Press Conference at 11:00 CDT

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UpAndUnder43 said:
Then we’re already behind. Have a system, struggle through it for a year or two and then have your guys in at that point. He can choose his system and recruit to it. We begged Pitino to do it and he never did.
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I think Pitino's problem was a smug sense of entitlement.

He was born on third base and instead of being incredibly grateful for it, he figured it was his birthright and he knew in the back of his head, he's get another shot if fired.

This is Ben's one and only chance, so I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt for now and enjoy it - we can always be upset later.
 
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GopherBlood666 said:
Everyone criticized pitino for not having a system. People now welcoming guy with no known system and are asking those questioning this to be all in or get out. I feel like im in some kind of Twilight zone right now.
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I don’t know if I agree Pitino has no system. We had a weave/ ISO ball system
 

bizzle22 said:
There was some good here. I liked his answer that the style of play will depend on personnel. Can’t stand when a coach is trying to make square pegs fit in round holes when it comes to style of play. Also like that he mentioned an emphasis on shooting and skills in recruitment. I realize athleticism can’t really be taught, but you still need people who can shoot the ball and we haven’t had nearly enough of those recently.

I wouldn’t say he “won” the press conference (doesn’t really strike me as a high energy guy), but he certainly didn’t lose it. I didn’t hear anything that made me think he’s stupid.

He’s our guy. Going to be very curious to see who he hires as assistants, and also really hope he is able to land a couple big fish early to build some recruiting momentum.
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Are you good with the system changing every year? I’m not. But to each their own. I just know the roster isn’t going to remain the same.
 



GopherBlood666 said:
Sounds like they got in coyles head about in state recruiting. Talent not the issue this season, coaching was.
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Wisconsin had all the Minnesota kids they could possibly need on their roster and a vastly superior coach and rode that to a .500 conference finish. The Joe Hedstrom, Tyler Wahl, and Ben Carlson types are exactly what this program is missing. I can now see our ceiling. Didn’t we learn anything years ago from the hockey program?
 

WriterGoph said:
AGAIN, show ONE example of a new coach in any major sport literally NAMING people (who are currently employed elsewhere) that he plans to hire during his intro press conference. Get serious. It NEVER happens.
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Lol why are you so hung up on this? My bad for wanting to hear plans for the staff and if he had anyone ready to go. Something to get us excited other than im going to try hard.
 

WriterGoph said:
AGAIN, show ONE example of a new coach in any major sport literally NAMING people (who are currently employed elsewhere) that he plans to hire during his intro press conference. Get serious. It NEVER happens.
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You are quoting someone who made a joke about sexual innuendos. It had nothing to do with the press conference. You good?? Read the thread. See what they were responding too.
 

Some guy said:
I don’t know if I agree Pitino has no system. We had a weave/ ISO ball system
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Would identity be a better word than system? He did have a system I guess, one that didnt work well in the end.
 



GopherBlood666 said:
Lol why are you so hung up on this? My bad for wanting to hear plans for the staff and if he had anyone ready to go. Something to get us excited other than im going to try hard.
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I just think you're nitpicking something that is not realistic. He has had the job less than 24 hours. He has a list (which he already said in the Grimm interview). He has already talked to people and had people reach out. But to think he is going to name them in a public press conference is just never going to happen in any scenario like this.

However, I bet we start to hear of specific hires in a week or less.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
Are you good with the system changing every year? I’m not. But to each their own. I just know the roster isn’t going to remain the same.
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I don’t think him saying that the style of play will be based on personnel necessarily means that it will change every year. If it’s working and we are bringing most key players I would assume it won’t change much. I think it’s a good thing that he is open to adjusting the system if it’s not working.
 


bizzle22 said:
I don’t think him saying that the style of play will be based on personnel necessarily means that it will change every year. If it’s working and we are bringing most key players I would assume it won’t change much. I think it’s a good thing that he is open to adjusting the system if it’s not working.
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Agreed
As long as there is plan to recruit certain types of players that fit what he wants to do. And if you don’t get option 1, option 2 better also fit what he wants to do.
 




UpAndUnder43 said:
Sarcasm? Sorry. I’m not trying to be mean. Just a lot of people giving Johnson a pass on the same stuff Pitino got shredded for.
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Oh...you're a Pitino fan....no wonder!! Do you want me to tell you some stories about Richard?
 

His preferred system may have to adjust depending on the skills and strengths of his team. He can recruit the players to fit his preferred style of play but we may not see that for acouple of years.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
Coach Johnson on team playing style:

"We're going to be hard-nosed. I want grit. It's gonna get a little dirty. But we're going to battle."

THIS IS WHY IM CONCERNED. He says nothing. So you want to be hard-nosed and have grit. New offense I’m not familiar with?

“Alright guys! We’re down 6, just under 4 minutes left. On defense I want to be hard nosed. Offense let’s be gritty. That is all I got for you so umm...do that! You’re all local kids, you’ll be fine out there”
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Are we going to battle our tails off? I always like Gardy-isms.
 


WriterGoph said:
He said it will be based on personnel. He doesn't know what his team is going to look like yet. Would you prefer he just throws out some style he doesn't have the personnel for (like Richard did) in the press conference?

I respect the fact that he isn't going to make a commitment to something that he doesn't have enough info on yet.
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I buy that for football. Brew committed to the spread on day 1 and spent year 1 trying to jam a square peg in a round hole. Then recruited to the spread and changed his mind in year 2/3. So he was trying to run an offense his talent wasn't suited to almost his entire career.

Basketball isn't really the same. Chances are they can run whatever he prefers with whatever personnel they have.
 


GopherBlood666 said:
Are there violations involved in dicussing possible assistants?
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I don't know about violations, but it's not like he can say "I'm hiring Thorson away from CSU" if it hasn't happened yet. Would be a terrible look. It's not realistic to expect him to discuss that today.
 


Things that stuck out to me:

1. As suspected, the overwhelming driving factor in this hire is in-state recruiting. Like it or not (I’m not the biggest fan), it’s what Coyle prioritized. Based on reactions from players and “insiders” on Twitter, it seems like the consensus is that he’s the one who can get it done. I’d agree that he is definitely going to be a player’s coach.

2. I agree with UpAndUnder’s criticism on lack of defined play style, although I think that’s more of a critique on Coyle than on Johnson. Unfortunately we can’t expect a guy with no head coaching experience to know exactly what he’s going to run. I did notice in a few Xavier highlights that they showed really solid passing and off-ball movement. I’m hoping that’s something he brings as a priority.

3. I liked his comparison to Painter and Izzo. He really does want to be the guy for Minnesota. I think we all would be ecstatic to have someone who bleeds maroon and gold take us to the promised land. Hey, it’s fun to dream.
 





People should go watch Juwan Howard's introductory presser as it's pretty similar to Ben's. He's not laying out his specific philosophy, he's not listing off assistants he's considering or a timeline for when his staff will be announced....pressers like these are meant to be a celebration more than anything. Coaches lay out traits they look for in players, the type of program they want to lead, recruiting in state talent, what the opportunity means to them and so on.

I thought he had good answers to the questions. Really thought the references to Izzo and Painter were good and I'm glad those are two guys he looks up to. Something I think we've lacked is a sense of pride in representing the program and the state. It's kinda in our DNA to roll our eyes at that type of thing, being a "Michigan Man", "The Brotherhood" Duke has, the "Spartan Dawgs" at Michigan State that are still involved with the current team, you know what you're getting when you watch Villanova basketball, we have no choice but to see how invested the likes of Kaminsky and Dekker still are in the Badger program. When it goes beyond personal success, that's when you can really have something special. We lack identity and hopefully Ben can give us that.

Is Ben the one to unlock the potential here? We'll have to see. As someone born and raised in Minneapolis, I would love to see it be him.
 
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NDGopher69420 said:
The guys he wants to hire as assistants was a big thing that caught Coyle's attention? YIKES.
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He said it in the context of understanding they have to adjust the assistant pool of $$ up.
 

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