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

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

coach. He played basketball for the Northwestern Wildcats and Golden Gophers before becoming an assistant coach for several major college programs. From 2021–2025, he served as the head coach of the

Minnesota Golden Gophers The Minnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened to Gophers) are the college athletics, college sports teams of the University of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 21 (9 men's, 12 women's) teams in both men's and women's sports and com ...

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 Brot ...

to two

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

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 (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

Wildcats before transferring home to the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

, where he played his two final seasons for the Golden Gophers 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 university, private, Catholic research university in Dayton, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1850 by the Society of Mary (Marianists), Society of Mary, it is one of three Marianist universities in the U ...

. 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 Fighting Hawks me ...

Northern Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

. Following that, he worked under Tim Miles for one season at the University of Nebraska.

Minnesota (assistant)

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

Richard Pitino Richard William Pitino (born September 16, 1982) is an American college basketball coach who is the head men's basketball coach at Xavier University. He was previously head coach at Minnesota from 2013 to 2021, and New Mexico from 2021 to 2025. ...

. 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 Attend ...

, Daniel Oturu, 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 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 22, 2021, Johnson was announced as the new head basketball coach for the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers. Johnson was the 18th head coach in the program's history. On March 13, 2025, he was fired following the team's loss in the Big Ten Tournament.

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 UT Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros men's basketball coaches Xavier Musketeers men's basketball coaches