BEN JOHNSON IS THE RIGHT GUY FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA HEAD MEN’S BASKETBALL COACHING JOB

After a long 2020-21 men’s basketball season at the University of Minnesota, there were a lot of rumblings of who will replace Richard Pitino if he was let go.

On March 22, University of Minnesota Athletic Director Mark Coyle hired Ben Johnson to lead the University of Minnesota.

Ben Johnson’s name came up early on the rumor mill when the season was going rough mid-way through the season.

I watched Johnson play basketball when he was playing at DeLaSalle and at the University of Minnesota.

While he was playing at DeLaSalle his head coach was Dave Thorson. Thorson went on to coach college basketball at different universities.

Johnson knows the twin cities area and knows the high school and AAU coaches in the area. I think that that is a plus for Johnson who knows all too well about the recruiting and the hotbed of players from Minnesota.

I think it will be interested in seeing who he brings in as an assistant coach.

RICHARD PITINO HAS BEEN FIRED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA

On March 15, University of Minnesota athletic director Mark Coyle fired men’s basketball coach Richard Pitino after eight seasons as the men’s basketball coach.

Through eight seasons with the Gophers, Pitino had an overall record of 141-123 while his Big Ten record was 54-96.

During the shortened Covid-19 2020-2021 basketball season, the Gophers had an overall record of 14-15 and were 6-14 in the Big Ten Conference.