Ben Johnson, who led DeLaSalle High School to a pair of Minnesota state championships before eventually playing for the Gophers, is now the team's head coach.
University of Minnesota athletic director Mark Coyle made the announcement Monday, one week after former coach Richard Pitino was fired.
Johnson was one-time assistant under Pitino with the Gophers.
Johnson, a Minneapolis native, was an assistant coach at Xavier.
Pitino is now the head coach at the University of New Mexico.
Johnson started his college career at Northwestern before coming back to Minnesota.
His coaching career includes stints on the staffs at Dayton, Pan American, Northern Iowa, and Nebraska.
Johnson was credited with helping to recruit local talent to the Gophers, including current NBA players Amir Coffey (Hopkins) and Daniel Oturu (Cretin-Derham Hall).
🚨EMERGENCY🚨 REPORT: the Gophers set to hire Ben Johnson as their new Men’s BB Head Coach. 🎙INSTANT REACTION
Posted by Cory Hepola on Monday, March 22, 2021
