Why do people keep bringing up the Minnesota kid thing? Our best player is a Minnesota kid who stayed home, the best one in over ten years. What program do people see that we want to emulate that is stocked substantially with homegrown talent? NONE.
I get it, MN high schools have been kicking out some talented players, and we've gotten some of them.
Getting more kids to want to stay home would be nice, but not at all a reason to hire a new coach- what about a new coach changes a kid's desire to play for a blueblood or to travel somewhere else (maybe warmer)? What credibility does a new coach, who just got here (from somewhere else) truly have when convincing a kid to stay home? Very little.
As for good players not from around here, Richard has done very well with some of those recruits. Murphy is a top10 gopher of all time who likely be hanging in rafters one day- do we really forget Richard found that kid and helped develop him? Who was the last all-time gopher great on our rosters? Why do people act like Murphy didn't exist and was 100% a Pitino find? Do we expect Richard to find a new Murphy every year? Is that realistic?
The only issue I have is that the barn and the product do feel stale- and a shot in the arm is probably not a bad thing for this program. But is that really enough? Aren't we likely to get the same result from the next guy as we've always gotten?