Athletic director Joel Maturi will have an unusual amount of time to search for a new basketball coach at the University of Minnesota. Dan Monson departed in late November when normally you expect to see a college basketball change in February or March. Maturi’s research time will be more than ample to settle on selection criteria and review candidates including interim coach Jim Molinari.
Former Gopher basketball coach Jim Dutcher, who has been a TV color commentator on Minnesota games for years, was asked about criteria. A new coach, he said, should have a staff that can recruit nationally with success. The coach should also come here committed to the University of Minnesota and not looking to use the job to move elsewhere.
“You want a commitment, you want a solid staff, you want someone who can communicate with the fans,” Dutcher said. “Minnesota fans are pretty forgiving. They just want a team that’s competitive. They know they are not going to win the Big Ten (Conference) championship every year, or every other year. But they want to feel they (the Gophers) have a chance to win each time they walk out there.”
Dutcher expects many qualified candidates to materialize. “Big Ten jobs are select jobs in the basketball coaching profession,” he said. “They’ll get a lot of very good qualified candidates that will be interested in this job.”
Is there a reason the Gophers can’t be a top 20 program? “Not that I know of,” Dutcher answered. “Because of the recruiting area, you are probably not going to be up there at the top consistently but certainly there’s no reason why you can’t be in the upper division of the Big Ten. And the way that the post season tournaments are structured now, being in the upper division is going to get you in the post season tournament. We saw the turnaround at Wisconsin (where the Badgers changed from a mediocre program to a consistent contender for the NCAA tournament). …”