An honest and fair review:
Pay: First year pay of some of the Big10 coaches along with experience that would have helped determine that pay (see grid). Ben is being paid reasonably well, relatively speaking.
Recruiting: We are not in a position to be throwing away scholarships. That is silly talk. The problem fans have is the team is not looking especially strong on paper right now. Combined with a coach who has no prior head coaching experience and it is tough and perhaps silly to spin positives.
With that stated, it is very possible to have a gritty team (one that consistently outworks the opponent)
that plays together and gets it done by making it tough for the other team to score and that plays smart offensively (getting the ball to the open player, playing within one's ability, proper spacing, good off ball movement, etc...)
to be very successful. Will that happen? How could anyone know?
Winning: You don't necessarily need the best players to win, you need the best team to win; sometimes those are synonymous and sometimes they are not. There are some pretty good mid major teams that lack star power.
Expectations: Winners typically have high expectations. Fans like winning, so expectations are typically high. Low expectations = low and disinterested fan base. Low and disinterested fan base = trouble. The preceding = common sense.
Reality: I think Coyle did Ben Johnson a disservice by not better selling him to the fan base. He was hired over some proven winners which means Coyle has some really good reasons to sell him as a head coach that should have been articulated for momentum's sake.
This program has not been great for a while and now the future is clearly uncertain which makes it difficult for fans.
If anything above is unair, let it be stricken from the records.
| Coach, School | Starting Salary | HC Exp At Hire | Other Notables |
| Greg Gard, Wisconsin | $638,000 | | Coach or Assistant coach for 25 years prior to hire, WI Assoc HC for 7 yrs |
| Richard Pitino, Minnesota | $1,200,000 | 1 | Son of Rick Pitino, FIU HC 1 yr, Asst coach for 8 yrs including Florida & Louisville |
| Juwan Howard, Michigan | $2,000,000 | | 2× NBA champion, NBA All-Star, All-NBA Third Team, NBA All-Rookie Second Team, Second-team All-American, Third-team All-American, Miami Heat Assistant coach 6 years |
| Steve Pikiell, Rutgers | $1,400,000 | 11 | College Asst Coach for 15 yrs, Stony Brook HC 11 yrs |
| Ben Johnson | $2,000,000 | | College Asst coach for 15 yrs including MN, Nebraska, & Xavier |
| Fred Hoiberg, Nebraska | $2,500,000 | 5 | 10 yr NBA player, 115-56 W/L rate as IA ST HC -- Hired at IA St for $850,000 per year |
| Fran McCaffery, Iowa | $800,000 | 14 | MAAC Coach of the Year (2009), Asst coach for 12 years |
| Matt Painter, Purdue | $1,290,000 | 1 | Asst Coach 11 years, As HC MVC Coach of the Year w 25-5 record one time AP top 15 |
| Chris Collins, Northwestern | $1,340,000 | | 15 years Asst Coach -- 13 yrs at Duke |
| Brad Underwood, Illinois | $2,700,000 | 8 | 7 years Asst Coach, 4 yr CC HC, Southland Coach of the Year, 1 yr at OK St: 20–13 & NCAA appearance |
| Archie Miller, Indiana | $3,200,000 | 6 | 8 years Asst Coach (OSU, Arizona, NC St), Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year (2017), 139-63 as Dayton HC |
| Mark Turgeon, Maryland | $2,365,000 | 13 | 11 Years Asst Coach (Kansas, Oregon, NBA), MVC Coach of the Year (2006), TX A&M 97-40 record 4 NCAA appearances API high 9 |
| Chris Holtmann, Ohio St. | $7,100,000/3,000,000 | 7 | 12 Years Asst Coach, All-American (1994), John McLendon National Coach of the Year (2017), Jim Phelan Award (2018) Big South Coach of the Year (2013), Big East Coach of the Year (2017) |
