Brian Dutcher Tries to Dismiss Interest in Minnesota Job

San Diego State University head basketball coach, Brian Dutcher, took questions on his links to the University of Minnesota on Monday morning. Marcus Fuller was on that conference call and reported his quotes in a new article on StarTribune.com.

It was wholly worth my click. But the headline, “San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher dismisses questions about Gophers job speculation”, was a flat-out lie.

San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher dismisses questions about #Gophers job speculation @StribSports @marchmadness https://t.co/x0UpMicCL8

— Marcus R. Fuller (@Marcus_R_Fuller) March 9, 2021

Sure, Brian Dutcher took questions on the University of Minnesota head coaching job. But “dismiss” isn’t how I would describe his reaction.

Dutcher Speaks on Minnesota connection

In fact, Dutcher does just about everything BUT dismiss possible FUTURE interest in coaching the Minnesota Gophers MBB team. Here are the quotes in that Star Tribune article. You be the judge.

“I just told them in our first meeting, whenever anything happens at the University of Minnesota, my name’s going to come up because I went to school there and my dad coached there,” Dutcher said Monday. “But I’m solely focused on San Diego State right now that that doesn’t need to be in any of our heads. We need to prepare ourselves to play our best basketball in March and try to be at our very best when our best is required.”

Brian Dutcher (via Star Tribune)

Do you see a “dismissal” there? Me neither. He sounds like a guy who is coaching a really good basketball team, currently making a run in their mid-major conference tournament and prepping for a high-seed NCAA Tournament birth.

Dutcher to Minnesota confirmed?

If Dutcher answered these questions by vehemently denying interest in the Gopher job, I’d be skeptical. But after seeing these quotes, my antennas are way up.

Dutcher even added this at the end…

“I would say Richard Pitino is the head coach of the University of Minnesota and they are preparing to play in the Big 10 tournament,” Dutcher added. “And I am here in San Diego State trying to be solely focused on getting the Aztecs ready to play in the Mountain West tournament and then the NCAA tournament. Any comment beyond that would probably not be timely or worth discussion at this time.”

Brian Dutcher (via Star Tribune)

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Eric Strack | Minnesota Sports Fan