Mark Coyle in response to is Gophers Men's basketball HC Ben Johnson's job safe (Video)

Donate To GopherHole
Johnnyboy18 said:
Coyle is bad at speaking and is known for never giving a straight answer. Great AD though.
Click to expand...
Mixed results at best. His football hire has obviously been successful. His hockey hire has been as well, but they were good before he got here, and the results in Coyle's 7 years are not appreciably better than the results from the 7 years prior to him. In men's basketball he extended Pitino (which seems to have been a mistake because he had to fire him), and maybe the replacement will be good but early returns are awful. His women's basketball hire was on a downward trajectory for 5 years, then fired. His softball hires aren't working out great (that is just the other sport I have on top of my head as a sport where I know he made hires). Open to hearing any other successful hires he has had, but it seems like his basic track record is great football hire, didn't screw up hockey, and the other ones have us moving in the wrong direction. If the argument is football and hockey revenue are so important, that those two hires make him a solid AD, I can listen to that, but the entire body of his hiring and extension decisions certainly don't make me feel confident that he is making the next hire in any given sport where a vacancy occurs.
 

Big Dawg said:
I'm guessing bar pretty low for next season. 5-6 min BIG victories next year or he's gone.
Click to expand...

I"ve been pretty adamant around here that Ben Johnson should be given a 3rd year but I would have a hard time saying he deserves a 4th season if he doesn't do better than 6-14 in the conference next year. Assuming a 9-2 non-conference record with that and you're looking at a 15-16 regular season.

It's quite possible to think that Ben's 3rd season should be better than his 4th if all of the critical pieces return next season. Assuming Battle and Cooper return next season, that will be their last year of eligibility and it's quite possible, even probable, that Garcia would not return for a 5th year. I would assume that this year's freshmen would take a jump between this year and next year but there may not be as much of a jump after that.
 

bleedsmaroonandgold said:
Mixed results at best. His football hire has obviously been successful. His hockey hire has been as well, but they were good before he got here, and the results in Coyle's 7 years are not appreciably better than the results from the 7 years prior to him. In men's basketball he extended Pitino (which seems to have been a mistake because he had to fire him), and maybe the replacement will be good but early returns are awful. His women's basketball hire was on a downward trajectory for 5 years, then fired. His softball hires aren't working out great (that is just the other sport I have on top of my head as a sport where I know he made hires). Open to hearing any other successful hires he has had, but it seems like his basic track record is great football hire, didn't screw up hockey, and the other ones have us moving in the wrong direction. If the argument is football and hockey revenue are so important, that those two hires make him a solid AD, I can listen to that, but the entire body of his hiring and extension decisions certainly don't make me feel confident that he is making the next hire in any given sport where a vacancy occurs.
Click to expand...

Let's remember that the primary duty of an athletic director's office is not hiring and firing coaches. That's just the one that fans care about most. A more important (and regular) activity of an athletic department is being involved in fundraising. Since Coyle seems to have tendency to try to accomplish things on the cheap and we often hear how the athletic department is short of resources, I wonder how good his office is at that part of the job?
 

We won last night, but really did not look very good doing it throughout the night. Battle knocked down some shots at the end, and Rutgers collapsed. It wasn't a formula at either end that will be successful long-term.

I could see Coyle saying it's time to make a change, that this season isn't just a year two dip but a canyon that he doesn't believe this coach will get out of. That Ben and staff are what we see this year. If as a leader you really believe someone isn't going to be successful based on your evaluation of their day-to-day work, you just make things worse by giving them more time just to give them more time. There is no magic to giving someone 2 years, 3 years, or 4 years. At some point you believe they can do the job or not, and Coyle sees a lot more of his day-to-day work than anyone here. He likely has a pretty good idea what Ben will be or won't be already.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
The snake was right to remove Claeys and he'd be right to remove Ben after this season. The U has needed a snake who wants to win for a long time. 🐍🐍🐍
Click to expand...
So...not Coyle then? He is the one who hired both Whalen and Johnson. If you want Johnson gone, then you most certainly want Coyle gone. You cannot have your cake and eat it too.
 


MNVCGUY said:
Honest question for you or anyone still hung up on Claeys.....do you really not understand that whole situation? Claeys was never a long term solution he was a stop gap for one year.

Ben will get year 3, beyond that will almost certainly depend on how things are going on and off the court.
Click to expand...
I understand that Coyle is a snake 🐍 and he showed us his character, starting with Claeys.
 

Tucker32 said:
At some point you believe they can do the job or not, and Coyle sees a lot more of his day-to-day work than anyone here. He likely has a pretty good idea what Ben will be or won't be already.
Click to expand...
After watching the Claeys/KSTP interview I posted above about Coyle not attending practices, I would not take it for granted that Coyle "sees a lot more of his day-to-day work than anyone here."

Likely. But not an absolute certainty.
 


cjbfbp said:
Let's remember that the primary duty of an athletic director's office is not hiring and firing coaches. That's just the one that fans care about most. A more important (and regular) activity of an athletic department is being involved in fundraising. Since Coyle seems to have tendency to try to accomplish things on the cheap and we often hear how the athletic department is short of resources, I wonder how good his office is at that part of the job?
Click to expand...
This for me. How the hell is the Athletes Village not paid for yet? What major fund raising accomplishments has he achieved? (maybe it's all behind the scenes stuff that I don't see, but I'm not impressed)
 



MennoSota said:
Coyle is a snake 🐍.

He said nothing, in that response, except that he makes the decisions.

Since Lindsay Whalen got 5 years to prove herself, I would be surprised if Ben Johnson gets fired after year two.

But...the snake removed Claeys so he could do anything.
Click to expand...

And the it was a bad decision to remove Claeys? Football program would be in a similar state as basketball if Claeys was still here.
 

MennoSota said:
I understand that Coyle is a snake 🐍 and he showed us his character, starting with Claeys.
Click to expand...
I don't have a stong opinion about Coyle (good or bad) the way some do.

But the Claeys thing didn't show anything about Coyle's character other than that he did what pretty much any new AD would have done in that same situation. Get through the year and then go hire your guy to run the football program.

As for this statement from Coyle about Johnson.....I don't really know that it means much of anything either way in regards to Johnson's future. Certainly wasn't a ringing endorsement (which makes total sense given how the first 2 years have gone) but also didn't come off to me as Coyle saying he was going to make a move now either.
 

MennoSota said:
So...not Coyle then? He is the one who hired both Whalen and Johnson. If you want Johnson gone, then you most certainly want Coyle gone. You cannot have your cake and eat it too.
Click to expand...

Sure I can because I’ll never believe Ben was solely Coyle’s decision. Whalen was a mistake but you can understand why he took a risk on her.

The Ben hire never made any sense compared to Coyle’s other hires. 🐍🐍🐍
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Sure I can because I’ll never believe Ben was solely Coyle’s decision. Whalen was a mistake but you can understand why he took a risk on her.

The Ben hire never made any sense compared to Coyle’s other hires. 🐍🐍🐍
Click to expand...
So you're saying Coyle was spineless. Yet, you won't call him a snake 🐍.
 



GopherWeatherGuy said:
Sure I can because I’ll never believe Ben was solely Coyle’s decision. Whalen was a mistake but you can understand why he took a risk on her.

The Ben hire never made any sense compared to Coyle’s other hires. 🐍🐍🐍
Click to expand...

100%. Nailed it across the board.

ad361852-5494-4856-b488-5c7ef4c8ff1c.GIF
 

MNVCGUY said:
I don't have a stong opinion about Coyle (good or bad) the way some do.

But the Claeys thing didn't show anything about Coyle's character other than that he did what pretty much any new AD would have done in that same situation. Get through the year and then go hire your guy to run the football program.

As for this statement from Coyle about Johnson.....I don't really know that it means much of anything either way in regards to Johnson's future. Certainly wasn't a ringing endorsement (which makes total sense given how the first 2 years have gone) but also didn't come off to me as Coyle saying he was going to make a move now either.
Click to expand...
I agree with much of this take. Listen any AD is going to have good and bad hires. So if you expect a 100% hit rate, sorry not going to happen. Has he made some bad hires yes, but football, hockey, volleyball (all big sports at the U) he's done really well. Basketball hasn't had that success for sure.

And for his presser yesterday, who cares. I can give you 1000 times an AD/GM said they loved their coach and a week later he/she was canned. If anything he might have just been more honest than we are used to from people on his position.

On the Claeys thing, I think its a positive on Coyle, he knew the floor was low and did what was needed. You can certainly argue (I would) that he should've done that to pitino earlier, but he didn't. Again I want an AD that isn't afraid to do what is necessary, if that's fire CBJ in year 2, he needs to do that and stand by it.

We can all act like we know, but none of us know the inner workings IE What the biggest boosters/NIL deals are happening, who would be interested in the job, what the regents/president have told him.
 

MennoSota said:
So...not Coyle then? He is the one who hired both Whalen and Johnson. If you want Johnson gone, then you most certainly want Coyle gone. You cannot have your cake and eat it too.
Click to expand...
I don't think that's the proper use of the expression. Coyle is allowed to make mistakes, like we all do at work, but the expectation is that when the mistake is realized, corrective action follows.

Firing Johnson would be the corrective action.

For reference, the expression is bold would apply to something like wanting a home run hire but pay the same as Ben makes. You know, a situation where things are inversely related to each other, is how you use that expression.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Sure I can because I’ll never believe Ben was solely Coyle’s decision. Whalen was a mistake but you can understand why he took a risk on her.

The Ben hire never made any sense compared to Coyle’s other hires. 🐍🐍🐍
Click to expand...
Whose decision was it? He wanted a local tie guy and after doing interviews he liked what Ben offered. He also had a relationship with him as he was in the department prior.

Nothing he said yesterday was shocking and most in his position would have said the same. People and media just trying to find something to build a narrative.
 

Ben was identified as the ‘mole’ when he was on Pitino’s staff. I wonder who the mole is now?????
 

leib0039 said:
I agree with much of this take. Listen any AD is going to have good and bad hires. So if you expect a 100% hit rate, sorry not going to happen. Has he made some bad hires yes, but football, hockey, volleyball (all big sports at the U) he's done really well. Basketball hasn't had that success for sure.

And for his presser yesterday, who cares. I can give you 1000 times an AD/GM said they loved their coach and a week later he/she was canned. If anything he might have just been more honest than we are used to from people on his position.

On the Claeys thing, I think its a positive on Coyle, he knew the floor was low and did what was needed. You can certainly argue (I would) that he should've done that to pitino earlier, but he didn't. Again I want an AD that isn't afraid to do what is necessary, if that's fire CBJ in year 2, he needs to do that and stand by it.

We can all act like we know, but none of us know the inner workings IE What the biggest boosters/NIL deals are happening, who would be interested in the job, what the regents/president have told him.
Click to expand...
Yep, Minnesota fans demanding Minnesota Nice out of their AD.
 
  • Like
Reactions: sal

Tucker32 said:
We won last night, but really did not look very good doing it throughout the night. Battle knocked down some shots at the end, and Rutgers collapsed. It wasn't a formula at either end that will be successful long-term.

I could see Coyle saying it's time to make a change, that this season isn't just a year two dip but a canyon that he doesn't believe this coach will get out of. That Ben and staff are what we see this year. If as a leader you really believe someone isn't going to be successful based on your evaluation of their day-to-day work, you just make things worse by giving them more time just to give them more time. There is no magic to giving someone 2 years, 3 years, or 4 years. At some point you believe they can do the job or not, and Coyle sees a lot more of his day-to-day work than anyone here. He likely has a pretty good idea what Ben will be or won't be already.
Click to expand...
The way I saw last night's game, we won even though there were numerous defensive lapses, offensive rebounds that should have been ours, and missed free throws, of course. Against a good opponent, no less. That tells me that this team has some capabilities but also that they're underperforming, especially when it comes to the fundamentals. Is that just youth? Mostly coaching? I can't say for sure myself, but it's the AD's job to observe and understand those things. I still think this team should have won more games, even with their inexperience.
 


cjbfbp said:
Let's remember that the primary duty of an athletic director's office is not hiring and firing coaches. That's just the one that fans care about most. A more important (and regular) activity of an athletic department is being involved in fundraising. Since Coyle seems to have tendency to try to accomplish things on the cheap and we often hear how the athletic department is short of resources, I wonder how good his office is at that part of the job?
Click to expand...
He attempts to supplement with connectors in HC jobs in the revenue sports. Claeys would have been a terrible long term ambassador for the U which is why he got pushed out, the fact Coyle gets beat up for his first act in attempting to clean up a mess is redic.
 

bga1 said:
That's a terrible response by Coyle- unless he plans on firing Ben. I think that would be a mistake at this moment. I think Ben and his younger players need another year. If he plans on keeping Ben, he should have said great things about Ben and that he is making progress despite a tough year. An ADs job should be to be all in with a coach until the moment he fires him.

Does anyone know what the "5 pillars" are at the U?
Click to expand...

he went through them earlier in the presser.

1. Compliance
2. Academics
3. student-athlete experience
4. PR - Fundraising
5. winning
 


GoldenUMNGopher said:
Coyle's job is not to give you an answer that you want to hear. If he plans on ditching Ben i'd much rather have that response than "Ben's doing a great job, we believe in him" and fire him a week later. Seriously, such a strange thing to get upset about.
Click to expand...
Coyle's job is running the athletic department. Part of that job is selling the program to the fans....the customers of the program he is running. So yeah, if he is going to fire Ben this is what he should have said. I would be willing to bet he's not doing that. Therefore, unless I am badly mistaken (which certainly happens) his statement, while not a watershed moment, (because he said nothing) was sorely lacking.

It was a free throw.... a chance to build up the coach and the potential of the program. Instead he lays the 5 pillars on us. Clank.
 



short ornery norwegian said:
he went through them earlier in the presser.

1. Compliance
2. Academics
3. student-athlete experience
4. PR - Fundraising
5. winning
Click to expand...
These 5 pillars are the reason the Gophers have been trash for 25+ years. When did they originate? Putting winning last is a joke. Pretty sure winning enhances the student-athlete experience...otherwise you may as well hand out participation awards at the end of season banquet.

I'd also argue that winning should be higher than PR- fundraising as a winning team leads to easy opportunities to fundraise. No one wants to invest in a losing team.

Academics - in the era of the transfer portal...how many guys are really going to be here for all four years? I'd wager it's less than 50% at best.

Compliance - outside of academics, what are the compliance issues now that NIL is a thing? I mean...don't bring a gun to your teammate or commit capital murder...but otherwise it seems like this is overkill
 
Last edited:

Big Dawg said:
I heard nothing negative in his response. A great win last night. But, it doesn't negate the historically bad 2 seasons of Ben ball so far. I certainly do not want to see another extension for Ben. Not until he shows us something. His after season portal grabs will be telling along with who leaves via portal. Sunday's game along with our performance in the BIG tourney will be of some importance. I would be shocked-no, surprised if Ben is gone after this season. I'm guessing bar pretty low for next season. 5-6 min BIG victories next year or he's gone. Also cannot have big blowouts next season. Not all 5-15 conference records are the same. If our 15 BIG losses next year are all decent efforts and 10 point or less point dif then he will get some credit.
Click to expand...
Arent we 2-15 in conference this year?
 


You must log in or register to reply here.



Top Bottom