Ultimate Proof Ben is unfit to rule

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Williams Arena was the worst it has been since the last days of Monson the other night. Inside the arena, the concourses, everything - there was absolutely no life. Concession stands were closed, Gopher gear stands were closed. You could hear the coaches consistently from across the court - that doesn't happen when there is any kind of vibe in the arena. It was awful.

The reason Coyle has to make a change now is because it would get fans engaged again. The conversation would become about the future with excitement about possibilities. Local recruits I know would become interested in paying attention to the Gophers again because they would want to know who the coach is. They aren't interested at all now because they know they aren't being recruited by their future coach, and if they are they aren't interested in playing for him.

There is no reason to keep him at this point... just let Thorson take over for now. He has a fun personality and will engage the media much better than Ben does. And, the team will be much better coached. Yes, he is on the staff and is part of the dysfunction, but the positive influence he could have is largely limited by the head coach.

I have been going to Williams Arena forever and this can be an amazing program if we get the right person in, but there has to be a dramatic change now as we are losing more and more people by the day. You have to change the narrative from the present to the future.
 

Tucker32 said:
Williams Arena was the worst it has been since the last days of Monson the other night. Inside the arena, the concourses, everything - there was absolutely no life. Concession stands were closed, Gopher gear stands were closed. You could hear the coaches consistently from across the court - that doesn't happen when there is any kind of vibe in the arena. It was awful.

The reason Coyle has to make a change now is because it would get fans engaged again. The conversation would become about the future with excitement about possibilities. Local recruits I know would become interested in paying attention to the Gophers again because they would want to know who the coach is. They aren't interested at all now because they know they aren't being recruited by their future coach, and if they are they aren't interested in playing for him.

There is no reason to keep him at this point... just let Thorson take over for now. He has a fun personality and will engage the media much better than Ben does. And, the team will be much better coached. Yes, he is on the staff and is part of the dysfunction, but the positive influence he could have is largely limited by the head coach.

I have been going to Williams Arena forever and this can be an amazing program if we get the right person in, but there has to be a dramatic change now as we are losing more and more people by the day. You have to change the narrative from the present to the future.
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Tucker32 said:
Williams Arena was the worst it has been since the last days of Monson the other night. Inside the arena, the concourses, everything - there was absolutely no life. Concession stands were closed, Gopher gear stands were closed. You could hear the coaches consistently from across the court - that doesn't happen when there is any kind of vibe in the arena. It was awful.

The reason Coyle has to make a change now is because it would get fans engaged again. The conversation would become about the future with excitement about possibilities. Local recruits I know would become interested in paying attention to the Gophers again because they would want to know who the coach is. They aren't interested at all now because they know they aren't being recruited by their future coach, and if they are they aren't interested in playing for him.

There is no reason to keep him at this point... just let Thorson take over for now. He has a fun personality and will engage the media much better than Ben does. And, the team will be much better coached. Yes, he is on the staff and is part of the dysfunction, but the positive influence he could have is largely limited by the head coach.

I have been going to Williams Arena forever and this can be an amazing program if we get the right person in, but there has to be a dramatic change now as we are losing more and more people by the day. You have to change the narrative from the present to the future.
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Agree but should be noted students were on break so added to the silence.
 



Tucker32 said:
Williams Arena was the worst it has been since the last days of Monson the other night. Inside the arena, the concourses, everything - there was absolutely no life. Concession stands were closed, Gopher gear stands were closed. You could hear the coaches consistently from across the court - that doesn't happen when there is any kind of vibe in the arena. It was awful.

The reason Coyle has to make a change now is because it would get fans engaged again. The conversation would become about the future with excitement about possibilities. Local recruits I know would become interested in paying attention to the Gophers again because they would want to know who the coach is. They aren't interested at all now because they know they aren't being recruited by their future coach, and if they are they aren't interested in playing for him.

There is no reason to keep him at this point... just let Thorson take over for now. He has a fun personality and will engage the media much better than Ben does. And, the team will be much better coached. Yes, he is on the staff and is part of the dysfunction, but the positive influence he could have is largely limited by the head coach.

I have been going to Williams Arena forever and this can be an amazing program if we get the right person in, but there has to be a dramatic change now as we are losing more and more people by the day. You have to change the narrative from the present to the future.
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We had more bass drums, but fewer tubas. 🥁🥁
 


saintpauljeff said:
Looked at the box score from last night, 12/27? Are they that bad every game? Brutal.
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Looked up FT shooting since Ben has been our coach. His 1st year around 70% n has been going down every year since then to the lower 60% this season. I know they have many other issues but when your margin for victory is so narrow shooting at least average @ the FT might win you a few close games like last night.
 



MUgopher32 said:
https://x.com/TonyLiebert/status/1876502681608761662

Last 15 seconds

Ben says that we've shot free throws pretty good?? They have been a bit of a strength for us??? We get a lot of pts there?!?!!

We entered tonight's debacle 348/350 in free throw %

I will be the first to tell you that over the course of a season free throw % is actually not a very important stat, its more free throw rate thats the key. Well...

We entered 219th in free throw rate

This guy is beyond clueless. And its doing no one any good. I mean that is a flat out insane comment to make after a game like this, with season stats like those.
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Like I said...after losing all of his valuable players...Ben knows it's a total joke now. He's just saying whatever now.

Just like Coyle saying he's doing research on how the good teams do it. It's all BS.
 


Tucker32 said:
Williams Arena was the worst it has been since the last days of Monson the other night. Inside the arena, the concourses, everything - there was absolutely no life. Concession stands were closed, Gopher gear stands were closed. You could hear the coaches consistently from across the court - that doesn't happen when there is any kind of vibe in the arena. It was awful.

The reason Coyle has to make a change now is because it would get fans engaged again. The conversation would become about the future with excitement about possibilities. Local recruits I know would become interested in paying attention to the Gophers again because they would want to know who the coach is. They aren't interested at all now because they know they aren't being recruited by their future coach, and if they are they aren't interested in playing for him.

There is no reason to keep him at this point... just let Thorson take over for now. He has a fun personality and will engage the media much better than Ben does. And, the team will be much better coached. Yes, he is on the staff and is part of the dysfunction, but the positive influence he could have is largely limited by the head coach.

I have been going to Williams Arena forever and this can be an amazing program if we get the right person in, but there has to be a dramatic change now as we are losing more and more people by the day. You have to change the narrative from the present to the future.
Click to expand...
It really is dead. I give fans credit for showing up at all, and I was glad I made the trip the other night, just to witness what happened in all its infamy, but that's ideally not the reason one should want to be present.

Even as recently as last season, the fans still had some juice. When Battle returned to the Barn, and the crowd booed him mercilessly, I was impressed and heartened that we still had that in us. It's not the same this year. There's a feeling of doom, hopelessness, and helplessness. The offseason departures of Hawkins, Payne and Christie broke a lot of people's spirit. There's been an understanding for some time that there wasn't going to be much success this year. It's been a death march for more than just the last two months.
 

Bad Gopher said:
It really is dead. I give fans credit for showing up at all, and I was glad I made the trip the other night, just to witness what happened in all its infamy, but that's ideally not the reason one should want to be present.

Even as recently as last season, the fans still had some juice. When Battle returned to the Barn, and the crowd booed him mercilessly, I was impressed and heartened that we still had that in us. It's not the same this year. There's a feeling of doom, hopelessness, and helplessness. The offseason departures of Hawkins, Payne and Christie broke a lot of people's spirit. There's been an understanding for some time that there wasn't going to be much success this year. It's been a death march for more than just the last two months.
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gopherdudepart2 said:
Listening to Ben drone on with excuses on his radio show, when will he get it that it is time to move on and let someone else coach and teach in this program? Pride before the fall.
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Two questions:

Why does it matter whether or not he realizes it's time to move on? You don't need people's permission to fire them.

If you hate Ben, why the hell do you listen to his radio show? I don't watch or listen to any coach's radio or TV show and that has nothing to do with whether I like the coach or not. Listening to coaches talk just isn't interesting to me even if I like the coach. I would have even less interest in listening to a coach I didn't like.

Seems like you're just a glutton for outrage.
 

Our family has shared season tickets since the final two years of Jim Dutcher's reign. They were hard to come by. The company I worked for was a supplier to the "U". A bit of help from my boss to someone in the ticket department, along with my application and a decent check to the Williams Foundation helped to secure four second tier, basket-end tickets Seat improvement throughout the Haskins era was impossible. That was OK. The atmosphere in the Barn was such you'd never miss attending a home game. The noise late in the second half was frequently so loud you had to holler to the person next to you to be heard. And then, when Dick Jonckowski would calmly announce "One Minute" the noise volume would nearly double. Fans would grab unsold programs on the way out the door just to savor the game they'd just witnessed. Nothing like that any longer.
We've since bequeathed our share of the tickets to our kids. They attended three Big Ten home games last year, one so far this year. They'll likely not attend even one more. And they're having difficulty finding co-workers, neighbors, even long-time friends to make use of them, for any of the remaining games.. They tell me, "Dad, there's no longer even those guys on the street who used to ask for, beg for, 'any un-used tickets to re-sell'? I've said I'll re-commit to the renewing next year if they don't. But I may welch on that promise. For certain I'll renege if the current Board of Regents continues to show their disinterest in Gopher Basketball and if they refuse to hire a coach capable of filling Williams Arena to the rafters and making a Gophers ticket one of the toughest to come by, year after year.
 

pondgopher said:
Our family has shared season tickets since the final two years of Jim Dutcher's reign. They were hard to come by. The company I worked for was a supplier to the "U". A bit of help from my boss to someone in the ticket department, along with my application and a decent check to the Williams Foundation helped to secure four second tier, basket-end tickets Seat improvement throughout the Haskins era was impossible. That was OK. The atmosphere in the Barn was such you'd never miss attending a home game. The noise late in the second half was frequently so loud you had to holler to the person next to you to be heard. And then, when Dick Jonckowski would calmly announce "One Minute" the noise volume would nearly double. Fans would grab unsold programs on the way out the door just to savor the game they'd just witnessed. Nothing like that any longer.
We've since bequeathed our share of the tickets to our kids. They attended three Big Ten home games last year, one so far this year. They'll likely not attend even one more. And they're having difficulty finding co-workers, neighbors, even long-time friends to make use of them, for any of the remaining games.. They tell me, "Dad, there's no longer even those guys on the street who used to ask for, beg for, 'any un-used tickets to re-sell'? I've said I'll re-commit to the renewing next year if they don't. But I may welch on that promise. For certain I'll renege if the current Board of Regents continues to show their disinterest in Gopher Basketball and if they refuse to hire a coach capable of filling Williams Arena to the rafters and making a Gophers ticket one of the toughest to come by, year after year.
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Lil' Ricky hire was the beginning of the race to the bottom
 





Does Coyle even attend games? Do any of you in attendance ever see him at Williams Arena?
 





pondgopher said:
Our family has shared season tickets since the final two years of Jim Dutcher's reign. They were hard to come by. The company I worked for was a supplier to the "U". A bit of help from my boss to someone in the ticket department, along with my application and a decent check to the Williams Foundation helped to secure four second tier, basket-end tickets Seat improvement throughout the Haskins era was impossible. That was OK. The atmosphere in the Barn was such you'd never miss attending a home game. The noise late in the second half was frequently so loud you had to holler to the person next to you to be heard. And then, when Dick Jonckowski would calmly announce "One Minute" the noise volume would nearly double. Fans would grab unsold programs on the way out the door just to savor the game they'd just witnessed. Nothing like that any longer.
We've since bequeathed our share of the tickets to our kids. They attended three Big Ten home games last year, one so far this year. They'll likely not attend even one more. And they're having difficulty finding co-workers, neighbors, even long-time friends to make use of them, for any of the remaining games.. They tell me, "Dad, there's no longer even those guys on the street who used to ask for, beg for, 'any un-used tickets to re-sell'? I've said I'll re-commit to the renewing next year if they don't. But I may welch on that promise. For certain I'll renege if the current Board of Regents continues to show their disinterest in Gopher Basketball and if they refuse to hire a coach capable of filling Williams Arena to the rafters and making a Gophers ticket one of the toughest to come by, year after year.
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I want you to know that I'm moved by your post. It brought back memories I forgot I had! It's hard to believe now that the arena and game experience were actually like that, but they were. Maybe not dissimilar to how, in the dead of winter, it can sometimes be difficult to believe it can get warm enough to wear nothing and jump in a lake. Pray for this program's summer to come again.
 

EasyThere Pilgrim said:
Kicking Lynch off of Pitino's Final Four contender was a sign that the past self-sabotages weren't just bad luck.
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You keep saying this, but there was zero evidence that team was making a Final Four run prior to losing Reggie Lynch. That team also lost Eric Curry for the entire season, lost Amir Coffey for most of the season, was playing a hobbled Dupree McBrayer on one leg the entire season, and had zero depth as a result.

We also got boat raced at Nebraska and Arkansas, and beat Drake at home by 1 point with the entire starting 5 intact (prior to losing Lynch).

I realize your dumb narrative won't be swayed by facts, but sometimes it's useful to have them out there.
 
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Zeppelin Gopher said:
You keep saying this, but there was zero evidence that team was making a Final Four run prior to losing Reggie Lynch. That team also lost Eric Curry for the entire season, lost Amir Coffey for most of the season, was playing a hobbled Dupree McBrayer on one leg the entire season, and has zero depth as a result.

We also got boat raced at Nebraska and Arkansas, and beat Drake at home by 1 point with the entire starting 5 intact (prior to losing Lynch).

I realize your dumb narrative won't be swayed by facts, but sometimes it's useful to have them out there.
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And, really, why would anyone want to have kept Lynch on the team given his off-court actions. It's not like he simply shoplifted a snickers at the dinkytown Target.
 

EasyThere Pilgrim said:
Like I said...after losing all of his valuable players...Ben knows it's a total joke now. He's just saying whatever now.

Just like Coyle saying he's doing research on how the good teams do it. It's all BS.
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A big part of coaching now is to get out and sell the program. It's all about the financials, If he doesn't want to do that go coach high school. It's pretty obvious he is not well suited for the job in its current form.
 

Bad Gopher said:
I want you to know that I'm moved by your post. It brought back memories I forgot I had! It's hard to believe now that the arena and game experience were actually like that, but they were. Maybe not dissimilar to how, in the dead of winter, it can sometimes be difficult to believe it can get warm enough to wear nothing and jump in a lake. Pray for this program's summer to come again.
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As we share memories I had something of a close-up look to the 1971-1972 season. My parents went with the team to the Aloha Classic in Honolulu. The flight left on Christmas Day. (The Vikings played the Cowboys in the playoffs on the same day—first NFL Christmas Day game.). My grandparents drove my parents to MSP and we all went to the departure gate. I was a wide-eyed third grader meeting Bill Musselman; Jim Brewer; Corky Taylor; Clyde Turner; Jimmy Williams; Dave Winfield. My parents brought me back the program from the tournament autographed by the entire team including “Dave (the Rave) Winfield”. Then game the Indiana game before 19000 to open the Big Ten season. My parents went to the game and I slept over at my grandparents. I listened to the game on the their big console radio. I wouid periodically update their bridge game with friends with the score of the game. When Bob Nix went to the line with the Gophers trailing by one to shoot a one & one everyone came into their living room to listen and heard Ray say “up & in” twice and then give the play-by-play of Jim Brewer blocking the last Indiana shot. My dad represented Corky Taylor after the OSU brawl so, in a sense, the season surrounded our family. Another distinct memory was the final home game of the season on a Saturday afternoon against Illinois, IIRC. Minnesota needed to win and for Michigan to lose to set up for the Gophers a situation where a road win at Purdue would give Minnesota the Big Ten championship. I was able to go with my dad to this game and Williams Arena was rocking from the opening tip and only became louder as the Gophers pulled away in the second half. The band was playing every second the ball was not in play so much so Julie Perlt yelled “band: shut-up” during a timeout when he was trying to make an announcement. The excitement peaked when Julie said: “final score from East Lansing” (crowd goes silent)—“Michigan 100” (collective groan) Michigan State 102” (bedlam). I remember my dad picking me up so I could see the celebration in all corners of Williams Arena. Dr. Nagarian sat behind us and was slamming his rolled-up program against our seats In excitement. People loved the “Iron Five”. The 71-72 season ignited Gopher basketball passion—through good and lean years—which pervaded Williams Arena through Clem’s last year in 1999 (and the Ganglehoff scandal).
 

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