It seem like recruiting, particularly in state recruiting was the impetus for hiring Ben Johnson. Supposedly Ben has good relationships with both high school and AAU coaches in the state. The issue is that Ben has those relationships as an assistant coach. The bar for Ben has changed now that he’s the head coach. He’s now the youngest, least accomplished coach in the Big Ten and possibly in all of the power 5 conferences. When the recruit and mom and dad (or coaches, guardians, parents, etc) meet Ben, what does he have to sell them? He’s a first year head coach. “Ok, so he’s inexperienced that’s a concern, but I am sure he’s worked for someone impressive”. He’s not worked for any big time coaches and the staffs he’s been on have been to 1 NCAA tournament in the last 8 years. “Ok, but my main focus is the NBA, can he get me/my son there?” He’s recruited one NBA 2nd round draft pick to Minnesota and another player that got a 2 way contract. Throw in the fact that he’s taking over a program that has been through the worst stretch in its history and there’s not much for Ben to sell.
From a fan standpoint, I think Coyle got the frustration with losing out on in state kids right, but missed the part that it is a secondary frustration to losing. If Minnesota was finishing ahead of Wisconsin in the standings regularly, you might hear some complaints about the in state recruiting, but they’d be made while people actually were invested in the program (attendance, TV ratings, donations, etc). The annoyance is first with the record and then the fact that Wisconsin is outperforming Minnesota with a lot of the B/C type recruits from Minnesota on their roster. Now if Ben keeps those kids home, he’s not winning unless he’s a Gard or Ryan level coach. The average Wisconsin roster coached by a bottom tier Big Ten coach is going to be playing on the first day of the Big Ten tournament every year. Fans are going to be unhappy with a roster of 50% or more of Minnesotan’s if they are winning 40% of their Big Ten games.
The important thing was to hire a coach who had won previously and that you had confidence would win at Minnesota quickly for a suffering fan base that just spent 8 years with the worst coach in its history. This isn’t a fan base that has a desire to be patient with someone who might learn on the job and might be good in X number of years. Jeff Goodman had a note that Coyle also interviewed Ronald Nored a former player at Butler that is now an assistant with Charlotte in the NBA. Nored is 31 years old. It’s pretty clear that Ben wasn’t the only candidate Coyle looked at that fit the “project” label. The fact that Coyle is paying Ben ~2 million plus incentives also shows that he didn’t pass on the proven mid major guys for monetary reasons, he simply preferred the young up and comer type.
It’s now going to be public knowledge that Ben just recently interviewed for, and didn’t get, the Northern Illinois job. That is a horrible look for the Minnesota program and a horrible look for Coyle. That’s just yet another hurdle for a program that needed a jolt in a positive direction after years of poor management.
It should go without saying that none of this is Ben Johnson’s fault, but I’ll type it out to be clear.
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