Ben Johnson is a Disaster

[DelawareGopher]

Choking away a lead to a bad Wisconsin team at home, on senior night, to keep Wisconsin’s (undeserved) bracket hopes alive is just a perfect ending.

Ben: Nothing against you, but you’re not up for this.

U Admin: F*ck you.

 

[LesBolstad]

Choking away a lead to a bad Wisconsin team at home, on senior night, to keep Wisconsin’s (undeserved) bracket hopes alive is just a perfect ending.

Ben: Nothing against you, but you’re not up for this.

U Admin: F*ck you.

Yep. At least we got the prescribed hire completed and maybe now can get someone with actual head coaching experience

 

[WilliamsArenaGuy]

Choking away a lead to a bad Wisconsin team at home, on senior night, to keep Wisconsin’s (undeserved) bracket hopes alive is just a perfect ending.

Ben: Nothing against you, but you’re not up for this.

U Admin: F*ck you.

Nailed it.

 

[Gophs24]

The guy just looks burnt out.

 

[bleedsmaroonandgold]

Coyle essentially gave Johnson a no vote of confidence in the presser, in fact it leads me to believe Coyle is closer to pulling the plug at season's end than I thought.

If Coyle were a good public speaker I would agree with you, because it was an obvious question and if the goal was to make it clear his job is safe, that would have been the easiest thing in the world to do, and not doing that would speak volumes. But, since it is Coyle, I think it is just as likely that he bungled an easy question as it is anything to read into with respect to Ben's job security.

 

[howeda7]

The guy just looks burnt out.

Maybe Coyle can use another "Special Assistant".

 

[Wet_Blanket_Guy]

The guy just looks burnt out.

The fire power…against fucking Wisconsin! Is this a god damn joke? Their KenPom adjusted offensive ranking is 142nd…they are literally average. Let’s not pretend they are Loyola-Marymount with Hank Gathers.

Outside of this game, they have score 70+ only 7 times on the season. Double the post and make them shoot. Look at their stats, they have a lot of bad shooters (outside of Hepburn and Essegian *hint for you CBJ, don’t have their defenders double*)

 

[Wet_Blanket_Guy]

Maybe Coyle can use another "Special Assistant".

He’s got to feel so special by now

 

[Bad Gopher]

On the spectrum of disasters--and it's a pretty wide spectrum--this disaster is particularly toward the disastrous end.

 

[skiumah1]

On the spectrum of disasters--and it's a pretty wide spectrum--this disaster is particularly toward the disastrous end.

I believe we’ve reached pathetic.

 

[Bad Gopher]

You know, you reap what you sow. Just like Maturi had to clean up his own mess resulting from his disastrous decision to hire Brewster, Coyle is sitting here neck deep in the disaster of his own making, humiliated by his two incredibly faulty basketball hires, probably not sure what the heck to do at this point. And if you know me, you know I don't use the word incredible often or lightly. Fuck him and the horse he rode in on.

 

[Go Gophs]

I honestly think he’s gone. Coyle would have stood up for him the other night. It’s fine, he will be ok. Maybe when he looses his job I will call him to see if he wants to coach in our youth association. Once he gets fired here he is going to have to start all over at the bottom

 

[Holy Man]

I honestly think he’s gone. Coyle would have stood up for him the other night. It’s fine, he will be ok. Maybe when he looses his job I will call him to see if he wants to coach in our youth association. Once he gets fired here he is going to have to start all over at the bottom

What’s your definition of bottom? He’s a respected assistant coach with good contacts in Minnesota. He will end up being a valuable addition to a mid major staff that wants inroads into Minnesota. We produce a lot of mid major talent here.

 

[kg21]

The guy just looks burnt out.

what he can't say there is that our point guard and battle have slow feet. If you are going to double down, you have to have the quickness to recover and get out on the shooters. Battle and the point guard can't get there. You have to have higher athletic talent to do this.

This is a talent issue.

We have literally no physicality. We were bullied inside. I don't see how the hell that changes next year outside of a miracle transfer. this is why the loss of Evans, is just a massive letdown, assuming he could patrol the paint right away.

No defensive presence inside, no point guard, and a lack of foot speed is a massive problem.

One thing I've said is that this conference is down. Many teams are flat out bad. It's possible to get better quickly due to this.

Christie has to be damn good next year, and obviously, and the portal will determine Ben's fate. The odds are stacked against him.

 

[goldengophers]

You know, you reap what you sow. Just like Maturi had to clean up his own mess resulting from his disastrous decision to hire Brewster, Coyle is sitting here neck deep in the disaster of his own making, humiliated by his two incredibly faulty basketball hires, probably not sure what the heck to do at this point. And if you know me, you know I don't use the word incredible often or lightly. Fuck him and the horse he rode in on.

He doubled down on the Whalen hire (hired to recruit no idea if can coach) without
understanding if that path is successful.

 

[Spaulding!No!]

I honestly think he’s gone. Coyle would have stood up for him the other night. It’s fine, he will be ok. Maybe when he looses his job I will call him to see if he wants to coach in our youth association. Once he gets fired here he is going to have to start all over at the bottom

With 8 million bucks.

 

[Spaulding!No!]

The fire power…against fucking Wisconsin! Is this a god damn joke? Their KenPom adjusted offensive ranking is 142nd…they are literally average. Let’s not pretend they are Loyola-Marymount with Hank Gathers.

Outside of this game, they have score 70+ only 7 times on the season. Double the post and make them shoot. Look at their stats, they have a lot of bad shooters (outside of Hepburn and Essegian *hint for you CBJ, don’t have their defenders double*)

View attachment 24419

It is as tho Ben knows how to provide a Pitinoesque response.

 

[Dano564]

I don't think Coyle fires him. I think he's going to be patient here one more year.

But if he does make a move, he only should do so if he has a better replacement lined up.

 

[Bad Gopher]

what he can't say there is that our point guard and battle have slow feet. If you are going to double down, you have to have the quickness to recover and get out on the shooters. Battle and the point guard can't get there. You have to have higher athletic talent to do this.

This is a talent issue.

We have literally no physicality. We were bullied inside. I don't see how the hell that changes next year outside of a miracle transfer. this is why the loss of Evans, is just a massive letdown, assuming he could patrol the paint right away.

No defensive presence inside, no point guard, and a lack of foot speed is a massive problem.

One thing I've said is that this conference is down. Many teams are flat out bad. It's possible to get better quickly due to this.

Christie has to be damn good next year, and obviously, and the portal will determine Ben's fate. The odds are stacked against him.

This is important. I remarked to my buddy last night how great it would be to have Evans in this game: a help-defense shot-blocking eraser. He would've been the difference in the game.

 

[Wet_Blanket_Guy]

I don't think Coyle fires him. I think he's going to be patient here one more year.

But if he does make a move, he only should do so if he has a better replacement lined up.

Based on some of our stats for the season, you could make the argument that literally no coach in America would be worse… see below for what I mean (stolen from other thread):

 

[Gophers7633]

We need to cut bait right now. There is no point in keeping him. If we had a good recruiting class coming in, I could see it, but we have one player coming in and he's ranked in the 120's, so big deal if he decommits. He's proven he isn't competent in the portal, and now with Cooper and Battle leaving, he needs to land at least 3 impact guys. I don't think Payne or JOJ will leave if he gets canned, so there really isn't a point in keeping him.

Can his ass after we lose Wednesday to get as early a start as possible.

 

[Gophers_4life]

We need to cut bait right now. There is no point in keeping him. If we had a good recruiting class coming in, I could see it, but we have one player coming in and he's ranked in the 120's, so big deal if he decommits. He's proven he isn't competent in the portal, and now with Cooper and Battle leaving, he needs to land at least 3 impact guys. I don't think Payne or JOJ will leave if he gets canned, so there really isn't a point in keeping him.

Can his ass after we lose Wednesday to get as early a start as possible.

You writing the $8M check?

 

[Bad Gopher]

We need to cut bait right now. There is no point in keeping him. If we had a good recruiting class coming in, I could see it, but we have one player coming in and he's ranked in the 120's, so big deal if he decommits. He's proven he isn't competent in the portal, and now with Cooper and Battle leaving, he needs to land at least 3 impact guys. I don't think Payne or JOJ will leave if he gets canned, so there really isn't a point in keeping him.

Can his ass after we lose Wednesday to get as early a start as possible.

The thing I'd disagree with is that any player in the top 150 and with Mr. Basketball honors is a stud, and his loss would be a blow.

 

[Gophers7633]

You writing the $8M check?

Money should never be an issue. We are in the B1G for Christ sakes. If we don't, there's gonna be a lot of empty seats at The Barn next year.

 

[Gophers7633]

The thing I'd disagree with is that any player in the top 150 and with Mr. Basketball honors is a stud, and his loss would be a blow.

If losing him meant hiring a new coach, I'd do that swap in a heartbeat. Obviously, he has potential, but it's just so bad, keeping him isn't worth keeping the coach around IMO

 

[TD12]

Based on some of our stats for the season, you could make the argument that literally no coach in America would be worse… see below for what I mean (stolen from other thread):
View attachment 24426

BRUTAL!!

 

[kg21]

The thing I'd disagree with is that any player in the top 150 and with Mr. Basketball honors is a stud, and his loss would be a blow.

the new guy, assuming we finally hire someone with a track record, would bring in some of his recruits and bring a few players from his own team.

Win/Win

 

[GopherWeatherGuy]

More excuses. There’s just no reason to continue with someone with this mentality.

 

[Spaulding!No!]

Just imagine the AAU relationship when Ben is tossed. Ben will make the AAU rounds with complimentary things to say about the U. Your gonna need to hire a flamethrower to beat back all the negativity.

 

[Bad Gopher]

Just imagine the AAU relationship when Ben is tossed. Ben will make the AAU rounds with complimentary things to say about the U. Your gonna need to hire a flamethrower to beat back all the negativity.

This is just part of the mess Coyle created when he authored this disaster. Obviously, whatever local angle he was thinking he was creating hasn't been able to arrest the Lakeville North pipeline...even with a legacy recruit.