Is Gophers basketball really one of the toughest jobs in the country? | BMTN video

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Block M said:
Yes it is. Cold weather. Outdated arena. Lots of great local HS basketball but they want to spread their wings elsewhere understandably.
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Ya, all that but I do believe what makes it most difficult is no boosters comparable to the winning programs and an administration that only gives lip service to athletics. And an Athletics Director that is not a promoter.
Need a really good coach to overcome all that.
Oh, and 5 professional sports teams competing for the fans attention and money.
 


I can't get myself to push play. Has Tony worked on eliminating the constant "um's" in each sentence? It seems best if I just read an SI piece he's written.
 

Block M said:
Yes it is. Cold weather. Outdated arena. Lots of great local HS basketball but they want to spread their wings elsewhere understandably.
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The weather: I'll put you in touch with my friend from College Station. When he and his wife stayed with us a few summers ago, they couldn't stop talking about how they loved the weather here compared to the humid hellscape they were going to have to return to. Of course, there's that other six months of the year 🙄, but the only place in the country with perfect weather is southern California, and I wouldn't want to live anywhere without a change of seasons.
 

Bad Gopher said:
The weather: I'll put you in touch with my friend from College Station. When he and his wife stayed with us a few summers ago, they couldn't stop talking about how they loved the weather here compared to the humid hellscape they were going to have to return to. Of course, there's that other six months of the year 🙄, but the only place in the country with perfect weather is southern California, and I wouldn't want to live anywhere without a change of seasons.
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In San Diego you can drive to any season you want in 2 hours.
 





The biggest problems for a prospective coach at the U are poor pay for assistants, poor pay for head coach, poor NIL support, pro sports town, mediocre administration and regents that have tepid support for basketball, and no history of winning.
 







It's a darn Tough job: No money, no national appeal, crummy home court, disjointed facilities for players, has become known as place where coaches come to die, Poindexter athletic director, afraid to play the other Division 1 school in town.

That's a pretty good recipe for a pretty darn tough place to create a consistent Top 25 program in today's Major College Basketball.
 

Pay for performance matters in every industry where money is abundant. NCAA basketball is a money-making machine. Put money on the table, players will show up.
 



Block M said:
Yes it is. Cold weather. Outdated arena. Lots of great local HS basketball but they want to spread their wings elsewhere understandably.
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Cold weather: East Lansing Ann Arbor, Madison. Historic arena. If we had a winning program, they’d spread their wings here.
Veritas
 

WoodburyTim said:
Depends what time of day. There are some times you won’t get more than a couple blocks away in 2 hours.
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That isn't in San Diego, that's LA or what has become of the Bay area, or if you want to get into Tahoe.
 
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No, no, no. Not even remotely.

The Gophers job comes with good pay at a world class university in a prosperous, world-class metropolitan area. There's plenty of local talent, an incredible training facility, and a base of sports fans just waiting to celebrate some success.

And the arena isn't a problem for the coach; he doesn't have to sit in the cheap seats or stand in line for concessions. All he has to do is win, and the place will fill right up.
 

A NIL deficit compared to other top programs is currently the hardest part of the job.

I know the Gophers had their woes before NIL or Portal existed, but it's become vastly harder to turn the program around over a period of seasons when it's hard to retain players. Ben Johnson would have probably put the 2023-24 team into the NCAAs this year were it not for most of the main guys transferring out for more money.

Any coach coming in has to realize that it's going to take 2-4 years to durably improve the program, but it's going to be hard to hold quality starters longer than 1 year without the cash.
 

gopher watcher said:
It's a darn Tough job: No money, no national appeal, crummy home court, disjointed facilities for players, has become known as place where coaches come to die, Poindexter athletic director, afraid to play the other Division 1 school in town.

That's a pretty good recipe for a pretty darn tough place to create a consistent Top 25 program in today's Major College Basketball.
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Other than the stadium, couldn’t most of this once be said of the football program before PJ?
 


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