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www.startribune.com

Gophers' Hugh McCutcheon announces he is leaving volleyball program after 2022 season

The University of Minnesota will conduct a nationwide search to find a new coach at the end of the season.
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com

In a statement, Gophers athletic director Mark Coyle wrote: "Hugh is a respected leader in volleyball, the coaching profession and in our department. We understand and support his decision to step away at the end of the season and we thank him for his tremendous contributions to our program, university and state.

"I know Hugh appreciates the support from our amazing fans and understands the questions that people might have, but his sole focus right now is on the team and the rest of the season. Out of respect for our program and our student-athletes, he will defer any questions about this decision until the end of the season."
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gophersports.com

McCutcheon Announces that 2022 Season will be his Last Coaching Gophers - University of Minnesota Athletics

Legendary coach has led Minnesota to a 265-71 record and three Final Four appearances in 11 seasons
gophersports.com gophersports.com

I'd like it better if a nationwide search would start IMMEDIATELY. December and January will be a competition for players.


A nationwide search will be conducted at the end of the season for Minnesota's next head coach. During that time, Associate Head Coach Matt Houk will serve as the interim head coach of the Gophers.
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Ignatius L Hoops said:
gophersports.com

McCutcheon Announces that 2022 Season will be his Last Coaching Gophers - University of Minnesota Athletics

Legendary coach has led Minnesota to a 265-71 record and three Final Four appearances in 11 seasons
gophersports.com gophersports.com

I'd like it better if a nationwide search would start IMMEDIATELY. December and January will be a competition for players.
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You'd like to search for an out of work coach? Coyle has always said that he has a short list of candidates to replace any of his coaches. I would guess his list is headed by candidates that are currently coaching.
 

Gopher68 said:
You'd like to search for an out of work coach? Coyle has always said that he has a short list of candidates to replace any of his coaches. I would guess his list is headed by candidates that are currently coaching.
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Our last two volleyball coaches were contacted and recruited while gainfully employed. It was a bit messy at the time; but worked out just fine. So, yes, I'm hoping for some aggressiveness from the AD. The transfer portal and spring volleyball sort of drives the schedule.
 

They will absolutely have a coach ready to go and waiting before the season ends. The announcement won’t be made until later, but all the left work will have been done.
 

From the Parkinglot said:
They will absolutely have a coach ready to go and waiting before the season ends. The announcement won’t be made until later, but all the left work will have been done.
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Assistant coaches at Texas, Nebraska, Wisconsin would be a good place to start.
 




From the Parkinglot said:
I don’t want an assistant. Go get a head coach at a program that has seen a recent rise to prominence.
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It will be a current coach. That is why the "search" will not start until after the season.

But you can be sure that Coyle is on the phone to agents getting groundwork started.
 

Ignatius L Hoops said:
Our last two volleyball coaches were contacted and recruited while gainfully employed. It was a bit messy at the time; but worked out just fine. So, yes, I'm hoping for some aggressiveness from the AD. The transfer portal and spring volleyball sort of drives the schedule.
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Even so, you don't say that in a press release. They obviously had Tubby Smith hired before his season at Kentucky ended too.
 

The Minnesota job might be as highly ranked as the 4th or 5th best job in the country so there should be some interest. It’s to bad that Hugh didn’t develop a coaching tree.
 



GopherGod said:
The Minnesota job might be as highly ranked as the 4th or 5th best job in the country so there should be some interest. It’s to bad that Hugh didn’t develop a coaching tree.
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The Minnesota job would definitely be one of the most attractive opening and should generate great interest. Thinking of the top ten I would list the following in rough order 1-10.

Nebraska
Stanford
Texas
Wisconsin (I put ahead of Minnesota just because of current performance)
Minnesota (I think MN is a better opportunity than WI if you consider the strength of local high school talent)
USC
Florida
Louisville
BYU
Penn State

Looking at the list hard not to think Minnesota is not a top five job. One problem is being in the same conference as several other great schools. Some coach may want to dominate in a weaker conference. Overall should not be hard to find a great coach
 

Hope it's not health related. Not thinking it is, just saying.

Wonder if he wants to get back into the men's game, perhaps coach a men's college team?
 

NextYear_76 said:
Minnesota (I think MN is a better opportunity than WI if you consider the strength of local high school talent)
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True, but I feel like a good amount of our biggest stars are not Minnesotans? Or maybe that's a more recent statement.

Obviously Tapp's, Wilhite, SSS, from a few years ago. But Samedy Florida, and the big recruits lately all out of state.
 

www.startribune.com

Replacing Gophers volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon will be a unique challenge

Analysis: McCutcheon's name has become synonymous with success in the sport, which is both a blessing and a curse for whomever Minnesota finds to replace him.
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com

STrib's Jeff Day:

When a player is asked why they wanted to play for the Gophers, the answer often starts with, "Hugh."

This is both a blessing and a curse as the Gophers try to replace him.

Coaches will line up for the opportunity to work with this kind of talent, including recent No. 1 recruits in the nation Taylor Landfair and McKenna Wucherer. Juniors Jenna Wenaas and Melani Shaffmaster are players that can star on a Final Four-caliber team. Freshmen Carter Booth and Julia Hanson, along with Wucherer, form the tip of a three-year recruiting haul that figures to usher in the next generation of Gophers talent.

The team has received verbal commitments from players like Laney Choboy, generally considered the best libero in the nation for the Class of 2023, and Stella and Olivia Swenson, two of the top recruits for the Class of 2024.

But, of course, none of these players committed to Minnesota to play for some other coach.
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Any thoughts on these names:

-Kirsten Bernthal Booth (Creighton)
-Jennifer Petrie (San Diego)
-Michelle Collier (GT)
-Heather Olmstead (BYU)
-Travis Hudson (Western Kentucky)
-Ryan Theis (Marquette)
-Mark Sealy (UCLA)?

Just throwing out some names, not sure what the current contract of these coaches look like, but all of these schools are consistently in the NCAA tournament and Minnesota would definitely be a step up from these programs.
 

I just doubt that Hugh has some double top-secret drills that are guaranteed to turn high-ranking (high school) club players into future starters for the women's national team. He's not doing anything that no one else has figured out or knows how to do, with their players.

It's not that complex of a game. It's a few techniques, and then just who can execute them better, as close to perfection as possible.
 

WayOfTheGopher said:
Any thoughts on these names:

-Kirsten Bernthal Booth (Creighton)
-Jennifer Petrie (San Diego)
-Michelle Collier (GT)
-Heather Olmstead (BYU)
-Travis Hudson (Western Kentucky)
-Ryan Theis (Marquette)
-Mark Sealy (UCLA)?

Just throwing out some names, not sure what the current contract of these coaches look like, but all of these schools are consistently in the NCAA tournament and Minnesota would definitely be a step up from these programs.
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Kirsten Bernthal Booth was the first name I thought of when I heard of Hugh retiring. She has done a great job at Creighton, but will never overtake Nebraska and will never get the Husker job when Cook retires because he has built such a huge coaching tree and she isn’t part of it. She is a native Nebraskan though so don’t know if she would want to leave or not.
 

Salary will be a big part of this.

Illinois' Chris Tamas signed a five year extension this spring at 400k/year.

Hugh's recent extension:

According to regents documents, the new deal would pay McCutcheon $515,000 for the recently completed season and $525,000 for next season with continued salary increases up to $565,000 in 2025.
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And John Cook makes 675k/ year. Plus he will get a 750 k retention bonus at the end of this year.

www.startribune.com

Gophers volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon agrees to contract extension

McCutcheon new deal will keep him with the Gophers through the 2025 season, pending Board of Regents approval.
www.startribune.com www.startribune.com

www.wcia.com

Chris Tamas gets 5-year extension with Illinois volleyball

CHAMPAIGN (WCIA) — Illinois volleyball coach Chris Tamas is staying in Champaign for at least the next five years after signing a contract extension with the Illini recently. The deal was app…
www.wcia.com www.wcia.com
 
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GopherGod said:
Kirsten Bernthal Booth was the first name I thought of when I heard of Hugh retiring. She has done a great job at Creighton, but will never overtake Nebraska and will never get the Husker job when Cook retires because he has built such a huge coaching tree and she isn’t part of it. She is a native Nebraskan though so don’t know if she would want to leave or not.
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Yeah, there are a couple of reasons why she wouldn't want to leave. She has a young family, she's already been there so long that it could just be a legacy thing and also going from the Big East to the B1G is not gonna be easy.
 

WayOfTheGopher said:
Yeah, there are a couple of reasons why she wouldn't want to leave. She has a young family, she's already been there so long that it could just be a legacy thing and also going from the Big East to the B1G is not gonna be easy.
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I am thinking big. The Big Ten and therefore Minnesota is getting a big boost in revenue and could spend on one of its programs volleyball. We have already done it once when Mike Hebert was hired. One name I thought of was Dani Busboom Kelly at Louisville. Part of the Cook coaching tree. Minnesota should have the money to outspend Louisville. Another thought is looking international perhaps to US National team or even elsewhere. The Gophers play an international style, fast paced.
 

Craig Skinner would be my pick and he could bring Andy Nelson (Meredith's brother) with him. He's a great coach and has already won a Natty with Kentucky.
 

I know next to nothing about volleyball coaching, but I do enjoy watching the team. It is also nice to be the IT team in a sport, like a Duke/UNC in bball where we can basically hand pick players/coaches and no one can do a dang thing about it!

Again 0 knowledge about the next coach but with Hugh coming from the national teams, seems like maybe just college coaches may not be the only targets, some high profile national team coach would continue to be a nice target for the young ladies looking to make team USA in the future and play abroad.
 

jham13 said:
Craig Skinner would be my pick and he could bring Andy Nelson (Meredith's brother) with him. He's a great coach and has already won a Natty with Kentucky.
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Skinner like Dani Busboom Kelly are both from the John Cook coaching tree along with several other head coaches so my money is that one of those two may be in serious contention for the Nebraska job when he retires in probably the next 2-5 years.
 

Ski U Mah Gopher said:
I think this deserves its own thread.
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I hear all the Slliger-Swensons are likely gone from being future Gophers. Laney Choboy is gone I assume. Wurcherer may go now, who knows?

I think McCutchen leaving is a tragedy for our program and I, for one, blame all of the McCutchen-haters I have been reading making posts here on this message board for the past two or so years. Whine and complain is what they did incessantly and now they have what they wanted.

Too bad for me, now my program is going to lose the players I liked to root for now or was excited to root for in that future.

This sucks.
 
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ClassOf98Gopher said:
I hear all the Slliger-Swenson’s are likely gone from being future Gophers. Laney Choboy is gone I assume.

I think McCutchen leaving is a tragedy for our program and I, for one, blame all of the McCutchen-haters I have been reading making posts here on this message board for the past two or so years. Whine and complain is what they did incessantly and now they have what they wanted.

To bad for me, now my program is going to lose the players I liked to root for now or was excited to root for in that future.

This sucks.
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I seriously doubt that McCutcheon's decision to leave, probably for some executive position in or out of volleyball, was affected in the slightest by posts on this forum.
 

GopherGod said:
Skinner like Dani Busboom Kelly are both from the John Cook coaching tree along with several other head coaches so my money is that one of those two may be in serious contention for the Nebraska job when he retires in probably the next 2-5 years.
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It seems so obvious to me that the Gophers just need to get a really great, world-renowned volleyball coach who is normally way out of our league but will in fact take our job because they have a spouse who is having a baby and the spouse’s family is from Minnesota and can provide child care support. We just need to find one of those great volleyball coaches to replace McCutchen.
 

Hugh, say it isn't so. Please stay! You have provided us with outstanding volleyball and we would like that to continue for many years.
 

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