Benjamin Johnson (born December 23, 1980) is an American

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

coach who is the head coach for the

Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball The Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball team represents the University of Minnesota in NCAA Division I college basketball competition. The Golden Gophers competes in the Big Ten Conference and play their home games at the Williams Arena. T ...

of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

. He played both football and basketball for the Northwestern Wildcats and Golden Gophers before becoming an assistant coach for several major college programs.

Playing career

Johnson led

DeLaSalle High School DeLaSalle High School is a Catholic, college preparatory high school in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is located on Nicollet Island. History DeLaSalle opened in 1900 and has been administered by the De La Salle Brothers (French Christian Brothers ...

to two

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

state championships and was a two-time first-team all state selection in basketball. He then played two years for the

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

Wildcats before transferring home to the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

, where he played his two final seasons for the

Golden Gophers The Minnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened to Gophers) are the college sports teams of the University of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 25 (12 men's, 13 women's) teams in both men's and women's sports and competes in the Big Te ...

and finished with 533 points in 59 games.

Coaching career

After graduating from the University of Minnesota with a degree in sociology in 2005 Johnson worked as a graduate assistant at the

University of Dayton The University of Dayton (UD) is a private, Catholic research university in Dayton, Ohio. Founded in 1850 by the Society of Mary, it is one of three Marianist universities in the nation and the second-largest private university in Ohio. The univ ...

. Following Dayton, Johnson became an assistant at the University of where he was heavily involved in recruiting and backcourt development. Following UTPA Johnson became an assistant under

Ben Jacobson Ben Scott Jacobson (born December 16, 1970) is an American basketball coach. He is the head men's basketball coach at the University of Northern Iowa, a position he has held since 2006. He served as an assistant at North Dakota, North Dakota Sta ...

Northern Iowa Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...

. Following that he worked under

Tim Miles Timothy Sean Miles (born August 20, 1966) is an American college basketball coach who is the current head coach of the San Jose State Spartans men's basketball team. Miles previously served as the head coach of North Dakota State University, Colo ...

for one season at the University of Nebraska.

Minnesota (assistant)

In 2013, Johnson returned to his alma mater to become an assistant under then-coach

Richard Pitino Richard William Pitino (born September 16, 1982) is an American college basketball coach. He is currently the head coach of the New Mexico Lobos men's basketball team. From 2013 to 2021, he was head coach of the University of Minnesota Golden Gop ...

. At Minnesota, Johnson continued his previous success as a standout recruiter and player developer. With his strong recruiting efforts and local ties to the area, Johnson was able to recruit Minnesota Prep standouts

Amir Coffey Amir Coffey (born June 17, 1997) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Minnesota Golden Gophers. High school career Attending ...

Daniel Oturu Akinfayoshe Daniel Oturu (born September 20, 1999) is a Nigerian-American professional basketball player for the Windy City Bulls of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the Minnesota Golden Gophers. High school career Oturu playe ...

, and Gabe Kalscheur to stay home and play for the Gophers. Johnson was also a key factor in the recruitment and development of Jordan Murphy who broke many Gopher records during his career.

Xavier (assistant)

In 2018, following 5 years at Minnesota Johnson accepted a new assistant position under

Travis Steele Travis Andrew Steele (born November 12, 1981) is an American college basketball coach, and current head basketball coach at Miami University (OH). He recently served as the head coach at Xavier. Coaching career Steele began coaching as an unde ...

at Xavier. While at Xavier, Johnson helped land back to back top 30 ranked recruiting classes. Those classes included high ranked prospects such as Zach Freemantle and Colby Jones. At Xavier Johnson once again was tasked with the development of backcourt players. During his time as an assistant at Xavier, the team went a combined 51–37.

Minnesota

On March 21, 2021, Johnson was announced as the new head basketball coach for the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers. Johnson will be serving as the 18th head coach in the program's history.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Ben 1980 births Living people American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Minnesota Basketball players from Minnesota College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball coaches Minnesota Golden Gophers men's basketball players Nebraska Cornhuskers men's basketball coaches Northern Iowa Panthers men's basketball coaches Northwestern Wildcats men's basketball players Texas–Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros men's basketball coaches Xavier Musketeers men's basketball coaches