Fire Ben Johnson

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phifo said:
I hope they remember this when all of the AAU coaches in the state complain that they need a coach who "gets them" so they won't encourage their players to leave the state.
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"Get them" is code for suck up to me, stroke my overinflated ego and I might reciprocate by sending a player your way. Massive douchery in those circles. They are only in it for themselves.

AAU coaches are like strippers. They'll put on a good show and might even try to convince you they love you. But don't be fooled. They are after attention, and most importantly, your money.
 


howeda7 said:
Hey Mark Coyle. There's a week off before the next game. Tomorrow would be a good day. It's now or we death march to the end of the season.
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My guess is we be marchin' since we are realistically about 30-35 days out from the inevitable, barring some kind of miracle. 7 games remain. We're gaining about 3 minutes of daylight a day now. We got this!
 



DarthGopher said:
"Get them" is code for suck up to me, stroke my overinflated ego and I might reciprocate by sending a player your way. Massive douchery in those circles. They are only in it for themselves.

AAU coaches are like strippers. They'll put on a good show and might even try to convince you they love you. But don't be fooled. They are after attention, and most importantly, your money.
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Buddy, where were you when I went to the cash machine? Dang.
 






Even after nearly four years, I still can't wrap my head around our hire of a guy that hadn't even been a top assistant at any level of competition. It remains the most inexplicable local sports happening in my time on earth. The shock and horror has not worn off and it may never.
 

I really want this team to win and succeed. During Ben's first year, I thought he showed legitimate signs of getting the absolute most out of players. The year of the fr class from MN was tough to watch, obviously. Then last year, we landed Cam and Hawkins and it seemed like we were FINALLY heading in the right direction. Then we got ravaged by key players leaving and not replacing them with equal level of talent and the drop off will be what inevitably fires CBJ. The players haven't stopped playing hard, but at this point, anything more than maybe getting a win in the BTT seems like a fever dream. Even just getting in isn't a given. I like the guy and I like the recruits coming in next year, but it's past time for Coyle to pull the plug and hire somebody who has success as a coach and building up programs. Will Wade, Bryan Hodgson are my top two. Interchangeable in terms of how good I think they are. I am just tired of losing.
 

JZABR said:
I really want this team to win and succeed. During Ben's first year, I thought he showed legitimate signs of getting the absolute most out of players. The year of the fr class from MN was tough to watch, obviously. Then last year, we landed Cam and Hawkins and it seemed like we were FINALLY heading in the right direction. Then we got ravaged by key players leaving and not replacing them with equal level of talent and the drop off will be what inevitably fires CBJ. The players haven't stopped playing hard, but at this point, anything more than maybe getting a win in the BTT seems like a fever dream. Even just getting in isn't a given. I like the guy and I like the recruits coming in next year, but it's past time for Coyle to pull the plug and hire somebody who has success as a coach and building up programs. Will Wade, Bryan Hodgson are my top two. Interchangeable in terms of how good I think they are. I am just tired of losing.
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Ben still gets most out of what he has, and I feel like there is some flow and cohesion. These coaches have to be able to draw the talent, no matter where from. NIL helps, but you still have to be able to deliver and pull the kids to your school. Many more beyond Arizona, Gonzaga, a couple others . .are reliably pulling kids from Europe and elsewhere. I don't recall Illinois ever being this big landing spot. Now we have them pulling 2 lottery-type picks. The ultimate irony is Musselman/Dutcher were doing it many years ago with Gophers, be it Canada, Bahamas, wherever. Not saying Gophers need to go International, but stressing creativity and gotta sell even with NIL.

The Illinois game showed just how great the gap is. It was lay-up city, they got whatever they wanted.
 



dlnavra said:
Ben still gets most out of what he has, and I feel like there is some flow and cohesion. These coaches have to be able to draw the talent, no matter where from. NIL helps, but you still have to be able to deliver and pull the kids to your school. Many more beyond Arizona, Gonzaga, a couple others . .are reliably pulling kids from Europe and elsewhere. I don't recall Illinois ever being this big landing spot. Now we have them pulling 2 lottery-type picks. The ultimate irony is Musselman/Dutcher were doing it many years ago with Gophers, be it Canada, Bahamas, wherever. Not saying Gophers need to go International, but stressing creativity and gotta sell even with NIL.

The Illinois game showed just how great the gap is. It was lay-up city, they got whatever they wanted.
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He doesn't. He's a bad bench coach; 18 out of 18 for coaching competence.
 

dlnavra said:
Ben still gets most out of what he has, and I feel like there is some flow and cohesion. These coaches have to be able to draw the talent, no matter where from. NIL helps, but you still have to be able to deliver and pull the kids to your school. Many more beyond Arizona, Gonzaga, a couple others . .are reliably pulling kids from Europe and elsewhere. I don't recall Illinois ever being this big landing spot. Now we have them pulling 2 lottery-type picks. The ultimate irony is Musselman/Dutcher were doing it many years ago with Gophers, be it Canada, Bahamas, wherever. Not saying Gophers need to go International, but stressing creativity and gotta sell even with NIL.

The Illinois game showed just how great the gap is. It was lay-up city, they got whatever they wanted.
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We have gone from strategies of lock down the borders to a full global talent search . What a mess.
 

Bad Gopher said:
Even after nearly four years, I still can't wrap my head around our hire of a guy that hadn't even been a top assistant at any level of competition. It remains the most inexplicable local sports happening in my time on earth. The shock and horror has not worn off and it may never.
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At the time, some folks believed that Ben could relate to young minority players and AAU coaches, thus enhancing our recruiting profile. Others believed it was a blatant DEI hire.

That truth of the past is probably somewhere in between. Today's "truth" is he's got to go.
 

JZABR said:
I really want this team to win and succeed. During Ben's first year, I thought he showed legitimate signs of getting the absolute most out of players. The year of the fr class from MN was tough to watch, obviously. Then last year, we landed Cam and Hawkins and it seemed like we were FINALLY heading in the right direction. Then we got ravaged by key players leaving and not replacing them with equal level of talent and the drop off will be what inevitably fires CBJ. The players haven't stopped playing hard, but at this point, anything more than maybe getting a win in the BTT seems like a fever dream. Even just getting in isn't a given. I like the guy and I like the recruits coming in next year, but it's past time for Coyle to pull the plug and hire somebody who has success as a coach and building up programs. Will Wade, Bryan Hodgson are my top two. Interchangeable in terms of how good I think they are. I am just tired of losing.
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I agree with your post except the bolded. No, we didn't get ravaged. Every year teams are affected by injuries, one and done to NBA, transfers, graduation, etc... Basically, every D1 team had either some or all of those things happen to them. You reload, grow from within, etc... We weren't ravaged. We lost three fairly good players off of a NIT team (we snuck in after other teams declined). Good coaches adjust, build, recruit to the needs of the team. Ben did not adequately replace Hawkins, Christie nor Payne. Not even close. Here is how I would word your statement: "Then we had a few key players leave and did not replace them with equal level talent ..."
 

Slim Tubby said:
At the time, some folks believed that Ben could relate to young minority players and AAU coaches, thus enhancing our recruiting profile. Others believed it was a blatant DEI hire.

That truth of the past is probably somewhere in between. Today's "truth" is he's got to go.
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Yeah, at this point it really doesn't matter why he was hired, it hasn't worked and is clearly time for a change.
 


Bad Gopher said:
Even after nearly four years, I still can't wrap my head around our hire of a guy that hadn't even been a top assistant at any level of competition. It remains the most inexplicable local sports happening in my time on earth. The shock and horror has not worn off and it may never.
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I will maintain the Brewster hire was worse. At least Ben was local and played for and coached the Gophers. Brew was a TE coach who had zero ties and was best known as a recruiter and helping Antonio Gates get to the NFL.

Johnson was ridiculous though.
 

dlnavra said:
Ben still gets most out of what he has, and I feel like there is some flow and cohesion. These coaches have to be able to draw the talent, no matter where from. NIL helps, but you still have to be able to deliver and pull the kids to your school. Many more beyond Arizona, Gonzaga, a couple others . .are reliably pulling kids from Europe and elsewhere. I don't recall Illinois ever being this big landing spot. Now we have them pulling 2 lottery-type picks. The ultimate irony is Musselman/Dutcher were doing it many years ago with Gophers, be it Canada, Bahamas, wherever. Not saying Gophers need to go International, but stressing creativity and gotta sell even with NIL.

The Illinois game showed just how great the gap is. It was lay-up city, they got whatever they wanted.
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He definitely does not.
 


Dave H said:
I will maintain the Brewster hire was worse. At least Ben was local and played for and coached the Gophers. Brew was a TE coach who had zero ties and was best known as a recruiter and helping Antonio Gates get to the NFL.

Johnson was ridiculous though.
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The two hires are very similar but yeah I would agree that of the two the Brewster one was probably a little bit worse overall.

Bottom line is that in this crazy college sports landscape they need to find someone with experience who can hopefully manage this constantly changing environment.
 

The continuing emphasis on DEI is starting to make some of the posters in here sound just a tad racist? That said, there are two factors here that impact the Gophers record, or for that matter any coaches record. One is the ability to coach. Anyone who watched last nights game would have to have been visually impaired not to have noticed the difference in the athletic ability in the two teams. NO amount of basketball coaching could have overcome that disparity. Illinois could have lost that game, but the Gophers could have never won it!

The other is the ability to recruit. In the NIL era that’s a moving target. It’s all about the money. If the U is not able to improve its level of financial renumeration, in whatever format, no one is going to come in here and simply turn the recruiting switch on against teams with far larger bankrolls. If that would be the case, Gopher Holes beloved PJ Fleck would be standing shoulder to shoulder with Ohio States 20 million dollar roster. How’s that working out for us.

Before we throw yet another coach under the bus, take a look at what said coach has to work with. Or ask little Pitino. But that may not work, I doubt he would answer the phone!
 

Gopheritnow said:
The continuing emphasis on DEI is starting to make some of the posters in here sound just a tad racist? That said, there are two factors here that impact the Gophers record, or for that matter any coaches record. One is the ability to coach. Anyone who watched last nights game would have to have been visually impaired not to have noticed the difference in the athletic ability in the two teams. NO amount of basketball coaching could have overcome that disparity. Illinois could have lost that game, but the Gophers could have never won it!

The other is the ability to recruit. In the NIL era that’s a moving target. It’s all about the money. If the U is not able to improve its level of financial renumeration, in whatever format, no one is going to come in here and simply turn the recruiting switch on against teams with far larger bankrolls. If that would be the case, Gopher Holes beloved PJ Fleck would be standing shoulder to shoulder with Ohio States 20 million dollar roster. How’s that working out for us.

Before we throw yet another coach under the bus, take a look at what said coach has to work with. Or ask little Pitino. But that may not work, I doubt he would answer the phone!
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What I saw was a coach who continues to start Fox who can't match up physically with any starting center in our conference, and an injured Mike Mitchell.
 

Big Dawg said:
I agree with your post except the bolded. No, we didn't get ravaged. Every year teams are affected by injuries, one and done to NBA, transfers, graduation, etc... Basically, every D1 team had either some or all of those things happen to them. You reload, grow from within, etc... We weren't ravaged. We lost three fairly good players off of a NIT team (we snuck in after other teams declined). Good coaches adjust, build, recruit to the needs of the team. Ben did not adequately replace Hawkins, Christie nor Payne. Not even close. Here is how I would word your statement: "Then we had a few key players leave and did not replace them with equal level talent ..."
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Yeah you're probably right about the bold part. It just seemed like it because we lost the guy who was top 2 or 3 in assists in the nation, our best outside shooter and our physical inside presence so it made us a completely different team (obviously from the results; worse) not to mention they played a ton of minutes. Now they're role players on their new teams. I thought the Patterson addition was good when we got him. He's a had a few good moments but, like the rest of the team and the results, it's been disappointing, even though we were picked at the bottom. It was disappointing for us fans.
There is a plethora of coaches waiting in the wings that i would be ecstatic with that have a reputation of turning around their current programs.
 

GopherBlood777 said:
What I saw was a coach who continues to start Fox who can't match up physically with any starting center in our conference, and an injured Mike Mitchell.
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Who is an upgrade on the current roster? Frank Mitchell consistently?
 

Gopheritnow said:
The continuing emphasis on DEI is starting to make some of the posters in here sound just a tad racist? That said, there are two factors here that impact the Gophers record, or for that matter any coaches record. One is the ability to coach. Anyone who watched last nights game would have to have been visually impaired not to have noticed the difference in the athletic ability in the two teams. NO amount of basketball coaching could have overcome that disparity. Illinois could have lost that game, but the Gophers could have never won it!

The other is the ability to recruit. In the NIL era that’s a moving target. It’s all about the money. If the U is not able to improve its level of financial renumeration, in whatever format, no one is going to come in here and simply turn the recruiting switch on against teams with far larger bankrolls. If that would be the case, Gopher Holes beloved PJ Fleck would be standing shoulder to shoulder with Ohio States 20 million dollar roster. How’s that working out for us.

Before we throw yet another coach under the bus, take a look at what said coach has to work with. Or ask little Pitino. But that may not work, I doubt he would answer the phone!
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Victim mentality. Loser mentality.
 

1. Football hired Coach Fleck - Previous Head Coaching experience and used his "Culture" background as a formula to win.
2. Womens Basketball Hired Coach P - Previous Head Coaching experience and guided the Women's BBall team to success taking over from a Program icon, who had tried to coach uphill over 5 years before Coyle's experiment needed to be moved on from.
3. Mens Basketball Hired Coach Johnson. No previous Head Coaching experience. I do think he has done as well as he could from the second he was hired given all the roster turnover. They are 12-12 this year. That's about twice as many wins as I would have said to start the year and they still have NIT aspirations this late in the season.... But..... It's time to move on. We need an experienced coach whp wants to be here long term. The next person is going to come into a situation much like Clem did many years ago - kids who work hard, but with limited talent. Coyle needs to be able to case a wide net. Another Johnson can't be hired. This team has won before and the expectation need to be that moving forward soon. Johnson has plateaud, even if they work real hard. Time for something new.
 

dlnavra said:
Who is an upgrade on the current roster? Frank Mitchell consistently?
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Sadly, yes. Fox starts, clearly is a mismatch, then gets pulled after 3 minutes. I like Fox, but he is so one dimensional offensively, and often times a defensive liability due to the strength difference between him and most bigs in conference. He is a guy that needs to be put in selectively when the match up makes sense. Not starting against the oppositions best center.
 

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