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

I'll ask the question - how much does Mark Coyle really care about basketball? Coyle's #1 priority is Football. Kissing PJ Fleck's butt is at 1A. Pat Reusse says he's been told that almost all of the Gophers' NIL money goes to football.

as I noted in another thread, Dinkytown Athletes just did a big matching-funds campaign - and said flat-out that the proceeds would go to Football and Volleyball.

Sure, the powers-that-be at the U would like to see Men's hoops generate more revenue. But is that really a priority?

Nothing will happen during the season. after the season, Coyle will announce that he is evaluating the program. after a week or so, Coyle will announce that Ben Johnson is leaving as Head Coach, but Coyle will claim it was "a mutual decision." Coyle will announce "a national search" for a new Head Coach. and then he'll hire a coach who is willing to take the job for the lowest possible salary.
and the wheel goes around and around and around and around......
Who in their right mind is giving this basketball program NIL $? May as well light your money on fire. If they hire a legit candidate, the NIL money will be better.

DTA’s campaign was for those two sports as it’s soon to be retention season. I would anticipate a decent fundraising push by DTA when CBJ is let go, in anticipation of needing to sign new guys. Ideally you run that campaign earlier to have it ready, but they obviously can’t do that with CBJ still employed.
 

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

I’d petition the NCAA to expand the tourney field to 128.
 

“your” - is used to indicate ownership of something. Like your move.

“You’re” is a contraction meaning “you are”. Which is grammatically incorrect in the sentence I wrote.

Leave correction to the English teachers.

And I frequently misuse the English language, after all, “I are an engineer.”
Gonna hope this is bad sarcasm.
 




A B1G job at triple the salary. Of course he would come here.

We have to stop with the "we can't do any better" attitude. We hired our women's coach away from West Virginia for God's sake.
He’s got a better team where he’s at and can certainly get a better job than this one. It isn’t that we can’t do any better, it’s that he can.
 

Who in their right mind is giving this basketball program NIL $? May as well light your money on fire. If they hire a legit candidate, the NIL money will be better.

DTA’s campaign was for those two sports as it’s soon to be retention season. I would anticipate a decent fundraising push by DTA when CBJ is let go, in anticipation of needing to sign new guys. Ideally you run that campaign earlier to have it ready, but they obviously can’t do that with CBJ still employed.
Get the big hitters involved now. Make them feel like stakeholders in the process. If you wait until the end of the season, fire Ben and then go ask them, it will be too late.
 

He’s got a better team where he’s at and can certainly get a better job than this one. It isn’t that we can’t do any better, it’s that he can.
Colorado State is not a better job. Could he get a better offer? Maybe. But he's still there for the taking at the moment.
 



As someone who thinks CBJ is one of the worst coaches ever, there is 0 reason to fire him mid season. We don't seem overly flush with cash so no reason to waste a few $$. Furthermore, in today's age we aren't worried about keeping anyone either. I'd argue the only kid we need is Asuma, and with his brother just signing, that feels like a near lock.

Fire him the day his buyout goes down. But, in the meantime Coyle needs to have his list and homework done so we can pounce immediately after the year. Know what our budget is, know what donors/boosters want. I think in today's NIL world, there is 0 reason to worry about a local connection, this isn't 1986, no one is staying home just to stay home. It's all about $$ so whoever the people with the deepest pockets want, that's who you go get.
Asuma brother signed?
 

Doogie says he's not convinced the Gophers will pay Ben's less than $2 million buyout. Good lord. Buyouts don't get any smaller than that.
 





The reality of how low this program has sunk truly sets in when Niko Medved is considered your best potential option to turn things around.

Our recent Administrations have shown zero interest investing in this program. Push any hoops NIL towards hockey, volleyball and wrestling and let's hang some realistic banners.
 

I can only imagine the "text messages of anger" that Coyle is sending his wife right now about the condition of the basketball program he's enabled and presided over.

The condition of the program is on his shoulders and his shoulders only. The initial decision to hire him may have been made from above him, but Joan exited the building over a year ago. This is Coyle's mess and his mess only.

What you don't change, you choose.

Go Gophers!!
Agree completely. As I've said through the years, Coyle is a perfect assistant AD. He knows how to manage a department and follow guidelines. That has nothing to do with vision, leadership, growth and winning. As far as I know, he has not demonstrated the ability to raise the kind of money it takes to be successful in the NIL era. The new university president is so low profile I've forgotten her name. If she values athletics, Coyle needs to follow Johnson out the door and they have to bring in a kickass AD with a proven record of raising big dollars. That person needs to spend $30M over 5 years on the right coach and get him the money to sign good players.

If the U isn't prepared to do it right, they might as well keep Coyle and Johnson. Seriously.
 


Go get Sundance Wicks from Wyoming. He is good! Gotta get some of the Fortune 500 companies to donate to the NIL

We have 17 Fortune 500 companies in MN

Have to start turning the other cheek when putting a team together…..gotta start bending the rules!!,,,
 

Go get Sundance Wicks from Wyoming. He is good! Gotta get some of the Fortune 500 companies to donate to the NIL

We have 17 Fortune 500 companies in MN

Have to start turning the other cheek when putting a team together…..gotta start bending the rules!!,,,
What rules?
 

Go get Sundance Wicks from Wyoming. He is good! Gotta get some of the Fortune 500 companies to donate to the NIL

We have 17 Fortune 500 companies in MN

Have to start turning the other cheek when putting a team together…..gotta start bending the rules!!,,,
This means nothing in the NIL world. Most NIL money at schools with large accounts seems to come from individuals not corporations. Texas Tech and others get their money from individuals who own companies. I’m not really sure how many public companies and their shareholders would support giving their money to sports collectives to give to athletes . Joe Schmo who’s a graduate of his favorite U, yes. Fortune 500 companies not so much. And of those 17 Fortune 500 companies in Minnesota, how many are actually run by a Minnesota graduate?
 


This means nothing in the NIL world. Most NIL money at schools with large accounts seems to come from individuals not corporations. Texas Tech and others get their money from individuals who own companies. I’m not really sure how many public companies and their shareholders would support giving their money to sports collectives to give to athletes . Joe Schmo who’s a graduate of his favorite U, yes. Fortune 500 companies not so much. And of those 17 Fortune 500 companies in Minnesota, how many are actually run by a Minnesota graduate?
This. We need an individual who owns a company(s). We need Denny Hecker! (oops)

But, yes, someone like him (minus his unethical behavior) A person that has millions, and an ego.
 

This. We need an individual who owns a company(s). We need Denny Hecker! (oops)

But, yes, someone like him (minus his unethical behavior) A person that has millions, and an ego.
At least Denny is a free man now. Tom Petters got shipped to a fed pen.
 

I'll ask the question - how much does Mark Coyle really care about basketball? Coyle's #1 priority is Football. Kissing PJ Fleck's butt is at 1A. Pat Reusse says he's been told that almost all of the Gophers' NIL money goes to football.

as I noted in another thread, Dinkytown Athletes just did a big matching-funds campaign - and said flat-out that the proceeds would go to Football and Volleyball.

Sure, the powers-that-be at the U would like to see Men's hoops generate more revenue. But is that really a priority?

Nothing will happen during the season. after the season, Coyle will announce that he is evaluating the program. after a week or so, Coyle will announce that Ben Johnson is leaving as Head Coach, but Coyle will claim it was "a mutual decision." Coyle will announce "a national search" for a new Head Coach. and then he'll hire a coach who is willing to take the job for the lowest possible salary.
and the wheel goes around and around and around and around......
Maybe stop listening to Reusse who has no clue what he is talking about. Coyle doesn't decide what sport gets NIL the collective and donors do. And what AD's #1 job is not kissing the football coaches butt? Football is far and away A#1 at the vast majority of Power Conference schools. Of course Reusse wouldn't know that, because it requires paying attention more than buying jumbo popcorns at some Townball game.

Your whole premise is flawed because you get your "facts" from a clown who can barely form coherent thoughts.

If you want DTA to do a match for basketball find a donor willing to set it up. DTA just doesn't get their money from thin air...someone has to pledge to help. The coach is an integral part of that which is why Fleck is able to get it done and Ben is not.
 

Go get Sundance Wicks from Wyoming. He is good! Gotta get some of the Fortune 500 companies to donate to the NIL

We have 17 Fortune 500 companies in MN

Have to start turning the other cheek when putting a team together…..gotta start bending the rules!!,,,
If we go this route and I'm not so sure we shouldn't, lets just go get Will Wade.

Those rules will be bent into knots.


If we go a slightly less greasy route, lets try the talk the guy at UCSB into leaving Santa Barbara in the winter for Minneapolis. He has built a nice program.
 

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!
 

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!
Absolutely, positively, 100% approve of this message!

And for good measure, schedule Texas State (formerly Southwest Texas State) for the re-Final-Four-banner unveiling home opener, the first team the Gophers beat on their magical 1997 run to Indianapolis.

It's time. ... that's been almost 30 years now; we've served our penance. If the NCAA doesn't like it, tough ti**ies!
 

Look for a better situation, even if that means a lower position or less pay.
 

I'm not opposed to Niko and I've generally been supportive of him in the past, but I'd almost rather have a new batch of guys come in for the next hiring cycle.

Start digging around at this point. Look for guys that have been very successful at the lower levels.

Niko has been good, not great. Maybe we can't get great but Fleck was a big time hire at the time we got him.

I've got faith we will see a pretty solid hiring cycle this next go round.

I'd definitely take a look at the guy that's heading the other D1 Program in MN. Though I don't know if he'd actually take the Gophs job.
 
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Doogie says he's not convinced the Gophers will pay Ben's less than $2 million buyout. Good lord. Buyouts don't get any smaller than that.
I find that really hard to believe....a 2 million dollar buyout in today college sports world is chump change. No chance a buyout of that size would keep them from making a coaching change if that was the route they wanted to go.

And in fairness....the first two words of your post are "Doogie says"...... :)
 

Go get Sundance Wicks from Wyoming. He is good! Gotta get some of the Fortune 500 companies to donate to the NIL

We have 17 Fortune 500 companies in MN

Have to start turning the other cheek when putting a team together…..gotta start bending the rules!!,,,
Warning: the following comment is S-a-r-c-a-s-m and not to be relied on for investing purposes.
MN's 17 fortune 500 companies are #'s 483 to #500 (the 17 smallest of the 500...and losing some each year.
 
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