We've spent the last 12 years on a (when hired) 31 year old coach with one mediocre season at FIU under his belt and his former assistant who has been a part of exactly one NCAA tournament in 15 plus seasons as a player/assistant coach/head coach at the high major level. Did anyone see the attendance at the games against Iowa and Penn State? Two teams that have had peak (in the case of PSU) and peak/near peak seasons (in the case of Iowa) in the last 5 years. They both suck this year and had crowds that looked smaller than ours. We are in the midst of the worst stretch of program history and want to discuss the arena?
When is the University going to invest in the basketball program? I can't imagine anyone who gave big money to the "Nothing Short of Greatness" campaign that built the new practice facility was too thrilled that 2 years after it was built we hired Ben Johnson to replace Richard Pitino. Now the suggestion is to blow up the Barn and build something new? Why? What would be the point in such an expensive measure when the University either balks at the idea of spending on a basketball coach OR submits to pressure from non-fans to not hire who they planned to (depending on your version of events)? If the University wants to act in this manner, stay in the Barn until it falls apart and then become a tenant at wherever the Timberwolves play at that point because they aren't serious anyway.
I am totally open to the idea of replacing the Barn (easier for me to say as I didn't grow up in Minnesota), but I don't think it solves any problems. With NIL, it seems pretty naive to believe we're going to get better players simply because we have a nice, new arena. People might come to one game to experience the new arena, but after that a product like Pitino (much less Johnson) put on the floor will continue to draw poorly.