Minnesota expected to hire Richard Pitino from FIU (Rick Pitino's Son)
I can't say I would be too happy if I was a gopher fan - tubby seemed preferable. To me, Richard Pitino's greatest accomplishment on his resume seems to be his last name. Minny would be an interesting team, however, if they start running the press defense system that they use at louisville, but I'm not sure if he used it at Florida International University (FIU).
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/blog/eye-on-college-basketba…
The guy has one year of experience at FIU, an 18-14 record. Great hire.
/s
no one will remember the soon to be former athletic directors name.
what??
How far down the list of potential coaches do you have to go to get to Richard Pitino?
That's a pretty bad hire.
It is a shame they didn't hire Tubby Smith before that Texas school got him. I couldn't believe he was available.
The guy hired Anthony Grant and Shaka Smart.
Both of these hires were "under the radar" type hires like Pitino is.
He has a track record of finding guys like this. I bet this turns out to be a good hire.
At VCU, where that's pretty much your only option.
But the point is, his hires were very good for them. And Minnesota really isn't that much more desireable in the pecking order. A school like Minn is either going to get an under-the-radar guy or washed-up old dude like Tubby.
While Minnesota has the money to pay for a big time coach, there is little reason to take this job if you are established. Having to compete with Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, MSU, and Wisconsin on a yearly basis (not to mention Iowa, Purdue) is not exactly easy.
I tend to agree its a very good hire. Somewhat risky given Richard's lack of head coaching experience, but he's a great recruiter, when given the resources. The Gophers are going to have to upgrade facilities if they expect to keep him, and if they want him to do well.
However the issue is that VCU doesn't play in the toughest basketball conference in the nation.
I thought they should have gone for one of Adolph Rupp's grandchildren instead.
So you're telling me that Minnesota isn't the premier destinations for coaches?
You mean to tell me that they didn't fire a national champion coach without having a coach waiting to be signed?
Man, I thought they would have learned by now, guess stupid is as stupid does.
That national champion coach was way past his prime, and their fans (and big-money donors) couldn't stand him. Richard Pitino may not be the guy to lead them to prominence, but Tubby Smith definitely wasn't, either.
I don't know if "couldn't stand him" is quite right, but I've gotten the strong sense that they didn't think Tubby was putting full effort into the job (which would be understandable if you ask me...he's getting up in years after all and sometimes the flame isn't burning quite as hot as it once did). He's not around much in the off-season and recruiting wasn't going particularly well.
I think this will work out about as well for them as Derek Dooley worked out for Tennessee.
He's 30!
He has a year of experience!
At FIU!
...
Norwood just hired a name. This is the most Minnesota hire possible.
Shaka Smart was 30 or 31 when Teague hired him. Anthony Grant wasn't much older when Teague hired him, either. That guy has a good track record - I would not write him off.
Those guys were hired at VCU, a mid-major with minimal history of success at the time. Minnesota shouldn't have to gamble on complete unknowns.
What does it matter? Clearly this guy has been able to identify up-and-coming coaching talent before. The fact that he's landed two quality coaches before suggests that he knows how to do his homework on these guys. And there isn't a whole lot of evidence that experienced guys want the Minn job, other than that Tubby saw it as a golden parachute six years ago.
but "two" is not a sample size that is worth betting on. It's just not.
The thing about the Minnesota AD (Teague) is that he has a networking system in place that has given him contacts with a lot of young assistant coaches. He used that system to hire those two. He didn't just throw darts at a list of coaches. His methods have worked so far. I think it's pretty interesting.
the level of uncertainty in hiring a young, generally unproven guy is much higher than in hiring someone with a track record. Maybe he's got unique insights, maybe he doesn't. But two hires isn't a basis to draw a real conclusion.
Two successful hires is not proof that the system is foolproof (it could be that VCU simply has some institutional advantages vis-à-vis its competition than Minnesota doesn't have against Big Ten foes) - but it's reason enough to give the guy the benefit of the doubt right now. Teague could potentially be on the list of guys to succeed Brandon, when he retires.
is where we disagree. I have too much faith in the power of variance to think that two hires says much about anything. You're ascribing the success of the hires to VCU's institutional advantages or Teague's process. I think an equally valid explanation is "random luck."
I hope the hire works out for Minnesota, since I like their program and their fans. But from here, it looks like a super-risky move.
I don't like the hire, but I think some clarity needs to be given to Teague's background with basketball coaches. At VCU he started the Villa 7 program, which helps assistant coaches transition to head coaching positions. There are some interesting names who have gone through the program, including Andy Enfield, Buzz Williams, Anthony Grant, Shaka Smart, Josh Pastner, Kevin Borseth, etc. A full list of successful transitions is here.
I think the fact that he was one of the founders of the Villa 7 program, and the fact that he has made a lot of connections as a result of it, would lead him to evaluate young coaches with a little more insight than is suggested by calling it "luck." It's not as though he is throwing darts at pictures of 30 year old coaches. So in that sense, I think the process does deserve a little credence, even with a sample size of two.
Having said all of that, I would have preferred a guy with more head coaching experience and stronger ties to Minnesota. Nevertheless, I'm trying to take on the optimism that my fellow fans are embracing this hire with.
but keeping with the chain of comments.
Flip Saunders is 58.
Fred Hoiberg is 40.
Shaka Smart is 35.
Richard Pitino is 30...Minny was looking everywhere, at everyone. Richard Pitino isn't on the short list with those other guys, but is now definitely on the "flyer" or wing and prayer list of new coaches to watch for the next couple years.
They were good for VCU. That's what mattered. He didn't hire Grant to coach Alabama.
There are very few completely "knowns"; sure, if you're UNC, go get Roy Wililams. But even if you're Kentucky, you go get a "known" in Billy Gillespie, and it blows up in your face.
Frankly, Minnesota went with a "known" in Tubby, and while I was surprised he was fired, let's not pretend that he had that much success at Minnesota -- we all have spent time scratching our head at Tubby's substitution decisions.
with no real track record who became as good as Shaka Smart is much shorter than the list of young coaches with no real track record who did not.
Isn't the list of coaches with any kind of track record becoming as good as Shaka Smart appears to be much shorter than the list of coaches with any kind of track record being less successful? More coaches fail than succeed.
But is he a man?
Kenpom has them 5th in the country in TO % and 11th in steal % with a fairly fast tempo so presumably they do indeed run the same pressing system.
Ten win improvement from last season for them but the resume is pretty thin. Who knows how it will turn out but I have to imagine that a lot of MN folks are wondering WTF? You would think they could at least find someone with a multi-year record of success and improvement.
Well, USC just hired Andy Enfield, who has one more year of experience than Pitino. UCLA hired Steve Alford, who has a lot of experience but hasn't won a tourney game in over a decade. With Smart, Stevens and Marshall apparently unwilling to move, the pool of well-qualified, experienced candidates seems shallow this year.
There is nothing to suggest that any of these are good hires. Availability of quality coaches is something you can take into account when you fire your existing one.
That's my point. No one seems to have landed a slam-dunk hire.
Enfield seems like a dubious hire to me. They just went with a guy having his 15 minutes of fame. It seems in large part that he was hired for style of play based on the Dunk City media fixation and the fact that Kevin O'Neills teams were boring as shit. He does have some NBA assistant experience and time at FSU but overall I think this one is also a little thin. USC has a pretty mediocre basketball history though.
Alford...not convinced he can recruit the players UCLA wants but he is a solid coach. Kind of a prick supposedly. I think this was just an OK hire, not terrible but not too exciting either.
Aside from assistants, I maybe would have tried to look at someone like Randy Bennett, Tad Boyle, Fran Dunphy, Andrew Toole, Marvin Menzies, maybe Keith Dambrot although he is a little old, Dave Paulsen etc. No doubt there are others but I don't know enough to say. Greg McDermott, although he might not be interested. I'd consider Larry Eustrachy although I also understand why you wouldn't hire him. Hiring a name coach isn't necessary but for me at least I would want a little bit more of a track record of success as a head coach.
Alford was a funny one for me.
What I remember hearing from some Iowa fans when he was fired was that his particular version of prickdom involved "trouble relating to kids from an urban background," was how they eventually decided to put it. They felt they were having an unusual amount of trouble recruiting in Chicago at the time, I know, and there were some retention issues, but I don't have any way to know if this was really true or something the fans had invented as an excuse for the problems.
And even if it was true then, I have no particular reason to think it still is. But it stuck in my memory, and if it were true, UCLA would be a really odd place for him to wind up.
It's a gamble. But Teague is connected. He founded this coach-networking event that happens every summer (Villa 7) when he was at VCU, so he probably had good information on Pitino. This may pan out. If it does, look for an elite school to hire Teague away.
like Texas Tech hiring Bobby Knights son Pat Knight.
Wait, Rick Pitino resigned from Minnesota midway through the year so his son could take over as head coach?
The two situations couldn't be anymore different, actually. Richard's dad probably had some influence, but he wasn't the most recent coach at Minnesota.
el nepotismo. Hope this clunks. Maybe Rick Sr. will slide some cast-off players his way, though.
If so, Minny fans may have dodged a slimy bullet.
Im sure texas tech can tell them what its like to hire a coaches son ie. bobby and pat knight. That went great
oh, wait...
Preview of announcers in every Minnesota game next year:
"Their coach, Rich Pitino, who is Rick Pitino's son, is the son of Rick Pitino. He is Rick Pitino's son and the coach of Minnesota. Rich Pitino is the son of the Louisville coach Rick Pitino. Blah blah blah."
Preview of the statement and press conference announcing the hire: "Blah blah blah great bloodlines blah blah blah bloodlines blah blah blah hall-of-fame bloodlines blah blah blah good genes blah blah blah did we mention bloodlines?"