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Several weeks ago I made clear that I thought we should can the “fire Pitino” talk in the comments because he wasn’t going to get fired during a COVID year, especially not when the team was still poised to make the NCAA Tournament. We’ve now reached the point where if it was a normal year, we’d feel certain the Minnesota Gophers were getting a new coach after the year was done. Alas, it is not a normal year.
With the uncertainty of COVID finances (and the PR hit of already announced non-rev program cuts) looming over the whole process it’s really not easy to forecast what will happen. My personal opinion is we’ll see Richard Pitino back for the reasons we’ve discussed ad nauseum. Though I like Pitino generally, this season is just too much on top of the up and down nature of his time leading the Gophers. If it were possible to do so without putting the department in a huge bind, I’d fire him and move along.*
*It’s important to now that while nothing is certain in coaching searches, I trend to the “you don’t fire a guy unless you’re pretty damn certain you’ll land your #1 or #2 choices” camp. If you haven’t been able to do the leg work ahead of time to assure you can land who you want, get your shit together and come back next year first.
The polls below are design to find out what y’all want to see happen AND what you think will happen. Because if there was ever a year when the fanbase id and the rational expectation due to external factors would diverge, this is it.
Don’t look to me for any talk about replacements. I’m not wasting my energy thinking about it because I don’t think Pitino gets fired because COVID is a horrible thing on every level both important (life/death/economy/etc) and completely unimportant (caring about college sports).
Onto the polls... (don’t see the polls? Blame Google/Apple News. Go to our website and you’ll find them)
What you *WANT* to see happen
Poll
Do you *want* Mark Coyle to fire Richard Pitino after the season?
This poll is closed
-
60%
Yes, no matter the financial/PR implications
(510 votes) -
25%
Yes, but I’m ok if it doesn’t happen because I appreciate the external factors.
(212 votes) -
5%
No, because of the external factors.
(44 votes) -
5%
No, because I think he’s still the right guy.
(50 votes) -
3%
I don’t know, because I am constitutionally incapable of choices.
(26 votes)
What you *THINK* will happen
Poll
Do you *think* Richard Pitino will be fired?
This poll is closed
-
47%
Yes
(354 votes) -
38%
No
(286 votes) -
14%
How the heck am I supposed to figure that out? Mark Coyle is a sphinx.
(108 votes)