A few things about Pitino I like.

[balds]

1) His team seems to be engaged.

2) The head coach seems to be engaged ( Huge change)

3) They are well prepared, if undermanned.

4) My favorite. Rich Hates to lose. During the ceremonial Rouser last night he looked like he wanted to chew his own face off. Love it!

5) He has faced Boeheim, Hamilton and Belien, and held his own despite being undermanned.

We will take our lumps this year and possibly next, but I'm stoked.

 

[howeda7]

I'm impressed so far. But it's important to note that we probably could have said at least 4/5 of these things about Tubby midway through his first year.

 

[Bad Gopher]

I'm impressed so far. But it's important to note that we probably could have said at least 4/5 of these things about Tubby midway through his first year.

Tubby WAS intensely engaged at that point in time.

 

[Winasota Gopher]

The comparisons to Tubby simply are not fair...

Tubby took a step down in prestige, Pitino is taking a giant leap forward. If he came in here with anything but fire and desire we would all be asking who the hell is he and why is he coaching my team?!!

That said I like what I see so far and think he will have a nice career here. Those that hoped (I'm one of them) he would come here and recruit 5* because of his name were dreaming. He needs to establish himself and then let his work ethic and name take him over the top in these recruiting battles.

Nate Mason, Josh Martin better buy in and hustle their as$es off for him.

 

[CoMn]

I couldn't stand how Tubby blamed his players after bad games….they were his recruits and he coached them…so if they didn't play the way he wanted them to, it was on him IMO. I love everything about Pitino. I don't mind watching my team lose if they play hard. I don't mind watching mistakes if they seem to be learning from them. I really like how Pitino talks to the fans through press conferences and through his blog. I like the way he takes the resources he has and does the most with them instead of spending his time complaining about what he doesn't have. I think Pitino is a breath of fresh air and I am thrilled that Teague hired him.

 

[tikited]

I couldn't stand how Tubby blamed his players after bad games….they were his recruits and he coached them…so if they didn't play the way he wanted them to, it was on him IMO. I love everything about Pitino.

I did not like how Tubby did that as well. He did do that for those who still don't believe it.

I did not like how Pitino made excuses for the Michigan loss. There are no excuses. The Gophers lost a game they had no business losing. Stop finding excuses.

I do like pretty much everything else Pitino has done so far (missing out of the big 3 not included because that wasn't on him). Really good hire.

 

[station19]

I couldn't stand how Tubby blamed his players after bad games….they were his recruits and he coached them…so if they didn't play the way he wanted them to, it was on him IMO. I love everything about Pitino. I don't mind watching my team lose if they play hard. I don't mind watching mistakes if they seem to be learning from them. I really like how Pitino talks to the fans through press conferences and through his blog. I like the way he takes the resources he has and does the most with them instead of spending his time complaining about what he doesn't have. I think Pitino is a breath of fresh air and I am thrilled that Teague hired him.

Catch him on Mondays; 6:30-7:30 PM on ESPN1500.

http://www.1500espn.com/structurefiles/_stream_popup.php

If you haven't already.

 

[bemidjigopher]

I did not like how Tubby did that as well. He did do that for those who still don't believe it.

I did not like how Pitino made excuses for the Michigan loss. There are no excuses. The Gophers lost a game they had no business losing. Stop finding excuses.

I do like pretty much everything else Pitino has done so far (missing out of the big 3 not included because that wasn't on him). Really good hire.

I hate to break it to you but players play and coaches coach and theres reason why things happen. It's not an excuse if it's a fact, it's called talking to the press

 

[tikited]

I hate to break it to you but players play and coaches coach and theres reason why things happen. It's not an excuse if it's a fact, it's called talking to the press

He didn't do a good job of it after Michigan. It's also not a fact if it is the coaches opinion.

Tubby often did a bad job of it.

Lots of coaches know how to do it better.

I'll take a poor press conference over a poorly coached game any time.