Souhan: Lindsay Whalen and Ben Johnson are connected despite different Gophers timelines

[BleedGopher]

per Souhan:

Patience is a funny concept in sports, where careers are short, injuries loom, firings occur with numbing regularity and every team in every league is selling the snake oil of imminent excitement.

Hear the word "patience" from a coach, and the mind immediately translates it into "I've run out of excuses."

The Gophers basketball teams open their regular seasons on Tuesday at Williams Arena. Both have reason to plead for patience, and they might provide two instances of "patience" being used properly.

One team will openly beg for it. One might be ready to make it pay off.

Lindsay Whalen and Ben Johnson are connected despite different Gophers timelines

The rookie men's coach and the famous women's coach should come to success at different times, but one Minnesota native can pave the way for the other.

www.startribune.com

Go Gophers!!

 

[MRJ]

They definitely have one thing in common: Both played for the Gophers and neither had any head coaching experience when Coyle hired them. Apparently, Mark's prerequisites for being a Gopher hoops coach is to have played for Minnesota and be from the state. That's about it.

The only real difference between them is that Whalen is arguably the best player in Gopher women's basketball history. Ben Johnson was an average guard on a medicore-at-best Minnesota men's team. Other than that, they have about the same level of qualification for their respective jobs.

 

[Ignatius L Hoops]

They definitely have one thing in common: Both played for the Gophers and neither had any head coaching experience when Coyle hired them. Apparently, Mark's prerequisites for being a Gopher hoops coach is to have played for Minnesota and be from the state. That's about it.

The only real difference between them is that Whalen is arguably the best player in Gopher women's basketball history. Ben Johnson was an average guard on a medicore-at-best Minnesota men's team. Other than that, they have about the same level of qualification for their respective jobs.

Actually, the real difference is that Johnson has a long coaching resume and Whalen doesn't. As far as I know, Whalen never publicly expressed any interest in coaching before taking the Gopher job (unless you count a semester as an undergrad assistant for Borton).

 

[MRJ]

Actually, the real difference is that Johnson has a long coaching resume and Whalen doesn't. As far as I know, Whalen never publicly expressed any interest in coaching before taking the Gopher job (unless you count a semester as an undergrad assistant for Borton).

Notice I said head coaching experience, but yeah, Ben has been a career assistant at a bunch of mediocre or bad programs, so I guess he had that going for him.