Ben Johnson is OUR coach thread, he’s got my full support!!!

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GopherGangsta said:
I seem to remember a " I support Richard Pitino thread" at the beginning of his tenure also.....Let's see where this is at 2 years from now when Williams arena is half full.
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I wonder if there has ever been a college basketball coach that was hired with a less than stellar resume that turned out to be successful (yes, I know it depends on how you define successful). Care to do the research? How do you know Williams Arena will be half full in two years? You seem pretty confident...
 

bfriedrichs10 said:
I wonder if there has ever been a college basketball coach that was hired with a less than stellar resume that turned out to be successful (yes, I know it depends on how you define successful). Care to do the research? How do you know Williams Arena will be half full in two years? You seem pretty confident...
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It was half full when Pitino was trotting out mediocre B10 teams, it's a good bet.
 


BleedGopher said:
The hire news caught me by surprise, he wasn’t one of my top 5-6 choices but he’s now my favorite coach and has my full support.

Our family has had season tickets since 1969, through massive scandal, horrible seasons, etc. For the first time since Kundla, we have a Gopher as HC.

I’m ready for the Ben Johnson Era!

Go Ben Johnson!!
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That's more like it.
 

Still trying to decide between continuing season tickets with Gophers or just starting fresh at alma mater St. Thomas and watching a program grow from the ground floor. Can still go to Gopher games when I want, ticket availability even more so won’t be an issue post-Corona. If Johnson can lure Dawson Garcia to the U before the season ticket deadline, that would sway me toward Gophers.
 



skiumah1 said:
The one thing I'd say is all of those that Coyle has hired so far have been ultra competitive looking at PJ, Motzko and Whalen. All pretty fiery. I really don't even know what Ben will look like as a coach. I hope we see more of that side. You can't just be the relationship guy. College basketball you've got to demand more from your players. I really hope we see that.

I do trust Coyle, but wow he's really testing that with this one. Time will tell.
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Ben Johnson isn’t the bull shitting type. He was never gonna come in here and over sell himself. He’s a genuine guy. Opposite of Tim Brewster.

If Coyle really had other interviews scheduled, and he didn’t even wait it tells me Ben must have clearly had a comprehensive plan, and clear confidence in his vision.

I’m also speculating, but imagine Coyle probably talked to local baseketball community and heard his name a lot. Thus, I’m guessing we end up with him in a more organic route; people really mentioned him until Coyle realized he had to at least give him a look.
 

BleedGopher said:
The hire news caught me by surprise, he wasn’t one of my top 5-6 choices but he’s now my favorite coach and has my full support.

Our family has had season tickets since 1969, through massive scandal, horrible seasons, etc. For the first time since Kundla, we have a Gopher as HC.

I’m ready for the Ben Johnson Era!

Go Ben Johnson!!
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I have had season tickets since the “Iron Five” season when Jim Dutcher resigned mid season and although I am not completely in agreement with the hire for a number of reasons, I think he is a good person and probably a good coach and is now the head coach of my favorite team. I think we should give him support rather than proclaiming his failure before he has a chance make a difference...
 

atsgopher said:
Ben Johnson isn’t the bull shitting type. He was never gonna come in here and over sell himself. He’s a genuine guy. Opposite of Tim Brewster.

If Coyle really had other interviews scheduled, and he didn’t even wait it tells me Ben must have clearly had a comprehensive plan, and clear confidence in his vision.

I’m also speculating, but imagine Coyle probably talked to local baseketball community and heard his name a lot. Thus, I’m guessing we end up with him in a more organic route; people really mentioned him until Coyle realized he had to at least give him a look.
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I hope he's no bull shit with his players. Bring in good players, have a solid system and culture. I hope he's as calculated, comprehensive, and concise as I am hearing as I read about him.

It's only natural to be skeptical at this point though.
 




This is a contrarian and risky hire. I am willing to expose us to the risk of a raging bonfire versus slowly smoldering and having the woodpile burn out slowly over another 8 years. It’s just basketball - if it “goes fail”, I believe we’ll know quickly, and readjust. I like us at least trying the unconventional way, with a chance to have success by trying a new path. Let’s go!
 

SelectionSunday said:
Still trying to decide between continuing season tickets with Gophers or just starting fresh at alma mater St. Thomas and watching a program grow from the ground floor. Can still go to Gopher games when I want, ticket availability even more so won’t be an issue post-Corona. If Johnson can lure Dawson Garcia to the U before the season ticket deadline, that would sway me toward Gophers.
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If you stayed with it these last 8 crappy seasons why would this hire make you give them up before even watching him coach a game?
 

Any anger or disappointment anyone feels about this hire needs to be directed 100% at Coyle, not Johnson. He was given a rare and incredible opportunity and he took it, like anyone in his shoes would.

None of us know if he is or isn't the guy, but he needs and deserves the benefit of the doubt and our full support until we find out.
 





I’m still a bit in shock, but here’s my thought on this: Pitino seemed to focus on the top 1-2 highly rated MN kids in each class that would have been great to get, but he probably didn’t have much of a chance at getting (for whatever reasons-fill in the blank).

In my view, there were a couple more kids in each class that weren’t that highly regarded early on, but after Pitino pretty much ignored them while they were younger players, they would develop nicely and their recruiting would blow up, and Pitino was suddenly interested. He seemed to never get those guys.

Year after year, we would end up signing marginal players from all over the globe while kids from our backyard who might have even dreamed of being Gophers get ignored in favor of guys probably in the end were less deserving of a scholarship. There were a host of guys like this. Roddy is one of the most recent.

My hope is that Johnson will pay attention to kids like that early on, develop the relationships, and start signing those guys. Would it be nice to get all the five-star and four-star guys? Yes, but we won’t. However, I believe MN is a gold-mine of 3-star players that can make up a base of a solid Big 10 team. Then, fill in an occasional local top kid and of course kids from elsewhere as well.

Who are some of the local kids in the past several years we missed on that you would put in the Roddy category that would have been nice players for us? Am I off base on this hope of getting a lot more of these guys with Johnson as coach?
 

ethomasp31 said:
If you stayed with it these last 8 crappy seasons why would this hire make you give them up before even watching him coach a game?
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Mostly because of the timing with St. Thomas joining Division I, but also because I presume it will be less expensive, and with 28 years as a season-ticket holder not sure I want to commit to another head coach cutting his teeth in the Big Ten with little or no head coaching experience. And the “newness” of St. Thomas in D1 has an appeal to me.

That, and Minneapolis is now a shi*hole, not real thrilled about spending time there unless I absolutely have to. All kinds of crime around campus.
 

SelectionSunday said:
Mostly because of the timing with St. Thomas joining Division I, but also because I presume it will be less expensive, and with 28 years as a season-ticket holder not sure I want to commit to another head coach cutting his teeth in the Big Ten with little or no head coaching experience. That, and Minneapolis is now a shi*hole, not real thrilled about being in that city unless I absolutely have to be. All kinds of crime around campus.
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Yeah, you should pack up and go.
 


SelectionSunday said:
Mostly because of the timing with St. Thomas joining Division I, but also because I presume it will be less expensive, and with 28 years as a season-ticket holder not sure I want to commit to another head coach cutting his teeth in the Big Ten with little or no head coaching experience. That, and Minneapolis is now a shi*hole, not real thrilled about being in that city unless I absolutely have to be. All kinds of crime around campus.
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Understandable. When will UST be a D1 basketball program? Where will they be playing?
 

Golden_Sloth said:
Any anger or disappointment anyone feels about this hire needs to be directed 100% at Coyle, not Johnson. He was given a rare and incredible opportunity and he took it, like anyone in his shoes would.
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I think in all fairness, for anyone angry about the hire have to look at least a little inward. The anger at least in part likely comes from the knowledge/realization that where the program is right NOW, the Gophers just weren't going to do much better. And that is definitely worth some ire and anger. No sense directing that at Coyle right now.
 


Skeptical of the hire but more optimistic about the program than I’ve been in years.

Let the Ben Johnson era begin.
You have my support, coach!
o7
 

Golden_Sloth said:
Any anger or disappointment anyone feels about this hire needs to be directed 100% at Coyle, not Johnson. He was given a rare and incredible opportunity and he took it, like anyone in his shoes would.

None of us know if he is or isn't the guy, but he needs and deserves the benefit of the doubt and our full support until we find out.
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First off, nobody should be angry about this hire. It shocks me how some will give up on a coach before they even get on campus.

Clearly this hire caught pretty much everyone off guard. Coyle knows he is going to be evaluated on how this hire turns out. Fans should take a step back, see how Johnson does, and then decide if they are really mad at Coyle or not for the hire.
 

The more I sit with this the more excited I get. I really enjoyed his press conference and am looking forward to seeing who he gets on his staff to help him out. I hope his relationships and recruiting strengths are evident quickly. It is great to see many of the people plugged into the basketball community here be very excited. I get that people are disappointed in the hire and were hoping for a big splash, but I would rather have the local basketball community excited and Gopherhole disappointed than the other way around.
 

BleedGopher said:
The hire news caught me by surprise, he wasn’t one of my top 5-6 choices but he’s now my favorite coach and has my full support.

Our family has had season tickets since 1969, through massive scandal, horrible seasons, etc. For the first time since Kundla, we have a Gopher as HC.

I’m ready for the Ben Johnson Era!

Go Ben Johnson!!
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I was surprised but not shocked and upset like many people were, and honestly I was hoping for Ben Johnson. Contrarian I know. When I knew for sure the U was looking I immediately starting thinking about people with connections to the program, because of the very fact Bleed mentioned. Fans always talk about guys with local connections but its been a while since the head coach was from MN and played for MN, that is special. I saw Johnson as a very active assistant here and other places, loved his effort and leadership as a player, so it seemed obvious to me.

But also I got the impression that Coyle and fans didn't care about a local connection as much as getting another splashy hire, so I figured it was a long shot but still a shot. My thinking is they tried a veteran with a known name in Tubby, and they tried an up and comer with a pedigree but not a player with Pitino, so the next thing to try seemed to be someone who was a player, and has a local connection for the local recruiting and fan service. Pitino's had very little head coaching experience when they hired him, so this isn't as big a stretch as people want to make it out to be. Granted very weird to hire a former assistant of the guy you firing, unless the assistant is a better coach and recruited the best players in his time here...

I think without the noise of all the hype and excessive expectations Johnson can focus on what matters, the recruiting, the development and coaching. That doesn't mean we as fans should have no expectations and does not mean we shouldn't speak our minds. But I have a feeling that Johnson will have much more incentive to succeed than Pitino ever did, because it's personal and he knows as well as we do that this is a big jump for him, a once in lifetime opportunity. By contrast, we all know Pitino could always get another job coaching somewhere no matter what happened. That's not cynical, that's reality. We kind of have to collectively embrace the underdog mentality to get to the next level.
 

GopherGangsta said:
I seem to remember a " I support Richard Pitino thread" at the beginning of his tenure also.....Let's see where this is at 2 years from now when Williams arena is half full.
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This is suppose to be a positive thread. If you don't want to be positive, please stay off. I'm supporting Johnson all the way.
 

SelectionSunday said:
Mostly because of the timing with St. Thomas joining Division I, but also because I presume it will be less expensive, and with 28 years as a season-ticket holder not sure I want to commit to another head coach cutting his teeth in the Big Ten with little or no head coaching experience. And the “newness” of St. Thomas in D1 has an appeal to me.

That, and Minneapolis is now a shi*hole, not real thrilled about spending time there unless I absolutely have to. All kinds of crime around campus.
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Surprised by your post. I thought I'd see a better post from you. Did someone hack you and post this?
 


Golden_Sloth said:
Any anger or disappointment anyone feels about this hire needs to be directed 100% at Coyle, not Johnson. He was given a rare and incredible opportunity and he took it, like anyone in his shoes would.

None of us know if he is or isn't the guy, but he needs and deserves the benefit of the doubt and our full support until we find out.
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I'm tired of the strawmen being thrown around. I have read through dozens and dozens of pages since yesterday and not a single person is mad at Johnson for accepting the job. EVERYONE, even the skeptics, want him to succeed. The people are getting upset over the hire (100% directed at the U) because they are fans of this team. If they weren't fans, they wouldn't even be on this board.
 

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