Ben Johnson is NOT a disaster....

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howeda7 said:
Unless Garcia can get going and they can fix Mitchell, this team doesn't have good enough outside shooting or guard play to greatly exceed our initial expectations IMO.
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Yep, we can afford an off night here or there, but we need them to show up most nights to see any real success. Hope they can take something away from this one.
 

Dakota2 said:
The issue of his credentials was not really much of a controversy. He didn't have anything approaching experience wanted for a Big Ten head coaching job. But that was -- or should have been -- over as soon as he was announced. It was done and out of the hands of fans or anyone else.

The unfairness has been in the criticism of his coaching. Yes, roster construction is his job and he had two weak rosters his first two years. But, just as in hiring a coach, the question was who would take the job? And who wanted to come and play at Minnesota? The answer was, not good coaches and not many good players.

You can't judge a guy's coaching ability and basketball acumen based on teams with limited talent and no depth. In fact, if anything, he did a great job in Year 1 with what he had. Battle was the only transfer in who could even possibly be projected to compete in the Big Ten.

Year 3 he has some talent, last year's freshman have reached Clem's 40 game threshold, and Hawkins and Mitchell are better than most dared to hope. Cristie is what most thought he would be.

Now is the time to start considering whether he can coach or not.
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Agree 100%
 







Dakota2 said:
But you said everything was false. Now only some was false? Name the good coaches who wanted the job.
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Smith, Medved, possibly Brian Dutcher, likely many others. There will be plenty of good options whenever this job opens up again. Do good coaches typically recruit good players or bad players?
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
Smith, Medved, possibly Brian Dutcher, likely many others. There will be plenty of good options whenever this job opens up again. Do good coaches typically recruit good players or bad players?
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So you offer what ... a guess, a hope, an opinion ... about Smith, Medved, and Dutcher? You apparently have some reason to believe that established coaches with a reputation to protect want to take over a bombed out program and try to rebuild it from absolute bottom. I'm not so sure of that, especially in Dutcher's case and at his age.

Undoubtably there were many guys with credentials similar to Johnson or even a little better that would have jumped at the job. Maybe some of them could have done better so far. I don't care. Johnson is our coach and will continue in that job for the foreseeable future due to the fact the team is improving and talent level is growing.

It's what we have and you can support the team and enjoy some improvement or bitterly whine because you think we should have hired someone else almost three years ago.
 



Dakota2 said:
So you offer what ... a guess, a hope, an opinion ... about Smith, Medved, and Dutcher? You apparently have some reason to believe that established coaches with a reputation to protect want to take over a bombed out program and try to rebuild it from absolute bottom. I'm not so sure of that, especially in Dutcher's case and at his age.

Undoubtably there were many guys with credentials similar to Johnson or even a little better that would have jumped at the job. Maybe some of them could have done better so far. I don't care. Johnson is our coach and will continue in that job for the foreseeable future due to the fact the team is improving and talent level is growing.

It's what we have and you can support the team and enjoy some improvement or bitterly whine because you think we should have hired someone else almost three years ago.
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They are not guesses or opinions, they are facts. The program didn't bomb out until Ben took over.

I support the team and hope they win, I could care less if Ben's the coach as long as they are winning. But I don't think this team is more talented than Pitino's last team, and 3 years is plenty of time to surpass that in basketball. And that was pre free transfer portal, let alone post free transfer portal.

I think tomorrow will be the most important game of Ben's coaching career. If they are better than the last two years they will win and likely remain competitive for the rest of the season, and Ben can save his job. If they lose, I think they'll be 2 games into a long losing streak, and then we can talk more about the good coaches who actually want this job.
 

Dakota2 said:
So you offer what ... a guess, a hope, an opinion ... about Smith, Medved, and Dutcher? You apparently have some reason to believe that established coaches with a reputation to protect want to take over a bombed out program and try to rebuild it from absolute bottom. I'm not so sure of that, especially in Dutcher's case and at his age.

Undoubtably there were many guys with credentials similar to Johnson or even a little better that would have jumped at the job. Maybe some of them could have done better so far. I don't care. Johnson is our coach and will continue in that job for the foreseeable future due to the fact the team is improving and talent level is growing.

It's what we have and you can support the team and enjoy some improvement or bitterly whine because you think we should have hired someone else almost three years ago.
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Craig Smith would have taken the job. 100%. It's virtually certain Medved would have as well. Both were far, far more qualified for it than Ben Johnson.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
I think tomorrow will be the most important game of Ben's coaching career. If they are better than the last two years they will win and likely remain competitive for the rest of the season, and Ben can save his job. If they lose, I think they'll be 2 games into a long losing streak, and then we can talk more about the good coaches who actually want this job.
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Yes. He absolutely had to win the Nebraska game. He did. He needed to at least split the Michigan and Maryland game and he did. And he needs to split the Indiana/Iowa games which now requires a win tomorrow.
 

GopherWeatherGuy said:
They are not guesses or opinions, they are facts. The program didn't bomb out until Ben took over.

I support the team and hope they win, I could care less if Ben's the coach as long as they are winning. But I don't think this team is more talented than Pitino's last team, and 3 years is plenty of time to surpass that in basketball. And that was pre free transfer portal, let alone post free transfer portal.

I think tomorrow will be the most important game of Ben's coaching career. If they are better than the last two years they will win and likely remain competitive for the rest of the season, and Ben can save his job. If they lose, I think they'll be 2 games into a long losing streak, and then we can talk more about the good coaches who actually want this job.
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Agreed about the Iowa game tomorrow. Must win.
 



GopherWeatherGuy said:
They are not guesses or opinions, they are facts. The program didn't bomb out until Ben took over.

I support the team and hope they win, I could care less if Ben's the coach as long as they are winning. But I don't think this team is more talented than Pitino's last team, and 3 years is plenty of time to surpass that in basketball. And that was pre free transfer portal, let alone post free transfer portal.

I think tomorrow will be the most important game of Ben's coaching career. If they are better than the last two years they will win and likely remain competitive for the rest of the season, and Ben can save his job. If they lose, I think they'll be 2 games into a long losing streak, and then we can talk more about the good coaches who actually want this job.
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It is a fact that Smith, Medved, and Dutcher would have taken the Gopher job? You are the only person on the planet who knows that to be true.
 

howeda7 said:
Craig Smith would have taken the job. 100%. It's virtually certain Medved would have as well. Both were far, far more qualified for it than Ben Johnson.
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You know them both personally? Talk on a regular basis?
 


GopherWeatherGuy said:
They are not guesses or opinions, they are facts. The program didn't bomb out until Ben took over.

I support the team and hope they win, I could care less if Ben's the coach as long as they are winning. But I don't think this team is more talented than Pitino's last team, and 3 years is plenty of time to surpass that in basketball. And that was pre free transfer portal, let alone post free transfer portal.

I think tomorrow will be the most important game of Ben's coaching career. If they are better than the last two years they will win and likely remain competitive for the rest of the season, and Ben can save his job. If they lose, I think they'll be 2 games into a long losing streak, and then we can talk more about the good coaches who actually want this job.
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Carr was moving on and Pitino had almost no young talent besides Mashburn. The program was in absolute shambles when Ben took over.
 

Dakota2 said:
You know them both personally? Talk on a regular basis?
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Smith would have taken the job. 100%. And it's absurd to think Medved would turn down a B1G job to stay at Colorado State. The idea that we should be happy with Ben because golly gee we suck and couldn't get anyone better is not only wrong but awfully pathetic.
 

howeda7 said:
Smith would have taken the job. 100%. And it's absurd to think Medved would turn down a B1G job to stay at Colorado State. The idea that we should be happy with Ben because golly gee we suck and couldn't get anyone better is not only wrong but awfully pathetic.
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Realistic people feel no obligation to "be happy with Ben". Your feelings about a decision made almost three years ago are irrelevant. Your feelings could not matter less.

We have a coach. We have a 2023-34 roster. Real fans are interested in the next game and then the one after that. Not something from the past that we had nothing to do with anyway.
 

Dakota2 said:
Realistic people feel no obligation to "be happy with Ben". Your feelings about a decision made almost three years ago are irrelevant. Your feelings could not matter less.

We have a coach. We have a 2023-34 roster. Real fans are interested in the next game and then the one after that. Not something from the past that we had nothing to do with anyway.
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9-35 and an average of ~3,500 tickets scanned per home game states otherwise.

Real fans are looking forward to today's game. Real fans also understand that if those numbers don't drastically improve by the end of the season, Ben will be gone, and it won't be based on just this season.
 

Dakota2 said:
Realistic people feel no obligation to "be happy with Ben". Your feelings about a decision made almost three years ago are irrelevant. Your feelings could not matter less.

We have a coach. We have a 2023-34 roster. Real fans are interested in the next game and then the one after that. Not something from the past that we had nothing to do with anyway.
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Real fans are interested in the future, wingnut. Not stubbornly refusing to come off your position.
 

Ben will be fired by April 1, 2025. That's been likely since the day he was hired and is still most likely the case. How long it drags on is up to Mark Coyle. If he cares. If he's paying any attention to the women's team, it should be an obvious choice.
 


MUgopher32 said:
One game is not make or break on any player or coaches ability

But Ben got body bagged today by Fran.
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Fran is not a uniquely talented coach. The same thing will happen against Izzo, Gaard, Underwood etc. Ben can hold his own against Howard and perhaps Hoiberg. That's not a compliment.
 

howeda7 said:
Ben will be fired by April 1, 2025. That's been likely since the day he was hired and is still most likely the case. How long it drags on is up to Mark Coyle. If he cares. If he's paying any attention to the women's team, it should be an obvious choice.
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Another year..................why?

Oh, wait, it's the U of M
 

howeda7 said:
Ben will be fired by April 1, 2025. That's been likely since the day he was hired and is still most likely the case. How long it drags on is up to Mark Coyle. If he cares. If he's paying any attention to the women's team, it should be an obvious choice.
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Yep, agree the U is too chickenshit to do it this year. awful hire
 

I hope we don’t regret that this thread usurped the other one.
 



bc2211 said:
I hope we don’t regret that this thread usurped the other one.
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Both threads are alive and well. :)

But team is going to have to rediscover their winning ways or this one won't be around for much longer.
 

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