All Things Gophers Coaching Search Thread (rumors, tweets, tid-bits and more)


Suddenly, Medved has become at least a medium-sized name. March success will do that for a guy.
Getting to the NCAA the way they did - pretty dominant in their conference tournament and on a 10-game run - combined with now the third trip to the NCAA in four years is pretty impressive for any candidate. He's not being hired because of MN ties, other than the fact that it gives us a leg up with him on other schools. It make us a draw for him beyond simply being a Big Ten school.
 

I don't know the legalities of all this, but if assume Niko is the guy, is CSU in the loop on this?
Are they going to go on speculation to start their new coaching hire? If their pissed, you can't just fire him as I assume that might affect the buyout from Minnesota.
 










I don't know the legalities of all this, but if assume Niko is the guy, is CSU in the loop on this?
Are they going to go on speculation to start their new coaching hire? If their pissed, you can't just fire him as I assume that might affect the buyout from Minnesota.
In today’s game, I really don’t see an issue with working with CSU. Players are all going to leave anyway.

Likely we know a week from today.
 



If Niko gets hired, he will pick his own staff and I really doubt Thorson will remain. It's time for a reboot of the program. I'm certainly hoping Ali Farokhmanesh comes with Niki. Ali does a lot of the recruiting, and coaches the offense. If I'm CSU, I'd try to talk Ali into sticking around as their new HC.
 



If Niko gets hired, he will pick his own staff and I really doubt Thorson will remain. It's time for a reboot of the program. I'm certainly hoping Ali Farokhmanesh comes with Niki. Ali does a lot of the recruiting, and coaches the offense.
Ali will probably stay as the new head coach. But I don't see it as a Mark Few situation. It's Niko's offense; Ali just coaches it.
 

If Niko gets hired, he will pick his own staff and I really doubt Thorson will remain. It's time for a reboot of the program. I'm certainly hoping Ali Farokhmanesh comes with Niki. Ali does a lot of the recruiting, and coaches the offense.
Farokhmanesh is good. It wouldn't surprise though, to see Thorson retained also. We'll see.
 

Any more similarities?
Both had/have mediocre resumes at best. Both have previous ties to the U as a member of the basketball staff. Both would not have been 'The hire' if not for their Minnesota connections. I think Nico is the hire and I don't 'poo-poo' the hire as he has some history of success. Let's be honest, though, he would not be The hire if he didn't have Gopher roots
 

I don't know the legalities of all this, but if assume Niko is the guy, is CSU in the loop on this?
Are they going to go on speculation to start their new coaching hire? If their pissed, you can't just fire him as I assume that might affect the buyout from Minnesota.
They are highly incentivized to keep Niko. 1, they want money from Minnesota for his buyout. 2, they do not want to pay Niko money to buy him out by firing him. 3, they earn the MWC an extra $2 million for each win they get in the tournament, and they are more likely to win with Niko than without him (link).
 

Both had/have mediocre resumes at best. Both have previous ties to the U as a member of the basketball staff. Both would not have been 'The hire' if not for their Minnesota connections. I think Nico is the hire and I don't 'poo-poo' the hire as he has some history of success. Let's be honest, though, he would not be The hire if he didn't have Gopher roots
He has been mentioned as a candidate at Virginia, Iowa, and Indiana. Why do you think that is?
 

Both had/have mediocre resumes at best. Both have previous ties to the U as a member of the basketball staff. Both would not have been 'The hire' if not for their Minnesota connections. I think Nico is the hire and I don't 'poo-poo' the hire as he has some history of success. Let's be honest, though, he would not be The hire if he didn't have Gopher roots
Maybe, but the guy with the closest connection to the region would. Iowa has guys with Iowa ties being considered. Coyle hired Dawn for women’s role likely because of regional connections.
 

He has been mentioned as a candidate at Virginia, Iowa, and Indiana. Why do you think that is?
I'm not sure but I doubt any of those schools hire him If you wanna bed, I'm in. WE have had 37 coaches mentioned as possibilities...and VA, IN, and IA have a far greater pool than that. There are 40 teams in the NCAA that are not 'Blue Bloods' or perennial NCAA Tournament teams. Every one of their coaches is going to be 'mentioned' or 'rumored', especially those who are in charge of a fringe NCAA Tournament team from a non-P5 conference. Your argument ignores reality.
 

Getting to the NCAA the way they did - pretty dominant in their conference tournament and on a 10-game run - combined with now the third trip to the NCAA in four years is pretty impressive for any candidate. He's not being hired because of MN ties, other than the fact that it gives us a leg up with him on other schools. It make us a draw for him beyond simply being a Big Ten school.
I see the advantages of hiring him with his local ties as follows:
  • Although it's exceedingly rare for a Big Ten coach to leave for another opportunity, he would be almost certain to stay until retirement, if all goes well.
  • He's recruited from here well, largely due to his local network.
  • He has that characteristic midwesten unassuming competence and confidence that plays well around here. As well as Ben was liked for his personality, Medved will be, too.
  • Because he's an alum and a Twin Cities native, this will be a labor of love and passion. That's an important intangible, especially since the rehab of this program will be laborious and multifaceted. This will be the most difficult challenge of his life.
 


Let’s be completely honest here. The Medved steam is entirely fan and media generated and not based on any actual source. Coyle doesn’t operate that way and keeps discussions entirely secretive. People are just saying it makes sense because of the local connections. That in no way means Coyle will prioritize that. Honestly I hope that isn’t how he is basing his decision because we did that and we know how that worked out. Medved may very well be the guy but I have hope it’s because he’s a good coach and the right one for this job not because of the local connections.
I actually think it's an intentional leak to local media to pacify fans while they wait for CSU's season to end.
 

Not sure I agree. Every player on the team wants to get to the tournament. Since this is now an openly professional sport, all of the players are fully aware of its business aspects. Player and coach movement is a constant, which means it's no longer really a distraction.
Here is my experience coaching high school and D3...every time players were presented with an incentive to win....they crumbled...over 20 years. Example: Players lobbying for a day pff over Christmas or a Saturday off..."Coach can we please have Saturday off? Me: "Okay, how about this...you play hard, we win Friday, you get Saturday off. How's that sound?" "Oh coach, you're awesome was the response." Now in these cases, I wanted them to have Saturday off or I would have just said no. What happened in these scenarios? We lost every time. And worse, if there were odds...we were favored to win those games. I'd have been waaay farther ahead just giving them the day off without any qualifiers.

Suicides: Okay, Tommy, makes two free throws we are done for today. Did anybody but one kid on each team ever figure that out? Not without a lot of mindset, thought discussion individually.
And these were good shooters chosen. Kids without coaching are likely to choke...usually you have one exception. Otherwise you are running. Same thing: Don't use those words unless you want them to run. OR: ask the money guy to shoot. If he misses, he'll tell you...coach I thought we could use the conditioning. You wanted me to make them both? Sorry.

Now framed differently, presented differently ignoring the outcome we won titles and championships. But in Colorado State's case...there was no ignoring the outcome and they won.
So, in my opinion, 100% there was coaching involved versus just leaving it to the "hey guys, we win we are in."
 

If Niko gets hired, he will pick his own staff and I really doubt Thorson will remain. It's time for a reboot of the program. I'm certainly hoping Ali Farokhmanesh comes with Niki. Ali does a lot of the recruiting, and coaches the offense. If I'm CSU, I'd try to talk Ali into sticking around as their new HC.
Thorson was with Niko at Drake and CSU. I don't think it's a coincidence that Thorson was keep on with the Gophers after BJ's firing.
I may be wrong, but all this points to Thorson sitting on the bench with Niko next season.
 


Thorson was with Niko at Drake and CSU. I don't think it's a coincidence that Thorson was keep on with the Gophers after BJ's firing.
I may be wrong, but all this points to Thorson sitting on the bench with Niko next season.
or....Niko asking that Thorson be at least his transition guy, helping retain players, helping pick a staff.
Could be either.
 







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