Pitino out at Minnesota?

#2      
I’ve seen a couple articles now coming across my Google feed speculating that Pitino might be out at the end of season. Can anyone corroborate?

I do think he’s the epitome of a coach that was born on third base, but don’t think it’s fair to fire him after injuries to Robbins and Kalchauer. If those two are healthy they are a tournament team easily and a tough out IMO.
 
Last edited:
#5      
I think that would be a mistake by Minny, unless they have some grand slam hire lined up, but no clue who that could possibly be.
 
#8      

Deleted member 747671

D
Guest
Pitino was a questionable hire at best at the time. He has barely been hanging on, seemingly putting together "just good enough" seasons at just the right time. I'm sure they could do better. For our sake, I hope he stays.
 
#10      
Pitino was a questionable hire at best at the time. He has barely been hanging on, seemingly putting together "just good enough" seasons at just the right time. I'm sure they could do better. For our sake, I hope he stays.

I'm not so sure Minnesota could do better. The only time Minnesota has advanced to the 2nd weekend of the NCAA tournament in the last 30 years, they were guilty of major violations.
 
#11      

whatahack

St. Peters MO
Kansas State Coach?

tenor (1).gif


Sorry...couldn't pass up the opportunity
 
#14      

Epsilon

M tipping over
Pdx
Maybe they've got a feeler out to the Iona coach.

With a tournament bid on the line, they got drubbed by us then lost to the three worst teams in the league. Tough to come back from that.
Funny you mention Iona. This writer talks about potential replacements and his Dad is an honorable mention on that list. That would be just too hilarious for words.


edit: check out the buy out clause mentioned for Brian Dutcher (SDSU hc). $7mm unless he goes to Minnesota. Then it’s only $1mm. Smoke?
 
Last edited:
#17      
Funny you mention Iona. This writer talks about potential replacements and his Dad is an honorable mention on that list. That would be just too hilarious for words.


edit: check out the buy out clause mentioned for Brian Dutcher (SDSU hc). $7mm unless he goes to Minnesota. Then it’s only $1mm. Smoke?
"Ya see, the problem wasn't that we hired the son of a prominent coach, we just should have hired the son of a Minnesota coach." Actually, Brian Dutcher has a strong resume on his own and would be worthy of strong consideration even if his father never coached there.
 
#19      
Pitinio's only made the tourney twice in 8 seasons. 1-2 in the tourney. 20-win seasons only 3 times. He replaced Tubby Smith who went to the tourney 3 times in 6 years and won 20+ 5 of his 6 years and never had a losing record.

Pitino was supposed to take Minnesota to the next level and he's clearly set them back from where they were under Smith. He's been there about 3 years longer than he would have been tolerated here at Illinois.
 
#20      
Pitinio's only made the tourney twice in 8 seasons. 1-2 in the tourney. 20-win seasons only 3 times. He replaced Tubby Smith who went to the tourney 3 times in 6 years and won 20+ 5 of his 6 years and never had a losing record.

Pitino was supposed to take Minnesota to the next level and he's clearly set them back from where they were under Smith. He's been there about 3 years longer than he would have been tolerated here at Illinois.
And there three years longer than if, dare I say, his last name wasn't Pitino.
 
#21      
Pitinio's only made the tourney twice in 8 seasons. 1-2 in the tourney. 20-win seasons only 3 times. He replaced Tubby Smith who went to the tourney 3 times in 6 years and won 20+ 5 of his 6 years and never had a losing record.

Pitino was supposed to take Minnesota to the next level and he's clearly set them back from where they were under Smith. He's been there about 3 years longer than he would have been tolerated here at Illinois.

He’s been there 8 years?!?!
 
#22      

Epsilon

M tipping over
Pdx
Pitinio's only made the tourney twice in 8 seasons. 1-2 in the tourney. 20-win seasons only 3 times. He replaced Tubby Smith who went to the tourney 3 times in 6 years and won 20+ 5 of his 6 years and never had a losing record.

Pitino was supposed to take Minnesota to the next level and he's clearly set them back from where they were under Smith. He's been there about 3 years longer than he would have been tolerated here at Illinois.
I never understood their firing of Smith. It was like MN got too big for their britches. Without doing research I feel like they never went too deep with Smith, but you have to go pretty far back to find an era when MN enjoyed sustained success.
 
#23      
Pitinio's only made the tourney twice in 8 seasons. 1-2 in the tourney. 20-win seasons only 3 times. He replaced Tubby Smith who went to the tourney 3 times in 6 years and won 20+ 5 of his 6 years and never had a losing record.

Pitino was supposed to take Minnesota to the next level and he's clearly set them back from where they were under Smith. He's been there about 3 years longer than he would have been tolerated here at Illinois.

Minnesota was never even a single digit seed under Tubby (10,11,11). Pitino had one of his most promising seasons wiped out by injuries and off the court issues out of his control. Was he a great coach? Obviously not. But he got Minnesota a 5 seed in 2017. That was their 3rd highest seed ever, and 2nd highest if you take away the vacated 1 seed in 1997. So, essentially, Pitino got them their highest NCAA tournament seed since 1992, when they were a 2 seed.

I'm not trying to defend Pitino - just pointing out the Minnesota isn't exactly a dream job for many people. There's a reason Illinois beat them like 20 straight times or whatever it was in the 2000s.
 
#24      
I never understood their firing of Smith. It was like MN got too big for their britches. Without doing research I feel like they never went too deep with Smith, but you have to go pretty far back to find an era when MN enjoyed sustained success.
They were really good under Clem Haskins for pretty much the entire 90s peaking with the great Bobby Jackson/Sam Jacobson team that went to the FF in 1997.

Of course, they got slammed by NCAA sanctions to end Haskins' time there. (Someone sometime will have to explain to me how what Minnesota did under Haskins that got them 4 years of NCAA probation was any different from what UNC did under Roy Williams where they were allowed to skate with no penalties.)
 
#25      
I'm not so sure Minnesota could do better. The only time Minnesota has advanced to the 2nd weekend of the NCAA tournament in the last 30 years, they were guilty of major violations.
We know they would not have major violations with BAM. He runs a clean program AND he has been to a title game.

If Pitino is out, they could do worse.