Next Gopher Head Coach

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.
A bigger problem than the money is finding a big name coach who will take the job. These guys have good jobs. Most are not interested in a total reclamation project at a decimated program.
 

I can't think of any modern example of a coach coming from a non-D1 program to head coach at a P6. Bo Ryan had 4 D3 championships, but even he coached a couple years at UW-Milwaukee before going to the Badgers, and that was obviously before the portal era.

It's a nice thought and these are names to keep an eye on, but they really need another rung in the ladder before they're ready. An up-and-coming successful manager at a company doesn't get promoted directly to CEO.

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.
In any given year there are going to be excellent candidates with hall-of-fame potential available; it's just a matter of identifying them. Hall-of-fame coaches all come from somewhere and all are available at some point in their career. The Tubby-like hiring of an old guy: not all old guys are created equal. Tubby was kind of worn out and burned out by the time he got here, whereas guys like Dutcher and Larranaga are seemingly ageless and have found a way to sustain excellence without it killing them. In a coaching search, I'd definitely be on the lookout for an old guy who's seemingly drinking from the fountain of youth. They're out there, and for some, only age-ism is holding them back.

As far as hiring a D2 or D3 guy: it's definitely unconventional. Bob Uecker has a great line in his book "Catcher in the Wry." He writes, "Baseball is a game of copycats. If a guy comes into the league with one big eye in the middle of his head, hair all over his body, eats glass, and hits .300, there'll be a lot of hairy, one-eyed glass eaters in the league the following year." You have to find the right guy in the right situation, of course, but I would never rule anything out in concept. It's a risk, no doubt, but it might work out in spades for someone and become the next trend.
 

Coaches and NIL recruits have agents and all that goes with that. The agents are building resumes for he next contract. Keep that in mind.

Ben Johnson
Richard Pitino
Tubby Smith
Dan Monson
Clem Haskins
Molinari
Dutcher
Musselman
Little or no NIL. All’s well that ends well.

Yeah, this is the job I want for my client.
 

Coaches and NIL recruits have agents and all that goes with that. The agents are building resumes for he next contract. Keep that in mind.

Ben Johnson
Richard Pitino
Tubby Smith
Dan Monson
Clem Haskins
Molinari
Dutcher
Musselman
Little or no NIL. All’s well that ends well.

Yeah, this is the job I want for my client.
It will play out like this-
Ben will be fired
Ben will sue
Ben will win lawsuit
 




Are we sure Joan Gabel stepped down as President of the U because of her hiring decisions around the hoops programs? (Wah-wah).
 

Let’s prepare to just pre forfeit games. The Spaulding way. No!!!
Well we have been told several times by you our team CANT compete without players getting paid sufficiently. Always trust Spaulding's gut, it is rarely ever wrong from what I have witnessed.
 

Revised list:

HR: Musselman. He needs a change of scenery.

Tier 1: Dutcher, Craig Smith, Medved, Convince John Beilein to give it another go.

Tier 2: Holtmann, Danny Sprinkle, Kyle Smith, DeVries, Leon Rice

Tier 3-It could be worse tier: Tim Miles, Anthony Grant, Johnny Tauer
 



Revised list:

HR: Musselman. He needs a change of scenery.

Tier 1: Dutcher, Craig Smith, Medved, Convince John Beilein to give it another go.

Tier 2: Holtmann, Danny Sprinkle, Kyle Smith, DeVries, Leon Rice

Tier 3-It could be worse tier: Tim Miles, Anthony Grant, Johnny Tauer
Thad Matta looks healthy now, you could almost throw him in.
 



Danny Sprinkle doing a nice job with Utah State in year 1. Yes he did have some college HC experience before that. 81.6 pts/game
 



Would Greg McDermott leave Creighton? He is only getting paid < $1.4M compared to CBJ at almost 2M...500K more in the NIL bin. Big ten has all the money on why Gopher fans say they can't leave the big ten?
 
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Would Greg McDermott leave Creighton? He is only getting paid < $1.4M compared to CBJ at almost 2M...500K more in the NIL bin. Big ten has all the money on why Gopher fans say they can't leave the big ten?
Creighton really only has basketball though. No competition for NIL money. Sure, he could get a bump in salary, but maybe he doesn't care a ton about another 500k. If he's living in Omaha like I did, 50k can let you live comfortably. At least I was 1 year out of college!!!
 




Revised list:

HR: Musselman. He needs a change of scenery.

Tier 1: Dutcher, Craig Smith, Medved, Convince John Beilein to give it another go.

Tier 2: Holtmann, Danny Sprinkle, Kyle Smith, DeVries, Leon Rice

Tier 3-It could be worse tier: Tim Miles, Anthony Grant, Johnny Tauer
Medved!!
 



Revised list:

HR: Musselman. He needs a change of scenery.

Tier 1: Dutcher, Craig Smith, Medved, Convince John Beilein to give it another go.

Tier 2: Holtmann, Danny Sprinkle, Kyle Smith, DeVries, Leon Rice

Tier 3-It could be worse tier: Tim Miles, Anthony Grant, Johnny Tauer
Older coaches for the most part. It comes down to does anyone have interest? Sidebar as this thread resurfaces. What happened to Rock Raven and Kayden Betts.?
 







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