Next Gopher Head Coach



Funny business over at the u rt now with men’s bball. I am beginning to think we have a real mess with the coach flexin to get fired and an AD who is being super patient to avoid a scene. Something is off.
 

So you think that the one guy who failed in the Big Ten is better than the guy who is failing in the Big Ten. That's fine, but "not as bad as" is not a good way to choose a coach.
I think failed is debatable. He won 40% B1G games at a historically awful program and took them to their second NCAA tournament in like 50 years. He's kind of their Chris Collins. Further he built up NDSU, turned around a dumpster fire at Colorado State and is doing same at San Jose State. The resumes aren't on the same planet.

Is he my first choice? No. Would it be a very solid hire? Yes.
 

So you think that the one guy who failed in the Big Ten is better than the guy who is failing in the Big Ten. That's fine, but "not as bad as" is not a good way to choose a coach.

Nebraska has been to one tournament in the last 25 seasons. And he took them. He is way better than Johnson. He has a track record of success. Just look what he did at CSU and SJSU. We could do a lot worse than him, just look who we got now...
 


I think failed is debatable. He won 40% B1G games at a historically awful program and took them to their second NCAA tournament in like 50 years. He's kind of their Chris Collins. Further he built up NDSU, turned around a dumpster fire at Colorado State and is doing same at San Jose State. The resumes aren't on the same planet.

Is he my first choice? No. Would it be a very solid hire? Yes.
We need a "first choice" type of hire to make doing this again so soon worthwhile.
 

Miles to me is like having Kirk Cousins as your QB. You will beat the bad teams, you will be a good not great regular season team that once they reach the big stage has 0 chance to make noise. 3 years ago I had no interest in that, after the CBJ tenure, I think I'd take 19-12 and 9-11 in conference every year.
Oddly enough, I feel the exact opposite. If we have to sit through 3 years of garbage, there better be a payoff. I want a swing for the fences.
 

We need a "first choice" type of hire to make doing this again so soon worthwhile.
Ideally we hit a HR and pull Musselman or Dutcher somehow. But it needs to be done regardless. There is no "too soon" anymore. The party is over on the current train wreck. It's just a question of how many days we have to wait.
 

Miles to me is like having Kirk Cousins as your QB. You will beat the bad teams, you will be a good not great regular season team that once they reach the big stage has 0 chance to make noise. 3 years ago I had no interest in that, after the CBJ tenure, I think I'd take 19-12 and 9-11 in conference every year.
Maybe. I'm not convinced 9-11 bubble team is his ceiling here. Getting Nebraska to the NCAA's is like QB'ing the Cleveland Browns or Detroit Lions to the play-offs and Miles might be Matthew Stafford.
 



Maybe. I'm not convinced 9-11 bubble team is his ceiling here. Getting Nebraska to the NCAA's is like QB'ing the Cleveland Browns or Detroit Lions to the play-offs and Miles might be Matthew Stafford.
When it comes to Tim Miles keep this in mind... Richard Pitino and Miles started at the same time in the Mountain West. Arguably, New Mexico was more of a mess than San Jose St. Scores last year head to head: San Jose St 57 at New Mexico 77 and at San Jose St 68 and New Mexico 96.
Richard by 20 and 28.
Miles finished above Richard in the conference standings at seasons end to piss his friend off but my point is we have to aim higher.
 


Tim took over one of the worst high mid-major programs over the last 20 years.
Actually this is yet another data point as to why I would not hire Miles. If he was so good he wouldn't be taking a bottom feeder job like that.
 

Funny business over at the u rt now with men’s bball. I am beginning to think we have a real mess with the coach flexin to get fired and an AD who is being super patient to avoid a scene. Something is off.
The thing that's funny (strange) to me is that Coyle saw fit to relieve Whalen before he dumps Johnson. There have/had been less fan demand to move on from her than him, and the men's program is in way more dire straits than the women's program had been. Maybe he thought he gave Whalen enough years and Ben deserves one more? Maybe it's the buyout, which is itself funny? Not to mention the strangeness of his hire in the first place.
 



Actually this is yet another data point as to why I would not hire Miles. If he was so good he wouldn't be taking a bottom feeder job like that.
After a 3rd year of this we may not be able to get better than a guy who wants a down to the studs rebuild job.
 




Sadly I think wisconsin is more likely to hire gard than we are to fire Johnson.

We come through and go 7-13 next year and he probably get an extension.
I guess that hypothetical would depend on how serious Coyle is when he talks about the goal being championship basketball. He showed me a lot when he replaced Whalen. A reasonable person could have made a case to retain her for one more year and see how it went assuming roster stability. A reasonable person would struggle to make a case for keeping Johnson for another year other than to invoke the sunk-cost fallacy.
 

I guess that hypothetical would depend on how serious Coyle is when he talks about the goal being championship basketball. He showed me a lot when he replaced Whalen. A reasonable person could have made a case to retain her for one more year and see how it went assuming roster stability. A reasonable person would struggle to make a case for keeping Johnson for another year other than to invoke the sunk-cost fallacy.
True. But he is bringing Johnson back this year so it doesn’t give me hope

I actually like Coyle.
Don’t really think it was that offensive to say the gopher football team needed a culture change in 2016.
Don’t think he has been bad on football and hockey.
Hasn’t been terrible in non revenue.


Basketball has been bad.
 

I think failed is debatable. He won 40% B1G games at a historically awful program and took them to their second NCAA tournament in like 50 years. He's kind of their Chris Collins. Further he built up NDSU, turned around a dumpster fire at Colorado State and is doing same at San Jose State. The resumes aren't on the same planet.

Is he my first choice? No. Would it be a very solid hire? Yes.
But aren’t his accomplishments at. Nebraska very similar to Pitino’s with us? Feels like Miles would just get us back to where we were, which by comparison to where we are now, looks like the gilded age of Gopher basketball (Narrator: It wasn’t the gilded age of Gopher basketball).

Miles Overall: 116-114 (.504)
Miles B1G: 52-76 (.406)
Top 5 conf finishes: 2
NCAA tournaments: 1

Pitino Overall: 141-123 (.534)
Pitino B1G: 55-96 (.360)
Top 5 conf finishes: 1
NCAA tournaments: 2
 

But aren’t his accomplishments at. Nebraska very similar to Pitino’s with us? Feels like Miles would just get us back to where we were, which by comparison to where we are now, looks like the gilded age of Gopher basketball (Narrator: It wasn’t the gilded age of Gopher basketball).

Miles Overall: 116-114 (.504)
Miles B1G: 52-76 (.406)
Top 5 conf finishes: 2
NCAA tournaments: 1

Pitino Overall: 141-123 (.534)
Pitino B1G: 55-96 (.360)
Top 5 conf finishes: 1
NCAA tournaments: 2
Not to me. Look what Nebraska was before Miles vs what Minnesota did before Pitino.
 

Not to me. Look what Nebraska was before Miles vs what Minnesota did before Pitino.
Not nearly enough for my liking. Miles would be a very uninspired hire IMO. This program needs 100,000 volts of electricity shot through it to revive it. People have mentioned a Fleck-type hire and I agree. Someone who’s an established winner and program builder, and can give men’s basketball an identity again, both on and off the court. That’s not Tim Miles for me.
 

Not to me. Look what Nebraska was before Miles vs what Minnesota did before Pitino.
Not much worse is what Nebraska was. Doc Sadler was 34% in Big Ten games over 6 years but I think he was 4-14 his last year- which sealed it. Miles was not much better.
 

Wh
Not nearly enough for my liking. Miles would be a very uninspired hire IMO. This program needs 100,000 volts of electricity shot through it to revive it. People have mentioned a Fleck-type hire and I agree. Someone who’s an established winner and program builder, and can give men’s basketball an identity again, both on and off the court. That’s not Tim Miles for me.
While I agree with Howeda7 that Miles is light years above Johnson, I also agree that this program needs a jolt and he would not provide that. I feel like we'd be doing this again in 5-7 years because he would get us back to just above mediocrity. Just not quite good enough and no buzz.
 

Hiring Miles is basically a stop gap trying to get to the next coach. Reminds me of some of the uninspired football names that used to show up during searches. It is basically just quitting and accepting that things cannot and will not get better.
 

Minnesota is a basketball coaches graveyard. No one is coming without competitive NIL resources. Maybe not then.
 


Not nearly enough for my liking. Miles would be a very uninspired hire IMO. This program needs 100,000 volts of electricity shot through it to revive it. People have mentioned a Fleck-type hire and I agree. Someone who’s an established winner and program builder, and can give men’s basketball an identity again, both on and off the court. That’s not Tim Miles for me.
I agree. He'd be in my 3rd tier of candidates. But I'd take him over the Division II names being floated in this thread or another assistant with no prior HC experience.
 

Minnesota is a basketball coaches graveyard. No one is coming without competitive NIL resources. Maybe not then.
Bingo! The best coach on the planet won't do well at Minnesota significant NIL resources.

I've been a fan over 50 years and I never expect it to change...and I expect that Gopher football is about as good as its going to get.
 

was thinking about this:

State Legislature just named several new members to the Board of Regents. the BOR needs to find an Interim President, then jump into the hiring process for a new full-time President. The U of MN has other financial questions/issues with funding, state aid, bonding bill for facilities, etc.

add to that - US economy is slowing with some fears of a recession. and in Washington, there is a looming crisis with the Debt Ceiling. If the Debt Ceiling is not raised, the US could face a major financial meltdown.

So - how eager will the decision-makers at the U of MN really be to pay off a buyout on another coach, and then go out and cough up a big-time salary to hire a big-time coach? Not too bleepin' likely.

Leading to this theory: if Ben Johnson is fired after the 23-24 season, the U of MN will NOT hire a name coach for the reasons outlined above. I could be wrong, but that's how it looks from my vantage point. If people are hoping for Mr Big-Name Coach to ride in and save the day, good luck. I think it's far more likely the next coach will either be another young guy, or a Tubby-like hiring of an old guy looking for a pre-retirement job.
 




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