Coyle on being “mad” the Gophers aren’t in the NCAA Tournament: “If you could see the text messages to my wife.”

Donate To GopherHole

CPTMidnight said:
Not sure how anyone on this forum sees otherwise at this point. Coyle takes credit for every bit of athletic success here at the U and at his past two jobs but somehow gets a pass on Basketball by many.

He has had 8 years to make positive changes to the Men's basketball program and the program is pretty much at its lowest point. Mark Coyle has done absolutely nothing for the Basketball program and should resign.

His advocates point at the mediocre football program/coach but the only difference I see is that we now occasionally can beat a Wisconsin program that is in decline. Thats it? No Big 10 titles, winning % less than 6 out of 10 games, football trajectory is in decline...

Coyle is the problem.
Click to expand...
I’d argue the entire university’s commitment to athletic excellence is the problem.
 

howeda7 said:
Just stop. NIL is an issue we all know that. But whoever the coach is will have to maximize the talent he has. Ben has shown little ability to do that.
Click to expand...
Buying players is 90% of it. Not 10% like some of you seem to think.
 

EasyThere Pilgrim said:
Buying players is 90% of it. Not 10% like some of you seem to think.
Click to expand...
It's not 90%. And the coach owns some of the blame for the lack of $$. 15-44 doesn't inspire donations and neither does Ben's flatline personality. PJ deals with the same fan base and does a much better job.
 





E
Gopheritnow said:
Good grief! He’s the AD, if he wanted the team to play a tougher schedule maybe he should have told Ben last year. I can’t believe the coach has the only say in the non conference schedule. He sure doesn’t negotiate the terms, the dates and the payout percentage without the AD’s input. This interview sounded like complete "tell dah rubes what dey wanna hear".

Coyle is a BB guy? But he loves PJ? I could see that if PJ was winning the division, was able to regularly fill that mini football stadium they built, and come within 40 pts of MI and Ohio St on occasion. But I suppose Coyle does love those free oil changes in Detroit every Dec. Yes the football team is better than in the past, we even won a couple trophy games. But the talent increase is incremental, and our offense would make Woody Hayes proud!

He wanted to hold his head up high in those NCAA meetings, he should have spent the money on a high end coach. He didn’t. I like Ben Johnson, someday, somewhere he is going to be successful. I hope it’s here. But he is a project coach, and Coyle knew that.

Btw, “scandal that rocked the nation"? At UCLA, Duke, Kentucky, or Las Vegas it wouldn’t have even made the front page! Just business as usual.
Click to expand...
Exaggerate much?
 

jamiche said:
I think a lot of the posts miss the point. These days it's less about the coaches (CBJ and PJ) and more about the money. The money leads straight to the AD's office. In 2024 you can have the greatest coaches in the world, and we don't, but if you are behind in the NIL race, and we are, you won't hold on to your players.

Slimy Norwood Teague is much better suited to be an NIL AD than flat line Mark Coyle.
Click to expand...

LOL yet where is Teague now? That's complete nonsense. The money also doesn't lead straight to the AD's office.

Pay for play has been around forever in college basketball. How's Purdue doing? They don't have more NIL than we do. Their best player can't even make NIL in the US. Yet they are playing for a natty tonight and have had the fewest transfers in the B1G.

The coach matters above all else, and it's not close.
 



mngolf said:
E

Exaggerate much?
Click to expand...
What’s the exaggeration?

Coyle has nothing to do with scheduling? He’s the AD.

Loves PJ? So stated?

Can’t fill up that band box football stadium, or win the Wild Wild West? Forget MI or O State.

Play for play at schools in past decades?

Or shelling out big bucks for high end high visibility coaches?
 


goldengophers said:
Our coach is still learning on the job, this is a 10 year project and shame on us if we aren't patient.
Click to expand...
Now look at the coaches out there that are elite and winning. It's all over the board, but look at these coaches.


Dawn Staley 17th
VanDerveer 12th
Bluder 23rd and 24th season and Caitlin Clark to get to Championship game.
Geno 10th season
Matt Painter 19th Season


This has nothing to do with Ben Johnson or saying he will get to the top, but it's an administration issue and needing to give all the proper resources to a culture and coach.
 

I know we fired Dan Monson. I never heard what happened to him, I wonder if he ever coached again? 🤷‍♂️
 




GopherWeatherGuy said:
LOL yet where is Teague now? That's complete nonsense. The money also doesn't lead straight to the AD's office.

Pay for play has been around forever in college basketball. How's Purdue doing? They don't have more NIL than we do. Their best player can't even make NIL in the US. Yet they are playing for a natty tonight and have had the fewest transfers in the B1G.

The coach matters above all else, and it's not close.
Click to expand...
Pat yourself on the back for citing the outlier. There's always a couple and you found one of them.

Now back to reality. The Norwood reference was tongue in cheek. I think most people figured that one out. It really means that when play for pay came out of the shadows a couple of years ago the really smart, aggressive AD's quickly coordinated with the boosters to make sure that the resources flowed. Then there's Mark "Cautious" Coyle who hid behind doing things "the right way," leaving the gophers stuck in first gear.

It's much easier to have a lot of money available to make up for mediocre coaching than to have great coaching trying to make up for pennies on the competitors' dollar.

Finally, anywhere Edey goes in the US, he's not going to access NIL money, so transferring isn't going to improve his NIL situation. His options are to play overseas or make the same money by signing a Canadian shoe deal, which he's not allowed to disclose. That's what one of the UConn women's players did.
 

jamiche said:
Pat yourself on the back for citing the outlier. There's always a couple and you found one of them.

Now back to reality. The Norwood reference was tongue in cheek. I think most people figured that one out. It really means that when play for pay came out of the shadows a couple of years ago the really smart, aggressive AD's quickly coordinated with the boosters to make sure that the resources flowed. Then there's Mark "Cautious" Coyle who hid behind doing things "the right way," leaving the gophers stuck in first gear.

It's much easier to have a lot of money available to make up for mediocre coaching than to have great coaching trying to make up for pennies on the competitors' dollar.

Finally, anywhere Edey goes in the US, he's not going to access NIL money, so transferring isn't going to improve his NIL situation. His options are to play overseas or make the same money by signing a Canadian shoe deal, which he's not allowed to disclose. That's what one of the UConn women's players did.
Click to expand...

Minnesota has been 'doing things the right way' long before Coyle, and hasn't had billionaire donors willing to support the school since running off Sanford nearly 20 years ago, who also 'doesn't do things the right way', at least not in the way the U wants them to. This isn't going to suddenly change overnight.

Purdue isn't an outlier. The vast majority of P6 schools are similar to Minnesota and Purdue. If money was all that mattered, then Ohio St, Michigan, or Indiana would win the B1G every year, but they don't. Kentucky, Duke, UNC, Kansas, Lousiville, etc would win the NCAA Tournament every year, but they don't.

Schools similar to Minnesota aren't more competitive because they have more money, they are more competitive because they hired the right coach who has the right culture in place to win with lower level recruits. Then they add better recruits as they build their culture and prove they can win with lesser recruits. This has been the formula for decades.

Until the U hires a coach who can build a culture and knows how to coach first, it does not matter how much NIL exists. If BJ was running Purdue the last 3 years, they would be at the bottom of the B1G and not playing tonight. The Gophers need to find their Matt Painter, Bo Ryan, Tony Bennett, or Jay Wright.
 

When Brian Coyle gets mad, you’d better lookout!! 😡
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Until the U hires a coach who can build a culture and knows how to coach first, it does not matter how much NIL exists. If BJ was running Purdue the last 3 years, they would be at the bottom of the B1G and not playing tonight. The Gophers need to find their Matt Painter, Bo Ryan, Tony Bennett, or Jay Wright.
Click to expand...
Yep.

And all those guys have something in common. ... they built or were very successful at smaller programs before becoming home run hires for their current schools. Our recent track record of finding those kind of guys is not very good (being polite).

Painter -- 1 year at Southern Illinois (NCAA), then groomed for a year under Gene Keady to take over @ Purdue, 15 NCAA appearances since then.

Bo -- 4 Division III national titles at UW-Platteville, 2-year pit stop @ Milwaukee, followed by 14 (for 14) NCAA appearances @ Wiscy, including a national runner-up among 2 Final 4 appearances.

Tony Bennett -- built Washington State (2 NCAA appearances and a NIT in 3 seasons), followed by 1 national title among 10 NCAA appearances at Virginia.

Jay Wright -- built Hofstra (back to back NCAA appearances), which led to Villanova, which led to 16 NCAA appearances & a pair of national titles.

None of these guys were huge names when they were hired.

And for clarity, I'd be more than thrilled if we found a guy who accomplished about half of what these guys did at the schools that made them famous. Give me 3 NCAA appearances every 5 years with semi-regular appearances in the 2nd weekend (or beyond) and I'll want a statue built for him.

The U needs to successfully identify an under the radar hidden gem. ... we're not going to get a rock star, but that doesn't mean we can't find someone that becomes one.
 
Last edited:

SelectionSunday said:
Yep.

And all those guys have something in common. ... they built or were very successful at smaller programs before becoming home run hires for their current schools. Our recent track record of finding those kind of guys is not very good (being polite).

Painter -- 1 year at Southern Illinois (NCAA), then groomed for a year under Gene Keady to take over @ Purdue, 15 NCAA appearances since then.

Bo -- 4 Division III national titles at UW-Platteville, 2-year pit stop @ Milwaukee, followed by 14 (for 14) NCAA appearances, including a national runner-up among 2 Final 4 appearances.

Tony Bennett -- built Washington State (2 NCAA appearances and a NIT in 3 seasons), followed by 1 national title among 10 NCAA appearances at Virginia.

Jay Wright -- built Hofstra (back to back NCAA appearances), which led to Villanova, which led to 16 NCAA appearances & a pair of national titles.

None of these guys were huge names when they were hired.

And for clarity, I'd be more than thrilled if we found a guy who accomplished about half of what these guys did at the schools that made them famous. Give me me 3 NCAA appearances every 5 years with semi-regular appearances in the 2nd weekend (or beyond) and I'll want a statue built for him.

The U needs to successfully identify an under the radar hidden gem. ... we're not going to get a rock star, but that doesn't mean we can't find someone that becomes one.
Click to expand...
Does Craig Smith fit the description?
 


SelectionSunday said:
Yep.

And all those guys have something in common. ... they built or were very successful at smaller programs before becoming home run hires for their current schools. Our recent track record of finding those kind of guys is not very good (being polite).

Painter -- 1 year at Southern Illinois (NCAA), then groomed for a year under Gene Keady to take over @ Purdue, 15 NCAA appearances since then.

Bo -- 4 Division III national titles at UW-Platteville, 2-year pit stop @ Milwaukee, followed by 14 (for 14) NCAA appearances @ Wiscy, including a national runner-up among 2 Final 4 appearances.

Tony Bennett -- built Washington State (2 NCAA appearances and a NIT in 3 seasons), followed by 1 national title among 10 NCAA appearances at Virginia.

Jay Wright -- built Hofstra (back to back NCAA appearances), which led to Villanova, which led to 16 NCAA appearances & a pair of national titles.

None of these guys were huge names when they were hired.

And for clarity, I'd be more than thrilled if we found a guy who accomplished about half of what these guys did at the schools that made them famous. Give me 3 NCAA appearances every 5 years with semi-regular appearances in the 2nd weekend (or beyond) and I'll want a statue built for him.

The U needs to successfully identify an under the radar hidden gem. ... we're not going to get a rock star, but that doesn't mean we can't find someone that becomes one.
Click to expand...
It is like you are suggesting experience matters or something. ;)
 

SelectionSunday said:
Yep.

And all those guys have something in common. ... they built or were very successful at smaller programs before becoming home run hires for their current schools. Our recent track record of finding those kind of guys is not very good (being polite).

Painter -- 1 year at Southern Illinois (NCAA), then groomed for a year under Gene Keady to take over @ Purdue, 15 NCAA appearances since then.

Bo -- 4 Division III national titles at UW-Platteville, 2-year pit stop @ Milwaukee, followed by 14 (for 14) NCAA appearances @ Wiscy, including a national runner-up among 2 Final 4 appearances.

Tony Bennett -- built Washington State (2 NCAA appearances and a NIT in 3 seasons), followed by 1 national title among 10 NCAA appearances at Virginia.

Jay Wright -- built Hofstra (back to back NCAA appearances), which led to Villanova, which led to 16 NCAA appearances & a pair of national titles.

None of these guys were huge names when they were hired.

And for clarity, I'd be more than thrilled if we found a guy who accomplished about half of what these guys did at the schools that made them famous. Give me 3 NCAA appearances every 5 years with semi-regular appearances in the 2nd weekend (or beyond) and I'll want a statue built for him.

The U needs to successfully identify an under the radar hidden gem. ... we're not going to get a rock star, but that doesn't mean we can't find someone that becomes one.
Click to expand...
Great points. And to follow up, you're never going to know on some coaches at that level until you give then a shot. Monson could've easily been that guy, he wasn't. I get it, it's not fun to change coaches every few years but you have to find the right one or you're cooked. For every Painter Drew or Bennett there are plenty of Lickliter and Chambers.
 

Gopheritnow said:
What’s the exaggeration?

Coyle has nothing to do with scheduling? He’s the AD.

Loves PJ? So stated?

Can’t fill up that band box football stadium, or win the Wild Wild West? Forget MI or O State.

Play for play at schools in past decades?

Or shelling out big bucks for high end high visibility coaches?
Click to expand...
AD schedules with guidance from coach, especially in MBB.

Fills the stadium fine, but best when playing rivals and good teams.

So you're equating CBJ success as equal to PJ?

Shelling out for NIL will have greater affect than shelling out for big name coach. Both would be best, but school has total control over one and limitations in the other.
 

Ewert86PC said:
One big, Garcia, doesn't make this team competitive. Unless we get two more bigs, one of whom needs to be an upgrade over Payne, then we are changing head coaches during or after next season.
Click to expand...
If we didn’t have the NIl to keep a hometown kid happy, how are we getting a better big?
 


howeda7 said:
Let's see those texts, Mark. I bet they're scathing.
Click to expand...
"Darling (to Coyle's wife), I'll be 15 minutes late for dinner tonight. I just started working on some improvements for the basketball team and want to finish up before I leave". Coyle's wife..."you're so dedicated!"
 

howeda7 said:
It's not 90%. And the coach owns some of the blame for the lack of $$. 15-44 doesn't inspire donations and neither does Ben's flatline personality. PJ deals with the same fan base and does a much better job.
Click to expand...
PJ is a great coach. He's doing the best he can here.

But 90% of the big winning is at the big paying schools. Ohio State, Michigan, Alabama, Georgia, etc.

It's NOT because of their superior coaching.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Minnesota has been 'doing things the right way' long before Coyle, and hasn't had billionaire donors willing to support the school since running off Sanford nearly 20 years ago, who also 'doesn't do things the right way', at least not in the way the U wants them to. This isn't going to suddenly change overnight.

Purdue isn't an outlier. The vast majority of P6 schools are similar to Minnesota and Purdue. If money was all that mattered, then Ohio St, Michigan, or Indiana would win the B1G every year, but they don't. Kentucky, Duke, UNC, Kansas, Lousiville, etc would win the NCAA Tournament every year, but they don't.

Schools similar to Minnesota aren't more competitive because they have more money, they are more competitive because they hired the right coach who has the right culture in place to win with lower level recruits. Then they add better recruits as they build their culture and prove they can win with lesser recruits. This has been the formula for decades.

Until the U hires a coach who can build a culture and knows how to coach first, it does not matter how much NIL exists. If BJ was running Purdue the last 3 years, they would be at the bottom of the B1G and not playing tonight. The Gophers need to find their Matt Painter, Bo Ryan, Tony Bennett, or Jay Wright.
Click to expand...
Purdue IS an outlier. They hadn't made a Final Four since 1980. Most of the winning is by the same big-paying schools.

NOW you talk about the coach building a team and a culture. But while Ben was doing it...you blasted him for not winning instantly. And now when we have the team in place...the players leave for the paying schools.
 

EasyThere Pilgrim said:
PJ is a great coach. He's doing the best he can here.

But 90% of the big winning is at the big paying schools. Ohio State, Michigan, Alabama, Georgia, etc.

It's NOT because of their superior coaching.
Click to expand...
Despite the NIL disadvantages, PJ has a .500 record in the B1G because he's a good coach, not a historically awful coach. Ben is 15-44 because he is a historically awful coach. That's the difference.
 

howeda7 said:
Despite the disadvantages, PJ has a .500 record in the B1G because he's a good coach, not a historically awful coach. Ben is 15-44 because he is a historically awful coach. That's the difference.
Click to expand...
So Clem was historically awful too, by that measure.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom