10 most interesting options to replace Richard Pitino

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leib0039 said:
At this point I am going to be happy with anyone not named Pitino. That said I wouldn't worry about Dutchers recruiting, he had a big hand in a group called the Fab 5...
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Yes indeed.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Smith is 5-3 vs Dutcher, given him 2 of his 3 conference losses this season, and is 2-0 against Dutcher in tournament championship games while having less talent than SDSU. I’d take Smith every day.
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:rolleyes:
 

kiedro said:
So, realistically it appears to be between Gates, Medved and Smith ( listed alphabetically).
Smith is the best on x’s and o’s, but can he recruit well enough for the Big Ten?
Gates is the best recruiter, but can he coach the X’s and O’s?
Medved is somewhere between them.
I think Smith is the best if Coyle can get him to hire a great recruiter particularly for the MN area (bring Ben Johnson back, hire Thorson away from Medved, or get Nuness from Baylor).
What do you think?
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I still think Musselman is realistic....maybe just because I really want it to be true....

but regardless of who we hire....Musselman, gates, smith, medved, dutcher. I agree with your last point. I think we need to make sure to get an assistant that can get connected or already is connected with mn high schools.
 




Ozzy&Ray said:
No evidence to really support this as an absolute, other than younger. 61 not that old. He could still coach 12-15 years. Both good coaches. I’d take Dutcher every day.
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We are picking coaches on head to head matchups only? That's odd. Dutcher has won conference regular season or tournament three of four years, and record is better his 3rd and 4th year than years 1 and 2. That's pretty good.

They are both good coaches.
 






If we were smart, we'd just cut to the chase and hire whoever is Xavier's coach.

Pete Gillen
Skip Prosser
Thad Matta
Sean Miller
Chris Mack

Now Travis Steele

They never miss on their coaching hires.

Providence gets good coaches frequently as well.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Smith is 5-3 vs Dutcher, given him 2 of his 3 conference losses this season, and is 2-0 against Dutcher in tournament championship games while having less talent than SDSU. I’d take Smith every day.
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Those pesky facts. Oh, he’s younger too, by a lot.
 

kiedro said:
So, realistically it appears to be between Gates, Medved and Smith ( listed alphabetically).
Smith is the best on x’s and o’s, but can he recruit well enough for the Big Ten?
Gates is the best recruiter, but can he coach the X’s and O’s?
Medved is somewhere between them.
I think Smith is the best if Coyle can get him to hire a great recruiter particularly for the MN area (bring Ben Johnson back, hire Thorson away from Medved, or get Nuness from Baylor).
What do you think?
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I think Clem Haskins was doing decently with recruiting his first several years: McDonald, Lenard, Walton, Carter. Then he hired Larry Davis, and the thing went to another level. Davis was instrumental in the freshman classes of '95 and '96, which was the core of the Final Four team. That guy could sell refrigerators to Eskimos. An ace-recruiting assistant like that is what you need to assemble a championship-caliber roster.

I don't know if Ben Johnson is the refrigerator salesman that Davis was, but I'd love to have him back in town.
 




skiumah1 said:
I'm gonna lump Tim Miles and Ryan Saunders together as guys who should no longer be mentioned as serious candidates for this job. Come on now.
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Yeah I don’t get Saunders name as an option at all. Why would we want a failed NBA coach with no college experience?
 

bmb5270 said:
Yeah I don’t get Saunders name as an option at all. Why would we want a failed NBA coach with no college experience?
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Because many fans are so provincial that they think if your from Minnesota you must be better because of the familiar name association. I get it though as it is hust a hobby for most so they do not follow other programs and other coaches.
 






bmb5270 said:
Yeah I don’t get Saunders name as an option at all. Why would we want a failed NBA coach with no college experience?
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He looks like a genius compared to Finch so far. I dont expect Ryan to be a candidate but i understand why Gopher fans always bring his name up.
 


builtbadgers said:
Not true. There were many choices better than the one they made. Teague was a idiot and panicked trying to make a splash with a name.
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Refresh my memory I'm over 40 so memory may not be as good as yours. I thought they interviewed several candidates and in fact had one coach lined up until he backed out.
 

PhiloVance said:
Refresh my memory I'm over 40 so memory may not be as good as yours. I thought they interviewed several candidates and in fact had one coach lined up until he backed out.
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Way older than that. Your right , the guys they talked with turned it down but they did not talk with several really good coaches that would have said yes. They did not even attempt to find the Nate Oats before Nate Oats.
 

builtbadgers said:
Because many fans are so provincial that they think if your from Minnesota you must be better because of the familiar name association. I get it though as it is hust a hobby for most so they do not follow other programs and other coaches.
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It's not just fans, it's programs and coaches too. How many coaches are bouncing all over the country on their climb up the ladder? I think we're trying to project this idealistic view of college athletics that you can take a coach from anywhere, put together a staff from anywhere, build with kids from anywhere and win but there's few that have managed to pull that off. There's been a lot of talk especially locally about the nepotism in pro sports but that's particularly true in college athletics. It's very much a who you know industry and without connections, you aren't going to get the opportunity and if you do, you're going to have an uphill battle. Few coaches are good enough to overcome that reality and I think it's unwise for programs that are trying to find some stability to assume they can find one of those rare coaches.

The background of most of the coaches in the Big Ten should come as no surprise, regional familiarity is important.
 

I reserve the right, five years from now, to complain about whoever is hired, using 20/20 hindsight.
 

whalenfan said:
Much different situation now...
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What makes this job more attractive now? Look I bleed maroon and gold but every year my expectations are high and by mid season they are dashed year after year with the bb team. Being an eternal optimistic, no matter what happens next year the cycle will be repeated.
Face The Facts said:
If we were smart, we'd just cut to the chase and hire whoever is Xavier's coach.

Pete Gillen
Skip Prosser
Thad Matta
Sean Miller
Chris Mack

Now Travis Steele

They never miss on their coaching hires.

Providence gets good coaches frequently as well.
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Speaking of Xavier what was the reaction of Pitino apparently running local home grown Ben Johnson out of town?
 

PhiloVance said:
What makes this job more attractive now? Look I bleed maroon and gold but every year my expectations are high and by mid season they are dashed year after year with the bb team. Being an eternal optimistic, no matter what happens next year the cycle will be repeated.

Speaking of Xavier what was the reaction of Pitino apparently running local home grown Ben Johnson out of town?
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A new practice facility and a competent AD.
 

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