Smith is viewed. I don't consider him close to a Musselman-type hire, merely when compared to the others that consensus keep showing up on this board, he is IMO a really good hire. There's a big difference in talking about Oats, Musselman and those types, vs solid group of others that most consider more realistic. It doesn't make the others a weak hire, just realistic.
 

Face The Facts said:
Put me in the small camp who doesn't understand the excitement about Craig Smith.

I mean, sure, I think he'd do fine as a coach, etc.
But to me it's not the "Oh, we better grab him now or we'll miss out like we did with Musselman!" people are playing it off to be.

There will always be other hirable coaches next go-round again.

I don't think when Duke hired Coach K, they were worried about missing out on some other hot small-conference coach at the time if they went with Coach K.
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For me not enough history coaching his own players. Which is basically the same flaw in most of candidates mentioned here.Im pro outstanding recruiter. Gates has that history.
 

Go U Phars said:
Have you been to Logan Utah? Beautiful place. Nice University. But you have a two hour drive to get to a major airport.
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Depends what kind of flights you're talking about, and perhaps what's including in his contract.

Logan has an airport big enough for charter Airbuses for USU, and so of course private (charter) planes.

No commercial service, though.


But I was just saying "stay out West", not necessarily stay in Logan.

Though I haven't heard anything (or looked for anything), it would appear U of Utah might be due for a new coach. For example
 

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