All Things Pitino rumor mill thread

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howeda7 said:
I don't get it either. Is the practice facility really the absolute be all and end all? Because that and $$ are the only upgrades Alabama can offer. In exchange you get a crappy, disinterested fan base and you have to live in Alabama.
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I think the value of strong practice facilities is vastly overrated (not saying they don't matter, or that we shouldn't build one). A shinier facility in my opinion would not be worth going to a place where you would be the 13th most important coach behind Nick Saban and his top 11 assistants.
 

The one thing I'll be most curious about IF Pitino decides to leave?

Will he (or his father on his behalf) burn bridges after leaving Minnesota?
 


Bad Gopher said:
Is this based on the perception (or reality) that this is such a miserable place to live and work that only a fool would pass up the opportunity for essentially a lateral move to a backward southern state? Am I the only one - even in this forum - who sees the merit of staying in this community on their own accord? Could it really be true that both Tubby's and Richard's wives absolutely hate it here? Pardon my drama queen reaction to all this, but I'm truly struggling to understand what's going on here.
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Sure could be. I'll tell you what though, I miss living in the Twin Cities. But I'm not from nor am I currently living in a warmer climate.
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
I think the value of strong practice facilities is vastly overrated (not saying they don't matter, or that we shouldn't build one). A shinier facility in my opinion would not be worth going to a place where you would be the 13th most important coach behind Nick Saban and his top 11 assistants.
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You could say the same thing about Florida when they hired Billy Donovan. That has worked out horribly.
 


I just can't see Pitino going to Bama at all unless he gets a big increase in pay. Pitino has talked about how great the fanbase is here and how great it is to be the only D1 school in the state. At Alabama basketball is just something that occupies time for some fans between fall and spring football. I saw their NIT game against Illinois this year and it looked like there was maybe 500 people in the gym.
 

If Mrs Pitino doesn't care for Minnesota winters, she will enjoy Alabama summers equally well. :cool02:
 

SelectionSunday said:
The one thing I'll be most curious about IF Pitino decides to leave?

Will he (or his father on his behalf) burn bridges after leaving Minnesota?
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Great point as always. Rick did burn bridges when he went to Boston. He was a king in Lexington.
 

Speculation elsewhere that the Murray State coach (Steve Prohm) would make more sense for Alabama than Pitino? I would tend to agree with that.

Prohm is a much more proven coach than Pitino. In four seasons at Murray State he has won 2 regular-season OVC championships (2012, 2015) and advanced in three different postseason tournaments (NCAA Round of 32, NIT Final 8, won a CIT championship), which for a guy at a mid-major school is pretty impressive.
 



Quality of life? Alabama over Minnesota??????? no way
 

I don't know what he's telling recruits privately, but if he is truly not interested you would think a public denial would make a lot of people rest easier. But if he is interested in the Bama job, or at the very least using them as a negotiating chip for a bigger payday here, that could explain his silence.
 

book said:
Quality of life? Alabama over Minnesota??????? no way
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I don't think QOL has much to do with it, just as I don't think Alabama as Alabama or MN as MN has much to do with it. This is all about how these jobs (the one Rich has now and the one in Alabama) comparatively set Rich up for the future. Regardless of what happens over the next couple of days, Richard isn't going to be at either one very long, so he has to decide which situation sets him up best for bigger and bigger gigs down the line.
 

book said:
Quality of life? Alabama over Minnesota??????? no way
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Quality of life can be proportional to your paycheck. But I don't think he's going. He doesn't have the track record to demand a premium contract anywhere else right now. He can't point at this years team and say that these aren't all his kids and then point at last year and take credit for the NIT championship. He might take less to coach somewhere better, but no one better is knocking based on his resume either.
 



LakerFan said:
Quality of life can be proportional to your paycheck. But I don't think he's going. He doesn't have the track record to demand a premium contract anywhere else right now. He can't point at this years team and say that these aren't all his kids and then point at last year and take credit for the NIT championship. He might take less to coach somewhere better, but no one better is knocking based on his resume either.
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It's also not tough to imagine that the University of Alabama might be a school with nicer facilities and more the focal point of the city it's in. I love my Gophers and the Twin Cities but there are many universities with better facilities in a more collegiate environment.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
You could say the same thing about Florida when they hired Billy Donovan. That has worked out horribly.
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Didn't bode well for Thad Matta at Ohio State, either. Or, John Beilein at Michigan. Or, Lon Kruger at Oklahoma. Or, Mike Bray at Notre Dame.

It has become a total myth that a football school is a bad place for a good basketball coach to be. Used to be that way. Not any more. Money drives the basketball boat and football produces the money.


book said:
Quality of life? Alabama over Minnesota??????? no way
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And, quality of life issues are relative. For someone not from Minnesota, they may enjoy life in Alabama more. No snow to shovel, no long underwear to wear, no icy roads, with golf/boating/fishing year round, etc. It isn't like Tuscaloosa is in the backwoods of Mississippi with only wooden shacks. It is a bustling university town with educated people living there. Its an hour to Birmingham, three hours to Atlanta. Some people (not all) would consider that quality of life better than living in suburban Minneapolis when it is 20-below zero in the middle of your coaching season. I have no idea what Richard Pitino might prefer, but I have heard he likes to play a lot of golf.
 

The Twin Cities is a great place to live and could a great job. Much better than Alabama for someone used to the culture of the east coast.
To me they question is, how much confidence does Richard have in himself? Can he hack the coaching competition of the B1G? If he leaves, to me it is a failure, and an inability to see how he would be able to be competitive here. I dont see it as a recruiting issue. This was my biggest concern about such a young coach in an elite coach's league. A strong, personally secure mid-major coach would be our next look. I suspect he stays.
And yes, we are the 'victims' of the fun the press has with the coaching chess board every spring.
 

LakerFan said:
Quality of life can be proportional to your paycheck. But I don't think he's going. He doesn't have the track record to demand a premium contract anywhere else right now.He can't point at this years team and say that these aren't all his kids and then point at last year and take credit for the NIT championship. He might take less to coach somewhere better, but no one better is knocking based on his resume either.
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Doubt it would take a premium contact somewhere else for him to move. The contract if he ends up being a good coach will work out no matter where he is at in time.

I would think this all comes down to where he thinks he can build something and win over the long term. Alabama is a better job and already has pieces in place such as facilities that Minnesota doesn't currently have to make it more attractive. The question is whether or not him or his family like it here and if he thinks he can win here.

At some point Minnesota will get new facilities but just because they build it doesn't mean top recruits start signing up to play at Minnesota. There still will be limitations at this school.
 

tjgopher said:
Didn't bode well for Thad Matta at Ohio State, either. Or, John Beilein at Michigan. Or, Lon Kruger at Oklahoma. Or, Mike Bray at Notre Dame.

It has become a total myth that a football school is a bad place for a good basketball coach to be. Used to be that way. Not any more. Money drives the basketball boat and football produces the money.





And, quality of life issues are relative. For someone not from Minnesota, they may enjoy life in Alabama more. No snow to shovel, no long underwear to wear, no icy roads, with golf/boating/fishing year round, etc. It isn't like Tuscaloosa is in the backwoods of Mississippi with only wooden shacks. It is a bustling university town with educated people living there. Its an hour to Birmingham, three hours to Atlanta. Some people (not all) would consider that quality of life better than living in suburban Minneapolis when it is 20-below zero in the middle of your coaching season. I have no idea what Richard Pitino might prefer, but I have heard he likes to play a lot of golf.
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A friend and I were joking recently that a trailer home in Florida is nicer than a 9,000 square foot mansion in Edina in January and February.
 

I say good riddance if he leaves. The U is bigger than Richard Pitino. The important aspect to me is President Kaler. Beyond that, I also have a lot of confidence in Norwood Teague. They are building something great at the U! It would be a mistake for Pitino to leave, but if he wants to make that mistake, he'll have to live with it. The U will move on and continue to build and end up being great!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

tjgopher said:
And, quality of life issues are relative. For someone not from Minnesota, they may enjoy life in Alabama more. No snow to shovel, no long underwear to wear, no icy roads, with golf/boating/fishing year round, etc. It isn't like Tuscaloosa is in the backwoods of Mississippi with only wooden shacks. It is a bustling university town with educated people living there. Its an hour to Birmingham, three hours to Atlanta. Some people (not all) would consider that quality of life better than living in suburban Minneapolis when it is 20-below zero in the middle of your coaching season. I have no idea what Richard Pitino might prefer, but I have heard he likes to play a lot of golf.
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Yes, I've never been to Tuscaloosa, but I've heard it's a pretty nice university town. Alabama is a pretty state and it does have some nicer places. Living in Tuscaloosa wouldn't be the same thing as living in Anniston. And as bad as their summers can be, they don't have anything like our level of mosquito infestation.
 

I'm not worried he's leaving at all. But as many have said, if he does, I trust Teague will find a good replacement. I, certainly, wouldn't feel a sense of loss as Pitino hasn't done squat here yet. I think, given enough time, he will be very successful here, but that hasn't happened yet. We've had plenty of coaches good enough to get us to the NIT. That's nothing special. Could be Pitino goes and we actually get a more proven coach in now that the facilities project has legs.
 

jamiche said:
Regardless of what happens over the next couple of days, Richard isn't going to be at either one very long, so he has to decide which situation sets him up best for bigger and bigger gigs down the line.
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Current Gossip aside, this is pure speculation and a bunch of malarkey
 

Bad Gopher said:
Is this based on the perception (or reality) that this is such a miserable place to live and work that only a fool would pass up the opportunity for essentially a lateral move to a backward southern state? Am I the only one - even in this forum - who sees the merit of staying in this community on their own accord? Could it really be true that both Tubby's and Richard's wives absolutely hate it here? Pardon my drama queen reaction to all this, but I'm truly struggling to understand what's going on here.
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You and I love the Twin Cities and rightfully so. There is a reason it is one of the most "livable" metro areas in the country. However, having worked with and served a high number of transplants to the area, our beloved city on the plain can be a hard place to break in socially. New people may love the culture, struggle with the climate (just like we do), but breaking in can be a tough nut to crack. I suspect that this has nothing to do with Richard's possible decision making process, but we do have a reputation of being nice, but not necessarily all that welcoming in our social circles. I've heard way too many stories (mostly from transplanted young single and married people) to think this isn't an issue for a lot of newbies to the area. Throw in being a minor celebrity and it gets more complicated.

I'm with Moonlight in that this decision (if there is one) will come down to whether he believes he can win here, and the jury is still out on that. My biggest fear when he arrived was that he would not stay long because he could find lateral programs where it would be much easier to win. Sadly, Alabama fits that description. I do think he can win here and despite the crappy season, the program appears on the uptick with recruiting. Hopefully he can demonstrate an ability to develop players.
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
I think the value of strong practice facilities is vastly overrated (not saying they don't matter, or that we shouldn't build one). A shinier facility in my opinion would not be worth going to a place where you would be the 13th most important coach behind Nick Saban and his top 11 assistants.
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You're wrong.

And it's not even that there's is shinier, WE DON'T EVEN HAVE FACILITIES HERE!

It is shocking how a B10 university of our size and level of resources is soooo far behind on facilities.
 

Moonlight said:
The Twin Cities is a great place to live and could a great job. Much better than Alabama for someone used to the culture of the east coast.
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But, who really knows if Pitino is pining for East Coast life? And, if he is, why would Minneapolis be his stopping off point?


A scan of his resume shows that Pitino has spent about 10 years of his life on the East Coast (roughly 1997-2007 - Boston, Providence, Pittsburgh)
And one year in Miami (FIU coach)


But, Pitino has spent more of his life in:

--Lexington, Kentucky (8 years)
--Charleston, SC (1 yr)
--Louisville, Kentucky (parts of 13 years, both as an asst coach and a college kid home for the summer)
--Gainesville, Florida (2 yrs)

all of which probably have more in common with Tuscaloosa than Minneapolis.
 

SelectionSunday said:
Speculation elsewhere that the Murray State coach (Steve Prohm) would make more sense for Alabama than Pitino? I would tend to agree with that.

Prohm is a much more proven coach than Pitino. In four seasons at Murray State he has won 2 regular-season OVC championships (2012, 2015) and advanced in three different postseason tournaments (NCAA Round of 32, NIT Final 8, won a CIT championship), which for a guy at a mid-major school is pretty impressive.
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Also I believe he is an Alabama alum.
 


Moonlight said:
The Twin Cities is a great place to live and could a great job. Much better than Alabama for someone used to the culture of the east coast.
To me they question is, how much confidence does Richard have in himself? Can he hack the coaching competition of the B1G? If he leaves, to me it is a failure, and an inability to see how he would be able to be competitive here. I dont see it as a recruiting issue. This was my biggest concern about such a young coach in an elite coach's league. A strong, personally secure mid-major coach would be our next look. I suspect he stays.
And yes, we are the 'victims' of the fun the press has with the coaching chess board every spring.
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This is definitely an unexplored angle - at least in this thread. "An elite coaches' league;" that's a good way to put it. Many capable coaches have come to this conference and not been able to hack it. It always reminds me of something I heard Ara Parseghian say once. He said that, when he took the Notre Dame job, he needed every shred of experience he'd had up to that point in order to be able to do that job, what with the expectations, competition, etc. His quote is often brought up in contrasting him with someone like Gerry Faust, who was clearly not seasoned enough to succeed in that environment. I consider any basketball job in the Big Ten to be in that same category. The league will eat you alive if you're not prepared for it.
 

Winasota Gopher said:
Current Gossip aside, this is pure speculation and a bunch of malarkey
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Speculation? Of course. Malarkey? Absolutely not.

A guy who is focused on his current gig puts a quick end to public speculation about a lateral move unless he is trying to decide which situation best sets him up for the big job. Otherwise it's too damaging to recruiting and his reputation.
 


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