BleedGopher
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per Greder:
Richard Pitino saw and heard his name included on preseason media lists of college basketball coaches in jeopardy of losing their jobs if subpar seasons played out. He thought about his young kids and how he enjoys living in Minnesota.
“When you see your picture up there as on the hot seat and ‘If he doesn’t make the tournament, he’s fired,’ I don’t know if it’s true or not,” Pitino said Tuesday. “I didn’t want to ask Mark.”
But with an NCAA tournament berth secured Sunday, Pitino rests assured he won’t have that difficult conversation with Gophers athletics director Mark Coyle. The 10th-seeded Gophers (21-13) play seventh-seeded Louisville (20-13) in a first-round game Thursday in Des Moines, Iowa.
“When you are able to do that, yeah, it’s fulfilling,” Pitino said about being in the Big Dance. “Hopefully we can make a little run at it and continue to build this program.”
If Pitino and the Gophers hadn’t made the tournament, Coyle could have built a case to fire Pitino and bring in a new coach. Pitino came into the season with a 31-59 Big Ten record, a winning percentage of just 34 percent. Another absence from the Big Dance would have been the fifth in six seasons.
Instead, the Gophers finished the regular season and Big Ten tournament with four wins in six games and advance to March Madness for the second time in three years. While the Gophers had a losing record in the Big Ten (9-11), the conference is deep and respected. The Big Ten’s eight tournament teams are the most of any league in this year’s 68-team field.
Going into last season, Pitino thought he had a team talented enough to get to the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row. But Reggie Lynch’s expulsion and Amir Coffey’s season-ending injury derailed the Gophers to 15-17 overall and 4-14 in the Big Ten.
“It was kind of one of those years where everything kind of went wrong,” Pitino said. “Bounced back (to) being in the tournament now. As a coach, you want stability, and you want to try to provide that.”
https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/s...tino-goes-coaching-hot-seat-fulfilling-season
Go Gophers!!
Richard Pitino saw and heard his name included on preseason media lists of college basketball coaches in jeopardy of losing their jobs if subpar seasons played out. He thought about his young kids and how he enjoys living in Minnesota.
“When you see your picture up there as on the hot seat and ‘If he doesn’t make the tournament, he’s fired,’ I don’t know if it’s true or not,” Pitino said Tuesday. “I didn’t want to ask Mark.”
But with an NCAA tournament berth secured Sunday, Pitino rests assured he won’t have that difficult conversation with Gophers athletics director Mark Coyle. The 10th-seeded Gophers (21-13) play seventh-seeded Louisville (20-13) in a first-round game Thursday in Des Moines, Iowa.
“When you are able to do that, yeah, it’s fulfilling,” Pitino said about being in the Big Dance. “Hopefully we can make a little run at it and continue to build this program.”
If Pitino and the Gophers hadn’t made the tournament, Coyle could have built a case to fire Pitino and bring in a new coach. Pitino came into the season with a 31-59 Big Ten record, a winning percentage of just 34 percent. Another absence from the Big Dance would have been the fifth in six seasons.
Instead, the Gophers finished the regular season and Big Ten tournament with four wins in six games and advance to March Madness for the second time in three years. While the Gophers had a losing record in the Big Ten (9-11), the conference is deep and respected. The Big Ten’s eight tournament teams are the most of any league in this year’s 68-team field.
Going into last season, Pitino thought he had a team talented enough to get to the NCAA tournament for the second year in a row. But Reggie Lynch’s expulsion and Amir Coffey’s season-ending injury derailed the Gophers to 15-17 overall and 4-14 in the Big Ten.
“It was kind of one of those years where everything kind of went wrong,” Pitino said. “Bounced back (to) being in the tournament now. As a coach, you want stability, and you want to try to provide that.”
https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/s...tino-goes-coaching-hot-seat-fulfilling-season
Go Gophers!!
