Ranking Big Ten men’s basketball coaches (#18. Ben Johnson, Minnesota)

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bga1 said:
Not so funny. I actually think that if Ben could accumulate and keep high end talent he would compete well. Do you think he had 9 win talent in the Big Ten this year? I know that you didn't when the season started. I think he did and he won at about that level. There are a lot of things I think he has to learn to be a better coach, but right now I think his single biggest deficit is that few believe he will ever win here- thus a self fulfilling prophesy.

The transfers he has brought here moved up a level in class and he had them performing just as well at Big Ten level as they did at the lower level. Look at the ratings of Indiana's players out of HS versus ours. Without looking them up, I feel pretty confident that theirs were the higher rated players.
Christie was barely top 100 and now is getting NBA looks. Payne maybe just over 100 and about to cash checks. Howard zero stars. Mitchell on the border of top 100. Only Garcia was top 50.

My view has always been that Ben was a bad hire because he wasn't prepared for the job in terms of history or experience and that this is a job with a high degree of difficulty to get over the hump. I still feel that way, but also I believe if he could catch a break with the right group of players- he could break through. As it stands - by the record he is one of the worst in the Big Ten.
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Lots of interesting votes in my prediction thread on how many Ws do we accumulate in conference play.

I’m not going to call out any posters directly, just let’s say none of the beloved “GH Basketball Intelligentsia,” 👃9 Ws , like you and I did (you said between 9-11 wins -post 18, while I predicted 9 in the poll) - which is dumbfounding considering their self-anointed HOOPS ACUMEN.

Non-conference is now over, how many total B10 Ws do we end up with?

I cannot list all the options individually, so I bunched some options together, the ones at the bottom and top, as they seem the least likely to me. I’m going with 9 FWIW = 8 more would be great! Poll is open till 1/4, I think, the Michigan game.
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Differing opinions are great of course, but when they’re wrong about the conference wins (while bitching about him over performing their estimate)and hammer him on this as well, that’s double dipping and it ain’t cool or kosher.

The hypocrisy of it is mind boggling to me and vitriol is fing bizarre - go to a happy place 🥳 or find one, you lunatics🤪.
 
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bga1 said:
Not so funny. I actually think that if Ben could accumulate and keep high end talent he would compete well. Do you think he had 9 win talent in the Big Ten this year? I know that you didn't when the season started. I think he did and he won at about that level. There are a lot of things I think he has to learn to be a better coach, but right now I think his single biggest deficit is that few believe he will ever win here- thus a self fulfilling prophesy.

The transfers he has brought here moved up a level in class and he had them performing just as well at Big Ten level as they did at the lower level. Look at the ratings of Indiana's players out of HS versus ours. Without looking them up, I feel pretty confident that theirs were the higher rated players.
Christie was barely top 100 and now is getting NBA looks. Payne maybe just over 100 and about to cash checks. Howard zero stars. Mitchell on the border of top 100. Only Garcia was top 50.

My view has always been that Ben was a bad hire because he wasn't prepared for the job in terms of history or experience and that this is a job with a high degree of difficulty to get over the hump. I still feel that way, but also I believe if he could catch a break with the right group of players- he could break through. As it stands - by the record he is one of the worst in the Big Ten.
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Accumulating and keeping talent is at the top of the job description for every coach in America. Even schools with the most NIL still lose players every year. High school recruiting is far less important today then it was 5-10 years ago. All of the examples of the players you listed on this years roster are not very different than what Pitino recruited, or Tubby, and yet they had much better teams. All of this 'we had to recruit from the ground up over the first 2 seasons' was bullshit.

Ben has yet to have a signature win in 3 years here. 9 wins still tied for the last weakling Wednesday spot. It's silly that people keep pointing to that number as some sort of big accomplishment. Ben regularly gets out-coached in the conference, including by Woodson. He is the worst coach in the conference by a wide margin. Diebler is the only one that's in the conversation with him, for now.
 





This list could have been (and maybe was) generated by AI since it is essentially a list that notes those coaches with the most D1 wins as a head coach. Of course Ben Johnson, as the least experienced D1 head coach would come out on the bottom (especially given that he took over for a challenged program). What is relevant for us as Gopher fans, but of course not noted on the list, is that this past season was a significant improvement and we, so far, have reason to believe that will continue.

The list does not indicate use of specific ranking criteria which posters have proceeded to speculate about (as though the list accounts for such subjective criteria as in-game coaching decisions or relationships with players).

IMO, it’s a throwaway list. We already knew Ben was at the bottom in wins and that Painter and Izzo were at the top. So what? The list tells us nothing we didn’t know and seems to have given certain posters reason to raise the same old complaints (as though we hadn’t heard them, yawn.)
 
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SelectionSunday said:
My impression about NIL/portal as it pertains to the Big Ten is Illinois & Indiana appear to have access to a lot of moolah. Seems like they're the schools who've beeen most active and in on high-level talent. Ohio State, probably, too.
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And, perhaps not coincidentally, they've also been traditional doormats in football.
 



leib0039 said:
Obviously they didn't listen to Izzo, he would've put CBJ #1!

He is absolutely 18th as of today. No history, bad record and no real recruiting prowess. Diebler is at least pulling in huge names in the portal.
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Recruiting??

LOL. We're still talking about 'recruiting' in 2024 ??

And as if Diebler or any coach has anything to do with who signs from the portal.

Not just you. Not by a longshot. Almost everyone in this thread is still in denial.
 

This article is just another example of how we're like sheep. We believe everything were told by the media.

We're incapable of putting 2 & 2 together. And if we do on a rare occasion...the media can simply run an article like this...and all of our common-sense goes right out the window again.
 

EasyThere Pilgrim said:
This article is just another example of how we're like sheep. We believe everything were told by the media.

We're incapable of putting 2 & 2 together. And if we do on a rare occasion...the media can simply run an article like this...and all of our common-sense goes right out the window again.
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Instead of whining about the media or NIL for the 97th time, where would you rank Ben?
 

howeda7 said:
Instead of whining about the media or NIL for the 97th time, where would you rank Ben?
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He's probably around the average of all the other Big Ten coaches. It's not like some are so great and others are so bad...they're all about equal.
 

EasyThere Pilgrim said:
He's probably around the average of all the other Big Ten coaches. It's not like some are so great and others are so bad...they're all about equal.
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Wow! Well, my guy is last so I'll just suggest it doesn't matter because they are all about equal anyway. I call BS! And so does every coach on the list for one reason or another.

If you coach in a conference and play teams a couple times and especially over a couple of years with different players...you realize who can coach and who can't. Most all are okay guys...most can't coach for shit but they might fool you for a season if they have the best players. There are not many good coaches.

There is definitely a pecking order in the Big Ten.
 

We going off current or accomplishments?

If current Dusty May is the best in the conference

I actually came in to see who was below him Ben (thought there were actually 20 teams now lol) the answer is ZERO
 
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60's Guy said:
Wow! Well, my guy is last so I'll just suggest it doesn't matter because they are all about equal anyway. I call BS! And so does every coach on the list for one reason or another.

If you coach in a conference and play teams a couple times and especially over a couple of years with different players...you realize who can coach and who can't. Most all are okay guys...most can't coach for shit but they might fool you for a season if they have the best players. There are not many good coaches.

There is definitely a pecking order in the Big Ten.
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Well how did Richard Pitino win Big Ten Coach Of The Year? And how was Ben a strong candidate up until the last couple weeks of the season?

Do they just get a rush of intelligence for a short while...and then lose it again? And all the other coaches who do great for years but eventually get fired...do they lose their memories?
 

EasyThere Pilgrim said:
Well how did Richard Pitino win Big Ten Coach Of The Year? And how was Ben a strong candidate up until the last couple weeks of the season?

Do they just get a rush of intelligence for a short while...and then lose it again? And all the other coaches who do great for years but eventually get fired...do they lose their memories?
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Big Ten is different than high school. Typically the coaches have won somewhere before they get the job. So they have demonstrated they have some level of competency. But, the key is when adversity hits how you handle it and guide your team through the tough times and come out the other side. The better coaches find a way nearly every year to compete for conference titles.
Painter, Izzo, Musselman, Gard, Altman, Underwood have all shown they belong at this level. Cronin is probably at the back end of this group.

The rest on the list have too many bad years to be good. Or, they have never won anything, like Ben.

I'm in the camp that thinks Richard can coach...he has won for a season at three different schools.
He has no good luck...injuries, circumstances, buzzer beaters by the opponent seem to always go in etc.

Why for awhile? You win one at the buzzer, you beat a bad team bad, you shoot 60% and beat a good team...now your players think you are a great coach...the difference isn't that much. You go on a run. But when it goes away you gotta be good to get it back versus losing your team and nose diving. It's hard! When your team doubts themselves and you because of results...you gotta say the right things and make the right adjustments. Not easy....most can't.

Ben was only a candidate at your house.
Guys who do great more than one season and get fired .... list is pretty short....they move to a different school typically.
Why? Something is usually different...new AD etc
 


I agree with the poster who said it was likely an AI generated ranking. However, it lines up with the eye test and most metrics.

However, the most important metric was left out. The U ranks 14th out of 18 in NIL money. Correlation or causation? I wonder what Ben could do with Michigan or tOSU money? Would Payne and Battle have left?
 


jamiche said:
However, the most important metric was left out. The U ranks 14th out of 18 in NIL money. Correlation or causation? I wonder what Ben could do with Michigan or tOSU money? Would Payne and Battle have left?
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Source?
 


I kind of liked the 2023 offseason better when the apology mantra was that Ben was building it the right way, we had to be patient, and WINGSPAN.

The apology mantra of 2024 is just too nihilistic - we get it, the U cannot be expected to ever produce anything because of NIL that impacts us uniquely.
 

Bob_Loblaw said:
Is there a less accomplished coach in all of major college basketball?
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Coach??? Coaching??? LOL

Bob_Loblaw said:
I kind of liked the 2023 offseason better when the apology mantra was that Ben was building it the right way, we had to be patient, and WINGSPAN.

The apology mantra of 2024 is just too nihilistic - we get it, the U cannot be expected to ever produce anything because of NIL that impacts us uniquely.
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Ok, yes, the idea of recruiting and building a team is officially out-the-window now.

But obviously, so is the idea that the coach matters.
 

EasyThere Pilgrim said:
Coach??? Coaching??? LOL


Ok, yes, the idea of recruiting and building a team is officially out-the-window now.

But obviously, so is the idea that the coach matters.
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I know, we can't be expected to compete with NIL juggernauts like Iowa State and Northwestern.
 

USAF said:
Source?
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P5 NIL Team Rankings + G5 notables

P5 NIL Team Rankings (from on3): 1 - Texas $19.9 mil 2 - Alabama $16 mil 3 - tOSU 13.6 mil 4 - USC 13.5 mil 5 - Georgia 13.4 mil 6 - Colorado 12.3 mil 7 - Michigan 11.6 mil 8 - Oregon 11.6 mil 9 - Tennessee 11.6 mil 10 - Florida State 10.2 mil 11 - LSU 10.1 mil 12 - Penn State 9.9 mil 13 -...
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