GOPHERS HIRING BEN JOHNSON

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DelawareGopher said:
everyone else with head coaching experience not named Richard Pitino didn’t want this job.
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If Johnson is actually hired... the hiring was done early enough in the process that it isn't inconceivable that Coyle was dazzled by Johnson and was all-in on him from the very beginning.

I don't know that anyone else was offered... This does not resemble the way Norwood Teague handled the hiring process, when everyone seemed to be turning him down and we ended up with searching the dregs of the coaching world for a coach. This does look like it was the guy Coyle wanted from the get-go, as they say... provided the hiring of Ben Johnson isn't a bunch of B.S.
 

7866Fan said:
I would guess that Coyle is going to demand that an experienced coach be on the bench, like Phil Martelli at Michigan. Tim Miles?
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I just said that to the person I was talking to!
 

I sincerely am bemused by this selection. This can't just be because AAU coaches in town said they liked Ben Johnson personally, can it?
 

Completely underwhelmed. As will every recruit will be.
 




So like most, I am INCREDIBLY under-whelmed by this. I will support the team/Ben like always but man this feels like a real reach. Xavier really struggled the last few years and I see a lot of "well hes an outstanding recruiter" So i did some looking
2021: Xavier ranked 51 (behind LMU and Harvard)
2020: 24th
2019: 27th

Solid for Xavier standards not bad, results on the floor didnt follow that but that might not be all on him. To me they absolutely need a Miles type on the bench. I really want to trust Coyle on this but man a real swift kick in the shorts for the "win the press conference" crowd
 


If we were gonna go with a coach with local ties and limited college experience, why not just hire Sam Mitchell? At least he has a proven history of an NBA coach and did a decent job developing the younger wolves players a few years back. I’m not upset, I just don’t follow the logic.
 



GopherWeatherGuy said:
I don't think anyone.

This is the U caving to the local AAU and the media.
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You have to think the editors at the Strib are cackling uncontrollably about their ability to influence this hire, which was their objective. And the AAU cabal? They won't send their players here under Johnson any more than they did for Pitino or Tubby or Monson. But they're not cackling, they just have satisfied smirks knowing they screwed the program again.
 

I've not had the luxury of having season tickets yet, it's too far of a drive, so I understand some of the discontent. But I'll tell you right now that I'm excited for the change and hope to hell this works out. I'm a Gopher fan and this isn't changing that one bit.
Go Gophers!
 









BarnBurner said:
OK - what does Johnson bring that Smith doesn't?
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I didn't say anything about Criag Smith at Utah State. I think Smith has proved a lot, but he didn't even take the job, so that say's a lot about how tough it is to attract a coach to a program like Minnesota. I think a lot of people turned this down and this may work out in our favor. I like to gamble, and gambling on a smart guy is less risky than a Richard Pitino hire who only got the job because of who is dad was and Teague connections to Billy Donovan. Coyle is taking a bit of a risk, I like it, if he is wrong this will likely cost him his job. I never thought Richard Pitino had the chops or the desire to coach at Minnesota. He was mailing it in from the beginning and just soaking us for a paycheck.
 


Otis said:
How many coaches turned us down to get to this selection?

It's going to come out. This is going to be embarrassing.

Either we were turned down by double digits to get here.

Or worse, he was in our top 5?

I feel like Harry Potter after he finds out he has to die. I mean, F me!
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Yeah, because we didn't turn ANYONE down who was interested in this job, right? The only feasible scenario is that nobody wanted this job, so we took Ben Johnson. Laughable
 


dpodoll68 said:
On paper, this is a flat-out horrible hire. This is worse than the Pitino hire, and I didn't think that was possible. Of course, I will support him and hope that he makes all of us look foolish, but he hasn't earned this job, doesn't deserve it, and in all likelihood will be a colossal failure.
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You could be right, I would rather role the dice on Ben Johnson then a lot of others who have no ties to the barn or the Gophers. I thought Pitino was a bad hire back then and have though that all along. I don't think Richard is very good at evaluating talent or scheming a game plan, his swing on Jelly over Wright was a bad choice.
 

To summarize: A mediocre assistant who has been a part of multiple teams getting worse during his tenure. A lazy recruiter who has zero track record. Over proven head coaches who wanted the job. To save money and appease the affirmative action crowd.
 

DelawareGopher said:
That’s my question. Maybe we’re too quick to dog-pile on Coyle because literally everyone else with head coaching experience not named Richard Pitino didn’t want this job.
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That's not true. There was plenty of interest. This was simply Coyle's choice. He's going to have to live with it in the future, good or bad.
 

Northeastgopher said:
If we were gonna go with a coach with local ties and limited college experience, why not just hire Sam Mitchell? At least he has a proven history of an NBA coach and did a decent job developing the younger wolves players a few years back. I’m not upset, I just don’t follow the logic.
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Thank you for reminding me that this isn't the worst possible hire.
 

From Ben's Xavier Resume:
“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.”

He's Steady Eddy to me from now on...
 

Rickman55 said:
Two out of the last three years they had top 30 recruiting classes at Xavier.
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Evidence not present on the court. One common thing with our team is that Xavier has been pretty bad shooters the last couple years.
 

Holy Man said:
Much higher risk than Whalen. Revenue issues and Lindsey has a place in our local history that Ben simply doesn’t.
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that's very fair from the revenue standpoint. more was just meaning former player, young, minimal coaching experience, etc.
 



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