Hole Poll: What grade would you give Mark Coyle in his decision to hire Ben Johnson as the Gophers coach?

Hole Poll: What grade would you give Mark Coyle in his decision to hire Ben Johnson as the Gophers c

  • A

    Votes: 33 10.7%

  • B

    Votes: 53 17.2%

  • C

    Votes: 57 18.5%

  • D

    Votes: 89 28.9%

  • F

    Votes: 76 24.7%
  • Total voters
    308
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Can you add an Incomplete option?
 

forever a gopher said:
This would not shock me in the least. Of course, if you're using Richard as the litmus test for any new coach, you're using the wrong measuring stick. The point I was making was that not all assistant coaches are created equal (at least on paper). Johnson has been an assistant under Ben Jacobson (4 years), Tim Miles (1 year), Richard Pitino (5 years), and Travis Steele (3 years). Richard Pitino was an assistant under Ron Everhart (2 years), Rick Pitino (3 years), and Billy Donovan (2 years). One of those years he was an associate head coach at Louisville. Maybe Richard was merely holding a clipboard and Ben was running drills, instituting plays, etc. I have no idea. However, one has to find it somewhat ironic that Ben's longest tenure as an assistant was under a rather unsuccessful coach that was just fired, whereas Richard learned under 2 very successful college coaches. If Ben is that much brighter than Richard, then it probably won't matter, and he will be successful if given time. I hope that is the case.

As another example, look at PSU's new coach. He was an assistant under Brad Stevens (8 years) and Matt Painter (4 years). Those are two highly successful coaches that probably taught Shrewsberry a ton. Again, on paper, Shrewsberry has a better resume because of it.
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All true. However just because Pitino was taught by Pitino and Donovan does not mean he knows how to teach or even that he was a good student. My best professors taught thousands of kids but not many were great students.
 


dpodoll68 said:
Chris Beard's first high major head coaching job is his 7th collegiate head coaching position. Ben Johnson's first high major head coaching job is his first head coaching position at any level. Beard also had ten years as an assistant at the very school where he is now the head coach, the majority under one of the greatest coaches in the history of the sport. Johnson has far less experience with almost all of it under bad coaches. The two are in no way comparable.
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I agree that Beard and Johnson are unfortunately not completely comparable. Beard's most important credential is that he was assistant under Bobby Knight for 7 years and obviously learned a lot. Beard had some head coaching experience at the community college and DII levels while Johnson has none. Beard jumped to a mid-major university with little returning talent and landed some good recruits. In one year, he won 30 games, a big NCAA tournament win, and was able to jump successfully to Texas Tech as head coach. Minnesota needs someone who can make a similar impact as Beard but what are the chances with a coach that has the experience of Johnson? I am hoping that Johnson can make a big impact too but in less than eight years! Note that Pitino coached one-year in the Sun Belt conference like Beard but with mediocre results before jumping to Minnesota.
 

Three years from now, if I am sitting at a packed Williams Arena I will consider it a great hire.

The optics now may look pretty bad. But, as noted more Big Ten coaches with no coaching experience have achieved success than those with coaching experience. Hope springs eternal.
 


Listening to Richard speak, observing him coach for eight years I never realized his handicap was that he was dumb.
Stubborn and arrogant in your decisions doesn’t necessarily mean somebody has a low IQ.
Quick wit probably suggests he is smarter than you give him credit for. Native intelligence isn’t why Richard failed.
 


“A” purely on having the guts to make that call. I like a good curveball once in a while, keeps life interesting. I like Ben, seems like a solid guy.
 

I did not vote in the Poll.
Because the grade for the decision will be based on the outcome.
It's like a pre-season poll. the real poll is the one at the end of the season, because it is based on actual results.

Let's see how Johnson actually does as far as hiring assistants, recruiting and coaching.

I want this move to work.

And let's face it, the bar has been set pretty low. For Gopher basketball, finishing in the middle of the conference and making the NCAA field means a successful season. at a lot of programs, that would be considered the bare minimum.

Johnson does not have to go to the Final Four to be considered an improvement. Just making the tournament half the time would be an improvement.
 



I've been listening to a few of the interviews of the new coach hires around the nation. The thing that keeps popping out to me is that each one of the interviews I've seen, the coaches are very specific on what their style of play will be, even RP said that this first year it will depend on who is on the team (which is what BJ said as his overall answer), but then he described exactly what style of basketball he will run there, pick and roll, etc.

Still waiting on some clarity from BJ. Hopefully the assistants can help him pick a style.
 



I went with an A - We needed to to move on. The F is from making the hire to begin with. Really? That was the best candidate?
 




The grade you give the hire at the time it was made is like the preseason football rankings when Nebraska is looking pretty good. All hype, no games have been played yet.

Like the football rankings, what really matters is how a hire is graded at the end of the tenure. In this case, a clear F.
 

I voted F on March 22, 2021 and I (along with many others who immediately called out the idiocy) was right. I really hope Coyle doesn’t ever make me vote F again on another one of his hires.
 

How do you grade a snake?
Coyle is perhaps the biggest coward I have ever witnessed. His communication skills are nearly non-existent. Moreso, he hired Ben Johnson to be head coach of a Big10 basketball program when Ben had zero track record of success as a head coach. That alone was hard to grasp. Now, four years after the fan base had become entirely apathetic, we are asked to grade Coyle's firing of Ben Johnson?! Personally, I am of the opinion that Mark Coyle should be exiting out the same door as Ben Johnson. He is responsible for hiring Lindsey Whalen and Ben Johnson who, as alums, were not ready for the jobs they were given. That alone is gross incompetence by an athletic director at a Big10 university. Mark Coyle gets an F as a AD and another F for being a coward. Mark Coyle is an F'ing snake and he deserves to be removed and tossed into a distant corn field.
 

FinnGopher said:
How do you grade a snake?
Coyle is perhaps the biggest coward I have ever witnessed. His communication skills are nearly non-existent. Moreso, he hired Ben Johnson to be head coach of a Big10 basketball program when Ben had zero track record of success as a head coach. That alone was hard to grasp. Now, four years after the fan base had become entirely apathetic, we are asked to grade Coyle's firing of Ben Johnson?! Personally, I am of the opinion that Mark Coyle should be exiting out the same door as Ben Johnson. He is responsible for hiring Lindsey Whalen and Ben Johnson who, as alums, were not ready for the jobs they were given. That alone is gross incompetence by an athletic director at a Big10 university. Mark Coyle gets an F as a AD and another F for being a coward. Mark Coyle is an F'ing snake and he deserves to be removed and tossed into a distant corn field.
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Look closer, this poll was grading the hire the day it happened in 2021.
 

I gave it a B. I liked the hire.

I was monumentally wrong. Epically wrong.

I knew it was wrong at least 2 years ago.

But that's irrelevant. Move on. Do better with this hire.
 



I voted D at the hiring time and it sure seems like I was optimistic!

Definitely an F
 

I voted B. I bought into the hype, I thought for sure our offense would be less stagnate than Pitino's. I was wrong, it was about the same.
 

I just voted F because I didn't notice the date of the poll and apparently didn't vote four years ago. 🤦‍♂️
 


Nice call-back. I originally voted D because I wanted someone with college coaching experience. Seemed like a no-brainer... was a no-brainer.
 


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