Play “Your the Gopher AD”! What’s your move?

[Spaulding!No!]

Whether or not that was a good decision is probably a pretty good topic for debate
I wouldn’t have brought him back. But I wouldn’t have brought him back two years ago either

The only benefit of hiring him over Craig smith or Medved is nobody would blame you for cutting bait quickly. And we didn’t use that one advantage
We took a flier on our hoops coach. It is what it is

Coyle gave Ben a raise and an extension for a last place finish.

 

[EasyThere Pilgrim]

If I was our AD:

I'd say whatever propaganda to keep my $1M+ job for as long as possible. Like I'm looking into NIL...I'm researching how the good teams do it...I'm right on top of the situation...I'm evaluating all aspects of the program...etc.

I know for a fact that we will always be a low budget program. We will never compete seriously. So I'd just do what the administration tells me to do.

 

[Some guy]

Coyle gave Ben a raise and an extension for a last place finish.

Yup
But they didn’t get last place

They were tied for 9th out of 16

They were 3 games out of 3rd and 3 games ahead of 15th

Michigan was kind of by themselves in 16th



But I didn’t think it was a good year because it was obviously the up year of a 4 year cycle. That’s good enough for your third best year in a 4 year cycle maybe.

 

[tjgopher]

That’s the one I have heard of too. There are probably more you just don’t hear about but I am not sure exactly why FedEx would do that. I watch a lot of sports and have no problem with individuals donating to NIL but unless my employer was getting some tangible business benefit out of it I wouldn’t want them spending their money on paying college athletes. I would rather that money be reinvested back into the business or donated to a charity that benefits people in need, not college athletes making 6 figures and going to school for free.

I generally agree with you on this, I don't feel publicly held companies should be throwing money at college athletes when they have to answer to stock holders on profits, etc.

However, I would offer that the major corporation located in Memphis (FedEx) may feel it worthwhile to be a booster to the market's name brand university for a number of reasons. They may feel it brings value and happiness to the city and the university if it has winning programs. They may think the city will have a higher profile if the local major college sports teams are excellent and well respected thanks in large part to winning. There are many big time Fortune 500 corporations who champion local boosterism to help the image and profile of the market they are located in. FedEx likely feels like helping create good major college sports is worthwhile. FedEx owns the naming rights to the arena, to the PGA Golf event in Memphis, and clearly must believe that sports marketing to create a higher profile (and possibly a higher quality of life in small ways), is worthwhile.

I would also offer that Mark Coyle and his fundraisers should be showcasing the FedEx boosterism to local Minnesota companies suggesting if the Gophers are good, that is generally a better thing for the home city of whatever corporation they speak to. And, then, encourage said local companies to follow a similar path to upgrading the local market's major university athletics department.

 

[tjgopher]

Yup
But they didn’t get last place

They were tied for 9th out of 16

I think the poster may have been referring to the first extension that Ben signed, which came after year one. That was a year in which he tied for last place in the Big Ten and got the 14th seed in the 14-team Big Ten Tourney.

 

[Some guy]

I think the poster may have been referring to the first extension that Ben signed, which came after year one. That was a year in which he tied for last place in the Big Ten and got the 14th seed in the 14-team Big Ten Tourney.

He may have been.

 

[EasyThere Pilgrim]

If our transfer players are receiving NIL money, someone should be fired. These players are so bad, they should be paying to play here.

They're not.

That's the whole point. We're a low-budget team.

 

[EasyThere Pilgrim]

I forgot to add.

The first thing I would do after hiring a new coach. I'd make a grand announcement that on opening day 2025 we are hanging that final 4 banner back up. I promise you the barn would be sold out and rocking. And I bet you get a few extra $$ to roll in the door. And I'd wait for the first Big 10 game and hang that damn conference title banner that night too! What are they really going to do? Nothing. Get this damn program a heartbeat, get excited about something!

We will never hang that banner. And we will always be a low-budget team.

No matter how many donations come in...we will never pay to keep good men's basketball players.