Five questions in the wake of Richard Pitino's firing as Gophers coach

For a couple of weeks, the notion of Richard Pitino being fired as Gophers men's basketball coach seemed to be a matter of "when" and not "if."

That didn't quite make it anti-climactic when it actually happened late Monday, but it does feel like we have been talking about the possibility for long enough that the questions that linger are different than the ones that might persist in a more surprising situation.

Here are five questions that stick out to me — some of which I developed and some of which come from readers/listeners to the Daily Delivery podcast. I discussed all of these at least in part on Tuesday's show.

If you don't see the podcast player, click here to listen.

Here we go:

1 What might have saved Pitino's job? I mean, the short answer is a better finish to this season and some postseason success. The Gophers beat five ranked teams and looked like they were going to be at least NCAA Tournament-bound before a late-season collapse fueled by injuries, inefficiency and a lack of depth. But would simply making the tournament as, say, a No. 10 seed and losing in the first round have preserved Pitino's job?

That's more complicated. You have to remember, a year ago athletic director Mark Coyle issued a statement that signaled he was keeping Pitino but indicated expectations of competing at a "championship" level. Would a one-and-done NCAA appearance have met that expectation?

Factor in that attendance at Williams Arena — non-existent this season, of course, because of the pandemic but lagging in recent years under Pitino — was going to be an issue next season as the department attempts to recoup revenue. It seems at the very least that the late-season slide made what might have been a difficult decision for Coyle somewhat easier.

Bigger picture, the answer is consistency. Pitino had a knack for producing big seasons when his coaching seat was hottest, but he never strung together even two good seasons in a row here. That stalled any momentum and probably led us to where we are now.

2 Does Coyle already know who he is going to hire? While this wasn't quite the case of the Timberwolves coaching change a few weeks ago, whereby we learned Ryan Saunders was fired and Chris Finch was hired on the same night, it does feel like Coyle is fairly deep into this process.

I always return to this quote from Coyle three years ago after the Gophers hired Lindsay Whalen to coach the women's program: "I like to be very prepared. I have a short list of coaches. If you came to my house in St. Paul, I can open up a desk drawer and I've got green files of every sport, coaches we want to go after. We constantly update that list because you never know when something is going to happen. When something happens, I believe you have to go quickly."

There's a chance the decision on the next coach has already been made. If not, at least don't expect this process to be very drawn out.

3 Can any coach have success here? That's a fair question after the last two decades. Dan Monson, Tubby Smith and Pitino have had somewhat similar runs. Smith, with three NCAA berths in six years, has to be considered the most successful but even his tenure felt like it came up short. Six total tourney appearances and two games won isn't much to show for this millennium-to-date.

A new coach will have the benefit of the Athletes Village from the start, something that Monson and Smith never had and Pitino could only tout for part of his tenure. And talent in the state has gone up impressively in recent years. So I think it is possible for a coach to have success. But until it happens, we can't say we should expect it.

4 Here are two tweets from readers/listeners that form one essential question:

Both of these get to the heart of in-state recruiting questions. It might be a strange paradox in the Iowa vs. Minnesota question: Does being the only Division I school in the state (at least until St. Thomas joins later this year) hurt the Gophers in some cases because it puts a lot of pressure on in-state recruits? Maybe.

There's no doubt, though, that connecting with local recruits is something a new coach can do better than Pitino — and that a few more recruiting "hits" in Minnesota would go a long way given the talent level in this state.

5 And finally, something about where Pitino goes from here:

I think it's certainly possible, particularly since he landed on his feet so quickly by grabbing the New Mexico job on Tuesday. Pitino is still only 38, meaning he could have a long second- and third-act in coaching. It all depends on how his next job, assuming he gets one, goes.

Can he learn from his experience at Minnesota — where he was almost certainly too young and inexperienced to handle the job at age 30 when hired — and use New Mexico as a building block to establish a long career at another bigger school? Time will tell.