Gophers Basketball Hires Ben Johnson as HC

[UnFadeable21]

[HeHateMe]

Very interesting! I love Ben..... I am shocked... but here we go.

[UnFadeable21]

Ben Johnson, 39, joined the Xavier Basketball staff in 2018 after spending the previous five seasons from 2013-18 as an assistant at his alma mater, Minnesota. He has been a big part of helping Travis Steele secure multiple nationally-ranked recruiting classes.

Johnson started his collegiate playing career at Northwestern and played two seasons before returning to the Twin Cities to finish his career. He was a two-time captain at Minnesota and finished with 533 points in 59 games in Maroon and Gold. He scored a total of 1,202 career points between the two Big Ten Conference institutions.

The Minneapolis native enjoyed a standout prep career, leading DeLaSalle High School to a pair of state championships. He was a two-time first-team all-state selection in both football and basketball, and as a senior, was named a Street & Smith All-American, as well as an honorable mention Nike All-American.

[Hoop Dreams]

Very interesting! I love Ben..... I am shocked... but here we go.

Shocking indeed. I do think he'll be above average in recruiting.

[UnFadeable21]

Very interesting! I love Ben..... I am shocked... but here we go.

Looks like he’s a born and bred Minnesotan like us.

I hope he does well for my school. They send me emails every week to donate money lol

[HeHateMe]

Very interesting! I love Ben..... I am shocked... but here we go.

Shocking indeed. I do think he'll be above average in recruiting.

Locally for sure... what if he starts hiring AAU coaches locally as his assistants!?

[UnFadeable21]

[HeHateMe]

[UnFadeable21]

[Hoop Dreams]

Very interesting! I love Ben..... I am shocked... but here we go.

Shocking indeed. I do think he'll be above average in recruiting.

Locally for sure... what if he starts hiring AAU coaches locally as his assistants!?

This hire has to help with Jamison Battle, right?

[HeHateMe]

Shocking indeed. I do think he'll be above average in recruiting.

Locally for sure... what if he starts hiring AAU coaches locally as his assistants!?

This hire has to help with Jamison Battle, right?

I would expect Battle to end up at Minnesota now.

[UnFadeable21]

[Style]

I was talking with my buddy the other day about a Dutcher hire with Johnson as lead assistant, wink wink future HC. I guess we're just going to get to the point immediately.

Now go get Holloman.

[Hoop Dreams]

Locally for sure... what if he starts hiring AAU coaches locally as his assistants!?

This hire has to help with Jamison Battle, right?

I would expect Battle to end up at Minnesota now.

What about Ishmael El-Amin?

[UnFadeable21]

I was talking with my buddy the other day about a Dutcher hire with Johnson as lead assistant, wink wink future HC. I guess we're just going to get to the point immediately.

Now go get Holloman.

Coyle didn’t want an older guy. Dutcher, Mitchell, these guys are 60+ already.

Johnson can be a 10 year hire

[HeHateMe]

This hire has to help with Jamison Battle, right?

I would expect Battle to end up at Minnesota now.

What about Ishmael El-Amin?

Sure it's possible. Madsen brothers available too.... I think they visited Xavier.

[feekdogg]

Babu out of the gates in full kiss-ass mode.

[Style]

A nice first step for him, other than securing MN HS talent, would be to bring back MN HS transfers. Fill the program with 'em, Ben.

If you're going to go down, at least go down with MN guys. Take them all. Build the trust.

[UnFadeable21]

[UnFadeable21]

[RubeTube]

He was already on a staff who let way too many Minnesota kids leave.

Plus the biggest factor is can he coach?


You all told me Pitino was a great recruiter for years and it never translated because he couldn’t coach the X’s and O’s This is a mid major move. It checks two boxes though. Cheap and a minority hire. I won’t shit on the hire right away but this is really suspect.

You can pretend all you want but most of the cream of the crop isn’t coming here. The kids growing up today have never even seen this program relevant. You need to start winning to get them back and you need to be able to take 2nd tier level guys and succeed with them because those are the guys you get at a school like MN. It’s exactly what the Badgers are so good at. You You think teams like Loyola are getting the best of the best?

[UnFadeable21]

[HeHateMe]

He was already on a staff who let way too many Minnesota kids leave.

Plus the biggest factor is can he coach?


You all told me Pitino was a great recruiter for years and it never translated because he couldn’t coach the X’s and O’s This is a mid major move. It checks two boxes though. Cheap and a minority hire. I won’t shit on the hire right away but this is really suspect.

Henry Lake told a story last week about one named Tyrese Haliburton. Ben was the recruiter for him... Haliburton wanted to commit and Richard said no.

[HeHateMe]

A nice first step for him, other than securing MN HS talent, would be to bring back MN HS transfers. Fill the program with 'em, Ben.

If you're going to go down, at least go down with MN guys. Take them all. Build the trust.

BOOM!

[RubeTube]

He was already on a staff who let way too many Minnesota kids leave.

Plus the biggest factor is can he coach?


You all told me Pitino was a great recruiter for years and it never translated because he couldn’t coach the X’s and O’s This is a mid major move. It checks two boxes though. Cheap and a minority hire. I won’t shit on the hire right away but this is really suspect.

Henry Lake told a story last week about one named Tyrese Haliburton. Ben was the recruiter for him... Haliburton wanted to commit and Richard said no.

We will see what happens. This is way too big of a gamble imo. One more bust and this program is dead. It’s on life support now. It’s the same type of hire as Richard was. Very risky.

Lot’s of people saying they are canceling their season tickets lol. I bet they don’t.

[Hoop Dreams]

I would expect Battle to end up at Minnesota now.

What about Ishmael El-Amin?

Sure it's possible. Madsen brothers available too.... I think they visited Xavier.

Do you know if Ben Johnson has a good relationship with Ed Conroy? Would like to keep Liam Robbins here.

[UnFadeable21]

The real question is: is he better than Ryan Saunders? Lol

[HeHateMe]

He was already on a staff who let way too many Minnesota kids leave.

Plus the biggest factor is can he coach?


You all told me Pitino was a great recruiter for years and it never translated because he couldn’t coach the X’s and O’s This is a mid major move. It checks two boxes though. Cheap and a minority hire. I won’t shit on the hire right away but this is really suspect.

Henry Lake told a story last week about one named Tyrese Haliburton. Ben was the recruiter for him... Haliburton wanted to commit and Richard said no.

We will see what happens. This is way too big of a gamble imo. One more bust and this program is dead. It’s on life support now. It’s the same type of hire as Richard was. Very risky.

Lot’s of people saying they are canceling their season tickets lol. I bet they don’t.

A lot of people that complain about the program do not spend money on it. How many people on this forum go to games?

[HeHateMe]

What about Ishmael El-Amin?

Sure it's possible. Madsen brothers available too.... I think they visited Xavier.

Do you know if Ben Johnson has a good relationship with Ed Conroy? Would like to keep Liam Robbins here.

Not sure on the relationship but they obviously overlapped here.

[Hornets]

Does it really matter rubes? The program has been below average for decades other than a few wonderful years under Clem and even one of those years doesn't count. Coyle solved 3 issues with this.....hiring a minority, hiring someone with good experience recruiting MN kids, and hiring someone under budget. As with PJ Fleck, all I want is a guy who can field a competitive team on a regular basis and maybe every 4 years or so make a trip to the sweet 16 or beyond. We're never going to be a national power so let's all simma down and see what Ben can do!!