2024-2025 Season Thread

[Hummdrum]

Iowa vs Illinois tomorrow night.

[jffl_commish]

Ben is gone. Announced overnight. Who will be next in line to disappoint?

[Self High-Five]

The players never liked playing for him.

I think he can coach, but apparently there's a disconnect between the coach and the players.

[feekdogg]

I was wrong. And I am very happy I was wrong. Needed to be done.

[ForCaleb]

Minnesota fires coach Ben Johnson after four seasons

Minnesota fired men's basketball coach Ben Johnson on Thursday after four years of repeatedly rebuilding rosters at his alma mater without coming close to an NCAA tournament appearance, a fleeting accomplishment for a program that has fallen behind in the expanded Big Ten.

Johnson had two seasons remaining on his contract, which calls for a $2.92 million buyout. His annual salary was $1.95 million, the lowest in the 18-team conference.

The Gophers finished 15-17 after losing 72-64 to Northwestern on Wednesday in the first round of the Big Ten tournament. Minnesota dropped five of its final six games.

Athletic director Mark Coyle announced his decision early Thursday after a late-night meeting with Johnson upon the team's return from Indianapolis.

"The expectation for our program is to compete for championships, and unfortunately, we have not done that in the last four years," Coyle said in a statement. "This is an extremely desirable job in one of the best conferences and cities in the nation, and we fully expect to compete at the highest level on and off the court."

Johnson departs with an overall record of 56-71, going 22-57 in the Big Ten.

He was in his first head coaching opportunity, returning to Minnesota after serving as an assistant there from 2013 to 2018. He also played two seasons for the Gophers, averaging around nine points per game, before starting his coaching career.

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-baske ... ur-seasons

[HeHateMe]

The right move.

[weimy froob]

Jon Krawczynski puts the failure on Coyle. i think there's a lot of truth to that. the guy is also getting paid 1.4 million a year, top third in the conference.

[Bob Wiley]

I feel like Ben didn’t have a chance wat iThe the players departing for bigger NIL paychecks. With the exception of Garcia, Ben had mid major talent to try to win with.

[feekdogg]

Coyle's the AD, so bad hires fall on him. Whalen was a massive whiff. If this one fails, he's probably done.
The questions remains was Ben his choice, or was his hand forced by the administration?

[Hoop Dreams]

[feekdogg]

What's ruthless? Getting fired can't be much fun, there's never a good time to be fired. Coyle left the NCAA Selection Committee to fly back to Minneapolis and fire him in person. Does a Facetime firing at 5pm change anything?

[rtb]

Yeah went on gopherhole to read a bit more and lots of people are mad about the middle of the night announcement. Not sure that that matters at all, just get the next hire right.

[feekdogg]

As far as the NIL stuff goes. Sure that's part of it. And part of it is that you've got to get out in front of it and do two things: Promote your program and give people a reason to contribute, and win. Sorry, but no one is going to shell out money to help you buy players when your record on the court has been putrid.

[Hoop Dreams]

[feekdogg]

The coaching search needs to throw out any and all Minnesota connections. If those are removed and the guy is still a viable candidate, pursue it. If not, move on. The silly notion that "one of us" needs to coach a Minnesota team needs to stop. Sid's dead (I think) and he's not coming back (probably, can't rule it out).

[Slap Shot]

Rumors are Virginia taking a look at Lil Ricky.

[Hoop Dreams]

The coaching search needs to throw out any and all Minnesota connections. If those are removed and the guy is still a viable candidate, pursue it. If not, move on. The silly notion that "one of us" needs to coach a Minnesota team needs to stop. Sid's dead (I think) and he's not coming back (probably, can't rule it out).

What do you think of Will Wade? Sketchy past, but the guy wins and he can recruit.

[feekdogg]

Rumors are Virginia taking a look at Lil Ricky.

He's had two pretty good seasons in a row. New Mexico has always had pretty good support with their team from a fanbase standpoint, he's got it pretty good there right now. But if an ACC team offers, he pretty much has to jump at it.

[jffl_commish]

Have the gopherhole rubes started to call for Ryan Saunders yet?

[Dan33185]

John Tauer?

[Nightfly]

Crean, Drake HC McCollum -- hope those two are on the short list.

Agree that factoring in Gopher connections at all is moronic. Didn't worry about that with Fleck.

[feekdogg]

The coaching search needs to throw out any and all Minnesota connections. If those are removed and the guy is still a viable candidate, pursue it. If not, move on. The silly notion that "one of us" needs to coach a Minnesota team needs to stop. Sid's dead (I think) and he's not coming back (probably, can't rule it out).

What do you think of Will Wade? Sketchy past, but the guy wins and he can recruit.

I'd take him. But I'd wager he's going to have better options with more money for him to play with.

And after I pissed all over the Minnesota connection deal, now there's rumblings about Bobby Jackson being under consideration.

[Slap Shot]

For people like Babu that whine "who are they going to get" because no coach since Haskins has had any success...

...while their history has on the whole been abysmal, coaches have had at least some minor success compared to Ben. Each of the coaches before Johnson made the Tournament. (Monson once, Smith three times and Pitino twice iirc). Smith and Pitino won NCAA games. Pitino won an NIT Title, Smith was Runner Up and Monson at least made it multiple times. Johnson made the postseason once. So it’s not impossible to think they can bring someone in and make them modestly more competitive – especially if the NIL coffers have improved as was recently reported.

[feekdogg]

For people like Babu that whine "who are they going to get" because no coach since Haskins has had any success...

...while their history has on the whole been abysmal, coaches have had at least some minor success compared to Ben. Each of the coaches before Johnson made the Tournament. (Monson once, Smith three times and Pitino twice iirc). Smith and Pitino won NCAA games. Pitino won an NIT Title, Smith was Runner Up and Monson at least made it multiple times. Johnson made the postseason once. So it’s not impossible to think they can bring someone in and make them modestly more competitive – especially if the NIL coffers have improved as was recently reported.

She annoys the shit out of me. She wants to be a journalist (in addition to her regular job), but she's way too concerned with being buddy/buddy with coaches in town. She's mad that they fired Ben, and Ben was nice and gave her access.

[Slap Shot]

For people like Babu that whine "who are they going to get" because no coach since Haskins has had any success...

...while their history has on the whole been abysmal, coaches have had at least some minor success compared to Ben. Each of the coaches before Johnson made the Tournament. (Monson once, Smith three times and Pitino twice iirc). Smith and Pitino won NCAA games. Pitino won an NIT Title, Smith was Runner Up and Monson at least made it multiple times. Johnson made the postseason once. So it’s not impossible to think they can bring someone in and make them modestly more competitive – especially if the NIL coffers have improved as was recently reported.

She annoys the shit out of me. She wants to be a journalist (in addition to her regular job), but she's way too concerned with being buddy/buddy with coaches in town. She's mad that they fired Ben, and Ben was nice and gave her access.

Yup. I mean I love her passion as a fan, but no one is going to take you seriously if you can't leave your feelings out of it.

[ForCaleb]

With all the rumblings and rumors, it sounds like their are reputable coaches that would want the job. I guess that's a good thing. It probably comes down to money.

[feekdogg]

Nico Medved is the baseline. Do not go below that under any circumstances. Do everything you can to exceed that line.

[rtb]

With all the rumblings and rumors, it sounds like their are reputable coaches that would want the job. I guess that's a good thing. It probably comes down to money.

Not trying to be negative and I hope that’s the case, I just feel like we’ve heard this for every gopher opening and we’ve ended up with…Tim Brewster? Jerry Kill? Richard Pitino? Ben Johnson?

[Hoop Dreams]

[Hornets]