Ezra: Firing Richard Pitino is Looking Like a Massive Mistake by Minnesota

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Spaulding!No! said:
Yeah, when you fire a head coach you should not hire the past assistant who was told to ‘quit or be fired’. What a mess.
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This is absolute BS. Ben was not told to quit. That’s garbage. He chose to leave because he wanted another opportunity and he couldn’t stand the arrogance of Pitino who took all the credit when they won and blamed his players when he lost. Ask Amir and Richard Coffey about Pitino…
 

Let’s give Ben Johnson a chance with a full roster of healthy players. Shaka Smart couldn’t have won with last year’s Gophers.
 

Pitino needed to go. But I’ve not given up on Johnson. He inherited a big mess in 21-22 with almost a complete roster overhaul. Then last year he loses two forwards to season ending injuries, leaving him with little depth. We are seeing progress this year so far, but if there isn’t enough progress then adios and back to square one trying to hire a coach on the cheap.
 

Although I did feel at the time that Pitino played too much hero ball, and was snake bit by rashes of crucial injuries, it was time for him to go. People seem to pine over the past highlight reels, but seem to forget the terrible losses. He took the NM job quickly which saved MN a bunch of money, which was great. Richard was very frequently unable to make in game adjustments, and wasn't terrific w/X's and O's. CBJ has a better long vision and commitment to the program.
 



Cayman said:
I like that it mentioned Pitino's teams always being competitive. With the exception of 2015-16, the Gophers had reasonable hopes of making the tournament at some point of every single season he was here. Pitino's effectiveness at spring recruiting might also prove to be a very valuable skill in the new college basketball landscape.

As someone who backed Pitino pretty much until the bitter end, I think it was time for him to go. There would have been very little enthusiasm for year 9 of Pitino. There was no momentum left, and you can only sell hope for so long. Even if every failure of the program could be chalked up to bad luck and outside forces beyond Pitino's control, it's tough to just keep saying you need more time. A fresh start might have been exactly what both Pitino and Minnesota needed.

It's why I also would be on board with firing Ben Johnson if we end up in last place in the Big Ten again. Year 3 is still pretty early in a coach's tenure, but there need to be signs of life, which we may be getting this year, if you feel like 6 to 10 conference wins in a down Big Ten constitutes positive momentum.
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I couldn't stand watching Pitino's game plans unfold. He was very inconsistent in getting players to improve. I like watching teams that play beyond their potential. Pitino's never seemed to do that and it drove me crazy. I was glad to see him move on. The jury is still out for me in regards to Ben. But that Mizzou game was all about coaching. You have to practice slowing the game down a lot before you can execute it on a court. We lost that game because of coaching and we fell apart in the San Fran game due to coaching. But we beat Nebraska because of coaching too. This year I am happy the FTs improved, that he's addressed turnovers and we rebound better than last year. Let's see what we do in the next 2 weeks. They'll be telling.
 

SplitDecision said:
Although I did feel at the time that Pitino played too much hero ball, and was snake bit by rashes of crucial injuries, it was time for him to go. People seem to pine over the past highlight reels, but seem to forget the terrible losses. He took the NM job quickly which saved MN a bunch of money, which was great. Richard was very frequently unable to make in game adjustments, and wasn't terrific w/X's and O's. CBJ has a better long vision and commitment to the program.
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Exactly! He didn't know his Xs and Os at all!
 

I’ve rarely seen someone who appeared more bored with basketball than Mrs. Pitino. Our seats provided us a good view. She rarely stood for the rouser, when she did, she usually was looking at her phone throughout. She mostly kept her head down texting during the games. I know the wife is not the coach, but never felt like Pitino wanted to be here.

Ben is a former Gopher and is dedicated to this team, school, and state.
 




Some guy said:
If Coyle knew a bad hire was going to be forced upon him for political reasons it is a bad fire

That’s the argument it was a bad fire, to me.
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How could it be a bad fire? I'd guess that 90% of the fans wanted him gone and felt that he got more years (8) than he deserved.

Personally, I think it's kind of embarrassing that we have two pages of comments here on a topic that has been talked inside and out and to death. Who hasn't given his opinion on Pitino's firing previously (more than once). Easy to trigger people here obviously.
 

Go4POV said:
I’ve rarely seen someone who appeared more bored with basketball than Mrs. Pitino. Our seats provided us a good view. She rarely stood for the rouser, when she did, she usually was looking at her phone throughout. She mostly kept her head down texting during the games. I know the wife is not the coach, but never felt like Pitino wanted to be here.

Ben is a former Gopher and is dedicated to this team, school, and state.
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Ski-U-Mah! 👍
 

TwistingMyMelon said:
How could it be a bad fire? I'd guess that 90% of the fans wanted him gone and felt that he got more years (8) than he deserved.

Personally, I think it's kind of embarrassing that we have two pages of comments here on a topic that has been talked inside and out and to death. Who hasn't given his opinion on Pitino's firing previously (more than once). Easy to trigger people here obviously.
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I thought we should’ve fired Pitino after 2018-2019

He had about as good of a roster he was ever going to assemble and was sub .500 in the big ten.
 

TwistingMyMelon said:
How could it be a bad fire? I'd guess that 90% of the fans wanted him gone and felt that he got more years (8) than he deserved.

Personally, I think it's kind of embarrassing that we have two pages of comments here on a topic that has been talked inside and out and to death. Who hasn't given his opinion on Pitino's firing previously (more than once). Easy to trigger people here obviously.
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The football board still has threads that go pages and pages talking about Jerry Kill. Ezra wrote a stupid piece about the Pitino firing, not surprising that people would react to it and that always leads to the same old tired arguments coming up eventually and a rehashing of things that have been beaten to death.
 



Some guy said:
I thought we should’ve fired Pitino after 2018-2019

He had about as good of a roster he was ever going to assemble and was sub .500 in the big ten.
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We did underachieve relative to our talent.

But there was no chance Pitino was getting fired with how we finished that season.
 

Zeppelin Gopher said:
We did underachieve relative to our talent.

But there was no chance Pitino was getting fired with how we finished that season.
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I get why we didn’t. But when you couldn’t be a big ten contender with that roster it basically meant you never were going to be again.
 


Some guy said:
I thought we should’ve fired Pitino after 2018-2019

He had about as good of a roster he was ever going to assemble and was sub .500 in the big ten.
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That's absurd. A program like ours doesn't fire a coach because they think the coach has peaked. We're not Kentucky or Kansas. Pitino did what he needed to do in that year (2018-2109) and he deserved another year. And, for the record, I don't like Pitino at all. I didn't like him since the end of his second year here.
 
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TwistingMyMelon said:
That's absurd. A program like ours doesn't fire a coach because they think the coach has peaked. We're not Kentucky or Kansas. Pitino did what he needed to do in that year (2018-2109) and he deserved another year. And, for the record, I don't like Pitino at all. I didn't like him since the end of his second year here.
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A program like MN doesn’t fire a coach if they think he’s peaked.

They fire him if they think he can’t peak in the top 3rd of the conference again though. After 2018-19 I never thought Pitino would finish top 3rd again. And he didn’t.
 

I kinda remember Jerry Pitino. Wasn’t his first year here one of his best? 🤔
 

Go4POV said:
Let’s give Ben Johnson a chance with a full roster of healthy players. Shaka Smart couldn’t have won with last year’s Gophers.
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Shaka Smart wouldn’t have compiled that roster. You do know Ben is responsible for who is on the team…right? If the team has no talent its his fault.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
Shaka Smart wouldn’t have compiled that roster. You do know Ben is responsible for who is on the team…right? If the team has no talent it’s his fault.
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So, you are suggesting that a coach is responsible for injuries to his players?

and it is crazy to suggest that Shaka Smart would have considered taking this job. He was not an option. Recruiting for someone with his rep (and at Marquette) is wholly different, and I suspect you know that, but choose to ignore it.

Minnesota is tough to recruit to for a number of reasons, but that is a whole separate thread.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
Shaka Smart wouldn’t have compiled that roster. You do know Ben is responsible for who is on the team…right? If the team has no talent its his fault.
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It is definitely largely his fault but there were contributing factors.

Year 1 - Had to build a team from scratch, lost two players to season ending injuries before the season.

Year 2 - Heavy reliance on true freshman and again lost 2 players to season ending injuries before the season

Year 3 - Finally has a healthy roster and some experience. So far the results on the court look quite a bit better than previous 2 seasons. Hopefully Carrington comes back as he has been a key part of the improvement so far this year.
 

Of course a coach is responsible for who he puts on his roster. But to compare what sort of roster a big-name coach would have assembled is ludicrous, and was not at all what I was suggesting. I was alluding to what Smart would have done WITH that roster. And suggesting that we give Ben a chance to coach.
 

Go4POV said:
So, you are suggesting that a coach is responsible for injuries to his players?

and it is crazy to suggest that Shaka Smart would have considered taking this job. He was not an option. Recruiting for someone with his rep (and at Marquette) is wholly different, and I suspect you know that, but choose to ignore it.

Minnesota is tough to recruit to for a number of reasons, but that is a whole separate thread.
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You brought up Shaka Smart. Not me.

And I don’t expect Johnson to compile a great roster. But he’s also on record as saying he doesn’t feel the need to use all the scholarships. Maybe if he did, injuries wouldn’t be as impactful?
 

MNVCGUY said:
It is definitely largely his fault but there were contributing factors.

Year 1 - Had to build a team from scratch, lost two players to season ending injuries before the season.

Year 2 - Heavy reliance on true freshman and again lost 2 players to season ending injuries before the season

Year 3 - Finally has a healthy roster and some experience. So far the results on the court look quite a bit better than previous 2 seasons. Hopefully Carrington comes back as he has been a key part of the improvement so far this year.
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Year 1 he failed to recruit his new team and filled it with guys who had 1 year remaining. Somehow didn’t plan for year 2 where he’d need an entirely new roster.

Year 2- didn’t use all available scholarships, on record saying he didn’t want to because not all guys will play and may transfer. Team suffers due to injuries and lack of depth, because he didn’t use the scholarships slotted.

Year 3 shows some promise. Lot of season left. Last place finish seems unlikely to me. Assuming Garcia returns soon.

If you can’t recruit guys that are already here and you can’t recruit the portal might as well pack it up now.
 

I did bring up Shaka Smart, but you totally changed the contest in which I brought him up, a totally disingenuous argument style.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
Year 1 he failed to recruit his new team and filled it with guys who had 1 year remaining. Somehow didn’t plan for year 2 where he’d need an entirely new roster.

Year 2- didn’t use all available scholarships, on record saying he didn’t want to because not all guys will play and may transfer. Team suffers due to injuries and lack of depth, because he didn’t use the scholarships slotted.

Year 3 shows some promise. Lot of season left. Last place finish seems unlikely to me. Assuming Garcia returns soon.

If you can’t recruit guys that are already here and you can’t recruit the portal might as well pack it up now.
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In the end we all know years 1 and 2 were a complete mess. Johnson made mistakes in roster management, had some bad luck in terms of injuries, and was in a tough spot right off the bat with needing to build a full squad as a first time head coach.

So far, year three has looked quite a bit better. Going to be interesting to see how it all plays out but there are quite a few things to like about this current squad and for the first time under Johnson there is actually some signs of hope for the future.
 

MNVCGUY said:
In the end we all know years 1 and 2 were a complete mess. Johnson made mistakes in roster management, had some bad luck in terms of injuries, and was in a tough spot right off the bat with needing to build a full squad as a first time head coach.

So far, year three has looked quite a bit better. Going to be interesting to see how it all plays out but there are quite a few things to like about this current squad and for the first time under Johnson there is actually some signs of hope for the future.
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Agreed. No issue with year 3 so far. Meltdown against Mizzou was kind of negated by the Nebraska comeback. If that makes sense.

I think they need to continue to compete with conference foes and then have a good offseason. If key players leave then it’s all for naught. But really need to show they are the 10th team in the conference with hope for the future instead of 14th with no hope.
 



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