Sophomore point guard Andre Hollins, the best of Minnesota’s returning players for next season, told Sports Headliners yesterday he didn’t want to talk about the basketball coaching change but apparently fans don’t have to worry about him transferring to another school.
“I am not leaving,” Hollins said.
Hollins was the team’s leading scorer at 14.6 points per game. He also led the Gophers in three-point shots made and three point percentage, .416. His 116 assists were tops on the team by 29.
There was concern this past winter that if Gophers’ coach Tubby Smith were fired, Hollins might leave the program. Hollins is a projected 2014 first round draft choice by NBAdraft.net and college programs across the country would welcome him.
Hollins and center Trevor Mbakwe were the team’s two most valuable players but Mbakwe and forward Rodney Williams were both senior starters who won’t be around next season. Key senior reserves Julian Welch and Andre Ingram have used up their eligibility too.
Whoever the new coach is replacing Smith, he will be happy to build around Hollins. Forward Joe Coleman, who will be a junior next season, and shooting guard Austin Hollins, a senior in 2013-2014, join Andre Hollins as returning starters on a 21-13 team that won only six games after January 8.
The opinion here is athletic director Norwood Teague and other members of his staff prefer hiring someone who is presently a college head coach. Their expertise is with current college coaches, and so I have doubts if Flip Saunders will be offered the Gophers’ job.
Saunders, the former Gophers point guard and NBA head coach, has never been a major college head coach and it’s been more than 20 years since he was a college assistant. Saunders, who is out of coaching now after leaving the Wizards in 2012, might be interested in the Gophers job, and there’s no question he has the backing of many Minnesotans including donors and others of influence.
Hiring Saunders looks like a financial jackpot for the Gophers. Unlike hiring a prominent college coach, there would be no buyout from another school. And Saunders, 58, has made millions coaching in the NBA and possibly agree to a more minimal salary than a high profile college head coach.
Saunders’ immediate financial impact on ticket sales, donations, corporate sponsorships and other revenue areas could be dramatic. It’s not out of the question that the Gophers might sell out Williams Arena for the season with a Saunders hire. They almost certainly would sell out the Big Ten season in advance of next January.
Saunders has important relationships in this town and strong sales ability. With his contacts and communication skills, he would stir the pot for contributions to a new practice facility like very few potential hires could.
Saunders could jump-start game day enthusiasm in a way many local fans might not expect. When Saunders was a Gopher, the players participated in a lively ball handling drill set to music. With fans applauding and yelling approval, Williams Arena came alive long before tipoff.
Saunders told Sports Headliners a few years ago that if he ever coached college basketball again, he would use the Harlem Globetrotters style warm up routine. Such a move is much needed because the pre-game atmosphere at Williams Arena — and sometimes game environment — badly needs energy.
Look for Teague to make a strong pitch for VCU’s Shaka Smart, the man Teague hired when he was athletic director at that school, and one of the hottest names in college basketball coaching. Don’t be too sure that Smart and his family want to live in the crowded and superficial world of southern California where UCLA has an opening and many Bruins fans hope he will be the new coach. Smart, raised in the Midwest, might prefer Minneapolis and working for a man he trusts and has had a previous successful relationship with.
That past relationship has to be important to Teague, too. As Smart’s former boss, he knows what he’s getting in Smart.
That figures to count for a lot if the two men can agree it’s time for another high profile member of the VCU athletic department to join the Gophers.