Ben might not have much of a career going forward anyway, at least as a head coach. Those with basketball sense knew he wasn’t close to qualified for the job he got and then failed miserably. Nice guy, but also not a TV personality type of guy. He’s got the money to sit and pursue some passions. Hope he is okay with that.
Some people are willing to pony up a lot of cash just to have something different. Prostitution is the oldest profession for a reason.
Ben could open himself up to a countersuit for impersonating a basketball coach.
I get what you are saying on the litigious society, but his buyout could be withheld if he did so. And it would be hard to claim any damages on top of what he got to go away. If there had been some trumped up deal to fire him for some violation then I could see it, but the 3 million buyout is pretty ironclad.
I do believe he has something to build on if he wants to rebuild a coaching career. He has a good deal of knowledge and ability, and his experience here for sure added a wealth of knowledge and knowhow to what he had coming in. He just did things out of order in his career because of the extraordinary out-of-left-field opportunity he accepted here. I hope he's surveying his options and being honest with himself about where he's at and what he needs to do to get where he wants to be. I do feel he has lots to contribute to the coaching profession.
I've got a couple Gopher stickers and M/Gopher signed dollar bills sprinkled around pubs bars and and coffee shops in Amsterdam haha!
He was in over his head has the head coach here but I'm sure he won't have any trouble continuing his coaching career when he is ready to do so.
Keeping Thorson around though would allow specific questions to be asked.
No ill will towards Ben. I hope he succeeds at something going forward in his life. Since the day his eligibility expired he has had very little to zero success in the world of basketball. He was definitely not ready nor successful as a head coach and an argument could be made that he had no success as an assistant coach. I believe he should find something other than basketball to focus on.
Because the statement isn't for this board and it's the right thing to do.
What’s Lindsay Whalen up to these days?
A fired coach doesn't owe the fanbase anything. If he wants to make a statement great, if he doesn't that is fine too.
Years ago it was probably the right thing to do. Not anymore. Now he just opens himself up to more ridicule. The right thing to do is meet all of the obligations of his contract. In the future, if the university thinks a "thank you for the opportunity" statement is appropriate upon discharge, it should go in the contract.
I didn't say he owed us anything, I said it is the right thing to do. It's how adults handle situations when things end after someone/something gave you your biggest opportunity and largest paycheck. Does he owe it to us? Probably not. Is it the right thing to do? Absolutely.
Are you really arguing that the only things that are right to do are contractually obligated? That's an asinine statement. You don't believe that, you're still in Ben Johnson protection mode. Again, you do not believe that.
You are arguing that he MUST say something. He didn't meet your needs as a hoops coach and he isn't meeting your needs by not expressing gratitude for the opportunity to not meet your needs as a hoops coach.
There's opportunity to make buco bucks placing little tiny ads I hear.
Just because he didn't put it on Twitter doesn't mean he didn't do exactly that with Coyle and the people who actually gave him the opportunity.