Richard Pitino Is Now Officially On Hot Seat As Minnesota Golden Gophers Basketball Coach

By Brad Berreman

A historically bad season in 2015-16, with an 8-23 record that included just two Big Ten wins, was more than enough to create doubt about Richard Pitino‘s long-term status as the Minnesota men’s basketball coach. But off-the-court issues with players, and reportedly going over-budget with travel expenses, have heated up the seat under Pitino, and newfound stability in the university’s athletic department will further increase scrutiny.

Since Norwood Teague‘s resignation last August, the Minnesota athletic department had Beth Goetz as interim athletic director as an internal investigation into Teague’s conduct delayed the search for a permanent replacement. But a search involving an outside firm and an oversized internal committee reached an end on Wednesday, with the announcement of Mark Coyle as the Golden Gophers’ new athletic director.

Coyle immediately stressed the need to create accountability as he takes over, which while high in cliche is also needed and expected. But university president Eric Kaler had strong specific comments about the issues in the men’s basketball program during Wednesday’s press conference, which is the more troubling signal that Pitino needs to drive immediate change or else.

I assume Pitino is not the first college coach, at least in the high revenue sports, to go over budget on travel expenses. The approval for those excessive expenses came from Teague, whose own job performance looks questionable in hindsight, and with his acumen as a “basketball guy” he clearly wanted to give Pitino every chance to succeed.

Bad results on the floor are obviously enough to get Pitino fired, and even with some promising incoming talent for next season it’s hard to see things changing dramatically. Recruiting bad characters and going over budget on travel could be excused with regular NCAA tournament bids, so Pitino is clearly failing on those counts through his first three seasons as well. If he wasn’t on the hot seat before — and he should have been despite a substantial buyout — Pitino should be updating his resume on the heels of Coyle’s hiring.

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