Wait, wait, wait!! Did Arizona just hire a guy with zero HC experience?

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WriterGoph

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Last time I checked, Arizona was a P6 program.

According to many posters on here, only a total joke of a program like Minnesota would ever hire a guy who had only been an assistant coach.

What gives? Did Arizona move down to D2? How can their AD have a job anymore?
 

WriterGoph said:
Last time I checked, Arizona was a P6 program.

According to many posters on here, only a total joke of a program like Minnesota would ever hire a guy who had only been an assistant coach.

What gives? Did Arizona move down to D2? How can their AD have a job anymore?
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Then they would be ignorant as the list of guys who are hall of famers that were assistants only before getting the head coaching opportunity. The Arizona hire comes with some tremendous value.
 

builtbadgers said:
Then they would be ignorant as the list of guys who are hall of famers that were assistants only before getting the head coaching break.
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Oh, I agree with you. I'm just bringing up the point that was pounded ad nauseum on here for at least a week afterward by a few of the loudest posters.

It's good to see a school that has achieved the heights of Arizona going the same route.
 

WriterGoph said:
Oh, I agree with you. I'm just bringing up the point that was pounded ad nauseum on here for at least a week afterward by a few of the loudest posters.

It's good to see a school that has achieved the heights of Arizona going the same route.
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They hired the best international recruiter on the planet. Big loss for Gonzaga. He is so highly thought of that Gonzaga had a contract with him to succeed Few when Few retires. He beat out former Arizona players for the job. Love that both these assistants got power 6 jobs.
 










This doesn’t exactly fit here, but Wes Miller got hired by Cincinnati today. I believe that closes the loop on all the high major head coaching jobs that were available, am I missing any?
 

WriterGoph said:
Last time I checked, Arizona was a P6 program.

According to many posters on here, only a total joke of a program like Minnesota would ever hire a guy who had only been an assistant coach.

What gives? Did Arizona move down to D2? How can their AD have a job anymore?
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Im pretty sure all those same posters would have been more receptive to a tenured assistant at a highly successful program. This thread comes off as very condescending or it shows you completely miss why people were frustrated with the hire to begin with.
 





GopherBlood666 said:
Im pretty sure all those same posters would have been more receptive to a tenured assistant at a highly successful program. This thread comes off as very condescending or it shows you completely miss why people were frustrated with the hire to begin with.
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But the Zags play down a level for most of the year... not really a top P5 program.
 

WriterGoph said:
Last time I checked, Arizona was a P6 program.

According to many posters on here, only a total joke of a program like Minnesota would ever hire a guy who had only been an assistant coach.

What gives? Did Arizona move down to D2? How can their AD have a job anymore?
Click to expand...

everybody knows, you never go full retard.
 

SanDiegoGopherFan said:
everybody knows, you never go full retard.
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That's rich coming off your performance in here the last two weeks, Robert Downey Jr.

I started ONE ridiculous point to make a point to some of the whiny babies in here. By my count, I've got at least 12 more to catch up to you.
 

GopherBlood666 said:
Im pretty sure all those same posters would have been more receptive to a tenured assistant at a highly successful program. This thread comes off as very condescending or it shows you completely miss why people were frustrated with the hire to begin with.
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No. For many of those comments, there was no qualifier that said "assistant with this experience is okay, but Ben is not."

Simply put, it was "This is Minnesota. We are in the Big Ten. You don't hire an assistant with zero head coach experience."
 

This cycle has been amazingly good for assistants getting hired. UNC, MN, PSU, TT, DePaul, and now Zona. Pretty remarkable considering most past practice. That being said, UT, Oklahoma, Utah, BC, Marquette, and it looks like Cincinnati went the other way. Also saw a lot more black coaches being hired as well.
I was one who strongly preferred previous HC experience and I always will and it tends to be the path of the best coaches imo. That being said, I’m still gonna give Ben a chance of course and been happy with him so far.
 

WriterGoph said:
Last time I checked, Arizona was a P6 program.

According to many posters on here, only a total joke of a program like Minnesota would ever hire a guy who had only been an assistant coach.

What gives? Did Arizona move down to D2? How can their AD have a job anymore?
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You're right. Lloyd and Johnson have super similar resumes.

Can you believe Montana let Johnson slip away?
 

bc2211 said:
If you want to make an argument that BJ is the best fit and will be an amazing coach, then go ahead. But there are countless assistants with stronger resumes on paper. Don’t expect the Az hire to change that perspective.
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LLoyd is the best assistant hire in the country its still an assistant hire but he was crucial to the one of the biggest rises of any program in the country. Johnson was helped to make middling Minnesota and Xavier squads.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
You're right. Lloyd and Johnson have super similar resumes.

Can you believe Montana let Johnson slip away?
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Well, genius, Arizona is also a much higher stature program than Minnesota, so I guess it played out about like the hierarchy dictated, eh?
 

WriterGoph said:
Well, genius, Arizona is also a much higher stature program than Minnesota, so I guess it played out about like the hierarchy dictated, eh?
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And they hired a coach with 20+ years as an assistant coach at one of the top programs in the country.

While we hired a guy that Montana didn't want. Are they another one of those higher stature programs you speak of?
 

Arizona, North Carolina, Indiana, Michigan

and Minnesota. Peas in a pod
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
And they hired a coach with 20+ years as an assistant coach at one of the top programs in the country.

While we hired a guy that Montana didn't want. Are they another one of those higher stature programs you speak of?
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Obviously we all know Ben was hired partially for his local connections and background. But go ahead and keep comparing assistants across the nation like the local angle isn't and wasn't a factor.

Why wasn't Hubert Davis hired at Indiana or Arizona?
 

MplsGopher said:
Arizona, North Carolina, Indiana, Michigan

and Minnesota. Peas in a pod
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You were trying to be a smart ass, but actually Indiana and North Carolina both made similar types of hires. Neither had college HC experience, but both were alumni of those programs. Neither even had as much college experience as Ben.
 

WriterGoph said:
You were trying to be a smart ass, but actually Indiana and North Carolina both made similar types of hires. Neither had college HC experience, but both were alumni of those programs. Neither even had as much college experience as Ben.
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They were indeed all similar hires, with no head coaching experience.

My point is that just because the Patriots can get away with something, doesn’t mean the Bengals should try to do the same thing.
 


WriterGoph said:
Obviously we all know Ben was hired partially for his local connections and background. But go ahead and keep comparing assistants across the nation like the local angle isn't and wasn't a factor.

Why wasn't Hubert Davis hired at Indiana or Arizona?
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Huh? Of course the local angle and the background were part of the hiring process. Where did I ever even remotely hint that wasn't the case?

Hubert Davis might not have been hired by Arizona because he just recently took a job at a cute little school called North Carolina. I don't think he was looking.

Because it seems to be, surprisingly, evading you, here is my point: the resumes of all coaches without head coaching experience are not equal. You're original post is pretending to compare the Arizona hire to the MN hire because they both hired first time head coaches. I've seen this with people comparing the hiring to Matt Painter, Tom Izzo, even Dean F'n Smith. LOL. It's a terrible argument and you simply regurgitated it.

Ben Johnson's resume is underwhelming (to say the least) for a head coach of a Big 10 program. One of the points of data (a big one) is his lack of experience as a head coach. That said, no one, argued it was the only point of data.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
And they hired a coach with 20+ years as an assistant coach at one of the top programs in the country.

While we hired a guy that Montana didn't want. Are they another one of those higher stature programs you speak of?
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I wonder if any programs ever wish they would have made a different hire? Maybe Montana made a big mistake.

I wonder if any assistants from high stature programs ever struggle as head coaches? I can think of a few.

I wonder if the Tom Moe (or was it Dienhart) ever thinks... I wish we would have gone with that Assistant at Gonzaga instead of the head coach back in 1999? Probably not because he didn't have any head coaching experience or background at a high stature program.

Just think if Iowa would have hired Brad Stevens instead of his head coach, Todd Lickliter. They didn't, thankfully, but Butler took a flyer on an assistant coach working in what had been a pretty average program.

Yes, being a head coach isn't the only thing you've been concerned about. But you, and no one else on GH, has a clue what his work has been day to day as an assistant coach, and you definitely didn't get to hear from him.

I trust that Mark Coyle saw something in Ben besides saving money, or the color of his skin. I trust that Coyle really does want to win and felt aligned most strongly with the hire he made, seeing more upside and potential with Ben Johnson than coaches with head experience he talked with or considered.

I think PJ Fleck is obnoxious and he bugs me. Yet, Mark Coyle saw more than that and thought it could work here. It is working to this point. He may or may not be right on this one, but he didn't settle with the hire - he does want to win and hired the person he thought was best. He could have taken more time if he wanted, but he moved on the guy he wanted.
 

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