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Ben Johnson is out at Minnesota after 4 seasons.
Minnesota made the announcement early Thursday morning. The program released a statement from athletic director Mark Coyle.
I met with Ben in-person early this morning when the team returned to Minneapolis from the Big Ten Men’s Basketball Tournament and informed him that we were making a change in leadership,” Coyle said. “I thanked him for his dedication and for guiding the program, one he cares deeply about, for the last four years. Ben is a terrific person, and we wish him well.
“These decisions are difficult and are made after careful consideration and evaluation. The expectation for our program is to compete for championships, and unfortunately, we have not done that in the last four years.
“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. 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. We offer everything that is needed to be successful, and we will immediately begin a nationwide search for our next men’s basketball coach.
Minnesota fell to 15-17 for 2024-25 on Wednesday with a loss to Northwestern in the Big Ten Tournament. Under Johnson, the Gophers went 56-71 with a 22-57 mark in B1G play over 4 seasons. Johnson took Minnesota to the postseason once, reaching the NIT second round last year.
The Minnesota job was Johnson’s first head coaching gig. A former player at Northwestern (1999-2001) and Minnesota (2002-04), he has been an assistant at Dayton, Texas-Pan American, Northern Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota and Xavier.
Andrew writes about sports to fund his love of live music and collection of concert posters. He strongly endorses the Hall of Fame campaigns of Fred Taylor and Andruw Jones.
