Ben Johnson is a Disaster

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Bad Gopher said:
We've been saying for some time that this off season will tell the tale of the rest of Johnson's tenure here. Part one is retention, and I hope we've seen the last of the transfers. Part two is recruiting.
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What's clarifying is that he may be worse at both than actual coaching.
 

This was such a stretch hire for Coyle. No head coach experience at any level. I hope Ben succeeds and Year 3 will be telling if he can put it all together.
 


I apologize if someone has already brought this up, but -

the new women's head coach has a son who is a pretty good player for South Dakota. I wonder if he might be a candidate to transfer.

the issue is - he had a major knee injury and missed a lot of time, but as far as I know, he has eligibility remaining. the kid was Mr Basketball in SD as a HS SR, avg 34 pts a game. I saw him play a couple of games at a MN vs SD cross-over event.

if he's even close to 100%, he would be a pretty good guard option.
 

What's concerning is if Johnson puts together marginal improvement but enough to keep his job. Every time Pitino looked to be in the hot seat we had a decent season. Monson had his out of nowhere 2005 that bought him a couple more years as well.
 


short ornery norwegian said:
I apologize if someone has already brought this up, but -

the new women's head coach has a son who is a pretty good player for South Dakota. I wonder if he might be a candidate to transfer.

the issue is - he had a major knee injury and missed a lot of time, but as far as I know, he has eligibility remaining. the kid was Mr Basketball in SD as a HS SR, avg 34 pts a game. I saw him play a couple of games at a MN vs SD cross-over event.

if he's even close to 100%, he would be a pretty good guard option.
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He averaged about 27 minutes per game, and played in 29 games, averaging 11.7 ppg, and shot 41% from 3.
 


LongLiveMilesTarver said:
What's concerning is if Johnson puts together marginal improvement but enough to keep his job. Every time Pitino looked to be in the hot seat we had a decent season. Monson had his out of nowhere 2005 that bought him a couple more years as well.
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This is my concern as well, small marginal improvement saves job after next year because of how low this thing has gotten.
 




short ornery norwegian said:
I apologize if someone has already brought this up, but -

the new women's head coach has a son who is a pretty good player for South Dakota. I wonder if he might be a candidate to transfer.

the issue is - he had a major knee injury and missed a lot of time, but as far as I know, he has eligibility remaining. the kid was Mr Basketball in SD as a HS SR, avg 34 pts a game. I saw him play a couple of games at a MN vs SD cross-over event.

if he's even close to 100%, he would be a pretty good guard option.
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I had never heard of him or even considered this but it looks like he'd have two seasons left of eligibility, he shot 40% from three last year, I'm not sure how often guys want to follow their mom to college, but I hope he does.
 


short ornery norwegian said:
I apologize if someone has already brought this up, but -

the new women's head coach has a son who is a pretty good player for South Dakota. I wonder if he might be a candidate to transfer.

the issue is - he had a major knee injury and missed a lot of time, but as far as I know, he has eligibility remaining. the kid was Mr Basketball in SD as a HS SR, avg 34 pts a game. I saw him play a couple of games at a MN vs SD cross-over event.

if he's even close to 100%, he would be a pretty good guard option.
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I'm not sure we can match the NIL he's getting from Vermillion Federal Credit Union though...
 







We've already seen retrenchment at a lower level of expectation when it comes to fan interest and attendance. A half-empty building is the new normal. That's not on Ben, but it's on him to turn that around, and to quote Jason Kidd, he's turned this thing around 360 degrees.

One of my big disappointments with Johnson is that he's almost invisible from the standpoint of public relations. I've never seen a Gopher coach so non-present publicly. Shit, these days all you have to do is send out a few tweets from time to time; it's not hard! Having even a little bit of personality goes a long way in this business. He should at least try that and see how it goes.
 

Bad Gopher said:
One of my big disappointments with Johnson is that he's almost invisible from the standpoint of public relations. I've never seen a Gopher coach so non-present publicly. Shit, these days all you have to do is send out a few tweets from time to time; it's not hard! Having even a little bit of personality goes a long way in this business. He should at least try that and see how it goes.
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It's because he's drowning trying to learn on the job, he can't focus on the PR side at all bc he's to busy bailing water all day. This is why you hire successful mid-major coaches, they've had to manage the million things and show you they are potentially prepared to step to the highest level
 

goldengophers said:
It's because he's drowning trying to learn on the job, he can't focus on the PR side at all bc he's to busy bailing water all day. This is why you hire successful mid-major coaches, they've had to manage the million things and show you they are potentially prepared to step to the highest level
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Well, the Gophers hired the mid-major Dan Monson a number of years ago, and he was no PR wiz. In fact, I think he was taken aback at what a major-conference job all entailed. He's another guy who could have done himself a few favors by having a personality.
 

Bad Gopher said:
Well, the Gophers hired the mid-major Dan Monson a number of years ago, and he was no PR wiz. In fact, I think he was taken aback at what a major-conference job all entailed. He's another guy who could have done himself a few favors by having a personality.
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That's why I included potentially, Dan deserved to be let go but Ben shouldn't have been hired.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
I apologize if someone has already brought this up, but -

the new women's head coach has a son who is a pretty good player for South Dakota. I wonder if he might be a candidate to transfer.

the issue is - he had a major knee injury and missed a lot of time, but as far as I know, he has eligibility remaining. the kid was Mr Basketball in SD as a HS SR, avg 34 pts a game. I saw him play a couple of games at a MN vs SD cross-over event.

if he's even close to 100%, he would be a pretty good guard option.
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Yep he played with a big brace the games I saw this year. Good player and a good shooter it will be interesting if he can shed the brace and get back as close too 100% as possible..
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
I had never heard of him or even considered this but it looks like he'd have two seasons left of eligibility, he shot 40% from three last year, I'm not sure how often guys want to follow their mom to college, but I hope he does.
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Might be 3 years. His freshman he was real good…
 

Bad Gopher said:
We've already seen retrenchment at a lower level of expectation when it comes to fan interest and attendance. A half-empty building is the new normal. That's not on Ben, but it's on him to turn that around, and to quote Jason Kidd, he's turned this thing around 360 degrees.

One of my big disappointments with Johnson is that he's almost invisible from the standpoint of public relations. I've never seen a Gopher coach so non-present publicly. Shit, these days all you have to do is send out a few tweets from time to time; it's not hard! Having even a little bit of personality goes a long way in this business. He should at least try that and see how it goes.
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Ben bolted outta NW when Jitim Young got signed. It is likely Ben isn’t competitive to the level that is required for success at the highest level.
 

Roland Brooks said:
Yep he played with a big brace the games I saw this year. Good player and a good shooter it will be interesting if he can shed the brace and get back as close too 100% as possible..
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Yeah, I have a bit more confidence in shooters coming back from those kinds of injuries because they are not as reliant on athleticism and quickness to get by.

Frankly, if the guy can play smart, knock down open threes, and handle the ball a little, he would help us.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Yeah, I have a bit more confidence in shooters coming back from those kinds of injuries because they are not as reliant on athleticism and quickness to get by.

Frankly, if the guy can play smart, knock down open threes, and handle the ball a little, he would help us.
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And if your Parent works at the school, it is your duty to walk on.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Yeah, I have a bit more confidence in shooters coming back from those kinds of injuries because they are not as reliant on athleticism and quickness to get by.

Frankly, if the guy can play smart, knock down open threes, and handle the ball a little, he would help us.
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…and make free throws.
 




Bob_Loblaw said:
This is true but he might actually be doing us a favor by taking a scholarship, it'll save us the embarrassment of essentially eating one for the third straight season.
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I would tell the kid look, you come here as a walk on with free tuition because your parent works here. You rehab properly and maybe red shirt and then we give you a scholly. Better than having the couple walk ons/Ramberg's at the end of the bench. But, only if it looks like we can't get all of what we need out of the portal.
 

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