Minnesota Golden Gophers head coach Ben Johnson is entering his fourth season as head coach of the men's basketball team but if the Gophers don't improve on last season's progress, he could be on the way out.
ESPN's Jeff Borzello listed Johnson as one of several head coaches on the hot seat in the Big Ten this season, citing the limited time on his contract and the need to continue Minnesota's upward trajectory from last season.
"Minnesota's Ben Johnson also enters a critical campaign, with two years left on his deal after this season," Borzello wrote. "While last season showed clear improvement over his first two years in Minneapolis, the Gophers need to continue the upward trajectory."
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Johnson took over for Richard Pitino in March of 2021 but hasn't been able to turn the Gophers program around fully. The Gophers went 13-17 in Johnson's first season in 2021-22 and 9-22 in 2022-23 but started to show progress after going 19-15 last season.
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Johnson has also shown progress on the recruiting trail. He secured homegrown talents Pharrel Payne, and Braeden Carrington in his first recruiting class and added an impact player in Dawson Garcia after he transferred from North Carolina.
Johnson also recruited Cam Christie and got a commitment from five-star center Dennis Evans before he changed his mind and went to Louisville in the Class of 2023.
While Johnson landed four-star recruit Isaac Asuma, the bigger challenge has been getting those players to stick around. Payne (Texas A&M) and Carrington (Tulsa) and fellow member of the 2023 recruiting class Josh Ola-Joesph (Cal) all transferred this past season and the Gophers also lost starting point guard Elijah Hawkins (Texas Tech) in the transfer portal.
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With Cam Christie entering the NBA Draft and getting selected with the 46th overall pick by the Los Angeles Clippers, Garcia, Mike Mitchell and Parker Fox are the three key returners from last year's rotation to add with key transfer guards Lu'Cye Patterson, and Tyler Cochran.
That will prove to be a big obstacle as Johnson looks to improve on his 41-52 (.432) overall record and 15-44 (.254) record in the Big Ten - especially with the addition of USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon to the conference.
While Johnson has made progress in some areas, he'll have his biggest challenge to move forward this season. If he doesn't, Minnesota could be looking for a new coach to help the program reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2018-19 season.