BleedGopher
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Pitino sure handles these questions well. Insightful, usually stays away from "coach speak," etc.
Q: This time last year, your team was 0-13 in the Big Ten and a lot of us were talking about the inevitability of you getting fired. Your message then was “wait until next year.” A lot of us rolled our eyes. Would you like to tell us all, “I told you so?”
A: You know, I don’t know. It is human nature to want to say that, but with that being said you’re only as good as your last game. My uncle, who used to work on Wall Street, used to say you’re only as good as your last trade. With sports, that’s the way it is. I try not to get into the “I told you so” mentality because as good as it feels to be on a four-game winning streak, we could lose one and everyone wants you fired again. It’s just the volatility of the profession. Last year was very difficult. We didn’t have a lot of allies, and I didn’t have a lot of allies. That comes with the territory. You just try to make your team better to the best of your ability.
Q: Speaking of allies: When we talked about nine months ago, it was on the heels of President Eric Kaler saying he was “profoundly disappointed” in your program as he introduced new athletic director Mark Coyle. How has your relationship with both Kaler and Coyle evolved in that time?
A: Well, the President has a whole university to run and I think in his ideal world the athletic director would deal with athletics because he has so much going on. I deal a lot with Mark Coyle, and he’s been phenomenal. We speak multiple times a day. When he got hired, I was really transparent about where I thought our program was at and where we were going. I understood he was walking into what might have appeared to be going on in our program, but I had great confidence we could turn it around. I communicated as much as I possibly could with him. Fortunately, it’s been able to materialize the way I hoped it could, though we still have a lot of basketball yet to play. But Mark has been awesome. Anything we need – we don’t ask for a lot – he tries to help and support as best he can.
Q: A lot of talk right now is fixated around making the NCAA tournament. I know coaches implore their teams to focus game-by-game, but maybe you could take the long view here. If this team gets into the tournament, how dangerous could you be?
A: I would just say the tournament is funny. It all really comes down to matchups. Any team that makes the tournament is dangerous because it’s difficult to get there. It does depend on matchups. But we’ll cross that bridge hopefully when we come to it. I think we’ve shown the ability to play with anybody, but we still have a ways to go from getting to play our best basketball. More than anything, we’ll just work on that this week and prepare for Michigan.
Q: The rule in Minnesota is that when a coach struggles we want them fired but when they succeed we worry they will leave. So I need to ask on behalf of any fans who have switched to the other side: how will you approach any inevitable chatter about job openings after this season?
A: Well, it’s like anything else. When everybody wants you fired, you do your best to ignore it. And then it works the other way, too. Two weeks ago, everyone wanted me fired again. I don’t think you can subscribe to all that. I will say this: I’m really excited about where we’re going, and I want to be a big part of it. We lose Akeem (Springs), but we get everybody else back plus Davonte and we’re excited about our recruiting class. I’m looking right now at a new practice facility that I just toured a couple days ago, so I think this thing can get to the next level. You have to remember, we built this team – and we haven’t arrived yet – without have a lot of great resources. Now that we’re getting those, I just think recruiting can really take off. At the end of the day, that’s what it comes down to. You’re looking at a great student-athlete experience that we’ve always had here. And that’s a major selling point for us. Now you add more than $100 million in facilities just for student-athletes. That’s going to add a great deal to the program. That’s something I’m extremely excited about selling going forward. We love it here. My family loves it here. We just want to keep building and hopefully moving forward with positive momentum.
http://www.startribune.com/sunday-q...-s-basketball-coach-richard-pitino/414170743/
Go Gophers!!
Q: This time last year, your team was 0-13 in the Big Ten and a lot of us were talking about the inevitability of you getting fired. Your message then was “wait until next year.” A lot of us rolled our eyes. Would you like to tell us all, “I told you so?”
A: You know, I don’t know. It is human nature to want to say that, but with that being said you’re only as good as your last game. My uncle, who used to work on Wall Street, used to say you’re only as good as your last trade. With sports, that’s the way it is. I try not to get into the “I told you so” mentality because as good as it feels to be on a four-game winning streak, we could lose one and everyone wants you fired again. It’s just the volatility of the profession. Last year was very difficult. We didn’t have a lot of allies, and I didn’t have a lot of allies. That comes with the territory. You just try to make your team better to the best of your ability.
Q: Speaking of allies: When we talked about nine months ago, it was on the heels of President Eric Kaler saying he was “profoundly disappointed” in your program as he introduced new athletic director Mark Coyle. How has your relationship with both Kaler and Coyle evolved in that time?
A: Well, the President has a whole university to run and I think in his ideal world the athletic director would deal with athletics because he has so much going on. I deal a lot with Mark Coyle, and he’s been phenomenal. We speak multiple times a day. When he got hired, I was really transparent about where I thought our program was at and where we were going. I understood he was walking into what might have appeared to be going on in our program, but I had great confidence we could turn it around. I communicated as much as I possibly could with him. Fortunately, it’s been able to materialize the way I hoped it could, though we still have a lot of basketball yet to play. But Mark has been awesome. Anything we need – we don’t ask for a lot – he tries to help and support as best he can.
Q: A lot of talk right now is fixated around making the NCAA tournament. I know coaches implore their teams to focus game-by-game, but maybe you could take the long view here. If this team gets into the tournament, how dangerous could you be?
A: I would just say the tournament is funny. It all really comes down to matchups. Any team that makes the tournament is dangerous because it’s difficult to get there. It does depend on matchups. But we’ll cross that bridge hopefully when we come to it. I think we’ve shown the ability to play with anybody, but we still have a ways to go from getting to play our best basketball. More than anything, we’ll just work on that this week and prepare for Michigan.
Q: The rule in Minnesota is that when a coach struggles we want them fired but when they succeed we worry they will leave. So I need to ask on behalf of any fans who have switched to the other side: how will you approach any inevitable chatter about job openings after this season?
A: Well, it’s like anything else. When everybody wants you fired, you do your best to ignore it. And then it works the other way, too. Two weeks ago, everyone wanted me fired again. I don’t think you can subscribe to all that. I will say this: I’m really excited about where we’re going, and I want to be a big part of it. We lose Akeem (Springs), but we get everybody else back plus Davonte and we’re excited about our recruiting class. I’m looking right now at a new practice facility that I just toured a couple days ago, so I think this thing can get to the next level. You have to remember, we built this team – and we haven’t arrived yet – without have a lot of great resources. Now that we’re getting those, I just think recruiting can really take off. At the end of the day, that’s what it comes down to. You’re looking at a great student-athlete experience that we’ve always had here. And that’s a major selling point for us. Now you add more than $100 million in facilities just for student-athletes. That’s going to add a great deal to the program. That’s something I’m extremely excited about selling going forward. We love it here. My family loves it here. We just want to keep building and hopefully moving forward with positive momentum.
http://www.startribune.com/sunday-q...-s-basketball-coach-richard-pitino/414170743/
Go Gophers!!
