Next Gopher Head Coach

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Gates seems to be the only realistic option. Let’s do the damn thing.
 

Face The Facts said:
Reading between the lines....

This is what I assume is taking place.

1. Musselman - KFAN and Reusse have been dropping hints that he's interested, he gettable, Barreiro said he thinks if the U offered $3 million a year, he'd take the job. There is plenty of noise from people Musselman has talked with before that these are active leaks from Musselman filtering their way through Minnesota.

But insiders at the U who post on this board basically say. NO CHANCE. I presume this isn't just a financial issue, although it's a big part of it. It's something else.

2. Gates.
I think Gates is the person who gets the job. I assume he turned down BC because he's a better hire than who they hired. It seems that the news we've secured an interview with Gates says more than we've gotten an interview with Gates. I think he knows he has a very strong chance at this point to win the job, thus rolled the dice on passing from the BC opportunity. I can't believe that he didn't out-interview the candidate who got the BC job.

3. Dutcher.
There are whispers there. Seems like a backup choice right now. National media with mixed signals saying "Nah, he's good where he's at". What Dutcher has said publicly contradicts that big time however. This seems to me to be playing the role of the "Secret Big Name" hire.

4. Craig Smith
Seems like option 3 or 4. If Dutcher really can't pull up stakes, and if Gates bombs his interview, Craig Smith is that next option and would get the job.

5. Going back to Musselman
I don't think it's just a money thing. I think this is a Coyle thing where either there is a personality conflict, power struggle, or questions around ethics. It's something deeper than money which is why he won't be hired. Money is a problem that would solve itself if Musselman got hired, but it's not going to happen.

So at this point, I think we all watch Cleveland St play Houston. Perhaps they pull and upset, and Coyle will look even better bringing Gates on board. He has tremendous leadership traits. I'll be rooting for Cleveland St to make a run. (And the other three as well).
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On Musselman, I don't see where their would be a power conflict, Coyle seems to prefer to stay in the background. The opposite of Teague. Personality-wise he's basically PJ Fleck in 20 years. But maybe there is something on background we don't know.
 

WriterGoph said:
Who are the other black coaches who are actually candidates with better resumes? Just curious.

If you say Anthony Grant or Sam Mitchell, just don't even bother. Grant is a retread who couldn't do well at Alabama and Mitchell has nothing about him that says he is going to succeed as a college HC or recruiter.
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This guy brought up Boyton. He’s not super high on my list but his resume might be equal to Gates.

 

gophernut1 said:
Reckless Speculation: In a radical turn of events Kevin Garnett has become the head basketball coach of the Minnesota Gophers.
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If I was gonna bet on an NBA Kevin turning up as head coach of the Gophers, his last name wouldn't be Garnett. Much higher odds (miniscule as they may be) is that his last name would be McHale...
 

Hey Guys and girls,

I’m a Utah State fan (obviously) who lives in Fort Collins, so I know a lot about Smith and Medved. I’m following this closely for selfish reasons.

A couple things I want to follow up on this thread, but first you have a great message board design.

Utah State is not a bottom MW job, it’s upper-middle. You have SDSU, unlv, New Mexico. Then you Utah State and Nevada. Utah State has good facilities, one of the strongest home court advantages in the country, a good fan base, and decent recruiting grounds. We do beat out BYU and Utah occasionally for recruits or sometimes they overlook them. Utah State also has a very strong tradition. The negatives are it’s cold, it’s very white and Mormon (though not everyone in Utah is Mormon), it’s a little over and hour from SLC. But it’s a really nice college town that is a very desirable place to live.
Obviously Smith is a terrific coach. His strengths are building culture, his energy, knowing what his team needs and doesn’t need. His biggest weakness would being able to recruit transfers in my mind, though on Saturday he didn’t use his bench as much as he should. Obviously his first two years was not built on his recruits, though there were some. Even this year, 4 regulars and two starters were not his recruits.
Medved and CSU- Fort Collins is a terrific college town. Easier to recruit to then Logan. The facilities and tradition are not great. Medved has also done a great job. Really good offensive coach, lacking a little on D.
Thanks for letting me stop by. Hope you guys hire Gates.
 


MplsGopher said:
Talk is cheap. Pitino talks/talked a great game.

Horizon League = one bid = we hired Pitino from a one bid league.

Will be very disappointed if it's Gates. Big Ten is not where a one bid league guy should get to have his first P5 job.
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My exact fear. We need someone who knows how to build a program and Gates has no real experience with it. He may be great, but the odds that he gets it, at a Big Ten level, with so little experience seems slim to me.
 

manderson1984 said:
This guy brought up Boyton. He’s not super high on my list but his resume might be equal to Gates.

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I'd be psyched on Boynton, but why would he leave OSU to come to Minnesota? He is recruiting at a great level there. I'm not seeing him leaving
 

WriterGoph said:
I'd be psyched on Boynton, but why would he leave OSU to come to Minnesota? He is recruiting at a great level there. I'm not seeing him leaving
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I think he’s only making a little over a mill a year. He could get a bigger salary. I know Illinois is a different beast than us, but Underwood ditched out too.
 

Gopher Teeth said:
My exact fear. We need someone who knows how to build a program and Gates has no real experience with it. He may be great, but the odds that he gets it, at a Big Ten level, with so little experience seems slim to me.
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Easy solution in my mind. Recruit, Recruit Recruit. Can Gates do this? Who knows but he sure seems like someone that kids would look up to. He seems like someone who would have a plan. Maybe that is all we need?
 



WriterGoph said:
I'd be psyched on Boynton, but why would he leave OSU to come to Minnesota? He is recruiting at a great level there. I'm not seeing him leaving
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If Musselman is not gettable, Boynton certainly isn't. OK State is as good of a job as Arkansas and the Pickens family has as much $$ as anyone.
 

laazrakit said:
If I was gonna bet on an NBA Kevin turning up as head coach of the Gophers, his last name wouldn't be Garnett. Much higher odds (miniscule as they may be) is that his last name would be McHale...
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And only slightly better odds with a last name of Burleson
 

howeda7 said:
On Musselman, I don't see where their would be a power conflict, Coyle seems to prefer to stay in the background. The opposite of Teague. Personality-wise he's basically PJ Fleck in 20 years. But maybe there is something on background we don't know.
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From what I have heard Muss is a prick. He would steam roll Coyle and go around him on decisions etc. I don't think this fits Coyle. I also heard that Muss would have taken the job a few years back but Coyle didn't pull the trigger. Yes Coyle stays in the background at least from a media perspective which in my opinion reflects poorly as I feel we should hear more from him.
I'd be ecstatic if we hired Muss but it's just very hard to see happening.
 

Boynton would be a home run hire.
I believe we are trying to win this game/coaching hire piranha style.
 



bigyetti18 said:
From what I have heard Muss is a prick. He would steam roll Coyle and go around him on decisions etc. I don't think this fits Coyle. I also heard that Muss would have taken the job a few years back but Coyle didn't pull the trigger. Yes Coyle stays in the background at least from a media perspective which in my opinion reflects poorly as I feel we should hear more from him.
I'd be ecstatic if we hired Muss but it's just very hard to see happening.
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Just adding things up and reading between the lines, this seems to be the case.
You aren't going to hire someone you can't trust.
 

DelawareGopher said:
“Star Tribune” hire doesn’t literally mean he’ll feel forced into hiring a black candidate because of that one article. That article is just representative of the incredible pressure in academia and the corporate world to hire minorities right now.

I know from personal experience. I recently interviewed for a corporate job through some networking connections. The hiring partner explicitly told me that they plan to hire me, but can’t until they make public efforts to find a minority candidate instead. So here I sit in limbo waiting for that process to play out. Don’t tell me this stuff isn’t real. You have your head in the sand if you don’t think powerful people at/associated with the U are pushing for a minority hire.
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i call bullshit

And if what you say is true, I wouldn't accept the job
 

Face The Facts said:
Reading between the lines....

This is what I assume is taking place.

1. Musselman - KFAN and Reusse have been dropping hints that he's interested, he gettable, Barreiro said he thinks if the U offered $3 million a year, he'd take the job. There is plenty of noise from people Musselman has talked with before that these are active leaks from Musselman filtering their way through Minnesota.

But insiders at the U who post on this board basically say. NO CHANCE. I presume this isn't just a financial issue, although it's a big part of it. It's something else.

2. Gates.
I think Gates is the person who gets the job. I assume he turned down BC because he's a better hire than who they hired. It seems that the news we've secured an interview with Gates says more than we've gotten an interview with Gates. I think he knows he has a very strong chance at this point to win the job, thus rolled the dice on passing from the BC opportunity. I can't believe that he didn't out-interview the candidate who got the BC job.

3. Dutcher.
There are whispers there. Seems like a backup choice right now. National media with mixed signals saying "Nah, he's good where he's at". What Dutcher has said publicly contradicts that big time however. This seems to me to be playing the role of the "Secret Big Name" hire.

4. Craig Smith
Seems like option 3 or 4. If Dutcher really can't pull up stakes, and if Gates bombs his interview, Craig Smith is that next option and would get the job.

5. Going back to Musselman
I don't think it's just a money thing. I think this is a Coyle thing where either there is a personality conflict, power struggle, or questions around ethics. It's something deeper than money which is why he won't be hired. Money is a problem that would solve itself if Musselman got hired, but it's not going to happen.

So at this point, I think we all watch Cleveland St play Houston. Perhaps they pull and upset, and Coyle will look even better bringing Gates on board. He has tremendous leadership traits. I'll be rooting for Cleveland St to make a run. (And the other three as well).
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For only the second time in my Gopher basketball life (going on 50+ years), I actually have some inside information - and although stranger things have happened, let's just say that Dutcher will not be the next Gophers head coach. (The other time was about 20+ years ago when I worked with the father of a Mr. Basketball recipient - his son had not yet declared where he was attending school that fall [and, of course, the Gophers were on "the list"]. The father confided to me that his son was not going to be a Gopher.)
 



cemba99 said:
For only the second time in my Gopher basketball life (going on 50+ years), I actually have some inside information - and although stranger things have happened, let's just say that Dutcher will not be the next Gophers head coach. (The other time was about 20+ years ago when I worked with the father of a Mr. Basketball recipient - his son had not yet declared where he was attending school that fall [and, of course, the Gophers were on "the list"]. The father confided to me that his son was not going to be a Gopher.)
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Are you hearing this from the Dutcher end of this or from the Minnesota end of this?
 


howeda7 said:
I view Tim Miles as the worst case scenario. Of course he could take New Mexico first. I guess we could just take whoever their 2nd choice was then. :)
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cemba99 said:
For only the second time in my Gopher basketball life (going on 50+ years), I actually have some inside information - and although stranger things have happened, let's just say that Dutcher will not be the next Gophers head coach. (The other time was about 20+ years ago when I worked with the father of a Mr. Basketball recipient - his son had not yet declared where he was attending school that fall [and, of course, the Gophers were on "the list"]. The father confided to me that his son was not going to be a Gopher.)
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well good on you if this is accurate so those of us who have hopes Dutcher will be the coach, can move on to other candidates.
 

No thanks on Boynton. This is his 4th year and first year they've been above .500 in the conference. They still only finished 5th in the regular season with the #1 player in the country.

The only reason they are playing in the NCAA this season is because they are appealing their postseason ban. Plus one of the reasons Cunningham signed with them is because they hired his brother.

There are many better options.
 
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goldengophers said:
Glad to see Coyle gets that recruiting is essential.
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And this is a reason I do like Coyle despite how he drives folks crazy with so little communication. I think his list (as it shrinks or expands) probably has some interesting names, and he'll get it right, as best can be done.
 



I'm intrigued that so many local sports personalities are buddies with Musselman
 

howeda7 said:
On Musselman, I don't see where their would be a power conflict, Coyle seems to prefer to stay in the background. The opposite of Teague. Personality-wise he's basically PJ Fleck in 20 years. But maybe there is something on background we don't know.
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For those of us who were students in the mid-70's, the Musselman name brings back memories of a jam-packed Barn rocking during the pre-game show, and Gopher basketball being nationally relevant again. But there are likely a few very senior (and very vocal) administration officials who remember Ron Behagen and Corky Taylor stomping on Luke Witte's head. And Bill, Olberding and Landsberger skipping town before the NCAA violations shit hit the fan. I would love it if Coyle hires Musselman, but don't think that the past isn't brought up even though Eric had nothing to do with it.
 

bigticket1 said:
For those of us who were students in the mid-70's, the Musselman name brings back memories of a jam-packed Barn rocking during the pre-game show, and Gopher basketball being nationally relevant again. But there are likely a few very senior (and very vocal) administration officials who remember Ron Behagen and Corky Taylor stomping on Luke Witte's head. And Bill, Olberding and Landsberger skipping town before the NCAA violations shit hit the fan. I would love it if Coyle hires Musselman, but don't think that the past isn't brought up even though Eric had nothing to do with it.
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I think it probably still ranks as one of the more vicious brawls all these years later. My Ohio State buddies bring it up every time the Musselman name is mentioned.
 

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