Ben Johnson is a Disaster

[GG Allen]

If it was the case that we wanted to hire a black head coach, there's too many to name out there that were more worthy than Ben.

They wanted to hire a black coach but they also thought they were in the middle of a financial crisis because COVID was going to destroy college sports revenue or something, so they needed to cut sports and weren't going to spend big bucks on a coach while pleading financial poverty to the public. Ben was cheap (although we overpaid him to not embarrass him) and politically convenient. He'll get paid nicely for his three year tenure here and then they'll break out that Big Ten TV money to pay a real coach next year.

 

[skiumah1]

They wanted to hire a black coach but they also thought they were in the middle of a financial crisis because COVID was going to destroy college sports revenue or something, so they needed to cut sports and weren't going to spend big bucks on a coach while pleading financial poverty to the public. Ben was cheap (although we overpaid him to not embarrass him) and politically convenient. He'll get paid nicely for his three year tenure here and then they'll break out that Big Ten TV money to pay a real coach next year.

Hope so

 

[bga1]

They wanted to hire a black coach but they also thought they were in the middle of a financial crisis because COVID was going to destroy college sports revenue or something, so they needed to cut sports and weren't going to spend big bucks on a coach while pleading financial poverty to the public. Ben was cheap (although we overpaid him to not embarrass him) and politically convenient. He'll get paid nicely for his three year tenure here and then they'll break out that Big Ten TV money to pay a real coach next year.

Your confidence in the administration's next move is every bit the stretch that saying Ben will be a great coach is (with certainty).

 

[Bad Gopher]

They wanted to hire a black coach but they also thought they were in the middle of a financial crisis because COVID was going to destroy college sports revenue or something, so they needed to cut sports and weren't going to spend big bucks on a coach while pleading financial poverty to the public. Ben was cheap (although we overpaid him to not embarrass him) and politically convenient. He'll get paid nicely for his three year tenure here and then they'll break out that Big Ten TV money to pay a real coach next year.

If this is anywhere close to true, there's some degree of intentionality to severely damaging the men's basketball program and letting it languish for three years to give a pound of flesh to a mostly imagined societal demand. (Yes, there are the fringe activists and extremists, but the U is bigger than that and should act like they're bigger than that.)

 

[formerlybis]

Zooming out a little, there could be some dominos with a new president coming in. I very much doubt that the athletic department will be high on the list of objectives as they're doing the search (there's some existential stuff to deal with), but the dynamics always change when a new chief executive is installed.

 

[Bad Gopher]

Zooming out a little, there could be some dominos with a new president coming in. I very much doubt that the athletic department will be high on the list of objectives as they're doing the search (there's some existential stuff to deal with), but the dynamics always change when a new chief executive is installed.

I think it's good to have a president and administration that's interested in athletics but not too heavy handed. Mark Yudof was clear that he wanted Dienhart to hire Terry Holland, but he deferred to the AD on the decision, which of course was to hire Monson.

 

[JimmyJamesMD]

I think it's good to have a president and administration that's interested in athletics but not too heavy handed. Mark Yudof was clear that he wanted Dienhart to hire Terry Holland, but he deferred to the AD on the decision, which of course was to hire Monson.

i thought holland turned us down. Just using my memory

 

[Rockraven]

If this is anywhere close to true, there's some degree of intentionality to severely damaging the men's basketball program and letting it languish for three years to give a pound of flesh to a mostly imagined societal demand. (Yes, there are the fringe activists and extremists, but the U is bigger than that and should act like they're bigger than that.)

Three years? Long term memory loss. Go back 23 years then the 1993 to 1999 vacated years on top of that!

 

[Rockraven]

Your confidence in the administration's next move is every bit the stretch that saying Ben will be a great coach is (with certainty).

I believe our program turns the corner this year and Ben becomes a great coach. I believe he has/should have learned he has to take the bull by the horns. With the DT initiative we may have the beginnings of NIL. However another injury riddled year can end that hope.

 

[Bad Gopher]

i thought holland turned us down. Just using my memory

You might be right.

 

[howeda7]

You might be right.

His wife hated winter.

 

[GopherOhana]

wondering if something is going on. Really got quiet for recruiting. Pulled out of Continental Tire. And CBJ's tweets are way way way down compared to last year at this time

 

[Bad Gopher]

I believe our program turns the corner this year and Ben becomes a great coach. I believe he has/should have learned he has to take the bull by the horns. With the DT initiative we may have the beginnings of NIL. However another injury riddled year can end that hope.

Based on what? Serious question not unlike other serious questions you've declined to address

 

[Bad Gopher]

His wife hated winter.

That's "the dog ate my homework" or "I have a roast in the oven." Works every time.

 

[howeda7]

wondering if something is going on. Really got quiet for recruiting. Pulled out of Continental Tire. And CBJ's tweets are way way way down compared to last year at this time

Don't get our hopes up. In all seriousness it's way too late to do anything. But I suppose it would be Gopher-esque in its own way.

 

[Bad Gopher]

Don't get our hopes up. In all seriousness it's way too late to do anything. But I suppose it would be Gopher-esque in its own way.

It's easy to read something into nothing, and there's almost certainly nothing afoot. That said, if there were a conversation going on between the coach and AD something along the lines of the convo that had probably been going on between Coyle and Whalen as to whether to continue to fish or to cut bait...it would probably "sound" something like this.

 

[howeda7]

It's easy to read something into nothing, and there's almost certainly nothing afoot. That said, if there were a conversation going on between the coach and AD something along the lines of the convo that had probably been going on between Coyle and Whalen as to whether to continue to fish or to cut bait...it would probably "sound" something like this.

Hiring a coach two months after everyone else is how we got Brewster. Unless there's something off court that hasn't come out, it's almost certainly nothing. But if something is up they really would really have to go the interim route.

 

[Rockraven]

Based on what? Serious question not unlike other serious questions you've declined to address

Based on current player development. Payne rising So. Carrington rising So. JOJ rising So. Garcia just second year coming this fall. Ihnen who could be a huge difference maker returning. Fox returning. Betts with a full year of practice and strength and conditioning. Christie is one of the best freshmen we have had. Mitchell transferring in. battle gone. The belief that our coaching staff is working extremely hard to get up to B1G level coaching. What’s not to be enthused about? But yeah, I still want another high quality guard that can handle the point at least at the Cooper level. This team is just starting to develop its chemistry. Maybe a chemistry. I think I’ve said this a few times. I would like to see them start with a few cupcakes to get rolling and build confidence. They need on court leadership and a bit of swag. No need to throw them right to the wolves.

 

[Bad Gopher]

Based on current player development. Payne rising So. Carrington rising So. JOJ rising So. Garcia just second year coming this fall. Ihnen who could be a huge difference maker returning. Fox returning. Betts with a full year of practice and strength and conditioning. Christie is one of the best freshmen we have had. Mitchell transferring in. battle gone. The belief that our coaching staff is working extremely hard to get up to B1G level coaching. What’s not to be enthused about? But yeah, I still want another high quality guard that can handle the point at least at the Cooper level. This team is just starting to develop its chemistry. Maybe a chemistry. I think I’ve said this a few times. I would like to see them start with a few cupcakes to get rolling and build confidence. They need on court leadership and a bit of swag. No need to throw them right to the wolves.

I hope the same things you do, but unless you're privy to workouts and behind-the-scenes activity, it's no more than hope and speculation. Would you be willing to put money you couldn't afford to lose on that 11-conference-win prediction?

 

[Rockraven]

I hope the same things you do, but unless you're privy to workouts and behind-the-scenes activity, it's no more than hope and speculation. Would you be willing to put money you couldn't afford to lose on that 11-conference-win prediction?

What I said is simple logic. Logical team development. Plus I’m an optimistic people not a defeatist. I won’t bet with a Gopher fan who wants to bet against “his team,” but yes I would with Vegas with disposable funds. People who bet money they can’t afford to lose have an addiction. A disease.

 

[Bad Gopher]

What I said is simple logic. Logical team development. Plus I’m an optimistic people not a defeatist. I won’t bet with a Gopher fan who wants to bet against “his team,” but yes I would with Vegas with disposable funds. People who bet money they can’t afford to lose have an addiction. A disease.

I'm not a betting person, but I would bet money I couldn't afford to lose on the under of that 11-win prediction. If that's hating my team, then your prediction is also hating your team because you didn't predict 20 conference wins.

 

[Rockraven]

Bad. You’ll slowly come around. There is hope for you.

 

[bc2211]

Based on current player development. Payne rising So. Carrington rising So. JOJ rising So. Garcia just second year coming this fall. Ihnen who could be a huge difference maker returning. Fox returning. Betts with a full year of practice and strength and conditioning. Christie is one of the best freshmen we have had. Mitchell transferring in. battle gone. The belief that our coaching staff is working extremely hard to get up to B1G level coaching. What’s not to be enthused about? But yeah, I still want another high quality guard that can handle the point at least at the Cooper level. This team is just starting to develop its chemistry. Maybe a chemistry. I think I’ve said this a few times. I would like to see them start with a few cupcakes to get rolling and build confidence. They need on court leadership and a bit of swag. No need to throw them right to the wolves.

Payne and *maybe* JOJ are the only players that have shown any improvement under BJ, imo. This is the first off-season BJ has had with sophomores who have played meaningful minutes in his system. So we’ll see.

Garcia’s weaknesses are matchup related because he needs like 40 lbs of muscle. Has he improved here?

Ihnen hasn’t played in 2 years, but sounds like he’s been practicing?. Lower body strength comes back more slowly - can he bang enough downlow to allow his height to bother stronger post players? What gives you hope he’ll be effective on the wing? He wasn’t under Pitino. He added a pump fake/pull up jumper to his bag near the end of his sophomore year but he doesn’t offer the versatility necessary on the wing. He’s easy to defend unless he greatly improves his shooting.

Fox… I’ll believe it when I see it, but I won’t even entertain it until he’s back at practice. Ffs.

Betts and Christie are wildcards. Cautiously optimistic with Christie, but I don’t expect much out of redshirt freshman typically.

We lost a lot of games by a lot of points last year. We need a lot of improvement just to find ourselves to be an adequate threat to most teams in the big ten.

 

[DarthGopher]

They wanted to hire a black coach but they also thought they were in the middle of a financial crisis because COVID was going to destroy college sports revenue or something, so they needed to cut sports and weren't going to spend big bucks on a coach while pleading financial poverty to the public. Ben was cheap (although we overpaid him to not embarrass him) and politically convenient. He'll get paid nicely for his three year tenure here and then they'll break out that Big Ten TV money to pay a real coach next year.

This take has merit at face value. Maybe years later we'll find out the official story, but I don't think anyone can discount the financial uncertainty around Covid and the social unrest happening when this hire was announced. I'm guessing it was a confluence of factors we may never fully know, the results of which have been abysmal to date.

 

[Holy Man]

I'm not a betting person, but I would bet money I couldn't afford to lose on the under of that 11-win prediction. If that's hating my team, then your prediction is also hating your team because you didn't predict 20 conference wins.

You’re not a betting person?

 

[Rockraven]

Payne and *maybe* JOJ are the only players that have shown any improvement under BJ, imo. This is the first off-season BJ has had with sophomores who have played meaningful minutes in his system. So we’ll see.

Garcia’s weaknesses are matchup related because he needs like 40 lbs of muscle. Has he improved here?

Ihnen hasn’t played in 2 years, but sounds like he’s been practicing?. Lower body strength comes back more slowly - can he bang enough downlow to allow his height to bother stronger post players? What gives you hope he’ll be effective on the wing? He wasn’t under Pitino. He added a pump fake/pull up jumper to his bag near the end of his sophomore year but he doesn’t offer the versatility necessary on the wing. He’s easy to defend unless he greatly improves his shooting.

Fox… I’ll believe it when I see it, but I won’t even entertain it until he’s back at practice. Ffs.

Betts and Christie are wildcards. Cautiously optimistic with Christie, but I don’t expect much out of redshirt freshman typically.

We lost a lot of games by a lot of points last year. We need a lot of improvement just to find ourselves to be an adequate threat to most teams in the big ten.

You made the points you wanted to, but living in the past does not build the future. Learn the lessons and move forward. The Coach should be ready, willing, and able to do that. I expect you will be greatly surprised and pleased.

 

[bga1]

Payne and *maybe* JOJ are the only players that have shown any improvement under BJ, imo. This is the first off-season BJ has had with sophomores who have played meaningful minutes in his system. So we’ll see.

Garcia’s weaknesses are matchup related because he needs like 40 lbs of muscle. Has he improved here?

Ihnen hasn’t played in 2 years, but sounds like he’s been practicing?. Lower body strength comes back more slowly - can he bang enough downlow to allow his height to bother stronger post players? What gives you hope he’ll be effective on the wing? He wasn’t under Pitino. He added a pump fake/pull up jumper to his bag near the end of his sophomore year but he doesn’t offer the versatility necessary on the wing. He’s easy to defend unless he greatly improves his shooting.

Fox… I’ll believe it when I see it, but I won’t even entertain it until he’s back at practice. Ffs.

Betts and Christie are wildcards. Cautiously optimistic with Christie, but I don’t expect much out of redshirt freshman typically.

We lost a lot of games by a lot of points last year. We need a lot of improvement just to find ourselves to be an adequate threat to most teams in the big ten.

Henley showed a lot of in season improvement last year under Ben. Carrington was injured too much to tell.

 

[bc2211]

Henley showed a lot of in season improvement last year under Ben. Carrington was injured too much to tell.

That’s true, towards the tail end. But he’s gone and we are starting over with Christie.

 

[RockChalk]

I officially dropped my season tickets. Feel good about the decision. Feel bad about the why.

Look at the positive side here. IF, IF, you decide you want your season tickets back, you shouldn't have a problem.

 

[WindyCityGopher]

wondering if something is going on. Really got quiet for recruiting. Pulled out of Continental Tire. And CBJ's tweets are way way way down compared to last year at this time

He’s spending all his time posting here as Rockraven.