GOPHERS HIRING BEN JOHNSON

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skiumah1 said:
Can anybody confirm that we actually passed on Smith? I don't think I actually wanna know the answer to that.
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Even the Salt Lake Tribune was reporting that he was going to interview later this week. Obviously that didn't happen. I seriously doubt we interviewed him between Friday night and today.
 


GopherGangsta said:
And I will ask again, How do u sell some mythical sense of hope to an already angry and apathetic fan base that needs to buy tickets to fund other MN sports?
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There is nothing mythical or magical about it. Ben will sell hope by recruiting his ass off and starting to win basketball games at a rate we haven't seen since Tubby and Clem where here. Like everything else in sports it's going to take time and very hard work. It's not going to happen if the Minnesota "basketball community" doesn't get behind a local kid who has been given the opportunity of a lifetime.
 




Holy Man said:
Cut it out. We need to vent. We’re venting. Over and over again the wrath is no about Ben. It’s about the U. We want Ben to succeed. We also generally believe he does not have the experience to give us the confidence he is ready for this job.
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I will take you at face value that this is venting about the U and Coyle and not Ben. That is fair.
 


Yeah, okay Mark Coyle.

Apparently you're only prerequisites for Gopher basketball jobs is that they played for the U and are from here. First a completely unproven Lindsay Whalen, now this hire. Get back to us when we can take your "I didn't come here to be .500" BS seriously. This is as close to simply mailing in the hiring process as you can get. He's from Minnesota? Check. He's a former Gopher? Check. Can he coach? No freaking idea, but did I forget to mention he's from here and a former Gopher? Lol.

Good. Lord.....
 

WriterGoph said:
I'm going to trust Coyle. I'm surprised, but I don't have anything bad to say about Ben Johnson.

It's just funny that everyone was so scared of guys like Gates who "would leave soon" and now some of those same people are upset that we got an alum with local recruiting connections.
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It is not a matter of hating on Ben or saying bad things about him. It is a matter of most of us not seeing anything good that we can say. He has been a hidden assistant on a few teams, he comes from Minnesota, many of the local AAU people like him. I just do not think that is enough to be chosen as a B1G head coach. I think we expected much more.

Coyle is putting a lot of faith in what the local AAU people have told him. Now it is time from them to put up or shut up. The U took a very big chance on hiring the guy they want, now they better start taking the chance on committing all of the big players to the U!
 




Go4Broke said:
Recruit your ass off and start winning basketball games at a rate that we haven't seen since Tubby or Clem where here. There is nothing mythical or magical about it. Like everything else in sports it's going to take time and very hard work. It's not going to happen if the Minnesota "basketball community" doesn't get behind a local kid who has been given the opportunity of a lifetime.
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We gave Pitino 8 years with a similar resume a chance..it failed...How long will the fan base wait this time, 3-4 years?....Many a season ticket holder will not....At least a splashy hire would have put people in seats the next two years....That is the only way you generate future revenue.
 

salzie said:
Questioning his resume is fine, saying he's diversity hire is an insult
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I mean, if you think talking about things like an adult is insulting, that's fine.

I don't think Ben Johnson gets the job if he is white. That doesn't mean we would just hire any black guy. That doesn't mean that Ben Johnson doesn't have things going for him. He does.

This discussion really does sum up what's wrong with the direction of progressive politics. There has been no secret anywhere that some people think diversity SHOULD play a role in hiring. You see it in pretty much every single job. But that's not enough for you people. You want diversity to play a role and for the rest of the world to pretend it doesn't.

So every corporation/government entity should do whatever they can to intentionally hire based on this positive thing (diversity) but if you ever point out that someone was hired for this allegedly positive thing (diversity), it's racist. Do you see how shallow that is? Your logic cannot even withstand its own inferences.

I don't think Ben Johnson has the requisite resume to be a Big 10 coach. I think he checked a number of boxes and one of those boxes was diversity. I do not believe Ben Johnson gets hired if he was white (I also am not saying White Ben Johnson would have been a good hire either).
 

skiumah1 said:
Haha I'm with your overall point, but Adam Thielen would no doubt be worthy of a first round pick looking at his career after the fact.
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Yes. But drafting him there would still have been an indefensible decision at the time.
 



howeda7 said:
I was one. And that was comparing him to Smith/Medved. I'd take Gates over Ben. His assistant resume is more solid and we have some idea that he can coach. I'd rather lose a coach to FSU in 3 years than fire one who flopped because he was way, way over his head.
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I'm going to be seeing Dennis Gates in my dreams. I still think he's the real deal.
 



GopherGangsta said:
Highly unlikely....More like 6-8 wins the next couple years and toilet bowls....We had are best season ever a couple years ago and still played in the outback bowl.
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You're a consistent ray of sunshine, eh?
 

salzie said:
I'm calling out racism

Question his background, fine. Saying he has no resume and only a diversity hire is an insult to johnson.

He's got local connections, gopher alum, and history as an assistant coach.

He's got a lot going for him besides race.
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If he was white, he would not have even been interviewed.

Find any other college where he was a head coach candidate.

He was hired because he's black. Facts
 

tikited said:
This scares me.
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But if the HC is not also out there helping recruit these kids, doesn't matter wether they like the coach recruiting them or not, it's going to be a hard sell.
 


GopherGod said:
If I’m a top recruit with potentially millions of dollars on the line in a few years from the NBA, I wouldn’t trust my future to a unproven coach with no head coaching experience.
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Makes sense. Probably wouldn't go to a program that has only gone to the Tourney 6 times in this century and has a grand total of two wins there. Or one that has finished over .500 once in Conference play in the last 15 years.

But here we are.

That probably also explains why none of the "Most Likely Candidates" to come here weren't named Head Coach either.

They didn't want the job.
 


salzie said:
Questioning his resume is fine, saying he's diversity hire is an insult
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There is no one stupid enough to honestly believe that wasn't ONE of the reasons. You are not being honest. I for one am going to get fully behind Johnson, but there is not one thing wrong with pointing out the truth. His resume simply does not cut it. But he has a reputation as a really good human being, a local and a good recruiter so that's a start.
I would like nothing more than for him to be a huge success here.

He was cheap to hire.
He's local.
He's black.
He is well thought of in local basketball circles.
He is a smart guy who knows basketball.
He has good local relationships and is likable.

Those are the reasons he was hired. If he was missing the 3rd item - his chances of being hired were far less.

That is all. Ben Johnson is our man. Go Gophers and Ben Johnson! Now go out and have a huge spring bringing in talent! The transfer market is huge.
 

dex8425 said:
Ugh, the chance to make a national splash and we...don't.
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Not gonna lie, I wanted Musselman... and he would have been a big national splash. Other than him...? Nothing but ripples, some maybe a lil' bigger than the others, but ripples none the less. Ben Johnson is a much smaller ripple...

I'm gonna sit back and see who he gets as assistants.
 

Ralph said:
We have to give Johnson a chance. The fact that Pitino had eight years and wasn't able to build the relationships necessary to get Suggs and Hurt was pretty damning.

If and that's a huge if Johnson can build relationships and get top MN talent to come to the gophers then it will be a good hire. Recruiting is about building relationships first.

You have to give him a chance. If he's willing to drive to Elk River and Hopkins and watch an eighth grader play ball we may be on to something.

If Bueckers wins four titles at UCONN and the Lady Gophers don't at least win a big ten title then we can expect to see a new women's coach soon.
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I don't think we were getting Hurt or Suggs as basketball players at Minnesota, that never appeared to be in the cards. Didn't mean coach Pitino didn't try, just that these were likely to be two players that would go for the 1 and done season's like Tyus Jones and then move on to the NBA. The risk to remain in college a long time for that type of player is strong.
 

What a awful hire. This should be a reality check that our job just isn't that desirable. Lol at the idiots that thought we could get musselman. He better make the NCAA tournament by year two or I'm done. This was such a lazy fucking hire.
 





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