“compete for championships”

[BigTenGuy]

Coyle: “The expectation for our program is to compete for championships, and unfortunately, we have not done that in the last four years [in fact we only have 1 top 3 conference finish in the last 40 years.]”

Not a fan of press release BS. How ‘bout “our goal at this point is to regularly make the NCAA tournament.”

 

[Ewert86PC]

Coyle: “The expectation for our program is to compete for championships, and unfortunately, we have not done that in the last four years [in fact we only have 1 top 4 conference finish in the last 40 years.]”

Not a fan of press release BS. How ‘bout “our goal at this point is to regularly make the NCAA tournament.”

I'm good with competing for championships. It means that you have a goal. (Hang the 1997 Final Four banner!)

You get to championships by making the tournament.

 

[Spottedmuskie]

Coyle: “The expectation for our program is to compete for championships, and unfortunately, we have not done that in the last four years [in fact we only have 1 top 4 conference finish in the last 40 years.]”

Not a fan of press release BS. How ‘bout “our goal at this point is to regularly make the NCAA tournament.”

We could never win a B1G title and still get to the tourney every year and get knocked out first round. We need to be a contender every year in the B1G and go deep into the tourney here and there. We can win a conference tourney and get knocked out by middle tennessee in the first round, etc

 

[howeda7]

Coyle: “The expectation for our program is to compete for championships, and unfortunately, we have not done that in the last four years [in fact we only have 1 top 4 conference finish in the last 40 years.]”

Not a fan of press release BS. How ‘bout “our goal at this point is to regularly make the NCAA tournament.”

Every AD says this. Can you find me one that said "our goal is to be a bit above average!"

 

[lrgeek]

Coyle: “The expectation for our program is to compete for championships, and unfortunately, we have not done that in the last four years [in fact we only have 1 top 4 conference finish in the last 40 years.]”

Not a fan of press release BS. How ‘bout “our goal at this point is to regularly make the NCAA tournament.”

Pretty sad that this is what we are reduced to, but I completely agree. Just being relevant at this point is a win and unfortunately, that is a (an admittedly low one) bar that we can't seem to crawl over.

 

[Tucker32]

Coyle: “The expectation for our program is to compete for championships, and unfortunately, we have not done that in the last four years [in fact we only have 1 top 4 conference finish in the last 40 years.]”

Not a fan of press release BS. How ‘bout “our goal at this point is to regularly make the NCAA tournament.”

Such a MN thing to say. Let's set a goal of being relevant. So dumb. St. John's went 40 years with nothing, and in second year won a conference championship with a new coach. We won't get Rick Pitino like they did, but there AD didn't say, "Let's shoot for a winning record." It doesn't have to take forever in basketball.

 

[Wally]

See if Jeff Bezos is interested in the job...

 

[go4gopher]

Coach (Total Win%/B10 Win%)
Jim Dutcher (62.7%/52.4%)
Clem Haskins (59.0%/49.8%)
Dan Monson (52.7%/39.3%)
Tubby Smith (60.5%/42.6%)
Richard Pitino (53.4%/36.0%)
Ben Johnson (44.1%/27.8%)

So, only Dutcher technically had a winning percentage in conference play. By the numbers, the Tubby era represented a small resurgence. Unfortunately, the Pitino and Monson eras yielded similar results. Strangely, both went on to enjoy more prosperity elsewhere after being shown the door here. For Iowa, you could put Steve Alford in that bucket.

The BJ era did represent "capitulation of sorts." That is the most frustrating thing. A difference in an additional winning percentage of 15-20% (5 total wins per annum / 3 to 4 conference wins) might not mean a lot but over a number of years, it yields tournament eligible seasons and most importantly, fan interest. Very little of that seems to be here now.

I think the Monson/Pitino observation demonstrate that a "then-current" quality coaching candidate was challenged here. This was echoed by Tubby Smith as he talked about a new practice facility for some time. I recall reading a post from another Gopherholer referencing a conversation had with Tubby Smith in the past. As I recall, climate is a bigger recruiting challenge than I ever thought.

Having gone to 100s of Gopher hoops games and growing up a Gopher basketball fan in the eighties, I always saw us as a 600 team (20 wins over 32-33 games) and 45% in Big Ten with a strong home-court advantage. This was good enough to fill the barn for years and it was truly fun and hopeful.

 

[ShushPush]

Every AD says this. Can you find me one that said "our goal is to be a bit above average!"

All I have to say is next year is a dumpster fire before the season even begins no matter who the coach will be. The fact that all the NIL transfers for this season have no remaining eligibility puts the 2025-26 season in jeopardy. Which brings me to this conclusion. Coyle needs to be fired for allowing this roster disaster. Even the most rudimentary demographic analysis of the roster would show how distorted and disastrous this impacts the future.