Pitino out at Minnesota
- Thread starter lou v
- Start date
Interesting that Minny has two 2021 commits - and one went to HS with Ty Berry at Sunrise Academy in Kansas.
Edit: Kenny Pohto played last year at Sunrise Christian Academy, which is Ty Berry’s HS. But I’m not sure they actually played together, as Pohto may have only been there this year. Just saw some 2019 highlights that appeared to be from Europe, maybe Sweden. Definitely not Kansas!
Regardless they definitely have mutual friends! I wonder if Berry would reach out if Mr Pohto would be receptive.
Regardless they definitely have mutual friends! I wonder if Berry would reach out if Mr Pohto would be receptive.
I think it's more looooooow expectations. This is partly fair, but shouldn't be entirely defended.
Some rumored for the jobs:
-Minnesota - Musselman, Dutcher, Smith, Medved, Saunders
-Indiana - Beilein, Musselman, Oats, Matta, Pope, Cheaney, Fife, Drew, Beard, Stevens - basically everyone under the sun as, despite the Crean/Miller debacle, it's still a very attractive job
-DePaul - Moser, Paynem Hurley, Gates
-Minnesota - Musselman, Dutcher, Smith, Medved, Saunders
-Indiana - Beilein, Musselman, Oats, Matta, Pope, Cheaney, Fife, Drew, Beard, Stevens - basically everyone under the sun as, despite the Crean/Miller debacle, it's still a very attractive job
-DePaul - Moser, Paynem Hurley, Gates
Wow.... by Stevens, I'm assuming you mean Brad Stevens. Celtics' fans up here are getting a tad bit impatient with Mr. Stevens. His seat may be warming in Boston. I wonder if he'd take a jump back to college with a program like Indiana.
Stevens could get another NBA job in hours. But he’d also be a powerhouse at IU and make similar money ...
I bet he'd be successful at Indiana. I think the problem with Boston is not so much on Stevens, but on Danny Ainge. He really hasn't provided solid role players for Kemba, Tatum and Brown and their bench is horrific. I'd be surprised if they let him go.
I'm an IU grad, so some of my boys are going a little crazy about the IU gig. They heard the Stevens rumors also.
The reality is Miller was the fourth post-Bob, IU coach so the gig isn't as automatic as many people make it out to be. If I'm the AD, I'm concerned that the program is losing it's blue-blood brand. I think IU needs a home run. And they have the resources and support to do it. They don't need another guy who they hope will grow into the job.
I'd be all over Stevens. The other guy I told them I'd sell hard is Billy Donovan. I think it would be easy to drag someone away from a mid-range NBA team with a long rebuild ahead of it.
On the other hand, I don't know why anyone who is well established and well respected in the NBA would take on the painful, year-round grind of a college job.
After that, I might put Scott Drew with those two. Then there's everybody else.
The reality is Miller was the fourth post-Bob, IU coach so the gig isn't as automatic as many people make it out to be. If I'm the AD, I'm concerned that the program is losing it's blue-blood brand. I think IU needs a home run. And they have the resources and support to do it. They don't need another guy who they hope will grow into the job.
I'd be all over Stevens. The other guy I told them I'd sell hard is Billy Donovan. I think it would be easy to drag someone away from a mid-range NBA team with a long rebuild ahead of it.
On the other hand, I don't know why anyone who is well established and well respected in the NBA would take on the painful, year-round grind of a college job.
After that, I might put Scott Drew with those two. Then there's everybody else.
I believe Drew/Bear/Stevens are more hopes than realistic expectations. But when you are (still) a blue blood, you are going to make that call.
I'd be shocked if they hired any mid major coach like Miller. Or another power conference coach, without more than a year of great success (Crean). I don't think the fan base will accept a gamble/grow into the job situation this time around.
I'd be shocked if they hired any mid major coach like Miller. Or another power conference coach, without more than a year of great success (Crean). I don't think the fan base will accept a gamble/grow into the job situation this time around.
It will certainly be interesting to see what the Indiana job attracts these days. I thought Indiana fans booing their own players for having trouble at the free-throw line against Rutgers wasn't classy.
Penn State continues to do BB on the cheap. Their hire of a Purdue assistant might work out, but why should a B1G school be hiring a coach without a single season of prior head-coaching experience? The move also put four players into the transfer portal. A couple of them, such as Harrar and Wheeler, would be nice transfer pickups.
Penn State continues to do BB on the cheap. Their hire of a Purdue assistant might work out, but why should a B1G school be hiring a coach without a single season of prior head-coaching experience? The move also put four players into the transfer portal. A couple of them, such as Harrar and Wheeler, would be nice transfer pickups.
I'm not sure if Indiana is losing its blue blood status. They still got Romeo Langford to commit to the Hoosiers over Duke. I really do believe the problem was coaching. I would be all over Stevens as well.
Pipe dreams. Indiana is a great job—good enough to perhaps pull someone like a Beilein out of retirement, but not even close to being able to pull successful/established NBA head coaches back into the college game.
The state of Indiana still produces enough top recruits that the right coach can build a top-15 or top-20 team without much reinvention. Nebraska has a much bigger long-term problem.
This. I think it would be much easier to resurrect Indiana basketball into a top program than Nebraska football at present. Indiana is a good BB state, and the surrounding states produce some good talent as well. Nebraska hasn't been able to recruit Texas as well as they did when they were in the Big 12, and they have to cast a wide net as the number of D-1 football prospects in Nebraska is limited.
Maybe Phillips intentionally wanted to be patient, giving a new coach with no experience lots of time to make some mistakes, but knowing he was the right guy to build a successful program in the long-term.
Or maybe he had a hunch it wouldn’t be his problem to deal with much longer...
Add Larry Krystowiak to the list. And his stats are actually better than CCC's.....
The Utes have not made the NCAA Tournament since 2016. They finished with a 12-13 record for the 2020-21 season, bringing Krystkowiak's record to 225-159 during 10 seasons with the team.
Seth Davis, senior college basketball writer: This is not complicated.Krystkowiak Collins has been the coach at Utah Northwestern for 10 8 years and went to the NCAA Tournament twice once, and zero one times in the last five years. Nor was there any indication that things were going to get better. Utah Northwestern [doesn't] has a rabid fan base, but it’s not one of those places where the expectations are unreasonable. They are reasonable, and Krystkowiak Collins didn’t meet them.
The Utes have not made the NCAA Tournament since 2016. They finished with a 12-13 record for the 2020-21 season, bringing Krystkowiak's record to 225-159 during 10 seasons with the team.
Seth Davis, senior college basketball writer: This is not complicated.
I hope this is sarcasm. He inherited a good team and road that to 2 of those 3 NCAA appearances. After the Hoiberg recruits graduated, he mustered one good season (a first round tournament exit and an even conference record) and his other seasons without the Hoiberg training wheels were 13-18, 12-20, and 2-22. You don't get to go 2-22 as a 6th year coach, especially at a program that has found consistent success since the 1980s. By year 6, the team should be exclusively your guys, and it is pretty clear what kind of future the program has under you.
Creative (if not plagiaristic) approach to making your point. But the major comparison flaw is the lack of any indication things are going to get better. With no seniors and an excellent recruiting class, we must agree there are some reasons for optimism as to improvement next year.
Every year we have a reason for optimism and every year it’s a complete dumpster fire.
If seeing three of his peers (all better records) getting canned this week does not spark some type of "oh ****" epiphany I am not sure what does. And if it takes that, he's not the right guy for the job.
Collins has unrivaled job security right now. We have a fanbase with very low expectations and we don't have an AD. Plus, the President of the University announced that next year will be his last. Who will even be around to fire him? With a 1st year AD and 1st year President, I think Collins bought himself a few more years as long as there are no major scandals. IMO, it would be pretty rare for a President/AD to come in guns blazing right out of the gate, especially at a school like NU.
If the next two years are like this year, I think Collins resigns before he gets fired. Despite all the money, this type of losing can't be fun. I'm sure he never experienced double digit losing streaks as a high school or college player and I'm sure he never experienced it as a coach at Duke. We do it every year!
Last edited:
This is only true as long as there is a “fan base.” Once the donors and season ticket holders bail, the new AD will have no choice but to make a change.
If they havn't bailed in all of the previous losing seasons, why would they now. Remember there are only around 8,000 seats in W-R and after you count the students and hangers on you only need to fill five or six thousand.
Let's not act like there's some rabid, active fan base. The Collins argument has more than enough talking points without exaggerating anything.
Yes, Collins deserves some blame for possibly losing what he barely built. But there's not a whole lot to lose when you can't come close to filling an 8000-seat stadium over decades.
7th Circuit, to your point that an AD won't come in guns blazing, do you really want someone who's not smart enough to firmly establish an upfront "understanding" about what he/she can do with Collins? I'd ask that question in the first 15 mins of the first discussion, so we don't waste anybody's time.
The two most high impact items for the next AD BY FAR are Collins and a renovation of Ryan Field. After that, there's not much of a chance to make your mark for awhile.
If an AD candidate is concerned how to approach the Collins situation, well ... I really don't want a do-nothing Mark Murphy again.
If I'm the AD candidate, and the school puts restrictions on me about Collins after another losing season next year, I really don't want the gig.
Yes, Collins deserves some blame for possibly losing what he barely built. But there's not a whole lot to lose when you can't come close to filling an 8000-seat stadium over decades.
7th Circuit, to your point that an AD won't come in guns blazing, do you really want someone who's not smart enough to firmly establish an upfront "understanding" about what he/she can do with Collins? I'd ask that question in the first 15 mins of the first discussion, so we don't waste anybody's time.
The two most high impact items for the next AD BY FAR are Collins and a renovation of Ryan Field. After that, there's not much of a chance to make your mark for awhile.
If an AD candidate is concerned how to approach the Collins situation, well ... I really don't want a do-nothing Mark Murphy again.
If I'm the AD candidate, and the school puts restrictions on me about Collins after another losing season next year, I really don't want the gig.
I agree that under normal circumstances the AD would ask those questions and get an understanding about what he/she can do regarding coaching, but the situation is complicated by us not having a President or having an acting President. If Morty chooses the next AD and then we have a new President who wants to see Collins coach a season for himself or is a CC fan or buys into his rebuilding plans then there is going to be some inertia. I could be wrong, but I think the new President will want input into such a high profile move. With the vacuum at the top (president + AD) I just don't see Northwestern making any big changes in the next two years. That's why I think if we stink again for the next two seasons it's more likely that CC walks away rather than get fired.
Minny/Utah/IU/etc - All felt the same way over the tenure of their coaches. That there were reasons to be optimistic. Until the reasons turned into excuses at the eyes of the folks who decide the fate of the coaches.
Here's a list of reasons/excuses, feel free to keep adding:
Post tournament with same core of BMac/Law/Lindsey/Pardon:
1) We had to play at All State
2) We lost our alpha glue guy
3) Injuries during season
4) We don't have a full roster of scholarship players
5) Rap/Falzon had injuries that derailed their NU careers
6) We don't have a PG
7) We are tired because we play too many close games
8) Wait because our next recruiting class is gonna get us over the hump
9) The conference is just too strong
10) The schedulers don't like us
11) It's the players fault
12) Covid, weird season
13) Refs are screwing us
14) We are so close to breaking through
15) We just can't catch a break
Interestingly, the one “excuse” missing that truly matters and uniquely defines our situation is academics.