Reports: Pitino to Minnesota

[pearl31]

Richard Pitino, that is

 

[SWFLCUSE]

That's a shocker. In his one year at fiu I was not impressed, but I guess the name will get you far,

 

[Lawrinson14]

i was very impressed with pitino the younger. He was 1 game away from taking his FIU team to the tournament.

 

[HarrisonJBounel]

Richard Pitino, that is

Boeheim's coaching tree continues to expand.

Most of it, however, seems to be branching from Pitino.

 

[HarrisonJBounel]

That's a shocker. In his one year at fiu I was not impressed, but I guess the name will get you far,

Maybe Minnesota is hoping it will confuse the new recruits.

"And you'll get to play for Coach Rick Pitino!"

 

[cliftonparksufan]

This is somewhat of a stretch hire, but most of Rick's coaching tree has done pretty well. They really put the pressure on Tubby so I would imagine that there will be equal pressure on little Ricky. I would have to believe that some fans were upset that Tubby was fired, although I could be wrong.

 

[edowd26]

I really feel like this is a bad pick... but i've been wrong once before.

 

[pearl31]

This is somewhat of a stretch hire, but most of Rick's coaching tree has done pretty well. They really put the pressure on Tubby so I would imagine that there will be equal pressure on little Ricky. I would have to believe that some fans were upset that Tubby was fired, although I could be wrong.

You're not wrong (I'm an alum and have lived in Minneapolis for several years) - most knew it was probably time for him to go (myself included) but at the same time, those of us who understand the reality knew that Minny wasn't going to be able to do better than Tubby. Case in point with today's hire.

 

[SUintheVille]

Boeheim's coaching tree continues to expand.

Would that be something like Boeheim's grandcoach?

 

[LennX6]

This is somewhat of a stretch hire, but most of Rick's coaching tree has done pretty well. They really put the pressure on Tubby so I would imagine that there will be equal pressure on little Ricky. I would have to believe that some fans were upset that Tubby was fired, although I could be wrong.

I think the Tubby situation will evolve similar to Coach P here. It will look WAY different 5yrs out than it will at the present time.

 

[cliftonparksufan]

I think the Tubby situation will evolve similar to Coach P here. It will look WAY different 5yrs out than it will at the present time.

So are you comparing little Ricky to GRob.

 

[RF2044]

I think the Tubby situation will evolve similar to Coach P here. It will look WAY different 5yrs out than it will at the present time.

I'm not so sure. I also live in Minneapolis--not a Gopher fan by any means, but work with lots of people who are, and follow the program indirectly. They are stale in a variety of contexts. Tubby has a losing conference record, their facilities are way behind par, and recruiting is a concern. There are three top 75 [two top 25] recruits in the junior class, and the local skuttlebutt is that all three are expected to head abroad.

Obviously, the expectations are different at Minnesota than they were at UK, but the end result is similar: he is a lousy offensive coach, and his teams are hard to watch. I think any fanbase would accept that if he won, but he doesn't win enough to make people overlook the ugly product. Heightening the dissatisfaction is that they started out very promisingly this year, but then crapped out the last half of the season. Winning against Indiana late in the year actually makes the fanbase more frustrated, and feeling like this year's team was capable of doing more / performing better.

It is debatable whether the U can do "better" than Tubby, who was something of a name brand, but the team wasn't showing that they could compete in the B1G consistently. Now, the way that Tubby was fired, you would have expected that they'd have a top candidate lined up [Shaka Smart was the big name in the Twin Cities, given his connection to the new AD]. But after getting turned down by several candidates [including alum / former NBA coach Flip Saunders], I don't know how much better they could expect to do. Seems to me like their option was stick with Tubby on a path that didn't seem to be going anywhere, or gamble on a lesser name / unproven commodity like the younger Pitino--because given the facility issues, etc. it is hard to envision that they would be able to land a top young coach.

 

[pearl31]

good take RF, I just have doubts that the donors that matter are going to be willing to shell out the necessary $$ (for practice facility, etc) for this hire - not that they would have been if Tubby stayed either. I guess the AD was/is in a tough spot.
Bottom line is that this ain't a basketball town or state and people around here need to realize it. Perhaps making the tourney and winning a game is just the best that's possible at Minny. He11, Northwestern, Nebraska, Penn St. and even Iowa would kill for that.