Ben Johnson is a Disaster

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GopherWeatherGuy said:
It really doesn't matter if he gets the full season to me. This roster is terrible. The entire coaching staff is terrible and there's not an assistant I care to see be the head coach.

Let Ben continue to rack up the worst record possible, and then turn over the entire staff and roster beginning on March 10th.
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Agree. If there was an assistant on the staff worth auditioning for the replacement role it could make sense to make the move now.....but there isn't so you gain little to nothing by firing Johnson right now.

Not like the players will suddenly start shooting better if you let Johnson go now as opposed to the end of the season.
 


GopherWeatherGuy said:
It really doesn't matter if he gets the full season to me. This roster is terrible. The entire coaching staff is terrible and there's not an assistant I care to see be the head coach.

Let Ben continue to rack up the worst record possible, and then turn over the entire staff and roster beginning on March 10th.
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Just being pedantic here, but they probably won't be able to name the new coach until at least the second weekend of the NCAA tournament. This is true whether they fire CBJ now or later - the good coaching candidates have jobs to do through that period (unless you go after currently unemployed retreads).
 


skiumah1 said:
Are we the worst P5 team in the country right now? No joke.
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Couple sub .500 teams at the bottom of the ACC (Syracuse, Virginia Tech and Miami)....so chance we aren't the worst team in power 5 but we would definitely be in the mix for the bottom.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Couple sub .500 teams at the bottom of the ACC (Syracuse, Virginia Tech and Miami)....so chance we aren't the worst team in power 5 but we would definitely be in the mix for the bottom.
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I think all three of those teams beat the Gopher.
 



Listen, I honestly am not in here for a victory lap, but to the people that were holding out on Ben, can you please explain the reason? I mean besides the delusional guy who chimes in about NIL ect....

Ben and his staff (thorson) Never provided any proof of being good coaches at this level. Their players never performed above expectations, his players often regressed from their freshman years or at best remained flat.......

Looking forward to supporting my favorite college ball team again next year.
 

kix4kix said:
Listen, I honestly am not in here for a victory lap, but to the people that were holding out on Ben, can you please explain the reason? I mean besides the delusional guy who chimes in about NIL ect....

Ben and his staff (thorson) Never provided any proof of being good coaches at this level. Their players never performed above expectations, his players often regressed from their freshman years or at best remained flat.......

Looking forward to supporting my favorite college ball team again next year.
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I've explained mine....there was something to build on at the end of last season with the roster that was in place. When that roster fell apart Ben's fate was basically sealed baring a perfect roster rebuild which clearly didn't happen.

I understand why he was given year 4. Unfortunately he wasn't able to capitalize on year 3 and this looks like another really bad season similar to years 1 and 2. No way he survives a 3rd bad year in 4 and if he isn't fired at the end of the season it will be shocking.
 

RockChalk said:
I think all three of those teams beat the Gopher.
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Very good chance you are right. Have not seen any of those teams play but it would be very tough to pick us against any power 5 team right now.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Couple sub .500 teams at the bottom of the ACC (Syracuse, Virginia Tech and Miami)....so chance we aren't the worst team in power 5 but we would definitely be in the mix for the bottom.
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Boston College is pretty bad too. Miami lost at home to Charleston Southern, BC lost at home to Dartmouth and Virginia Tech went down to the wire with NAVY. But we are in a race for the bottom. My optimism has faded for this season to almost nothing, but being a Big Ten school, it's going to attract the eye of some good mid-major coaches. That gives me just a hint of optimism for next season.
 



MNVCGUY said:
I've explained mine....there was something to build on at the end of last season with the roster that was in place. When that roster fell apart Ben's fate was basically sealed baring a perfect roster rebuild which clearly didn't happen.

I understand why he was given year 4. Unfortunately he wasn't able to capitalize on year 3 and this looks like another really bad season similar to years 1 and 2. No way he survives a 3rd bad year in 4 and if he isn't fired at the end of the season it will be shocking.
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Thank you kindly for your response.

I would argue that Ben showed no ability to keep a roster in tact following year 2. If he was a turn and burn coach I wouldn't have been alarmed. However, his whole brand was closing the borders and coaching up. He showed neither through year 3.

While I still disagree with yours and others assessments who defended Ben up until this year- I do sincerely appreciate your response.
 

kix4kix said:
Listen, I honestly am not in here for a victory lap, but to the people that were holding out on Ben, can you please explain the reason? I mean besides the delusional guy who chimes in about NIL ect....

Ben and his staff (thorson) Never provided any proof of being good coaches at this level. Their players never performed above expectations, his players often regressed from their freshman years or at best remained flat.......

Looking forward to supporting my favorite college ball team again next year.
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I was excited when Thorson joined the staff. Unfortunately being a good High School coach doesn’t translate to the Big Ten.
 

kix4kix said:
Listen, I honestly am not in here for a victory lap, but to the people that were holding out on Ben, can you please explain the reason? I mean besides the delusional guy who chimes in about NIL ect....

Ben and his staff (thorson) Never provided any proof of being good coaches at this level. Their players never performed above expectations, his players often regressed from their freshman years or at best remained flat.......

Looking forward to supporting my favorite college ball team again next year.
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Didn't they start out 10-0 in his first year with a bunch of castoffs? I thought we had something going; then I think they lost their last 12 B10 games or something
 


LesBolstad said:
Didn't they start out 10-0 in his first year with a bunch of castoffs? I thought we had something going; then I think they lost their last 12 B10 games or something
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They flipped the calendar that year with a 10-1 record and a win at Michigan. After the Michigan game, the comments on this site were overwhelmingly positive about his coaching and the direction of this program. Unfortunately, other than a short stretch last year, he hasn't ever exceeded expectations again.
 

kix4kix said:
Thank you kindly for your response.

I would argue that Ben showed no ability to keep a roster in tact following year 2. If he was a turn and burn coach I wouldn't have been alarmed. However, his whole brand was closing the borders and coaching up. He showed neither through year 3.

While I still disagree with yours and others assessments who defended Ben up until this year- I do sincerely appreciate your response.
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I still disagree with the idea that there are a bunch of us defending Johnson as I don't think that has ever really been the case. There were some of us willing to be patient and let things play out over multiple years and that was viewed as defending Johnson at all costs by those who wanted to pull the plug quickly and start over.

I have always wanted Johnson to succeed here, because that would be the best case scenario for the program but I have zero attachment to Ben Johnson and if he gets fired it won't bug me one bit because the results have not been where they need to be.
 


MNVCGUY said:
I've explained mine....there was something to build on at the end of last season with the roster that was in place. When that roster fell apart Ben's fate was basically sealed baring a perfect roster rebuild which clearly didn't happen.

I understand why he was given year 4. Unfortunately he wasn't able to capitalize on year 3 and this looks like another really bad season similar to years 1 and 2. No way he survives a 3rd bad year in 4 and if he isn't fired at the end of the season it will be shocking.
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There is no good year that is an under .500 year in the Big Ten. Ben is going 4-4 in bad years. Last year was improved but improving is nothing unless it leads to something that measures up to reasonable goals. Ben was not able to convince the players that it was worth staying and he never connected with local boosters in a way that would cause them to help him with NIL.
 

bga1 said:
There is no good year that is an under .500 year in the Big Ten. Ben is going 4-4 in bad years. Last year was improved but improving is nothing unless it leads to something that measures up to reasonable goals. Ben was not able to convince the players that it was worth staying and he never connected with local boosters in a way that would cause them to help him with NIL.
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All true, which is why Coyle could have pulled the plug after the roster fell apart again. He didn't so all we could do at that point was hope for a successful rebuild which didn't happen so here we are....we all know how it ends just a question of when.....
 

MNVCGUY said:
I still disagree with the idea that there are a bunch of us defending Johnson as I don't think that has ever really been the case. There were some of us willing to be patient and let things play out over multiple years and that was viewed as defending Johnson at all costs by those who wanted to pull the plug quickly and start over.

I have always wanted Johnson to succeed here, because that would be the best case scenario for the program but I have zero attachment to Ben Johnson and if he gets fired it won't bug me one bit because the results have not been where they need to be.
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This is all anecdotal, but I def noticed more defenders than previous regimes.

I also am not a quick trigger person historically with firing coaches. I always thought Patino and Tubby were given way too much criticism and really thought they were both doing well here until their last respective seasons.

I agree that coaches should be given a shot, but the role of an AD is to pull the plug when it becomes obvious it's not a right fit. To me that become obvious after Ben's third season.

Again, I may be misremembering but I thought Ben was being given more slack than the previous two regimes despite poorer quality of play on the court.
 


kix4kix said:
This is all anecdotal, but I def noticed more defenders than previous regimes.

I also am not a quick trigger person historically with firing coaches. I always thought Patino and Tubby were given way too much criticism and really thought they were both doing well here until their last respective seasons.

I agree that coaches should be given a shot, but the role of an AD is to pull the plug when it becomes obvious it's not a right fit. To me that become obvious after Ben's third season.

Again, I may be misremembering but I thought Ben was being given more slack than the previous two regimes despite poorer quality of play on the court.
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I haven't been able to find it but somewhere there is a secret forum where posters are demanding Johnson get a lifetime contract to be the head coach at the U of M.
 




MNVCGUY said:
I still disagree with the idea that there are a bunch of us defending Johnson as I don't think that has ever really been the case. There were some of us willing to be patient and let things play out over multiple years and that was viewed as defending Johnson at all costs by those who wanted to pull the plug quickly and start over.

I have always wanted Johnson to succeed here, because that would be the best case scenario for the program but I have zero attachment to Ben Johnson and if he gets fired it won't bug me one bit because the results have not been where they need to be.
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YOU Defending cbj hasn't been the case???
😂😂🤡

Whopper of the year. Decade perhaps.
 
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kix4kix said:
Listen, I honestly am not in here for a victory lap, but to the people that were holding out on Ben, can you please explain the reason? I mean besides the delusional guy who chimes in about NIL ect....

Ben and his staff (thorson) Never provided any proof of being good coaches at this level. Their players never performed above expectations, his players often regressed from their freshman years or at best remained flat.......

Looking forward to supporting my favorite college ball team again next year.
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For me it wasn't about supporting him. It was about accepting the reality they were not going to make a change after year 2 and hoping the blind squirrel would find a nut in year 3. It improved, but that was following two historically bad seasons. Once the team imploded, it should have been ended IMHO.

I am past being upset. I just don't care, which is way worse. I wish he could have figured it out. Seems like a really good dude. I don't like to see him fail. But it is way past time. This experiment failed miserably. They have to nail the next hire. No more f'n around.
 

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