Gophers AD Coyle on firing of Pitino and qualities he wants in new men’s hoops coach

Gophers athletics director Mark Coyle met with the media on Tuesday to discuss his decision to go in a different direction with his men’s basketball coach. Soon after Coyle’s Monday late decision, Richard Pitino landed the head coaching job at New Mexico.

"I’m very excited about our search process. I feel like we have a very attractive job. We play in the best conference in America in the Big Ten. I feel we have great opportunities in front of us and we look forward to our national search to find the next great coach for the University of Minnesota men’s basketball program," said Coyle.

***To see the Zoom press conference with Mark Coyle, CLICK THE PLAY ICON ABOVE***

Richard Pitino was 141-123 as the Gophers coach for eight seasons, including two trips to the NCAA tournament and an NIT Championship in 2014.

Now, Coyle can find the head coach he wants to move this program forward. It’s been nearly 40 years since the Gophers have won a Big Ten title in men’s basketball.

"I did not come to Minnesota to be .500. I’m aware that it’s been since 1982 (since winning a conference title). There is no reason why we can’t compete at a high level. I’ve been blessed to be around the University of Kentucky program for seven years, and I was fortunate to be around Syracuse and Jim Boeheim for the one year when I was at Syracuse. I’ve been very fortunate to see it at a high, high level and we have the pieces in place here at Minnesota. We have great facilities, we have Williams Arena, a historic facility, and based on the calls I received while watching the men’s hockey team beat Michigan in the semi-finals of the Big Ten tournament (last night), there’s great interest in this opportunity because everything is in place. We have a great academic institution we feel very optimistic about the opportunities in front of us and we believe we’ll get a great coach for this program," Coyle said.

Mark Coyle has been at the University of Minnesota AD for five years. He said he will not be hiring a search firm to assist in the process.