Amir: Great hire Minnesota; Gopher ball is in good hands! Oturu: Best thing I’ve read in a while. Major reason why i put that maroon and gold on

[WriterGoph]

Johnson graduated 1999, joined NU fall 1999 and would have signed His LOI before the ganglehoff news hit the papers

Thanks for clarifying. I was thrown off by his 2005 graduation from the U, but I guess he did have to sit out a year after his transfer from NU

 

[Bad Gopher]

His credentials seem pretty good to me for a first time D1 assistant:

- Played Big Ten basketball at a high level
- Coached for D1 MN, so has relationships there which would be helpful for recruiting that program
- Handful of years as a head coach in this state and did well enough to earn the BSM job
- Known for being a very likable and respectable person

I guarantee you the coaches in town respect him and he’d do a great job of recruiting. The combo of him and Ben would recruit MN extremely well and that woulda go a long way with the amount of talent it’s producing. You don’t have to want to hire him, but I strongly disagree that he’d be a bad hire.

He would be awesome and the perfect hire. The only question is whether he wants to be a college coach at this point in his life. I actually don't think he wants to. He changed jobs last year in order to ease stresses on his family. College coaching is a grind.

 

[Keyser Söze]

He would be awesome and the perfect hire. The only question is whether he wants to be a college coach at this point in his life. I actually don't think he wants to. He changed jobs last year in order to ease stresses on his family. College coaching is a grind.

Fair question. I'm like 95% sure he has said in the past that coaching at the D1 level is a goal of his though.

 

[GopherJake]

Johnson graduated 1999, joined NU fall 1999 and would have signed His LOI before the ganglehoff news hit the papers

https://nusports.com/news/1999/6/21/Men_s_Basketball_Signs_Five_to_Letters_of_Intent.aspx

November 12, 1998

EVANSTON, Ill. - Head coach Kevin O'Neill announced today the signing of the following five high school seniors to National Letters of Intent to play basketball at Northwestern beginning in the fall of 1999:

• Winston Blake (forward, 6-5, 180, Plano, Texas/Plano Senior)
• Brody Deren (forward, 6-7, 223, Harlan, Iowa/Harlan Community)
• Aaron Jennings (center, 6-11, 200, Atkins, Iowa/Benton Community)
• Ben Johnson (guard, 6-3, 180, Minneapolis, Minn./De La Salle)
• Adam Robinson (forward, 6-10, 210, Cedar Falls, Iowa/Cedar Falls)

 

[Bad Gopher]

Fair question. I'm like 95% sure he has said in the past that coaching at the D1 level is a goal of his though.

I think I've heard that too--and he tends to 'like' tweets that mentions him in connection with the Gopher program. At some point in his life, I firmly believe that'll be his dream job if the opportunity arises. For now, he has a young family, and my take is that he wants to establish himself where he's at and the lower demands that come with it.