Marcus: Five early takeaways in the search process for the next Gophers men’s basketball coach

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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Per Marcus:

Here are five key takeaways from Coyle’s comments the past two days about replacing Johnson and the future of the Gophers men’s hoops program:

NCAA tournament or bust?​

Coyle has been on the phone with coaching candidates, members of his Gophers staff and media this week, all while going in and out of NCAA tournament selection committee meetings. Certainly he’s frustrated in the meetings when he knows the Gophers have no chance at making the Big Dance. Could that change soon with the next coach? It seems like a must for Coyle, who went to the NCAAs as the Syracuse and Boise State AD. The Gophers haven’t made it since 2019.

“That’s addicting. You want to get back to that experience,” Coyle said Friday. “That’s why this is such a critical hire for our department as we move forward. How can we find someone to get us back to the NCAA tournament? We have 38 opportunities to get to the NCAA tournament. There are 37 at-large spots and one [automatic qualifier] for the Big Ten if you win the conference tournament. … In my heart, there’s no doubt Minnesota can be one of those 38 teams.”

www.startribune.com

Five early takeaways in the search process for the next Gophers men’s basketball coach

A study of comments by Gophers athletic director Mark Coyle since he fired Ben Johnson indicates Minnesota's potential approach.
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!
 

They're going to increase the number of tourney participants, so making it in should be no issue for the next coach.
 



Currently Medved and CSU are 1 win away from playing for a conference championship and are on the first four out list. The better he does, the better I'll feel when we inevitably hire him. I'm sure I'm not the only one. Not my first choice, but not a bad choice
 


It amazes me how all these local sports guys really have no idea what's going on. Coyle's decision has been made. post season determines the announcement.
 

Spaulding!No! said:
Ben was close to all the aau and club coaches. Crud
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I remember that was one of the angles played when Johnson took over for Pitino. Pitino reminded me a bit of Mason when it came to his recruiting. He just couldn't (or maybe wouldn't) make any meaningful connections. But that's really beside the point. Johnson had those connections and still had trouble landing guys.
 

Who is your first choice out of curiosity?
JZABR said:
Currently Medved and CSU are 1 win away from playing for a conference championship and are on the first four out list. The better he does, the better I'll feel when we inevitably hire him. I'm sure I'm not the only one. Not my first choice, but not a bad choice
Click to expand...
 




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