Who should be our next Coach?

Who should be the next Gophers Coach?


  • Total voters
    78
  • Poll closed .
Grand Slam Tier: Eric Musselman

Home Run Tier: Chris Holtmann, Craig Smith, Wes Miller

Solid Double Tier: Brian Dutcher Niko Medved, Pat Kelsey, Darian DeVries

Hi Floor/Low ceiling retread: Tim Miles, Anthony Grant, Travis Ford, Mike Brey

The rest: Mike Rhoades, Dusty May, Leon Rice, Ryan Odom
I really don’t get your Craig smith love
 




He's a solid coach who rebuilt USD and Utah State and is well on the way at Utah. And he actually wants this job.
I agree with most of that. But he is far from a home run or guaranteed success
 




Shooter chimes in:

>> The Gophers men’s basketball program isn’t expected to make a head coaching change this year, but the name that is continually whispered as a future candidate is Utah’s Craig Smith, 50, who is from Stephen, Minn., population 583.

>> Gophers basketball coach Ben Johnson’s contract runs through the 2026-27 season. Firing him after this season would cost the university $7.8 million.
Coaching, by the way, isn’t the Gophers’ problem – it’s lack of talent.

>> Arkansas men’s basketball coach Eric Musselman, who had been scheduled for an interview for the Gophers job that Richard Pitino ended up with in 2013, has achieved 200 college victories in 269 games.


Go Gophers!!
 




There are no guarantees. Hiring a promising current power 6 coach is a home run though IMO.
He is in his second year at a power 6 and has failed to make an ncaa tourney

14-24 in probably the worst of the 6 power 6 conferences.

Just going to have to disagree with you.
He is the exact same hire he would’ve been 2 years ago. He wouldn’t have been a home run two years ago.


To me, he would be underwhelming. Would be better than Johnson….probably would get fired in year 5 instead of year 3….(which is why I liked the Johnson hire more than smith two years ago…I stated we will have an easier time firing him faster). My expectations are probably too high.
 
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He is in his second year at a power 6 and has failed to make an ncaa tourney

14-24 in probably the worst of the 6 power 6 conferences.

Just going to have to disagree with you.
He is the exact same hire he would’ve been 2 years ago. He wouldn’t have been a home run two years ago.


To me, he would be underwhelming. Would be better than Johnson….probably would get fired in year 5 instead of year 3….(which is why I liked the Johnson hire more than smith two years ago…I stated we will have an easier time firing him faster). My expectations are probably too high.
You'll never convince me he's not a remarkable coach. He had Utah State in the top 20, not to mention in the NCAAs. That's not unlike what Clem did at WKU before we hired him. His last Utah State team out-rebounded every one of their opponents. You think that happens by accident? You know how many games the Gophers would have won this year with that kind of rebounding prowess? My guess would be more.

There are never any guarantees, but if you want to make a bet of some serious money on Utah basketball's success in the coming few years, PM me.
 
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Shooter chimes in:

>> The Gophers men’s basketball program isn’t expected to make a head coaching change this year, but the name that is continually whispered as a future candidate is Utah’s Craig Smith, 50, who is from Stephen, Minn., population 583.

>> Gophers basketball coach Ben Johnson’s contract runs through the 2026-27 season. Firing him after this season would cost the university $7.8 million.
Coaching, by the way, isn’t the Gophers’ problem – it’s lack of talent.

>> Arkansas men’s basketball coach Eric Musselman, who had been scheduled for an interview for the Gophers job that Richard Pitino ended up with in 2013, has achieved 200 college victories in 269 games.


Go Gophers!!

Well, we should seriously pump the brakes now... Shooter says coaching isn't the Gophers problem.

h5jqm.jpg
 

I had the exact same thought. Pay whatever she asks.

Well the last time we hired a guy who had never been the head coach of D1 men's basketball team, we might as well hire someone who has never even been an assistant on one.

Playing politics helped get us here, we might as well keep going I guess.
 





I'm with ya. Dutcher doesn't get enough credit. He's a guy who simply does it, year after year, sustainably. Age hasn't seemed to slow him down. In that respect, he's Scotty Bowman, who could've kept succeeding into his 90s if he'd wanted to.

When the Gophs hired Clem, he had WKU in the top 20. Who does that?! He did that. Who's doing that today? Who has a team in a lesser league perennially ranked? I can only think of two off the top of my head: Mark Few and Brian Dutcher. One is unavailable. The other has an out clause in his contract in case the Gophers come calling. Fuckin' A, people.
Yet, mn administration hired cbj.
 



I'm famously a big fan of Coach Smith, but I'd be very surprised if he were gettable at this point. He's two years into building something at a P6 school, and Salt Lake City is a great place to live. As much as I like the guy, we should just leave him alone now.
 
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Who you got?
I’ve got no one.
And I don’t need to have one to say that a guy who has been to 3 ncaa tourneys in 10 years as a head coach with zero NCAA tourney wins isn’t a home run.

He would be a solid get. I wouldn’t be mad about the hire. I wouldn’t be too excited either.
I’m guessing most of the people who would get me excited are off the table due to being out of Minnesota’s price range.

If he is a home run there are a lot of home runs out there. (They just don’t happen to have Dakota connections).
 

"Home run" is kinda hand-wavy of a term.

I think people would be doing backflips over a "double" compared to what we have now.
 

You'll never convince me he's not a remarkable coach. He had Utah State in the top 20, not to mention in the NCAAs. That's not unlike what Clem did at WKU before we hired him. His last Utah State team out-rebounded every one of their opponents. You think that happens by accident? You know how many games the Gophers would have won this year with that kind of rebounding prowess? My guess would be more.

There are never any guarantees, but if you want to make a bet of some serious money on Utah basketball's success in the coming few years, PM me.
He has won the same number of NCAA tourney games as a head coach has Ben Johnson.
And he only has coached in 3 more as a head coach than Ben Johnson.

If he didn’t have a Dakota connection this board wouldn’t even know who he was.
 

He has won the same number of NCAA tourney games as a head coach has Ben Johnson.
And he only has coached in 3 more as a head coach than Ben Johnson.

If he didn’t have a Dakota connection this board wouldn’t even know who he was.
Oh boy....
 

He has won the same number of NCAA tourney games as a head coach has Ben Johnson.
And he only has coached in 3 more as a head coach than Ben Johnson.

If he didn’t have a Dakota connection this board wouldn’t even know who he was.
No one has to love Craig Smith to get that Ben Johnson needs to be fired, indecision about the next move shouldn't cloud the obvious first move.
 

No one has to love Craig Smith to get that Ben Johnson needs to be fired, indecision about the next move shouldn't cloud the obvious first move.
I don’t disagree with you.
I don’t think it will happen until spring 2024 though.
 

He has won the same number of NCAA tourney games as a head coach has Ben Johnson.
And he only has coached in 3 more as a head coach than Ben Johnson.
This just seems like an easy position that you latched onto because it's easy to defend.

I don't see where you've actually proven that this matters.
 




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