Five early takeaways in the search process for the next Gophers men’s basketball coach

The Big Ten and the rest of college basketball will soon have all eyes on teams in this year’s NCAA tournament, but everything in the Gophers' world revolves around the search for their next men’s basketball coach.

Assigned to make the second basketball hire of his near decade-long tenure as Gophers athletic director Mark Coyle addressed the media Friday for the second time since firing Ben Johnson as coach early Thursday morning after a Big Ten tournament-opening loss.

Here are five key takeaways from Coyle’s comments the past two days about replacing Johnson and the future of the Gophers men’s hoops program:

Coyle has been on the phone with coaching candidates, members of his Gophers staff and media this week, all while going in and out of NCAA tournament selection committee meetings. Certainly he’s frustrated in the meetings when he knows the Gophers have no chance at making the Big Dance. Could that change soon with the next coach? It seems like a must for Coyle, who went to the NCAAs as the Syracuse and Boise State AD. The Gophers haven’t made it since 2019.

“That’s addicting. You want to get back to that experience,” Coyle said Friday. “That’s why this is such a critical hire for our department as we move forward. How can we find someone to get us back to the NCAA tournament? We have 38 opportunities to get to the NCAA tournament. There are 37 at-large spots and one [automatic qualifier] for the Big Ten if you win the conference tournament. … In my heart, there’s no doubt Minnesota can be one of those 38 teams.”

The Gophers women’s basketball program saw an abrupt coaching change when Lindsay Whalen resigned and was replaced by Dawn Plitzuweit in 2023. Plitzuweit was working at West Virginia, and Coyle identified her early in the coaching search but didn’t go full throttle on offering the job and sealing the deal until Plitzuweit’s team lost to Arizona in the NCAA’s first round March 18.

Could that be the timeline for Johnson’s replacement? Think active college coaches and potential candidates whose teams will likely play in the NCAA tournament, including Colorado State’s Niko Medved, Drake’s Ben McCollum, West Virginia’s Darren DeVries, Oklahoma’s Porter Moser and North Texas' Ross Hodge.

Coyle said he has not hired a search firm to help him find the next coach. He’s working with his own staff.

“I always try to be respectful to coaches who are coaching in the postseason,” Coyle told the Minnesota Star Tribune on Thursday. “Once Dawn finished her season with West Virginia, then we had some pretty intense conversations with her and named her our head coach a day or two after that game.”

Gophers fans hoping to see the Barn renovated to keep up with the times will have to wait.

The Gophers hired a company to assess possible renovations to the nearly 100-year-old venue, but that was before the House vs. NCAA settlement, which when approved likely will lead to sharing revenue with athletes in 2025-26. Sorry, no changes coming soon for the Barn.

But Coyle expects the next Gophers men’s basketball coach to have better resources for paying recruits. Coach P.J. Fleck likely will get most of that new money for football, but word is $5 million or more is the goal for men’s hoops, combining NIL and revenue-sharing with help from boosters and work from the Dinkytown Athletes collective.

“Men’s basketball has not had that success over the last several years,” Coyle said. “That’s something we’ve got to fix. We want to invest in NIL and revenue-share with those athletes to compete with our peers in the Big Ten.”

One particular date is probably more important than anything for college coaches these days. That’s the day the transfer portal opens, March 24.

All 365 Division I teams will be glued to the portal while losing and replacing players for next season. It’s the most effective way to stay competitive or spark a major turnaround.

The Gophers have 10 seniors who mostly are out of eligibility, but the others are allowed to enter the portal now because of the coaching change. Senior guard Tyler Cochran put his name in the portal Friday after missing the season because of a foot injury.

Johnson’s top assistant, Dave Thorson, has taken over the team for now as interim. Coyle said director of basketball Ryan Livingston also remains to help with players.

Coyle is aware it would crippling for the program if he waited until after the portal opened to replace Johnson, who previously expected junior Frank Mitchell and freshman Isaac Asuma to return.

“With the timing of the search, obviously we want to be very efficient and move quickly,” Coyle said. “Because of the transfer portal and because of the collective NIL and institutional NIL. We want to have those conversations quickly.”

If there ever was a time in college sports when professional coaches can succeed, it’s now. College athletes are basically pros being paid with NIL. Does that mean an NBA guy with no college chops is the right fit? Maybe.

Before hiring Johnson in 2021, Coyle and former University President Joan Gabel met with former Timberwolves coach Sam Mitchell, but he was not offered the job. NBA names floating around this time as potential candidates are former Wolves coach and current Denver assistant Ryan Saunders, Milwaukee assistant Dave Joerger, Dallas assistant Sean Sweeney and Philadelphia assistant Bobby Jackson. All have Minnesota ties.

“I think any time you put constraints on a search, you short-sight yourself,” said Coyle when asked if it had to be a college coach. “My goal is we want to find someone who embraces Minnesota, who understands the things that are important to us. We’re going to cast a wide net.”