BTN.com staff, April 5, 2013

As the new men's basketball coach at Minnesota, Richard Pitino spoke with the media on Friday morning to discuss his style and approach to the game. Watch the entire announcement here and here.

Pitino called Minnesota a place where he and his family hope to be "for the rest of our lives." That rarely happens in modern college basketball, but possibility, hope and potential were the predictable themes at an event that was open to the public and had the feel of a pep rally.

"We're going to press on every possession, on every make. We're going to create offense from our defense. It's going to be a style that the kids like to play," Pitino said, adding as he addressed the fans: "So it's going to be a great brand of basketball. I think you guys are really going to enjoy it." Read the full AP story here.

BTN.com?s Tom Dienhart wrote that this hire fits the job. We also tracked Twitter reaction to the news on Wednesday.

Pitino comes from Florida International where he was the school?s seventh coach in the history of the program and helped them to an 18-14 record. He becomes the 17th head coach of the Golden Gophers. Before that, he spent three seasons with the Louisville Cardinals where he served as the team?s associate head coach under his father, Rick Pitino, during the 2011-12 campaign.

Here's Pitino in a one-on-one interview with BTN.

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Here's Minnesota AD Norwood Teague in a one-on-one interview with BTN.

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