Ben Johnson is a Disaster

[NateDawgUM]

Gopher Basketball is at a very dangerous crossroads.

College sports aren't very difficult, outside of a few technical wizards who appear here and there, most coaches are following the same blueprint. There's no magical way to run a practice or a game plan that will give you a huge edge. The best coaches thrive because they've created a winning environment that they consistently maintain.

This environment becomes self-sustaining momentum. If you look at the top programs today, they're runaway carts going downhill. They have big national brands, players want to go there, their games are on the big networks, the atmosphere is electric, they make deep runs in March.

For the last 25+ years, Gopher Basketball has mostly been a cart on a flat road, and lately, a slight incline. How do you create momentum? A few really good seasons in a row, an inspired coaching hire, new facilities, luck.

Gopher Basketball hasn't even had one truly good season this century, let alone a few in a row. You could say Tubby was an inspired hire, but he always felt "bigger" than the program to me and it was generally advertised as Tubby gracing Minnesota with his presence. Remember how the new practice facility was supposed to rocket Minnesota into contention? Luck? At Minnesota?

Ben has used up his coaching hire momentum, so if he's going to turn it around he either needs to string together a few good seasons or bottle a whole lot of luck. If you don't think either of those are possible, it's time to make a change. The road only gets steeper if things stay the same.

 

[Bad Gopher]

I think there is a path for CBJ not to return for year 3.

If the rest of this year goes anything like the last 3 games & a bunch of our core players decide to transfer, I think his days would be numbered.

I'll say this: if next year is another year zero with a hollowed out roster returning, it's officially Groundhog Day.

 

[bc2211]

I think there is a path for CBJ not to return for year 3.

If the rest of this year goes anything like the last 3 games & a bunch of our core players decide to transfer, I think his days would be numbered.

I agree. I personally don’t want that to happen, but the admin might have to ignore sunk cost at some point. As of now I’m intrigued enough by Evans (and the fact that BJ was able to secure a commitment) and want to see him touch the floor before we make any decisions.

Things that will be big tells this off-season:
- outward transfers
- assistant coaching movement
- quality of players in the 2024 class

I’m still peeved that CBJ wasted his first class without adding a project high school player or two. Those players would be upperclassmen next year and are supposed to be fundamental to the success of developmental programs. He got nothing long-term out of that class, and i expect recruiting to drop off until he can prove that his plan translates to wins. 2024 class will be interesting.

 

[Bad Gopher]

I agree. I personally don’t want that to happen, but the admin might have to ignore sunk cost at some point. As of now I’m intrigued enough by Evans (and the fact that BJ was able to secure a commitment) and want to see him touch the floor before we make any decisions.

Things that will be big tells this off-season:
- outward transfers
- assistant coaching movement
- quality of players in the 2024 class

I’m still peeved that CBJ wasted his first class without adding a project high school player or two. Those players would be upperclassmen next year and are supposed to be fundamental to the success of developmental programs. He got nothing long-term out of that class, and i expect recruiting to drop off until he can prove that his plan translates to wins. 2024 class will be interesting.

I think it's a dilemma for Coyle under this scenario. A very, very good-rated class coming in next year, which you'd essentially forfeit by making a change. That would leave the program in self-imposed death penalty status. Not feeling sorry for Coyle, mind you; he made this situation.

 

[UpAndUnder43]

Technically, Cal, Tulsa, South Carolina, and Louisville are currently worse. So, bottom 5.

I love how Bfan is now pointing to Pikiell to justify his weird defense of a failing coach. It’s been pointed out that a) Rutgers was a lot worse over a 30-year period than Minnesota has ever been (and therefore their fan expectations were much lower), b) he had over a decade as a head coach at a mid-major where he started slow and then had a lot of success, c) his first two years at Rutgers - while they did lose a lot - showed tremendous improvement on the defensive end - top 25 by the end of year 2, d) no one within the Rutgers community wanted to run him after his first 2 years - that is a convenient assumption/myth constructed by the Ben bobos to justify the complete lack of anything else that is similar between the two situations.

He’s basically Pikiell.

 

[bleedsmaroonandgold]

The problem is, we're so bad that even some improvement next year, will still mean we suck.

Like, what's the end game for next season? To go like 6-14 in the B1G? Compared to this year, that's great, but that's still shitty. And even 6-14 is probably optimistic.

My biggest fear with how bad these two seasons have been is that we are going to permanently lower the bar. Like you said, 6-14 is still bad. And if we go 6-14 next year, we shouldn't pretend like it is good because it is not as bad as this year. I know I harp on the Tubby firing, but we are not that far removed as a program from making the statement that only going to the tournament 3 times in 6 years and then winning only 1 tournament game in year 6 is not only disappointing, but bad enough to merit a firing. That standard should stay.

 

[UpAndUnder43]

I agree. I personally don’t want that to happen, but the admin might have to ignore sunk cost at some point. As of now I’m intrigued enough by Evans (and the fact that BJ was able to secure a commitment) and want to see him touch the floor before we make any decisions.

Things that will be big tells this off-season:
- outward transfers
- assistant coaching movement
- quality of players in the 2024 class

I’m still peeved that CBJ wasted his first class without adding a project high school player or two. Those players would be upperclassmen next year and are supposed to be fundamental to the success of developmental programs. He got nothing long-term out of that class, and i expect recruiting to drop off until he can prove that his plan translates to wins. 2024 class will be interesting.

Even with a handful more games like last night I don’t fire Ben. Not yet.

 

[Gopherfan84]

I think there is a path for CBJ not to return for year 3.

If the rest of this year goes anything like the last 3 games & a bunch of our core players decide to transfer, I think his days would be numbered.

ThAt would result in a very late firing and would be even more counterproductive imo as you’ll limit your pool of candidates.

 

[skiumah1]

Even with a handful more games like last night I don’t fire Ben. Not yet.

The offseason is extremely important.

If Ben gets everybody to come back (Garcia the main piece) and adds a legit PG to go along with Cooper, I'll be hopeful in what we can do. If he can't win with that team, he just can't coach.

Can we agree this is a decent roster? I fully believe we should be competitive if this is how it looks next year. Getting the transfer guard will be the big challenge / absolute must.

Big 10 Level PG Transfer
Cooper
Christie
Carrington
Henley
Battle
Betts
JOJ
Fox
Ihnen
Garcia
Payne
Evans

 

[Wet_Blanket_Guy]

The offseason is extremely important.

If Ben gets everybody to come back (Garcia the main piece) and adds a legit PG to go along with Cooper, I'll be hopeful in what we can do. If he can't win with that team, he just can't coach.

Can we agree this is a decent roster? I fully believe we should be competitive if this is how it looks next year. Getting the transfer guard will be the big challenge / absolute must.

Big 10 Level PG Transfer
Cooper
Christie
Carrington
Henley
Battle
Betts
JOJ
Fox
Ihnen
Garcia
Payne
Evans

That is not a good b10 roster. It’s a 1-19 team this year (most likely) and you’re adding Evan who may contribute 7/7/3 (but takes Payne off the court)…but our guards are still incredibly below B10 standards and it’s hard to count on CBJ’s portal ability as he hasn’t really done anything guard related (Willis was an outlier as he was a boomerang player and maybe he just wanted to come back).

That’s like a four win roster

 

[Gopherfan84]

That is not a good b10 roster. It’s a 1-19 team this year (most likely) and you’re adding Evan who may contribute 7/7/3 (but takes Payne off the court)…but our guards are still incredibly below B10 standards and it’s hard to count on CBJ’s portal ability as he hasn’t really done anything guard related (Willis was an outlier as he was a boomerang player and maybe he just wanted to come back).

That’s like a four win roster

Willis only came back because his lead recruiter got the head job (Johnson) and his best friend (Curry) was still here. You can’t pick and choose what we don’t give him credit for if you hold the same standard on criticism. It still fits your wet blanket narrative even if you give him credit for Willis.

 

[Wet_Blanket_Guy]

Willis only came back because his lead recruiter got the head job (Johnson) and his best friend (Curry) was still here. You can’t pick and choose what we don’t give him credit for if you hold the same standard on criticism. It still fits your wet blanket narrative even if you give him credit for Willis.

So even in your comment it wasn’t a true portal win, it was luck that his friend was still on the team and his lead recruiter from back on the day just by chance became the head coach. Like I said, there was a previous MN connection. He isn’t some random portal player who we got who was really good.

 

[WoodburyTim]

Part of the problem is that getting rid of Ben is an admittance that politically motivated decision making does not work. And at the U of M that is part of a larger strategy than just the mens basketball program. He’s gonna be here for awhile.

 

[cjbfbp]

I’m still peeved that CBJ wasted his first class without adding a project high school player or two.

Actually, he did have two project freshmen last season: Thompson and Thiam.

I was surprised that Thiam was so bad last season given his encouraging juco shooting stats. He's doing well this season albeit at a much lower level of competition.

I think Johnson wanted to be relatively competitive right away and that strategy worked for awhile anyway but he probably would have been better off ignoring wins and losses last season and letting younger players play more. Perhaps someone like Thiam would have been better by the end of the season if he would have received more playing time.

 

[stocker08]

No way. CBJ is coaching for his future next year. Forget this tenure with the gophers. If we don’t improve substantially enough to win a handful of big ten games, I don’t know where he is able to earn another head coaching job. His market value was low when we hired him and is even less now. Pitino has flaws but will have taken two teams to the NCAA after this year, has had players drafted, and like it or not he has a recognizable brand that is appreciated by some. To hire CBJ again would be an even worse gamble than it was when we did it.

False. No tenure is decided in year two. None. His future...whether it be with the Gophers or somewhere else will be determined in the next two years.

Yeah, Carrington and his 30% shooting not being available is devastating, for sure.

He's an above average defender and a big upgrade over Henley at this point in time. Not to mention that he'd be playing some of Samuels minutes as well. Yes....he's a loss regardless of whether you choose to believe so or not.

No one is baffled they are losing. But 3 losses by a combined 90 points means there are some other issues besides the injuries.

I don't think anybody is denying that there are issues. But people are letting their emotions overrule rationality. Losing your best player along with several depth players would hurt any team. Even a bad team.

The problem is, we're so bad that even some improvement next year, will still mean we suck.

Like, what's the end game for next season? To go like 6-14 in the B1G? Compared to this year, that's great, but that's still shitty. And even 6-14 is probably optimistic.

No idea. Have to wait and see what the offseason brings and what the roster looks like heading into the season. Avoid season ending injuries....get a good or even decent transfer guard and we could be quite a bit better. As I brought up prior (maybe in another thread)....the Big Ten is incredibly deep this year due to experienced teams. Northwestern, Rutgers, and Maryland in these past three games have had a combined TEN Seniors, FOUR Juniors, and ONE Sophomore in their starting lineups. Far cry from the inexperience we've been playing. Quite a few teams are going to take big steps backwards.

 

[golfing18now]

Wasn't he showing results in terms of defensive success and identity in year 2? They were bad overall, but were showing improvement on the court (not just blind hope that things will be better when the roster gets older). If we had a bad record, but were playing good defense, and losing because our young players were making a few inexperienced player decisions in key spots at the end of close games, I would be open to more patience.

It's also important to recognize Steve Pikiell took over a far worse situation than Ben Johnson in an era where it is much easier to augment your roster through the portal.

Eddie Jordan won a total of 8 conference games in the three years he was at the helm at Rutgers.
During the same time period Richard Pitino won 23 conference games.

You can make a reasonable argument that Richard Pitino deserved to be fired. But Minnesota wasn't performing at the historically pathetic pace that Rutgers was until Ben Johnson took over. We can argue whether or not there are justifiable reasons for that performance but it is what it is.

 

[cjbfbp]

Part of the problem is that getting rid of Ben is an admittance that politically motivated decision making does not work. And at the U of M that is part of a larger strategy than just the mens basketball program. He’s gonna be here for awhile.

I believe there is some truth to the first two sentences but I don't think that makes him bulletproof in the long run. You can't just keep paying someone big money who is regularly failing in the position. Not only does that anger fans; it also likely creates some resentment and morale problems among other coaches in the athletic department. Yes, I think a number of people in higher administration thought Ben was the right type of person for the hire but that doesn't make them married to the decision in the long term.

 

[stocker08]

It's also important to recognize Steve Pikiell took over a far worse situation than Ben Johnson in an era where it is much easier to augment your roster through the portal.

Eddie Jordan won a total of 8 conference games in the three years he was at the helm at Rutgers.
During the same time period Richard Pitino won 23 conference games.

You can make a reasonable argument that Richard Pitino deserved to be fired. But Minnesota wasn't performing at the historically pathetic pace that Rutgers was until Ben Johnson took over. We can argue whether or not there are justifiable reasons for that performance but it is what it is.

Pitino's teams were getting successively worse over that three year span. And we only won six conferences games his final year because we had Carr. Without Carr.....that team would have been as bad as any. And he wasn't returning. Neither was the second best player on the team, Robbins. From most reports.....Gabe was heavily leaning towards leaving. Mashburn.....the highest potential young player on the team was following Pitino.

People keep saying that Pikiell had it tougher....which is total BS. Both Carr and Robbins had already transferred once. Who knows what Gabe would have chosen to do. Mashburn I think still would have left. The free transfer caused a mass exodus. It wasn't a benefit to us.

 

[howeda7]

The problem is, we're so bad that even some improvement next year, will still mean we suck.

Like, what's the end game for next season? To go like 6-14 in the B1G? Compared to this year, that's great, but that's still shitty. And even 6-14 is probably optimistic.

Exactly.

 

[Gopherfan84]

So even in your comment it wasn’t a true portal win, it was luck that his friend was still on the team and his lead recruiter from back on the day just by chance became the head coach. Like I said, there was a previous MN connection. He isn’t some random portal player who we got who was really good.

Do you believe that most portal transfers are just random and there is no connection? That’s not how recruiting works unless you’re a blue blood. Preexisting relationships count and are part of recruiting. The portal moves quick and you rarely get to start from scratch with guys. Again, you don’t just get to discount things from positives if we can’t discount them for the negatives.

 

[Bfan]

Part of the problem is that getting rid of Ben is an admittance that politically motivated decision making does not work.

I vigorously disagree. Two things.

FIRST

Ben Johnson - Men's Basketball Coach - University of Minnesota Athletics

Ben Johnson enters his third year at the helm of Golden Gopher men’s basketball. Johnson, 42, was named Minnesota’s 18th head coach in school history on Marc...

gophersports.com

In his first season as the Gopher men’s basketball coach, Johnson had the task of assembling a team from scratch when he added 10 newcomers to the group. The Golden Gophers went 13-17 last season and went 9-1 in nonconference play. Under Coach Johnson’s tutelage, Minnesota won five road games last season, the first road wins since the 2019-20 campaign. He also recorded six Power 5 wins last year, including two Quad 1 wins.

Johnson notched his first Big Ten Conference win on the road when the team defeated Michigan, 75-65. It marked Minnesota’s first win at Michigan since the 2010-11 season. The Gophers also won the inaugural Asheville Championship and earned a thrilling win over Pitt in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. Jamison Battle and Payton Willis garnered All-Big Ten honorable mention in 2021-22.

Off the court, the Golden Gophers have six individuals earn a degree this past month as the team held a 3.18 team grade point average last season. He also signed the No. 43 recruiting class in just his first year as a head coach and welcomes seven newcomers to the 2022-23 team.

Johnson, who graduated from Minnesota in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in sociology, returns to his alma mater after spending three seasons at Xavier as an assistant coach. Johnson previously served as an assistant coach at Minnesota from 2013-18 and was a two-time captain during his playing career for the Gophers.

Johnson helped lead Xavier to consecutive top-30 recruiting classes in 2019 and 2020 and the Musketeers posted a collective record of 51-37 in three seasons with him on the bench.

In his previous stint at Minnesota, Johnson helped recruit local standouts and current NBA athletes in Daniel Oturu and Amir Coffey to the Gophers. Johnson was instrumental in recruiting and developing Jordan Murphy, who finished his career atop the Gopher record books in rebounds (1,307), free throws made (460), free throws attempted (698) and second in scoring (1,802 points).

Prior to returning to Minnesota in 2013, he spent one season as an assistant coach under Tim Miles at the University of Nebraska. While with the Huskers, Johnson assisted in all-day-to-day basketball-related duties while also serving as recruiting coordinator. Johnson also led the development of Nebraska’s backcourt players.

Johnson spent 2008-12 as an assistant coach at Northern Iowa. The Panthers went a combined 93-77 in that timeframe, winning at least 20 games in all four years. Northern Iowa reached postseason play in all four years and advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 in 2009-10. That year, UNI won a school-record 30 games and upset top-seeded Kansas in the second round. During his tenure at UNI, the Panthers boasted three first-team All-MVC selections, including 2010 Missouri Valley Conference MVP Adam Koch in 2010. Four players were named to the MVC All-Freshmen or All-Newcomer teams, including a pair in 2011-12.

Prior to his stay at Northern Iowa, Johnson served as an assistant coach for two seasons at the University of Texas-Pan American. He was heavily involved in recruiting, worked with the Broncos perimeter players and coordinated UTPA’s summer camps.

Johnson’s coaching career began at the University of Dayton, where he served as a graduate assistant during the 2005-06 season.

Johnson started his collegiate playing career at Northwestern and played two seasons before returning to the Twin Cities to finish his career. He finished with 533 points in 59 games in Maroon and Gold and scored a total of 1,202 career points between the two Big Ten Conference institutions.

The Minneapolis native enjoyed a standout prep career, leading DeLaSalle High School to a pair of state championships. He was a two-time first-team all-state selection in both football and basketball, and as a senior, was named a Street & Smith All-American, as well as an honorable mention Nike All-American.

He was listed as the 60th-best basketball player in the country by Bob Gibbons in his senior season, totaling more than 2,200 points during his high school career. Johnson also was listed on Tom Lemming’s High School Football All-American list as a top-20 national recruit and was a two-time all-state performer on the gridiron.

----
SECOND



-Young players putting in long minutes.

-Including Payne with a foot injury.

-Garcia out with an injury.

-Carrington out with an injury.

-Ihnen out with an injury.

-Battle missed time with injury.

-Fox out with an injury.

-Payne, JOJ, Henley, Carrington make for this to be about the youngest team by minutes played in power 5 basketball. Carrington being injured may have changed that, I don't know since Payne and JOJ are getting heavy minutes and Henley right in the rotation.

-Christie and Evans coming in next year.

-Johnson got Garcia from the transfer portal, and probably Garcia from Minnesota had something to do with this.

-This is Minnesota, a program that for a long time has nearly zero recruiting clout. Zero. Evans is the first top prospect in how long, and how many has this team ever, ever been able to get? 3, in modern history of Gophers basketball. Other programs achieve that haul over just two years. And this program has been either bad or not as good as people remember over that time. It's a tough job.

-At Rutgers, which is a slightly worse situation than the Gophers, Pikiell's record was atrocious the first few years. Horrible. Now many years later he's called a great coach and extended to 2030. It took several years for him to show results.

-Others here have called out questionable defense moves during games that make me wonder about the game coaching of the coaching staff. The mistakes with passing and missed shots make me wonder how much of that is the players just are not that good yet or just not going to be good versus if that's consistently worked on. I have no way to know that.

It absolutely is not the mindless, dumb as a rock, the coach stinks. And I do not respect that cliche crowd.

Of the ones who say, "He was brought in to recruit the kids from Minnesota and neither one coming in is from Minnesota." Well, Minnesota only had two spots available to fill, and the two guys coming in are good ones. Last season they did get Payne, JOJ and Carrington from Minnesota.

 

[GoodasGold]

I know we are struggling, but can you imagine how unimpressive the wingspan of our recruits would be if we just gave the keys to an amateur like you?

Isn’t that what we have now?

 

[cjbfbp]

He's an above average defender and a big upgrade over Henley at this point in time. Not to mention that he'd be playing some of Samuels minutes as well. Yes....he's a loss regardless of whether you choose to believe so or not.

Carrington has been out for awhile and has played in only 6 Big Ten games but the advanced statistics don't support that conclusion. Carrington's Player Efficiency Rating (2.0) and Wins Shares per 40 minutes (-.063) are by far the worst on the team in conference play. Henley's Player Efficiency Rating in conference (7.7) is bad but significantly better. Henley's assist percentage is second on the team. His turnover percentage is bad but not as bad as Payne's and slightly below Cooper's. Henley's steal percentage leads the team and his rebounding percentage is 4th on the team. Henley's True Shooting Percentage in conference is terrible but Carrington's is worse. Henley's free throw shooting is still terrible but there is hope for improvement.

I've been encouraged by what I've seen the past few games from Henley. He's getting off some nice passes for assists. He's handling the ball better (earlier in the season he couldn't even get into the paint on the dribble). He's driving and getting position for short jumpers; he's just not converting them yet. If he can get the touch down, he might be viable scorer for the team.

 

[Wet_Blanket_Guy]

What I posted is fact too. Team looked like they were playing quite a bit better and then two more injuries (including one to the best player on the team) destroyed the remaining bit of depth. Doesn't excuse the terrible play.....but it shouldn't be baffling to wonder what happened.

They were playing better against bottom of the B10 teams (Ohio state, Wisconsin and Nebraska - look how those programs have done in calendar year 2023…I’ll save you the trouble…it’s terrible)

 

[golfing18now]

Pitino's teams were getting successively worse over that three year span. And we only won six conferences games his final year because we had Carr. Without Carr.....that team would have been as bad as any. And he wasn't returning. Neither was the second best player on the team, Robbins. From most reports.....Gabe was heavily leaning towards leaving. Mashburn.....the highest potential young player on the team was following Pitino.

People keep saying that Pikiell had it tougher....which is total BS. Both Carr and Robbins had already transferred once. Who knows what Gabe would have chosen to do. Mashburn I think still would have left. The free transfer caused a mass exodus. It wasn't a benefit to us.

I think the person that was hired caused the mass exodus. I have a hard time believing if a coach with a more proven track record was hired then we would have seen the same mass exodus. How many times has that even happened to that degree? But I can't prove that.

I'm not one of the posters calling for this head right now. He will likely get four years minimum. But I do believe this April will be very telling. If he wants us as fans to believe in the progress he is seeing from some of his players and his vision coming to fruition then his players must feel the same. Another large roster turnover from some of the key pieces on this team doesn't support a blueprint based on patience. 5500 fans showing up on a Saturday night suggests the public hasn't bought in, but have the players?

 

[Wet_Blanket_Guy]

Do you believe that most portal transfers are just random and there is no connection? That’s not how recruiting works unless you’re a blue blood. Preexisting relationships count and are part of recruiting. The portal moves quick and you rarely get to start from scratch with guys. Again, you don’t just get to discount things from positives if we can’t discount them for the negatives.

CBJ must’ve had deep relationships with Loewe.

At this point I’m ok finding the best point in the portal and telling him, I’ll hire your dad as an assistant (worked for the Mobley family and USC)

 

[Wet_Blanket_Guy]

I vigorously disagree. Two things.

FIRST

Ben Johnson - Men's Basketball Coach - University of Minnesota Athletics

Ben Johnson enters his third year at the helm of Golden Gopher men’s basketball. Johnson, 42, was named Minnesota’s 18th head coach in school history on Marc...

gophersports.com

In his first season as the Gopher men’s basketball coach, Johnson had the task of assembling a team from scratch when he added 10 newcomers to the group. The Golden Gophers went 13-17 last season and went 9-1 in nonconference play. Under Coach Johnson’s tutelage, Minnesota won five road games last season, the first road wins since the 2019-20 campaign. He also recorded six Power 5 wins last year, including two Quad 1 wins.

Johnson notched his first Big Ten Conference win on the road when the team defeated Michigan, 75-65. It marked Minnesota’s first win at Michigan since the 2010-11 season. The Gophers also won the inaugural Asheville Championship and earned a thrilling win over Pitt in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. Jamison Battle and Payton Willis garnered All-Big Ten honorable mention in 2021-22.

Off the court, the Golden Gophers have six individuals earn a degree this past month as the team held a 3.18 team grade point average last season. He also signed the No. 43 recruiting class in just his first year as a head coach and welcomes seven newcomers to the 2022-23 team.

Johnson, who graduated from Minnesota in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in sociology, returns to his alma mater after spending three seasons at Xavier as an assistant coach. Johnson previously served as an assistant coach at Minnesota from 2013-18 and was a two-time captain during his playing career for the Gophers.

Johnson helped lead Xavier to consecutive top-30 recruiting classes in 2019 and 2020 and the Musketeers posted a collective record of 51-37 in three seasons with him on the bench.

In his previous stint at Minnesota, Johnson helped recruit local standouts and current NBA athletes in Daniel Oturu and Amir Coffey to the Gophers. Johnson was instrumental in recruiting and developing Jordan Murphy, who finished his career atop the Gopher record books in rebounds (1,307), free throws made (460), free throws attempted (698) and second in scoring (1,802 points).

Prior to returning to Minnesota in 2013, he spent one season as an assistant coach under Tim Miles at the University of Nebraska. While with the Huskers, Johnson assisted in all-day-to-day basketball-related duties while also serving as recruiting coordinator. Johnson also led the development of Nebraska’s backcourt players.

Johnson spent 2008-12 as an assistant coach at Northern Iowa. The Panthers went a combined 93-77 in that timeframe, winning at least 20 games in all four years. Northern Iowa reached postseason play in all four years and advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 in 2009-10. That year, UNI won a school-record 30 games and upset top-seeded Kansas in the second round. During his tenure at UNI, the Panthers boasted three first-team All-MVC selections, including 2010 Missouri Valley Conference MVP Adam Koch in 2010. Four players were named to the MVC All-Freshmen or All-Newcomer teams, including a pair in 2011-12.

Prior to his stay at Northern Iowa, Johnson served as an assistant coach for two seasons at the University of Texas-Pan American. He was heavily involved in recruiting, worked with the Broncos perimeter players and coordinated UTPA’s summer camps.

Johnson’s coaching career began at the University of Dayton, where he served as a graduate assistant during the 2005-06 season.

Johnson started his collegiate playing career at Northwestern and played two seasons before returning to the Twin Cities to finish his career. He finished with 533 points in 59 games in Maroon and Gold and scored a total of 1,202 career points between the two Big Ten Conference institutions.

The Minneapolis native enjoyed a standout prep career, leading DeLaSalle High School to a pair of state championships. He was a two-time first-team all-state selection in both football and basketball, and as a senior, was named a Street & Smith All-American, as well as an honorable mention Nike All-American.

He was listed as the 60th-best basketball player in the country by Bob Gibbons in his senior season, totaling more than 2,200 points during his high school career. Johnson also was listed on Tom Lemming’s High School Football All-American list as a top-20 national recruit and was a two-time all-state performer on the gridiron.

----
SECOND



-Young players putting in long minutes.

-Including Payne with a foot injury.

-Garcia out with an injury.

-Carrington out with an injury.

-Ihnen out with an injury.

-Battle missed time with injury.

-Fox out with an injury.

-Payne, JOJ, Henley, Carrington make for this to be about the youngest team by minutes played in power 5 basketball. Carrington being injured may have changed that, I don't know since Payne and JOJ are getting heavy minutes and Henley right in the rotation.

-Christie and Evans coming in next year.

-Johnson got Garcia from the transfer portal, and probably Garcia from Minnesota had something to do with this.

-This is Minnesota, a program that for a long time has nearly zero recruiting clout. Zero. Evans is the first top prospect in how long, and how many has this team ever, ever been able to get? 3, in modern history of Gophers basketball. Other programs achieve that haul over just two years. And this program has been either bad or not as good as people remember over that time. It's a tough job.

-At Rutgers, which is a slightly worse situation than the Gophers, Pikiell's record was atrocious the first few years. Horrible. Now many years later he's called a great coach and extended to 2030. It took several years for him to show results.

-Others here have called out questionable defense moves during games that make me wonder about the game coaching of the coaching staff. The mistakes with passing and missed shots make me wonder how much of that is the players just are not that good yet or just not going to be good versus if that's consistently worked on. I have no way to know that.

It absolutely is not the mindless, dumb as a rock, the coach stinks. And I do not respect that cliche crowd.

Of the ones who say, "He was brought in to recruit the kids from Minnesota and neither one coming in is from Minnesota." Well, Minnesota only had two spots available to fill, and the two guys coming in are good ones. Last season they did get Payne, JOJ and Carrington from Minnesota.

The defense of CBJ and just saying he gets a few more years no matter what is what opens the door for UST in the twin cities. These pathetic results have impact on people who are not CBJ apologists. They will start going elsewhere for their basketball entertainment.

And the fact that either the U doesn’t care about results or has no plan spots in the faces of fans who spend hard earned money on tickets support this current dumpster fire of a program.

Full disclosure:

I’m mid-30s, grew up in northern MN and would drive down multiple times a year as a child going to gopher games (highlights of my youth). Then as I got old, I went to tons of games as my family moved to the cities. Probably went to 100+ games between 2003-18…even though I went to UST. But at this point you couldn’t pay me to go to a gopher game between the terrible play and dull in arena atmosphere.

 

[Spaulding!No!]

Is Coyle a Papist? His master plan could be to bring UST to the forefront.

 

[bc2211]

False. No tenure is decided in year two. None. His future...whether it be with the Gophers or somewhere else will be determined in the next two years.

That’s why I said he’s coaching for his future NEXT year. Outside of recruiting, IMO years 1-2 make him borderline unhireable as a head coach. What school looking for a head coach today (not 2 years ago, not 2 years from now) looks at Pitino and BJ, and chooses BJ?

 

[CentralGopher]

I don’t see how Johnson survives here. I doubt recruiting will remain good after this year. Tough to win without good recruits. He got lucky in his first full recruiting cycle but that likely doesn’t continue with the losing. Some is his fault and some isn’t but at the end of the day it doesn’t matter, wins do.