Ben Johnson on Gophers’ 0-6 Big Ten start: ‘Nobody puts more pressure on myself than me’

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BleedGopher

BleedGopher

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Per Wald:

"Throughout the course of the year, every team is going to go through lulls. Us unfortunately to start the year. I think there’s a strong belief that we can play and compete with anybody and now it’s about closing it," Gophers’ coach Ben Johnson said Wednesday.

What we know: Minnesota’s 0-6 start in Big Ten play is the program’s worst under Johnson. Even the team that went 2-17 two seasons ago started 1-4. The Gophers went 9-11 last season and thought they were building something until Pharrel Payne, Elijah Hawkins and several others went to the transfer portal, and Cam Christie to the NBA.

The numbers are what they are – In three-plus seasons, Johnson is 15-50 in Big Ten play. The Gophers will have to start winning, or changes are likely coming after the season.

"You’re a competitor by nature, so nobody puts more pressure on myself than me. If you’re playing good, you know what people are saying. If you’re playing bad, you know what people are saying," Johnson said. "I think the pressure is more of you want to do it for the guys that came to play for you, you want to do it for the people that hired you, do it for the fan base. You get that one win, now we have something to fall back on."

www.fox9.com

Ben Johnson on Gophers’ 0-6 Big Ten start: ‘Nobody puts more pressure on myself than me’

Articles and videos about Ben Johnson on Gophers’ 0-6 Big Ten start: ‘Nobody puts more pressure on myself than me’ on FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul.
www.fox9.com www.fox9.com

Go Gophers!!
 


DarthGopher said:
There is a part of me that feels bad, because this thing is cooked. Another part of me wishes he'd stop talking. Nobody wants to win more? Well that is reassuring. It is kind of like, your job.
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He should only do the interviews/media appearances he is required to do (not sure if this is one of those).

There is nothing he can really say at this point that is going to sit well with people but you can't call 0-6 a lull. A lull is when a good team has a rough road trip or drops a couple they shouldn't.
 


MNVCGUY said:
He should only do the interviews/media appearances he is required to do (not sure if this is one of those).

There is nothing he can really say at this point that is going to sit well with people but you can't call 0-6 a lull. A lull is when a good team has a rough road trip or drops a couple they shouldn't.
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I get it. He is trying to keep a positive perspective on things, and I can appreciate the effort. However, as you said, 0-6, or 15-50, is not a lull. That is a pattern.

If we think of Gopher's MBB as a process and plot the outputs (W/L) in an X bar R chart, the process is not experiencing a temporary dip. It is out of control. ;)
 



MNVCGUY said:
He should only do the interviews/media appearances he is required to do (not sure if this is one of those).
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Think about what you're saying.

"The Gopher men's basketball coach should avoid the media."

Good lord.
 

USAF said:
Think about what you're saying.

"The Gopher men's basketball coach should avoid the media."

Good lord.
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He shouldn't avoid the media but he also shouldn't go out of his way to take interviews that are not a required component of his job.

The program is a mess, he is going to get fired. Nothing he can say in any of those interviews is going to make anyone feel better about the situation and in many cases it just makes things worse.

So yeah, do the required interviews, avoid the optional ones and try to salvage whatever possible from another lost season until Coyle finally decides to put Ben out of his misery.
 

There are two things that I fault Ben for the most:
1. Pursuing and taking this job. For his own sake and the sake of his alma mater, he shouldn't have. If he didn't know he wasn't ready, he doesn't have enough self awareness to do a job of this sort well.
2. The total and complete lack of public relations. That's a choice. In all my days, I have never seen anyone in such a prominent position be so invisible. It's almost unbelievable, to be honest. How is it even possible, much less allowed? Again, if he's not good enough at communication and PR to do much of any of it, he's not cut out for a head job.
 



There is almost nothing he can say at this point that won't elicit an eye roll at best to anger at worst as the losses continue to mount and the majority of the fan base wants to move on. Most of the time he says what he "should" in his lower expectations bias. In that sense, I actually feel a little sorry for him. But then I remind myself that he took a job in almost everybody's belief he wasn't qualified for and made more money in four years than many of us make in a lifetime. He'll land on his feet just fine if/when he is let go and counting those buy-out dollars.

I'm ready for a change.
 

“You get that one win, now we have something to fall back on." - Ben Johnson

Ben Johsnon is 15-50 in conference. Has had a 2 win conference season and on his way to another potential 2 win conference season.

At this point one win will not be anything to fall back on.

It is over.
 

Bad Gopher said:
There are two things that I fault Ben for the most:
1. Pursuing and taking this job. For his own sake and the sake of his alma mater, he shouldn't have. If he didn't know he wasn't ready, he doesn't have enough self awareness to do a job of this sort well.
2. The total and complete lack of public relations. That's a choice. In all my days, I have never seen anyone in such a prominent position be so invisible. It's almost unbelievable, to be honest. How is it even possible, much less allowed? Again, if he's not good enough at communication and PR to do much of any of it, he's not cut out for a head job.
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Great post- well said. Issue # 2 is part of the reason he has so little NIL. You get a coach in here who is passionate and engages with the public as well as the big players in town and there will be NIL.
 

MNVCGUY said:
He shouldn't avoid the media but he also shouldn't go out of his way to take interviews that are not a required component of his job.
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Wow.

Is that so as not to remind you of your take on him?
 



The “lull” would choice was obviously wildly incorrect/underselling

But everything else he said is kinda just obvious speak that he has to say. Of course he’s gonna say he wants to win.

It’s on coyle to just put the poor guy out of his misery. Ben obviously isn’t quitting his paycheck. So cut ties. Then we don’t have to listen to all this garbage that he has essentially no option but to spew

Oh ya, and we can also stop being forced the current product.
 

Save some material for 0-7, 0-8, 0-9 and 0-10. Poor Ben.
 

USAF said:
Wow.

Is that so as not to remind you of your take on him?
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Thought you were past being an ahole for no real reason.

I wanted Johnson to succeed here....I won't ever back down from that. Best case scenario for the program was always him being successful. Unfortunately that clearly isn't going to happen and he is going to get fired.
 

Bad Gopher said:
There are two things that I fault Ben for the most:
1. Pursuing and taking this job. For his own sake and the sake of his alma mater, he shouldn't have. If he didn't know he wasn't ready, he doesn't have enough self awareness to do a job of this sort well.
2. The total and complete lack of public relations. That's a choice. In all my days, I have never seen anyone in such a prominent position be so invisible. It's almost unbelievable, to be honest. How is it even possible, much less allowed? Again, if he's not good enough at communication and PR to do much of any of it, he's not cut out for a head job.
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Faulting Ben for #1 isn't fair. I could apply to be the Twitter CEO, but if Elon Musk takes me seriously, that's on him.

If you could apply for your dream job and earn millions doing it but only had a 5% chance of landing it, I'd bet you'd still interview. I'm sure Ben was just as surprised as we were hearing he got the job.

Also, the college game has changed more in the four years of Ben's tenure than any other period in its history.

Remember, in 2021, the perception that being in the good graces of the AAU gatekeepers was seen as a massive priority in which RP failed miserably. Ben was the wholesome "players coach" who snagged Coffey, Outuru, and Kalscheur, among others. He had the connections and was generally liked and respected in the AAU circles.

Don't get me wrong, that alone shouldn't have made him a viable candidate, but that's what Ben brought to the table in 2021.

In 2025, none of that matters. Ultimately, $ will win out, and Ben needs to do a way better job building a brand deserving of investment, but that wasn't what he signed up for.

He should have won way more games even without the $ flowing (the administration and Ben's fault). He should have been fired after Year 3 when it was apparent he wasn't "building anything the right way" and hadn't displayed an iota of success to date (I don't count the NIT as a success).

It's a new era, and unless we have:
  1. Money flowing into the b-ball program
  2. A coach that knows how to coach
  3. A coach comfortable with the business side of the obligation (press, outreach, fan engagement, social media, etc.)
Expect more of the same.
 

topos said:
Faulting Ben for #1 isn't fair. I could apply to be the Twitter CEO, but if Elon Musk takes me seriously, that's on him.

If you could apply for your dream job and earn millions doing it but only had a 5% chance of landing it, I'd bet you'd still interview. I'm sure Ben was just as surprised as we were hearing he got the job.

Also, the college game has changed more in the four years of Ben's tenure than any other period in its history.

Remember, in 2021, the perception that being in the good graces of the AAU gatekeepers was seen as a massive priority in which RP failed miserably. Ben was the wholesome "players coach" who snagged Coffey, Outuru, and Kalscheur, among others. He had the connections and was generally liked and respected in the AAU circles.

Don't get me wrong, that alone shouldn't have made him a viable candidate, but that's what Ben brought to the table in 2021.

In 2025, none of that matters. Ultimately, $ will win out, and Ben needs to do a way better job building a brand deserving of investment, but that wasn't what he signed up for.

He should have won way more games even without the $ flowing (the administration and Ben's fault). He should have been fired after Year 3 when it was apparent he wasn't "building anything the right way" and hadn't displayed an iota of success to date (I don't count the NIT as a success).

It's a new era, and unless we have:
  1. Money flowing into the b-ball program
  2. A coach that knows how to coach
  3. A coach comfortable with the business side of the obligation (press, outreach, fan engagement, social media, etc.)
Expect more of the same.
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I'm in my dream job. But I wouldn't have been ready for it right out of college. I would have failed.

I remember Bo Ryan's reaction when Pitino was hired. He was incredulous that someone with that little experience could get a Big Ten job. Ben makes Richard look like a grizzled veteran. Pitino wasn't sure himself at the time whether he should pursue/accept the Gopher job, but he was talked into it by his dad. Give Richard credit for being a measure more self aware than Johnson was.

And you have the money thing completely backward. The money will come with hope, confidence and trust on the part of prospective donors. Those things come with obvious coaching and program-building ability as well as outreach and public relations. If you want to keep waiting for bags of money to randomly come over the hill in the absence of a functional program, keep waiting. Pouring money on this program right now would be like pouring coffee on a corpse and expecting it to spring to life.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Thought you were past being an ahole for no real reason.

I wanted Johnson to succeed here....I won't ever back down from that. Best case scenario for the program was always him being successful. Unfortunately that clearly isn't going to happen and he is going to get fired.
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So you've gone from demanding he get another season to recommending he avoid the media so as not to embarrassing anyone.

Yeah, I'm the one who was wrong here.
 

I just wore my dress shoes from Hubert White. It made me wonder if Ben has any sponsorship accounts.
 


USAF said:
So you've gone from demanding he get another season to recommending he avoid the media so as not to embarrassing anyone.

Yeah, I'm the one who was wrong here.
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Holy crap this narrative is so tired. I....like many others here, felt Johnson deserved another year after the end of last season. He had a roster that was improving with the potential for the vast majority of it to come back in year 4. Have also said Coyle would have been justified in firing him when the players left but you clearly don't care about that because it doesn't fit the fantasy you have concocted.

There was no demanding by anyone (not that it would matter what some random fans on a message board say anyway).
 


kg21 said:
should I post this for the Iowa game, also?
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If it ain't broke don't fix it.....you better....or it's on you if the win streak doesn't grow to 2.
 

Bad Gopher said:
I'm in my dream job. But I wouldn't have been ready for it right out of college. I would have failed.

I remember Bo Ryan's reaction when Pitino was hired. He was incredulous that someone with that little experience could get a Big Ten job. Ben makes Richard look like a grizzled veteran. Pitino wasn't sure himself at the time whether he should pursue/accept the Gopher job, but he was talked into it by his dad. Give Richard credit for being a measure more self aware than Johnson was.

And you have the money thing completely backward. The money will come with hope, confidence and trust on the part of prospective donors. Those things come with obvious coaching and program-building ability as well as outreach and public relations. If you want to keep waiting for bags of money to randomly come over the hill in the absence of a functional program, keep waiting. Pouring money on this program right now would be like pouring coffee on a corpse and expecting it to spring to life.
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Pitino took the job for which he wasn't qualified. It was a fantastic opportunity, and he pounced on it like Ben did. Pitino shouldn't be seen in a brighter light because of his "trepidation." I'm sure he was well aware he wasn't deserving (I think Ben also made public comments along the same vein). 99.99% of people will say "yes" to millions of dollars and prestige, lol.

I agree with your take on NIL, but that's not the only money at play.

First, the administration needs to invest in a coach with experience, a history of success, and qualities that bode well in the new era of college hoops. If it doesn't, nothing else matters.

The TV profit-sharing should be a massive shot in the arm and is a nice carrot for a new coach. Yes, we'll still be far behind other prominent schools, but we will also catapult many schools belonging to inferior conferences. A good coach with a proven system should have sufficient funds to fill a competent roster.

As you alluded to, the NIL snowball should start rolling once donors see results and are confident their investment will be worthwhile.
 

topos said:
Pitino took the job for which he wasn't qualified. It was a fantastic opportunity, and he pounced on it like Ben did. Pitino shouldn't be seen in a brighter light because of his "trepidation." I'm sure he was well aware he wasn't deserving (I think Ben also made public comments along the same vein). 99.99% of people will say "yes" to millions of dollars and prestige, lol.

I agree with your take on NIL, but that's not the only money at play.

First, the administration needs to invest in a coach with experience, a history of success, and qualities that bode well in the new era of college hoops. If it doesn't, nothing else matters.

The TV profit-sharing should be a massive shot in the arm and is a nice carrot for a new coach. Yes, we'll still be far behind other prominent schools, but we will also catapult many schools belonging to inferior conferences. A good coach with a proven system should have sufficient funds to fill a competent roster.

As you alluded to, the NIL snowball should start rolling once donors see results and are confident their investment will be worthwhile.
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Honest question. Are we seeing this type of support in any sport at the U of M?
 

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