GOPHERS HIRING BEN JOHNSON

This wasn't about money...
I agree with that now. When I wrote that post, I didn't know how badly Smith wanted the Gopher job and was willing to do it for less money than Coyle is paying BJ.

He interviewed Johnson and was sold on him, plain and simple.
Nope. Either he and Gable came to an agreement before hand, or Gable put her foot down, that it had to be a Black hire.
 

I'll say if it was going to be a diversity hire, Coyle would have been forced to kiss the Strib's ass and hire Sam Mitchell.
Nope. SM is even less qualified than BJ to be a Big Ten head coach. At least BJ has coached in the Big Ten. SM has one year in college, at Memphis, then was fired or quit (not sure, but does it matter?).
 



This is definitely the "nameless, faceless beaurocrat" approach.
Gable learned her lesson.

Remember when the Big Ten presidents basically "mucked" the vote on canceling football last fall, that way no individual could be blamed, and Gable spilled the beans on that by mistake in an interview? Or something like that, I don't exactly remember it now, but I know she goofed it up in an interview.
 


Fair enough.

Would be zero surprise from me, if some combination of Gable and the regents dictated it.
Coyle did say Gable, "spent way too much time with him and the search committee during the process." Which I thought was a strange comment for a process that took a week, which didn't seem overly long. I doubt Gable was a wallflower and I am sure her input in that "way too much time" of a relatively short process was not input about the 5 out offense or ball line defense, I am pretty certain her input was about minority coaching ratios. I am sure Coyle was under a lot of pressure.
 

Coyle did say Gable, "spent way too much time with him and the search committee during the process." Which I thought was a strange comment for a process that took a week, which didn't seem overly long. I doubt Gable was a wallflower and I am sure her input in that "way too much time" of a relatively short process was not input about the 5 out offense or ball line defense, I am pretty certain her input was about minority coaching ratios. I am sure Coyle was under a lot of pressure.
It really should not be difficult for anyone to understand this.

Gable has had to endure a lot, since the beginning of last year. I can't imagine the pressure she is under, trying to please everyone possible, from students, faculty, donors, alumni, to state politicians who dictate a big part of the overall budget. Impossible job. But clearly she determined that more good than harm would come from hiring Ben Johnson, at this time, than hiring Craig Smith.
 

It really should not be difficult for anyone to understand this.

Gable has had to endure a lot, since the beginning of last year. I can't imagine the pressure she is under, trying to please everyone possible, from students, faculty, donors, alumni, to state politicians who dictate a big part of the overall budget. Impossible job. But clearly she determined that more good than harm would come from hiring Ben Johnson, at this time, than hiring Craig Smith.
If it was really 'Black or bust' on the demand of the school president, that's wrong. We get nowhere as a program, an institution, or as a society by hiring an objectively unqualified candidate on the basis of their color. It makes a mockery of the affirmative hiring concept and can embitter or harden people against affirmative action. Not to mention the improper usurping of Coyle's authority. I hope it didn't go down like this, but I fear it did.
 

If it was really 'Black or bust' on the demand of the school president, that's wrong. We get nowhere as a program, an institution, or as a society by hiring an objectively unqualified candidate on the basis of their color. It makes a mockery of the affirmative hiring concept and can embitter or harden people against affirmative action. Not to mention the improper usurping of Coyle's authority. I hope it didn't go down like this, but I fear it did.
I'm generally of the opinion of expanding access and equity for underrepresented peoples, as I'm sure you know.

But in the case of a head MBB coach, at least in this specific situation, I don't agree with it.

If it had at least been Gates, who at least had two years of head coaching experience, I could see it.
And maybe that was the plan the whole time? And Gates threw a last second zig-zag, leaving them scrambling?


We'll never know.

And of course I freely admit that I could be wrong. Maybe it was Coyle who used his "gut feel" and "instinct" that BJ would be a Fleck-like hire.
 



The top guys will continue to go where they feel they can win conference championships and be developed to their potential. That'll only be the U if Johnson turns out to be an excellent coach.

EDIT: I should add on a little about that last sentence re "the guys we want." So many of "the guys we want" are very get-able if you're talking about players like McKinley Wright. That's much of what builtbadgers is talking about when he emphasizes evaluation. The Wright/Washington fiasco was a failure of evaluation. Not just evaluation from the standpoint of skills and physicality but also character. Seeing the uncommon team leader he turned out to be at Colorado...we not only missed out on all-conference talent; we missed out on a team captain. And ended up with a pouter instead. Those kinds of things are not a random crapshoot; they can be identified and evaluated. Regardless of how it's gone with Gabe the last year plus, I'd still recruit him all over again. He's the kind of guy we want. Best defender on the team, and he won that NCAA tournament game for us. And I believe the rumors that the only reason we signed him was that Johnson stood on his head and fell on his sword convincing Richard to do it.
I agree with the overall point you are making, but the Wright/Washington fiasco wasn't entirely an evaluation fiasco. The spot was there for Wright to take, but he didn't take it, he wanted to play the field a bit more, maybe he was enjoying the process. I believe they wanted McKinley more, but in recruiting you learn how unpredictable kids are. As they say a bird in hand is worth two in the bush. If Pitino would have paused on Washington (who was a highly rated recruit), for McKinley, and then lost Washington and then McKinley decides to goes elsewhere, then you have nothing. I just wish McKinley would have taken the spot and not danced around.
 

I agree with the overall point you are making, but the Wright/Washington fiasco wasn't entirely an evaluation fiasco. The spot was there for Wright to take, but he didn't take it, he wanted to play the field a bit more, maybe he was enjoying the process. I believe they wanted McKinley more, but in recruiting you learn how unpredictable kids are. As they say a bird in hand is worth two in the bush. If Pitino would have paused on Washington (who was a highly rated recruit), for McKinley, and then lost Washington and then McKinley decides to goes elsewhere, then you have nothing. I just wish McKinley would have taken the spot and not danced around.
The exact opposite happened. They slow played Wright so they could get Washington and we all saw how that worked out.
 

If you want to hire an assistant coach with no prior experience as a head coach, AT LEAST, hire one from a winning program who's been mentored by a respected coach.

This is not the case with Ben.

After a few years in Ben Jacobson's program at Northern Iowa, the programs he's been with have had little luck.

One year at Nebraska (2012-13): Tim Miles first year there, went 5-13 in conference. (Craig Smith was also on that staff, but stayed until the next year when The Huskers went to their only recent NCAA tourney).

Five years under Richard Pitino (2013-18): Conference record 31-59.

Three years at Xavier (2018-21): 23-26 conference record including back-to-back losing records. 25 years since their previous losing conference record.

Maybe he was better as a player?
0-16 & 3-13 conference records at Northwestern, 8-8 & 3-13 conference records at Minny.

Please, show me some positives.
 

If you want to hire an assistant coach with no prior experience as a head coach, AT LEAST, hire one from a winning program who's been mentored by a respected coach.

This is not the case with Ben.

After a few years in Ben Jacobson's program at Northern Iowa, the programs he's been with have had little luck.

One year at Nebraska (2012-13): Tim Miles first year there, went 5-13 in conference. (Craig Smith was also on that staff, but stayed until the next year when The Huskers went to their only recent NCAA tourney).

Five years under Richard Pitino (2013-18): Conference record 31-59.

Three years at Xavier (2018-21): 23-26 conference record including back-to-back losing records. 25 years since their previous losing conference record.

Maybe he was better as a player?
0-16 & 3-13 conference records at Northwestern, 8-8 & 3-13 conference records at Minny.

Please, show me some positives.
The strib hasn’t written one negative article about U of M athletics budgeting or diversity since the hire.

It’s bad PR with fans. It’s okay PR with media. Coyle knows him and must think he is the best option amongst the similarly priced options.
 



The exact opposite happened. They slow played Wright so they could get Washington and we all saw how that worked out.
Not correct. Wright had his visit, didn't commit because he wanted to go to Dayton visit. Washington came in and accepted the offer after Wright's visit/non commit.

I vividly remember refreshing Gopherhole every hour on the day of Wright's official visit, and was shocked to not seen him committing.
 

Not correct. Wright had his visit, didn't commit because he wanted to go to Dayton visit. Washington came in and accepted the offer after Wright's visit/non commit
I think it isn’t easy to point at individual examples of individual kids because we don’t ever know the whole story. But the vibe from MN basketball coaches I know is that Pitino was always looking for the next best thing.

if Washington had worked out the way he was hyped, it was the right choice anyways to take him when he wanted to commit
 

If it was really 'Black or bust' on the demand of the school president, that's wrong. We get nowhere as a program, an institution, or as a society by hiring an objectively unqualified candidate on the basis of their color. It makes a mockery of the affirmative hiring concept and can embitter or harden people against affirmative action. Not to mention the improper usurping of Coyle's authority. I hope it didn't go down like this, but I fear it did.
If it did go down like that I'd look for Coyle to jump ship soon to somewhere he is able to do his job without interference. If that happens it's a pretty good indication of what happened here.
 

Not correct. Wright had his visit, didn't commit because he wanted to go to Dayton visit. Washington came in and accepted the offer after Wright's visit/non commit.

I vividly remember refreshing Gopherhole every hour on the day of Wright's official visit, and was shocked to not seen him committing.
This isn't true. They wouldn't let Wright commit because they had Washington coming in the following week.

This also explained why they haven't landed anyone from that program since.
 
Last edited:

If you want to hire an assistant coach with no prior experience as a head coach, AT LEAST, hire one from a winning program who's been mentored by a respected coach.

This is not the case with Ben.

After a few years in Ben Jacobson's program at Northern Iowa, the programs he's been with have had little luck.

One year at Nebraska (2012-13): Tim Miles first year there, went 5-13 in conference. (Craig Smith was also on that staff, but stayed until the next year when The Huskers went to their only recent NCAA tourney).

Five years under Richard Pitino (2013-18): Conference record 31-59.

Three years at Xavier (2018-21): 23-26 conference record including back-to-back losing records. 25 years since their previous losing conference record.

Maybe he was better as a player?
0-16 & 3-13 conference records at Northwestern, 8-8 & 3-13 conference records at Minny.

Please, show me some positives.
I will say, the one year at Nebraska thing, I am guessing, is because he got the opportunity to come back home to Minnesota and that was a dream for him. Otherwise he would have stayed at Nebraska. Like I said, just a guess.
 


If it did go down like that I'd look for Coyle to jump ship soon to somewhere he is able to do his job without interference. If that happens it's a pretty good indication of what happened here.
Not if Gable talked it out with him and they came to a mutual agreement on "the plan".
 



OK, how do you know this?
Sorry, I can't tell you that, but it doesn't matter anyway at this point. I am now all in on Johnson. Who knows, it may be for the best.
 

Sorry, I can't tell you that
You didn't know anything anyway.

Muss had zero point zero interest in leaving Ark for Minnesota, at this time.

At best, you're trying to play some semantics game about a previous time where he would have been interested in a hypothetical opening.
 

Muss had zero point zero interest in leaving Ark for Minnesota, at this time.
You don't know that either. There was probably a price he could have been had at. We weren't going to pay it. And if he takes Arkansas to the Final Four they would move heaven and earth to keep him. Whatever chance we may have had probably peaked when they were getting blown out by Colgate early and evaporated when they won on Sunday, if not sooner.
 

You didn't know anything anyway.

Muss had zero point zero interest in leaving Ark for Minnesota, at this time.

At best, you're trying to play some semantics game about a previous time where he would have been interested in a hypothetical opening.
So you are calling me a liar. That's fine. Go for it. I know differently. Anyway, it doesn't matter at this point. Two things are true. Johnson is the coach and you remain an idiot.
 


No, you don't.
I'm hardly one to defend Beeg, but it's not unrealistic that a long-time season ticket holder from the Musselman era might know some people who know the family etc. Give it a rest. You don't have to believe him if you don't want to.
 

Too easy for his "friend of the family" to tell him one thing, which means a specific thing, and then for him to twist that or misinterpret it into what he wanted to hear.

Nope, don't buy it. Not a matter of money, either. A man only needs so much. At some point, there is no difference between offering him $5M a year and $20M a year.
 

Too easy for his "friend of the family" to tell him one thing, which means a specific thing, and then for him to twist that or misinterpret it into what he wanted to hear.

Nope, don't buy it. Not a matter of money, either. A man only needs so much. At some point, there is no difference between offering him $5M a year and $20M a year.
He wasn't coming here for the $. But we would have to at least match whatever Arkansas is paying him/will pay him after this tournament run, plus pay his buyout. It's a big check, that got bigger with each passing day in the past week. Our shot to hire him was in 2019 and we missed it. That's life.
 




Top Bottom