Braeden Carrington: "Before Ben came I never would have went to the Gophers."

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BleedGopher

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Interesting interview with Carrington, how Ben changed everything in his recruitment and how hard the current Gophers staff recruited him.

talknorth.com

Live at TCO w/ Braeden Carrington & Ryan Shaver

Braeden Carrington and Ryan Shaver join John Millea at the new TCO in Brooklyn Park to talk Minnesota hoops, recruiting and meeting Dalvin Cook. Thanks to Twin Cities Orthopedics ( Minnesota Propan…
talknorth.com talknorth.com

Go Gophers!!
 




John Galt said:
And most of this board supported Pitino until the very end…but will now pretend they didn’t.
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Not me. I bailed on supporting Li'l Ricky when the B1G Network showed him sitting on the bench more interested in the back of his tie than the team in a timeout. At, that point, I knew he checked out and was collecting a check.
 


pharmacygopher said:
I've supported every Gopher coach and hoped for their success until the bitter end. What's your point??
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Pitino should have been canned at least 2 years earlier than he was. You and those like you who "support him ti the bitter end" think you are helping the program. You're not.
You help ensure irrelevance for the program, by making it easier for the AD to tolerate irrelevance.
Demand better.

This is what, ?4? local players who've specifically called out Pitino as a reason they didn't, or wouldn't, play for the U...but people are so tied to their previous position they STILL pretend Pitino wasn't the issue.
 

I was critical towards Pitino the last two years he was here and wanted him gone, but I was still cheering for my team to win every game they played regardless of circumstances. I wasn't going to cheer for bad seasons so that the coach would get canned. If that makes me a Pitino apologist, so be it.
 

John Galt said:
And most of this board supported Pitino until the very end…but will now pretend they didn’t.
Click to expand...

I posted heavily on this board throughout most of Pitino's tenure and I wouldn't say that is true.

After a February stretch during his 6th year where the team went from 16-5 to 17-11, I would say it was 50/50 on this board and maybe a slight majority wanted him fired. But, he rallied the players, finished well, and earned a reprieve. By end of his 7th year, I would say a clear majority wanted him gone but understood that the pandemic stepped in to save him. He appeared to do well in 2020 summer recruiting and, for a while during his 8th year, it looked like he might earn another reprieve. Once that year started going downhill, the pro-firing contingent probably was 80%-90% of the board.

I think a fair sized minority wanted him gone earlier in his tenure but mostly everyone understood that he was too expensive for this program to fire until at least the end of his 5th year.
 

cjbfbp said:
I posted heavily on this board throughout most of Pitino's tenure and I wouldn't say that is true.

After a February stretch during his 6th year where the team went from 16-5 to 17-11, I would say it was 50/50 on this board and maybe a slight majority wanted him fired. But, he rallied the players, finished well, and earned a reprieve. By end of his 7th year, I would say a clear majority wanted him gone but understood that the pandemic stepped in to save him. He appeared to do well in 2020 summer recruiting and, for a while during his 8th year, it looked like he might earn another reprieve. Once that year started going downhill, the pro-firing contingent probably was 80%-90% of the board.

I think a fair sized minority wanted him gone earlier in his tenure but mostly everyone understood that he was too expensive for this program to fire until at least the end of his 5th year.
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Well said! I think some misconstrue understanding "why he wasn't fired and still rooting for the team" and "supporting him and not wanting a change". There were very few of the latter the last two years.
 



cjbfbp said:
I posted heavily on this board throughout most of Pitino's tenure and I wouldn't say that is true.

After a February stretch during his 6th year where the team went from 16-5 to 17-11, I would say it was 50/50 on this board and maybe a slight majority wanted him fired. But, he rallied the players, finished well, and earned a reprieve. By end of his 7th year, I would say a clear majority wanted him gone but understood that the pandemic stepped in to save him. He appeared to do well in 2020 summer recruiting and, for a while during his 8th year, it looked like he might earn another reprieve. Once that year started going downhill, the pro-firing contingent probably was 80%-90% of the board.

I think a fair sized minority wanted him gone earlier in his tenure but mostly everyone understood that he was too expensive for this program to fire until at least the end of his 5th year.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that's a pretty fair summary of it, there were too many problems with firing him after the 15-16 season, The contract extension increasing the buyout, the lack of an AD, plus you had Coffey, Curry and Hurt coming in with Lynch waiting in the wings. 17-18 season the cavalcade of injuries I think gave him a reprieve that year. However I think eventually Pitino used up all of his nine lives and when things go wrong every year, and the excuses mount up, eventually the only common denominator is the guy in charge.
 

pharmacygopher said:
I've supported every Gopher coach and hoped for their success until the bitter end. What's your point??
Click to expand...

I'm not sure why you seem to be so proud of that because that's just an example of irrational groupthink.

If you hire a coach, you've made a commitment and you have to stand by that commitment until the coach demonstrates that he's no longer worthy of that commitment. If you play for a coach, supporting that coach comes with the territory unless the leader behaves in a way that he loses the support of most or all of his troops.

Fans neither hire nor play for a coach so fans owe a coach nothing. The coach has to earn the respect of fans through achievement.
 

Fleckoff said:
However I think eventually Pitino used up all of his nine lives and when things go wrong every year, and the excuses mount up, eventually the only common denominator is the guy in charge.
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Well said! You can be good or you can be lucky but Pitino wasn't enough of either. Once he cleared the firing expense barrier, I think that pulling the trigger was just a matter of him having two bad years in a row and that finally came in his 8th season.
 




USAF said:
Pitino should have been canned at least 2 years earlier than he was. You and those like you who "support him ti the bitter end" think you are helping the program. You're not.
You help ensure irrelevance for the program, by making it easier for the AD to tolerate irrelevance.
Demand better.

This is what, ?4? local players who've specifically called out Pitino as a reason they didn't, or wouldn't, play for the U...but people are so tied to their previous position they STILL pretend Pitino wasn't the issue.
Click to expand...
I can think a coach should be fired and can't get it done and still hope the team wins

I wanted Brewster fired and thought he was incompetent but still wanted desperately to beat Iowa and Wisconsin.

So to be clear....you were actively hoping the Gophers would lose? And I'm the bad fan LMFAO
 

mplarson7 said:
I was critical towards Pitino the last two years he was here and wanted him gone, but I was still cheering for my team to win every game they played regardless of circumstances. I wasn't going to cheer for bad seasons so that the coach would get canned. If that makes me a Pitino apologist, so be it.
Click to expand...

That answer may be satisfying to irrational dopes but you really can't have it both ways. A program like ours (at least right now) can't afford to fire a reasonably successful coach (and I don't know why anyone would want that anyway unless the coach behaved egregiously). That's what happened with Tubby and that made the program less appealing to prospective coaches. If we fired a reasonably successful coach, few good candidates would be interested in coming to a school with expectations far exceeding its recent history unless we paid a boatload of money but right now our compensation is near the bottom of the league. We're not a place like Indiana that's willing to pay big termination packages to fired coaches while offering big compensation packages to the newly hired ones.

So, yes, once Pitino's 8th season started going downhill I hoped the season would be a losing one because that was the only result that would make the termination a no-brainer.
 

It’s so strange how recruits all state they would never have played for Pitino. Got Dang, what are the facts here regarding baby pit and staff.
 

cjbfbp said:
Well said! You can be good or you can be lucky but Pitino wasn't enough of either. Once he cleared the firing expense barrier, I think that pulling the trigger was just a matter of him having two bad years in a row and that finally came in his 8th season.
Click to expand...
Yeah with Pitino there was always the tease of things getting better as well, even in his last year, the first half of their schedule was murderers row in the conference and they got through it with a .500 record and got up to around 12 or 13th in the Polls. Even with the injuries, NW, @ Penn State, @ Nebraska, Rutgers to close it out were all winnable games, that team really blew it when they should have set themselves up to pad their resume. Fell like the L he took vs NW, where they busted their 13 game losing streak at home after jumping out to something like an 18-3 lead, I think that was the moment where everyone went yeah this isn't working anymore, either that or the Maryland home loss where they looked like they forgot how to play basketball was another concerning one that year.
 

I get why some are excited by this comment, but I honestly don't put much stock into this. Sure for Carrington, Ben was a big deal apparently, thats great!, but maybe 10 other kids said no because he was here. Again, a lot of this people need to get some perspective, what do you think he is going to say, hes playing here for Ben, thats obviously the answer. This is zero knock on Ben, again I just see this exactly like the Ben talk about II being amazing, its just the answer you are going to get. Again to be clear, this isnt a dig on Ben, you will get this answer from 1,000,000 different kids at every schools. Just like this quote does zero for me, it would be the same if Walton came out and was like hey i didnt go there because of Ben, so what thats 1 kid. End of the day I could care less what they say, I want to win, if Ben is that guy awesome, if he isnt move on.
 

USAF said:
Pitino should have been canned at least 2 years earlier than he was. You and those like you who "support him ti the bitter end" think you are helping the program. You're not.
You help ensure irrelevance for the program, by making it easier for the AD to tolerate irrelevance.
Demand better.

This is what, ?4? local players who've specifically called out Pitino as a reason they didn't, or wouldn't, play for the U...but people are so tied to their previous position they STILL pretend Pitino wasn't the issue.
Click to expand...
If Pitino had been canned two years earlier, then Ben would not have been ready. There is that.
 

Doubt Pitino would have offered. He’s a good prospect but it’s not like he was highly recruiting. Seems like talking trash about the past is something kids in Minnesota basketball circles do.
 


leib0039 said:
I get why some are excited by this comment, but I honestly don't put much stock into this. Sure for Carrington, Ben was a big deal apparently, thats great!, but maybe 10 other kids said no because he was here. Again, a lot of this people need to get some perspective, what do you think he is going to say, hes playing here for Ben, thats obviously the answer. This is zero knock on Ben, again I just see this exactly like the Ben talk about II being amazing, its just the answer you are going to get. Again to be clear, this isnt a dig on Ben, you will get this answer from 1,000,000 different kids at every schools. Just like this quote does zero for me, it would be the same if Walton came out and was like hey i didnt go there because of Ben, so what thats 1 kid. End of the day I could care less what they say, I want to win, if Ben is that guy awesome, if he isnt move on.
Click to expand...
Literally have not read one post in this thread where someone appeared excited, save for the troll trying to drum up business.
 
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Blackhammer said:
Doubt Pitino would have offered. He’s a good prospect but it’s not like he was highly recruiting. Seems like talking trash about the past is something kids in Minnesota basketball circles do.
Click to expand...
It always seemed like Pitino relied on his starters and never built a bench. He admitted as much when introduced as HC for New Mexico when asked what he would have done differently, he said have good backups.
 

cjbfbp said:
I posted heavily on this board throughout most of Pitino's tenure and I wouldn't say that is true.

After a February stretch during his 6th year where the team went from 16-5 to 17-11, I would say it was 50/50 on this board and maybe a slight majority wanted him fired. But, he rallied the players, finished well, and earned a reprieve. By end of his 7th year, I would say a clear majority wanted him gone but understood that the pandemic stepped in to save him. He appeared to do well in 2020 summer recruiting and, for a while during his 8th year, it looked like he might earn another reprieve. Once that year started going downhill, the pro-firing contingent probably was 80%-90% of the board.

I think a fair sized minority wanted him gone earlier in his tenure but mostly everyone understood that he was too expensive for this program to fire until at least the end of his 5th year.
Click to expand...
Him rallying to save himself in 18-19 was fun at the time. But likely cost us getting Musselman and set the program back at least 3 years.
 

pharmacygopher said:
So to be clear....you were actively hoping the Gophers would lose? And I'm the bad fan LMFAO
Click to expand...
This is complicated...I was actively hoping the Gophers would WIN. That's why I wanted Pitino gone.

Tell me...how'd they do?
 

USAF said:
This is complicated...I was actively hoping the Gophers would WIN. That's why I wanted Pitino gone.

Tell me...how'd they do?
Click to expand...
They lost and Pitino was fired for it.

I think we're on the same page here, maybe just defining support different.

I wanted Pitino to figure it out and succeed just as I want Ben to succeed. I'm going to go to the games, cheer and hope we win. If Ben isn't the guy (like Pitino wasn't) I would be in favor of getting rid of him and finding the next guy and I'll continue to hope they figure it out too. My definition of support. I wasn't advocating keeping Pitino, rather hoping he could figure it out...he didn't and now he's gone.
 

A big part of Recruiting is building a personal connection between the coach and the recruit. To be clear, an assistant coach may be the lead recruiter, but the Head Coach is typically the closer on the deal.

And that is going to be somewhat different for each recruit. Recruit A may respond to Coach X, but Recruit B doesn't have the same response.

So that is part of it.

but another part, based on what I hear and read, is effort or persistence. I see recruits all the time talking about how "this coach was texting me every day," or "this coach came to all my games." It really seems as if recruits grade coaches - to some extent - on the amount of attention they get from that coach & staff.

And, based on the comments from recent recruits, there is certainly evidence that Johnson & staff are working hard on the local recruiting scene.

Pitino from all accounts was a decent guy. But there is a pretty clear perception in the MN hoops scene that Pitino did not put the time and effort into recruiting local kids - at least not the same amount of time and attention that Johnson and his staff are putting in.
 

leib0039 said:
I get why some are excited by this comment, but I honestly don't put much stock into this. Sure for Carrington, Ben was a big deal apparently, thats great!, but maybe 10 other kids said no because he was here. Again, a lot of this people need to get some perspective, what do you think he is going to say, hes playing here for Ben, thats obviously the answer. This is zero knock on Ben, again I just see this exactly like the Ben talk about II being amazing, its just the answer you are going to get. Again to be clear, this isnt a dig on Ben, you will get this answer from 1,000,000 different kids at every schools. Just like this quote does zero for me, it would be the same if Walton came out and was like hey i didnt go there because of Ben, so what thats 1 kid. End of the day I could care less what they say, I want to win, if Ben is that guy awesome, if he isnt move on.
Click to expand...
Yeah, but he also said it without being provoked and listening to the interview, you can be a fan of Ben, be excited to play for them but Carrington clearly went out of his way to say he wasn't interested in playing for the previous administration (Pitino). I am curious where he would have gone otherwise, probably Colorado based on what he said in that interview. Don't think the Florida offer was committable since they offered everyone at Sizzle when they were hoping to land Suggs and Chet. Maybe Seton Hall would have been a bigger player, but then what happens when Willard leaves for Maryland?
 

John Galt said:
And most of this board supported Pitino until the very end…but will now pretend they didn’t.
Click to expand...
I have no problem saying I supported him until the end. Because he was the coach of my favorite team. And whether I supported him or not changed absolutely nothing.
 

USAF said:
Pitino should have been canned at least 2 years earlier than he was. You and those like you who "support him ti the bitter end" think you are helping the program. You're not.
You help ensure irrelevance for the program, by making it easier for the AD to tolerate irrelevance.
Demand better.

This is what, ?4? local players who've specifically called out Pitino as a reason they didn't, or wouldn't, play for the U...but people are so tied to their previous position they STILL pretend Pitino wasn't the issue.
Click to expand...
In no way did anyone hoping he's fired or anyone supporting him have any impact on wins-losses or how long he remained the coach.
 

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