Next Gopher Head Coach


Yeah, she seems really disenchanted with him being at Arkansas.

To be fair, pretty much any coach's wife is going to be cheering hard for her husband's team - regardless of if they are coaching in Minot, ND or Fayetteville or Minneapolis. Not sure that video is a great tell.

Also, the 2013 comment from her about the Gophers job...that was 8 years ago. Muss was an assistant at Arizona State then; fresh off a few years in the NBDL. He hadn't gotten a college HC job yet, so there was probably a different level of excitement for the possibilities of the future in 2013.

Now, Muss is in a position of power and his wife knows that. It's a completely different ballgame, IMO
 

For all the talk of Muss's wife not being willing to come here... from 2013
That was when he was an assistant at ASU. Ancient past.

Now he's already a P5 head coach, so she doesn't have to go along with whatever the first opportunity is.
 

Things are getting interesting with Craig Smith.

-- Iowa State (for which Smith's name was being mentioned) has hired the UNLV coach

-- Apparently Utah wants Smith, but he views Minnesota as his "dream job".

Have to wonder how long Utah is willing to wait to let things play out?
Wow, things have changed over the years....

In the old days you:
- Could never imagine the coach of UNLV going to Iowa State (Coach Tark..)
- Gonzaga coach not wanting to go to Minnesota (Monson)
- TCU football coach not wanting to step up to Minnesota (Wacker).
 



To be fair, pretty much any coach's wife is going to be cheering hard for her husband's team - regardless of if they are coaching in Minot, ND or Fayetteville or Minneapolis. Not sure that video is a great tell.

Also, the 2013 comment from her about the Gophers job...that was 8 years ago. Muss was an assistant at Arizona State then; fresh off a few years in the NBDL. He hadn't gotten a college HC job yet, so there was probably a different level of excitement for the possibilities of the future in 2013.

Now, Muss is in a position of power and his wife knows that. It's a completely different ballgame, IMO
Absolutely. Just couldn't resist after seeing a tweet from 2013 being used.
 






I don't know exactly who Greg Flugaur is, but he is plugged into the U somehow. He is usually right when he has talked about things like this (coaching rumors, schedules, etc.) at the U and the Big Ten. He's got an inside source.
You have my attention!
 







Interesting report by Mike Max on the 10:00 news. According to him...
  • The search team has "gone into overdrive"
  • Reached out to a number of candidates
  • The way he termed it, paraphrasing: if the counter offers from Eric Musselman and Brian Dutcher are too great, look for them to move to other targets such as Craig Smith and Niko Medved
  • Mentioned Sam Mitchell and Damon Stoudemire as being in the field, though characterizing Stoudemire as a "longshot"
  • Curiously, no mention of Gates
Say what you want about Max, but he does tend to have good sources and has broken some stories.

Depending on this report's veracity, potentially a lot to unpack here, especially between the lines. For one, if they're really awaiting counter offers, that strongly implies interest by those parties.
 



Interesting report by Mike Max on the 10:00 news. According to him...
  • The search team has "gone into overdrive"
  • Reached out to a number of candidates
  • The way he termed it, paraphrasing: if the counter offers from Eric Musselman and Brian Dutcher are too great, look for them to move to other targets such as Craig Smith and Niko Medved
  • Mentioned Sam Mitchell and Damon Stoudemire as being in the field, though characterizing Stoudemire as a "longshot"
  • Curiously, no mention of Gates
Say what you want about Max, but he does tend to have good sources and has broken some stories.

Depending on this report's veracity, potentially a lot to unpack here, especially between the lines. For one, if they're really awaiting counter offers, that strongly implies interest by those parties.
Please no Sam Mitchell.
 





if they're really awaiting counter offers, that strongly implies interest by those parties.
I would only characterize it that way if the counter-offers are actually reasonable.

At this point, I would say it is 100% being driven by their agents. Their agents are probably telling them "let me deal with this ... you never just outright say "no" to a P5 program coming to you ... let me play this to our advantage and help you get more here."

If the agent sends back a counter-offer that is just well beyond what the U would be able to do, then you know they aren't serious.
 



Interesting report by Mike Max on the 10:00 news. According to him...
  • The search team has "gone into overdrive"
  • Reached out to a number of candidates
  • The way he termed it, paraphrasing: if the counter offers from Eric Musselman and Brian Dutcher are too great, look for them to move to other targets such as Craig Smith and Niko Medved
  • Mentioned Sam Mitchell and Damon Stoudemire as being in the field, though characterizing Stoudemire as a "longshot"
  • Curiously, no mention of Gates
Say what you want about Max, but he does tend to have good sources and has broken some stories.

Depending on this report's veracity, potentially a lot to unpack here, especially between the lines. For one, if they're really awaiting counter offers, that strongly implies interest by those parties.
I didn't see the report, and I know you are paraphrasing not quoting, but I bristle at the use of the phrase "counter offers." It suggests that Coyle offered the position to both of them, which is almost certainly incorrect. It is possible that he made an offer to Musselman and a conditional offer to Dutcher ("we'd like to offer you $X over Y years, but only if Musselman turns us down") but that is rarely how negotiations work with high profile people. Far more likely, in my opinion, is that Coyle has reached out to representatives of the top candidates with a suggestion of what terms he'd propose if there is mutual interest and is awaiting responses. Then he can conduct interviews in whatever order he feels appropriate, but only with parties where there is a likley fit on the financial terms.
 



I agree with you on both. Obviously it would be great for Utah to have someone who has some familiarity and name recognition within the state; also as previously mentioned, it would be an easy move for him and his family.

As far as Coyle/Minnesota goes, it's great to be in a position to have quality options. It doesn't feel like so long ago, when we regularly heard about being turned down by candidates and these coaching searches stretched out for a month-plus. So much better under Coyle. All that said, a tricky spot for him to be in. If your #1 target also considers it their "dream job" (probably what happened with Juwan Howard and Michigan), it's an easy choice. But if the guy you think has a higher ceiling is not the same candidate, it's definitely a very calculated bet you have to make.

I think the turning down had a lot to do with the ADs at the time: IIRC, Brady Hoke, laughed about working for Maturi (not sure if this was after an interview or not). I realize Maturi did a fine job with the non-revenue sports, but they don't pay the bills unfortunately.

Competent people attract better candidates. No one wants to work for someone they don't respect, if they have other options.
 
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Wow, things have changed over the years....

In the old days you:
- Could never imagine the coach of UNLV going to Iowa State (Coach Tark..)
- Gonzaga coach not wanting to go to Minnesota (Monson)
- TCU football coach not wanting to step up to Minnesota (Wacker).

Geezo Beezo.

I loved Wacker for bein authentic, goofy and a fun offense.
 




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