MINNEAPOLIS – Minnesota sacked Richard Pitino on Monday after the male basketball coach compiled a record 54-96 in the regular season in eight years on the Big Ten and had only three results at the conference above 10th place.
The Golden Gophers have gone 14-15 this season, losing 11 of their last 14 games. They were 0-10 on the road, one of only three major conference teams in the country without a win on the road.
Atlético director Mark Coyle is due to address reporters early Tuesday morning. He called Pitino “a person and a formidable trainer” in a statement distributed by the university.
“Decisions like this are never easy, but after evaluating this season and the previous eight years of our program with Richard, it is clear to me that new leadership is needed,” said Coyle. “We have one of the best practice facilities in the country, a historic competition venue and a state that produces high caliber talent. This is an extremely attractive job.”
Pitino was not available for comment, but posted a thank you message to Minnesota on Twitter Monday night with a photo of him and his children at the Williams Arena.
“I always wanted to represent Minnesota in the right way, daily, with class and integrity”, Pitino tweeted. “Stimulated by what the future holds!”
According to a report by the Albuquerque Journal, Pitino was one of the finalists for the technician vacancy in New Mexico. If he were hired elsewhere, Minnesota would be free of a $ 1.7 million purchase, according to the language of his contract that had three years remaining. Payments will be stopped when Pitino gains “comparable employment”, who is defined in the business as NCAA Division I principal coach, NCAA Division I principal coach or assistant to a professional, NCAA Division I program director or director, or a commentator from a national broadcaster.
Coyle must have many strong candidates to consider. Two sons of former Gophers chief coaches, Eric Musselman (Arkansas) and Brian Dutcher (San Diego), are proven program creators with teams currently in the NCAA tournament. Craig Smith (state of Utah) and Niko Medved (state of Colorado) are native to Minnesota who are currently running medium-sized programs. Then there’s Gophers alumnus Ryan Saunders, who was fired last month as the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves coach.
Hired at age 30 with a year of previous experience as a coach at Florida International, Pitino guided the Gophers to an NIT championship in his first season. However, only two appearances in the NCAA tournament followed in 2017 and 2019.
The Gophers were prepared to return to Big Dance this season after defeating Iowa, Ohio State, Michigan and Purdue – ranked 5, 9, 4 and 20, respectively, in the March 8 AP vote – before the incumbents’ injuries Gabe Kalscheur and Liam Robbins accelerated yet another fall at the end of the season.
Squirrels just didn’t fire enough to keep up and had to work hard to get them. In the Division I ranking on Friday, they were 13th in the 3-point attempt and 334th in the 3-point percentage.
Quick thinking and balanced temperament, Pitino never pretended to ignore public criticism. After a victory, no. 6 Maryland in 2016, Pitino joked that he could “start getting into Starbucks instead of going through the drive-through”. He expressed the same peace after Minnesota lost on Thursday in the Big Ten tournament, anticipating his post-season encounter with Coyle.
“We all have losses. Okay. I have a great relationship with Mark. If he gives me bad news, it doesn’t mean I’m going to turn the tables or something,” said Pitino.
Minnesota’s best race under Pitino was in 2017, when a record 7-0 in February generated a fourth place in the Big Ten and a fifth seed in the NCAA tournament. The Squirrels were one and finished. Two years later, they beat Louisville in the NCAA tournament to reach the second round.
The son of longtime professional and college coach Rick Pitino, who was the first to win NCAA championships at two different schools with Kentucky and Louisville, Richard Pitino was chosen by Minnesota athletic director Norwood Teague to replace Tubby Smith. Elder Pitino, now a coach in Iona, is back in the NCAA tournament this month as the 15th seed.
After beating Fred Hoiberg, Flip Saunders, Shaka Smart and Brad Stevens, Teague received a strong endorsement from Richard Pitino of Billy Donovan, the current NBA coach with the Chicago Bulls who had Pitino on his team in Florida from 2009 to 2011.
Pitino, his wife and three children liked Minnesota, despite its East Coast roots, but he ended up failing to establish a strong connection with the state’s high school circuit, with Minnesota producing high-grade candidates annually.
Of course, two of the 2019 team’s best players, Amir Coffey and Daniel Oturu, are both native to Minnesota and are now in the NBA’s LA Clippers. There were many recruiting errors, however, that left Squirrels with little depth when the injuries occurred.
One such breath came with the freshman class in 2017, when Pitino and his team hired Isaiah Washington as a New York shipowner and overtook Minnesota native McKinley Wright IV. Wright became the all-time assistance leader in Colorado, where he was a three-time All-Pac-12 player. Washington was transferred after two seasons with the Gophers.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.