Last night I decided to look back at the Pitino era through the eyes of the GH posters. This is not to nail anyone but just to look and see how perceptions have changed over time and to make some sense of how we got here.
So I looked at key junctures in his path to where we are:
Year one- At the beginning of that year there was an article posted quoting Andre Hollins that Pitino has brought a breath of fresh air to the program - a new excitement. Months later Mo Walker had lost a bunch of weight and we had a speedy little PG. The problem was having no power forward- a fatal flaw in the Big Ten. At the end of the year, we won the NIT and the pretty much universal opinion here was that Pitino has done a terrific coaching job with what he had to work with. That was an opinion shared by Scools and Halsey Hall. The team ran and led the league in +/- turnovers.
But the problems with recruiting were already underway- though we perhaps didn't know it. Pitino shot for 5 star players and seemed to get an audience with a lot of players but could not close the deal. He did get Mason and Martin but reached for Konate and Dheidou and also got Carlos Morris. As we now know- only Mason had a productive career. With the misses year three was now fated to be a bad one. It was a class he had to nail and he didn't. In a 4 year span - the last two years of Tubby and the first two years of Pitino- the Gophers really only got 2 solid players, Lil Dre and Mason. Lofton transferred in but never saw the floor and was dismissed. McNeil got in trouble and he was gone.
For year three he did land a nice class of Murphy, McBrayer, Dorsey, Johnson and Gilbert. Of course we got terrible news on Johnson and he would never play. Still the guys who could were athletic and promising but the on court results were dreadful. There was already talk on the GH that Pitino was in over his head. Then we went into Indiana and looked amazing until losing at the end. Shortly after that we stunned Maryland and it appeared the future might be bright with these young guys. That didn't last long, however, as soon after we had a sex scandal and the three involved were suspended and the season ended in a train wreck, killing the joy. Pitino was on the hot seat with some of the GHers and some of the media right then and there.
Year 4 he gets Lynch to transfer in and we suddenly have post defense. We also add Coffey, Curry and Hurt and go 11-7 in conference- 4th place, Pitino is coach of the year in the Big Ten, Pitino gets his first NCAA appearance and we are ready to be great in the following year. Adding to the excitement we get two New York kids, top 100 PG IW and a great shooter in Harris. We had talent AND depth for the first time in the Pitino era.
Year 5 brings a team that is ranked as high as 12th in the country. Curry was out for the year right off the bat but the team still was strong. But the bizarre Alabama game brought a weird feeling about the team. Then shortly after, the Lynch fiasco. Then Coffey got hurt, McBrayer was playing hurt, IW and Harris were not fitting and the team was gutted. A promising year down the drain and really a total buzz kill for the program which appeared to have great momentum.
In the process we do land Oturu, Gabe and Omersa and in year 6 the team is again competitive. Marcus Carr transfers in but inexplicably the NCAA rules against eligibility - he has to sit. Squeaking into the NCAAs and getting a big win against Louisville with Murphy and Coffey leading the way, with Coffey playing out of position at the point. Perhaps Carr would have been a difference maker? It seems so.
Coffey goes NBA waiting until the last minute to decide. Losing Murph and Coffey, it looks like a mediocre year 7, IW and Harris are gone as IW sees that Carr is the PG. The recruiting class appears solid for the long term but no immediate stars and really not a ton of instant depth either. Curry will be back, but nope, he is hurt again and never plays a minute. The team struggles early against perhaps the toughest schedule in the nation. Pitino feeling the seat being hot, plays a tight lineup and the young guys get little court time. But as Big Ten season starts, Oturu is a star and so is Carr and the team starts to look pretty promising and will perhaps deliver Pitino and fans a third NCAA in four years. Close game after close game are lost through a tragic comedy of errors and here we are today- another losing year.
My assessment is that Pitino can coach at this level, although I think he has been coaching "tight" and not to lose for a few years. He has been off and on the hot seat since year 3 and it shows. He has had a ton of recruiting misses and misfortunes mostly in the early years:
Pure recruiting misses:
Martin, Konate, Dheidou, Harris, Gilbert, Hurt, Greenlee ( I like him but probably), IW (bad fit in Big Ten)
Can play but character issues:
McNeil, Lofton, Lynch, Dorsey
Pure bad luck:
Curry, Johnson, first year of Carr, Buckles ( the big PF we could have had in year 1 but NCAA said no)
Add it up and you have 14 recruits that couldn't/ didn't contribute much for varying reasons and that is behind the serious depth issue Pitino has had. Over that time period you get perhaps 20-24 recruits to work with. You simply cannot survive on a less than 50/50 success ratio.
Bottom line: I think he can coach but his rosters have been dreadfully thin due to the recruiting issues. It has cut down on his options, tightened him up as a coach, put him on the hot seat and changed the arc of his program.
I think his recruiting is getting better with high character guys. I see better defense when the guys aren't worn out and they compete hard in every game save for a few clinkers (Iowa there and home to Indiana). I think he is going to be a good coach somewhere, perhaps really good, but I think it will be difficult for him to regain momentum here without some unexpected shot in the arm like a great spring recruiting crop (maybe Walton a Juco star and a grad transfer would do that). Tough situation.
I think that a whole range of opinions on the situation are valid. In terms of recruiting he has made much of the situation he faces.
So I looked at key junctures in his path to where we are:
Year one- At the beginning of that year there was an article posted quoting Andre Hollins that Pitino has brought a breath of fresh air to the program - a new excitement. Months later Mo Walker had lost a bunch of weight and we had a speedy little PG. The problem was having no power forward- a fatal flaw in the Big Ten. At the end of the year, we won the NIT and the pretty much universal opinion here was that Pitino has done a terrific coaching job with what he had to work with. That was an opinion shared by Scools and Halsey Hall. The team ran and led the league in +/- turnovers.
But the problems with recruiting were already underway- though we perhaps didn't know it. Pitino shot for 5 star players and seemed to get an audience with a lot of players but could not close the deal. He did get Mason and Martin but reached for Konate and Dheidou and also got Carlos Morris. As we now know- only Mason had a productive career. With the misses year three was now fated to be a bad one. It was a class he had to nail and he didn't. In a 4 year span - the last two years of Tubby and the first two years of Pitino- the Gophers really only got 2 solid players, Lil Dre and Mason. Lofton transferred in but never saw the floor and was dismissed. McNeil got in trouble and he was gone.
For year three he did land a nice class of Murphy, McBrayer, Dorsey, Johnson and Gilbert. Of course we got terrible news on Johnson and he would never play. Still the guys who could were athletic and promising but the on court results were dreadful. There was already talk on the GH that Pitino was in over his head. Then we went into Indiana and looked amazing until losing at the end. Shortly after that we stunned Maryland and it appeared the future might be bright with these young guys. That didn't last long, however, as soon after we had a sex scandal and the three involved were suspended and the season ended in a train wreck, killing the joy. Pitino was on the hot seat with some of the GHers and some of the media right then and there.
Year 4 he gets Lynch to transfer in and we suddenly have post defense. We also add Coffey, Curry and Hurt and go 11-7 in conference- 4th place, Pitino is coach of the year in the Big Ten, Pitino gets his first NCAA appearance and we are ready to be great in the following year. Adding to the excitement we get two New York kids, top 100 PG IW and a great shooter in Harris. We had talent AND depth for the first time in the Pitino era.
Year 5 brings a team that is ranked as high as 12th in the country. Curry was out for the year right off the bat but the team still was strong. But the bizarre Alabama game brought a weird feeling about the team. Then shortly after, the Lynch fiasco. Then Coffey got hurt, McBrayer was playing hurt, IW and Harris were not fitting and the team was gutted. A promising year down the drain and really a total buzz kill for the program which appeared to have great momentum.
In the process we do land Oturu, Gabe and Omersa and in year 6 the team is again competitive. Marcus Carr transfers in but inexplicably the NCAA rules against eligibility - he has to sit. Squeaking into the NCAAs and getting a big win against Louisville with Murphy and Coffey leading the way, with Coffey playing out of position at the point. Perhaps Carr would have been a difference maker? It seems so.
Coffey goes NBA waiting until the last minute to decide. Losing Murph and Coffey, it looks like a mediocre year 7, IW and Harris are gone as IW sees that Carr is the PG. The recruiting class appears solid for the long term but no immediate stars and really not a ton of instant depth either. Curry will be back, but nope, he is hurt again and never plays a minute. The team struggles early against perhaps the toughest schedule in the nation. Pitino feeling the seat being hot, plays a tight lineup and the young guys get little court time. But as Big Ten season starts, Oturu is a star and so is Carr and the team starts to look pretty promising and will perhaps deliver Pitino and fans a third NCAA in four years. Close game after close game are lost through a tragic comedy of errors and here we are today- another losing year.
My assessment is that Pitino can coach at this level, although I think he has been coaching "tight" and not to lose for a few years. He has been off and on the hot seat since year 3 and it shows. He has had a ton of recruiting misses and misfortunes mostly in the early years:
Pure recruiting misses:
Martin, Konate, Dheidou, Harris, Gilbert, Hurt, Greenlee ( I like him but probably), IW (bad fit in Big Ten)
Can play but character issues:
McNeil, Lofton, Lynch, Dorsey
Pure bad luck:
Curry, Johnson, first year of Carr, Buckles ( the big PF we could have had in year 1 but NCAA said no)
Add it up and you have 14 recruits that couldn't/ didn't contribute much for varying reasons and that is behind the serious depth issue Pitino has had. Over that time period you get perhaps 20-24 recruits to work with. You simply cannot survive on a less than 50/50 success ratio.
Bottom line: I think he can coach but his rosters have been dreadfully thin due to the recruiting issues. It has cut down on his options, tightened him up as a coach, put him on the hot seat and changed the arc of his program.
I think his recruiting is getting better with high character guys. I see better defense when the guys aren't worn out and they compete hard in every game save for a few clinkers (Iowa there and home to Indiana). I think he is going to be a good coach somewhere, perhaps really good, but I think it will be difficult for him to regain momentum here without some unexpected shot in the arm like a great spring recruiting crop (maybe Walton a Juco star and a grad transfer would do that). Tough situation.
I think that a whole range of opinions on the situation are valid. In terms of recruiting he has made much of the situation he faces.
