Minnesota fired Ben Johnson after four seasons as head coach on Thursday morning, a day after Northwestern eliminated the Golden Gophers in the first round of the Big Ten tournament.
The Gophers will miss the NCAA men’s basketball tournament for a sixth-straight year amid five losing seasons.
Johnson, a Minneapolis native who led local powerhouse DeLaSalle to state titles twice as a player, went 56–71 as the Gophers coach.
He played for the Gophers from 2002 to 2004 after two seasons with Northwestern from 1999 to 2001. Johnson then got into college coaching, starting as a graduate assistant with Dayton and followed by various assistant jobs. His stops included the Gophers from 2013 to 2018, as well as Texas-Pan American, Northern Iowa, Nebraska, and Xavier.
Despite his strong Minnesota and Gophers ties, Johnson couldn’t raise the program to the desired level, and athletic director Mark Coyle made the call. Minnesota hasn’t been a college hoops powerhouse, but the state consistently produces NBA talent, although many of those high school stars go on to bigger-name programs such as Duke or Gonzaga.
“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.”
The Gophers have made 14 NCAA tournament appearances, went to the Final Four in 1997, and won the Big Ten regular season title nine times in school history. Minnesota has an overall program winning percentage of .568, with a 1,733–1,318–2 mark.
“We provide a world-class experience for our student-athletes, have one of the best practice facilities in the nation, and play games in a historic venue,” Coyle said. “We offer everything that is needed to be successful, and we will immediately begin a nationwide search for our next men’s basketball coach.”
NBA players from Minnesota who have passed on the Gophers include Chet Holmgren of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Jalen Suggs of the Orlando Magic, Tyus Jones of the Phoenix Suns, Tre Jones of the Chicago Bulls, and Gary Trent Jr. of the Milwaukee Bucks. Holmgren and Suggs played at Gonzaga, and the Jones brothers and Trent all played at Duke.
Los Angeles Clippers guard Amir Coffey is the only exception, as he played at Minnesota before the NBA. However, his father, Richard, also played for the Gophers before a career in the pros.
This year’s top three prospects from Minnesota are all heading elsewhere. That’s Tommy Ahneman (Notre Dame), Chase Thompson (Clemson), and Jalen Wilson (Northern Iowa).
Johnson took the helm after the aforementioned NBA players’ times in high school, but he had similar troubles as previous coaches. Only Isaac Asuma, Grayson Grove, Pharrel Payne, and Braeden Carrington stayed in the state among top prospects between 2022 and 2024.
Payne didn’t stay long, as he transferred to Texas A&M for the 2024–2025 season. The same was true for Carrington, who transferred to Tulsa for this season. NIL factored into that as the Gophers saw a major turnover in players from 2023–2024 to this year.
Minnesota had a 19–15 mark under Johnson in year three, but the Gophers couldn’t overcome the changes this time around. The Gophers didn’t have an overly difficult non-conference schedule either amid no ranked teams, but the Big Ten added talent with the additions of UCLA, USC, and Oregon this season, though Minnesota ironically beat all three in regular season play.
Minnesota entered the Big Ten tournament needing to win or make a deep run as a bubble team. The Gophers couldn’t get the job done against the Wildcats 72–64 on Wednesday, which marked a third-straight loss and five in the last six games to end the season.
The Epoch Times reached out to Johnson for comment but did not receive a response by publication time. Johnson replaced former Gophers head coach Richard Pitino, the son of legendary Rick Pitino, who also had limited success in Minneapolis between 2013 and 2021 with just two NCAA tournament appearances.
