**GOPHERS MEN’S BASKETBALL INSIDER | MARCUS FULLER**
Gophers athletic director Mark Coyle invited all of his head coaches to attend Ben Johnson’s introductory news conference as men’s basketball coach four years ago at the Athletes Village.
Sitting among that group was Gophers football coach P.J. Fleck, who heard Johnson talk about being from Minnesota and caring deeply about winning at his alma mater with “Minnesota guys.”
Fleck couldn’t exactly relate. He isn’t from Minnesota, but the Illinois native learned how to win here. He’s now landing the state’s top recruits and has people pumping money into his program after Year 8 to stay relevant amid the changing landscape of college athletics.
Johnson, who didn’t engage the fan base and do enough to excite the top local recruits, [was fired Thursday](https://www.startribune.com/ben-johnson-minnesota-gophers-basketball-fired/601235126) for not being consistently competitive. He was 56-71 in his four-year tenure, including 22-57 in Big Ten play.
Of course, the Gophers hope the next men’s basketball coach is more Fleck than Johnson, building a successful culture and program with boosters ready to donate.
A coach selling himself to Gophers fans, recruits and donors is more important than just having Minnesota ties. Could the answer be a guy with strong local connections like Colorado State’s Niko Medved, who has emerged as the favorite?
Medved, who graduated from Roseville High School, was a student manager under Clem Haskins and is a former Gophers assistant who turned around programs at Furman, Drake and now Colorado State. His Rams won the Mountain West tournament Saturday and qualified for the NCAA tournament for the third time since he arrived in 2018.