There is a large divide on this board about “success”, as Built has pointed out, probably others too.
IMO, success needs to be considered relative to the recent past. I also think success is defined by the trajectory of the program. The bar for a coach should never be lowered mid tenure, but it can certainly be raised from year to year. IMO the bar when Pitino got here was so extremely low (because of the composition of the roster he inherited.... there was no freshman or sophomore class when he stepped foot on campus. woof). It’s risen since then, but we are not at the ceiling yet.
I also place a ton more personal value on the NCAA tournament than where we fall in the conference schedule. I do that because 1) having a team to root for in March madness is the single best sports moment of my year. 2) i think consistent appearances in the tournament is where you grow your brand with people not paying attention to the big ten. ESPN doesn’t give air time to teams who aren’t on the ultimate stage.
With that said - I think 3/4 years with tournament appearances is a big success (yes, with the huge asterisk that the missing year was Pitino’s most highly ranked team). For a while, this program was in rough shape. I also think Pitino has some weird magic where the arrow is always pointing up for the next year (ive been all in on this season since April). That hasn’t always come to fruition, but I’ve always been excited entering the year. At some point, he’ll lose his job if he can’t get off the bubble he’s been on since he got here... but so far he’s landed on the right side and given me a chance to root for the gophers in the big dance.
My bar for him continues to be elevated. If Oturu stays, there will be an expectation in conference play.
okay, back to enjoying and appreciating the two dominate all big ten players we currently have.