Johnson on Ihnen: "I had to fight to keep him for almost two weeks. His people were telling him you got all these options."

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GopherOhana said:
wouldn’t ’I’m 100% committed to helping gritty, hard playing, coachable high character MN kids succeed, more so than any other coach’ (my interpretation of Ben’s brand) also be good character? Confidence and commitment And investment. By letting Gabe go, seems to me coach diminished that brand.

not trying to be difficult, but if Ben doesnt believe he is the best coach for Gabe, then what is Ben’s brand? Is he now just the ‘if you want to be a gopher stay home’ coach?
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Who is the best the coach is not the question. It is where Gabe can feels he has a fresh start. It is more of an emotional question as opposed to a technical question.
 

short ornery norwegian said:
again, based on what Doogie and others have said, Gabe made up his mind to leave at mid-season. Apparently Gabe is an example of why 'staying home to play' is a double-edged sword. He apparently thought he was being unfairly criticized in part because of his status as a local player.
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I think this is true. When Gabe was doing well I think the “local” spotlight was great for him. When Gabe struggled I think that same spotlight hurt him. I hope it goes well for him at ISU—nice landing spot to be honest.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
So how would you know there are factors if we know nothing about them?
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I did not say i knew it but from experience i know there is a ton of things that go into decisions on both sides that are not revealed. Examples would be a girlfriend, a desire to get out of this city and go to a college town, field of study, fresh start, TJ and on and on.
 

alchemy2u said:
Who is the best the coach is not the question. It is where Gabe can feels he has a fresh start. It is more of an emotional question as opposed to a technical question.
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It does matter if a recruit believes he is picking a better coach. What the recruit thinks matters.
 

Back to Ihnen. Pitino did a poor job developing Isaiah (and several other players) last year and the offensive scheme was only part of the problem. I think Isaiah has a lot more to offer and hope Ben can instill confidence in him. He has some unique physical tools and a lot of upside--still.
 


Block M said:
Back to Ihnen. Pitino did a poor job developing Isaiah (and several other players) last year and the offensive scheme was only part of the problem. I think Isaiah has a lot more to offer and hope Ben can instill confidence in him. He has some unique physical tools and a lot of upside--still.
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Agreed. I thought something clicked with Ihnen at the end of his freshman year and was excited to see if he could build on that last year. Hope Ben and staff can rekindle what seemed to be developing in the spring of 2020.
 


Ben J already seems soft. Not a committed sales guy type at all. Red flags flying. Need to be able to keep kids here. Based on what I read and his conversation with Gabe, he just showed him the door with not much effort to keep him here and happy. You need to make it absolutely seem like Minnesota is the absolute best spot for them to be under his leadership. I am not optimistic at all. We could be the mid-2000-2015 Northwestern for the next 15 years. Bottom dwellars. It's not all on Ben. I just don't think he was the right hire. We just couldn't afford the more expensive and experienced options available. I hope I eat my words here!
 

Gopherfan1000 said:
Ben J already seems soft. Not a committed sales guy type at all. Red flags flying. Need to be able to keep kids here. Based on what I read and his conversation with Gabe, he just showed him the door with not much effort to keep him here and happy. You need to make it absolutely seem like Minnesota is the absolute best spot for them to be under his leadership. I am not optimistic at all. We could be the mid-2000-2015 Northwestern for the next 15 years. Bottom dwellars. It's not all on Ben. I just don't think he was the right hire. We just couldn't afford the more expensive and experienced options available. I hope I eat my words here!
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This gets me thinking back to the title of this thread, if 2 weeks on Ihnen was a tall task, then he either really didn't like the players on the roster or spent less time and effort than that on players he may have been interested in. Not trying to bash Ben, just an observation.
 




GopherBlood666 said:
This gets me thinking back to the title of this thread, if 2 weeks on Ihnen was a tall task, then he either really didn't like the players on the roster or spent less time and effort than that on players he may have been interested in. Not trying to bash Ben, just an observation.
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Good thought. I am not sold on ANY of the transfers he has brought in myself. Time will tell.
 

Slight bend in the topic but....has the NCAA now junked the APR, considering that about 1/4 of college basketball players are going to transfer?
 

builtbadgers said:
Will have to measure how the new talent performs in year 4-5. This coaching staff may be a huge factor. They could hardly do worse than the last regime.
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That’s true if the new regime gets year 4-5
 



Gopherfan1000 said:
Ben J already seems soft. Not a committed sales guy type at all. Red flags flying. Need to be able to keep kids here. Based on what I read and his conversation with Gabe, he just showed him the door with not much effort to keep him here and happy. You need to make it absolutely seem like Minnesota is the absolute best spot for them to be under his leadership. I am not optimistic at all. We could be the mid-2000-2015 Northwestern for the next 15 years. Bottom dwellars. It's not all on Ben. I just don't think he was the right hire. We just couldn't afford the more expensive and experienced options available. I hope I eat my words here!
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Really? Ben knows Gabe very well from in the past. Conning some "friend" into doing something they do not want to do it not a measure of perseverance. There some battles that are worth the fight and there are some battles that are best to walk away from. The last Ben needed is to have Gabe get into another slum on the team next year and then be a thorn in his side while he is trying to establish a culture of accountability.
 

GopherBlood666 said:
This gets me thinking back to the title of this thread, if 2 weeks on Ihnen was a tall task, then he either really didn't like the players on the roster or spent less time and effort than that on players he may have been interested in. Not trying to bash Ben, just an observation.
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It seems like a very shallow and misguided observation. Ben was just giving an example of the work it took to keep Ihnen from listening to outsiders that were trying to get him to chase the bright lights. It has nothing to do with how hard he worked on the other players or how much he wanted them, but it looks like there was only a couple that even considered staying with the U.
 

alchemy2u said:
It seems like a very shallow and misguided observation. Ben was just giving an example of the work it took to keep Ihnen from listening to outsiders that were trying to get him to chase the bright lights. It has nothing to do with how hard he worked on the other players or how much he wanted them, but it looks like there was only a couple that even considered staying with the U.
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I think that's the real point of the story. With the transfer portal and the new freedom for players, coaches are now in a position where they virtually have to re-recruit their roster every year. Maybe not the top 6 or 7 guys on the depth chart, but the bottom third of the roster could turn over every year, with guys looking for playing time or a different situation.

So, if you want to keep a player who falls into that category, you are going to have to work a lot harder than in previous years. If player X isn't getting the playing time he thinks he deserves, there's a good chance that his entourage is telling him to transfer.
 

alchemy2u said:
It seems like a very shallow and misguided observation. Ben was just giving an example of the work it took to keep Ihnen from listening to outsiders that were trying to get him to chase the bright lights. It has nothing to do with how hard he worked on the other players or how much he wanted them, but it looks like there was only a couple that even considered staying with the U.
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What bright lights ? I can not find a single offer from any elite programs.
 

alchemy2u said:
It seems like a very shallow and misguided observation. Ben was just giving an example of the work it took to keep Ihnen from listening to outsiders that were trying to get him to chase the bright lights. It has nothing to do with how hard he worked on the other players or how much he wanted them, but it looks like there was only a couple that even considered staying with the U.
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Shallow and misguided? If it makes you feel better about ben by putting a label like that on my comment, go gophers i guess.
 

I think Ben had Ihnen in the bag when for awhile he could promise 40 minutes and 80 shots a game, guaranteed team MVP, and plenty of room to stretch out in the locker room
 

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