An uncertain future, yet hope for Gophers coach Ben Johnson, who foresees a program with more resources

Coaching college basketball seemed to change overnight after Ben Johnson took over the Gophers men’s basketball program in 2021.

His biggest challenge was supposed to be replacing 10 players lost in the transfer portal his first year.

But now, in Johnson’s fourth season, the issue holding back the Gophers most is their inability to retain and recruit players by paying top dollar in NIL.

Entering Saturday’s game at Nebraska, the Gophers (14-14, 6-11 Big Ten) are on the bubble to qualify for the Big Ten tournament as one of the top 15 teams in the standings. The result has Johnson’s name on ESPN’s recent hot-seat lists, but he wants his players to ignore the criticism over the last three regular-season games.

“That’s something they don’t need to think about,” Johnson said Friday before traveling to Lincoln. “Any outside or undue pressure is not fair to them. That’s not their job, their worry or their concern. I just want them to focus on being as positive, as energetic and as enthusiastic and competitive as they can be.”

Johnson, who is under contract through the 2026-27 season, hopes his players focus on the next opponent, but he’s been talking about his program’s future lately.

He’s anticipating the Gophers, like other Division I programs, will receive financial help through shared revenue as part of the NCAA’s House settlement agreement that’s on track for an April vote.

Once this is approved, schools will be allowed to pay athletes about $21 million in annual revenue share disbursements.

“This is an opportunity now with rev share to be in the position I’ve never been in,” Johnson said. “That’s the part that for sure is positive. I’ve never been in a space where because of the rev share, [we’ve] been able to look at a different lens when it comes to [the transfer portal]. The possibility of getting and obtaining players.”

Gophers athletics director Mark Coyle previously stated that his department expects to pay the maximum of $21 million to its athletes, but it’s unclear how much shared revenue will be allocated to men’s basketball. Georgia reportedly will give 75% ($13.5 million) of its shared revenue to football and 15% (about $2.7 million) to men’s hoops.

Coyle declined a recent request to talk about revenue sharing until the settlement is finalized. But in August, he said football will get the biggest chunk, followed by the basketball and hockey teams.

“We want to have conversations with the Big Ten and see what our peers are doing,” Coyle told the Star Tribune then. “We want to be very strategic to make sure we give our programs a chance to compete at the highest level, because that’s our expectation.”

The Gophers have impressive wins vs. Michigan, Oregon, UCLA and USC this season, but they’ve also struggled against teams at the bottom of the Big Ten, including losses to Washington, Penn State and Northwestern at home. Johnson said after the Penn State loss last weekend that relying only on shared revenue wouldn’t be enough to stay competitive. More NIL money is paramount.

“If you want to support Minnesota basketball, I don’t care if you’re alumni, if you’re a fan or season-ticket holder, it’s financial,” Johnson said. “That’s the entire key to this thing. And it’s only going to get more. Rev share is great. But if you have rev share and you still don’t have NIL, it’s going to be in the same position.”

NIL money was the driving force behind the Gophers losing four key players in the transfer portal last year, coming off a 19-win season. They are all making more NIL money elsewhere: Elijah Hawkins (Texas Tech), Pharrel Payne (Texas A&M), Braeden Carrington (Tulsa) and Joshua Ola-Joseph (California).

Nebraska big man Andrew Morgan, a Waseca native, also strongly considered transferring to the Gophers from North Dakota State last summer. But Morgan picked the Cornhuskers after reportedly being offered twice as much NIL. And Morgan has started seven games for Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg this season.

Nebraska is believed to have among the higher NIL recruiting budgets in the Big Ten. Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio State and others have reported numbers upwards of around $3-5 million for men’s basketball alone. The Gophers men’s basketball team was in the $700,000 range for recruiting last spring, according to people with knowledge of the situation.

The current Gopher roster has some higher paid NIL athletes such as leading scorer Dawson Garcia, who is believed to be making about $500,000 this season. Fellow returning seniors Parker Fox and Mike Mitchell Jr. increased their NIL pay from last season but not at the six-figure level.

Dinkytown Athletes, the Gophers' NIL collective, has worked hard to increase its budget significantly since it started in 2022, including a $1 million match in November from Nepsis to benefit the Gophers football and volleyball teams.

While Johnson thinks about shared revenue, NIL and the future of his program, his current Gophers are trying hard to get their confidence back in the final stretch.

One or two more wins could make sure the Gophers keep playing in the postseason at the Big Ten tournament.

“I feel like it’s not really pressure,” Garcia said. “It’s just you’ve got to go out there and compete and be better than the other team.”

1 p.m., Saturday at Pinnacle Bank Arena

TV, radio: BTN, 100.3-FM

The Huskers (17-11, 7-10 Big Ten) are still fighting to stay on the NCAA tournament bubble after losing three of their past four games, including 49-46 Monday at home to No. 15 Michigan. Nebraska bounced back earlier in Big Ten play from a six-game losing streak with four consecutive victories, including vs. Illinois and Ohio State at home. The Gophers, who have a 4-4 Big Ten road record, haven’t won at Nebraska since 2012. They’re 0-9 at Pinnacle Bank Arena since it opened for the 2013-14 season.