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Big Ten Basketball: Ranking the head coaches for 2018-19

By Bryan Mauro

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MARCH 12: A general interior view of the empty court during the semifinals of the 2011 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament at Conseco Fieldhouse on March 12, 2011 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MARCH 12: A general interior view of the empty court during the semifinals of the 2011 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament at Conseco Fieldhouse on March 12, 2011 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK, NY – JANUARY 20: Head coach Richard Pitino of the Minnesota Golden Gophers looks on against the Ohio State Buckeyes in the second half during their game at Madison Square Garden on January 20, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – JANUARY 20: Head coach Richard Pitino of the Minnesota Golden Gophers looks on against the Ohio State Buckeyes in the second half during their game at Madison Square Garden on January 20, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images) /

12. Richard Pitino

The Minnesota Golden Gophers have experienced many recent highs and lows during the tenure of coach Pitino. Pitino is a name that should sound familiar to college basketball fans as his father is the famous Rick Pitino. Minnesota spent all of last season mired in a controversy regarding star center Reggie Lynch. Lynch was accused of sexual assault of numerous females while on campus at Minnesota. It was reported that Coach Pitino and his staff knew about it and nothing was done. While the coach was cleared of any wrongdoing in the Lynch case. Lynch was expelled from the University and left the Gophers with a huge hole to fill.

Minnesota was never able to recover from the loss of Lynch, which were paired with injuries to starters in Amir Coffey and Eric Curry. The Gophers went from a team with a lot of preseason hype to compete for the league crown, to a team who was playing some of the worst basketball in the conference by seasons end. This was the second season like this for Pitino. In his third season in Minneapolis, he had built a team with not a lot of experience and numerous transfers who needed to sit out for a season. That team looked disinterested most of the time and were only able to win 8 games.

Entering his sixth season, the previous five did not go the way the Gophers had planned. Two seasons ago it appeared the Gophers may finally have the team everyone expected when they dominated late in the year and made a surprising run to the NCAA tournament. The reality is that has been the only good season for Pitino. The rest have been very up and down. Coaches already have enough to worry about, trying to win games, but Pitino’s teams have had some issues in the recent years with making the right decisions off the court as well. Pitino has great bloodlines for being a coach and he always says the right things to the fans. The Gophers are a trendy sleeper pick this year, with everyone healthy again. With a good season, Pitino will show everyone how good of a coach he can be.

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