Ben Johnson on Hot Seat? Mark Coyle Angry Gophers Missed NCAA Tournament Again

“Yeah [this tournament] has had good games to see and it’s amazing… I get mad, to be honest with you, because I [want the Gophers] to be there, as an AD. If you could see the text messages to my wife… You know, that there’s no reason why we can’t do it at Minnesota. Somehow we’ve gotta pop through and get in there. I love that competition, and the pressure, and I’m absolutely confident our kids would love that, and that’s our goal, to get there and experience that pressure.”

Mark Coyle – Minnesota Athletic Director (KFAN Radio)

Mark Coyle is a basketball AD. He loves Gophers head football coach, PJ Fleck, and knows it’s football that pays the bills. That’s why his focus at Minnesota is on the gridiron. But that doesn’t mean our AD doesn’t lose sleep over how to get the Gophers back into the March Madness conversation.

And Coyle makes it clear that he is sick of waiting. The desperation in his voice tells us how tired he is of constantly being dunked on by the 11 other members of the NCAA Tournament committee group chat… which you just know is “lit”, as the kids say (the kids still say that, right?).

Gaard: Dawson Garcia is coming back, I think [Ben Johnson] feels pretty good about the rest of the group. So now that we kind of have some portal resolution, are your feelings still [expecting to be a top-25 team next season] on the men’s side?

Coyle: I am. You know, we made great great progress this year. I think everybody would talk about how much more competitive we were and you and I talked maybe 3 weeks ago, a month ago, and I said, ‘hey, if we get everybody back, I think we’re a top 25 team preseason’, and I still feel that way.

KFAN Radio

Historic NCAA Tournament drought has Coyle fed up

This 5-year NCAA Tournament drought is the longest Minnesota men’s basketball has endured since they were banned from postseason play for five years between the 1999 and 2003 seasons, after an academic scandal rocked the nation and destroyed a program on the rise under Clem Haskins.

If you only count years where the Gophers were actually allowed into the dance, it’s the program’s longest Tourney drought since 1989, which was their first year back since 7 seasons prior (1982). In other words, it’s probably safe to assume that Ben Johnson’s seat is going to feel quite steamy entering the 2024-25 season.

Coyle makes it clear that he still believes in Ben, but it doesn’t take a certified psychiatrist to see that the U of M AD is running out of patience.

“I’ve talked to coaches, I mean, the great thing about this [NCAA Tournament] committee is I’m meeting coaches from all over the country and they all talk about what Ben’s doing. I think we had one of the younger teams in the country, and we did lose Pharrell, we did lose Braeden, who went into the portal or whatever.

That’s on us to figure out how we we fill those two spots, and get other people in there to help us continue to grow. College athletics has changed. You know, NIL, I think it’s awesome for student athletes, but there’s no doubt it’s created a disruption for everybody.”

“It’s just the way it is. And so now, Ben and his staff have done a great job. You know, keeping Dawson is phenomenal. Great, great player for us. If we can keep our other kids, go on the portal and find some good kids, we got a great freshman class coming in. So I feel like we can do some special things next year at Minnesota.”

Mark Coyle – Minnesota Athletic Director (KFAN Radio)

Coyle isn’t messing around. Right after that last quote above, he went on to talk about how he’s already talked to Ben Johnson about making sure he schedules more difficult competition in the non-conference next season, an admission that the Gophers scheduled easy non-Big Ten opponents in 2023-24.

We already knew that though. Minnesota’s easy non-conference slate was why they were never able to climb into serious March Madness conversations, even when they were playing their best basketball and had an above .500 record during the first 2/3 of the Big Ten season.

Your time is up, Ben. Get out your dancing shoes next March or find another job. Mark Coyle has put you on notice.