I'll be the first to say Ben Johnson was not my first choice. I was surprised. But I am a Gopher, and not a fair weather fan. I will cheer for him and our team, and I think he has an intriguing chance at success. Basketball coaching has evolved over the years, and is a totally different ballgame than football coaching.
Football Coaching and Recruiting
HE's AnOtHEr BrEWstEr!!1!!1! That's way off the mark. Brewster was used car sales style recruiter, he could sell ice to an Eskimo. He had no relationships in MN, and no HC experience outside of HS. Football coaches manage a roster of ~100 athletes, ~15 various types of assistants and sign 20-30 recruits each year. Having HC experience matters way, way more to me in football. Brewster is a good assistant because he can reel guys in, but it was clear he did not have the skill set to manage all the moving parts of a large program or to build long term respect in his program.
Recruiting in football is just as much about talent evaluation as it is persuasion. And then kids typically don't become major contributors until year 3 in your program -- you need to develop them in the weight room. And you need to integrate them into your scheme which is another major aspect of success (remember when we switched abruptly from Spread to Power???). If we look at the top 10 NFL draft picks in 2020, there were four 5 stars, three 3 stars, and three 4 stars. Guys bust at a higher rate in football, and outperform expectations at a higher rate. You need a coach who can evaluate, develop, implement guys correctly. A football coach has to manage a lot of moving parts. I would never want to hire a guy who has no HC experience again in football.
Basketball Coaching and Recruiting
Recruiting in basketball is much more about persuasion/relationship building than evaluation. Guys play so many AAU games against other top competition that we know who most of the good kids are by the time signing day comes. A high 4 or 5 star recruit in basketball is much less likely to bust than in football. Of the top 10 picks in last year's NBA draft, 8 were 5 star prospects, one was international, and one was Obi Toppin. That's actually pretty incredible to me.
And when you sign 2-5 kids every year instead of 20-30, the personal relationships built between a family and head coach matter so much more. Recruiting a Jalen Suggs or a Tre Holloman needs to start when they are freshmen. How many times did we hear about how Pitino was being outworked? How he wasn't attending guys games? How frequently were we late to offer a David Roddy or JP Macura? How the AAU coaches didn't like Pitino, and steered their guys away from him?
Ben Johnson's Experience
Ben coached under Pitino! Oh no! Does anybody realize he left for Xavier because he was chafing under Pitino? I remember at the time hearing alarm bells go off that our MN connections guy decided to take an assistant job at a place that was ostensibly a step down. After signing Gabe, Oturu, and Omersa in 2018, Johnson left and we have not enrolled a Minnesotan since (hope Treyton Thompson sticks around). We signed those Minnesotans largely because of Johnson and in spite of Pitino. Now Johnson can bring that commitment and relationship building to his recruiting, and he can leverage his title as HC instead of assistant, which makes it carry more weight. It sounds like he was recruiting with one arm behind his back previously because he didn't get the necessary investment from Pitino.
I've also seen criticism that Xavier was bad under him...how much of that do we attribute to him? Shouldn't we judge him on his single biggest impact, recruiting? At Xavier, he signed a high 4 star in 2019 as well as high 3 star Zach Freemantle (averaged 16/9 this season), and Colby Jones (high 3 star) last year. I think he can recruit. And clearly the response from former Gopher stars (Coffey/Oturu/Mbakwe/Murphy) and AAU guys makes it clear he is respected by the community. I think he can deliver some of the 3-4 star Minnesotans we have been losing to Wisconsin, Texas, Colorado State, Colorado, Stanford, Marquette, Xavier, and maybe even bag one of those guys who would otherwise go to a Gonzaga/Duke/Kansas/UNC. We have been clamoring for years that we want and need to keep Minnesotans. Ben Johnson is the relationship builder who already has trust in the state, and can do that better than anybody we've talked about with "local" ties (Dutcher/Smith/Medved). We got what we wanted, folks.
The Inexperience and Our Preferences
To me the big missing pieces are -- what kind of day-to-day coach is Ben Johnson? Can he teach and develop? Can he coach X's and O's?. He will need experienced assistant coaches, and he will need to lean on them. My personal preference was for Craig Smith or Niko Medved or Brian Dutcher. I liked their track record.
But Coyle hired Ben Johnson, and damnit I'm going to support my coach and my team. He has a chance to build something here, and I'm going to put on my Big Boy pants and get behind him. I hope you'll join me, and thanks for coming to my TED talk.
Football Coaching and Recruiting
HE's AnOtHEr BrEWstEr!!1!!1! That's way off the mark. Brewster was used car sales style recruiter, he could sell ice to an Eskimo. He had no relationships in MN, and no HC experience outside of HS. Football coaches manage a roster of ~100 athletes, ~15 various types of assistants and sign 20-30 recruits each year. Having HC experience matters way, way more to me in football. Brewster is a good assistant because he can reel guys in, but it was clear he did not have the skill set to manage all the moving parts of a large program or to build long term respect in his program.
Recruiting in football is just as much about talent evaluation as it is persuasion. And then kids typically don't become major contributors until year 3 in your program -- you need to develop them in the weight room. And you need to integrate them into your scheme which is another major aspect of success (remember when we switched abruptly from Spread to Power???). If we look at the top 10 NFL draft picks in 2020, there were four 5 stars, three 3 stars, and three 4 stars. Guys bust at a higher rate in football, and outperform expectations at a higher rate. You need a coach who can evaluate, develop, implement guys correctly. A football coach has to manage a lot of moving parts. I would never want to hire a guy who has no HC experience again in football.
Basketball Coaching and Recruiting
Recruiting in basketball is much more about persuasion/relationship building than evaluation. Guys play so many AAU games against other top competition that we know who most of the good kids are by the time signing day comes. A high 4 or 5 star recruit in basketball is much less likely to bust than in football. Of the top 10 picks in last year's NBA draft, 8 were 5 star prospects, one was international, and one was Obi Toppin. That's actually pretty incredible to me.
And when you sign 2-5 kids every year instead of 20-30, the personal relationships built between a family and head coach matter so much more. Recruiting a Jalen Suggs or a Tre Holloman needs to start when they are freshmen. How many times did we hear about how Pitino was being outworked? How he wasn't attending guys games? How frequently were we late to offer a David Roddy or JP Macura? How the AAU coaches didn't like Pitino, and steered their guys away from him?
Ben Johnson's Experience
Ben coached under Pitino! Oh no! Does anybody realize he left for Xavier because he was chafing under Pitino? I remember at the time hearing alarm bells go off that our MN connections guy decided to take an assistant job at a place that was ostensibly a step down. After signing Gabe, Oturu, and Omersa in 2018, Johnson left and we have not enrolled a Minnesotan since (hope Treyton Thompson sticks around). We signed those Minnesotans largely because of Johnson and in spite of Pitino. Now Johnson can bring that commitment and relationship building to his recruiting, and he can leverage his title as HC instead of assistant, which makes it carry more weight. It sounds like he was recruiting with one arm behind his back previously because he didn't get the necessary investment from Pitino.
I've also seen criticism that Xavier was bad under him...how much of that do we attribute to him? Shouldn't we judge him on his single biggest impact, recruiting? At Xavier, he signed a high 4 star in 2019 as well as high 3 star Zach Freemantle (averaged 16/9 this season), and Colby Jones (high 3 star) last year. I think he can recruit. And clearly the response from former Gopher stars (Coffey/Oturu/Mbakwe/Murphy) and AAU guys makes it clear he is respected by the community. I think he can deliver some of the 3-4 star Minnesotans we have been losing to Wisconsin, Texas, Colorado State, Colorado, Stanford, Marquette, Xavier, and maybe even bag one of those guys who would otherwise go to a Gonzaga/Duke/Kansas/UNC. We have been clamoring for years that we want and need to keep Minnesotans. Ben Johnson is the relationship builder who already has trust in the state, and can do that better than anybody we've talked about with "local" ties (Dutcher/Smith/Medved). We got what we wanted, folks.
The Inexperience and Our Preferences
To me the big missing pieces are -- what kind of day-to-day coach is Ben Johnson? Can he teach and develop? Can he coach X's and O's?. He will need experienced assistant coaches, and he will need to lean on them. My personal preference was for Craig Smith or Niko Medved or Brian Dutcher. I liked their track record.
But Coyle hired Ben Johnson, and damnit I'm going to support my coach and my team. He has a chance to build something here, and I'm going to put on my Big Boy pants and get behind him. I hope you'll join me, and thanks for coming to my TED talk.
