Dutcher > Haskins > Monson > Smith > Pitino

[Gold Rush]

OK, Maybe Smith was a little better than Monson but you get the picture. Each coaching change has brought about a coach a little less successful than the previous one. I never thought I would see Gopher basketball team at these levels 30 years ago several years in a row. This was a team that usually always had a pretty good team and the Barn was packed. If we had a down year, usually we were back the next year. I know Pitino has the legacy from his name and was hoping to elevate the team but 7 years in I just don't see it. I think we can do a lot better but we are going to have to go in another direction to do it. The game vs. Iowa today is the type of game that will get a coach fired. (Or perhaps the away game vs. Iowa this year if you want another example.)

This team just has very little talent other than its top two or three players. If you keep Pitino, we will be talking about the same things 5 years from now. I know he has a good recruiting class coming in next year, but I really do not have too much hope for this team. Perhaps Coyle can do for the basketball team what he did for the football team and find someone who can build a program.

This team will be lucky just to make it to the NIT's. And if Oturo goes to the NBA after this year we will be right back to the same spot next year, too. I think seven years is enough.....at any rate, the natives are starting to get a little restless and I don't care if the coach's name is Naismith....you have to start thinking about a change here.

PS - I originally said this team had no heart but that is not necessarily true so I edited it out. They played with heart and fire up until the end of the game but the last 4 minutes that saw an 8 point lead evaporate and 5 straight possessions without even going to the rim doomed the team. I guess lack of poise is more accurate.

 

[LesBolstad]

Agree for the most part. Not sure about the heart thing. They just have no depth and a coach who is among the worst bench coaches in the country. He certainly does not instill confidence in his players.
The recruits coming in next year are ok, not program changers. This would certainly seem like a good year for a change as next year it could be a 4-6 B10 win team.

 

[scools12]

Pitino has a couple of arguments he can make to Coyle for why he should get an 8th year. 7 new players, lost Coffey and Curry still the team is in the hunt of NCAA bid.

However, without a run here at the end to get into the NCAA or a NIT run could Coyle sell to the majority of this fan base Pitino deserves an 8th year?

 

[ComoGopher]

I am hoping we get to host our first round NIT game.

 

[howeda7]

I am hoping we get to host our first round NIT game.

We need 4 more wins to make the NIT. Don't get your hopes up.

 

[Former Goofer]

Pitino has a couple of arguments he can make to Coyle for why he should get an 8th year. 7 new players, lost Coffey and Curry still the team is in the hunt of NCAA bid.

However, without a run here at the end to get into the NCAA or a NIT run could Coyle sell to the majority of this fan base Pitino deserves an 8th year?

Based on the last 7 years why on Earth would have Pitino earned an 8th?

At this point it's painfully obvious that Pitino is a lame duck and we will never go anywhere with the guy. Our next head coach could be worse but Pitino just isn't the guy and that is 100% clear. Time to move on.

 

[Spaulding!No!]

Villa 7.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

A thought - one argument from the "keep Pitino" group is "why do you think the next coach will be any better?"

My response to that - on the Football board, Coyle is praised for hiring Fleck. He has also gotten kudos for hiring Whalen for Women's BB. So - if people think one of Coyle's strong suits is hiring coaches - then why don't you think he can hire a good Men's basketball coach?

 

[EastCoastGophersFan]

Pitino has a couple of arguments he can make to Coyle for why he should get an 8th year. 7 new players, lost Coffey and Curry still the team is in the hunt of NCAA bid.

However, without a run here at the end to get into the NCAA or a NIT run could Coyle sell to the majority of this fan base Pitino deserves an 8th year?

Good NCAA programs lose top talent all the time but still find a way to reload their rosters. This is not a valid excuse for Pitino. In 7 years he’s had every opportunity to build a sustainable program but has shown no ability to develop talent and quality depth on his roster. His teams are stars or bust. That’s a recipe for perpetual mediocrity. It’s time for a change.

 

[fair]

Am I wrong in thinking Coyle's decision is going to be linked very closely with Oturu's staying or leaving?

 

[Angry]

A thought - one argument from the "keep Pitino" group is "why do you think the next coach will be any better?"

My response to that - on the Football board, Coyle is praised for hiring Fleck. He has also gotten kudos for hiring Whalen for Women's BB. So - if people think one of Coyle's strong suits is hiring coaches - then why don't you think he can hire a good Men's basketball coach?

Haha Whalen with a full cupboard couldn’t get it done last year. Really bad this year.
Fleck appears to be a good hire along with Motzko. 2/3 ain’t bad.

 

[WriterGoph]

Haha Whalen with a full cupboard couldn’t get it done last year. Really bad this year.
Fleck appears to be a good hire along with Motzko. 2/3 ain’t bad.

Little early to make a judgement on Whalen. Pretty sure she is recruiting pretty well

 

[Parcival]

Am I wrong in thinking Coyle's decision is going to be linked very closely with Oturu's staying or leaving?

Like Jimmy Chitwood in Hoosiers?

Oturu to Coyle: "I play, coach stays. If he goes, I go".

 

[KyGopherfan]

No one player should control whether an AD fires a coach or not, especially Oturu. Now if we're talking about a Zion/LeBron type talent, then maybe. The AD's concern should be about the long term health of the program.

 

[Gold Rush]

I agree with the consensus around here. I actually like Pitino, he knows basketball and seems like a nice guy. But I think after 7 years of very mediocre to bad basketball it is time for a change. I just don't see it getting any better than an occasional NCAA first round loss mixed in with a couple NIT's and some sub .500's thrown in. I think we can do a lot better than this.

This used to be a very good program and we have slowly deteriorated to near the bottom of the Big Ten. It's not up to us, but Coyle has got to be thinking about making a move, here. It might be a good time to be working behind the scenes to see what you could get.

 

[Gold Rush]

Haha Whalen with a full cupboard couldn’t get it done last year. Really bad this year.
Fleck appears to be a good hire along with Motzko. 2/3 ain’t bad.

Motzko was another good hire and it looks very promising for the hockey team moving forward. They probably should have made a coaching move about 2-3 years before they did and instead allowed the program to crash to rock bottom. I never thought this was even possible with the hockey team. The men's basketball team is moving in that same direction. There are now less than 10,000 season ticket holders and could get even worse if no change is made.

Give Whalen some time. She had some disciplinary problems this year, but I think she will get the program moving forward in the next few years. If in 7 years it doesn't get any better, you can move in another direction but I have strong confidence in her that things will improve very soon. I do not have this confidence in Pitino anymore.

 

[Bad Gopher]

On one hand, let me say that this team has exceeded my expectations, and I give Pitino credit for that. I predicted 7-8 conference wins, and I think we'll still get to 9 in the round robin. The defensive fundamentals are improved from past years, and that's made a difference.

But there's a bigger picture than just this year, including and especially the point of the OP, which is the total body of work. Richard has been the least accomplished of the Gopher coaches in my lifetime, with the exception of one-and-done washout George Hanson. He's been statistically poorer than Dan Monson, who if he isn't on the hot seat at Long Beach, he should be.

The question isn't whether Pitino's gotten a thin and unbalanced roster to marginally overachieve this season; it's why do we find ourselves having to overcome thin, unbalanced rosters more years than not, with so many scholarship players that you can't trust with meaningful minutes? Better days and deeper rosters always seem to be right around the corner, but we never seem to get there.

Lastly, the improved defense is, by all accounts, the work of their very good assistant coaching staff. The question that's been haunting me this whole season, watching their better technique and footwork: what if they lose these assistant coaches? Jeter is likely to get another head coaching gig somewhere if he wants one. All I know is this: when they have the huddle miked up, it's Jeter and Conroy who are giving the players useful coaching.

I and my wife and our season ticket mates and Gopher-fan friends keep asking ourselves the same question: when are we ever going to experience the excitement of the deep tourney runs we enjoyed years ago? Or is that a thing of the past that we've moved on from and have to accept as being beyond reach? I hear a lot of complacency in this forum and acceptance of Richard's tenure as being acceptable and the best Minnesota can do. It's pretty much been a generation since real success, so I guess it's not surprising that we have a whole new generation of fans who've been acclimated to this level of (lack of) achievement.

We've continued to keep our season tickets in continued hope that better days are in the future. It's clear that other season ticket buyers have abandoned that hope or repurposed that (considerable sum of) money. If Coyle thinks this is good enough, I and my posse strenuously disagree. He needs to know that we're not obligated to continue to ante up into a losing game.

 

[Gold Rush]

On one hand, let me say that this team has exceeded my expectations, and I give Pitino credit for that. I predicted 7-8 conference wins, and I think we'll still get to 9 in the round robin. The defensive fundamentals are improved from past years, and that's made a difference.

But there's a bigger picture than just this year, including and especially the point of the OP, which is the total body of work. Richard has been the least accomplished of the Gopher coaches in my lifetime, with the exception of one-and-done washout George Hanson. He's been statistically poorer than Dan Monson, who if he isn't on the hot seat at Long Beach, he should be.

The question isn't whether Pitino's gotten a thin and unbalanced roster to marginally overachieve this season; it's why do we find ourselves having to overcome thin, unbalanced rosters more years than not, with so many scholarship players that you can't trust with meaningful minutes? Better days and deeper rosters always seem to be right around the corner, but we never seem to get there.

Lastly, the improved defense is, by all accounts, the work of their very good assistant coaching staff. The question that's been haunting me this whole season, watching their better technique and footwork: what if they lose these assistant coaches? Jeter is likely to get another head coaching gig somewhere if he wants one. All I know is this: when they have the huddle miked up, it's Jeter and Conroy who are giving the players useful coaching.

I and my wife and our season ticket mates and Gopher-fan friends keep asking ourselves the same question: when are we ever going to experience the excitement of the deep tourney runs we enjoyed years ago? Or is that a thing of the past that we've moved on from and have to accept as being beyond reach? I hear a lot of complacency in this forum and acceptance of Richard's tenure as being acceptable and the best Minnesota can do. It's pretty much been a generation since real success, so I guess it's not surprising that we have a whole new generation of fans who've been acclimated to this level of (lack of) achievement.

We've continued to keep our season tickets in continued hope that better days are in the future. It's clear that other season ticket buyers have abandoned that hope or repurposed that (considerable sum of) money. If Coyle thinks this is good enough, I and my posse strenuously disagree. He needs to know that we're not obligated to continue to ante up into a losing game.

This was a good post. I think we can do better and we CAN get back to those teams with the deep NCAA runs. I really thought Pitino was going to be that guy, but I do not think so even if you give him 7 MORE years. I think this is about as far as he is going to be able to get us.

There is no guarantee the next coach will be better, but at this point it's really worth a shot. My first year I ever started following this team was that 24-3 team that would have been even better if Olberding and Landsberger had stayed. Who would have been able to stop that team? That sure seems like a long, long time ago.

 

[builtbadgers]

Am I wrong in thinking Coyle's decision is going to be linked very closely with Oturu's staying or leaving?

No chance is his decision based on what a player does.

 

[tjgopher]

Haha Whalen with a full cupboard couldn’t get it done last year.

Full cupboard last year? You mean besides not having her second leading scorer for the entire season?

 

[Otis]

First off, I don't believe the coaching has gone down hill since Dutcher. I'd rank the coaches in this order:

Haskins - In my mind, he was the best coach by far. Especially during the games.
Dutcher - Good coach who had a great loyal recruiter under him.
Smith - Good enough coach. Terrible recruiting.
Pitino - Decent enough coach, better than Smith in recruiting. But why can't we shoot with him in charge? What the hell do they do in practice? Only work on defense?
Monson - He had arguably the 3 best recruits to actually play for the team. (outside of Oturu, Mbakwe, and Amir coming out of high school) and he still sucked. How did he do anything at Gonzaga?

It feels like its time to pull the plug on Pitino. This team is going to suck something awful next year without Oturu.