MINNEAPOLIS – Ben Johnson arrived at the home of Minnesota athletic director Mark Coyle, already dressed for the job for which he was interviewed.
Johnson wore a Gophers pullover, making a strong first impression. Your first job as a coach on the men’s basketball team will be to persuade more Minnesota kids to wear that brown and gold.
“We have great high school coaches, great AAU coaches and kids who have a good feeling and know how to play basketball, so we have to do our job within the state to keep these guys at home,” said Johnson, who spoke at a press conference. socially distant press on the team’s training ground on Tuesday, two days after meeting with Coyle and university president Joan Gabel to present his vision of the program he was previously part of as a player and assistant.
Johnson, 40, was raised in Minneapolis, played for the mighty DeLaSalle High School and spent two seasons at Northwestern before transferring to the Gophers in 2001. His coaching career took him from Dayton to Texas-Pan American, Northern Iowa, Nebraska and Minnesota, where he was on Richard Pitino’s team for five years. He left for Xavier, where he spent the last three seasons.
When Pitino was fired last week with a 54-96 record in the Big Ten game, Johnson quickly found himself on Coyle’s short list of possible substitutes, despite never having been a coach before.
“Every child within the state, like me, they need to be looking forward to one day playing at the Williams Arena. They need to be looking forward to trying to become a Gopher and creating that energy and enthusiasm,” said Johnson.
Over five years in office, Coyle was impatient with the lack of traction the program had during a time when high school talent in the state has never been greater.
Of course, the best local recruits went to destination programs like Duke or Gonzaga. Still, Colorado (McKinley Wright IV), Texas (Jericho Sims) and Wisconsin (Brad Davison and Nate Reuvers) were among the teams in this season’s NCAA Tournament with Minnesota’s most prominent seniors.
“We look around the region and the number of children who are not here. We are going to bring them here,” said Coyle, who also had Brian Dutcher (state of San Diego), Craig Smith (state of Utah), Dennis Gates (Cleveland State) and Ben Jacobson (Northern Iowa), among others on his radar.
Pitino had some important players in the state, of course. Amir Coffey and Daniel Oturu now play for the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers, and Johnson was a main reason why they chose to stay home. Guard Gabe Kalscheur, the best defender on the team, is another local player.
With the Musketeers, Johnson also helped coach Travis Steele sign the first 30 consecutive recruiting classes in the past two years.
“I’m not worried about the game,” said Coyle. “He knows how to do ‘X’ and ‘O’ with anyone. He will learn to do timeouts. He will surround himself with a great team.”
Johnson, who has an annual base salary of $ 1.95 million and a five-year contract, chose patience when asked what his biggest initial challenge will be. He named former Nebraska coach Tim Miles, Jacobson, Steele, Pitino among his many mentors. He then focused on Tom Izzo of Michigan State (26 seasons) and Matt Painter of Purdue (16 seasons) as models of identity and stability.
“You can tell Purdue players and Michigan players. That will be our goal. I want our fans to say, ‘This is a guy from Minnesota,'” said Johnson. “We are very proud of our state and our program and we will not fail.”
Johnson also joins the sports department at a time when all other coaches in the sports gophers are white. In a report published two weeks ago by the Star Tribune, Minnesota was considered the only institution in the Big Ten without a school president, athletic director or color coach.
Historically, Gophers hoops have been among the ten leaders in this area. Since Wisconsin made Bill Cofield the first black male basketball coach at the conference in 1976, Michigan (Juwan Howard, Tommy Amaker and Brian Ellerbe) and Minnesota (Johnson, Tubby Smith and Clem Haskins) are the only programs that have had more than two .
Rutgers had three black top coaches over that time, with Eddie Jordan the most recent, but he’s only been on the Big Ten since 2014. Four teams have never had one. Excluding provisional substitutions, Johnson’s first year will mark the 22nd for the Gophers with the black leadership in the 46 seasons since Cofield’s historic signing. The Wolverines will be next with 13.
“Guys like me haven’t had these opportunities in the past. This is the elephant in the room, right? Our leadership has stepped up and provided this platform for me. Now it’s my job to do the best I can and, hopefully, I can open the doors for the next guy, “said Johnson. “I have a lot of friends who are very capable coaches. I was lucky that there were a lot of things that came together to put me in this position today, and I’m humble about that, and I know that. There are a lot of things about guys that could be here. I understand . I don’t think I’m a guy who thinks I have all the answers, but I know I’m the right guy for this job. “