Baby Pitino

[alduflux]

I'm curious on people's thoughts on Richard Pitino. Not as the next IU coach but just as a coach in general. I haven't paid much attention to him and am wondering what people think of him as a coach. For a moment try and ignore that his last name is Pitino. His record is as follows.

Minnesota Golden Gophers (Big Ten Conference) (2013–present)
2013–14 Minnesota 25–13 8–10 7th NIT Champions
2014–15 Minnesota 18–15 6–12 T–10th
2015–16 Minnesota 8–23 2–16 13th
2016–17 Minnesota 24–8 11–7 4th
Minnesota: 75–59 (.560) 27–45 (.375)

A couple things baffle me. His first year was decent. 7th in the B1G with an NIT championship. Then a significant drop for two years. Then a huge swing the next year 8-23 last year, 24-8 this year. Can anyone explain what happened here? Why the drop after a respectable first year? Is it a product of an unbalanced conference schedule? On paper it appeared as though he was about to lose his job, instead he wins coach of the year.

Finally, how long will he be coaching Minnesota?

 

[BigNutsIUFan]

I really dont know enough about their roster turnover to comment on the fallout the last couple of years. It was a huge turnaround this year though. Minnesota is a tough place to win IMO. If he continues to have sucess then a higher profile job is in his future. Maybe he can be his fathers successor at UL.

 

[TommyCracker]

I live in the twin cities and try to follow the Gophs.

I've always liked Baby Pitino and I think he's the real deal after watching what he's done with the talent that he has (I'm not a fan of his offense but his defense is top notch at the pace that they play).

Anyway, his roster has been an absolute mess the past couple of years. He lost over 50% of it due to injury and stupidity.

Plus he doesn't take any crap. Most of his roster losses were from players being stupid and him kicking them off (McNiel punched his girlfriend, a transfer who was expected to be a significant player was complaining about his minutes in an exhibition so Pitino kicked him off, Carlos Morris was a starter and was kicked off, Dorsey posted a sex video and Mason was involved and they were kicked off, etc).

Last year his roster rivaled our first year. All freshmen, walk one and one decent forward (already forgot his name).

Anyway, I like to think that he learned that he has to have big five conference talent so he grabbed a bunch of transfers to fill in the gaps (Reggie Lynch, Springs, Fitzgerald who was a projected starter but tore his leg up before the season) he recruited a local four star (Amir Coffey) and the young leftovers from last year (Jordan Murphy and McBrayer) had solid sophomore growth.

He also didn't kick Mason and Dorsey off the team, he just suspended them. He got Mason back who became a first team all conference.

Anyway, I still think he's going to be a very solid coach and I'd love to see what the can do with another talent infusion.

Amir Coffey was a huge recruit. The kind that can change a programs view from local kids. There's a lot of talent up here but they rarely stick around. There are a couple more five star kids coming up (Hurt and Jones).

 

[BoilerGal74]

I'm curious on people's thoughts on Richard Pitino. Not as the next IU coach but just as a coach in general. I haven't paid much attention to him and am wondering what people think of him as a coach. For a moment try and ignore that his last name is Pitino. His record is as follows.

Minnesota Golden Gophers (Big Ten Conference) (2013–present)
2013–14 Minnesota 25–13 8–10 7th NIT Champions
2014–15 Minnesota 18–15 6–12 T–10th
2015–16 Minnesota 8–23 2–16 13th
2016–17 Minnesota 24–8 11–7 4th
Minnesota: 75–59 (.560) 27–45 (.375)

A couple things baffle me. His first year was decent. 7th in the B1G with an NIT championship. Then a significant drop for two years. Then a huge swing the next year 8-23 last year, 24-8 this year. Can anyone explain what happened here? Why the drop after a respectable first year? Is it a product of an unbalanced conference schedule? On paper it appeared as though he was about to lose his job, instead he wins coach of the year.

Finally, how long will he be coaching Minnesota?

I know some of it was bad seeds on the team...After finally kicking them off here they come this year. Am being told be friend up there he is well liked.

 

[Optimist13]

Blending in new players each season will be his success or failure.