One morning during his junior year at Champlin Park High School, Theo John walked out to his car and found it covered in maroon and gold streamers, surrounded by stuffed Goldy Gopher dolls and sidewalk-chalk pleas begging him to stay home and play for Minnesota. "I asked coach, 'Do you have anything to do with this?'" John told the Star Tribune. "He said, 'No, that's just some loyal fans.' My parents were dying. They thought it was hilarious."
Theo John was born on August 25, 1998, in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, a suburb north of Minneapolis. He attended Champlin Park High School, where he became one of the state's most prominent basketball recruits — a 6-foot-9, 230-pound forward with a 7-foot-4 wingspan who could protect the rim, rebound, and run the floor. MaxPreps named him to the Minnesota Fab 5 in consecutive years. By his senior season, his final two schools were Minnesota and Marquette, and the entire state was watching.
He announced alongside his Champlin Park teammate McKinley Wright, who chose Dayton. John chose Marquette and Steve Wojciechowski — a former Duke point guard and longtime Coach K assistant who had become Marquette's head coach in 2014. The Gophers went 0-for-6 on in-state seniors they offered that year. John left Minnesota because Wojo made him feel like he could contribute immediately. "I just felt like Marquette was the better decision for me both academically and basketball-wise," he said.
The Wojo connection is the thread that runs through Theo John's entire career. A Duke man coached him for four years at Marquette. Then the Duke man's mentor coached him for one more.