The Golden Gophers are starting fresh this year after a dismal 2017-18 season plagued by injuries and suspensions.
They kicked off fall practice on Tuesday and provided a “Cribs”-like look at their new practice facility, led by “tour guides” Dupree McBrayer and Eric Curry.
Richard Pitino also shed some light in a recent blog on the Gophers offseason program with honest assessments of where his players are at from a leadership standpoint.
On Isaiah Washington: “He’s really improving on a daily basis with his habits but still has a long way to go. His body language has to improve. His commitment to details and great habits has to get better. Isaiah is a good kid but will test you often. He’s funny, popular, marketable and obviously has a cult internet following. With that being said Isaiah wants to be a great player one day and I want to be the guy that helps him get there.”
On Jordan Murphy: “Murph has always had really good leadership qualities but, like us all, there is always room for improvement. Tom, one of our squad leaders, had a great observation about Murph. He needs to listen to understand, not listen to react.”
On Amir Coffey: “Clearly Amir is one of our better players and has the respect of everyone on the team. During one of the swim missions a couple of guys were goofing around and Amir stepped up in a big way. He loudly told everyone to cut it out and focus on the task at hand. It’s amazing how big of an impact that has when a player says it as opposed to a coach. We need that leadership from Amir.
Check out the full blog for more from Pitino. His Gophers are less than six weeks away from starting the non-conference season.
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