GOPHERS HIRING BEN JOHNSON

Wet_Blanket_Guy

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He recruited other MN kids Oturo, Gabe, and Jarvis Johnson too. For out of state guys he was lead for Curry, Willis, and some others. He was the lead on McKinley Wright and Halliburton and both would’ve committed here if Pitino would’ve taken them. He’s a fine recruiter. Plenty of stuff to bash him on, but he can find and land talent.
I once heard that he was the lead on Ja Maront, and he would come here if Pitino would take him
 



Spaulding!No!

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I am convinced Coyle leaves before making a change at either bball hc job. 4 months from now he is gone and MN hires a they/them POC to AD.
 




Spaulding!No!

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read this thinking it was a joke. Clearly it is not. just.... wtf Coyle. Love Ben and think he's great, but if this is the route we are ending up going to hire, man... you're a B10 university. The fact you can't land someone with any tenure track of head coaching success is baffling

I guess it fits in the Whalen mold?
Boom. So many accurate takes from the get go. Coyle interview must have been magic
 


Big Dawg

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"Keyboard warriors coming out the woodworks. Gonna save this thread for when he lands a top 10 recruiting class nationally within the next 3 years."-mnhoopboy-

Here is the problem: you/we/me are MN sports fans. We can't have nice things. Of course we have the outliers like the 87 and 91 Twins, but other than that we are just MN sports fans. What does that mean? It means we will never win anything. We will never have sustained success in sports. If for some miraculous reason Ben found a way to land a top 10 recruiting class, something drastic would happen and we would still end up playing on weakling Wednesday. I explained MN sports to my kids a while ago. I told them that you could take MJ, Bird, Magic, Shaq and Karl Malone in their prime, fly them to MPLS, put Timberwolves jersey's on them and watch them play. They would somehow never be able to win the NBA championship. Sorry folks. We are cursed. Just accept it and try to enjoy our teams as best one can. FYI, I'm heading to Tampa in 2 weeks to hopefully see our Gophers win the frozen four. Not holding my breath. I'm part of the curse as I was born in 65 on the last day of the season when the Dodgers beat Milwaukee before beating the Twins in the WS. U r welcome.
 



Bad Gopher

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"Keyboard warriors coming out the woodworks. Gonna save this thread for when he lands a top 10 recruiting class nationally within the next 3 years."-mnhoopboy-

Here is the problem: you/we/me are MN sports fans. We can't have nice things. Of course we have the outliers like the 87 and 91 Twins, but other than that we are just MN sports fans. What does that mean? It means we will never win anything. We will never have sustained success in sports. If for some miraculous reason Ben found a way to land a top 10 recruiting class, something drastic would happen and we would still end up playing on weakling Wednesday. I explained MN sports to my kids a while ago. I told them that you could take MJ, Bird, Magic, Shaq and Karl Malone in their prime, fly them to MPLS, put Timberwolves jersey's on them and watch them play. They would somehow never be able to win the NBA championship. Sorry folks. We are cursed. Just accept it and try to enjoy our teams as best one can. FYI, I'm heading to Tampa in 2 weeks to hopefully see our Gophers win the frozen four. Not holding my breath. I'm part of the curse as I was born in 65 on the last day of the season when the Dodgers beat Milwaukee before beating the Twins in the WS. U r welcome.
This dismisses '87 and '91, faling to fully explain them. I do think some kind of an explanation is in order. I have my theories as to what went "wrong" with those teams--why they were somehow able to do what they did within this framework of losing. It means something, but I don't know what.
 

GopherBlood777

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This dismisses '87 and '91, faling to fully explain them. I do think some kind of an explanation is in order. I have my theories as to what went "wrong" with those teams--why they were somehow able to do what they did within this framework of losing. It means something, but I don't know what.
I think you can sum up the Twins success in two words: Kirby Puckett
 

Big Dawg

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This dismisses '87 and '91, faling to fully explain them. I do think some kind of an explanation is in order. I have my theories as to what went "wrong" with those teams--why they were somehow able to do what they did within this framework of losing. It means something, but I don't know what.
Well, turns out the sports gods were in transition those years. In 87 they were voting to unionize and were not paying attention in late August thru October. In 91 there was a big sports gods convention in Brazil. They missed their flight home and when they arrived they lost their luggage. They have since cannonized their doctrine so those types of occurances will never happen again. There is actually a special section in their by laws to specifically address a situation where a MN sports team might be doing alright late in a season. Rumor has it they are calling a special session to review the current Gophers men's hockey team. Since less than 25% of the NCAA plays hockey they might grant an exception. We'll see. I'm heading to Tampa for the frozen four regardless.
 
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Bad Gopher

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Well, turns out the sports gods were in transition those years. In 87 they were voting to unionize and were not paying attention in late August thru October. In 91 there was a big sports gods convention in Brazil. They missed their flight home and when they arrived they lost their luggage. They have since cannonized their doctrine so those types of occurances will never happen again. There is actaully a special section in their by laws to specifically address a situation where a MN sports team might be doing alright late in a season. Rumor has it they are calling a special session to review the current Gophers men's hockey team. Since less than 25% of the NCAA plays hockey they might grant an exception. We'll see. I'm heading to Tampa for the frozen four regardless.
This is plausible.
 







Casual_fan

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"Keyboard warriors coming out the woodworks. Gonna save this thread for when he lands a top 10 recruiting class nationally within the next 3 years."-mnhoopboy-

Here is the problem: you/we/me are MN sports fans. We can't have nice things. Of course we have the outliers like the 87 and 91 Twins, but other than that we are just MN sports fans. What does that mean? It means we will never win anything. We will never have sustained success in sports. If for some miraculous reason Ben found a way to land a top 10 recruiting class, something drastic would happen and we would still end up playing on weakling Wednesday. I explained MN sports to my kids a while ago. I told them that you could take MJ, Bird, Magic, Shaq and Karl Malone in their prime, fly them to MPLS, put Timberwolves jersey's on them and watch them play. They would somehow never be able to win the NBA championship. Sorry folks. We are cursed. Just accept it and try to enjoy our teams as best one can. FYI, I'm heading to Tampa in 2 weeks to hopefully see our Gophers win the frozen four. Not holding my breath. I'm part of the curse as I was born in 65 on the last day of the season when the Dodgers beat Milwaukee before beating the Twins in the WS. U r welcome.
Winning has a price Tag$$$$
 

Some guy

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Great hire

If it works we are set for 35 years


if it doesn’t work we buy him out for almost nothing post covid era budget in 2024
I stand by this

He was a good hire because he’s going to be easy to fire.
Better than a a mediocre hire that occupies 8 years of my fandom
 

BTChamp

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"Keyboard warriors coming out the woodworks. Gonna save this thread for when he lands a top 10 recruiting class nationally within the next 3 years."-mnhoopboy-

Here is the problem: you/we/me are MN sports fans. We can't have nice things. Of course we have the outliers like the 87 and 91 Twins, but other than that we are just MN sports fans. What does that mean? It means we will never win anything. We will never have sustained success in sports. If for some miraculous reason Ben found a way to land a top 10 recruiting class, something drastic would happen and we would still end up playing on weakling Wednesday. I explained MN sports to my kids a while ago. I told them that you could take MJ, Bird, Magic, Shaq and Karl Malone in their prime, fly them to MPLS, put Timberwolves jersey's on them and watch them play. They would somehow never be able to win the NBA championship. Sorry folks. We are cursed. Just accept it and try to enjoy our teams as best one can. FYI, I'm heading to Tampa in 2 weeks to hopefully see our Gophers win the frozen four. Not holding my breath. I'm part of the curse as I was born in 65 on the last day of the season when the Dodgers beat Milwaukee before beating the Twins in the WS. U r welcome.
Nice write up.

You know, I've been thinking/saying the same thing for at least 20 years. I guess maybe Gopher hockey 20 years ago made me a fool, but as far as pro sports, it holds. The Wipings, Slumberpuppies, Stinks, Mild will always find a way to underachieve. Like you said, just have to accept fate. ALthough I don't care about pro sports near as much as college.

Gopher football has given me hope though. To at least be in the conversation of success. A few 9 win seasons has solidified that. The hope is Ben can turn around history of his teams and make the change. We'll see.
 

gopherbadgerman

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I don't usually disagree with Dpodoll68, but GROSS MY ASS, former Gopher player who was a leader on the court. Passionate about Minnesota Gopher Basketball, connections to the AAU coaching circuit, one of us, and this dude can flat out coach. I hope he brings Dave Thorson back with him to the Gopher sidelines and keeps at least one assistant from the last staff. If he does that we will right the ship.
Lol.
 


Big Dawg

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Nice write up.

You know, I've been thinking/saying the same thing for at least 20 years. I guess maybe Gopher hockey 20 years ago made me a fool, but as far as pro sports, it holds. The Wipings, Slumberpuppies, Stinks, Mild will always find a way to underachieve. Like you said, just have to accept fate. ALthough I don't care about pro sports near as much as college.

Gopher football has given me hope though. To at least be in the conversation of success. A few 9 win seasons has solidified that. The hope is Ben can turn around history of his teams and make the change. We'll see.
I agree and I like Fleck. But even Gopher football will give us a Bowling Green every few years to remind us we are MN fans.
 



Big Dawg

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Ben's resume deserved maybe a 1.1 million salary with a 1 million buyout. Maybe. IF you are going to go down the road of hiring someone who is wholehardly NOT qualified for the position, at least under pay them. Whomever on the UofM side who came up with the 8 million buyout is an idiot.
 




Some guy

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This could be the most ridiculous comment I have ever seen. I hope it's pure satire
Well obviously it’s a bad hire if I want to fire him.
But I like his hire better than some guy like Craig smith
Who would be here for 9 years and make 1 ncaa tourney

At least Johnson is going to be 3 and done and we can start over
 




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