Minnesota Head Coach Ben Johnson

The Upside with Adam Finkelstein

He's had to build a brand new coach staff during a pandemic. Agreeing to a 5 year deal Ben Johnson joins his alma mater after spending 3 seasons at Xavier as an assistant coach. Johnson helped lead Xavier to consecutive top-30 recruiting classes in 2019 and 2020 and the Musketeers posted a collective record of 51-37 in three seasons with him on the bench. In his previous stint at Minnesota in 2013, Johnson helped recruit local standouts and current members of the Los Angeles Clippers organization Daniel Oturu and Amir Coffey to the Gophers. He also recruited current Gopher Gabe Kalscheur to the Maroon and Gold. Johnson was instrumental in recruiting and developing Jordan Murphy, who finished his career atop the Gopher record books in rebounds (1,307), free throws made (460), free throws attempted (698) and second in scoring (1,802 points).