Cal posts an embarrassing graphic at Haas Pavilion, making excuses for the worst start in modern college basketball history

I still can't believe this is real.

Dec 30, 2022

There has been a lot of excuse-making by Mark Fox throughout his tenure at Cal.

The pandemic, even though everyone else had to deal with the pandemic too and most programs have found their way.
Injuries, even though Fox has had four years to recruit and coach his players up to handle losses.
Transfers, even though almost all of those transfers could have been averted if Mark Fox was a better basketball coach.
The pandemic, again, even today, even though it’s been two years and everyone else had the chance to adjust and adapt. It’s only Mark Fox at Cal that is special enough that they can’t recover.

For SOME reason, Cal Athletics thought it was a good idea to take an excuses from the banality of press conference quotes and transfer them to the big screen at Haas Pavilion before Cal’s first win of the season vs. UT-Arlington.

Eric McDonough @McDonoughEric

Embarrassing

For those who want the full text:

42.
Cal has been severely short-handed this season, with seven of its 13 scholarship players missing a combined 42 games due to injury/illness. Wings DeJuan Clayton and Jalen Celestine, who were both expected to start, have yet to play this season due to their respective injuries.

This is one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen posted by an athletic department. It echoes the excuses made by athletic director Jim Knowlton in his tepid interview with Jeff Faraudo, who has done NOTHING but make excuses despite saying directly that no more excuses would be made.

I’m not sure who approved this graphic, whether it be Knowlton or Fox, but it is humiliating. It is a capitulation. It is insulting to the Cal fans who are somehow still showing up to support the Bears. It is demeaning to the Cal basketball players who have to stare up at the graphic and shake their heads.

Knowlton seems to be doing everything in his power to justify why Mark Fox is 0-11 rather than doing his best to make Cal a watchable basketball team. It is an indictment on him for allowing these excuses, just as it is on Fox for returning to the well and fishing out another one each loss.

Excuse-making has been the mindset of the Mark Fox era throughout his time at Cal, and it appears to be what we will be dealing with for whatever time we have left with him.

(Clayton returned against Utah. He scored 5 points on 2-10 shooting. Fox said Clayton had only practiced 3 times all year, so who knows how many more losses Cal can excuse from his record!).