Coaching Hypothetical

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Oatmeal Savage

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OK Ben Bashers. Let’s imagine you get your wish and Ben is relieved of his duties. Let’s further pretend that it turns out UConn Associate Head Coach Kimani Young and Mark Coyle show mutual interest.

Pros:
  • Championship coaching pedigree (2023 UConn) and possibly 2024 (Final 4 at least)
  • Minnesota Assistant under Pitino for 5 years; knows the job and Big Ten
  • Known as a recruiter

Cons:
  • Never been a college head coach
  • East coast guy; maybe would use the job as a springboard back to a bigger job back East
  • Recruited Isaiah Washington to MN

Should he be hired?
 



Kimani young was here with Richard Pitino. Just 1or2 years and wanted to go back East.
 

Oatmeal Savage said:
OK Ben Bashers. Let’s imagine you get your wish and Ben is relieved of his duties. Let’s further pretend that it turns out UConn Associate Head Coach Kimani Young and Mark Coyle show mutual interest.

Pros:
  • Championship coaching pedigree (2023 UConn) and possibly 2024 (Final 4 at least)
  • Minnesota Assistant under Pitino for 5 years; knows the job and Big Ten
  • Known as a recruiter

Cons:
  • Never been a college head coach
  • East coast guy; maybe would use the job as a springboard back to a bigger job back East
  • Recruited Isaiah Washington to MN

Should he be hired?
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No. Absolutely not. No first time head coaches. Period.
 


Villa 7, baby. That's the ticket.

actually, the organization originally known as Villa 7 is now "Top Connect." same purpose - designed to help promote assistant coaches so that they can land head coaching jobs.

I know a lot of people would want MN - in the event of a coaching change - to land an experience D1 Head Coach.

But - IF MN is unable to land an experienced coach (due to unwillingness to meet salary demands - or people just not wanting the job), then the Gophers could wind up back in the same spot - trying to identify an up-and-comer and hope they have better success.
 

0 Interest. If we went the 0 HC exp at the D1 mens level then I'd go way outside of the box and look at Dawn Staley. At least we'd get some hype and exposure. But would strongly prefer a successful D1 coach.
 





leib0039 said:
0 Interest. If we went the 0 HC exp at the D1 mens level then I'd go way outside of the box and look at Dawn Staley. At least we'd get some hype and exposure. But would strongly prefer a successful D1 coach.
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Isn’t Dawn a successful D1 coach? 🤔
 

I don't like going with no head coaching experience. That said, no head coaching experience but experience with winning is better than no head coaching experience and no winning experience.

My ideal hire would be someone who has had success as a D1 coach in a smaller conference or (and I realize this is tougher to find) success as a D1 coach at a major conference.
 





What was the sentiment of him while he was here with Pitino?
 

Lol, so we replaced Pitino with one of his assistants, yet now you want to replace a failed Pitino assistant with another Pitino assistant? Come on.

As others have said the next hire needs to have a track record of winning as a head coach at some level. And I hope that someone has zero MN ties, because this program needs someone from the outside who knows how to build a winning program.
 




GopherWeatherGuy said:
Lol, so we replaced Pitino with one of his assistants, yet now you want to replace a failed Pitino assistant with another Pitino assistant? Come on.

As others have said the next hire needs to have a track record of winning as a head coach at some level. And I hope that someone has zero MN ties, because this program needs someone from the outside who knows how to build a winning program.
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Certainly, it would be nice to have someone with a "track record of winning as a head coach at some level...who knows how to build a winning program." That would be a highly desirable quality. To me that is 6+ years at a program to show that they aren't just winning with the previous coach's players. Not too many coaches are sticking in one place that long any more. But if they are and if you're at at a mid-major or lower, there's plenty of other considerations too:
  • sure you might be able to recruit at a lower level, but can you recruit, develop, and retain players at the P6 level against other highly talented recruiters
  • can you navigate ins and outs of the transfer portal, including when other teams tamper with your players
  • can you develop and maintain winning fast enough to generate NIL (and the whales necessary) to develop and maintain a talented roster
I don't know if Kimani Young will ever be a good head coach or would he be able to make the leap straight from assistant to P6 head coach well. But to outright dismiss the idea because the only important quality is a resume of proven head coaching experience somewhere, is reactionary and naive.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
As others have said the next hire needs to have a track record of winning as a head coach at some level. And I hope that someone has zero MN ties, because this program needs someone from the outside who knows how to build a winning program.
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No one has addressed my question.

How is this a coaching issue? How do you build a winning program?

How do you keep the players from going pro or transferring for money?
 

EasyThere Pilgrim said:
No one has addressed my question.

How is this a coaching issue? How do you build a winning program?

How do you keep the players from going pro or transferring for money?
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How do you attract an experienced coach without a treasure trove of NIL money. Doubt you do, things have changed.
 

No. Still requires OTJT as a HC. Just because the HC training wheels look like they might come off earlier, it doesn't mean they will.

UMN MBB needs to hire a real head coach, not an assistant with no previous HC experience. We need someone who can make a team in this era of "I'm getting mine" transfer portal free agency.
 

Oatmeal Savage said:
I don't know if Kimani Young will ever be a good head coach or would he be able to make the leap straight from assistant to P6 head coach well. But to outright dismiss the idea because the only important quality is a resume of proven head coaching experience somewhere, is reactionary and naive.
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It's not that I'm dismissive of it, we've just basically done it already with the last two hires and it's not working out. Something different is needed.

How many successful P6 coaches got their first head coaching job at that level, without any previous head coaching experience at any level? Very few.
 




Luke Murray means Bill Murray instantly becomes the world's #1 Gopher fan. That's good enough for me.
 


Ewert86PC said:
UMN MBB needs to hire a real head coach, not an assistant with no previous HC experience. We need someone who can make a team in this era of "I'm getting mine" transfer portal free agency.
Click to expand...
How would this prevent players from leaving for money once they become good?

Are you saying that an experienced coach could put together a completely new team each year...with players that don't command money? And make NCAA runs with these teams.
 
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Dave H said:
In your eyes is anything a coaching issue?
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Payne looking for a $500K/year contract isn't a coaching issue.

Garcia & Christie going pro wouldn't be a coaching issue.

Are you saying that Ben coached these guys up too quickly? Or should have focused on less talented players? How should the new coach navigate this?
 

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