Revisionist history isn’t very useful, but boy does it sometimes reveal an irony from the past.
RandBall: Richard Pitino has thrived as the Gophers have struggled
The coach fired four years ago by Mark Coyle is a hot commodity during this coaching cycle and has New Mexico primed for a second consecutive NCAA bid.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
March 14, 2025 at 3:50PM
Like this: As the Gophers embark on a men’s basketball coaching search, the man fired by AD Mark Coyle four years ago is one of the hottest commodities to be hired.
This is not to suggest at all that Richard Pitino is a candidate to return to Minnesota. That would be a strange reunion to say the least, and he does not appear anywhere near Marcus Fuller’s cultivated list of potential coaching options.
But it is rich to note that the first coach on the list, Colorado State’s Niko Medved, makes it there on the strength of recent NCAA tournament appearances and a strong showing again this year in the Mountain West with a 16-4 regular-season conference record.
The only team to finish above the Rams this year? Pitino’s New Mexico squad, which finished 17-3 and looks primed to make the NCAA field for the second consecutive season.
Most of us agreed with Coyle’s decision in 2021 to fire Pitino. But we can also now say that Pitino’s next chapter in New Mexico has further revealed him to be a quality coach, particularly for this era of college basketball — something I talked about on Friday’s Daily Delivery podcast.
Notably, Pitino has built a roster leaning heavily on transfers. While he hasn’t quite gone the way of his more famous father Rick, who is basically eschewing high school recruiting altogether while transforming St. John’s back into a national powerhouse, the Lobos have benefited greatly from the portal.
Four of New Mexico’s top six players this season in terms of points and minutes per game arrived as transfers: Nelly Joseph (Iona), Mustapha Amzil (Dayton), C.J. Noland (North Texas) and Filip Borovicanin (Arizona).
Pitino’s Lobos have built that roster without outlandish NIL spending. This site estimates their collective distributed less money last year than the average Mountain West school and projects New Mexico to be middle-of-the-pack in revenue sharing contributions starting next season.
Might Pitino, with more coaching experience and connections, have been a better fit in Minnesota in the last four seasons as the college game transformed so rapidly?
It’s a fair question to ask, thought maybe a less fair question to answer definitively.
Pitino, too, might have struggled as Johnson did to retain players. The biggest what-if of the entire Johnson era is how this year’s team would have fared if not for the transfers of Elijah Hawkins and Pharrel Payne.
Those two stalwarts from last year’s ascending team left for a pair of high-profile Texas schools for a reported combined $1.4 million, a figure with which the Gophers could not compete.
They left, and Johnson was left scrambling again to fill a roster with transfers who didn’t rise to the same level. Unless Minnesota gets a bid to the NIT as a sub.-500 team, their season is over. Johnson’s tenure is certainly over.
As for Pitino? His Lobos host Boise State on Friday night in the Mountain West semifinals. By the end of the weekend, they will almost certainly be in the NCAA tournament field again. Beyond that? Maybe a promotion to a Power-5 job, even perhaps 2019 NCAA champion Virginia.
In his Gophers search, Coyle won’t turn to Pitino. But he sure might want someone a lot like him.
Anderson: Mille Lacs perch limits cut, walleye limits increase — all in one week. What’s up?
Both perch and walleye appear to be doing well in Mille Lacs, but the DNR has its reasons for new regulations. There are other factors at play, too.
