Make no mistake. The responsible party for this team circling the drain is ..

Who’s responsible?

  • Ben Johnson

    Votes: 40 35.7%
  • Coyle

    Votes: 40 35.7%
  • Ganglehoff

    Votes: 7 6.3%
  • Clem Haskins

    Votes: 4 3.6%
  • Pitino

    Votes: 6 5.4%
  • Mega-Tongue

    Votes: 11 9.8%
  • The Administration

    Votes: 53 47.3%
  • UNC - maybe we are secretly serving their sentence

    Votes: 8 7.1%

  • Total voters
    112

Otis

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Who is responsible for our doormat team?

I don’t think it’s Ben Johnson, totally anyway.

I don’t know if it is Coyle.

Id like to blame Mega-Tongue.

And of course there is always the administration and their backers who work in the shadows.

For me, it all comes back to Ganglehoff. The start of our free fall from what we could have been. Whoever got her involved brought the whole thing down. I don’t know who that was but it was probably Clem. But if you draw the lines to see where all our suck started it was that fine March day when the bottom dropped out.

Since then the decisions being made have been all about cleaning up the Gopher image. Instead of making purely basketball success driven decisions it been all about picking coaches that make us look respectable, racial and politically conscious. And of course, economically acceptable.

No way would this university hire a Musselman or a Coach Prime. Nothing can be risky or display any type of winning at all costs attitude.

Losing is a great way to show you do things right.
 
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I agree with Ganglehoff and add the boosters for their rejection of NIL. Ben is going to be our John Wooden. Look at the 4 Stars he is putting on the floor this year. With our non-conference schedule promoting team growth we will have a year shocking most everyone. Then I will say welcome back to all the ‘holers denigrating our student athletes, coaching staff, and AD. Pony up NIL to keep this team together.
 

I agree with Ganglehoff and add the boosters for their rejection of NIL. Ben is going to be our John Wooden. Look at the 4 Stars he is putting on the floor this year. With our non-conference schedule promoting team growth we will have a year shocking most everyone. Then I will say welcome back to all the ‘holers denigrating our student athletes, coaching staff, and AD. Pony up NIL to keep this team together.
Does that include those denigrating former Gopher student athletes like Jamison Battle?

For the record, I cast votes for Ben, Coyle, and the administration. But in the end, the buck stops at the coach. No matter the circumstances of your hire, you either win games or you lose games. That’s how you’re judged. Hopefully, Ben starts the winning part of it this season.
 
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Does that include those denigrating former Gopher student athletes like Jamison Battle?

For the record, I cast votes for Ben, Coyle, and the administration. But in the end, the buck stops at the coach. No matter the circumstances of your hire, you either win games or you lose games. That’s how you’re judged. Hopefully, Ben starts the winning part of it this season.
Not denigrating Battle. Just honest evaluation of his 22-23 season. We will never know if he would have regained his 21-22 form as a Gopher. What have you done for me lately applies. He took some money over staying here. I understand that and do not blame him. I have not denigrated him on a personal basis, just his 22-23 play which was a negative. Had Johnson benched him we would have won more games. That is on CBJ.
 


Coyle for letting himself get talked into, and talking himself into, thinking he is a magic-weaver guru of finding the best coaches possible and hiring a guy that had no head coaching experience.

It really is that simple.
 



For me, it all comes back to Ganglehoff. The start of our free fall from what we could have been. Whoever got her involved brought the whole thing down. I don’t know who that was but it was probably Clem. But if you draw the lines to see where all our suck started it was that fine March day when the bottom dropped out.
No, most teams had/have a Ganglehoff. But in most major college markets, that story wouldn't have ever seen the light of day. The program would have been protected.
 



Coyle for letting himself get talked into, and talking himself into, thinking he is a magic-weaver guru of finding the best coaches possible and hiring a guy that had no head coaching experience.

It really is that simple.
This is true, but the bar is also on the floor for Ben and the fact that he's still tripped over it and face planted is on him and his lack of coaching ability.
 






Does that include those denigrating former Gopher student athletes like Jamison Battle?

For the record, I cast votes for Ben, Coyle, and the administration. But in the end, the buck stops at the coach. No matter the circumstances of your hire, you either win games or you lose games. That’s how you’re judged. Hopefully, Ben starts the winning part of it this season.
My votes, my thoughts. Echoed
 







No, most teams had/have a Ganglehoff. But in most major college markets, that story wouldn't have ever seen the light of day. The program would have been protected.
McKinley Boston mismanaged the whole affair. He could have put his finger in the dike and made it a non-issue. Instead he pled guilty and threw the U on the mercy of the NCAA court.
 

McKinley Boston mismanaged the whole affair. He could have put his finger in the dike and made it a non-issue. Instead he pled guilty and threw the U on the mercy of the NCAA court.
And as it stands, it was a death sentence and here we are 25 years later still wondering how do we get out of it
 




Coyle and Ben also deserve blame, but I voted the administration. It's been very clear for years now that they don't care about the men's basketball program.
 

There is a huge difference between caring and knowing how to produce a winning program. An example would be most of our posters here.
 

once again - the Gophers did not fall from the top of the conference to the bottom. They fell from the lower middle of the conference to the bottom.

Whose fault? that's complicated.

I would love to have tapes of what went on when Pitino left and Johnson was hired - especially to hear what was really said behind the scenes with the players who transferred out. Could Johnson have done more to keep some of those players? maybe. Did he want them to stay? only Johnson and his coaches know that.

my gut tells me that Johnson thought he would be able to bring in better players from the portal and land some higher-caliber HS recruits. Some of that is on Johnson - some of that is on how the program is viewed by people outside the program, including AAU Coaches.

in the end, for a myriad of reasons, Gopher basketball is a tough sell right now. It's a tough sell for coaches, for players and for fans. and I just don't know what has to happen to change that. I don't think it's as simple as "hire the right coach."
 

once again - the Gophers did not fall from the top of the conference to the bottom. They fell from the lower middle of the conference to the bottom.

Whose fault? that's complicated.

I would love to have tapes of what went on when Pitino left and Johnson was hired - especially to hear what was really said behind the scenes with the players who transferred out. Could Johnson have done more to keep some of those players? maybe. Did he want them to stay? only Johnson and his coaches know that.

my gut tells me that Johnson thought he would be able to bring in better players from the portal and land some higher-caliber HS recruits. Some of that is on Johnson - some of that is on how the program is viewed by people outside the program, including AAU Coaches.

in the end, for a myriad of reasons, Gopher basketball is a tough sell right now. It's a tough sell for coaches, for players and for fans. and I just don't know what has to happen to change that. I don't think it's as simple as "hire the right coach."
If you are “Star” gazer look at the ratings on the present roster. It has been a long time since we had as talented a roster as this. Now look at the recent training videos of Zay and Fox. Yet most of the board has doomed them as wasted scholarships. Only time will tell but anyone who doesn’t see their promise is blind. The Doogie followers are so far out of touch. BTW another good post SON.
 

For those voting "the Administration", which is over half of the voters at the time of this writing, I'm curious as to why - not judging you, just seeking to understand. This is not a new phenomenon - "the Administration" has been cited as the problem for decades, not just for the recent hiring, so go beyond just Johnson. Also, what would it look like for "the Administration" to not be the problem?
 




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