Scoggins: The Gophers need a new commitment to basketball, not just a new coach

Any successful major college athletic program resembles a complex puzzle that has been assembled. The pieces fit. Not just players and coaches but all facets of the operation.

The Gophers men’s basketball program currently looks like a puzzle box that has been opened, its pieces scattered across a table in total disarray.

Thursday marked the beginning of one of the most important moments in Mark Coyle’s tenure as athletic director. Coyle fired coach Ben Johnson after four long, hard seasons of losing basketball.

Coyle gambled on someone who had never been a head coach when he hired Johnson. No more gambles. The Big Ten is too cutthroat and the stakes are too high, given the changes happening in college sports and the reliance on football and men’s basketball to thrive as revenue producers that keep athletic departments afloat.

The results on the court make it easy to defend a coaching change. But the conversation needs to dig deeper than one person to examine why a program that resides in a premier conference and a state rich in high school talent has struggled to establish measurable consistency across multiple generations.

In a statement announcing Johnson’s dismissal, Coyle described Gophers basketball as an “extremely desirable job,” and it can be if the institutional commitment matches ambition.

The Gophers need to go all-in with men’s basketball. No more dipping toes in to check the temperature of the water. University leadership needs to commit the resources to hire a proven coach and give him the kind of financial support that is competitive with peers.

Coyle has prioritized P.J. Fleck’s football program, and rightfully so, because nothing is more important than football to a department’s overall success. Men’s basketball needs to have that same sense of urgency, too.

I would argue that the university still has not recovered entirely from the Clem Haskins academic fraud scandal. That case has haunted the university for two-plus decades and influenced how leaders view and treat athletics, creating a cautious approach, as if they live in fear of a bogeyman reappearing.

I still hear employees in various roles talk about it as if the dark cloud never completely went away. People who had no ties to the school or Minnesota at the time still feel it.

Making a full commitment to a program does not have to be reckless or without oversight. But it’s essential to the vitality of Gophers athletics in the age of revenue sharing and name, image and likeness (NIL).

My sources have indicated that Coyle wants to rank in the top third of the Big Ten in revenue sharing distribution for men’s basketball. That’s significant. Once NCAA revenue sharing is approved, in the coming months, schools will be free to distribute up to about $20.5 million to student-athletes. The prediction here is that Coyle intends to devote 15% to 20% of that to men’s basketball for roster payroll.

A successful basketball program costs a lot of money, between revenue sharing, NIL, coaches' salaries and all the other components. “Spend money to make money” is not just a catchphrase.

Apathy has hit Gophers basketball. The team averaged less than 9,000 fans for home games this season, and that’s announced attendance, not actual fans in the seats. The $2.9 million buyout owed to Johnson is pittance compared to the financial impact of seeing fans turn away.

Coyle no doubt took that into account. He looked at empty seats and felt fan apathy in football and decided to “shake the tree” when he hired Fleck. Same thing here.

Basketball needs a jolt, someone to make people excited again. Watching Johnson’s teams left the impression that they were constantly hanging by a thread.

People can debate whether he got a fair shot because meager NIL resources contributed to constant roster turnover. Getting outspent by wealthier schools when trying to retain talent isn’t Johnson’s fault, but blaming NIL for every single factor that contributed to losses and Johnson’s firing is a convenient excuse.

Maybe a coaching change will convince fans who have been on the fence about the direction of the program to contribute to NIL. The next coach needs to be as vocal and proactive as Fleck in seeking NIL support.

This seminal moment requires discussion about Williams Arena, too. Beloved by some for its nostalgia, the place is a dump. It has become a metaphor for the program: Boring and behind the times.

The Barn will turn 100 years old in a few years. Everything has an expiration date. This venerable building does too.

A new arena is part of the puzzle. Again, that costs money and requires commitment, but what are the options? Do nothing and pretend that everything is fine?

The importance of this moment cannot be overstated. Not just with Coyle’s hire but the whole puzzle. The willingness to invest in something that demands full commitment.

Coyle and the university can’t get this wrong. Or else they will be right back in this spot four years from now and the cycle will keep repeating itself.