His white privileged ass got him all his spots when he didn't deserve them, yet you didn't say a word. Now a black man, working for a living, gets a shot and you whine to highest heaven. That's on you.
Define “less experience.” Pitino at least had some HC experience. Johnson has none. Like it or not, Pitino also had connections because of his name. Johnson has none of that. Bottom line is that we are left wondering why Johnson was hired. People like Souhan created that question. I’m hoping greatly that Johnson turns into a great coach but I see this as a major crapshoot. Even riskier than the Pitino hire.
The first month on the job has not inspired confidence. That isn't a predictor of future failure, but there hasn't been any immediate evidence of greener pastures going forward. Your fair-minded enthusiasm is noble, but I think it should be noted that it is enthusiasm and appropriately giving the guy a shot, not any actual data suggesting things are moving forward.
Sounds like he should be the head coach.
Were you on vacation when every thread inevitably devolved into a fire Pitino discussion? It seemed that way since at least the end of the 2018-19 season. He has been trashed relentlessly for years...
How many years did Pitino get at UMN?
First off, I think there were a lot of people bitching about the Pitino hire. You're right, I didn't. Because I wasn't a posting member at that time moron. A Niko Medved hire would not have caused as much consternation as a Ben Johnson hire. Fact. He has actual experience as a head coach. He wasn't the most qualified, but at least he has experience.
I hope that is enough for him to succeed. The way certain media outlets are loading the negativity and targeting football combined with the Regents willingness to take the bait and feel the need to comment on them only doubles down on the Administration's animus towards UMN Athletics.
Probably 3-4 more than he deserved which became very obvious this season, besides your gripe was with this board not who dictates the head coaching position. His overdue departure was not in the hands of gopher hole, so are you now accusing Coyle of being the racist?
I am pointing out how different the response to Pitino was in comparison with Johnson
Pretty much this. The only positive thing that has happened since he was hired is the hiring of Thorson, which was pretty much a given. Poaching a coach from a power 5 school like A&M would have been a positive. Didn't happen. Poaching some transfers from a Power 5 school would have helped. Hasn't happened. Not even 1. Keeping the # of transfers out under 50% of the roster would have been a good sign. Nope.
I'm telling you there isn't. You stated Pitino was never criticized this harshly, which is why I asked if you were on vacation from GH for the last 3 seasons. I have only been on GH since the 2018-2019 season, and the entire time there was a large portion of poster who either wanted him gone or had zero respect. Nicknames like "lil' Ricky" and "Dick Pit" get thrown around fairly often and several citing the only reason he got the job in the first place was his name. It may not have been as negative initially due to his dad being a hall of famer and his one season as a HC prior looked somewhat promising. Many indicate though they were upset from day 1 with the hire. If anything, I think Ben is getting far more benefit of doubt at this time because there is nothing other than this spring recruiting to currently judge him on. Most criticism was surrounding Coyle and the process used to hire Johnson. Ben doesn't get to hide from criticism either way, he should not only expect it but embrace it as the head coach of a major CBB program.
Dude, seriously. If you're going to play the race card every time our head coach gets criticized, you're going to be very tired, very soon. You do also understand the nature of our current culture, and how calling everybody a racist really waters down the term and essentially becomes meaningless? If I understand you correctly, we are not to dare criticize the head coach of a P6 basketball program strictly because of his skin color? Do you understand how patronizing that is?
"the last 3 seasons..."
Be honest. Many on the board wanted a white guy who they thought could be the messiah who brought Minnesota to new heights. Moreso, Ben Johnson doesn't fit your messiah type.
Nobody on this board wanted specifically a white coach. Nobody. That post is complete garbage. What we all want is a winner and a coach selected for competence not color. I like Ben, it's going to be a tough job and this is really, really a tough start which is not helped by the chaos in college basketball right now. That's where we are. We all want this to work.
Have you considered they are all tired of the relentless bullshit from so called fans?
Smith was supposed to be the messiah. He wasn't hired. People went ballistic.
Again, I like Johnson. However, with the reality on the ground- things are not off to a good start. Pitino started getting backlash in year 2 and in fact, a lot of people here never liked him. This is not a black white thing. This is people questioning competence, qualifications and early results. We have had a couple of weeks of bad news with no good news. That's what happens in a situation like this...People will have doubts.