Hallman: Minnesota AD checked our box—he hired a Black coach. Now the question we ask is will Johnson be given the time and support to succeed

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MennoSota said:
So, we're the Boston College of the B1G. The Vanderbilt of the B1G. The K-State of the B1G. The Cal of the B1G.
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K-State and BC haven't, but Vandy (2018-19) and BC (2015-16) have indeed gone winless in conference in recent history.

So there is that.

https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/california/men/
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/vanderbilt/men/
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/boston-college/men/
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/kansas-state/men/
 

Gophers_4life said:
Can always play the what-if game with Ihnen and Fox.

Maybe a miracle happens next year?
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Yes hopefully they can make an impact.

It always comes back to the guards though. We'll know after transfer portal season if we have any shot to be competitive next year. Go get as many guards / ball handlers as possible this year with open scholarships.
 

Ope. There you go, @howeda7

In looking at those ... there's one. You were absolutely correct, and I was wrong.


Wyking Jones. Who is Black.

Had never been a head coach before being hired as the HC at Cal. Was fired after 2 seasons, going 16-47 overall and 5-31 in conference. No obvious misconduct as far as I can see. 2017-18 and 18-19

No idea what his buyout situation was like. Is now an assistant at Washington.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyking_Jones
 

WoodburyTim said:
The conversation has been in chronological order starting right after the Pitino dismal.

Search Begins
Media and progressive fanbase: Race MUST be a factor in this hire due to the lack of diversity in our athletic department.

Other fans: Let's hire best coach regardless of race

Johnson Hired

Other fans: Was race a factor in a seemingly underqualified coach being hired?

Media and progressive fanbase: You are racist for even suggesting race was a factor even though we are on record unequivocally demanding it.

Other fans: Wait, how does that make sense?

Media and progressive fanbase: Racists!

I feel bad for Johnson. Regardless of how you feel about the hire, the guy worked his ass off to reach this point.
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I agree.
WoodburyTim said:
I personally don't think that race had much of a role in this.
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There is no universe in which race was not a factor in this. It had a big role. There is ZERO chance that Ben gets hired with his resume and even local connections, if he is white.
WoodburyTim said:
Coyle has his reasons, but if he thought he had anyone better who could win and make the athletic department money, I think he does it. But the social justice warriors like Hallman, The Star Trib, and more than a few on this board want to chalk this up as a win for the movement. Another example of applying pressure to get their way and score one for their personal politcal movement. But while I am sure Johnson is proud of his race, I am sure he believes he is the best man for the job, white, black or otherwise. Race and the implication that this should be some sort of affirmative action program, should never have happened and ultimately it insults Johnson. And for that reason I am going to root for him even more.
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So am I. Look, we need Ben to make this work. Otherwise the mess just gets bigger....Unless the U is willing to break the bank for a big time guy. Which they are not.
 

Only had him on a 5-year, $5million deal, so "only" had to pay him the remaining $3M of the deal.


Cal fired men’s basketball head coach Wyking Jones on Sunday, an announcement that appeared to be a drastic reversal from only two days prior, though the school claims it had been in the works for nearly a week.

Athletic director Jim Knowlton said he made the decision last week to fire Jones, who went 16-47 in the first two seasons of his five-year, $5 million deal. Knowlton met with the players Tuesday, and under the impression that Jones was staying, some considered transferring.

On Friday, sophomore guard Darius McNeill announced his intention to leave Berkeley, and others contemplated the same as university sources believed Jones would be retained — even after the school’s first back-to-back 20-loss seasons.

...

While Cal figures out how to deal with paying someone $3 million not to work in addition to the cost of hiring a head coach — on top of massive debt and currently trying to finance softball and beach-volleyball facilities — here are the other names to consider:

St. Mary’s Randy Bennett is typically in these talks, though he laughs sometimes. Nevada’s Eric Musselman was considered a favorite before Jones was promoted from assistant coach. USF’s Kyle Smith and UC Irvine’s Russell Turner were mentioned throughout the season, and Montana’s Travis DeCuire has been passed over for the position twice.

“As I looked at where we were today and where we were going, we just didn’t have a flight path that would really help us to become exceptional,” Knowlton said. “It’s never easy. There’s never a right time. I just felt at the end of the season, once I finished my evaluation, that was the right time to make this decision.”
 


They hired Mark Fox from Georgia, and he hasn't done much better there in four years.
 

MennoSota said:
So, we're the Boston College of the B1G. The Vanderbilt of the B1G. The K-State of the B1G. The Cal of the B1G.
There are other programs that play the bottom dweller. I wish we were in the blue blood realm, but that is obviously never going to happen, but we can cheer on our "Bad News Gophers" anyway. 😏
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I haven’t missed a game this year and plan to continue watching them and hoping for the best but think ultimately recruiting gets harder and harder for Ben and the ceiling gets lower and lower unfortunately. Go Gophers!
 

Gophers_4life said:
They hired Mark Fox from Georgia, and he hasn't done much better there in four years.
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Cal- Berkeley- is there a more woke school? I wonder if their administration has a similar love for men's sports to the U?
 

bga1 said:
Cal- Berkeley- is there a more woke school? I wonder if their administration has a similar love for men's sports to the U?
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They paid something like $450 for facilities upgrades? I know some of which was like earthquake proofing for the stadium?
 



Gophers_4life said:
Can always play the what-if game with Ihnen and Fox.

Maybe a miracle happens next year?
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What if we had a known non-D1 contributor who doesn’t play a position of need (Ihnen)?

What if we had a d2 transfer?


Maybe you can play what if with fox.
If anyone is playing what if with Ihnen it pretty much tells you how bad we are. Guy couldn’t get on the court for the team that got the last coach fired and now he is supposed to maybe have been the answer?
 

bga1 said:
Cal- Berkeley- is there a more woke school? I wonder if their administration has a similar love for men's sports to the U?
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This is about the 4th time in the last day I’ve seen someone use woke on this board. Can we possibly keep the discussions about gopher basketball instead of parroting something being pushed by some idiot politicians. And so you don’t think I am pushing some agenda I consider politicians from both parties to be idiots.
 

bmb5270 said:
This is about the 4th time in the last day I’ve seen someone use woke on this board. Can we possibly keep the discussions about gopher basketball instead of parroting something being pushed by some idiot politicians. And so you don’t think I am pushing some agenda I consider politicians from both parties to be idiots.
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Fine. The core problem at the U is they don't much give a rip about our sports teams. I will try not to say they are "woke" anymore...even if that's what I think.
 

This is the whole quotas versus quality issue. Talent versus appearance. The best person for the job versus the person who makes us look the best. It's been around since 1965 and has been managed like a lodestine the entire time. It keeps happening because of feral self-interest: bias for me is good and bias against me is bad. "I can't be a bigot because I am rallying my group to fight." "We need to get diversity, equity and inclusion by using conformity, bigotry and exclusion to implement it."
 



bga1 said:
Fine. The core problem at the U is they don't much give a rip about our sports teams. I will try not to say they are "woke" anymore...even if that's what I think.
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Can't ask for more than that. Progress!

I think they care about some sports teams (primarily football and hockey). I don't think they care about this one, at least not enough to spend the requisite money to bring in someone with an established record of winning.

We're not completely unique when it comes to relative indifference to basketball in the conference. Look at what Penn State, Northwestern, and Nebraska have invested in basketball over the years versus football. Yes, Nebraska hired a name coach last time but he would have been fired by now with his record if he had been the football coach.
 


bga1 said:
Fine. The core problem at the U is they don't much give a rip about our sports teams. I will try not to say they are "woke" anymore...even if that's what I think.
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I would rank many university issues above your perceived lack of interest in the athletics department.

The biggest issue with the athletic department isn’t even the lack of interest in the teams. The biggest issue is the lack of understanding what fans want when it’s things they control: game day experience, parking, getting into the game in a timely manner, etc. The people in charge of anything in that department are awful.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
I would rank many university issues above your perceived lack of interest in the athletics department.

The biggest issue with the athletic department isn’t even the lack of interest in the teams. The biggest issue is the lack of understanding what fans want when it’s things they control: game day experience, parking, getting into the game in a timely manner, etc. The people in charge of anything in that department are awful.
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They had free ramp parking on alumni day 😎
 

cjbfbp said:
I disagree with that. I think you are getting too carried away by your anger. To be here for 5 more years, he will have to show something anyway.
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I wrote that 2 years ago (not sure why you pulled it up now), so that clock is now down to 3 years. Is that still probable given the massive suck that’s transpired since then? Shit, it better not be.
 


Some guy said:
What if we had a known non-D1 contributor who doesn’t play a position of need (Ihnen)?

What if we had a d2 transfer?


Maybe you can play what if with fox.
If anyone is playing what if with Ihnen it pretty much tells you how bad we are. Guy couldn’t get on the court for the team that got the last coach fired and now he is supposed to maybe have been the answer?
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I’m not as cynical as you but the unrealistic expectations of Ihnen and Fox are one of the most mind boggling things on this board. Neither has proven success at this level and both are coming off debilitating injuries. It’s nuts to think one or both is a significant part of the answer to getting better. Any reasonable production would be exceeding realistic expectations.
 

No matter what your viewpoint is, calling the hiring of a person checking a box because of their skin color couldn't be more insulting to Ben and offensive. That anyone would say that really steams my cachongas.

The question now is whether this person or someone else would say Johnson hasn't been given the opportunity or resources to be successful. The question of whether the U has dropped the ball on NIL is legit and in play. I think we all know beyond a reasonable doubt, though, that a more experienced and capable person would have produced better results, and that includes the African American Mr. Gates from the University of Missouri.
 

Bad Gopher said:
No matter what your viewpoint is, calling the hiring of a person checking a box because of their skin color couldn't be more insulting to Ben and offensive. That anyone would say that really steams my cachongas.

The question now is whether this person or someone else would say Johnson hasn't been given the opportunity or resources to be successful. The question of whether the U has dropped the ball on NIL is legit and in play. I think we all know beyond a reasonable doubt, though, that a more experienced and capable person would have produced better results, and that includes the African American Mr. Gates from the University of Missouri.
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Gates was asked to interview and wasn’t interested. That’s a possibility to take off the table. Plenty of other data points to critique but that one doesn’t fit.
 

Holy Man said:
Gates was asked to interview and wasn’t interested. That’s a possibility to take off the table. Plenty of other data points to critique but that one doesn’t fit.
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My personal approach to affirmative action would have been to include him in the pool of candidates. I can't control whether he interviews or takes the job, but I would have pursued him hard and with seriousness of purpose. He would have been one of my four, and I would not have gone into the process with any bias--only facts. 25% of my pool being non-white is reflective of general society, which is what you're looking for. In the long run, consituting hiring pools in this fashion will, with good fortune, get you an employee pool that reflects and represents your community.
 

WindyCityGopher said:
I wrote that 2 years ago (not sure why you pulled it up now), so that clock is now down to 3 years. Is that still probable given the massive suck that’s transpired since then? Shit, it better not be.
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I didn't pull it up. Someone else did. I never pull up old threads. I think that's petty. I didn't notice that your post was old.
 
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WindyCityGopher said:
This is what I mentioned in another thread, that since an overmatched Pitino got 5 years under Coyle there's not a chance that advocates like Charles Hallman who are celebrating that Coyle "checked our box" are going to let anyone give Johnson a day less to prove himself, even if he's a dumpster fire disaster, or they'll raise holy hell. Ben is our coach for at least the next 5 years, for better or for worse.
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Pitino also won 14 big ten games his first two years playing 18 a year. Then in year 4 went 11-7. If Ben goes 11-7 in a 4th year we’d all be licking his boots
 
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MennoSota said:
So, we're the Boston College of the B1G. The Vanderbilt of the B1G. The K-State of the B1G. The Cal of the B1G.
There are other programs that play the bottom dweller. I wish we were in the blue blood realm, but that is obviously never going to happen, but we can cheer on our "Bad News Gophers" anyway. 😏
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Well, now we are. Even with how bad Pitino was, our average finish was between 9th and 10th. That's bad, but that isn't just perpetual absolute bottom dweller.

The overwhelming vast majority of college basketball exists between these two levels. It's not unreasonable for us to expect a basketball prgram that isn't historically bad.
 

cjbfbp said:
I didn't pull it up. Someone else did. I never pull up old threads. I think that's petty. I didn't notice that your post was old.
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I pulled it and explained why I pulled it up to give Menno a little crap about his take. It's not petty that you didn't read the thread.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Well, now we are. Even with how bad Pitino was, our average finish was between 9th and 10th. That's bad, but that isn't just perpetual absolute bottom dweller.

The overwhelming vast majority of college basketball exists between these two levels. It's not unreasonable for us to expect a basketball prgram that isn't historically bad.
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It's silly how many people equate "not dead last" or "better than 1-16" with "expecting us to be Duke".
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
It's silly how many people equate "not dead last" or "better than 1-16" with "expecting us to be Duke".
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They're pretending to not know the difference to deflect. It's the way incredibly stupid argue.

We saw it with some of the football stuff, if you hinted that we should throw the ball a little more, it's like you wanted PJ fired and wanted an Air Raid offense.
 


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