GOPHERS HIRING BEN JOHNSON

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SanDiegoGopherFan said:
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
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"Facts"? BS. I'd love for you to prove that he was hired because he was black. Then your dumbass would also have to prove that he was at the top of Coyle's list and that any number of white coaches that were rumored were never contacted or considered.
 


Bad Gopher said:
I'm going to be seeing Dennis Gates in my dreams. I still think he's the real deal.
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I heard KFAN on the way home from work talking about how they were excited for the Gophers having an African American coach and breaking through with that. I assumed they had hired Gates and was minorly disappointed (I wanted Smith).

Buddy texted me a couple minutes later asking what I thought of Ben Johnson...

For what it's worth I had a buddy who worked with the team for a couple years under Pitino when Johnson was on staff. He thinks he absolutely can recruit and for sure will get kids to come here. He's just not sure he's a head coach. Might be too nice of a guy. Preaching patience to me.
 



Herd said:
He can’t do worse than Pitino recruiting locally, there’s that. His resume would seem to be more in line with the St Thomas job.
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But what if he misses on them? Can he recruit as well as pitino did outside of MN?
 


UpAndUnder43 said:
My tickets are $1540. Doesn’t include parking obviously. So let’s say an even $1700. So they can hire a discount coach with no head coaching experience? Not like we can’t get them back. Season ticket
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Well Souhan should be happy. We finally hired a non white bball coach. Phew.
 


MRJ said:
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.....
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Lyndsey hired great assistants and played for some great basketball coaches, there is still a chance she will turn the U into a powerhouse.
 

WriterGoph said:
Jesus, man. You should go back to the 247 board with this trash.
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He was hired because he's black and cheap. Good job Star Tribune.



Ben Johnson is getting his first crack at coaching college hoops at his alma mater, and that's a fantastic story. Now, how well can he coach?

What type of offense does he run? What are his defensive principals? What are his non-negotiables as a coach? Right now, we have no film to decipher any of this. He obviously has a knack for connecting with players, as we've seen from the reaction from former Gophers who've weighed in on the decision, but can he coach and win games in the Big Ten?

You can recruit all you want, and keeping some of the prospects in the talent rich state of Minnesota will surely increase program interest and ticket sales, but winning games is ultimately the only thing that matters at the end of the day. Right now we have no evidence of what a Ben Johnson coached team looks like, and that's a scary reality for Gopher fans as they consider their feelings about this hire.
 



Iceland12 said:
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 wan
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SanDiegoGopherFan said:
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
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Then why didn't Coyle go after Shaka Smart? Sounds like they want him out in Austin.
 

Herd said:
He can’t do worse than Pitino recruiting locally, there’s that. His resume would seem to be more in line with the St Thomas job.
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Coffey's dad was on tv saying that the only way Amir agreed to go to the U was because of Ben "not Pitino".
 


GopherNuts said:
I'll be interested to see who his assistants are and think that's key. Bring Dave Thorson back to Minnesota (who he obviously played for) and I can breathe a little. I imagine they'll have a fair amount of money to play with when it comes to assistants with Ben likely being the lowest paid coach in the conference. I'm definitely in shock
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How bout Joe Colman?
 

Brewster convinced people to come to Mpls too. Whoopty doo.
 


SanDiegoGopherFan said:
He was hired because he's black and cheap. Good job Star Tribune.



Ben Johnson is getting his first crack at coaching college hoops at his alma mater, and that's a fantastic story. Now, how well can he coach?

What type of offense does he run? What are his defensive principals? What are his non-negotiables as a coach? Right now, we have no film to decipher any of this. He obviously has a knack for connecting with players, as we've seen from the reaction from former Gophers who've weighed in on the decision, but can he coach and win games in the Big Ten?

You can recruit all you want, and keeping some of the prospects in the talent rich state of Minnesota will surely increase program interest and ticket sales, but winning games is ultimately the only thing that matters at the end of the day. Right now we have no evidence of what a Ben Johnson coached team looks like, and that's a scary reality for Gopher fans as they consider their feelings about this hire.
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Will be interesting to see who he hires as assistants. Juan Howard hired a experience former HC to bounce things off of. Maybe Ben will do something similar.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
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).
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Whatever helps you sleep at night
 

gopherdudepart2 said:
I can see this comparison, as Ryna Saunders was hired by the Timberwolves because Glen Taylor admired and really liked Flip. I think Saunders can coach, it is a tough gig the Timberwolves.
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Saunders was in way over his head. Team looks 100% better after he was fired. National media is talking about how much more organized Wolves look without Saunders.

As for comparison to Johnson. That’s not fair until we see Ben coach in games. Getting the players is half the battle. Need to do both In order to win big. Maybe Bens a great in game coach. We don’t know yet.

I’m excited to see what Ben can do, but there are questions. Either way. Let’s see what happens. Should be fun.
 

tmvander said:
Even if w get in stare kids can they be coached? Developed?
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Jalen Suggs look like he can be coached? Developed? How about McKinley Wright? Is Chet Holmgren gonna be coachable? Figure he's gonna develop?
 

Alright, I’ve vented enough today.

It would be awesome if a Minnesota-raised Gopher alum could bring us into the promised land of B1G relevancy and regular tourney berths/wins. I sincerely hope I can look back at my posts a couple years from now and say “that didn’t age well.” And I hope he does so well that we all want him to stick around until he retires (and that he does).
 

stocker08 said:
"Facts"? BS. I'd love for you to prove that he was hired because he was black. Then your dumbass would also have to prove that he was at the top of Coyle's list and that any number of white coaches that were rumored were never contacted or considered.
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He was never a candidate for any other school.
 

laazrakit said:
Well, when year after year, lately (it seems) Minnesota produces the #1 recruit in the country, it's tough not to dream of seeing them in the maroon and gold.
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tikited said:
Maybe he will get the $15 dollar minimum wage.
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M
USAF said:
Kudos to Coyle for having the courage to make this hire.

It's going to end well.
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It hasn't ended well for a Gopher head coach (not always their fault) in over 50 years.
 

MaxyJR1 said:
Was he or was he just by name? He's doing well at Michigan and I was being funny. People get so worked up. If Johnson fails we won't hear again that we need a coach with local ties. We haven't ever tried it in recent memory.
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You say you were being funny but also suggest at the same time that he was just a coach because of his name. You can't have it both ways. I stand by my stupid fuck comment. He was an assistant for 6 years with the Heat and a finalist for the Timberwolves job before they gave it to "one of us" Ryan Saunders. Also, if he fails (which for the record, I hope he succeeds beyond everyone's expectations) you think we won't hear one of us again? That's infantile thinking at best. Of course we will.
 


Rickman55 said:
JG on KFAN this is 100% about recruiting MN kids.
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That is fine as long as they know that the talent levels vary from cycle to cycle in every state. JG knows very little about basketball. Ben does. Loved how he learned to play and how he values defense. I am up for giving him the chance. He clearly presented his vision and staff. There is virtually no downside after Pitino and there was zero chance on Muss.
 

This hire makes me believe the athletic department is broke and hurting for money. Clearly the boosters, of which there are few big money boosters compared to other big ten schools, weren’t willing to open their wallets for Coyle.
 

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