Fire Ben Johnson

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mngolf said:
I'm not ok with taking away from others to only finish top third. It's barely acceptable to me in football but not in anything else. And if you spend that in men's bb, the others will not be top third.
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Couldn't disagree more with this take, especially as it pertains to basketball. If you are finishing top 3rd in the Big Ten you are going to the NCAA tournament and will probably be getting a fairly high seed. Current top 5 in the Big Ten are all ranked in the top 20 and teams 6 and 7 are both getting votes.
 

Bad Gopher said:
I do, too. Five years of my life I'm not getting back.

Utah is 20-plus spots higher than us in KenPom and chose to make a change.
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Your life is dependent on Gopher BB? If your life is that tied to any sporting event, you actually don’t have one! 🙄
 

Johnnyboy18 said:
Utah's hiring and firing were fueled by big time boosters who wanted him hired 4 years ago. They didn't contribute to the basketball program and they weren't good as a result (huge shocker). If i were a Utah fan I'd be pumped for the cash that can be used to buy players.
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Was looking at it more from the perspective of our fans. Utah fans may like the move but for our fanbase I can't see an NBA assistant with very limited head coaching experience being seen as a good hire coming off of Johnson as the head coach.
 

USAF said:
I've been saying this for months: Anything that lowers the chances of a new coach is ultimately bad for the program.
Making the B1G tournament, which shouldn't matter one iota, is held up here like some sorrt of achievement, FFS.
I mean, wow. How low can you place your self respect.
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How low can it go? Since you seem to have experience on that topic, please tell us.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Was looking at it more from the perspective of our fans. Utah fans may like the move but for our fanbase I can't see an NBA assistant with very limited head coaching experience being seen as a good hire coming off of Johnson as the head coach.
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The Gophers need an existing head coach this time around. That means they likely won't have a hire in place when the portal opens, but so be it.
 


MNVCGUY said:
Honest question - how do you feel about the hires they made?

Utah gets a former player and his only head coaching experience was in the G League 10 years ago for 3 seasons.

Miami gets a well respected assistant coach but also someone that has never been a head coach.

Can't imagine either of those hires firing up the local fanbase here. Maybe Lucas a little because he has a famous name and has worked for some high profile programs in college basketball.

And that is not to say either hire is bad but by hiring a coach now you eliminate any current head coaches from the pool of candidates and to me, bringing someone in with head coaching experience should be a priority.
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Jensen is obviously a specific to Utah hire so a bit hard to say how much I like it because Jensen here isn't a thing. In terms of for Utah, assuming like Kevin Young at BYU, he brings his super wealthy boosters along its a HR hire. If those boosters don't come through it might not be that.

Jai I love. Yes easy to say well he's never been a head coach. 100% true, but his dad was a very good one, and he was massive in recruiting. So good he went from Texas top guy, to Kentucky, to Duke. In terms of guys getting jobs with zero HC experience, you aren't getting much better than that. I think he's a grade A recruiter who is going to a school who is flush with people who want to spend spend spend. That's a great marriage.

Now, are these two good coaches? Who knows, no one truly does. But in the world of NIL, transfers, money, those 2 schools aren't going to find better fits.

Do I think they would be homerun hires at the U specifically, no. I think with less than top end money we probably need to be on the lookout for a coach with a great eye for under the radar talent who can maximize players abilities. That coach also needs to be WAY more engaging and outgoing than CBJ to help move that NIL part higher.
 

Hey look at the brightside... the fire Ben Johnson thread will continue to grow.

4 years and haven't even been on the bubble. Sure we get revenue sharing but all of the B1G does. We will be more competitive against out of league team. I took some time and looked at the coaches hired this year at P6 schools. A majority of programs are slightly better than last year or much improved (Louisville, Vandy, Michigan).

Keeping Ben would just be kicking the can down the road. He hasn't shown the ability to put together a competitive enough team to make it to the tourney. He hasn't built a non conference schedule with any meat on it. We will be in a similar spot next year if we don't make a move.
 

Gopheritnow said:
Your life is dependent on Gopher BB? If your life is that tied to any sporting event, you actually don’t have one! 🙄
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This is about the dumbest thing I've ever read. I wouldn't pay $1,800 a year for season tickets if it weren't important and if there weren't some hope of eventually enjoying a product worth that money. These last four years have been a miserable trudge to the arena in the hope of seeing a decent performance. The U has been playing us for fools as the AD--who doesn't seem to give a shit about a college he never had any connection to before taking this job--fiddles while Rome is burning. Besides personal enjoyment, my alma mater benefits greatly when its varsity sports are up to snuff. Sports are the main thing that connects alumni to an institution, and it's a huge if not primary factor in donations in general. Sports success directly bears on the university's health. You're goddamn fucking right it's important.
 
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MNVCGUY said:
Was looking at it more from the perspective of our fans. Utah fans may like the move but for our fanbase I can't see an NBA assistant with very limited head coaching experience being seen as a good hire coming off of Johnson as the head coach.
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I suppose our comparison would by Ryan Saunders....

And I think the success of BYU (Utah's biggest rival) with hiring an NBA guy and having a great season had a lot to do with the Utah hire as well.
 

cheeseheadgophfan said:
I suppose our comparison would by Ryan Saunders....
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Thought the same thing. Ryan even has NBA head coaching experience, which the Utah guy does not. Plus, Ryan is a legacy Gopher, multi-generational with an overwhelmingly popular last name.

But, every time someone brings up Saunders' name in these threads, he gets crushed as a candidate. He definitely wouldn't be my first handful of choices, but we could do worse than Ryan Saunders. I wouldn't quit on the program if he ended up being the guy. I think most on this board think otherwise, based on what I've seen posted. They would not like the hire.

I don't think he'll even get an interview, so I doubt we have to worry about it.
 

tjgopher said:
Thought the same thing. Ryan even has NBA head coaching experience, which the Utah guy does not. Plus, Ryan is a legacy Gopher, multi-generational with an overwhelmingly popular last name.

But, every time someone brings up Saunders' name in these threads, he gets crushed as a candidate. He definitely wouldn't be my first handful of choices, but we could do worse than Ryan Saunders. I wouldn't quit on the program if he ended up being the guy. I think most on this board think otherwise, based on what I've seen posted. They would not like the hire.

I don't think he'll even get an interview, so I doubt we have to worry about it.
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My problem with Saunders is how bad he was as the Wolves coach (actually pretty similar situation to Ben with the Gophers). Both very inexperienced and got the job due to organizational ties. Neither had much success. Neither were ready for the job when they got it.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Couldn't disagree more with this take, especially as it pertains to basketball. If you are finishing top 3rd in the Big Ten you are going to the NCAA tournament and will probably be getting a fairly high seed. Current top 5 in the Big Ten are all ranked in the top 20 and teams 6 and 7 are both getting votes.
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I guess I want more for that investment.
 




MNVCGUY said:
Honest question - how do you feel about the hires they made?

Utah gets a former player and his only head coaching experience was in the G League 10 years ago for 3 seasons.

Miami gets a well respected assistant coach but also someone that has never been a head coach.

Can't imagine either of those hires firing up the local fanbase here. Maybe Lucas a little because he has a famous name and has worked for some high profile programs in college basketball.

And that is not to say either hire is bad but by hiring a coach now you eliminate any current head coaches from the pool of candidates and to me, bringing someone in with head coaching experience should be a priority.
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I certainly wouldn't be excited about guys with similar resumes for the Gophers. They need a guy with multiple years of head coaching experience that's built programs and won.
 

bmb5270 said:
I certainly wouldn't be excited about guys with similar resumes for the Gophers. They need a guy with multiple years of head coaching experience that's built programs and won.
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And...this could be at a lower level. Both Bennett (UW-Steven's Point) and Ryan (UW-Platteville) came from D3 powerhouses they had built.
 

I can't believe that keeping him is even a serious consideration. I was in a weird place coming into this season. If we had gone .500 in the B1G, made the tourney, and been one and done I would still have felt like he had a very fire-worthy four year track record, but also felt like it would be weird to fire a coach in a year we made the tourney (didn't stop us from doing it Tubby, plus Tubby won a tourney game that year, and assuming we don't win the BTT, Ben would need to make the tourney 3 times in the next 2 years to match Tubby's success rate for getting in).

So if we bring back Ben, then what? If we miss the tourney again, we've just wasted another year. If we sneak into the tourney, what do we do? If on the day we hired a coach, you asked me what we should we do if five years in we only made the tournament 1 time and would have a B1G winning percentage south of 35%, id unequivocally say you fire the coach at that point. But I'd still feel weird saying fire the coach the year he was in the dance. So I'd probably be entering year 6 saying that missing the tourney should be the end of the line.
 

tjgopher said:
Thought the same thing. Ryan even has NBA head coaching experience, which the Utah guy does not. Plus, Ryan is a legacy Gopher, multi-generational with an overwhelmingly popular last name.

But, every time someone brings up Saunders' name in these threads, he gets crushed as a candidate. He definitely wouldn't be my first handful of choices, but we could do worse than Ryan Saunders. I wouldn't quit on the program if he ended up being the guy. I think most on this board think otherwise, based on what I've seen posted. They would not like the hire.

I don't think he'll even get an interview, so I doubt we have to worry about it.
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Sean Sweeney from the Mavericks and Dave Joerger from the Bucks would also be native Minnesotans (thought not former Gophers) that might be interesting. I was big on Joerger the last time the job opened as he has a lot of similarities to Muss in that both were head NBA coaches and successful developmental league coaches as well. Sweeney is extremely well regarded in the NBA for his individual work with players (at least from the articles I've read) and his name has come up as a future NBA coach.

One thought I've had about Ryan Saunders is I wonder if he could get Glen Taylor (ducks) to fund our team. Since Glen lost the Wolves, he could spend $2-$3 million a year on NIL for the Gophers and get the floor seats he had for the Wolves. The team could even go to Mankato and eat Becky's lasagna!
 

FinnGopher said:
And...this could be at a lower level. Both Bennett (UW-Steven's Point) and Ryan (UW-Platteville) came from D3 powerhouses they had built.
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This is true, although neither came straight from D-III (not suggesting you were suggesting that.) They each had stops at a D-I school prior to taking the Wisconsin job.
 



howeda7 said:
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  • "Major disappointment." Hey, I'm used to that by now, so it doesn't really hurt; in fact, it kinda tickles.
  • At least we're not Iowa, hahahaha
  • Poor Ben? How about poor Greg Gard? That sad sack lost Chucky Hepburn, AJ Storr, Connor Essegian, Gus Yalden, Isaac Lindsey, Luke Haertle, and Ross Candelino. Don't fucking talk to me about an empty roster. They might as well have folded the program at that point. Nope, they just kept on truckin'. They found Tonje in the portal, further developed what they had, and still beat us at Williams Arena without Max Klesmit. I give up.
 


EG#9 said:
Sean Sweeney from the Mavericks and Dave Joerger from the Bucks would also be native Minnesotans (thought not former Gophers) that might be interesting. I was big on Joerger the last time the job opened as he has a lot of similarities to Muss in that both were head NBA coaches and successful developmental league coaches as well. Sweeney is extremely well regarded in the NBA for his individual work with players (at least from the articles I've read) and his name has come up as a future NBA coach.
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I was best buds with Sean Sweeney in middle school and played with/against him in hoops for years.

He's the definition of a grinder and a hoops junkie. Close to a basketball genius.

But I doubt he'd want to get involved in the college game. And he was never a big Gopher guy/from a Gopher family.
 

MNVCGUY said:
Couldn't disagree more with this take, especially as it pertains to basketball. If you are finishing top 3rd in the Big Ten you are going to the NCAA tournament and will probably be getting a fairly high seed. Current top 5 in the Big Ten are all ranked in the top 20 and teams 6 and 7 are both getting votes.
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In basketball that gives you a chance at a Natty! Technically just need to be a Top 8 seed and you have a chance. This is much better than that too!
 

MaxyJR1 said:
It makes some sense. Why pay $3M to fire, plus $3-5M for a new coach, when you can have more resources for a coach that makes $2M see what he can do with the new support. I'm really ok with what Coyle decides to do and can support either way. If fired, someone ponied up the $$.
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bleedsmaroonandgold said:
I can't believe that keeping him is even a serious consideration. I was in a weird place coming into this season. If we had gone .500 in the B1G, made the tourney, and been one and done I would still have felt like he had a very fire-worthy four year track record, but also felt like it would be weird to fire a coach in a year we made the tourney (didn't stop us from doing it Tubby, plus Tubby won a tourney game that year, and assuming we don't win the BTT, Ben would need to make the tourney 3 times in the next 2 years to match Tubby's success rate for getting in).

So if we bring back Ben, then what? If we miss the tourney again, we've just wasted another year. If we sneak into the tourney, what do we do? If on the day we hired a coach, you asked me what we should we do if five years in we only made the tournament 1 time and would have a B1G winning percentage south of 35%, id unequivocally say you fire the coach at that point. But I'd still feel weird saying fire the coach the year he was in the dance. So I'd probably be entering year 6 saying that missing the tourney should be the end of the line.
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I will be shocked if he isn’t fired
If Johnson is brought back ill be surprised if the program averages 4000 fans a game (actually in attendance) next year

Likely won’t have Wisconsin at home to bolster the number

3 million buyout is only 157k per regular season game.
4k fewer fans at 40 bucks a pop is the same price as the buyout. Thats not including parking, concessions, apparel, or donations

It is probably more expensive to keep him than to pay the buyout
 
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Johnnyboy18 said:

We're much more likely to be Washington next year than getting better in my opinion if we make a move!
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So we should keep Ben because every coach in the country has to deal with the transfer portal?

Your logic, which you had none to start with, somehow keeps getting worse.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
So we should keep Ben because every coach in the country has to deal with the transfer portal?

Your logic, which you had none to start with, somehow keeps getting worse.
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No was more so pointing that a bad team got significantly worse with the firing of a coach and hiring a mid-major star coach with no meaningful infrastructure change. And that's with a 2 million dollar transfer! But you knew that.
 

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