Yep we were coming from a bad place 4 years ago. We had the lowest KenPom rank (241) in the power 6 conferences. The bottom 5 were Cal, Wash St, Wake Forest, Vandy, and Georgia. All of those teams - except Cal - have improved noticeably since then.
To be fair though, we are the only team that has had to deal with injuries or COVID.
what a sad sad situation. at this pt the players have stopped believing in the coach and his system or lack thereof and lost motivation. going to practice has to be tough and gameday must be worse i cant imagine. and to read the ADs interview is really disheartening. basketball is a revenue generator in any school and to let it get to this level wow he is willing to let it hit rock bottom. isnt there anyone like board members or big donors to force a replacement? cant rely on christ alone to fire him. shes obviously letting this slide more. i cant imagine ucla or uci or any pac 12 school do nothing like this ugh
Well said Avi. Your bitterness and snark are warranted and not hyperbole. This could not be a more discouraging reply from our AD. It's hard to imagine that the Old Blues and major donors are not similarly upset with him.
You'd think setting goals would be de rigueur for the major revenue sports. But nope, we just get platitudes that we have to try harder and that it's on me. How many CEO's would survive years of crappy quarterly results without tanking their own stock? The answer, they wouldn't, But Cal sports is in a magical land without consequences.
I don't know how you can achieve anything if you don't set and state goals and expectations for what you hope to achieve. Since the start of Fox's tenure, neither Knowlton or Fox have articulated any specific goals for the program besides the broadest of platitudes. What institution doesn't set or state goals for themselves or for their members (in this case ticketholders and donors)? It seems to me, it's just tactic to not be held accountable or create any set of expectations they might be measured against.
Fire Knowlton. Fire him yesterday. Fire him 10,000 years ago, when mankind was nothing but carefree Hunter gatherers, unaware of the concept of competitive sports.
At what job could you consistently and publicly demonstrate your own incompetence and have that be ok? JFC
When all you have is shit and a shovel then you just get to shoveling. Knowlton can pretend it's something else but anyone with eyes and a nose can tell what's happening.
"I truly believe as an AD you have to show some tactical patience. You have to evaluate exactly where you are, what are the options and how can we continue to get better."
Over a year ago, I told Know(nuttin) that Fox had to be fired immediately and that things would only get worse. They have. I have proven that I have the ability to "evaluate exactly" and knew the "options" over 12 months ago. Ergo, I am putting my hat in for new AD at Cal.
And when I get the job the first thing I will do is punch Know(nuttin) in the face!!
I was looking forward to reading an interview with Knowlton. Having read it, I'm still looking forward to reading an interview with Knowlton, since he said nothing at all in this one.
In this case he got to write his canned answers out, because the questions were emailed to him in advance. And the questions were mostly softballs. And he STILL didn't answer them.
I think the Dykes hire was a little desperate seeming to a lot of folks, including myself. But maybe she was just 5 years ahead of her time on that one. I do know she had lost a bit of faith of the Associate Chancellor at the time, Wilton. I seem to recall the rumors were that Wilton kind of went over the top of her to make the Cuonzo hire, when she was ready to offer the job to DeCuire.
In basketball, you can turn the program around in one year if you wanted to. Cal basketball was already pretty good when Cuonzo came in, but he made it better with top recruits. There is absolutely no excuse for going winless in year 4. I can't understand what Knowlton is saying.
A winless team is going to contribute to a pretty dismal game day fan experience. I’m really not sure what he was getting at. This interview is depressing.
What has me baffled is how quickly the Cal fans have abandoned Haas (same story with memorial). The fans were pretty much out as soon as Jones was hired and the situation has worsened with COVID and Fox . A total shit storm of bad decisions and bad luck. Cal fans are going to have to recognize and step up; otherwise, we are just as sorry as our AD and coach. Oski is crying in his Lair.
I understand the reality, for sure. Add on the effort to just watch a game (live or on the Pac 12 Network) and there is most definitely a threshold where it ain't worth it no more.
My point was that this happened pretty much as soon as Cuonzo left. There has been a bad vibe since season one of Jones that has snowballed. What is happening in the stands is understandable but worrisome. Maybe there's an interaction with football performance that has exacerbated basketball attendance.
Ultimately major changes are pending, but what this team could use right now is for the fans to show up and root them on to their first win. Root....for a win. I can't see anything else that could help at this point.
Fire Fox and give fans a reason to believe change is coming. Cal has been so slow about everything the past 20 years (I mean longer for sure, but only commenting on recent history) that we've basically been conditioned to believe nothing will ever get better.
A lot of it was bad luck (getting pushed our while Memorial was getting renovated at the worst timing) too, but the reality is that anyone who has graduated from Cal within the last 10 years really has no incentive to support Cal athletics, whether it's through fandom or donations because the school refused to be proactive in investing in programs that attract fans. And I'm not just talking about money, but even just general enthusiasm/support towards its revenue sports.
the best way to improve game day experience is to restore the sideline student section (they destroyed it by cutting it in 3 and take out rows)
Yep we were coming from a bad place 4 years ago. We had the lowest KenPom rank (241) in the power 6 conferences. The bottom 5 were Cal, Wash St, Wake Forest, Vandy, and Georgia. All of those teams - except Cal - have improved noticeably since then.
To be fair though, we are the only team that has had to deal with injuries or COVID.
We...are not the only team that has to deal with injuries?
But we’re the only team that had to deal with Covid
(I was joking)
Louisville won tonight so I think that we are the only winless Power Five basketball program left. I am so proud!!!!!
what a sad sad situation. at this pt the players have stopped believing in the coach and his system or lack thereof and lost motivation. going to practice has to be tough and gameday must be worse i cant imagine. and to read the ADs interview is really disheartening. basketball is a revenue generator in any school and to let it get to this level wow he is willing to let it hit rock bottom. isnt there anyone like board members or big donors to force a replacement? cant rely on christ alone to fire him. shes obviously letting this slide more. i cant imagine ucla or uci or any pac 12 school do nothing like this ugh
Well said Avi. Your bitterness and snark are warranted and not hyperbole. This could not be a more discouraging reply from our AD. It's hard to imagine that the Old Blues and major donors are not similarly upset with him.
You'd think setting goals would be de rigueur for the major revenue sports. But nope, we just get platitudes that we have to try harder and that it's on me. How many CEO's would survive years of crappy quarterly results without tanking their own stock? The answer, they wouldn't, But Cal sports is in a magical land without consequences.
I don't know how you can achieve anything if you don't set and state goals and expectations for what you hope to achieve. Since the start of Fox's tenure, neither Knowlton or Fox have articulated any specific goals for the program besides the broadest of platitudes. What institution doesn't set or state goals for themselves or for their members (in this case ticketholders and donors)? It seems to me, it's just tactic to not be held accountable or create any set of expectations they might be measured against.
Fire Knowlton. Fire him yesterday. Fire him 10,000 years ago, when mankind was nothing but carefree Hunter gatherers, unaware of the concept of competitive sports.
At what job could you consistently and publicly demonstrate your own incompetence and have that be ok? JFC
Tactical Patience is my band name
I prefer Sonic F-cking Death Monkey, but your’s is good too.
:-
When all you have is shit and a shovel then you just get to shoveling. Knowlton can pretend it's something else but anyone with eyes and a nose can tell what's happening.
"I truly believe as an AD you have to show some tactical patience. You have to evaluate exactly where you are, what are the options and how can we continue to get better."
Over a year ago, I told Know(nuttin) that Fox had to be fired immediately and that things would only get worse. They have. I have proven that I have the ability to "evaluate exactly" and knew the "options" over 12 months ago. Ergo, I am putting my hat in for new AD at Cal.
And when I get the job the first thing I will do is punch Know(nuttin) in the face!!
You have my vote.
I was looking forward to reading an interview with Knowlton. Having read it, I'm still looking forward to reading an interview with Knowlton, since he said nothing at all in this one.
I believe he has a back pocket full of canned answers ready to go at any moment
In this case he got to write his canned answers out, because the questions were emailed to him in advance. And the questions were mostly softballs. And he STILL didn't answer them.
Fire Knowlton. There is nothing else to say. It's not just basketball.
Is it sad that I miss Sandy Barbour?
Barbour was a top-shelf AD.
I mean I agree but I felt a lot of Cal fans were happy she left to Penn St
As Cal fans, the only way we know how to learn is the hard way.
The Memorial project going off the rails just in time to line it up with '09 market crash and Tedford losing his fastball put her in a tough spot.
All of this.
I think the Dykes hire was a little desperate seeming to a lot of folks, including myself. But maybe she was just 5 years ahead of her time on that one. I do know she had lost a bit of faith of the Associate Chancellor at the time, Wilton. I seem to recall the rumors were that Wilton kind of went over the top of her to make the Cuonzo hire, when she was ready to offer the job to DeCuire.
I think Cuonzo hire was right on.
I do as well. No one bats 1000%
In basketball, you can turn the program around in one year if you wanted to. Cal basketball was already pretty good when Cuonzo came in, but he made it better with top recruits. There is absolutely no excuse for going winless in year 4. I can't understand what Knowlton is saying.
A winless team is going to contribute to a pretty dismal game day fan experience. I’m really not sure what he was getting at. This interview is depressing.
But maybe if we get 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5!!! wins you can expect a packed Haas.
What has me baffled is how quickly the Cal fans have abandoned Haas (same story with memorial). The fans were pretty much out as soon as Jones was hired and the situation has worsened with COVID and Fox . A total shit storm of bad decisions and bad luck. Cal fans are going to have to recognize and step up; otherwise, we are just as sorry as our AD and coach. Oski is crying in his Lair.
We haven't had a shot at a 20 win season since Cuonzo, you can't blame the fans for not taking a program seriously when the school doesn't.
I understand the reality, for sure. Add on the effort to just watch a game (live or on the Pac 12 Network) and there is most definitely a threshold where it ain't worth it no more.
My point was that this happened pretty much as soon as Cuonzo left. There has been a bad vibe since season one of Jones that has snowballed. What is happening in the stands is understandable but worrisome. Maybe there's an interaction with football performance that has exacerbated basketball attendance.
Ultimately major changes are pending, but what this team could use right now is for the fans to show up and root them on to their first win. Root....for a win. I can't see anything else that could help at this point.
Fire Fox and give fans a reason to believe change is coming. Cal has been so slow about everything the past 20 years (I mean longer for sure, but only commenting on recent history) that we've basically been conditioned to believe nothing will ever get better.
A lot of it was bad luck (getting pushed our while Memorial was getting renovated at the worst timing) too, but the reality is that anyone who has graduated from Cal within the last 10 years really has no incentive to support Cal athletics, whether it's through fandom or donations because the school refused to be proactive in investing in programs that attract fans. And I'm not just talking about money, but even just general enthusiasm/support towards its revenue sports.
Fans will be back as soon as we start winning
..or even have a prospect of winning. Right now all we see is “..doing what we’ve always done..” and we know what to expect.
"Problem? What problem?"
"What? Me worry?"
- Alfred E. Neumann
Alfred E. Knowlton, too.