Minnesota basketball coaching candidates: Top 3 replacements for former HC Ben Johnson ft. Ryan Saunders
The Minnesota Golden Gophers is on the lookout for a new men's basketball coach after parting ways with Ben Johnson. University Athletic Director Mark Coyle confirmed that he met Johnson on Thursday morning and informed him about the leadership change.
"These decisions are difficult and are made after careful consideration and evaluation. The expectation for our program is to compete for championships, and unfortunately, we have not done that in the last four years," Coyle said (per Sports Illustrated).
Johnson was 56-71 during his four-year tenure with Minnesota but had a horrendous 22-57 mark in Big Ten play. He failed to guide his team to the NCAA Tournament, settling for the 2024 National Invitation Tournament. This season, Minnesota went 15-17 (7-13) and was ousted by Northwestern 72-64 in the Big Ten Tournament opener on Wednesday.
Hours after the development broke out, several names popped out of the gate as potential replacements for Johnson. With this in mind, here are the top three coaches that Minnesota could hire as Johnson's replacement in the 2025-26 season.
Top 3 candidates to replace Ben Johnson at Minnesota
#3. Eric Musselman
The son of former Minnesota Timberwolves coach Bill Musselman, Eric Musselman has coached Nevada and Arkansas to a combined eight winning seasons and six NCAA Tournaments. He reached the Elite Eight twice in 2021 and 2022 with the Razorbacks before joining the USC Trojans this season.
Despite his well-decorated resume that included coaching in the NBA, Musselman — who once spoke about how much he respects the Gophers — is on his way to absorbing his second-straight losing season, as Southern California signed off with a 15-16 record in Big Ten regular season play.
#2. Sam Cassell
If Minnesota wants to prove it is serious in its objective to win national championships, hiring former Timberwolves point guard and three-time NBA champion Sam Cassell for the 2025-26 season would be a great starting point. Cassell, an assistant coach for the 2024 NBA champion Boston Celtics, was a two-time second-team All-ACC awardee at Florida State.
He played for the Timberwolves between 2003 and 2005, teaming up with Kevin Garnett and Latrell Sprewell. Cassell had his best offensive season in 2003-04, averaging 19.8 points per game. The point guard hung his sneakers after the 2008 season with Boston, winning his third championship ring.
Cassell has no college basketball coaching experience tucked under his belt, but he could use his name and championship experience to entice transfer and high school recruits, as well as NIL money (and possibly tag along Kevin Garnett in the coaching staff) to bring the Golden Gophers back to Big Ten and NCAA relevancy.
#1. Ryan Saunders
Possibly the biggest longshot among the trio, Ryan Saunders is very familiar with the university, having played for the Gophers in 2004-08 and was a graduate manager under Tubby Smith in the 2008-09 season.
His father, the late Flip Saunders, was a longtime coach for the Timberwolves. He also served as an assistant coach before becoming the T-wolves coach from 2019 to 2021.
After being fired in the middle of the 2020-21 season, Ryan Saunders was hired as an assistant coach for the Denver Nuggets and helped the franchise win an NBA title in 2023.
He could be well-loved by the Gophers faithful because of his ties with the university and the city, but can Minnesota's athletic department afford him? Or could Mark Coyle and the university leaders have the patience and finances to build a competitive team now the Big Ten has expanded to 18 teams?
We'll find this out in the coming months, as the Minnesota college basketball team heads to the offseason with many things to ponder.