Gophers athletic director Mark Coyle says Ben Johnson’s firing came down to consistency over four years

Gophers athletic director Mark Coyle didn’t attend the Big Ten tournament’s opening game Wednesday against Northwestern, but he was nearby at NCAA basketball tournament selection committee meetings in Indianapolis.

Coyle watched the deflating loss on TV and decided to fly back to Minneapolis to tell men’s basketball coach Ben Johnson in person that he wouldn’t be back next year. The Gophers made the announcement at 1:23 a.m.

“I just felt based on what we’ve seen this year and what we’ve seen in the past few years, we just need to be more consistent,” Coyle said Thursday. “I felt the time was right. That’s why I made the decision I did.”

In a Q&A with the Minnesota Star Tribune, edited for brevity, Coyle addressed the next steps after Johnson’s firing, what the Gophers are looking for in the new coach, if they’ll spend more on men’s basketball and more.

Q: Did you consider bringing Johnson back another year to benefit from more money invested in the program?

A: When you take a step back and take a look at the last four years and the body of work, I just felt we didn’t have enough consistency at a high level. We would get some big wins and then we would have some tough losses. I just felt like the time was right. It was a very difficult decision. Ben’s a wonderful person who cares deeply. We just felt like the time was right to make this change.

Q: What are the most important factors you’re looking for in the next men’s basketball coach?

A: We believe selfishly that the Big Ten is the most competitive conference. It’s our job to find someone who can compete at the highest level and have success. There’s no reason why we can’t compete for NCAA tournament berths and Big Ten championships. Our goal is to find someone who embraces Minnesota. They understand the importance of compliance and do things the right way and the importance of graduating our student-athletes and understanding we have to win at a high level. We’re looking for someone to add to what we already have here.

Q: Is the university able to pay more for the new coach (Johnson was the lowest-paid head men’s basketball coach in the Big Ten)?

A: It’s hard to answer that question. A lot of it is who you end up hiring for the position. Obviously, we work very closely with [University President Rebecca] Cunningham and our Board of Regents leadership. They have the expectation that we balance the budget and do it the right way. President Cunningham has been awesome in her support. She understands for us to compete at the highest level in the Big Ten, we have to stretch ourselves. So, we’re prepared to do that. But it will ultimately depend on who we hire, the type of experience they have and what they bring to Minnesota.

Q: When will you start the interview process?

A: I’ve started to have conversations with people today on the phone with brief conversations. As you know I’m here in Indianapolis for NCAA selection week. I’m here until Sunday. After Sunday afternoon my schedule opens up a little bit. I’ve had conversations with people about who is interested and who is not interested.

Q: Gopher women’s coach Dawn Plitzuweit was hired two weeks after that job opened in 2023. What’s your timeline?

A: When we made the transition with our women’s basketball program, Dawn was someone who caught our attention early. She was in the NCAA tournament. We wanted to be respectful. I always try to be respectful to coaches who are coaching in the postseason. Their most important thing is to focus on their current teams and those current student-athletes. 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.

Q: How important is previous head coaching experience or college experience?

A: I think anytime you put constraints on a search, you short-sight yourself. 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. It’s our job to find the next person to lead this program who can have more competitive success.

Q: The last two men’s hoops coaches [Richard Pitino and Johnson] didn’t have much head coaching experience. Does that change your approach now?

A: I didn’t hire Richard. With Ben, I can’t say enough nice things about Ben. He loves this program. He bleeds maroon and gold. He gave us great effort. I thanked him for everything he did for our program when I talked to him last night. But we’re trying to find a coach who understands the Big Ten and the importance of trying to compete at a high level. Not that Ben didn’t understand that. I think the more experience you have does help you when you make a transition to our league.

Q: How much will you invest in men’s basketball with revenue sharing and NIL?

A: With the potential House settlement, our goal at Minnesota is to be relevant in our programs. If you look across our programs, we have great success in many of the programs. Men’s basketball has not had that success over the last several years. That’s something we’ve got to fix. We’ve got to work on that. So, we want to invest in NIL and revenue share with those athletes to compete with our peers in the Big Ten. That’s up to us to get that going in the right direction.

Q: Do you know what percentage of the Gophers’ revenue share that men’s basketball will get?

A: Nothing has been approved yet. We just want to be cautious because everything is so fluid. We just want to make sure we understand what the landscape is in terms of what the rules are. What it looks like and those types of things. When Judge [Claudia] Wilken issues that final ruling and she does approve it, then we can be more specific with the type of dollars we’ll allocate. We want to be very competitive in men’s basketball. There’s no reason why it can’t be done at Minnesota.

Q: Why was the timing of the announcement on Johnson’s firing so late at night?

A: We wanted to be as transparent as possible with the key stakeholders. I thought it was important to have a conversation with Ben face to face. Our team did not get back until late [Thursday]. I had a chance to visit with him. We wanted to communicate with our staff, assistant coaches, operations coaches, those people with our basketball program and student-athletes. I’m not sure there’s a good time to have those meetings. You’re making a really difficult decision that’s impacting a lot of really good people who care greatly about Gophers athletics. They heard it first from us.

Q: What’s the future of Williams Arena?

A: Nobody complains when Williams Arena is sold out. They talk about how great a venue it is and how historic it is. We have to create that vibe for our basketball program. There are things we need to do to update that facility and to enhance it for the student athletes and the fan experience. With everything going on in college athletics, we have to work our way through revenue sharing to make sure we’re competing at a high level. Then we can turn towards those facilities.