Still No Statement from Ben Johnson

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Bad Gopher said:
I haven't wanted to dwell on the past, but it's strange enough that it's worth noting. He hasn't posted on Twitter since November 20th; didn't even post during the season after Thanksgiving. Even just that is curious. The way he's fallen off the face of the earth since his tenure ended is...really something.

Has anyone heard anything in the media from him or about him at all? If I were him, I'd be concerned about losing complete forward motion with my career. Not that he needs to find a job right away with all the money he's presumably banked, but even Whalen made sure to stay in the mix and in the public eye after her dismissal.

It's downright mysterious, and there's not enough info to come close to concluding anything, but it makes me wonder whether he'll even stay in coaching. Maybe he's rethinking everything.
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Ben might not have much of a career going forward anyway, at least as a head coach. Those with basketball sense knew he wasn’t close to qualified for the job he got and then failed miserably. Nice guy, but also not a TV personality type of guy. He’s got the money to sit and pursue some passions. Hope he is okay with that.
 

WoodburyTim said:
Ben might not have much of a career going forward anyway, at least as a head coach. Those with basketball sense knew he wasn’t close to qualified for the job he got and then failed miserably. Nice guy, but also not a TV personality type of guy. He’s got the money to sit and pursue some passions. Hope he is okay with that.
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Some people are just cut out to be career assistants. Many people can't handle being the top guy.

If Ben realizes that, he can be a good assistant somewhere for a long time.
 



TNGophfan said:
I said it was different. Again, I'm not advocating Johnson sue. All I said, and some of you are taking this much too seriously, is it wouldn't necessarily shock me if some attorney looking for a payday would try to convince him to sue.
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Ben could open himself up to a countersuit for impersonating a basketball coach.
 


TNGophfan said:
I said it was different. Again, I'm not advocating Johnson sue. All I said, and some of you are taking this much too seriously, is it wouldn't necessarily shock me if some attorney looking for a payday would try to convince him to sue.
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I get what you are saying on the litigious society, but his buyout could be withheld if he did so. And it would be hard to claim any damages on top of what he got to go away. If there had been some trumped up deal to fire him for some violation then I could see it, but the 3 million buyout is pretty ironclad.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Some people are just cut out to be career assistants. Many people can't handle being the top guy.

If Ben realizes that, he can be a good assistant somewhere for a long time.
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I do believe he has something to build on if he wants to rebuild a coaching career. He has a good deal of knowledge and ability, and his experience here for sure added a wealth of knowledge and knowhow to what he had coming in. He just did things out of order in his career because of the extraordinary out-of-left-field opportunity he accepted here. I hope he's surveying his options and being honest with himself about where he's at and what he needs to do to get where he wants to be. I do feel he has lots to contribute to the coaching profession.
 

Slim Tubby said:
Some people are willing to pony up a lot of cash just to have something different. Prostitution is the oldest profession for a reason.

Amsterdam is Gopher Country!!!
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I've got a couple Gopher stickers and M/Gopher signed dollar bills sprinkled around pubs bars and and coffee shops in Amsterdam haha!
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Some people are just cut out to be career assistants. Many people can't handle being the top guy.

If Ben realizes that, he can be a good assistant somewhere for a long time.
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He was in over his head has the head coach here but I'm sure he won't have any trouble continuing his coaching career when he is ready to do so.

Whether or not he ever becomes a head coach again is anyone's guess. He won't get any high profile opportunities anytime soon, but there are lots of smaller schools out there and he could return to a head coaching role at one of those. Will just depend on if he is someone that can be content being an assistant or if he is someone who wants to be in charge.
 



WoodburyTim said:
I get what you are saying on the litigious society, but his buyout could be withheld if he did so. And it would be hard to claim any damages on top of what he got to go away. If there had been some trumped up deal to fire him for some violation then I could see it, but the 3 million buyout is pretty ironclad.
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Keeping Thorson around though would allow specific questions to be asked.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Some people are just cut out to be career assistants. Many people can't handle being the top guy.

If Ben realizes that, he can be a good assistant somewhere for a long time.
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No ill will towards Ben. I hope he succeeds at something going forward in his life. Since the day his eligibility expired he has had very little to zero success in the world of basketball. He was definitely not ready nor successful as a head coach and an argument could be made that he had no success as an assistant coach. I believe he should find something other than basketball to focus on.
 

Question. Who gets a head coaching job first. Ryan Saunders or Ben Johnson?
 

If Johnson ever did make a statement the folks on this board and the rest of social media would slam the hell out of it, regardless of what was said. Why would he bother?
 



Big Dawg said:
No ill will towards Ben. I hope he succeeds at something going forward in his life. Since the day his eligibility expired he has had very little to zero success in the world of basketball. He was definitely not ready nor successful as a head coach and an argument could be made that he had no success as an assistant coach. I believe he should find something other than basketball to focus on.
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There's always AmWay..... just sayin'.
 

jamiche said:
If Johnson ever did make a statement the folks on this board and the rest of social media would slam the hell out of it, regardless of what was said. Why would he bother?
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Because the statement isn't for this board and it's the right thing to do.
 


Bob_Loblaw said:
Because the statement isn't for this board and it's the right thing to do.
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A fired coach doesn't owe the fanbase anything. If he wants to make a statement great, if he doesn't that is fine too.

And Jamiche nailed it....if he did make a statement it would just get picked apart and bashed anyway so there is really nothing to be gained by him making any kind of public statement.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Because the statement isn't for this board and it's the right thing to do.
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Years ago it was probably the right thing to do. Not anymore. Now he just opens himself up to more ridicule. The right thing to do is meet all of the obligations of his contract. In the future, if the university thinks a "thank you for the opportunity" statement is appropriate upon discharge, it should go in the contract.
 

MNVCGUY said:
A fired coach doesn't owe the fanbase anything. If he wants to make a statement great, if he doesn't that is fine too.

And Jamiche nailed it....if he did make a statement it would just get picked apart and bashed anyway so there is really nothing to be gained by him making any kind of public statement.
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I didn't say he owed us anything, I said it is the right thing to do. It's how adults handle situations when things end after someone/something gave you your biggest opportunity and largest paycheck. Does he owe it to us? Probably not. Is it the right thing to do? Absolutely.

Who cares if the message board bashes him?

The thing that would be gained is that he'd look like a grown up and he'd show gratitude to the program that made him a multi-millionaire.
 

TNGophfan said:
Just speculating, but wonder if he is huddling with lawyers for a wrongful termination lawsuit. Not sure what his case would be, other than he got less time than Lindsey and he didn't get the resources they then gave to Niko.
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The condition for accepting his buyout was no lawsuit by either party.

Ben is not stupid. He took the buyout and ran.
 

jamiche said:
Years ago it was probably the right thing to do. Not anymore. Now he just opens himself up to more ridicule. The right thing to do is meet all of the obligations of his contract. In the future, if the university thinks a "thank you for the opportunity" statement is appropriate upon discharge, it should go in the contract.
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Are you really arguing that the only things that are right to do are contractually obligated? That's an asinine statement. You don't believe that, you're still in Ben Johnson protection mode. Again, you do not believe that.

No one is arguing that he MUST say something. No one is arguing he is contractually obligated to say something. People are arguing that most adults in his situation would have and it's the right thing to do.

He should show gratitude for the opportunity that we gave him that he never earned. It's not shocking that he isn't and it's even less shocking that his apology protection crew is twisting themselves into knots trying to avoid common sense. . . again.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Are you really arguing that the only things that are right to do are contractually obligated? That's an asinine statement. You don't believe that, you're still in Ben Johnson protection mode. Again, you do not believe that.

No one is arguing that he MUST say something. No one is arguing he is contractually obligated to say something. People are arguing that most adults in his situation would have and it's the right thing to do.

He should show gratitude for the opportunity that we gave him that he never earned. It's not shocking that he isn't and it's even less shocking that his apology protection crew is twisting themselves into knots trying to avoid common sense. . . again.
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I agree. It would require ten minutes of effort and likely would say nothing of importance. But it is the right thing to do and shows appreciation for the job/money/opportunity he didn't deserve to begin with based on his resume pre-hire.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Are you really arguing that the only things that are right to do are contractually obligated? That's an asinine statement. You don't believe that, you're still in Ben Johnson protection mode. Again, you do not believe that.

No one is arguing that he MUST say something. No one is arguing he is contractually obligated to say something. People are arguing that most adults in his situation would have and it's the right thing to do.

He should show gratitude for the opportunity that we gave him that he never earned. It's not shocking that he isn't and it's even less shocking that his apology protection crew is twisting themselves into knots trying to avoid common sense. . . again.
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You are arguing that he MUST say something. He didn't meet your needs as a hoops coach and he isn't meeting your needs by not expressing gratitude for the opportunity to not meet your needs as a hoops coach.

The Johnson era is over. Find something else to complain about
 



Bob_Loblaw said:
I didn't say he owed us anything, I said it is the right thing to do. It's how adults handle situations when things end after someone/something gave you your biggest opportunity and largest paycheck.
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Just because he didn't put it on Twitter doesn't mean he didn't do exactly that with Coyle and the people who actually gave him the opportunity.

To be clear, I have no idea if he did or didn't but people are making an awful lot of assumptions based on the fact that there was nothing on social media after he was fired.
 

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