Minnesota Basketball: Richard Pitino’s coaching staff experiencing turnover as Rob Jeter takes the Western Illinois job

On the one hand it is a compliment if your assistant coaches are moving on to earn Division I head coaching positions. On the other hand, when you lose key assistants in the offseason there is going to be an impact on your program.

With Rob Jeter officially accepting the Western Illinois head coaching position, Richard Pitino is looking replace a key assistant in this offseason.

Rob Jeter - Western Illinois

Jeter is going to be a Leatherneck. He has been on the Gopher staff for just 2 seasons but Jeter was primarily working with the backcourt while with Minnesota and was a key recruiter, especially locally.

Western Illinois is in the Summit League and Jeter does have the luxury of returning the team’s top 3 scorers from this past season. So the opportunity for a quick turnaround exists in his first season.

Jeter was most recently an assistant at UNLV but had been the head coach at UW-Milwaukee for 11 seasons prior to his stay in Las Vegas.

What about the Gophers?

Well clearly, Pitino needs to act quickly to add the right guy to his staff. I’m a huge believer that having a capable and talented coaching staff goes a LONG way towards a successful program. It is not just about the head guy. I liked Jeter as a backcourt coach and as a guy who coached in the region for 11 years so he had some recruiting relationships built. His experience was

Pitino now has 2 scholarships he can fill and he has an opening on his staff. Who he brings in for the latter may very well influence who fills the former openings.

There are also rumors that Tom Conroy is in the mix for the Samford opening. Losing 2 assistants would be a really significant blow to the program, especially after Daniel Oturu announced he is leaving for the NBA.

Best of luck to Jeter at Western Illinois.