Why? I'm being honest here, and totally logical. Why would he want to leave Minnesota?
What coaching position out there has a bigger upset than Minnesota, while having such a small downside???
I don't care if Syracuse came begging, or Louisville, or UCLA, or Kentucky, or Florida, or Texas, or Indiana, or MSU, or UNC or Duke.
The upside at those places are there, obviously, those are some of the best cbb programs in the country.
But the upside at those places is not even close to guaranteed, and it may take another building process, even at the places with good athletes on their rosters, because of issues like egos, chemistry, one and doners, style of play, etc..
And the downside at EVERY SINGLE ONE of those places is HUGE compared to Minnesota.
Pitino has the best job in all of cbb RIGHT NOW.
Great recruits coming up locally, great young talent all in place already, ALL of whom he recruited. Brand new 100 million dollar facility almost completed, best conference to be in because of the BTN, the great academics, and the conference's tradition and history even, but maybe most importantly, the weakness of the conference at this present time means a program like Minnesota could simply take over, could become the next Wisconsin/MSU of the conference, for the next 20 years, if not longer?!
REMEMBER, Minnesota once led the nation in cbb attendance. The fans are out there, simply waiting for a winner to come along. Maybe our Arena's capacity won't allow us to lead the nation in attendance right now, but its still a classic Arena, and if Pitino brings us a Final Four or a Natl Title, then watch a new CBB Arena be the next big building project, with a much larger capacity.
And what Minnesota and the B1G conference offers Pitino that no other school does, is HIS OWN LEGACY, even LEGENDARY STATUS. Why would he want to take over for his father and step into his father's shadow? The ACC would be a tough place for a new coach to establish himself. Why would he want to take over any other ACC program and compete against his father? Why would he go somewhere where the pressure to win is far greater and the fans are far less patient?
And money can't be an issue, if he succeeds here, he'll get paid well.
If he goes to some blue blood school and does well, he'll just be another in a long line of great coaches. And it will be the university that looks good, as much as he will. Here at Minnesota, as unfair as it would be to Minnesota, HE, Pitino, would look like 100% of the reason he succeeded.
And he'll have a head start on Fleck, so he could become the Big Man on campus and the pressure would be on Fleck to match Pitino's success.
My guess is Pitino will be on his 3rd or 4th Big Ten title by the time Fleck wins his first. Now I hope I'm wrong about that, and not because of Pitino coming up short of my expectations.