Shama: If there is a change in Golden Gophers basketball head coaches after this season, St. Thomas’ John Tauer should be a level one candidate.

Donate To GopherHole
short ornery norwegian said:
serious question: why would Tauer want the job at MN?

he's got a good gig at St. Thomas. getting a new arena paid for by boosters. the expectations are not unreasonable - just put a decent team on the court and be competitive AT HIS LEVEL. and the all-caps are the key - at his level.

going up to the B1G is jumping in shark-infested waters. you might come out alive, but the odds are not in your favor.

I don't see Tauer at MN unless they offer him so much money he can't turn it down. and MN is not going to offer Tauer that kind of money.
Click to expand...
Be serious.
 

bga1 said:
I haven't watched them yet but they don't seem to have much size. How do they handle the boards and post defense against other bigs?
Click to expand...
Definitely undersized, and their best bigs (6-9 Carter Bjerke & 6-8 Rich Byhre) are stretch guys. Tauer recruits guys that compete & shooters that can spread you out. Not sure they'll ever have a traditional post, per se.

Both can hit the 3, moreso Bjerke (50% 3PFG). Not a great rebounding team, but the guards are all pretty decent rebounders. G Kendall Blue is leading rebounder (4.3 rpg), so they kind of do the boards by committee.
 
Last edited:

Bob_Loblaw said:
I think you can make the argument that TJ's (I'm sick of trying to spell his last name) level of success in the Summit is much higher than Tauer's. There are other variables to that as well. However, I just don't buy that his time at UNLV improved his stock to the people at Iowa State. I also don't buy that his time as an assistant improved his stock at Iowa State, except for the increase in familiarity. My point is that if TJ was an assistant at Boston College, then coached in the Summit, then went .500 at UNLV, the Iowa State AD would not have given weight to his time as an assistant at BC. It was given weight because of the familiarity factor and not the experience factor (IMO).

We're in agreement. I'm a Gopher fan and I think we can go hire someone that has proven it at a higher level than Tauer. I think highly of him but his ceiling at the Big 10 level is an unknown to me. I think he definitely has a pretty high floor.
Click to expand...
I think in TJ case he had a lot of recruiting success at ISU as an assistant. When he took the job he hung on to Lipsey commitment, he hung on to the really good player that wound up going to Texas after a year, had a nice add in Gabe K in the portal. Sometimes its a combo right fit right place right time and hitting lightning in the bottle. In Ben's case his tenure might be different if in year one if Fox stays healthy, Dawson Garcia doesn't get a UNC offer, Theo John doesn't get a Duke offer. We sneak Zackai Ziegler past Tennessee and one of Manley or Mitchell decides to transfer in instead of trying to play pro. Perhaps Pitino still coaching here if he listens to Kimani Young and Ben Johnson about Tyrese Halibutton and Tubby Smith might have a statue of Mbakwe and White were eligible in 09-10 and still here with Devoe in 10-11. Purdue might have a Natty if Hummel doesn't tear up his knee on that cold winter might in the barn
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I never said we should do it. I don't think we should. I said comparing him to HS coaches is way crazier than the thought of the U hiring a Summit League coach.

As to your point about TJ Otzelberger, you think it was his time at UNLV that piqued Iowa State's interest? Do you think Iowa State thought to themselves, we're really looking for someone who can go 8-10 in the Mountain West? He took over a team that went 11-7 in the Mountain West and left with an 8-10 record in conference.

TJ is a really bad example. He was hired IN SPITE of his time at UNLV not because of his time. He was a really good Summit coach who had really strong ties to the state of Iowa. It was definitely a "familiarity" thing with TJ much more than it was going under .500 in the Mountain West. If you're saying Tauer would somehow become a more viable candidate if he went to San Jose State and went 8-10, I'm just not seeing it.

Again, I'm not saying we should hire him. I don't think we should. I am just saying that comparing him to a coach in the MIAC or a HS coach is just insane. I'm not saying this is you but there is a group of Gopher fans who pretend to be dismissive of St. Thomas while also being unrealistically terrified of playing them.
Click to expand...
Lol no one is terrified to play St. Thomas. Even this crappy group of gophers already beat in Oral Roberts that picked right next to him in the polls by 20 plus
 



Bob_Loblaw said:
I know a ton of St. Thomas basketball fans and the largest area of delusion that they have is that they think they're better than us every year.

If St. Thomas is aggressively bad the next couple of years Tauer could be on the hot seat. If they are decent and even competing for a potential NCAA tournament, Tauer will have 100% job security. The guys is revered there.
Click to expand...
Strongazzoffer said:
Lol no one is terrified to play St. Thomas. Even this crappy group of gophers already beat in Oral Roberts that picked right next to him in the polls by 20 plus
Click to expand...


Ahhh the newbie poster trying to make his mark.

Terrified no! Scared yes!
 


I guarantee some of the OG’s on this board think Coach Mo would be a good candidate… $hits hilarious
 

Roland Brooks said:
Ahhh the newbie poster trying to make his mark.

Terrified no! Scared
Click to expand...

Roland Brooks said:
I guarantee some of the OG’s on this board think Coach Mo would be a good candidate… $hits hilarious
Click to expand...
Agreed just like the rest of that league. But this whole conversation carries about as much weight as a UST education would outside of the Twin Cities
 



I've been biting my tongue...but why, right? In short, I think Tauer is an excellent coach and program builder and should be considered as a candidate when Johnson is eventually sacked. In fact, if I were Coyle, I would already have made contact with his representative to gauge interest.

As SS and others have opined, interest is far from guaranteed. If I were Tauer, I wouldn't get near this smoldering pile of ash, and I would make that clear to anyone who contacts me about it. I'm not him, but if I were, I'd see this thing through for a while at St. Thomas, compete for a chance at a conference title and NCAA berth, and then later decide whether I'd want to leave my alma mater for a bigger stage. If all went well for him, he'd have a chance at a much better job than Minnesota.

I see a Tauer hire as the equivalent of the Bennett and Ryan hires at UW. Success in Division 3, seasoning and experience at the D1 level, and then shooting your shot in a power conference. Anyone with the kind of success Tauer has had should be a candidate for a Power 6 job. Anyone who wins a national championship in anything can coach and build a program. I couldn't be more impressed with the guy.

What I've always said: when all else fails, hire someone who's good at coaching basketball.
 

Go get Sundance Wicks from Wyoming

He is really good!!!!
 

Bad Gopher said:
As SS and others have opined, interest is far from guaranteed. If I were Tauer, I wouldn't get near this smoldering pile of ash, and I would make that clear to anyone who contacts me about it.
Click to expand...

Well, this job can offer him something that no other power conference job can: he doesn't have to relocate. From what I've read, his wife also has a career in this area and is a founder of a charter school. This job has the potential to be better than it's ever been with revenue sharing kicking in next season. Also, there is the issue of expectations. If he were hired at some other P5 school, the reaction would be "Who?" After recent history, he'd be welcomed with a brass band here.
 

TD12 said:
Go get Sundance Wicks from Wyoming

He is really good!!!!
Click to expand...

I've looked at Wicks' record. He might be good but I don't see anything in his record that indicates that he clearly should be favored over the St. Thomas coach.
 



golfing18now said:
I hope this is the case but I'm not sure I believe it. Nobody cares more about "local ties" than this fan base and I'm not sure why. Do we think recruits care about "local ties"? Does it energize the fan base to have "local ties"? The current situation wouldn't support either conclusion.
Click to expand...
Minnesotans are the most provincial group of people on the planet I swear. It's all about "one of us."

Might be the Sid effect.
 

disco said:
Minnesotans are the most provincial group of people on the planet I swear. It's all about "one of us."

Might be the Sid effect.
Click to expand...
I think that it comes from a reasonably logical assessment of the weather here. People from Minnesota realize that the state is an acquired taste, not for everyone and that people from the southern climates are not likely to stick around here. Thus, the "one of us" thing arises from the concern of being jilted by outsiders who come in for a short time and can't handle the weather. It is assumed that it is far more likely that someone from here, stays here.
 

Bad Gopher said:
I've been biting my tongue...but why, right? In short, I think Tauer is an excellent coach and program builder and should be considered as a candidate when Johnson is eventually sacked. In fact, if I were Coyle, I would already have made contact with his representative to gauge interest.

As SS and others have opined, interest is far from guaranteed. If I were Tauer, I wouldn't get near this smoldering pile of ash, and I would make that clear to anyone who contacts me about it. I'm not him, but if I were, I'd see this thing through for a while at St. Thomas, compete for a chance at a conference title and NCAA berth, and then later decide whether I'd want to leave my alma mater for a bigger stage. If all went well for him, he'd have a chance at a much better job than Minnesota.

I see a Tauer hire as the equivalent of the Bennett and Ryan hires at UW. Success in Division 3, seasoning and experience at the D1 level, and then shooting your shot in a power conference. Anyone with the kind of success Tauer has had should be a candidate for a Power 6 job. Anyone who wins a national championship in anything can coach and build a program. I couldn't be more impressed with the guy.

What I've always said: when all else fails, hire someone who's good at coaching basketball.
Click to expand...
Dick Bennett coached at Green Bay for a decade, won 2 conference titles and made the NCAAs 3 times. His resume runs circles around Tauer's.

Ryan is closer but also was an assistant at UW for almost a decade before moving on to coach Platteville.

Honest question...if Tauer was coaching a similar school on the East Coast would you even bring him up?
 

Bad Gopher said:
I've been biting my tongue...but why, right? In short, I think Tauer is an excellent coach and program builder and should be considered as a candidate when Johnson is eventually sacked. In fact, if I were Coyle, I would already have made contact with his representative to gauge interest.

As SS and others have opined, interest is far from guaranteed. If I were Tauer, I wouldn't get near this smoldering pile of ash, and I would make that clear to anyone who contacts me about it. I'm not him, but if I were, I'd see this thing through for a while at St. Thomas, compete for a chance at a conference title and NCAA berth, and then later decide whether I'd want to leave my alma mater for a bigger stage. If all went well for him, he'd have a chance at a much better job than Minnesota.

I see a Tauer hire as the equivalent of the Bennett and Ryan hires at UW. Success in Division 3, seasoning and experience at the D1 level, and then shooting your shot in a power conference. Anyone with the kind of success Tauer has had should be a candidate for a Power 6 job. Anyone who wins a national championship in anything can coach and build a program. I couldn't be more impressed with the guy.

What I've always said: when all else fails, hire someone who's good at coaching basketball.
Click to expand...
The idea that Tauer wouldn't accept the Gopher job is batshit crazy.

For one thing, he'd get a pay raise on the order of, what? 2000 percent? 3000?
 

Dave H said:
Dick Bennett coached at Green Bay for a decade, won 2 conference titles and made the NCAAs 3 times. His resume runs circles around Tauer's.

Ryan is closer but also was an assistant at UW for almost a decade before moving on to coach Platteville.

Honest question...if Tauer was coaching a similar school on the East Coast would you even bring him up?
Click to expand...
H

He could not coach out east with a UST degree…
 


disco said:
Minnesotans are the most provincial group of people on the planet I swear. It's all about "one of us."

Might be the Sid effect.
Click to expand...
I don't know how much you've travelled, but everyone is provincial everywhere. We're probably more provincial than most but not by much. I'd be shocked if the next Ohio State coach isn't an "Ohio State guy". Everyone talked about Michigan needing a "Michigan Man". It's a pretty common thing in coaching.
 

Dave H said:
Dick Bennett coached at Green Bay for a decade, won 2 conference titles and made the NCAAs 3 times. His resume runs circles around Tauer's.

Ryan is closer but also was an assistant at UW for almost a decade before moving on to coach Platteville.

Honest question...if Tauer was coaching a similar school on the East Coast would you even bring him up?
Click to expand...
No. An East Coast team also wouldn't have been interested in TJ. I'm sure there are coaches on the East Coast we wouldn't have any interest in.

I don't think anyone is arguing that the idea of Tauer coaching isn't persuaded by provincial notions, I think we're saying that's true for a ton of hires.
 


Bob_Loblaw said:
No. An East Coast team also wouldn't have been interested in TJ. I'm sure there are coaches on the East Coast we wouldn't have any interest in.

I don't think anyone is arguing that the idea of Tauer coaching isn't persuaded by provincial notions, I think we're saying that's true for a ton of hires.
Click to expand...
I dont disagree...but if you are going to hire provincial they need to be qualified. I gotta believe there is someone with local ties that is more qualified than Tauer. Bennett and Ryan were more qualified for a Big Ten job than Tauer is yet Bad Gopher is using them as examples of why Tauer is the right guy.

The point is, the only qualification Tauer seems to have is he is local. If his resume was blindly shown to us none of us would be itching for him to get the job. On the list of qualifications that is towards the bottom for me and should definitely be near the bottom for the U. Get the best coach who will take the job, dont settle just because we think no one wants the job. Tauer is settling at this point.
 

Dave H said:
Dick Bennett coached at Green Bay for a decade, won 2 conference titles and made the NCAAs 3 times. His resume runs circles around Tauer's.

Ryan is closer but also was an assistant at UW for almost a decade before moving on to coach Platteville.

Honest question...if Tauer was coaching a similar school on the East Coast would you even bring him up?
Click to expand...
Third question first. If I were an AD, I'd cast a wide net. I'd have intel from everywhere. I'd know what's out there, everywhere--not just the hot names but all the talent. That said, don't you think there were voices in the UW athletic department at the time saying the same things as you wrote? I do. Whatever happened in those processes, the right decisions were made by the people with the clearest heads. Coaching talent is coaching talent no matter where you find it. Tauer has unmistakable talent. Lastly, one reason for hiring Bennett and Ryan is that they were local and would be less likely to flee for a higher-profile program. That worked like a charm for them. That's part of why I've favored guys like Medved, Smith, Dutcher and Miles.

First two questions: no two resumes are identical, but there are more similarities than differences in the measures of most importance. I'd rate Tauer's time so far at UST since they went D1 as more impressive than Bennett's first few years at Green Bay.
 

USAF said:
The idea that Tauer wouldn't accept the Gopher job is batshit crazy.

For one thing, he'd get a pay raise on the order of, what? 2000 percent? 3000?
Click to expand...
If you read closely, you'll see that that's what I would do if I were him. I'm not him. I didn't say he wouldn't take the job. But it's not so crazy. Dennis Gates refused to even apply or interview for the job. This is not a very good situation right now.
 

Bad Gopher said:
Third question first. If I were an AD, I'd cast a wide net. I'd have intel from everywhere. I'd know what's out there, everywhere--not just the hot names but all the talent. That said, don't you think there were voices in the UW athletic department at the time saying the same things as you wrote? I do. Whatever happened in those processes, the right decisions were made by the people with the clearest heads. Coaching talent is coaching talent no matter where you find it. Tauer has unmistakable talent. Lastly, one reason for hiring Bennett and Ryan is that they were local and would be less likely to flee for a higher-profile program. That worked like a charm for them. That's part of why I've favored guys like Medved, Smith, Dutcher and Miles.

First two questions: no two resumes are identical, but there are more similarities than differences in the measures of most importance. I'd rate Tauer's time so far at UST since they went D1 as more impressive than Bennett's first few years at Green Bay.
Click to expand...
That is great...he can get the job in 8 years when he has proven something. It took Bennett 10 years at Green Bay to get the Madison job. You would have a point if Bennett got the job after a couple of years.

You want to cast a wide net but are advocating for a local guy who has proven very little. You sound like SON basically giving up on the idea of anyone wanting the job.

You have been around long enough to remember some of the ludicrous names people threw out for the football job post Brewster and really post Kill/Claeys before PJ took the job. No offense but that is how this idea sounds.
 

Dave H said:
That is great...he can get the job in 8 years when he has proven something. It took Bennett 10 years at Green Bay to get the Madison job. You would have a point if Bennett got the job after a couple of years.

You want to cast a wide net but are advocating for a local guy who has proven very little. You sound like SON basically giving up on the idea of anyone wanting the job.

You have been around long enough to remember some of the ludicrous names people threw out for the football job post Brewster and really post Kill/Claeys before PJ took the job. No offense but that is how this idea sounds.
Click to expand...
The guy is 52 years old. He'll be long gone to a better program before you would see fit to hire him. Good for you. You do you. But he ain't sitting by the phone waiting for a 612 number to come up. :LOL:
 

Roland Brooks said:
H

He could not coach out east with a UST degree…
Click to expand...

As a born and bred easterner, I resent that. On the whole, easterners are not exclusionary people. If you want to look at a region where "not from around here" leads to some acceptance issues, look to the south.
 

disco said:
Minnesotans are the most provincial group of people on the planet I swear. It's all about "one of us."

Might be the Sid effect.
Click to expand...
I guess it doesn't help that our two most successful pro coaches, Bud Grant and Tom Kelly, were also "one of us".
 

Bad Gopher said:
The guy is 52 years old. He'll be long gone to a better program before you would see fit to hire him. Good for you. You do you. But he ain't sitting by the phone waiting for a 612 number to come up. :LOL:
Click to expand...
You make it sound like the guy is John Wooden... what are you his agent? ;):ROFLMAO:

Is he even the best coach in The Summit?
 
Last edited:

You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom