Minnesota athletic director Norwood Teague and his administrative staff have said all the right things. New Gophers basketball coach Richard Pitino has chimed right in.
Coaching hoops at the "U," they say, is a unique opportunity at a respected institution with the chance to build something great in an elite league.
But how realistic is that perspective and how long will it take?
ESPN's Myron Medcalf posted a reminder that some nationally and locally believe the Gophers gig is still far from that ideal when he included Minnesota on his list of college hoops' "bad jobs."
Medcalf points out that a practice facility promised to former coach Tubby Smith by the previous administration in 2007 -- and then re-promised by Teague -- is still in the concept stage. Williams Arena is old and outdated, he says. The most notable years in the last three decades, including the 1997 Final Four, were wiped away by an academic scandal. And despite the state containing three of the nation's top-30 recruits in 2014, Minnesota wasn't ever really contending for any of them.
"The elite kids in Minnesota don't dream of playing for the Gophers the way Michigan kids want to play for Tom Izzo and John Beilein, or how North Carolina prospects dream of joining the Blue Devils and Tar Heels," Medcalf writes.
Is the assertion true? Is Minnesota a "bad" job for coaching basketball, on par with Northwestern and Rutgers, prorgams also present on the list?
Pitino certainly doesn't think so. Since he took the position last spring, he's touted the uncommon circumstance of coaching the only Division I basketball team in a state with 5.5 million people, many of them Minnesota graduates or otherwise loyal to the Gophers. This spring, Tennessee reportedly put feelers out to the young coach, but Pitino stayed put.
