Stanford Basketball: 10 candidates to replace Jerod Haase as Head Coach

Richard Pitino

The possibilities are numerous for Stanford’s next head coach. After all, their last two different hires were essentially a longtime Duke coach and a longtime North Carolina coach. As they prepare to enter the ACC, we’re not looking at someone with ACC experience, but this is another guy with power conference experience already under his belt.

Pitino was born in Boston and graduated from Providence, with some of his early coaching experience coming on his father’s staff at Louisville. He was an assistant at five different schools before FIU handed him their reigns in 2012. After engineering an impressive turnaround, he was hired one year later by Minnesota, taking the Golden Gophers to an NIT title and two trips to the Big Dance in eight seasons. Pitino has been at New Mexico the last three seasons and might have the Lobos dancing this season for the first time in a decade.

The turnaround at New Mexico and Pitino’s decent run with Minnesota show that he deserves a second chance at a power conference school. Minnesota isn’t exactly a basketball power and he did decent work. How he’d handle life in the ACC would be unknown, but he was a decent Big Ten head coach and Big East assistant. Would Pitino leave Albuquerque right as he’s starting to get this program rolling again?