List of potential Gophers coaches grows as teams lose in NCAA tournament

As the NCAA tournament first round concluded Friday, so did the seasons for a few possible Gophers men's basketball coaching candidates.

University of Minnesota athletic director Mark Coyle can now, if he chooses, more easily pursue Cleveland State's Dennis Gates, San Diego State's Brian Dutcher and Utah State's Craig Smith.

Two more potential Gophers candidates, Arkansas' Eric Musselman and Loyola-Chicago's Porter Moser, advanced to Sunday's second round against Texas Tech and Illinois, respectively.

Another one to watch is Dayton coach Anthony Grant, whose season ended Saturday with a loss in the NIT. Grant earned national coach of the year honors last season.

The longer the Gophers wait to find the replacement for Richard Pitino, the more schools could be competing with them to interview the same hot names.

Minnesota, Indiana, DePaul, Marquette, and Utah were the high-major programs looking to fill openings going into the weekend. That number could grow by the day.

On Friday night, Dutcher was disappointed to watch his sixth-seeded Aztecs fall in demoralizing fashion 78-62 against No. 11 seeded Syracuse in their opening game.

San Diego State was a popular Final Four pick last year but finished 30-2 with no dancing when the pandemic shutdown happened.

"I was hoping we'd have an opportunity to make a deeper run at this thing," Dutcher said in a postgame video conference. "It didn't happen."

Gates saw his 15th-seeded Vikings special season close with a 30-point loss to second-seeded Houston in his program's first NCAA tournament game since 2009. The 41-year-old Chicago native orchestrated a nine-win turnaround in the Horizon League in just his second season.

In postgame interview, Gates reflected on the journey and looked forward to building on Cleveland State's accomplishments.

Gates longed for a "normal offseason," but his name has been mentioned as a candidate for jobs at Minnesota, Marquette, and DePaul.

"I'm very excited about our program," Gates said. "We got here, but those dreams stretch far beyond just getting a bid. We want to win games in this tournament and get to a national championship. I think collectively our players have done a great job. Our staff has done a great job."

Smith, who signed an extension at Utah State in February through 2025-26, had postgame comments very similar to Gates, praising his team's growth during an unprecedented year of challenges.

The Aggies had eight newcomers, including seven freshmen. Will he be returning to Logan, Utah? Smith's name has come up with the Minnesota, Marquette, and Utah openings.

"I've been doing this for 25 years," Smith said. "I don't know that I've ever seen a team grow on the floor, off the floor, from young men to men, from underclassmen to true leaders in a program. And great teams are run by the players, and we certainly have that …

"We'll learn from it. We only have two seniors in our program, and there's no doubt these guys will be back."