Fired Coaches

[SF_Rabbit_Fan]

Re: Fired Coaches

The Mike Rice situation irritates me, I'm at the feeling if you stand by this guy when you find out about it, you should be forced to stand by him once it becomes public. If its ok when no one else knows about it, it should be ok when everyone knows about it.

Old Dominion hired a head coach Jeff Jones from America

New Minnesota name- Rich Petino (Rick's son)

I don't know what to think about the Mike Rice deal.

On the one hand, its not acceptable behavior.

On the other hand, Rutgers apparently suspended him 3 weeks without pay ($25,000), fined him $50,000, and ordered him to take anger management classes - based on an external investigation and recommendations from an attorney. I could see how this would be considered appropriate, unless the behavior continued.

The president watched the video for the first time yesterday, and the decision to fire him was made. The variable that came into play was the public's knowledge of the situation.

The AD should have had the guts to fire him then or stand by him now. Unless something else came to their attention since then.

http://espn.go.com/new-york/mens-col...ee-games-fined

Article about the original suspension with a senior player quoted as saying:

"No, I don't recall seeing anything specifically," Johnson said. "All I recall is high-intensity practices, day in, day out. Even if it was high intensity, we reciprocated and we tried to give it back."

"It's something that we have to adapt to," Johnson said. "We're all in Coach Rice's corner. Me and my teammates are gonna come together, and play as hard as we can for Coach Cox."

[joeboo22]

Re: Fired Coaches

I don't know what to think about the Mike Rice deal.

On the one hand, its not acceptable behavior.

On the other hand, Rutgers apparently suspended him 3 weeks without pay ($25,000), fined him $50,000, and ordered him to take anger management classes - based on an external investigation and recommendations from an attorney. I could see how this would be considered appropriate, unless the behavior continued.

The president watched the video for the first time yesterday, and the decision to fire him was made. The variable that came into play was the public's knowledge of the situation.

The AD should have had the guts to fire him then or stand by him now. Unless something else came to their attention since then.

http://espn.go.com/new-york/mens-col...ee-games-fined

Article about the original suspension with a senior player quoted as saying:

"No, I don't recall seeing anything specifically," Johnson said. "All I recall is high-intensity practices, day in, day out. Even if it was high intensity, we reciprocated and we tried to give it back."

"It's something that we have to adapt to," Johnson said. "We're all in Coach Rice's corner. Me and my teammates are gonna come together, and play as hard as we can for Coach Cox."

I'd like to see un cut video of one of those practices, are they throwing balls back at him? Are they getting in each other's faces? Not saying its acceptable either way, just would like to get a better understanding of the situation.

As for Alford, its risky for UCLA not because of the Pierre Pierce situation, its risky because of his post-season success. No one in UCLA gives a crap about what he did at Iowa, they care more about what he hasn't done in the NCAA tournament. UCLA needed a personality like his, someone to get the the community (celebs and high profile alum) involved with the program. If they win he is a great higher, if they lose its not.

[joeboo22]

Re: Fired Coaches

Hearing that Minnesota's #1 target right now is Rich Pitino (Rick's son), before Rutgers gets involved.

Here is the rest of the list I'm hearing


Ben Howalnd- Former UCLA Coach

Gregg Marshall- Wichita St.

Keith Dambrot - Akron

Tony Bennett- Virginia

Bryce Drew- Valp

Scott Drew- Baylor

Tad Boyle- Colorado/fmr. Northern Colorado HC

Anthony Grant- Alabama

[joeboo22]

Re: Fired Coaches

Hearing Rich Pitino will be the next head coach at Minnesota. Its a solid name, will get publicity and he has been a reputable assistant coach and did a great job at FIU.

At the same time, I'm wondering what the boosters will think about this hire. They REALLY wanted Flip Saunders, and reports are they wouldn't let Flip hire his son. So they go out and hire a guy known for who his dad is. Not saying he wouldn't be qualified but if his name was Richard Jedakowski, I doubt he is getting even a phone call.

I've come to the conclusion that this is a bad hire. Its a panic hire, its a name they needed when they couldn't get anyone else they wanted. It won't make the boosters happy at all, and if they do win he will bolt for another school because he has NO mid-west ties whatsoever, and his name will put him on almost every short list. When Bryce Drew's name was brought up I heard how bad of a hire that would be, but its quite similar of a hire, except Bryce Drew is a household name, very popular, and played in the NBA. Though Bryce's dad no doubt helped him with his job, he is not referred to as Homer's son, he is known as the stud who went and played for his dad at a mid-major who took his team to the sweet 16, made the 2nd most famous play in the NCAA tournament history, and played in the NBA. Richard Pitino is known as Rick's son, he could be very successful, no doubt has a solid resume, but if all the Minnesota media people I heard upset that Bryce Drew's name was brought up they should be just as upset about this.

I want to be a gopher fan, I remember back in the Clem Haskins days of coming home from school and watching them, the program being a regular top 25 team (yeah cheating helped), I remember my local Priest cutting Mass short so we could all go and root for the Gophers in the Final 4. I remember when it wasn't a joke to have a Gopher's hoodie or t-shirt. Now they are a laughing stock, some of that was the cheating, some of it is the lack luster facilities, high expectations from boosters, and poor administration.

[jack power]

Re: Fired Coaches

Hearing Rich Pitino will be the next head coach at Minnesota. Its a solid name, will get publicity and he has been a reputable assistant coach and did a great job at FIU.

At the same time, I'm wondering what the boosters will think about this hire. They REALLY wanted Flip Saunders, and reports are they wouldn't let Flip hire his son. So they go out and hire a guy known for who his dad is. Not saying he wouldn't be qualified but if his name was Richard Jedakowski, I doubt he is getting even a phone call.

I've come to the conclusion that this is a bad hire. Its a panic hire, its a name they needed when they couldn't get anyone else they wanted. It won't make the boosters happy at all, and if they do win he will bolt for another school because he has NO mid-west ties whatsoever, and his name will put him on almost every short list. When Bryce Drew's name was brought up I heard how bad of a hire that would be, but its quite similar of a hire, except Bryce Drew is a household name, very popular, and played in the NBA. Though Bryce's dad no doubt helped him with his job, he is not referred to as Homer's son, he is known as the stud who went and played for his dad at a mid-major who took his team to the sweet 16, made the 2nd most famous play in the NCAA tournament history, and played in the NBA. Richard Pitino is known as Rick's son, he could be very successful, no doubt has a solid resume, but if all the Minnesota media people I heard upset that Bryce Drew's name was brought up they should be just as upset about this.

I want to be a gopher fan, I remember back in the Clem Haskins days of coming home from school and watching them, the program being a regular top 25 team (yeah cheating helped), I remember my local Priest cutting Mass short so we could all go and root for the Gophers in the Final 4. I remember when it wasn't a joke to have a Gopher's hoodie or t-shirt. Now they are a laughing stock, some of that was the cheating, some of it is the lack luster facilities, high expectations from boosters, and poor administration.

So,they fired Tubby and might hire a guy that has exactly one year experience as a head coach? That sounds like something the Gophers would do.

[zooropa]

Re: Fired Coaches

At the same time, I'm wondering what the boosters will think about this hire.

Yeah, well, you get what you pay for. If the boosters don't like the hire, they can open their wallets and give more money to the program.

Of course, the last thing college athletics needs is *more* money floating around in it. Still. If you want a Name Brand® coach, you gotta fork over money for the coach, the facilities, and the slush fund.

[TK22867]

Re: Fired Coaches

Yeah, well, you get what you pay for. If the boosters don't like the hire, they can open their wallets and give more money to the program.

Of course, the last thing college athletics needs is *more* money floating around in it. Still. If you want a Name Brand® coach, you gotta fork over money for the coach, the facilities, and the slush fund.

I don't think lack of funds had anything to do with their hire. The problem is that those "upper tier" coaches wanted nothing to do with the Gopher job, except be mentioned for it so they could get a raise.

The money was probably there to hire a Shaka or Stevens. Offering an outrageous contract might have had different results, but I guess we'll never know.

[zooropa]

Re: Fired Coaches

The money was probably there to hire a Shaka or Stevens.

But there's no money for facilities. And the slush fund. On an exaggerated scale, the means by which a Duke roleplayer can somehow have $30k cash on him to put down on an absolutely idiotic bit of jewelry. On a smaller scale, the multitude of booster provided improper perquisites that the NCAA never even catches a whiff of.

The only coaches Minny can hire are coaches that are trying to prove themselves or redeem themselves. They can't hire coaches that are what they appear to be.

[joeboo22]

Re: Fired Coaches

Yeah money as in salary not an issue, booster support is an issue. Not sure what this will do. I'm sure it will help a little bit, but I'm not so sure on how much.

[witness]

Re: Fired Coaches

But there's no money for facilities. And the slush fund. On an exaggerated scale, the means by which a Duke roleplayer can somehow have $30k cash on him to put down on an absolutely idiotic bit of jewelry.

You mean the Duke player whose mom makes 6 figures a year and his parents have plenty of money. O that player.

[FargoBison]

Re: Fired Coaches

Minnesota has some massive basketball facility issues. The Barn is old, there is no fancy practice facility, no private plane for recruiting....they are way behind. Plus they promised Tubby those things and didn't deliver and I'm sure other coaches knew about that. It won't be long until NDSU has a practice facility...not sure why the U of MN can't get it done.

[RabbitObsessed]

Re: Fired Coaches

Minnesota has some massive basketball facility issues. The Barn is old, there is no fancy practice facility, no private plane for recruiting....they are way behind. Plus they promised Tubby those things and didn't deliver and I'm sure other coaches knew about that. It won't be long until NDSU has a practice facility...not sure why the U of MN can't get it done.

Is available real estate an issue?

[FargoBison]

Re: Fired Coaches

Is available real estate an issue?

I think they have a spot where they want to put it, it is just a matter of coming up $20 million.

[zooropa]

Re: Fired Coaches

You mean the Duke player whose mom makes 6 figures a year and his parents have plenty of money. O that player.

There's zero information about his dad, and the only information on his mom is that she's a "Head plant manager for a Ford plant in New Jersey".

Well, here's the deal on that. There are no Ford plants in Jersey. There hasn't been a Ford plant in Jersey since February of 2004.

Maybe mom dipped into her severance package from Ford (Ford has paid up to $130k in one-time severance to UAW workers; white collar workers get considerably less) and gave her kid $30k to spend on jewelry, but I'm not buying that anymore than I'm buying Cam Newton's claim that he had no idea his dad was trying to sell him to Mississippi State.

And even if this kid's mom was bright enough to have an extremely difficult job at Ford, but stupid enough to give her kid $30k cash, waiving all that, do you think that programs at this level are run so tightly that things like what went on at Miami and Ohio State and USC and North Carolina are the exceptions rather than the rule? Do you honestly believe that Duke has been run 'cleanly' because they've never been caught? Shoot. I haven't gotten a speeding ticket in ten years. Would you believe me if I told you I haven't sped once in that period?

I mean, what basis is there to look at BCS level college athletics with anything other than a cynical and jaundiced eye? Check out this item that just broke: http://espn.go.com/college-football/...cording-report

You want top notch players at Minnesota, you have to be willing to break all the rules that are being broken everywhere else. And I wonder if Minny boosters and admins are aware of how much cheating it takes to win. Shoot. They should be. Their last Final Four appearance was during the Haskins era.

[joeboo22]

Re: Fired Coaches

If you don't think cheating occurs, ask those involved, ask a reporter what they have heard off the record, or couldn't get a second source to checkout. I'm guessing even SDSU and USD have gotten away with some things and they don't have a budget to do much with. Now do I think the coaches are handing them bags of cash? No, but I do have a feeling that some schools, ($SEC-football for example) are finding ways to get around it. Whether its boosters or other students or whatever. Shady things occur. How does Scott Drew get the talent he does to Waco, TX? Ask summer league/AAU coach what they think of certain programs and you will catch a bunch. Ask college coaches who have been apart of a D-I program. It happens, and happens often.

At the same time, I don't think that is the problem with Minnesota, the problem with Minnesota is it is Minnesota. I talked about it previously but in the 90's I saw Minnesota gear in South Dakota, people would talk about the gophers, watch them on ESPN, they were Minnesota's team, and were pretty well respected in the mid-west. Now some of that has changed with SDSU and company going D-I, some of that has changed with Minnesota's sanctions, some of it changes with technology as you get more then the local games on ect. But it seems as if many at Minnesota don't care, they couldn't get a practice facility, they wouldn't let Tubby use a private jet, they cannot get a decent opponent to come to the barn out of conference, at the same time the media, fans and boosters expect them to be the #1 choice of any local recruit and well respected in the rest of the country.

I think Pitino can be a good coach, but I make two arguments against it. 1) If he was Jay Bob, with his resume he would not be a candidate for the job, plain and simple. and 2) he has not ties to Minnesota. If he can get a job in the $EC or ACC in 2-3-4 years he is taking it as fast as it can come. The program might be in a better place, but its not in a terrible place right now.

The reason I thought they should have gave it to Flip (actually offer it to him, not put enough restrictions on it that they know he won't take it), is because he is a Minnesota guy, he loves the place, he can get $15-$20 million, they can break construction this summer on a practice facility, he is loved by the locals in the media, he is VERY well respected by local AAU/club coaches and high school coaches. Though his NBA coaching career hasn't been great, it hasn't been terrible either. He is a household name in most of Minnesota as well. I don't know if he has the ambition to take it for 10 years, but I feel he can take it for 5+, get the facilities up to par and the fan base on board with the program. Then its a top level job in 5 years, not a place where you have to get a guy with 1 year HC experience who wouldn't get the time of day if his last name was different.