Despite another blast of embarrassment last week to the Gophers men's basketball team, coach Richard Pitino likely will be given the opportunity to turn the program around.
The 33-year-old has lost some fans and boosters in this season of historically bad basketball and troubling off-court incidents, but several Star Tribune interviews last week revealed that support in some high places in and around the university has not greatly eroded.
Even more foretelling of Pitino's return is his contract, which calls for $7 million in buyout payments should the university fire him this offseason. Norwood Teague — in one of his last acts as athletic director before resigning because of accusations of sexual harassment by two university employees — signed Pitino to a two-year extension this past summer that both gave the coach a raise and more than doubled the buyout terms, increasing them by a whopping $4 million.
"Seven million is a good chunk of change, no doubt about it," University of Minnesota Board of Regents Chairman Dean Johnson said. "Does it weigh into the equation? I would guess it does."
The Gophers' latest battle with adversity came when guards Kevin Dorsey, Nate Mason and Dupree McBrayer were suspended Tuesday for the remainder of the season following the posting of two sex videos to Dorsey's social media sites. After those postings, Dorsey reported to Bloomington police that his phone was stolen days earlier. On Feb. 17, senior Carlos Morris had been booted from the Gophers for "conduct detrimental to the team."
Without all those players, the shorthanded Gophers have been blown out their past three games, including Saturday's 75-52 road loss to a Rutgers team that was in danger of completing a winless Big Ten season.
These incidents have bolstered the anti-Pitino sentiment that has grown louder throughout this woeful season. Richard Coffey, a former Gophers player and the father of Pitino's top commitment, Amir, said this week's turmoil raised new questions for the Coffeys. If Pitino's best recruiting class falls apart, his status could quickly change.
Wednesday night, however, about an hour before the Gophers wobbled their way through a 62-49 loss to Wisconsin in their final home game, interim athletic director Beth Goetz waved off every opportunity to put pressure on Pitino, who has also presided over in the past 16 months another player dismissal and a player being arrested on two felony charges of domestic assault.