Reusse Gopher Basketball Insights - Transfer Gossip, NIL Money, Facilities, Dutcher, Musselman ETC

[SomeGopherFan]

I watched the video and Reusse is critical of Coyle and the athletic department for being way behind on NIL. However, I have heard comments from others that the athletic departments are pretty hands off to NIL and can't be very involved with it.

Can someone summarize in laymen terms what the U (or any athletic department in general) can or can't do in relation to NIL?

 

[StCroix]

The curmudgeon thing is mostly schtick. He just likes to troll Gopherholers for laughs.

He's admitted as much. He loves poking the bear. I enjoy Pats take on lots of things.

 

[forever a gopher]

Fairleigh Dickinson that has a kenpom of 275. They won one game

You are correct, how astute your observations. That is but one data point in the overall thesis of my post, but absolutely proves a point. FDU on a neutral court beat Purdue. The Gophers got beat on their home court 61-39 to that same Purdue team. I’m currently watching Dutcher’s San Diego St. team up big on their way to a sweet 16. I highly doubt they have more NIL than the U. The point being that it’s the coach that makes the biggest difference, and that NIL is but a lazy, lame excuse. If CBJ were the coach of SDSU right now instead of Dutcher, would they be going to the Sweet 16? Not a chance.

 

[Ewert86PC]

The name is culture. It starts at Gabel. The culture runs from there down and when she is gone they will likely bring in another one to continue it on.

As much as culture is a cudgel that disruptions like to use, there is some validity that UMN has a warped concept of academic culture.

The proof of this is that when athletics is brought up to educators, teachers, staff, etc, they all bring out the "they are student-athletes" point, meaning they are students first, athletes second.

What other part of the school gets so passive-aggressively attacked? Are we continually reminded that members of the theater arts program are "student-actors"? Or dance are "student-dancers"? Or music are "student-musicians" or electrical engineering are "student-engineers"? Or education are "student-educators"? No.

The administration and faculty are led by people who want to see the Academics bully the Athletes as some twisted high school revenge obstacle. These Academics are busy prompting open-mindedness wokeness, compassion for their education platforms, but the can't have compassion, wokeness or open-mindedness for athletics fitting in to their community.

Not accepting an societal element in your community is essentially bigotry. Hating on athletes is acceptable bigotry among academia at UMN. They refuse to consider that athletics contribute to the University community. Many hide behind "costs too much" philosophy of expenditures when they have no concept of economies of scale. A larger expenditure could mean a larger return depending on the risk involved. Then they come off as risk averse which leads to being the stereotypical "no fun, stick in the mud" book worm .

This risk aversion also gets them expecting more funds from the state, suckling on the subsidies which are drying up under political conservative and risk averse fiscal politics.

It's not to hard to think that if we had something anything, to be proud of at UMN, like a successful athletic department, that funds might not be so scarce and resistance to funding UMN effort might be less.

 

[disco]

You are correct, how astute your observations. That is but one data point in the overall thesis of my post, but absolutely proves a point. FDU on a neutral court beat Purdue. The Gophers got beat on their home court 61-39 to that same Purdue team. I’m currently watching Dutcher’s San Diego St. team up big on their way to a sweet 16. I highly doubt they have more NIL than the U. The point being that it’s the coach that makes the biggest difference, and that NIL is but a lazy, lame excuse. If CBJ were the coach of SDSU right now instead of Dutcher, would they be going to the Sweet 16? Not a chance.

SDSU has the nicest weather in the country. That goes a long way.

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

Let's put it this way, ultimately responsibility is always at the top. If they really wanted success, then they have the ability to make it happen, and if they don't do it, then responsibility is with them because they are not taking actions to fix it. It's the whole fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. The initial issue may not be the admin's fault, but inaction by them in the face of obvious long failure is on them. If you are the CEO, and you have a problem in a department, sure the problem may be a manager in that department, well fire that manager and bring in someone who will get the job done. You can't go to the board and say, "Well that one manager in that department just won't do his job well there is nothing I can do." The board will hold you accountable for not doing what needs to be done and you will be gone.

If Coyle is the problem get rid or him, if money is the problem then allocate the money, but the fact they do nothing is all you need to know the problem is them.

This guy, who wanted the AD job back when we hired Coyle. We're not going to find anyone else who's more plugged into money and doners, and who can also sell the U to others.

Pete Najarian​

View attachment 24640

I’ve always wondered, how many of his alleged millions has he contributed to U athletics?
He seems like the type who would want to receive recognition for those deeds.

 

[GoodasGold]

As much as culture is a cudgel that disruptions like to use, there is some validity that UMN has a warped concept of academic culture.

The proof of this is that when athletics is brought up to educators, teachers, staff, etc, they all bring out the "they are student-athletes" point, meaning they are students first, athletes second.

What other part of the school gets so passive-aggressively attacked? Are we continually reminded that members of the theater arts program are "student-actors"? Or dance are "student-dancers"? Or music are "student-musicians" or electrical engineering are "student-engineers"? Or education are "student-educators"? No.

The administration and faculty are led by people who want to see the Academics bully the Athletes as some twisted high school revenge obstacle. These Academics are busy prompting open-mindedness wokeness, compassion for their education platforms, but the can't have compassion, wokeness or open-mindedness for athletics fitting in to their community.

Not accepting an societal element in your community is essentially bigotry. Hating on athletes is acceptable bigotry among academia at UMN. They refuse to consider that athletics contribute to the University community. Many hide behind "costs too much" philosophy of expenditures when they have no concept of economies of scale. A larger expenditure could mean a larger return depending on the risk involved. Then they come off as risk averse which leads to being the stereotypical "no fun, stick in the mud" book worm .

This risk aversion also gets them expecting more funds from the state, suckling on the subsidies which are drying up under political conservative and risk averse fiscal politics.

It's not to hard to think that if we had something anything, to be proud of at UMN, like a successful athletic department, that funds might not be so scarce and resistance to funding UMN effort might be less.

“Student-actors” are what athletes are called at UNC, Kansas, Kentucky Louisville et al.

 

[formerlybis]

Minnesota must be the only school where the president and faculty care more about academics than sports.

What a crock of bull.

 

[GoldenUMNGopher]

And soon the anti Ben crowd will be labeled racists. It is destiny.

Soon? They were labeled racist from day one, cause why would anyone question the hire of a guy who had zero hc exp prior to his hire at a major university.

 

[Dakota2]

Insinuating that Reusse is just echoing a Strib minority hiring narrative is beyond ridiculous. At this stage of his career you think he gives a rip about toeing a company line about any topic? He barely pulls any punches either (print or pod) when the topic is Glen Taylor/Timberwolves, who also owns the paper.

Furthermore the video is on his SkorNorth platform. It not affiliated with the StarTribune.

Pat has no need to toe the company line. He is a leader in establishing the company line. They have no disagreement.

 

[Bad Gopher]

The attempt to address Pitino's perceived weakness (local recruiting) was given to the guy that was responsible for local recruiting during the Pitino tenure? Or are we now arguing the local recruiting only sucked for the three years after Ben left? Getting local kids to commit is more than just having relationships with AAU coaches. Kids want to try other places too. Just because dad played here, doesn't mean (insert local high school kid) wants to play here too.

Regarding the racism charge......Reusse flat out said in the interview that Dutcher was Coyle's first choice but he was over-ruled. Reusse is far more plugged in to what is going on at the University than any of us here. I believe him. So why then was Coyle over-ruled? Surely it wasn't the resume that wasn't good enough for Montana State of Northern Illinois. Nobody that makes this diversity hire declaration is bothered by the fact a minority candidate was hired. Most of us are bothered that a far more qualified minority candidate wasn't hired (i.e. Shrewsberry, Gates, etc.).

Pat IS plugged in, and I believe him, too. He'll BS and exhibit intellectual dishonesty, but he's not a liar.

This is the closest thing we've seen to direct evidence that the president's office directed a skin-color hire. (Along with her recent ethical problems, this is an increasingly bad look for Gabel. Strictly race-based hiring is NOT affirmative action or equity.)

If all true, Dutcher knows he wasn't jilted or passed over by Coyle. That's important if we end up in the same place in the next couple years: looking for a coach again. Coyle may be biding his time and low-grade I-told-you-so-ing with his superiors; next time it's his call.

 

[Bad Gopher]

Minnesota must be the only school where the president and faculty care more about academics than sports.

What a crock of bull.

It doesn't have to be one or another. UW-Madison is good at everything. In fact, competence is competence.

 

[scools12]

The idea that the U’s Administration is anti-athletics has been around for decades.

Glen Mason during his segment with Barrerio during the college football season basically talks about it weekly. Mason says he had to continually fight against the Administration to get anything he could for the football program.

 

[Gophers_4life]

I watched the video and Reusse is critical of Coyle and the athletic department for being way behind on NIL. However, I have heard comments from others that the athletic departments are pretty hands off to NIL and can't be very involved with it.

Can someone summarize in laymen terms what the U (or any athletic department in general) can or can't do in relation to NIL?

They really aren't supposed to do much at all, directly.

What they could do, in an indirect sense, is exactly the same they can do to fundraise money generally. They could ask someone who was going to give a gift to the athletic department, to instead (or also) give a gift to a NIL collective.

And they can actively try to court such folks that have those kinds of means, and convince them to be generous.

To make up a wild example: Mark Coyle could have a fundraising event, walk up to Mr. and Mrs. So-and-so and say "Bob and Lorene, I am really excited about the opportunity I have today to talk about Gopher NIL Collective. This is really going to change these young people's lives and give them a chance to ....."

You get the idea. I'm pretty sure that is all allowed. No one, either in the athletic dept or outside, is directly given an athlete money or impermissible benefits. The collective takes the money, waives their hands, and turns it into "NIL". Then it's all good.

 

[Spaulding!No!]

It doesn't have to be one or another. UW-Madison is good at everything. In fact, competence is competence.

Well, prior to 1990 everything at uw was anti athletics. You shoulda seen the crew barn. Donna came in and blew the doors off.

 

[forever a gopher]

SDSU has the nicest weather in the country. That goes a long way.

Ok, just so I have this straight- the reasons for success in college basketball:
1. NIL
2. Weather
3-9: Who knows, some other made up excuses
10. Coaching

Yes, 5 months out of the year the weather is garbage here. The U offers a great education in one of the best conferences in a city that is generally well regarded by outsiders (excluding the weather) with a ton of things to do for young adults. They have one of the nicest practice facilities in the county, and have some level of NIL. There is no reason they can’t be good in attracting kids to play here. Any school has demerits- USC is literally right across the street from a crime-ridden slum. SDSU as you referenced is literally inferior to the U in every aspect, save for weather and recent record. Iowa St is pretty much in the middle of a corn field. Any school in the south has way more racism to deal with if you’re not white. There is a lot to sell here, with the right coach. The problem isn’t the weather, it’s the coach.

 

[short ornery norwegian]

On the administration - a lot of people over the years have said or implied that the U of MN does not see athletic success as a priority. If the teams happen to win, great. But the administration is not going to do anything to help them win - unlike other schools (SEC....)

on NIL - again, there is the 'good' NIL - like Dinkytown Athletes - where players on the teams have opportunities to earn some extra money with endorsements, T-Shirts, autographs, etc. and then there is the 'other' NIL - where some rich booster hands out bags of cash to recruits. the Gophers have some of the 'good' NIL. I think what Reusse is saying is they don't have any of the 'other' NIL.

if you go by the letter of the law, the U of MN is not supposed to have any direct involvement with NIL other than providing general advice. But there is nothing stopping any rich booster from handing out bags of cash if they wanted to. I don't know if a different coach would really change that - unless the new coach knew people with lots of money.

so if and when Johnson leaves, the job description for the new coach should include: must have rich friends!

 

[disco]

Yes, 5 months out of the year the weather is garbage here. The U offers a great education in one of the best conferences in a city that is generally well regarded by outsiders (excluding the weather) with a ton of things to do for young adults. They have one of the nicest practice facilities in the county, and have some level of NIL.
There is no reason they can’t be good in attracting kids to play here. Any school has demerits- USC is literally right across the street from a crime-ridden slum. SDSU as you referenced is literally inferior to the U in every aspect, save for weather and recent record. Iowa St is pretty much in the middle of a corn field. Any school in the south has way more racism to deal with if you’re not white. There is a lot to sell here, with the right coach. The problem isn’t the weather, it’s the coach.

It is the coach, and the general lack of support from the administration in terms of doing what it takes to win. But the other factors come into play.

• The "great education" isn't going to be that important to a certain number of players.
• The practice facility is table stakes. A major program is EXPECTED to have a fancy practice facility.
• My point on the weather, is that it is a legitmate selling point, and if I were recruiting a player against Minnesota, you're damn right I'd bring it up.
• I will agree with you, I don't think the big city location is a negative like some do. Maybe a little more in football, but so many major hoops programs are located in cities.

 

[Ewert86PC]

Minnesota must be the only school where the president and faculty care more about academics than sports.

What a crock of bull.

Well, they certainly like being handicapped when it comes to fundraising for the school.

They don't turn out graduates who are wanting to give back to the school unless there is a crisis.

With the amount academic fraud that has gone on recently (falsifying research data, falsifying departmental spending etc), you could say they don't care much about academics either.

 

[disco]

But there is nothing stopping any rich booster from handing out bags of cash if they wanted to. I don't know if a different coach would really change that - unless the new coach knew people with lots of money.

so if and when Johnson leaves, the job description for the new coach should include: must have rich friends!

There was the guy at BYU who paid the tuition of the entire roster of the football team that wasn't on scholarship. That's not as much as some other schools, as BYU is highly subsized by the LDS church, but still, it's impressive.

I've said it many times, I wish this team had a sugar daddy like Phil Knight or T. Boone Pickens.

 

[Bad Gopher]

Well, prior to 1990 everything at uw was anti athletics. You shoulda seen the crew barn. Donna came in and blew the doors off

That's what Sid always used to say.

 

[disco]

That's what Sid always used to say.

Sid wasn't wrong (in this case). But at the same time, I wonder how much his being an annoying pest hindered certain things. I'd heard the rumor that one of the reasons it took so long for some of the Vikings greats of the 70's to get into the Hall of Fame was the incessant grandstanding from Sid annoying people.

 

[Bad Gopher]

Ok, just so I have this straight- the reasons for success in college basketball:
1. NIL
2. Weather
3-9: Who knows, some other made up excuses
10. Coaching

Yes, 5 months out of the year the weather is garbage here. The U offers a great education in one of the best conferences in a city that is generally well regarded by outsiders (excluding the weather) with a ton of things to do for young adults. They have one of the nicest practice facilities in the county, and have some level of NIL. There is no reason they can’t be good in attracting kids to play here. Any school has demerits- USC is literally right across the street from a crime-ridden slum. SDSU as you referenced is literally inferior to the U in every aspect, save for weather and recent record. Iowa St is pretty much in the middle of a corn field. Any school in the south has way more racism to deal with if you’re not white. There is a lot to sell here, with the right coach. The problem isn’t the weather, it’s the coach.

Again, if it were an insurmountable obstacle, the Gophers never would have recruited the No. 1 class in the country that one time nor the incoming class of 1996. This is so much better of a destination than other places that have had success, especially if you're serious about your degree.

I can sell San Diego, but I can also sell the Twin Cities and the U of M. You want me making that sales pitch: I live here, and I'm not a big fan of winter weather. Here are the reasons I nonetheless call this place home, and let me tell you about the prestige of a diploma from a Big Ten institution. Shall I go on? You want me to tell you what I'd tell parents?

 

[dbmn]

I comment specifically on bga's posts because he has a long history of racist comments on this board. His "diversity hire" posts aren't isolated and they aren't offered in a vacuum.

Like many hires, CBJ was the opposite of his predecessor. Pitino's weakness was local recruiting. That was presumably CBJ's strength. CBJ was perceived as hungry and a relentless recruiter. Pitino was not. CBJ's contract was reasonable and we don't know if he was the top choice. Coyle had a prior relationship with CBJ, which counts for a lot. Don't know if CBJ had prior relationships with the NIU and Montana St. AD's.

As I said earlier, there's a lot to criticize legitimately about CBJ's first two years. However, calling it a "diversity hire" before the press conference and periodically saying "I told ya so" continues to reflect poorly on that member of the board. Perfectly ok to call him on it.

Pitino was coach for 8 seasons and Johnson was an assistant coach for 5 of those years. Johnson was supposed to be the "local" recruiter. If Pitino failed on the local recruiting wouldn't that failure be Johnson's too. And then to use local recruiting as one of the primary reasons for hiring Johnson makes no sense.

 

[Gopher_In_NYC]

Pitino was coach for 8 seasons and Johnson was an assistant coach for 5 of those years. Johnson was supposed to be the "local" recruiter. If Pitino failed on the local recruiting wouldn't that failure be Johnson's too. And then to use local recruiting as one of the primary reasons for hiring Johnson makes no sense.

To a degree, but unlike football, where your position coach spends the most time with a player, on basketball it’s the head coach you’re regularly interacting with - it’s been widely recognized that multiple local players and coaches didn’t like Pitino, while Ben engenders the converse.

 

[dbmn]

As much as culture is a cudgel that disruptions like to use, there is some validity that UMN has a warped concept of academic culture.

The proof of this is that when athletics is brought up to educators, teachers, staff, etc, they all bring out the "they are student-athletes" point, meaning they are students first, athletes second.

What other part of the school gets so passive-aggressively attacked? Are we continually reminded that members of the theater arts program are "student-actors"? Or dance are "student-dancers"? Or music are "student-musicians" or electrical engineering are "student-engineers"? Or education are "student-educators"? No.

The administration and faculty are led by people who want to see the Academics bully the Athletes as some twisted high school revenge obstacle. These Academics are busy prompting open-mindedness wokeness, compassion for their education platforms, but the can't have compassion, wokeness or open-mindedness for athletics fitting in to their community.

Not accepting an societal element in your community is essentially bigotry. Hating on athletes is acceptable bigotry among academia at UMN. They refuse to consider that athletics contribute to the University community. Many hide behind "costs too much" philosophy of expenditures when they have no concept of economies of scale. A larger expenditure could mean a larger return depending on the risk involved. Then they come off as risk averse which leads to being the stereotypical "no fun, stick in the mud" book worm .

This risk aversion also gets them expecting more funds from the state, suckling on the subsidies which are drying up under political conservative and risk averse fiscal politics.

It's not to hard to think that if we had something anything, to be proud of at UMN, like a successful athletic department, that funds might not be so scarce and resistance to funding UMN effort might be less.

Had 3 kids that attended gopher bb games from before they could walk, graduating High School after 2012. All decided to attend UW Madison. Not only are many of the academics higher rated than the UoM, but their BB and FB tradition was a different level than the UofM. They'd never admit it but the Athletics tradition and game day experience at Wisc was the primary reason for going to Wisc. So, to the UofM Administration, you may think athletics is not important to students, but it's partially due to the administration not competing on a level playing field with the other B10 teams that also make it one of the school's priorities to have winning programs.

 

[Bobek]

Unless it’s baseball or sports in the 60’s Reusse really doesn’t have a clue what he’s talking about.

Or Fulda town ball. same old same old!

 

[dlnavra]

Ok, just so I have this straight- the reasons for success in college basketball:
1. NIL
2. Weather
3-9: Who knows, some other made up excuses
10. Coaching

Yes, 5 months out of the year the weather is garbage here. The U offers a great education in one of the best conferences in a city that is generally well regarded by outsiders (excluding the weather) with a ton of things to do for young adults. They have one of the nicest practice facilities in the county, and have some level of NIL. There is no reason they can’t be good in attracting kids to play here. Any school has demerits- USC is literally right across the street from a crime-ridden slum. SDSU as you referenced is literally inferior to the U in every aspect, save for weather and recent record. Iowa St is pretty much in the middle of a corn field. Any school in the south has way more racism to deal with if you’re not white. There is a lot to sell here, with the right coach. The problem isn’t the

Ok, just so I have this straight- the reasons for success in college basketball:
1. NIL
2. Weather
3-9: Who knows, some other made up excuses
10. Coaching

Yes, 5 months out of the year the weather is garbage here. The U offers a great education in one of the best conferences in a city that is generally well regarded by outsiders (excluding the weather) with a ton of things to do for young adults. They have one of the nicest practice facilities in the county, and have some level of NIL. There is no reason they can’t be good in attracting kids to play here. Any school has demerits- USC is literally right across the street from a crime-ridden slum. SDSU as you referenced is literally inferior to the U in every aspect, save for weather and recent record. Iowa St is pretty much in the middle of a corn field. Any school in the south has way more racism to deal with if you’re not white. There is a lot to sell here, with the right coach. The problem isn’t the weather, it’s the coach.

Love the Gophers but this could be a more well informed post (to be generous). “Any school in the south…” among the other ridiculous points.

Yes the Gophers should be bring in top level talent…..not leftovers. If the coach cant seem to do it amd retain/develop them, then we will likely see a new coach after next season.

Ok, just so I have this straight- the reasons for success in college basketball:
1. NIL
2. Weather
3-9: Who knows, some other made up excuses
10. Coaching

Yes, 5 months out of the year the weather is garbage here. The U offers a great education in one of the best conferences in a city that is generally well regarded by outsiders (excluding the weather) with a ton of things to do for young adults. They have one of the nicest practice facilities in the county, and have some level of NIL. There is no reason they can’t be good in attracting kids to play here. Any school has demerits- USC is literally right across the street from a crime-ridden slum. SDSU as you referenced is literally inferior to the U in every aspect, save for weather and recent record. Iowa St is pretty much in the middle of a corn field. Any school in the south has way more racism to deal with if you’re not white. There is a lot to sell here, with the right coach. The problem isn’t the weather, it’s the coach.

 

[60's Guy]

Answers to some questions. But it is a year old.

Players can have agents. Schools can introduce players to agents. Agents can make deals for players. Not sure why this isn't prevalent.
10 Gopher supporters paying $1000 a month is $120,000 a year. 20 is $240,000 a year. In the case of say Dennis Evans...that seems like a couple hours work for a guy who belongs to Dunkers.
Ask Saban how they do it? Ask around...it can't be that hard to follow guidelines and do it. Too many guys with deals for there to be so many without. Can't expect high school kids to do it for themselves. The connections should be in place by now.

 

[goldengophers]

To a degree, but unlike football, where your position coach spends the most time with a player, on basketball it’s the head coach you’re regularly interacting with - it’s been widely recognized that multiple local players and coaches didn’t like Pitino, while Ben engenders the converse.

Nearly every program has that guy, nearly every one of them doesn't get to skip ladder steps on the way to a major HC job.