What is the benefit to allowing Pitino to finish the season?

[nitramnaed]

If we gutted the program.
Hired Beilien.

Would he have a chance at 7 of the 9 MN kids in 22?

I just don't see Coyle hiring Beilien.

 

[MNVCGUY]

Only thing I can think of is we got Michigan, Ohio, St, and Iowa on bad days when we played our very best. Don't think there is much else you can say as good teams don't go 3-10 after a win like that.

Honestly the fact that we blew out the likes of Michigan, Ohio State and Iowa is the biggest indictment of Pitino. Clearly there is talent on the roster and on any given day, if the stars align perfectly, they can hang with the best teams in the country right now.

Unfortunately, most of the time they play like a bunch of pickup players who just want to stand outside and jack up 3s even though they are not good at it.....at all....I mean this team is really really really bad at shooting 3s. And yet we have the most 3 point attempts in the Big Ten.

No coach in their right mind would be encouraging this group to keep shooting 3s. And based on Pitino's post game comments they are trying to get the team to shoot fewer 3s. And yet game after game they go out there and just keep putting them up, meaning the players don't give a damn what the coaches are saying.

Honest question - what is the identity of the Gopher Basketball team? I have no clue, and after 8+ years with the same coach that should not be the case. It will be shocking if a change isn't made at the end of the season.

 

[SoMpls]

no no no.... no Tim Miles, never

Unfortunately it’s not a great job right now and the Gophers aren’t going to pay a top-level coach. Miles succeeded everywhere except Nebraska where nobody has succeeded ever... they can’t afford Belien and the Medved’s of the world aren’t coming. Why leave a stable program? Gophers don’t have the money to attract up and coming MM coaches.

 

[whalenfan]

Unfortunately it’s not a great job right now and the Gophers aren’t going to pay a top-level coach. Miles succeeded everywhere except Nebraska where nobody has succeeded ever... they can’t afford Belien and the Medved’s of the world aren’t coming. Why leave a stable program? Gophers don’t have the money to attract up and coming MM coaches.

Medved would take this job in a second, Gophers have plenty of money for up and coming MM coaches. Craig Smith makes 700k a year, Gates makes around 280k a year, Medved makes 750k, your telling me they wouldnt come here for 2 million? come on man

 

[Otis]

Honestly the fact that we blew out the likes of Michigan, Ohio State and Iowa is the biggest indictment of Pitino. Clearly there is talent on the roster and on any given day, if the stars align perfectly, they can hang with the best teams in the country right now.

Unfortunately, most of the time they play like a bunch of pickup players who just want to stand outside and jack up 3s even though they are not good at it.....at all....I mean this team is really really really bad at shooting 3s. And yet we have the most 3 point attempts in the Big Ten.

No coach in their right mind would be encouraging this group to keep shooting 3s. And based on Pitino's post game comments they are trying to get the team to shoot fewer 3s. And yet game after game they go out there and just keep putting them up, meaning the players don't give a damn what the coaches are saying.

Honest question - what is the identity of the Gopher Basketball team? I have no clue, and after 8+ years with the same coach that should not be the case. It will be shocking if a change isn't made at the end of the season.

This is why we need a coach with big enough balls to bench players who do not follow his instructions.

We need SAM CASSEL!!!

 

[DanvilleGopher]

Richard Pitino - Wikipedia

classic.

" He is known for his inability to effectively coach teams, especially in second half play. His last name is the sole reason he maintains his job at the University of Minnesota"

WOW... that is amazing!

It 'truly' does say that! I wonder if the person who wrote this is a Gopher fan? Seems very personal to add something like that.

No, I didn't write it BUT if that was my job, what was written does get directly to the sum of my thoughts.

 

[Otis]

WOW... that is amazing!

It 'truly' does say that! I wonder if the person who wrote this is a Gopher fan? Seems very personal to add something like that.

No, I didn't write it BUT if that was my job, what was written does get directly to the sum of my thoughts.

anyone can post on wikipedia

 

[MNVCGUY]

This is why we need a coach with big enough balls to bench players who do not follow his instructions.

We need SAM CASSEL!!!

Classic. I suppose much if it has to do with limited options but it is shocking that he doesn't bench guys that are unwilling to listen to instructions. Granted it was only middle school basketball but when I had a player who was determined to take bad shots and not listen to instructions, he quickly found his way to the bench.

 

[Mulligan]

This is why we need a coach with big enough balls to bench players who do not follow his instructions.

We need SAM CASSEL!!!

If you remember, he was hurt after that. The theory was/is that he suffered the injury doing the "Big Balls." It cost the Wolves their best chance to win an NBA title.

 

[Otis]

Classic. I suppose much if it has to do with limited options but it is shocking that he doesn't bench guys that are unwilling to listen to instructions. Granted it was only middle school basketball but when I had a player who was determined to take bad shots and not listen to instructions, he quickly found his way to the bench.

In HS, I got doubled on the baseline behind the basket. Out of options and up by 15pts, I decided to take a shot I practiced all the time and shot the ball over the backboard and scored!

The home crowd went crazy! I had a huge smile! I heard the whistle blow and I headed directly to the bench.

All my coach said was, "Don't ever do something like that on my basketball court again."

 

[Cayman]

I don't see any benefit to firing him with three games left in the regular season, other than the fact we're all extremely upset. This team has been straight-bad for going on six weeks now, so even If RP was relieved of his duties tomorrow, I'd have a real hard time believing an interim coach is gonna step in and turn things around by Saturday, or next week. This team to me looks done, and maybe they should be.

Absent some kind of scandal, the thing about firing a coach in-season is that there's a real stigma attached to that, as in tit gives the unmistakeable impression that hings are so bad or so out of control that there is simply no other option than to fire your coach and turn things over to an interim. Far moreso than firing a guy after the season, that kind of thing tends to stick to a coach for awhile, as it's embarrassing and humiliating to be let go before your season has even finished, and I wouldn't wish to do that to Pitino. I bear him no personal animosity or ill-will at all, in fact I wish him nothing but success wherever he might go. He seems quite the likeable guy, he's got a young family, young children, and other than the results on the basketball court, I feel he's represented this university this university quite well. He's just not been a very good basketball coach for us, that's all. And honestly, it's not his fault that he wasn't let go years ago. That's on the administration which chose to retain him in spite of all the struggles.

So let him finish it out, spend these last few weeks with his team, and then move on to a fresh start for all parties. That's at least what I would like to see.

Agree 100%. People only want a midseason firing to satisfy their immediate fan rage after a bad loss. Agree with the stigma attached to coaches that get fired midseason. I've gotten the impression that it only happens to coaches who are like next level terrible, and maybe have other off the court stuff going on as well. When Brewster was fired midseason, the team was 1-6 and I think there were problems with academic progress and players having run-ins with the law on top of that. I don't think Pitino is part of any cheating or player abuse scandals, there really haven't been any character issues since Lynch in 2018. Pitino's only crime here is not winning enough basketball games, and this won't even be his worst season here in terms of wins and losses. He took a team projected to finish toward the bottom of the conference, had them looking much better than most expected them to about halfway through the season, and will probably end up finishing toward the bottom of the conference. Disappointing for sure, but that doesn't make him some sort of disgusting stain on our program that we need to start cleansing as soon as humanly possible.

Jim Christian, who was fired midseason at BC, was 3-13 overall and 1-9 in the ACC for reference, compared to Pitino's current 13-11/6-11 record.

 

[Cayman]

WOW... that is amazing!

It 'truly' does say that! I wonder if the person who wrote this is a Gopher fan? Seems very personal to add something like that.

No, I didn't write it BUT if that was my job, what was written does get directly to the sum of my thoughts.

Here's an edit someone made to Bo Ryan's Wikipedia page after they lost to Marshall Henderson and Ole Miss in the 2013 NCAA Tournament.

Bo Ryan's Wikipedia page may not be accurate

When fans get angry over first-round exits, fans take to Wikipedia

www.sbnation.com

 

[short ornery norwegian]

Best Wiki Edit since the Wikipedia entry on "Bermuda Shorts" included the following note:

Dan Barreiro was fired from the Dallas Morning News for wearing Bermuda Shorts.

Which is apparently some running joke involving Barreiro.

 

[matt]

This is a question of retaining or firing a bad coach. The buyout is set by contractual terms that existed before the pandemic. Why would the U be excoriated more for firing a coach who doesn't deserve to continue in the job and paying a $1.75 million contractual buyout than for retaining the coach and paying him $2.2 million per year even though he is bad at his job?

The fact of the matter is that most people who care about U of M basketball want him gone and would welcome the firing. The people who don't care about U of M basketball might be mildly irritated for a brief moment and then they'll move on to something else.

Have you met people? Have you ever looked at the comments section of the Strib? The fact of the matter is that most people who are taxpayers in the State of Minnesota that read a headline about the University choosing to pay a $1.75 million buyout won’t consider the cost and benefit of all available options. They will simply see that the University has chosen to pay a $1.75 million buyout, and they will have vocal opinions about that. You might not care about that but I am sure the University President (and therefore Mark Coyle) are also considering that.

 

[Ope3]

I just don't see Coyle hiring Beilien.

Beilein has won a lot at Williams Arena, with both Richmond and Michigan.

To the OP, one reason to let Pitino hang around through the end of the year is the buyout goes down from $1.75 Million to $1 Million on April 1, per the Mackey/Judd/Reusse podcast.

 

[McDobb4BB]

I wasn't aware of the buyout dropping by $750K on April 1 ... from my perspective, you don't fire him until then and pay the $1M.

 

[jeff111]

According to this article from when he got the extension, it only drops from 1.75 to 1.5 if you wait until April 30th. I wouldn't wait that long for $250K.

Richard Pitino agrees to two-year extension with Gophers | FOX Sports

 

[McDobb4BB]

Does anyone have the a link to information regarding his buyout ... after my last post, I diid some searching and all I could find is that it is $1.75 with no drop to $1M on April 1.

 

[howeda7]

Unfortunately it’s not a great job right now and the Gophers aren’t going to pay a top-level coach. Miles succeeded everywhere except Nebraska where nobody has succeeded ever... they can’t afford Belien and the Medved’s of the world aren’t coming. Why leave a stable program? Gophers don’t have the money to attract up and coming MM coaches.

This is such defeatism. Medved wouldn't take this job? Come on. We don't know what all the openings are yet, but this is a better job than BC or DePaul etc. We're already paying $2.5 million. That could easily land any of the Mountain West coaches. Beilein might be out of our range, but not necessarily. Tubby made top 20 salaries his first few years here.

 

[howeda7]

Beilein has won a lot at Williams Arena, with both Richmond and Michigan.

To the OP, one reason to let Pitino hang around through the end of the year is the buyout goes down from $1.75 Million to $1 Million on April 1, per the Mackey/Judd/Reusse podcast.

I'm pretty sure that's wrong. It does down, but not until 4/30 and then only by $250K. A coach would never agree to a buyout that drops on 4/1 for this exact reason. Most teams aren't going to wait until 5/1 to hire a new coach because the best candidates will all have new jobs already.

 

[DanvilleGopher]

Here's an edit someone made to Bo Ryan's Wikipedia page after they lost to Marshall Henderson and Ole Miss in the 2013 NCAA Tournament.

Bo Ryan's Wikipedia page may not be accurate

When fans get angry over first-round exits, fans take to Wikipedia

www.sbnation.com

That's great. It's amazing how he really does look like the Grinch.

Guess I'm the only idiot who didn't know anyone could write these as long as they passed a quick review.
View attachment 11826

 

[CentralGopher]

Honestly the fact that we blew out the likes of Michigan, Ohio State and Iowa is the biggest indictment of Pitino. Clearly there is talent on the roster and on any given day, if the stars align perfectly, they can hang with the best teams in the country right now.

Unfortunately, most of the time they play like a bunch of pickup players who just want to stand outside and jack up 3s even though they are not good at it.....at all....I mean this team is really really really bad at shooting 3s. And yet we have the most 3 point attempts in the Big Ten.

No coach in their right mind would be encouraging this group to keep shooting 3s. And based on Pitino's post game comments they are trying to get the team to shoot fewer 3s. And yet game after game they go out there and just keep putting them up, meaning the players don't give a damn what the coaches are saying.

Honest question - what is the identity of the Gopher Basketball team? I have no clue, and after 8+ years with the same coach that should not be the case. It will be shocking if a change isn't made at the end of the season.

Pitino of all people should understand this as well and expect it coming.

 

[Ope3]

I'm pretty sure that's wrong. It does down, but not until 4/30 and then only by $250K. A coach would never agree to a buyout that drops on 4/1 for this exact reason. Most teams aren't going to wait until 5/1 to hire a new coach because the best candidates will all have new jobs already.

I don't disagree, I was just repeating what Reusse said. Re-listening he did preface it with, "...err something like that".

My bad, for taking information as factual.

 

[SelectionSunday]

Let's play what if.

So let's say (as expected) Coyle makes a move. And though we know there'd be major roster turnover with a new coach, for the sake of argument let's say everyone decides to return, including Carr and the two seniors (Curry & Johnson).

The question is, which guys on the current roster would you want on the roster next season with a new coach? Hopefully one that can get more out of them than Pitino has. I'll start us.

Carr
Johnson
Kalscheur (I know Gabe's not a favorite, but I still value his contributions)
Mashburn
Robbins

I think all 5 of these guys have Big Ten talent(s).

That's it. The rest of the roster, let the new coach go to work building it. Remember, college basketball is out & out free agency now, so it doesn't have to take 3-5 years to "rebuild" anymore.

 

[bga1]

According to this article from when he got the extension, it only drops from 1.75 to 1.5 if you wait until April 30th. I wouldn't wait that long for $250K.

Richard Pitino agrees to two-year extension with Gophers | FOX Sports

Fire him after the last game- effective April 30th or whatever the contract date is. He gets the smaller payout and you can publicly search for a new coach. The more I think about it, the more I think that the classy move is to wait until the end of the year. Otherwise you get bad press.

 

[howeda7]

Fire him after the last game- effective April 30th or whatever the contract date is. He gets the smaller payout and you can publicly search for a new coach. The more I think about it, the more I think that the classy move is to wait until the end of the year. Otherwise you get bad press.

I don't think they can get away with that. The buyout drops on 4/30 for a reason. And even if they can, his salary is ~200K per month, so firing him on 3/15 or keeping him 45 days to get a lower buyout is close to a wash.

 

[bga1]

Let's play what if.

So let's say (as expected) Coyle makes a move. And though we know there'd be major roster turnover with a new coach, for the sake of argument let's say everyone decides to return, including Carr and the two seniors (Curry & Johnson).

The question is, which guys on the current roster would you want on the roster next season with a new coach? I'll start us.

Carr
Johnson
Kalscheur (I know Gabe's not a favorite, but I still value his contributions)
Mashburn
Robbins

I think all 5 of these guys have Big Ten talent(s).

That's it. The rest of the roster, let the new coach go to work building it. Remember, college basketball is out & out free agency now, so it doesn't have to take 3-5 years to "rebuild" anymore.

I think Mitchell and Freeman are still keepers. Ihnen? So much talent...but it is a question whether he has the instinct to be coached up at the level he needs to be. I sure wish we could have held on to Mutaf. Maybe playing him more, on a team that shoots 29% from 3 point range, would have been a good idea....

 

[matt]

I think Mitchell and Freeman are still keepers. Ihnen? So much talent...but it is a question whether he has the instinct to be coached up at the level he needs to be. I sure wish we could have held on to Mutaf. Maybe playing him more, on a team that shoots 29% from 3 point range, would have been a good idea....

I agree with Mitchell. He is intriguing and only a freshman, so I would definitely like to see him stick around.

 

[Bad Gopher]

Let's play what if.

So let's say (as expected) Coyle makes a move. And though we know there'd be major roster turnover with a new coach, for the sake of argument let's say everyone decides to return, including Carr and the two seniors (Curry & Johnson).

The question is, which guys on the current roster would you want on the roster next season with a new coach? Hopefully one that can get more out of them than Pitino has. I'll start us.

Carr
Johnson
Kalscheur (I know Gabe's not a favorite, but I still value his contributions)
Mashburn
Robbins

I think all 5 of these guys have Big Ten talent(s).

That's it. The rest of the roster, let the new coach go to work building it. Remember, college basketball is out & out free agency now, so it doesn't have to take 3-5 years to "rebuild" anymore.

Freeman and Williams definitely. Both can do some things. Tre has had some really nice moments from time to time.

 

[GoodasGold]

Chad Hartman