Reusse: NIL funding for Gophers men's basketball stands at $0.00. Pitino's better off in Lobo Land, I'm guessing.

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This isn’t Oxford, MS and by every measure of quality of life nobody should want it to be. We’re never going to give large sums of money to third-party intermediaries to then turn around and give it to 17-22 year old kids.

I have no problem buying tickets to games or events but I am not giving additional money to random kids. I have no problem with these kids being paid but I think the idea that most progressive areas are going to be willing to give pass through money in this way is bonkers.
 

UpAndUnder43 said:
This is factually untrue and I have receipts from what I’ve given to prove it

Parker Fox made like $12k last year through NIL.

Reuses is lying.
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Garcia makes money. It’s not like others around us (Illinois, Indiana, etc…) but it’s not nothing. Our biggest issue is our compliance won’t let us cheat with NIL like the others.
 

Gopher Teeth said:
Everything you look at from the administration, alumni, down to the fan base, nobody cares. You can't build a successful program when nobody cares.
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I agree with you. I've posted my thoughts on this a couple of times in recent weeks. I think there are 4 Big Ten programs whose actions, or lack thereof, indicate that they don't care that much about basketball: Penn State, Nebraska, Northwestern, and Minnesota. The first three of these have never had more than an occasional successful year in the sport since they've been in the Big Ten. PSU hired a coach of similar stature to ours. Their prior coach had 3 winning years in 9 seasons; the reasons given for his dismissal were conduct rather than performance related. Nebraska hired a name coach but they would have fired him by now if he produced this type of record as the football coach. Northwestern is having a good season this year but 7 of Collins' previous 9 seasons have been losing; he would have been fired by now if his teams performed this way in football. As others have mentioned, these four schools still reap the benefits of conference TV money and that may be enough for them right now.

I think this university cares about maintaining its level of success in football and it cares about maintaining its status in hockey. Collegiate hockey attracts far larger proportion of fans here than it does in most states and provides the additional benefits of significant in-state competition and rivalries.

So what do we do as Gopher basketball fans? I guess that depends upon each individual's attitude. I still enjoy watching them to a degree (maybe that's habit more than anything else) although I've mostly stopped caring about whether they win or not. I guess I don't mind being a fan of a bad team. Someone's got to do it. If one enjoys going against the crowd, it's a natural fit!
 
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GopherWeatherGuy said:
The Twin Cities media led by the Strib were at the forefront demanding that the next basketball coach be a person of color. The Gophers appeased them by hiring an unqualified person of color to coach this team.

So of course they are now going to fabricate things that aren't true to try defend the total failure that the Ben Johnson era has been 2/3 of the way through season 2.

Ben isn't up against anything worse than previous coaches had. In fact, he has it much easier. On day 1 he stepped into a free transfer portal that has made it easier than ever for coaches to have success in years 1 and 2.

He also has the 5 year old state of the art practice facility that Clem/Monson/Tubby didn't have, and Pitino didn't have until his 5th year on the job.
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This is true. We could argue all day whether the sports programs at the U should be used as part of the identity politics world, but either way it absolutely was. And we need to live with the ramifications of making decisions based on factors outside of basketball. We obviously haven't won any games, but is it outweighed by the improved perception of the U or some perceived benefit to our minority community by hiring an African-American basketball coach? I am sure everyone has their own opinions on that question, but it is definitely one worth asking.
 


EasyThere Pilgrim said:
50-50...50 grown men age 50+...us right here...doing JACK SH*T and putting all the blame on Ben Johnson.

Or in my case...I do JACK SH*T while blaming the administration...etc...

50 of us should be able to figure out how to get 2 great players to go with Garcia, Battle, Evans, & co. next year.
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And one of them preferably named Jack Schitt.
 


UpAndUnder43 said:
This is factually untrue and I have receipts from what I’ve given to prove it

Parker Fox made like $12k last year through NIL.

Reuses is lying.
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I doubt he's lying but he could well be misinformed. Is there a separate basketball NIL fund from Dinkytown Athletes?
 

WoodburyTim said:
This is true. We could argue all day whether the sports programs at the U should be used as part of the identity politics world, but either way it absolutely was. And we need to live with the ramifications of making decisions based on factors outside of basketball. We obviously haven't won any games, but is it outweighed by the improved perception of the U or some perceived benefit to our minority community by hiring an African-American basketball coach? I am sure everyone has their own opinions on that question, but it is definitely one worth asking.
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I figured this was going to be the case when I read the term "equity gap" in the early press releases about the coaching search. To my memory, these came from the university rather than the local press. Ben was an ideal choice from this standpoint. He is from Minnesota, played here, and spent a lot of years as an assistant coach without being elevated to a head coaching position. Hiring an established African American head coach would not have been addressing the "equity gap" because that person would have been elevated already. Anyone who has a significant connection to higher education in this state is familiar with this term and the great importance attached to it by higher educational administration throughout the state.
 



howeda7 said:
I doubt he's lying but he could well be misinformed. Is there a separate basketball NIL fund from Dinkytown Athletes?
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Although I know nothing about the NIL infrastructure, I'm inclined to agree with you. If this claim is technically false, I suspect that there are multiple sources of potential funding but the one looked at here was unfunded. There is no upside for Reusse by "lying."

Regardless of whether this claim is technically true, writing about whether NIL is adequately funded probably is a worthwhile endeavor these days.
 

WoodburyTim said:
This is true. We could argue all day whether the sports programs at the U should be used as part of the identity politics world, but either way it absolutely was. And we need to live with the ramifications of making decisions based on factors outside of basketball. We obviously haven't won any games, but is it outweighed by the improved perception of the U or some perceived benefit to our minority community by hiring an African-American basketball coach? I am sure everyone has their own opinions on that question, but it is definitely one worth asking.
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It may have been a legitimate question for the U Athletic Department overall but the men's basketball team was not the culprit. Clem and Tubby are the two most successful coaches they've had in the past 40 years.

The current situation benefits no one. Few people who aren't hardcore college basketball fans even know who Ben Johnson is. Gopher basketball is some combination of an afterthought and a joke.
 

I love it how Reusse just makes this blanket statement without any source or documentation and everyone accepts it as fact. I believe about 50% of what that hack writes.
 

howeda7 said:
It may have been a legitimate question for the U Athletic Department overall but the men's basketball team was not the culprit. Clem and Tubby are the two most successful coaches they've had in the past 40 years.
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"Equity gap." That term was mentioned in the early press releases. Hiring an established African American head coach would not address the "equity gap." Addressing the "equity gap" requires elevating additional members of disadvantaged populations to higher level positions.
 



cjbfbp said:
"Equity gap." That term was mentioned in the early press releases. Hiring an established African American head coach would not address the "equity gap." Addressing the "equity gap" requires elevating additional members of disadvantaged populations to higher level positions.
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So hiring Dennis Gates wouldn't fit the bill?
 

howeda7 said:
So hiring Dennis Gates wouldn't fit the bill?
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Not in the true sense of the term because Gates was already elevated to a head coaching position. That's not increasing the numbers.
 

cheeseheadgophfan said:
I love it how Reusse just makes this blanket statement without any source or documentation and everyone accepts it as fact. I believe about 50% of what that hack writes.
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He did say he confirmed it with "a source".
 

cjbfbp said:
If this claim is false, then I think the likely explanation is that he is "mistaken" not "lying."
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Reusse is big into sarcasm, which I enjoy. This is another example. Compared the Little Richie’s $NIL, the Gophers $NIL is nothing.
 

The rest of the article said Coach Johnson needs 4 years and doing it almost on his own.


Meanwhile, Twitter is lit up with this news in the world of basketball.








 



Bfan said:
The rest of the article said Coach Johnson needs 4 years and doing it almost on his own.


Meanwhile, Twitter is lit up with this news in the world of basketball.








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In a playoff game between the Bulls and Cleveland years ago, there was a controversial game ending situation where Michael Jordan stopped a shot by a Cleveland player (Craig Ehlo I think). When asked about it in a press conference, Jordan answered: "Did I get the hand? I probably got the whole arm." He then went on to say that's the nature of basketball and it doesn't matter if it isn't called.

It's not a foul unless it's called.
 

cjbfbp said:
I agree with you. I've posted my thoughts on this a couple of times in recent weeks. I think there are 4 Big Ten programs whose actions, or lack thereof, indicate that they don't care that much about basketball: Penn State, Nebraska, Northwestern, and Minnesota. The first three of these have never had more than an occasional successful year in the sport since they've been in the Big Ten. PSU hired a coach of similar stature to ours. Their prior coach had 3 winning years in 9 seasons; the reasons given for his dismissal were conduct rather than performance related. Nebraska hired a name coach but they would have fired him by now if he produced this type of record as the football coach. Northwestern is having a good season this year but 7 of Collins' previous 9 seasons have been losing; he would have been fired by now if his teams performed this way in football. As others have mentioned, these four schools still reap the benefits of conference TV money and that may be enough for them right now.

I think this university cares about maintaining its level of success in football and it cares about maintaining its status in hockey. Hockey attracts far more fans here than it does in most states and provides the additional benefits of significant in-state competition and rivalries.

So what do we do as Gopher basketball fans? I guess that depends upon each individual's attitude. I still enjoy watching them to a degree (maybe that's habit more than anything else) although I've mostly stopped caring about whether they win or not. I guess I don't mind being a fan of a bad team. Someone's got to do it. If one enjoys going against the crowd, it's a natural fit!
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Before this year, I think I’ve caught all but a handful of games over the last ten years. Now I’ve got two young kids and any 2-hour window I focus my attention elsewhere comes with a trade off. I can justify it if I get enjoyment out of the product, but I get very little these days. Family has always come first, but I have decreasing interest in spending my limited personal time on Gopher sports. The NIL and transfer landscapes have played a role (“things ain’t like they used to be”), but all of this just feels so small.
 

Gopherfan84 said:
Garcia makes money. It’s not like others around us (Illinois, Indiana, etc…) but it’s not nothing. Our biggest issue is our compliance won’t let us cheat with NIL like the others.
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Then don't expect to win like others.
 

Plays like that elicit passionate reactions. That's one reason we follow games. I love James's passion for the game and feel his pain. I am sure he has been a beneficiary the other way too. I just had to sneak that topic in for reactions.
 

EasyThere Pilgrim said:
How about this for NIL:

For every Gopher win next year...10 stray cats get $5000 in food & shelter.

Advertise that nationwide.

Also by myself I have a way to get a couple big celebrities on-board. So what could a 50-man group of us do??
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Wtf????
 

VanillaThunder said:
Reusse is big into sarcasm, which I enjoy. This is another example. Compared the Little Richie’s $NIL, the Gophers $NIL is nothing.
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He may enjoy sarcasm but I think he was being sincere here in addressing a perceived failure in regards to a critical factor these days and how that failure indicates a lack of support for the program and a significant handicap for the current coach.

I wouldn't know Ruesse if he sat next to me on a park bench. The only things I know about him I've picked up on this board. But, I've read enough here to determine that he is a bona fide basketball fan. He once wrote that the basketball program's struggles were disheartening for him because he grew up in a part of the state where hockey was not so popular and he was a basketball fan who wasn't much into hockey.
 


bc2211 said:
Before this year, I think I’ve caught all but a handful of games over the last ten years. Now I’ve got two young kids and any 2-hour window I focus my attention elsewhere comes with a trade off. I can justify it if I get enjoyment out of the product, but I get very little these days. Family has always come first, but I have decreasing interest in spending my limited personal time on Gopher sports. The NIL and transfer landscapes have played a role (“things ain’t like they used to be”), but all of this just feels so small.
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If I were in your life stage, I'd feel exactly the same way. In fact, I remember those times and I didn't spend too much time watching sports outside of youth sports as a parent. Now I'm retired and a long-time empty-nester so I have lots of time to devote to less rewarding activities like Gopher basketball!
 



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