Preach Chip, Preach!!: Give Mark Coyle green light to spend money on top choice for Gophers coach

BleedGopher

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per Chip:

Commit to being aggressive with compensation and trust Coyle to hire the right coach.

Assuming former Michigan coach John Beilein has no interest in the job, Eric Musselman should receive Coyle's first call. The son of the former Gophers coach would be the kind of hire that "shakes the tree" because it would be bold and expensive and not easy to pull off.

Musselman has a good thing going at Arkansas. The Razorbacks are a Top 10 team and No. 3 seed in the NCAA tournament. Would he leave that to come to a place he once called home? Make it hard for him to say no. Then try again.

Musselman would cost at least $3 million annually in salary. His $5 million buyout drops to $1.5 million on May 1. I'd be willing to wait, if I had assurance that Musselman would take the job.

A decision this important requires ambition and strong financial commitment from university leaders. Coyle has been successful in hiring his top choice for other jobs. The clock has started again. Go hire the best candidate possible. Don't settle for the most affordable one.


Go Gophers!!
 



Coyle needs to make the argument(and I am sure he is trying) that the cheap choice, if it doesn't work out is more expensive than the expensive choice.
 

Why not spend that money to lure Mark Few of Gonzaga?
Because he would not leave Spokane for 10 million a year and we would not pay it anyway. There are a handful of coaches out there that have turned down double their salary to stay where they are.
 


I don't really see why Musselman would leave the basketball loving fanbase at Bud Walton in the easy SEC to go to a grinder in the B1G.
 

We have a great job. Nevertheless there are “limitations” (tough market, uneven history, semblance of sanity around compensation). Landing a “name” and/or desired candidate seems to require an intangible in either football or basketball: Holtz (escape hatch awaiting Notre Dame); Tubby (escape hatch in general); Fleck (ambition to build the brand & a Midwestern connection). Is Dutcher the Intangible Candidate? (chance to secure the Dutcher family Minnesota basketball legacy especially with Dad present to see & enjoy it...)
 


I don't really see why Musselman would leave the basketball loving fanbase at Bud Walton in the easy SEC to go to a grinder in the B1G.
Exactly.

He doesn't have interest in Minnesota. This state and school mean really nothing to him. Just because his dad coached here for four years in the 70's? I don't buy it.



STrib setting up Coyle for "failure" when it isn't Muss, as if he didn't try hard enough. Precisely what they want the narrative to be, because they know that will generate the most clicks and views. That's all they care about.
 




Exactly.

He doesn't have interest in Minnesota. This state and school mean really nothing to him. Just because his dad coached here for four years in the 70's? I don't buy it.



STrib setting up Coyle for "failure" when it isn't Muss, as if he didn't try hard enough. Precisely what they want the narrative to be, because they know that will generate the most clicks and views. That's all they care about.
Even if the Gophers did go out and spend a ton of money on Musselman, the next Strib article would be filled with outrage about how they spent too much money on a basketball coach during a pandemic.
You people need to get the Star Tribune out of your heads.

I can't see anyone criticizing the U for not hiring Musselman on account of what someone's written in the newspaper. Any reasonable person knows it's a long shot hire, which is the whole premise behind throwing money at him.
 

Any reasonable person knows it's a long shot hire, which is the whole premise behind throwing money at him.
Any reasonable person ... who knows something about the U athletics dept, Arkansas athletics dept, and Mussleman himself.

There are plenty (most) reasonable people who read the STrib and don't know anything about those, who will be told what to think on the U hiring by Ruesse and Chip. And they know that.

Their job is to sell papers. The end.
 

I don't really see why Musselman would leave the basketball loving fanbase at Bud Walton in the easy SEC to go to a grinder in the B1G.
They have not been basketball loving for a long while. They are basically a winning loving fan base.
Why not spend that money to lure Mark Few of Gonzaga?
Did we not try this route before? Success in Spokane does not mean success in Minnesota.
Even if the Gophers did go out and spend a ton of money on Musselman, the next Strib article would be filled with outrage about how they spent too much money on a basketball coach during a pandemic.
God help us if Coyle is sweating the Star and Tribune about spending money. Did the Star and Tribune have a far sweeping article about the city paying George Floyd's family 27 Million during the pandemic while the autonomous zone named after him has murders almost nightly due to no police presence amidst the decreased police budget. Glad I don't own any property near there.

Let's just get a good coach who can give us a shot at a B1G championship!
 



Any reasonable person ... who knows something about the U athletics dept, Arkansas athletics dept, and Mussleman himself.

There are plenty (most) reasonable people who read the STrib and don't know anything about those, who will be told what to think on the U hiring by Ruesse and Chip. And they know that.

Their job is to sell papers. The end.
With all due respect, my definition of a reasonable person is someone who knows that it takes two parties to make a deal and that you can't just fire a wad of money at someone with a t-shirt cannon and they magically follow you home.
 


According to Ryan James there may be other reasons for not looking at Mussleman. Apparently some of his recruiting tactics may be a little too similar to his dads.
 

You people need to get the Star Tribune out of your heads.

I can't see anyone criticizing the U for not hiring Musselman on account of what someone's written in the newspaper. Any reasonable person knows it's a long shot hire, which is the whole premise behind throwing money at him.

You must have already forgotten that Strib article saying the next coach needs to be a minority...

Regardless, Coyle is going to hire whoever he thinks is best. I was half joking because the sports media in this city is mostly a joke.
 

With all due respect, my definition of a reasonable person is someone who knows that it takes two parties to make a deal and that you can't just fire a wad of money at someone with a t-shirt cannon and they magically follow you home.
Thank you for the laugh! Reminded me of the joke, "What's the difference between a toilet and a sorority girl?"
 


Coyle needs to make the argument(and I am sure he is trying) that the cheap choice, if it doesn't work out is more expensive than the expensive choice.
Who would be considered the cheap choice?
 

You must have already forgotten that Strib article saying the next coach needs to be a minority...

Regardless, Coyle is going to hire whoever he thinks is best. I was half joking because the sports media in this city is mostly a joke.
I read that article. Although it was timed to be pertinent to an impending coaching search, it was factual and solid journalism. The paper has no obligation to the U or us fans to make things comfortable for us. They have the freedom to write what they write.
 

According to Ryan James there may be other reasons for not looking at Mussleman. Apparently some of his recruiting tactics may be a little too similar to his dads.
It's not like he has left a trail of NCAA sanctions wherever he goes.

See Calipari, John, Head Coach, University of Kentucky
 

It's not like he has left a trail of NCAA sanctions wherever he goes.

See Calipari, John, Head Coach, University of Kentucky
Just relaying what he said on a podcast.
 



Did we not try this route before? Success in Spokane does not mean success in Minnesota.

Sorry, but that's just a flat out overly simplistic and fallacious reasoning. It's the coach who is important, not the school.

Monson was only at Gonzaga for two years. Those were two good years but he inherited a program on the rise from his predecessor. Few has been there more than 20 years and he is the one who turned a good program into a national power. I don't think we would have any chance of getting Few but suggesting he's a big risk because of Monson is crazy.

The same faulty reasoning could have been applied to Butler. Todd Lickliter was a flop at Iowa but his successor was better at Butler and has been pretty successful with the Celtics. It's hard to imagine Brad Stevens being a flop at most places.
 

Because he would not leave Spokane for 10 million a year and we would not pay it anyway. There are a handful of coaches out there that have turned down double their salary to stay where they are.

Few loves to fish

Because he would not leave Spokane for 10 million a year and we would not pay it anyway. There are a handful of coaches out there that have turned down double their salary to stay where they are.
Few does love to fish. Lol.
 


Sorry, but that's just a flat out overly simplistic and fallacious reasoning. It's the coach who is important, not the school.

Monson was only at Gonzaga for two years. Those were two good years but he inherited a program on the rise from his predecessor. Few has been there more than 20 years and he is the one who turned a good program into a national power. I don't think we would have any chance of getting Few but suggesting he's a big risk because of Monson is crazy.

The same faulty reasoning could have been applied to Butler. Todd Lickliter was a flop at Iowa but his successor was better at Butler and has been pretty successful with the Celtics. It's hard to imagine Brad Stevens being a flop at most places.
Monson was an assistant at Gonzaga before getting HC position. He was an assistant coach when Few was hired.
 





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