Shooter: Brian Dutcher praises Gophers’ hiring of Ben Johnson

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Gopho Sapiens said:
I'll bet he was 80% in with his decision before Pitino was gone.
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He was in agreement with Gable that a POC had to be hired, early on. And I bet he was 80% in on Gates, early on.

Then suddenly Gates decides he won't interview, and they scramble and land on BJ and spin it as the "keeping our local kids home with a 'one of us' coach and staff'.

I can't prove any of this. Wild guesses. But I'm going with something like that. Makes sense to me.

Gopho Sapiens said:
I do think if you can't retain your backyard talent you are not doing something right.
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Just like all the top programs always do, every year, right? 😏
 
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howeda7 said:
Can we start a list of coaches hired despite terrible interviews? I bet it's short.
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Apparently PJ Fleck had an awful interview. Coyle ended it early, saying "I've heard enough of this jargon nonsense, get out!!"

You believe me, right?
 

short ornery norwegian said:
And maybe- just maybe - Johnson learned from those earlier interviews and made a stronger/better impression when he interviewed for MN. You know, like a coach making halftime adjustments.
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I wonder what his adjustment was for having zero head coaching experience??

Must've been a doozy.
 

MplsGopher said:
He was in agreement with Gable that a POC had to be hired, early on. And I bet he was 80% in on Gates, early on.

Then suddenly Gates decides he won't interview, and they scramble and land on BJ and spin it as the "keeping our local kids home with a 'one of us' coach and staff'.

I can't prove any of this. Wild guesses. But I'm going with something like that. Makes sense to me.


Just like all the top programs always do, every year, right? 😏
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I'm afraid you have me at a disadvantage here MplsGopher, you value your own opinion so much greater than I am able to.
 




GopherBlood666 said:
This is the biggest thing that bothered me about the hire. There were multiple candidates ready to interview and the U didn't even want to hear what they had to say? If you go through the process and end up with BJ than fine, but to say F the process we got our guy seems short sighted. The only time that may be the right move is when the coaching prospect is sooo hot you have to pull the trigger or risk losing them. That was not the case with our choice.
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This. It was confirmed Dutcher didn't even get a chance to interview, he just asked Coyle that he wanted a couple days in San Diego with family before interviewing on Monday or Tuesday.

Makes one wonder, who actually interviewed for the job besides BJ?
 




SanDiegoGopherFan said:
This. It was confirmed Dutcher didn't even get a chance to interview, he just asked Coyle that he wanted a couple days in San Diego with family before interviewing on Monday or Tuesday.

Makes one wonder, who actually interviewed for the job besides BJ?
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Ben, Sam Mitchell, Ben Jacobsen and Craig Smith I believe. But Ben might have been the only in-person interview. Doesn't seem like Dutcher or Medved even got interviewed which is nuts, IMO.
 

SanDiegoGopherFan said:
This. It was confirmed Dutcher didn't even get a chance to interview, he just asked Coyle that he wanted a couple days in San Diego with family before interviewing on Monday or Tuesday.

Makes one wonder, who actually interviewed for the job besides BJ?
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Think some media mentioned that the only people for in person interviews were Ben Johnson and Ben Jacobsen I believe.
 

alchemy2u said:
You have to go by Coyle’s history and know that he has talked to other coach and got recommendations for Ben. We have heard glowing recommendations from the coaches he has worked with, from the players he has coached/recruited, from the youth basketball community, from prior players at the U, etc...

There is a lot of sources for the information that Coyle used to make the hire. You are being very naive if you think it was just one interview.
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Don't discount the pressure from Warren. The lack of minority coaches was something that was coming down from the B1G offices as well, not just local media. I would have taken Gates but someone posted that he wasn't interested.
 

howeda7 said:
Ben, Sam Mitchell, Ben Jacobsen and Craig Smith I believe. But Ben might have been the only in-person interview. Doesn't seem like Dutcher or Medved even got interviewed which is nuts, IMO.
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Mitchell got an interview? interesting. Well, let's hope he fills out the staff this week, I imagine trying to recruit with no staff has to be hard af
 




SanDiegoGopherFan said:
Mitchell got an interview? interesting. Well, let's hope he fills out the staff this week, I imagine trying to recruit with no staff has to be hard af
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Doogie implied those were the 4 finalists (Ben Johnson, Ben Jacobsen, Sam Mitchell and Craig Smith). But Smith never interviewed in person and I don't know if Mitchell did either.
 

NDGopher69420 said:
Worst take I've seen on here. He would have crawled over broken glass to come to Minnesota if that's what they asked him to do.
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So you're claiming that Coyle refused to hire him at the same pay as BJ?. That's a far worse take than mine.
 

SanDiegoGopherFan said:
Don't discount the pressure from Warren. The lack of minority coaches was something that was coming down from the B1G offices as well, not just local media. I would have taken Gates but someone posted that he wasn't interested.
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He wasn't interested in any job, or no one was really interested in him. He's still at Cleveland State.
 



Just my two cents:
I believe Brian Dutcher wanted this job. I'm of similar age and have an aging parent that needs assisted living. The draw to take care of a parent in old age is strong and being back home would have offered him the ability to do that. I've delayed retirement in order to be available to my Mother. At this time snow bird life won't work for me as I don't want to leave her alone for 6 months.
I don't know, but I think that was in his mind when he put the buyout clause in his contract.
Could be that Coyle already knew he was going in another direction but gave Dutcher the complementary phone call out of respect. That conversation could have been completely different then what was reported.
 


CentralGopher said:
So you're claiming that Coyle refused to hire him at the same pay as BJ?
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No, dummy

He's saying Coyle (and Gable) hired BJ, at the pay they hired BJ with, and that Smith would have accepted that level of pay if he had been offered the job at that level.
 

MplsGopher said:
No, dummy

He's saying Coyle (and Gable) hired BJ, at the pay they hired BJ with, and that Smith would have accepted that level of pay if he had been offered the job at that level.
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Stupid. You're saying either Coyle is the dumbest AD there is or that Smith would have taken a similar offer. Neither are true otherwise we'd have Nuness as an assistant.
 

Gopher Teeth said:
Exactly, I have had the same experience, some people are really good in interviews. The problem is an interview is an imperfect measure and should never be the sole reason for making a selection.
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At least interviewing well should translate into recruiting well because many of the same dynamics apply.
 





www.twincities.com

Charley Walters: Brian Dutcher praises Gophers’ hiring of Ben Johnson

Knowledgeable people in college basketball were convinced Dutcher would be the new men’s coach. So what happened?
www.twincities.com www.twincities.com

I do a lot of hiring and have never got so taken with one candidate I didn't do my due diligence and not interviewil the remaining candidates.. Tell me how the hell you make a Power 5 basketball coach hire without interviewing ALL of your short list of candidates?
 

jalenr05 said:
www.twincities.com

Charley Walters: Brian Dutcher praises Gophers’ hiring of Ben Johnson

Knowledgeable people in college basketball were convinced Dutcher would be the new men’s coach. So what happened?
www.twincities.com www.twincities.com

I do a lot of hiring and have never got so taken with one candidate I didn't do my due diligence and not interviewil the remaining candidates.. Tell me how the hell you make a Power 5 basketball coach hire without interviewing ALL of your short list of candidates?
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Even when I got quotes from tree removal people: I knew I was going to hire the first company that visited, but I still kept the appointments with the others and evaluated them objectively. This was such a huge decision by the U...
 

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