GOPHERS HIRING BEN JOHNSON

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MplsGopher said:
Spoken like a man with infinite patience, and plenty of time left in the tank.
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My wife would probably beg to differ. But I look at a program that has finished above .500 in conference play 1 time in last 16 years and 3 in the last 24 and just have to wonder if *MAYBE* it isn't as easy to turn it around here as we'd like to think. We had the "hot up & comer" twice (Monson & Pitino) and the "home run" hire of a coach with national pedigree (Smith) and none of them panned out.

At the very least, his buyout should be pretty small if it doesn't work out.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
This reminds me of when Andrew Wiggins impressed Glen Taylor at a spaghetti dinner enough to get a max contract.

Making these kinds of decisions without a proven track record to back it up is insane for these kinds of jobs.
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GH LOVES them some COYLE.
 


stocker08 said:
Surprised we went with someone with so little experience. But as far as his assistant coaching career...not really fair to heap the results of the teams on him. Have to think that Coyle knows something that we don't. The AAU angle would have to be at least somewhat true.

We'll see what happens. How great would it be to hire a Minnesota guy who ended up being a great coach and a lifer here?
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At this point, I'm with you.
 


The "one of us" angle comes up all the time when there's a vacancy. Unless I'm missing something, Johnson is the first local hire for MBB since John Kundla.
 

From Xavier Bio:

Ben Johnson, 39, joined the Xavier Basketball staff in 2018 after spending the previous five seasons from 2013-18 as an assistant at his alma mater, Minnesota. He has been a big part of helping Travis Steele secure multiple nationally-ranked recruiting classes.


“Ben is an outstanding coach and recruiter that will be a very successful head coach one day,” said head coach Travis Steele. “Ben is ‘Steady Eddy,’ he just is. He is the same guy every day. He is highly intelligent, very well thought out. He’s very good at everything. He is great on the floor, he’s great in skill development, he’s got a great offensive mind and he’s got great relationships with our players. He is a really good evaluator and recruiter. Everything he does he is very thorough and has helped us to mine the state of Alabama to get Colby Jones and New Jersey to get Zach Freemantle just to name a few. He’s got a great eye for talent and he’s very thorough, very diligent with his process. He is another guy I think is going to be a head coach sooner rather than later. He is terrific and we are fortunate to have him.”
 

Bad Gopher said:
I don't think this is a diversity hire. But I would say that it was a "matrix" hire or committee hire. Ben checked the most boxes of all the candidates, one of which was local AAU connections and another of which is he's a minority.
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I think they missed the box for "head coaching experience" ??
 

jmag21 said:
I'm disappointed in this hire, but will definitely support Ben. He seems like a good guy, and I certainly hope he surprises me. But I'd hope even he'd understand why people who were hoping for a splash would be surprised and a bit disappointed by somebody with no resume.
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Will not sell any tickets and if they are not winning in a couple years the program will be looked as one of the worst in the country
 





We got a Minnesota guy. That’s cool. That hasn’t happened for the football or men’s basketball jobs in my lifetime.

He seems well respected and must have left a positive impression in the building when he was here. He’s young and can grow with the program and is likely to stay if he has success.

Sadly his resume looks more like a guy who should have had a prove-it stop in the Missouri Valley or MAC on the way to the head job at the U.

Never before doesn’t mean can not, but it’s going to be an uphill climb in a difficult league.
 

At least in a few years when it's time to hire the next coach the AD won't be handcuffed and have to go with a minority one of us hire and can actually hire someone with the resume this job demands.
 







Spottedmuskie said:
Kfan saying aau circles wanted Ben and now it's on them if they send their kids to Minnesota. We need to chase Dawson Garcia now and try to reel back in Mashburn and/or Carr. One last run at Chet, maybe get Hercy Miller. I'm optimistic with the hire
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Great, you are letting the tail wag the dog! That is just who I want to pull the strings at a B1G university, a bunch of egotistical AAU parents that think they are god's gift to basketball.
 


DarrenTheGreek said:
My wife would probably beg to differ. But I look at a program that has finished above .500 in conference play 1 time in last 16 years and 3 in the last 24 and just have to wonder if *MAYBE* it isn't as easy to turn it around here as we'd like to think. We had the "hot up & comer" twice (Monson & Pitino) and the "home run" hire of a coach with national pedigree (Smith) and none of them panned out.

At the very least, his buyout should be pretty small if it doesn't work out.
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Correct, so maybe the MN tie is the solution for basketball.
 

NDGopher69420 said:
At least in a few years when it's time to hire the next coach the AD won't be handcuffed and have to go with a minority one of us hire and can actually hire someone with the resume this job demands.
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That is a cheap statement and belittles Ben Johnson as a human being, coach and teacher. Disgusting opinion and quote.
 


Rickman55 said:
JG on KFAN this is 100% about recruiting MN kids.
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I’m sure that is true but how ridiculous. I’m sure Chet is now debating whether to win a national championship at Gonzaga or sign up for this dumpster fire.

We just fired a coach to oversee the worst year in Gopher basketball to hire an assistant off that same team. Unbelievable.

Didn’t think we could find a candidate that met the diversity and Minnesota connections boxes, but we got him!
 

Go Gophs said:
This isn't a Motzko or PJ Fleck. 2 of the top if not THE top candidates at the time.

This is the same as hiring the top high school basketball coach in the state.

I'll support him, but people are allowed to bitch right now and rightfully so.
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No, it ain’t. The top HS coach would have proven he is a winner. He would have developed a style.
Ben offers neither and nothing but mediocrity has followed him as an assistant.
 

I recall he told him he understood why he would go to MN. Not that he should "move on".
Miles was not happy when Johnson left and it did not end on good terms. When Miles offered Johnson a job on his staff he asked for a 3 year comment from him which Johnson agreed to. He then left for Minnesota after one season.
 

NDGopher69420 said:
At least in a few years when it's time to hire the next coach the AD won't be handcuffed and have to go with a minority one of us hire and can actually hire someone with the resume this job demands.
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HAVE to go with a minority? Are you really pulling the affirmative action card here? I got an idea....GFY.
 



Are we to presume that Gates, Smith and Medved didn't even get an interview?
TruthSeeker said:
If this is a money issue hire, then why not keep Pitino for another year?
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They probably ended up saving money canning Pitino. If the buyout ends up being zero or minimal they will, because Johnson will probably make $1 million/year or so. I hope so, because it appears ticket sales are going to plummet just as much as if Pitino had stayed.
 

gopherdudepart2 said:
That is a cheap statement and belittles Ben Johnson as a human being, coach and teacher. Disgusting opinion and quote.
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Do you believe diversity was a consideration? If so how much of a consideration?

This hire appears diversity was a big piece.
 

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