Was firing Johnson the right decision by Coyle?

Was firing Johnson the right decision by Coyle?

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1983 said:
What Coyle will do is keep turning a stripped screw so unless some real changes are made to increase a new coach's chances, no need to fire anyone.
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I like this analogy because it is useful.
 


TwistingMyMelon said:
That Seth Davis article was written before the Gophers completely took a dive at the end of the season. In the end, they finished just like the perennial bottom feeder that the media thinks they are.
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The Davis article was March 1. The home loss to Penn State was Feb. 22 and the home loss to Northwestern was Feb. 25.
 

caliGopher said:
How would I have done it?

The easiest way would have been to tell Ben I want to meet with you in the morning, give him what he'd already know was about to happen—his termination, and then send out an invitation for the local press to a press conference at 10 AM, where the firing would be announced and questions answered (even though not much would be said).

But if it couldn't wait, after the conversation last night, send out a notice for a press conference at 8 AM to the local press, alerting Ben it was going out and letting him see it first so he had full visibility into what was happening. By all accounts that would have been before midnight.

It still would have been late, but there would have been enough time for the press to be on campus at 8AM for the formal announcement. Yes, everyone would have known EXACTLY what this morning's press conference was about. No, it wouldn't have been an obvious attempt to sidestep standing in front of the press and handling questions, which an AD should have done in this case.
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Joel Maturi did exactly that with Dan Monson. Waited until the morning to let the world know he was coming back. In between the loss to Cincinnati and that announcement, the Star Tribune put "Monson expected to be let go" A1 above the fold.
 

MilosRevenge said:
The Davis article was March 1. The home loss to Penn State was Feb. 22 and the home loss to Northwestern was Feb. 25.
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He could have written it before March 1st. In any event, they could have recovered somewhat by winning at Rutgers and at least winning the first game in the Big Ten Tournament but they failed.
 


Of course it was the right choice. The only mistake in this was not firing him last year after all the player defections. The program lost an entire year by not moving on sooner.

I like Ben enough he seems like a good guy, but that week he had 3/4 of his players that got many minutes move on, it was over with for him.
 

TwistingMyMelon said:
He could have written it before March 1st. In any event, they could have recovered somewhat by winning at Rutgers and at least winning the first game in the Big Ten Tournament but they failed.
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Davis didn’t write an article, it was a in-the-moment Tweet after we beat Nebraska at the buzzer. Seth wouldn’t waste time or column inches covering our program, no matter how elite the coach.
 

USAF said:
Holy fuck this is a bad take.

At least get your facts straight.

Coyle flew back to Indy early this morning, you dolt.
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Yes, I had the facts wrong about HOW Coyle shit the bed again based on what I'd heard and the snippets I saw and didn't dig into make sure I had it right (it's almost as if I rely on Tik Tok for my news....., but I don't) so I'll take ownership of that. If I were a reporter, I'd be fired, but I'm not.

It doesn't change that Coyle is a clown and needs to be gone. Still.
 

MNVCGUY said:
The part you are missing in all this is that Coyle is part of the NCAA selection process and is in meetings out of the state all week leading up to selection Sunday. He made a trip back specifically to tell Ben in person before getting on another early morning flight back.

Disrespectful would have been not doing it face to face or letting it leak out before Ben knew about it.
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Yes, I had the facts wrong. Glad he made the effort to tell Ben to his face.

Still a chicken shit move to send out the press release at 1:20 in the morning, but my outrage is misplaced. It's exactly what I expect from Coyle. The surprise is he handled the conversation with Johnson professionally and didn't leave Johnson thinking he was extending when he was firing him.
 



Panthadad2 said:
The conference record by coach makes it clear the Gophs are still operating under the Ganglehoff/Pioneer Press curse. No doubt about it. How do they exit the curse?

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Ah the Harold Taylor era. Man them were some tough times.
 



Right decision, wrong decision? What I find more interesting is the idea that so many are excited about having a new coach hired by the same guy who hired the much belittled Whalen, the DEI Johnson, who fired Claes right after he won a bowl game, a hockey coach who has made Gopher hockey irrelevant, and so far a jury is still out on women’s BB (bad health luck) and women’s VB. Fleck? Enough to satisfy our standards, but would already be gone in Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio State, just to mention a few. Plus he was a day late and a couple mil short on pay for play. The guy who many posters say caved to the administration and filled the last two jobs with the detested DEI candidates. That’s the guy we think will lead us out of the wilderness.

They should have kept Johnson, and found someone who would support Gopher athletics financially. What’s really odd about that, is that financial support would not have included having the lowest paid BB coach in the BIg18!
 



caliGopher said:
Yes, I had the facts wrong. Glad he made the effort to tell Ben to his face.

Still a chicken shit move to send out the press release at 1:20 in the morning, but my outrage is misplaced. It's exactly what I expect from Coyle. The surprise is he handled the conversation with Johnson professionally and didn't leave Johnson thinking he was extending when he was firing him.
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Guess we will have to agree to disagree because I don't think there was anything wrong with putting the press release out shortly after meeting with Johnson and before getting on the 5 AM flight he reportedly took back to his meetings.

I get the feeling that it probably doesn't really matter how Coyle handled it because you weren't going to like it no matter what.
 

Gopheritnow said:
Right decision, wrong decision? What I find more interesting is the idea that so many are excited about having a new coach hired by the same guy who hired the much belittled Whalen, the DEI Johnson, who fired Claes right after he won a bowl game, a hockey coach who has made Gopher hockey irrelevant, and so far a jury is still out on women’s BB (bad health luck) and women’s VB. Fleck? Enough to satisfy our standards, but would already be gone in Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio State, just to mention a few. Plus he was a day late and a couple mil short on pay for play. The guy who many posters say caved to the administration and filled the last two jobs with the detested DEI candidates. That’s the guy we think will lead us out of the wilderness.

They should have kept Johnson, and found someone who would support Gopher athletics financially. What’s really odd about that, is that financial support would not have included having the lowest paid BB coach in the BIg18!
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This is the dumbest post I have read this year.
 




matt said:
This is the dumbest post I have read this year.
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Coming from you that’s a compliment! Full disclosure: I can’t remember ever seeing one of your posts, so I was just making an assumption. Glad you assume to be comfortable with Coyles decision making processes. But as a general observation, the same people who have hammered the "DEI" hire at a conference low wage of Johnson, (and Whalen) and committed the travesty of not firing him even as soon as his second season ended, are now perfectly happy having the AD horse whisperer dip into the coaching pool yet again. If, as many on here have pontificated, he was derelict in not summarily removing Johnson much sooner, why would one expect him to suddenly pull a rabbit out of his hat?
 


MNVCGUY said:
Guess we will have to agree to disagree because I don't think there was anything wrong with putting the press release out shortly after meeting with Johnson and before getting on the 5 AM flight he reportedly took back to his meetings.

I get the feeling that it probably doesn't really matter how Coyle handled it because you weren't going to like it no matter what.
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We can agree to disagree, but assuming I wouldn't like whatever Coyle did is factually incorrect. If he handled it with the professionalism befitting a B1G AD, I wouldn't have had an issue with it. He did not. Issuing a Press Release at 1:20 AM is not usual. It is not professional. It's possible it was a mistake(?) but it also is consistent with his inability to LEAD the department and the university. It reflects his weakness in communication and his desire to avoid answering questions. Two things you need to know how to do if you are the AD of a B1G school.
 

Gopheritnow said:
Coming from you that’s a compliment! Full disclosure: I can’t remember ever seeing one of your posts, so I was just making an assumption. Glad you assume to be comfortable with Coyles decision making processes. But as a general observation, the same people who have hammered the "DEI" hire at a conference low wage of Johnson, (and Whalen) and committed the travesty of not firing him even as soon as his second season ended, are now perfectly happy having the AD horse whisperer dip into the coaching pool yet again. If, as many on here have pontificated, he was derelict in not summarily removing Johnson much sooner, why would one expect him to suddenly pull a rabbit out of his hat?
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The alternative is continuing with Johnson, numbnuts.
 




Gopheritnow said:
Right decision, wrong decision? What I find more interesting is the idea that so many are excited about having a new coach hired by the same guy who hired the much belittled Whalen, the DEI Johnson, who fired Claes right after he won a bowl game, a hockey coach who has made Gopher hockey irrelevant, and so far a jury is still out on women’s BB (bad health luck) and women’s VB. Fleck? Enough to satisfy our standards, but would already be gone in Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio State, just to mention a few. Plus he was a day late and a couple mil short on pay for play. The guy who many posters say caved to the administration and filled the last two jobs with the detested DEI candidates. That’s the guy we think will lead us out of the wilderness.

They should have kept Johnson, and found someone who would support Gopher athletics financially. What’s really odd about that, is that financial support would not have included having the lowest paid BB coach in the BIg18!
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You lost all credibility when claiming that Wisconsin would've already moved on from PJ Fleck.....ummmmm he kinda owns them right now winning 3 out of the last 4....LOL
 

Gopheritnow said:
Coming from you that’s a compliment! Full disclosure: I can’t remember ever seeing one of your posts, so I was just making an assumption. Glad you assume to be comfortable with Coyles decision making processes. But as a general observation, the same people who have hammered the "DEI" hire at a conference low wage of Johnson, (and Whalen) and committed the travesty of not firing him even as soon as his second season ended, are now perfectly happy having the AD horse whisperer dip into the coaching pool yet again. If, as many on here have pontificated, he was derelict in not summarily removing Johnson much sooner, why would one expect him to suddenly pull a rabbit out of his hat?
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Still waiting for gopheritnow to submit an intelligent, or even a worthwhile, posting
 

USAF said:
The alternative is continuing with Johnson, numbnuts.
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No the alternative is for the U to start backing athletics like some other schools do. It never has, and likely never will.
 

cheeseheadgophfan said:
You lost all credibility when claiming that Wisconsin would've already moved on from PJ Fleck.....ummmmm he kinda owns them right now winning 3 out of the last 4....LOL
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pondgopher said:
Still waiting for gopheritnow to submit an intelligent, or even a worthwhile, posting
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Since the pondgopher has been on here since 2012 and only has 28 messages, I am honored to be one of an elite group.

What I can’t understand is the reluctance from Holers to see correlation between the Universities athletic dept and the continuing lack of success by the teams. Not all of the coaches the U hires in MBB, WBB, and football are bad coaches. But we keep hiring and firing over and over. The only constant is the administration and the facilities, and an inability to recruit high level athletes. Add on our paltry NIL and it will get worse. We don’t pay market dollar for coaches, and we won’t pay market dollar for athletes. As an athletic organization the U is the MN Twins of colleges!
 

He should have never been hired in the first place. Since he was hired, it was obvious he was in way over his head after year 2. A smart AD with foresight would have cut ties then and there.

So yes, it was the right move. Why would anyone give a coach with such a horrible record a chance at a 5th season? Programs with 10% of our resources with good coaching have been way more successful. We need to find a capable B1G coach. You keep trying until you find one. You don't give up and just keep the failure that was Ben Johnson.

Yes, yes, and yes again it was the right move.
 

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