If Pitino stays on to coach next year

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Notice Coyle has been very quiet lately. I haven't heard him mention the dreaded "vote of confidence" which usually means a firing is imminent.

I am almost positive Coyle has been doing some research, assembling a wish list and talking to them. If Pitino comes back, it's only because Coyle didn't lock someone down.

For me, it was the Iowa meltdown that said enough is enough and we needed to go in a different direction. The games after that just solidified it and each game they play it's just more and more apparent the Gophers need a new basketball coach.
 

Honestly I think Pitino has been really close to greatness. A few years ago we were rated very high and had a lot of momentum then injuries got to us and the dagger was Lynch. That team had major potential.

Last year if Carr would have gotten his waiver I think we would have had a serious chance at a run to the final 4 (I know I've been chastised for saying that before but all we were missing was a PG and that team was legit).

This year if Coffey had stayed we would be solid locks into the tourney and probably at least win 1-2 games. Kalscheur sophomore slump has hurt us more than anything and I guess I can't blame it on Pitino. Seriously what the hell is with his sophomore slump?

I don't feel like Oturu will stay but if he does we could be seriously good next year. Not a favorite for a final 4 but definitely good enough for a high seed in the tourney.

I'm not ready to blow this up yet. Pitino has been so freakin close to having historically good teams/seasons. I truly believe that.
 

bottlebass said:
Honestly I think Pitino has been really close to greatness. A few years ago we were rated very high and had a lot of momentum then injuries got to us and the dagger was Lynch. That team had major potential.

Last year if Carr would have gotten his waiver I think we would have had a serious chance at a run to the final 4 (I know I've been chastised for saying that before but all we were missing was a PG and that team was legit).

This year if Coffey had stayed we would be solid locks into the tourney and probably at least win 1-2 games. Kalscheur sophomore slump has hurt us more than anything and I guess I can't blame it on Pitino. Seriously what the hell is with his sophomore slump?

I don't feel like Oturu will stay but if he does we could be seriously good next year. Not a favorite for a final 4 but definitely good enough for a high seed in the tourney.

I'm not ready to blow this up yet. Pitino has been so freakin close to having historically good teams/seasons. I truly believe that.
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freaking close to having historically good teams/seasons?

WTF
 






LesBolstad said:
Haha, only in Minnesota does this sort of rationale seem to be so commonplace. You are the face of Gopher Football/basketball suckdom the last 50 years.
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It almost makes one laugh, doesn't it?
 

bottlebass said:
Honestly I think Pitino has been really close to greatness. A few years ago we were rated very high and had a lot of momentum then injuries got to us and the dagger was Lynch. That team had major potential.

Last year if Carr would have gotten his waiver I think we would have had a serious chance at a run to the final 4 (I know I've been chastised for saying that before but all we were missing was a PG and that team was legit).

This year if Coffey had stayed we would be solid locks into the tourney and probably at least win 1-2 games. Kalscheur sophomore slump has hurt us more than anything and I guess I can't blame it on Pitino. Seriously what the hell is with his sophomore slump?

I don't feel like Oturu will stay but if he does we could be seriously good next year. Not a favorite for a final 4 but definitely good enough for a high seed in the tourney. If we have Carr, we win 3-4 more games, we're a 5 or 6 seed instead of a 10 and we have a better shot at a Sweet 16. But it might very well have ended in the round of 32 anyway.

I'm not ready to blow this up yet. Pitino has been so freakin close to having historically good teams/seasons. I truly believe that.
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Not having Carr sucked. But unless they're a super star, one player doesn't take you from making the NCAA's by the skin of your teeth to a Final Four team. Carr is not a super star.

As for next year, I just don't get the irrational exuberance. First, there's only a 5% chance Oturu is coming back. And if he does, we'll still have pretty much the same team we have right now. The one that's 7-12, 13-16. Yes Oturu can still get somewhat better, but he's pretty good already. Yes I like Ihnen. Yes, maybe we can just have better luck. But where does that leave us. 17-13? 18-12? Meh.

Beyond that, we are what we are. Expecting either of the freshman to make a huge impact is a reach. People were saying the same things about Tre Williams a year ago that they're saying about Mashburn now.
 



bottlebass said:
Honestly I think Pitino has been really close to greatness. A few years ago we were rated very high and had a lot of momentum then injuries got to us and the dagger was Lynch. That team had major potential.

Last year if Carr would have gotten his waiver I think we would have had a serious chance at a run to the final 4 (I know I've been chastised for saying that before but all we were missing was a PG and that team was legit).

This year if Coffey had stayed we would be solid locks into the tourney and probably at least win 1-2 games. Kalscheur sophomore slump has hurt us more than anything and I guess I can't blame it on Pitino. Seriously what the hell is with his sophomore slump?

I don't feel like Oturu will stay but if he does we could be seriously good next year. Not a favorite for a final 4 but definitely good enough for a high seed in the tourney.

I'm not ready to blow this up yet. Pitino has been so freakin close to having historically good teams/seasons. I truly believe that.
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This is a bit, right?
 
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Not a bit. Bunch of you are delusional about how good this program has been. The 97 final 4 doesn’t count. Take that out and they’ve been better what once? In the last 40 years one time they have beeen better than they were last year basically when they made the elite 8 when I was 5 years old. Yah. You guys are the delusional ones. We have been very close, pitino has been some bad luck away from true greatness for this program. You need to be honest with yourselves
 

bottlebass said:
Honestly I think Pitino has been really close to greatness. A few years ago we were rated very high and had a lot of momentum then injuries got to us and the dagger was Lynch. That team had major potential.

Last year if Carr would have gotten his waiver I think we would have had a serious chance at a run to the final 4 (I know I've been chastised for saying that before but all we were missing was a PG and that team was legit).

This year if Coffey had stayed we would be solid locks into the tourney and probably at least win 1-2 games. Kalscheur sophomore slump has hurt us more than anything and I guess I can't blame it on Pitino. Seriously what the hell is with his sophomore slump?

I don't feel like Oturu will stay but if he does we could be seriously good next year. Not a favorite for a final 4 but definitely good enough for a high seed in the tourney.

I'm not ready to blow this up yet. Pitino has been so freakin close to having historically good teams/seasons. I truly believe that.
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I like your thinking bottlebass. Don’t expect too much love though from those suffering from PDS - Pitino Derangement Syndrome.
 



For the record I’m not happy about it. I want to see the b-ball team have the success our football team is starting to have.
 

builtbadgers said:
I was close to qualifying for the US Open. In the last stage of qualifying my ball hit a tree and went out of bounds. I missed by one stroke. I truly believe i would have had a very high finish in the tournament.
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I was the person behind the great ones who did qualify for the US Open, so in my opinion you are just another average player. In fact I turned one golfer from a perennial loser into a winner. They named me after him! :)
 

bottlebass said:
Honestly I think Pitino has been really close to greatness. A few years ago we were rated very high and had a lot of momentum then injuries got to us and the dagger was Lynch. That team had major potential.

Last year if Carr would have gotten his waiver I think we would have had a serious chance at a run to the final 4 (I know I've been chastised for saying that before but all we were missing was a PG and that team was legit).

This year if Coffey had stayed we would be solid locks into the tourney and probably at least win 1-2 games. Kalscheur sophomore slump has hurt us more than anything and I guess I can't blame it on Pitino. Seriously what the hell is with his sophomore slump?

I don't feel like Oturu will stay but if he does we could be seriously good next year. Not a favorite for a final 4 but definitely good enough for a high seed in the tourney.

I'm not ready to blow this up yet. Pitino has been so freakin close to having historically good teams/seasons. I truly believe that.
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Yeah what if Tubby would have had Royce. Always close becomes stale after 7 years.
 

If Pitino stays, is it fair to put him on the hot seat next year given the team won't be expected to be very good?

I hear this from people 'the timing doesn't make sense this year because they weren't expected to be good...'

Assume the worst since that happens to us (and most teams now when it comes to player movement in college hoops) and assume Oturu is leaving and we otherwise return largely the same team - bandaid grad transfer bigs and maybe some spring recruits.

The team goes into next year with what kind of expectations? If they are low, does Pitino go into the year on the "hot seat?" It's a circle that goes on forever that I can't figure out.

If he does stay and the roster shapes up the way I'm assuming it will, I hope he leans into playing small ball. Carr, Kalscheur, Willis, Williams, Mashburn and ideally a grad transfer swingman playing a big chunk of minutes (1-4) with Ihnen getting a good chunk of PF time. Try to space the floor, push the tempo and lose games scoring in the 70s and 80s.
 

I believe that the conversation between Pitino and Coyle last year took into consideration the fact that this year would not be very good and if Coyle was keeping him then the expectation was that he needed 2 more years for the team to recover after losing Coffee. This year would be a bonus if they were competitive. Seemed fair to me at the time.

The situation has changed as the entire BigTen has taken a big step up and while a few years ago this team might have been a bubble team and above .500 in the conference, this year it is going to be at the very bottom. Coyle needs to take this into consideration - can Pitino compete next year with the increased level of competition. If he thinks so - so be it. I have my doubts although I am not one that is going to say it is impossible that he has a great year next year and makes a run that brings national attention - absolutely could happen. Still the time is now - make the move Coyle.
 

The best news is we only have to debate this for another week and a half. Resolution one way or another will happen right after the big ten tournament.
 

CPTMidnight said:
I believe that the conversation between Pitino and Coyle last year took into consideration the fact that this year would not be very good and if Coyle was keeping him then the expectation was that he needed 2 more years for the team to recover after losing Coffee. This year would be a bonus if they were competitive. Seemed fair to me at the time.

The situation has changed as the entire BigTen has taken a big step up and while a few years ago this team might have been a bubble team and above .500 in the conference, this year it is going to be at the very bottom. Coyle needs to take this into consideration - can Pitino compete next year with the increased level of competition. If he thinks so - so be it. I have my doubts although I am not one that is going to say it is impossible that he has a great year next year and makes a run that brings national attention - absolutely could happen. Still the time is now - make the move Coyle.
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If Coyle doesn't believe that Pitino has the recruits and prospects in place to make things better next year- he will move on. The only exception I can think of with that is if he thinks there is a sure thing that he could get done a year from now that he cannot sell the U on today. Let's say Musselman with the 5 million buyout, for example.
 


CPTMidnight said:
I believe that the conversation between Pitino and Coyle last year took into consideration the fact that this year would not be very good and if Coyle was keeping him then the expectation was that he needed 2 more years for the team to recover after losing Coffee. This year would be a bonus if they were competitive. Seemed fair to me at the time.

The situation has changed as the entire BigTen has taken a big step up and while a few years ago this team might have been a bubble team and above .500 in the conference, this year it is going to be at the very bottom. Coyle needs to take this into consideration - can Pitino compete next year with the increased level of competition. If he thinks so - so be it. I have my doubts although I am not one that is going to say it is impossible that he has a great year next year and makes a run that brings national attention - absolutely could happen. Still the time is now - make the move Coyle.
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They are going to be bad next year with a chance to be a bubble team the following year, I don't think that is a good enough outlook.
 

jovs said:
They are going to be bad next year with a chance to be a bubble team the following year, I don't think that is a good enough outlook.
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Just go find Vince Grier. If Gabe refinds his old great shooting self, Ihnen has an Oturu type off season of improvement and Mashburn is as good as some of us hope (and still comes here) we will be headed in the right direction, regardless of the coaching decision. It is not at all crazy to expect a good performance out of a couple of new comers. Williams will get better. Freeman will get better. A lot of things can happen. Maybe Mitchell puts some muscle on and surprises - he has a ton of ability

Most thought we would be bad this year and we ended up being good enough that people are disappointed that we didn't have 12-13 wins because all of the close games that were blown for a variety of reasons.

During the Pitino era we have had quite a few newcomers come in an make really good contributions:
Gabe, Oturu, Lil Dre, Murphy, Mason, Springs, Lynch, Carr and Willis- 9 in 7 years. We are going to have to find a different way to compete and win and it will have to be done with more balance without Oturu. I thought we would have that this year, as compared with last and I was wrong.
 

Gold Rush said:
Coyle would like another PJ Fleck type of hire that immediately transforms the team in a very big way.
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Fleck didn't transform the football team immediately. It took until year 3. And Fleck was from a G5 (mid-major) program.

So that would point to hiring a current mid-major HC, if he was looking to copy the Fleck hiring model.
 

scools12 said:
If Pitino does get another year don’t you have to give him the following year after that too? Without a contract extension he basically is a lame duck coach. He isn’t that great of recruiter to begin with and pretty much everyone knowing he is coaching for his job recruiting would be near impossible.
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All the more reason to yank the bandaid this year. Seems like that makes too much sense ...
 



LesBolstad said:
Haha, only in Minnesota does this sort of rationale seem to be so commonplace. You are the face of Gopher Football/basketball suckdom the last 50 years.
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I always envisioned passive aggressive, nagging-wife fans as the face of the suckdom NOT the people who optimistically love and enjoy the games. The negative Charlie Brown fans get hosed everytime because they deserve it. Step one in getting better is somehow getting rid of those fans.
 

CPTMidnight said:
I always envisioned passive aggressive, nagging-wife fans as the face of the suckdom NOT the people who optimistically love and enjoy the games. The negative Charlie Brown fans get hosed everytime because they deserve it. Step one in getting better is somehow getting rid of those fans.
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Haha I swear this is what PJ referenced every time they got a football win. Always having to reassure fans, even after this year, saying it's not a fluke and we're not coming back down. Minnesotans always expecting things to come crashing down. Ridiculous.
 

builtbadgers said:
I was close to qualifying for the US Open. In the last stage of qualifying my ball hit a tree and went out of bounds. I missed by one stroke. I truly believe i would have had a very high finish in the tournament.
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Ouch. What course would have you played the US Open if you had made it?
 

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