Ben Johnson is a Disaster

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Big Dawg said:
I think there is room for discussion regarding words like "constant" and bashing. I have posted a few negative comments regarding Ben since his hiring. I am enjoying this season and regardless of who the coach is, I want the Gophers to win. What I don't like from the pro Ben crowd over the past three years is the revisionist history or the excuses. The first is that he inherited no one. That is just not true. When Ben signed on the dotted line, he had a full roster. Yes, one player left the same day, Carr was obviously leaving, etc..... I checked only a few (5-6 other coaches who took over for fired coaches similar to Ben's situation) and most of them also lost the majority of the previous roster. I look at the situation he inherited as the same as almost any coach who takes over for a fired HC. The second fallacy is the "it takes time to build" excuse. It doesn't. It can and having a SYSTEM to sell or a culture is nice but numerous other programs (since NIL started) have rebuilt much much faster. I think Ben WAS a disaster but like someone posted it's like a dial. The dial is now off disaster and moving up nicely. The hire WAS and will always be a disaster. No P6 program EVER should hire a HC that has NEVER been a HC at ANY level. That's on Coyle and the administration. I'll argue that even poster's who posted negative things regarding Ben, still want the Gophers to win and enjoy all of those victories. Ben seems to have figured it out. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the game last night and will rewatch it tonight.
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Good lord the first year debate is so tired and beat to death. I am sure Johnson probably could have hung onto more of the guys from that team than he did but the key guys....the ones that anyone would really want, Carr, Mashburn, Robbins were gone no matter what. I guess he could have kept Robbins if he wanted to hire a coach he didn't want but that seems like a pretty stupid way to build your coaching staff. So maybe he could have had a couple decent players and a bunch of scrubs from the previous team, it would have been a horrible team. So instead of saddling themselves with some guys they didn't want they went with the full rebuild.

As for the building strategy. Johnson elected not to go for the quick fix either by choice or because he wasn't able to land the guys he needed to make it happen. We will never really know for sure.

He had to have some success in year 3 and he has done that. If there are Gopher fans that aren't enjoying it fully because they are hung up on the past 2 years then I feel bad for them because they are missing out on a fun ride this year. And I am excited to see what they are able to do in year 4.
 

TwistingMyMelon said:
Me too, bourbon or rye. Scotch is a bit of an acquired taste and quite variable I find depending upon the brand. Some of it tastes awful and some of it is quite good. Lately I've gotten lazy and have been consuming more pre-mixed cocktails from a bottle (Manhattans or Old Fashioneds).
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I bought a bottle of Bulleit Old Fashioned and I think the perfect time to crack it will be tip-off from what ever tourney we end up in.
 
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The funniest (and best) outcome would be for coach Ben to become a coach K type coach and we would be able to revisit these threads for years. Not saying that's going to happen, but god it would be funny.
 

MNVCGUY said:
He had to have some success in year 3 and he has done that. If there are Gopher fans that aren't enjoying it fully because they are hung up on the past 2 years then I feel bad for them because they are missing out on a fun ride this year. And I am excited to see what they are able to do in year 4.
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No one has a problem with anyone enjoying this season more than the last two. Everyone is enjoying this season more.

Pretty much everyone's minimum expectation was for a new coach to make the NCAA tournament in the first 3 years, especially with the way the transfer portal is now. Those aren't high expectations.

You can still be disappointed that even after a better year 3, they're still not likely going dancing unless they pretty much run the table down the stretch. That's still frustrating to a lot of us, especially because in hindsight, this team probably was good enough to make it if they would have played a better non conference schedule and closed out games they could have won earlier in the season.

Both of those things are still on Ben.
 


GopherWeatherGuy said:
No one has a problem with anyone enjoying this season more than the last two. Everyone is enjoying this season more.

Pretty much everyone's minimum expectation was for a new coach to make the NCAA tournament in the first 3 years, especially with the way the transfer portal is now. Those aren't high expectations.

You can still be disappointed that even after a better year 3, they're still not likely going dancing unless they pretty much run the table down the stretch. That's still frustrating to a lot of us, especially because in hindsight, this team probably was good enough to make it if they would have played a better non conference schedule and closed out games they could have won earlier in the season.

Both of those things are still on Ben.
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Exactly. Mnvcguy and his colleagues on the cbj protection detail.......
 




GopherWeatherGuy said:
No one has a problem with anyone enjoying this season more than the last two. Everyone is enjoying this season more.

Pretty much everyone's minimum expectation was for a new coach to make the NCAA tournament in the first 3 years, especially with the way the transfer portal is now. Those aren't high expectations.

You can still be disappointed that even after a better year 3, they're still not likely going dancing unless they pretty much run the table down the stretch. That's still frustrating to a lot of us, especially because in hindsight, this team probably was good enough to make it if they would have played a better non conference schedule and closed out games they could have won earlier in the season.

Both of those things are still on Ben.
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Good Lord! who whizzed in your Wheatlies? Enjoy the season!
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
No one has a problem with anyone enjoying this season more than the last two. Everyone is enjoying this season more.

Pretty much everyone's minimum expectation was for a new coach to make the NCAA tournament in the first 3 years, especially with the way the transfer portal is now. Those aren't high expectations.

You can still be disappointed that even after a better year 3, they're still not likely going dancing unless they pretty much run the table down the stretch. That's still frustrating to a lot of us, especially because in hindsight, this team probably was good enough to make it if they would have played a better non conference schedule and closed out games they could have won earlier in the season.

Both of those things are still on Ben.
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I plan to enjoy the heck out of this season and this team, wherever it leads. For those like you and Burner that are determined to find reasons to be disappointed....have fun with that I guess.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
No one has a problem with anyone enjoying this season more than the last two. Everyone is enjoying this season more.

Pretty much everyone's minimum expectation was for a new coach to make the NCAA tournament in the first 3 years, especially with the way the transfer portal is now. Those aren't high expectations.

You can still be disappointed that even after a better year 3, they're still not likely going dancing unless they pretty much run the table down the stretch. That's still frustrating to a lot of us, especially because in hindsight, this team probably was good enough to make it if they would have played a better non conference schedule and closed out games they could have won earlier in the season.

Both of those things are still on Ben.
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One gets the feeling that no matter what happens with this team, it will never be quite enough, and things will always be Ben's fault. There's an old saying, Anyone whose goal is "always something higher" must expect someday to suffer vertigo. Are you enjoying the season? I think you may have vertigo.
It's a process. It's not perfect. Never will be. Do your best to get over what happened the first 2 years, you may be happier.
 




Formerswish said:
One gets the feeling that no matter what happens with this team, it will never be quite enough, and things will always be Ben's fault. There's an old saying, Anyone whose goal is "always something higher" must expect someday to suffer vertigo. Are you enjoying the season? I think you may have vertigo.
It's a process. It's not perfect. Never will be. Do your best to get over what happened the first 2 years, you may be happier.
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Ben is responsible for the results of the team, so yes. Success or failure will be his to own. And for others to excuse.
 

MNVCGUY said:
I plan to enjoy the heck out of this season and this team, wherever it leads. For those like you and Burner that are determined to find reasons to be disappointed....have fun with that I guess.
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God bless you, but it makes no sense to keep engaging with jackasses who can't enjoy what's happening.
 


When they were on that four-game losing streak, he appeared cooked and people were ready to turn the page.

Don't think anyone at that time pictured the turn around that has taken place since.

Next two might be tough lifts, but if they can finish with three wins and win a game or two in the BTT, who knows.
 
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BarnBurner said:
Ben is responsible for the results of the team, so yes. Success or failure will be his to own. And for others to excuse.
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Thank you for that slice of profound wisdom. I'm wondering then if you would say that Ben should be owning the success and turnaround this year? Be careful you don't go too far, you may be labeled a "Johnson apologist."
 

Formerswish said:
Thank you for that slice of profound wisdom. I'm wondering then if you would say that Ben should be owning the success and turnaround this year? Be careful you don't go too far, you may be labeled a "Johnson apologist."
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Of course this season's wins are his. And , thanks for the compliment. Appreciate being able to help you. Stop making excuses and the light shines through.
 




Mulligan said:
God bless you, but it makes no sense to keep engaging with jackasses who can't enjoy what's happening.
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There is still hope for GWG because he is still a fan and can/will eventually come around if things go well. He isn't a lost cause like BarnBurner who is on most people's ignore lists for good reason. :)

The whole situation is similar to what happened on the football board when Fleck was hired (for different reasons). When Fleck was hired there were people that hated everything about him and complained non stop, those people have either come to accept Fleck or disappeared because of the success of the football program.

Nobody seems to dislike Johnson as a person but similar to Fleck if he has success those that have been against the hire will come around eventually.
 

Formerswish said:
Well, you might agree that going from 2-17 in the Big Ten last year to 8-7 so far this year is an improvement. I'll refrain from any more dialogue here, I want to keep my mental health in good shape. “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” -Zig Ziglar

Perhaps this is the start of something? (Just saying..)
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At this point there's really no reason to think this isn't all going right along with CBJ's plan and when it's all said and done he'll be the most successful coach in Gopher history. I doubt he'll ever have another losing season.
 

MNVCGUY said:
There is still hope for GWG because he is still a fan and can/will eventually come around if things go well. He isn't a lost cause like BarnBurner who is on most people's ignore lists for good reason. :)

The whole situation is similar to what happened on the football board when Fleck was hired (for different reasons). When Fleck was hired there were people that hated everything about him and complained non stop, those people have either come to accept Fleck or disappeared because of the success of the football program.

Nobody seems to dislike Johnson as a person but similar to Fleck if he has success those that have been against the hire will come around eventually.
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Mnvcguy can't stop me. Just can't, even though he tries. Ignore? 😂😂😂😂😂😂

Mnvcguy makes excuses from the moment cbj was hired and hasn't stopped. Enjoying making excuses.
 

Formerswish said:
Well, you might agree that going from 2-17 in the Big Ten last year to 8-7 so far this year is an improvement. I'll refrain from any more dialogue here, I want to keep my mental health in good shape. “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” -Zig Ziglar

Perhaps this is the start of something? (Just saying..)
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It’s a drastic improvement from the absolute cellar we were in, I agree to that. But let’s also not be so joyous about a 3rd year of non-ncaa tourney basketball (odds are against us). If they make it, it’s fantastic, especially with their pathetically weak non-conference SOS. Personally, I think CBJ’s hardest coaching job will be next year as I’m in the camp that thinks Garcia goes to Europe for a decent size pro ball contract (will he have his degree by end of this academic calendar year with all of his transfers…honest question?) without Garcia…and 3 years without an NCAA appearance, he will need to pull out all the stops.
 

Great job CBJ picking up PG Hawkins.

24 points and 7 assists against tOSU.





 

Wet_Blanket_Guy said:
It’s a drastic improvement from the absolute cellar we were in, I agree to that. But let’s also not be so joyous about a 3rd year of non-ncaa tourney basketball (odds are against us). If they make it, it’s fantastic, especially with their pathetically weak non-conference SOS. Personally, I think CBJ’s hardest coaching job will be next year as I’m in the camp that thinks Garcia goes to Europe for a decent size pro ball contract (will he have his degree by end of this academic calendar year with all of his transfers…honest question?) without Garcia…and 3 years without an NCAA appearance, he will need to pull out all the stops.
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Non fans like you, according to Mnvcguy, are just negative.
 

[QUOTE="MplsGopher, post: 2884768, member:]

(Wrestling, gymnastics, track, etc are not team sports. I don’t care that they fake a “team” score by cobbling together individual performances.)
[/QUOTE]
What about the guys that cut weight they can't afford to lose? The guys that wrestle up a weight giving up 6-8 pounds to their opponent by doing so? All to ensure the team roster is maximized to it's highest potential?

You don't know jack when it comes to all of the components and individual sacrifices applied towards winning as a team because you obviously never wrestled.
 

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