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

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If there was ever a person to take this risk on I am glad Coyle went with a hometown kid, a solid human, a Gopher captain, and an alum. I appreciate that he is humble and aware that Coyle is taking a chance on him. Coyle flat out said the two would be joined at the hip and that support will be there with money for a strong supporting cast.
 

We're all Gopher fans and Johnson should have our support. Coyle will be judged by this hire and by those he passed on. Hopefully he was right.
 

Most people who dislike or are openly disappointed in the hire are the type of people that would never make it in today's culture of sports. They just don't get it.

I was driving with my 14 year old when it broke on the radio and I turned to him and said "That's a great hire and makes so much sense." He said, "this is great for MN basketball."

No reason to look back. We can in 3-5 years depending on how things go, but what is gained by not being positive and focused on the future?
 

MaxyJR1 said:
Most people who dislike or are openly disappointed in the hire are the type of people that would never make it in today's culture of sports. They just don't get it.

I was driving with my 14 year old when it broke on the radio and I turned to him and said "That's a great hire and makes so much sense." He said, "this is great for MN basketball."

No reason to look back. We can in 3-5 years depending on how things go, but what is gained by not being positive and focused on the future?
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What's not to get? The conversation around these decisions is what makes sports interesting. Are you implying people have stopped critically thinking as we are now just yes men? "This is great for MN basketball" Why? Because he is from here? He has proven nothing as a head coach and the only thing we know is that he says he will be tough and gritty. Should no one have been disappointed we didn't sign Garcia or Hurt? Because that seems to be a big reason Johnson was brought in, disappointment in the state of the program cause by missing local recruiting. "Would never make it in today's sports culture" What the **** are you even talking about? I'm sure you have your season tickets purchased and are giving 110% in donations as the U requests.
 

Coach Johnson had a nice press conference. It made me feel better about the hire. However, his comment about learning defense from Richard made me cringe just a little. He may need to hire a "Coach Mo" to drive the defensive sets and rotations.
 


GopherBlood666 said:
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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Right on. GH response is tepid compared to response this type of hire would have earned at other major conf schools. That said, johnson is only an impressive recruit signing or two away from having everybody feeling good.
 


golf said:
Right on. GH response is tepid compared to response this type of hire would have earned at other major conf schools. That said, johnson is only an impressive recruit signing or two away from having everybody feeling good.
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I would say the response has been stronger than tepid on here especially for an alum coming back home. I’m sure there were some skeptics but I don’t think Iowa State fans were this strongly opposed to Fred Hoiberg coming back to Ames, his post playing career resume was that of an executive in a very poorly ran franchise. Hoiberg talked a lot about needing to lean on his staff when he first got the ISU job to adjust to coaching period, not just head coaching. I think if Ben said that today, we’d have five threads going right now on that particular quote.

There’s a fair amount to question with the hiring of Ben but once he’s in the job and head coach, I’m not sure what there is to critique because there’s literally nothing to go on. We have people on here breaking down bubblegum answers he’s given to media and running with it as “he has no plan”. That seems like we’re reaching at things to bury him before they’ve even swapped out the name plates in the coach’s office. Be in shock, disapprove of the hiring process but every new hire whether you like them or not needs a great deal of support and that’s what he’s going to need right now. Let’s judge him on his actual team related actions now.
 

I'll give him a few years. I do believe this upcoming year is going to be dreadful given the cupboard is bare right now.

But we shall see
 



Gopher_In_NYC said:
I've vented and I'm all in the boat to row. I can understand the shock and initial anger, to stay that way over something I can't control is a waste of my energy and silly IMO.

Let's go get some good players out of that portal and keep the ones we need.
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Let's get the local talent committed as it sounded to me, during the Press Conference, that was the primary reason for his hiring. Too much talent leaving the state.

I'm all in also!

GEDJ
 
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SanDiegoGopherFan said:
Did Ben Johnson pick the Gophers out of high school?
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This is kind of Ironic that someone who left the state (yes, he came back for his last 2 playing years) is now the chosen one to close the borders... I guess we'll see what he learned first hand, that must change, as the reason(s) why he originally left!
 
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GopherNuts said:
I would say the response has been stronger than tepid on here especially for an alum coming back home. I’m sure there were some skeptics but I don’t think Iowa State fans were this strongly opposed to Fred Hoiberg coming back to Ames, his post playing career resume was that of an executive in a very poorly ran franchise. Hoiberg talked a lot about needing to lean on his staff when he first got the ISU job to adjust to coaching period, not just head coaching. I think if Ben said that today, we’d have five threads going right now on that particular quote.

There’s a fair amount to question with the hiring of Ben but once he’s in the job and head coach, I’m not sure what there is to critique because there’s literally nothing to go on. We have people on here breaking down bubblegum answers he’s given to media and running with it as “he has no plan”. That seems like we’re reaching at things to bury him before they’ve even swapped out the name plates in the coach’s office. Be in shock, disapprove of the hiring process but every new hire whether you like them or not needs a great deal of support and that’s what he’s going to need right now. Let’s judge him on his actual team related actions now.
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Hoiberg was a college star and nba 3 pt %champ. Was highly thought of as an executive for 4 years and thought to be on a coaching track, if i recall correctly.

So another big ten school hires an 8 yr asst who is an alum. These 8 seasons are below average. You think there would be less concern than GH if this happened at wisconsin, iowa, indiana, illinois, purdue, etc.?
 

GopherNuts said:
I would say the response has been stronger than tepid on here especially for an alum coming back home. I’m sure there were some skeptics but I don’t think Iowa State fans were this strongly opposed to Fred Hoiberg coming back to Ames, his post playing career resume was that of an executive in a very poorly ran franchise. Hoiberg talked a lot about needing to lean on his staff when he first got the ISU job to adjust to coaching period, not just head coaching. I think if Ben said that today, we’d have five threads going right now on that particular quote.

There’s a fair amount to question with the hiring of Ben but once he’s in the job and head coach, I’m not sure what there is to critique because there’s literally nothing to go on. We have people on here breaking down bubblegum answers he’s given to media and running with it as “he has no plan”. That seems like we’re reaching at things to bury him before they’ve even swapped out the name plates in the coach’s office. Be in shock, disapprove of the hiring process but every new hire whether you like them or not needs a great deal of support and that’s what he’s going to need right now. Let’s judge him on his actual team related actions now.
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He will ultimately be judged on wins.
 



Former Goofer said:
I'll give him a few years. I do believe this upcoming year is going to be dreadful given the cupboard is bare right now.

But we shall see
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With the Transfer Portal and not having to sit out a year, a good recruiter should have a field day in pulling in players. Let's see what he can do...
 

Great hire. We will be better next year. By quite a bit I would think. Young, and exiting. Kids will want to play for him. Williams will rock once more. Any pessimism is a refllection of the "fan."
 

golf said:
Hoiberg was a college star and nba 3 pt %champ. Was highly thought of as an executive for 4 years and thought to be on a coaching track, if i recall correctly.

So another big ten school hires an 8 yr asst who is an alum. These 8 seasons are below average. You think there would be less concern than GH if this happened at wisconsin, iowa, indiana, illinois, purdue, etc.?
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By who? David Kahn? Glen Taylor?

Do I think there would have been disapproval? Without a doubt...I mean I was and part of me still is skeptical but I also don't think other fanbases have our built in expectation that everything will go south (I blame local media partially for that) which leads to a doom and gloom reaction. Really there's two ways to look at his assistant experience, he was an assistant for mediocre teams so he must be a bad coach or he bounced around and had exposure to different styles of basketball and ways to build a program. If Ben was associate HC at Duke, we would probably feel better about this hire right? but how have Coach K's assistants done? What about Calipari's? Roy Williams?

Any assistant to HC has big time question marks but we know absolutely nothing so we could argue until we're blue in the face but there's nothing that's going to be said that's going to tell us whether he's a good coach or not. This is a message board so I understand there's going to be a wide variety of discussion but we're leaning toward baseless arguments at this point. There's more productive debate that could be had right now in my opinion.
 

I'm on board with Ben as our Coach. He was not on my wishlist, but has the job. I trust Coyle made the best decision he could. He has the most on the line out of any of us.
 

GopherNuts said:
By who? David Kahn? Glen Taylor?

Do I think there would have been disapproval? Without a doubt...I mean I was and part of me still is skeptical but I also don't think other fanbases have our built in expectation that everything will go south (I blame local media partially for that) which leads to a doom and gloom reaction. Really there's two ways to look at his assistant experience, he was an assistant for mediocre teams so he must be a bad coach or he bounced around and had exposure to different styles of basketball and ways to build a program. If Ben was associate HC at Duke, we would probably feel better about this hire right? but how have Coach K's assistants done? What about Calipari's? Roy Williams?

Any assistant to HC has big time question marks but we know absolutely nothing so we could argue until we're blue in the face but there's nothing that's going to be said that's going to tell us whether he's a good coach or not. This is a message board so I understand there's going to be a wide variety of discussion but we're leaning toward baseless arguments at this point. There's more productive debate that could be had right now in my opinion.
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Guess we are not going to agree on this one. Looking at the merits this hire makes no sense to me. I dont get why you dont see this as a reasonable and unsurprising take.

Now i would hope that as we move on and especially as the season approaches that everyone is 100% in support of coach johnson and the team. I know i will be.
 

THE Chitown Gopher said:
I'm on board with Ben as our Coach. He was not on my wishlist, but has the job. I trust Coyle made the best decision he could. He has the most on the line out of any of us.
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It seems like a lot of people think Coyle has a lot on the line. I don’t get it. I think he managed up and superiors are ecstatic about the hire. He’s a star bureaucrat who wowed his bosses but not the people who pay the bills-us. The real risk would have been ponying up for a coach who could get both fans and club kings excited. This could be a collassal failure and Coyle lands on his feet. It’s those of us who care that endure more seasons of half empty building s and uncompetitive basketball.
 


diehard said:
Great hire. We will be better next year. By quite a bit I would think. Young, and exiting. Kids will want to play for him. Williams will rock once more. Any pessimism is a refllection of the "fan."
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What makes you think we will be better by quite a bit? Some have said the cupboard is currently bare. I hope we are better, replacing multiple starters will be difficult.
 

Coach Johnson has my full support. I'll admit to being a little disappointed as I know there were other established head coaches that wanted this job, but at the end of the day, Ben is our coach now and I am 100% behind him. Lets go Gophers and Coach Johnson!
 

Well folks, the Ben Johnson hire certainly woke up the Golden Gophers Basketball Forum! Higher than 1,700 GHer's interlopers hasn't been seen in quite awhile.
 

Rouser said:
Coach Johnson has my full support. I'll admit to being a little disappointed as I know there were other established head coaches that wanted this job, but at the end of the day, Ben is our coach now and I am 100% behind him. Lets go Gophers and Coach Johnson!
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It helps he is really good person. However, that only last so long unless winning picks up.

Example: Richard pitino
 

Inclined to trust Coyle, and certainly willing to Give Ben 2-3 years to see what is happening
 

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