2012 Battle 4 Atlantis

[unifight789]

Ben Johnson, the assistant, is a tough loss but not an unexpected one. He has a lot of potential as he did a lot of good things recruiting, mainly that he was the main recruiter of Deon Mitchell. I'm sure it has a lot to do with finances. UNI can't afford to pay assistants the way Nebraska does.

As for next year. Expectations are high. We started off the season so well and we know the talent is there. Just hoping with 4 seniors on the team. We can finish games off better next year. It also helps when our best, most consistent player was a skinny true freshman. Coach Jake has already said that next years team has the potential to be his deepest team he has ever had.

[valleychamp]

I don't know what the impact will be. I know he did some good things for us, and was really good for us in bringing in some quality recruits.

This has nothing to do with financial issues. The basketball program is in good shape financially. He left for a better job in the Big 10 conference for God's sake (which is also where he played college ball). That's what coaches, especially assistant coaches, do.

Was Erik Crawford's leaving Creighton last year to take a job at UNI because of financial distress at Creighton? No, he left because it was a better job and opportunity for advancement in his career.

[DoubleJayAlum]

Was Erik Crawford's leaving Creighton last year to take a job at UNI because of financial distress at Creighton? No, he left because it was a better job and opportunity for advancement in his career.

Right, at Creighton Crawford was merely DoBo, While at UNI he is a full fledged assistant coach, can recruit off campus, instruct at practice, etc.

Ben Johnson is simply going from one assistant coaching job to another assistant coaching job. It isn't a promotion at all as he will have the same position and Nebraska's program is not on the same level as UNI's at this point. He is probably getting more money at Nebraska though.

[Jet915]

With Jacobson returning everyone but Moran (who probably wasn't even the 4th best player on the team), I wouldn't count UNI out. I definitely expect them to compete for the MVC title and be top 3.

[PorkTornado]

Was Erik Crawford's leaving Creighton last year to take a job at UNI because of financial distress at Creighton? No, he left because it was a better job and opportunity for advancement in his career.

Right, at Creighton Crawford was merely DoBo, While at UNI he is a full fledged assistant coach, can recruit off campus, instruct at practice, etc.

Ben Johnson is simply going from one assistant coaching job to another assistant coaching job. It isn't a promotion at all as he will have the same position and Nebraska's program is not on the same level as UNI's at this point. He is probably getting more money at Nebraska though.

Its more money, but it isn't a better job. Unless you like getting your teeth kicked in, then you couldn't find a better gig.

[Trapped in CA]

UNI will finally have depth at the post position next. Koch is not a post player, no matter how desperately we wanted to him to fill that role. Oliver is an unknown quantity at this point - scuttlebutt has been good, not great, but good so far.

As for Lyle leaving, its seemed to be by mutual agreement. Had a number of (mostly unexplained) issues that kept him in the doghouse for the year. To say he was barely above a walk-on - I don't know about that. Maybe someone has better access to info that I did. Jake wouldn't have recruited him if he was a scrub player. Something didn't gel to the determent of both parties. Better luck in the next place.

As for Ben Johnson leaving, he made about $66,000 base salary last year (higher with travel reimbursement, etc). The UNL Director of Basketball Ops made $100,000. One asst made $104,000 the other two made north of $175,000. The opportunity to boost your salary by at least 50% is nothing to sneeze at.

BTW - the rumor is that Kyle Green is coming back to UNI http://www.panthernation.com/showpost.p ... ostcount=4

[valleychamp]

Ben Johnson had a base salary of over 73K at UNI in 2011.--http://data.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/dmr-public-records/state_salaries.php?keyEMPLOYEE=Ben+Johnson&keyFISCAL_YEAR=2011&keyDEPARTMENT=

Sounds like Kyle Green will indeed be coming back, which is a great thing for UNI.

[Kyle]

Champ,

I haven't heard anyone from UNI comment here about the recent loss of another assistant. What impact do you guys expect there to be as a result?

(we can leave for another day whether this is just the latest byproduct of UNI's financial situation)

Sounds like former UNI and Marquette assistant Kyle Green will be coming back to fill the void. He just announced his resignation as the head coach at UW-Eau Claire along with his intentions to move back to Iowa.

Green>Johnson IMO, so this looks to be a net positive for UNI.

BTW, are these trolling attempts working out like you planned?

[uniftw]

Green coming back is huge. Loved Coach Johnson but Green is a better coach/recruiter at this point.

No "hard" evidence Green is back at UNI...he'll have to go through the hiring process....but I'm 98% sure I saw his wife the other day shopping.