Timeline of Richard Pitino's career with the Gophers

Pitino's eight-year Minnesota tenure was filled with several ups and downs.

March 16, 2021 at 6:16AM
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Richard Pitino took one last look at Williams Arena after the March 6 loss to Rutgers. (ANTHONY SOUFFLÉ • Star Tribune/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Richard Pitino through the years

April 3, 2013: At age 30, following one 8-14 season at Florida International, Richard Pitino is named the 17th coach in Gophers men's basketball history after Tubby Smith was fired.

April 3, 2014: One year later, Pitino wins the school's second official NIT championship, beating Hall of Famer Larry Brown's Southern Methodist squad at Madison Square Garden.

Feb. 26, 2015: The Gophers end a 15-game program losing streak in East Lansing, Mich., beating Michigan State 96-90 in overtime.

March 9, 2016: Pitino finishes his third season with a 33-point loss in the Big Ten tournament to Illinois. The U doesn't fire him after a program-worst 8-23 record, perhaps because of his $7 million buyout.

May 11, 2016: In newly hired athletic director Mark Coyle's first news conference, U President Eric Kaler says he's "profoundly disappointed" by the men's basketball program, for its on- and off-court actions, and expects Coyle to hold Pitino's team to higher standard.

March 2-16, 2017: The Gophers win their eighth consecutive game, leading to the biggest turnaround in program history. Pitino wins Big Ten coach of the year and makes his first NCAA tournament; as a No. 5 seed they lost to 12th-seeded Middle Tennessee State in the first round.

Jan. 6, 2018: Pitino loses to Indiana without starters Reggie Lynch (suspended) and Amir Coffey (shoulder injury), and the Gophers go 2-16 the rest of the season.

March 21, 2019: Pitino beats Louisville, where his father, Rick, once coached, in the first round of the NCAA tournament in Des Moines. Coyle later gives him a two-year extension through 2023-24.

Nov. 19, 2020: Sophomore All-America center Daniel Oturu, a hometown hero, breaks the Gophers' 16-year NBA draft drought by being selected in the second round.

Jan. 16, 2021: The Gophers upset No. 7 Michigan at the Barn, which catapults them to No. 16 in the national rankings after other wins vs. Iowa and Ohio State.

Feb. 27: In an emotional locker room speech after a fifth straight loss, to last-place Nebraska, Pitino leads members of his team to believe he won't be back as Gophers coach.

March 11: Pitino's eighth season ends with a loss to Ohio State in the Big Ten tournament second round in Indianapolis.

March 15: Pitino is fired at age 38 with a record as Gophers coach of 141-123 and seven losing seasons in conference play.

Marcus Fuller

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Gophers basketball coach Richard Pitino joked with the players before a team photo on Oct. 28, 2013. (CARLOS GONZALEZ • cgonzalez@startribune.com/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
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Richard Pitino sat on the bench in the waning moments of a Big Ten tournament loss to Ohio State in Indianapolis on Thursday, which became his final game as Gophers coach. (Michael Conroy • Associated Press/The Minnesota Star Tribune)
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about the writer

Marcus Fuller

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Marcus Fuller covers Gophers men's basketball, national college basketball, college sports and high school recruiting for the Minnesota Star Tribune.

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