"I’m not sure who approved this graphic". For all we know it could have been an eager freshman intern in the athletics media dept trying to 'help'. Yes, it was a stupid thing to put up, no question. But I guess it set Avi off: "...almost all of those transfers could have been averted...". Really? You know what's in the mind/circumstances of a 19 yr old? Do tell.
Yes, the program currently blows, but there are reasons for that. There's two fronts here, the pandemic, and the Mark Fox story.
For all of those making the 'everyone was in the same boat' pandemic argument, that isn't close to true. As Wilner wrote on Nov 12, *2021*: "The frustrated, powerless Cal football program, which is 99.5% vaccinated ... being the only major college football team unable to take the field this season because of a coronavirus outbreak". Yes, *only*. That's football, but shows that things were different for Cal. You think any red state Power 5/D1 teams (who ignorantly handled the pandemic better than Cal/City of Berkeley) were going to keep a non-symptomatic, covid-positive player off the field for an important game? Cal athletics decided to follow the city of Berkeley guidelines, maybe because they were bound by them while residing in Berkeley, and didn't want yet another battle with the city. Plus Berkeley required the use of PCR tests, even on vaccinated players, which showed positives months after they stopped being contagious. Bob R. raises a good question: why were the Cal teams held hostage in Berkeley, and couldn't leave town in 2021 as Stanford for example, did, and why didn't anyone write about it? I don't buy the argument that the writers were cowing to the dept.
A note on injuries - as Cal's historically razor-thin talent margin continues to this day. Injuries play an outsized role for our team, call it an excuse, but it's a legitimate reason why this season is where it is. Take only 1 player from Cal's successful years: KJ, Kidd, Jaylen, Shareef, Powe, Crabbe, etc, away for a season with injuries, and the NCAA appearances dry up. Now try to imagine this season with all of the roster healthy when off-season practice started. Just try to tell me that, with Celestine & Clayton fully healthy, and along with our current starters, most of our seven single-digit losses and probably a couple of our other games don't turn into wins.
As for Mark Fox, I wrote that the time that Wyking had put Cal in a deep hole that would take at least 5 years to climb out of. And that was without a pandemic. And this hole was actually dug well before then, just read Avi's 3/22/17 CGB post about the awful search (by Mike Williams) to replace Cuanzo. We know that Williams nor Knowlton do not have the authority to spend whatever they wanted on a hoops coach so for Knowlton, Fox was 1) experienced, 2) available, 3) was willing to come, and 4) willing to take the low-end pac-12 salary offered by Cal. Maybe too safe a choice, but very defensible at the time. Do you know who else ticked those 4 boxes? Almost no one. Mark Few stated that he wouldn't touch Cal with a 10 foot pole, and I'm sure he counseled Tommy Lloyd when he was approached. We are not Michigan, we are Rice, we are Vanderbilt, it's extremely tough to win here just because we're who we are.
There's a terrific and accurate Nov 1st Athletic article written by Seth Davis you should all read. It mentions that Fox probably should have, but had too much class to encourage the bottom half of Cal's roster to transfer when he arrived, but had too much class to do so. There's also a line in the article that explains Cal's situation perfectly "The Bears play in a power conference, but they have mid-major resources, Ivy League admission standards, and a campus culture that places a relatively low priority on major sports". That's where we are, athletic success is the rare and happy exception, and not the rule at Cal.
Great article Avanish! Would not be shocked if they go 0-20 in conference and Fox's buyout process starts ($1-2M). Knowlton signed an 8-year extension in 2021 so a buyout would be massive for Cal. As a major donor, I was surprised on his hire (military guy, short AD stops at Army and AFA) - I wish I had been consulted.
Wish we could more media coverage of the state of things in the athletic department. Better, they begin to seek comment (pressure) from Christ’s office.
This is some third world-style propaganda. Herb Beneson, the long-time media relations guy, retired mercifully recently, so I’m guessing there was no common sense in the room to check Knowlton.
The sad thing is that plenty of Cal fans continue to buy into the excuses. Heck, how long has it taken many bloggers to finally admit that covid affected all 300+ D1 basketball teams equally? (I still read posters around the internet giving Cal a pass for covid.)
Of course that graphic is insulting, particularly to alums of the #1 public in the world, who generally have better than average critical thinking skills. What is obviously unsaid is that the bench is weaker than weak -- forget Next Man Up -- and that bench is all on Fox's recruiting, or lack thereof. So sure, we got injuries -- who doesn't? -- but we also have no depth and that is the responsibility of the HC not some nebulous virus.
It wasn't equally. We've seen that the city of Berkeley has been a different type of nightmare in dealing with COVID in comparison to other college towns.
That said, that's just one season. There's enough evidence outside of 2020 to can Fox.
Au contraire. Stanford faced some equally stringent rules in Santa Clara County, but they found a work around. Cal chose to capitulate instead of contest. (Personally, I would have sent the players to Arizona for the football game and dare the City Health Department to ban them from returning. Students were already in zoom classes, so quarantining would be nbd.)
Santa Clara County Health banned indoor games, so Stanford took it on the road, playing in the PNW and at UCSC. San Jose State decamped to a high school in Santa Cruz, while the Niners bugged out to Glendale AZ.
WaPo had an article about several teams going above and beyond to keep the game going. Desperate times require creativity.
OTOH, Cal just bent over....(I would have loved to see JK challenge the CoB heath department: 'we're sending ~80 young men to Arizona this week, and if you have a problem with that, send the County Sherriff to meet their return plane and you can explain it to their moms'.)
yeah, its complex, but if I recall, it was the City of Berkeley that said no go, not the County. If that's the case, Bears could have practiced at Laney College, as City regs are not extra-territorial. (Not to mention whether the City even had the legal authority to ban the team from traveling. The City just can't suspend inter-state commerce. What it could do is quarantine the players upon return, but then just check into a Oakland hotel for zoom classes.)
I had my Palaeo 2 final exam in Harmon, I should have just realized I could make an excuse and enter it into my bluebook rather than taking the test. Gimme a break Fox. These dudes (Fox, Knowlton) are pulling down $1 million per year for this crap. Time to clean out the barn.
The answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything except why we may be having one of the worst seasons the NCAA has seen in decades.
The only bright spot in that photo is the ad for the Choco Taco. The vale of tears that is the Haas scoreboard would have been the last place I’d look for some good news.
"I’m not sure who approved this graphic". For all we know it could have been an eager freshman intern in the athletics media dept trying to 'help'. Yes, it was a stupid thing to put up, no question. But I guess it set Avi off: "...almost all of those transfers could have been averted...". Really? You know what's in the mind/circumstances of a 19 yr old? Do tell.
Yes, the program currently blows, but there are reasons for that. There's two fronts here, the pandemic, and the Mark Fox story.
For all of those making the 'everyone was in the same boat' pandemic argument, that isn't close to true. As Wilner wrote on Nov 12, *2021*: "The frustrated, powerless Cal football program, which is 99.5% vaccinated ... being the only major college football team unable to take the field this season because of a coronavirus outbreak". Yes, *only*. That's football, but shows that things were different for Cal. You think any red state Power 5/D1 teams (who ignorantly handled the pandemic better than Cal/City of Berkeley) were going to keep a non-symptomatic, covid-positive player off the field for an important game? Cal athletics decided to follow the city of Berkeley guidelines, maybe because they were bound by them while residing in Berkeley, and didn't want yet another battle with the city. Plus Berkeley required the use of PCR tests, even on vaccinated players, which showed positives months after they stopped being contagious. Bob R. raises a good question: why were the Cal teams held hostage in Berkeley, and couldn't leave town in 2021 as Stanford for example, did, and why didn't anyone write about it? I don't buy the argument that the writers were cowing to the dept.
A note on injuries - as Cal's historically razor-thin talent margin continues to this day. Injuries play an outsized role for our team, call it an excuse, but it's a legitimate reason why this season is where it is. Take only 1 player from Cal's successful years: KJ, Kidd, Jaylen, Shareef, Powe, Crabbe, etc, away for a season with injuries, and the NCAA appearances dry up. Now try to imagine this season with all of the roster healthy when off-season practice started. Just try to tell me that, with Celestine & Clayton fully healthy, and along with our current starters, most of our seven single-digit losses and probably a couple of our other games don't turn into wins.
As for Mark Fox, I wrote that the time that Wyking had put Cal in a deep hole that would take at least 5 years to climb out of. And that was without a pandemic. And this hole was actually dug well before then, just read Avi's 3/22/17 CGB post about the awful search (by Mike Williams) to replace Cuanzo. We know that Williams nor Knowlton do not have the authority to spend whatever they wanted on a hoops coach so for Knowlton, Fox was 1) experienced, 2) available, 3) was willing to come, and 4) willing to take the low-end pac-12 salary offered by Cal. Maybe too safe a choice, but very defensible at the time. Do you know who else ticked those 4 boxes? Almost no one. Mark Few stated that he wouldn't touch Cal with a 10 foot pole, and I'm sure he counseled Tommy Lloyd when he was approached. We are not Michigan, we are Rice, we are Vanderbilt, it's extremely tough to win here just because we're who we are.
There's a terrific and accurate Nov 1st Athletic article written by Seth Davis you should all read. It mentions that Fox probably should have, but had too much class to encourage the bottom half of Cal's roster to transfer when he arrived, but had too much class to do so. There's also a line in the article that explains Cal's situation perfectly "The Bears play in a power conference, but they have mid-major resources, Ivy League admission standards, and a campus culture that places a relatively low priority on major sports". That's where we are, athletic success is the rare and happy exception, and not the rule at Cal.
Great article Avanish! Would not be shocked if they go 0-20 in conference and Fox's buyout process starts ($1-2M). Knowlton signed an 8-year extension in 2021 so a buyout would be massive for Cal. As a major donor, I was surprised on his hire (military guy, short AD stops at Army and AFA) - I wish I had been consulted.
It’s really tough to see a scenario where they get another win.
Strike "Because Cal" and replace with: "Because Rona."
they posted my photo!
Knowlton is such a loser, if only he had taken my recommendation ~ from over a year ago ~ and fired Fox and himself while he was at it.
No comment would have been better. The losses just keep adding up.
Wish we could more media coverage of the state of things in the athletic department. Better, they begin to seek comment (pressure) from Christ’s office.
This is some third world-style propaganda. Herb Beneson, the long-time media relations guy, retired mercifully recently, so I’m guessing there was no common sense in the room to check Knowlton.
Herb was great. Enjoyed working with him back in the Braun era.
This is some serious, weak-a$$, Mack Brown level whining…I’m embarrassed to see that it was real.
The sad thing is that plenty of Cal fans continue to buy into the excuses. Heck, how long has it taken many bloggers to finally admit that covid affected all 300+ D1 basketball teams equally? (I still read posters around the internet giving Cal a pass for covid.)
Of course that graphic is insulting, particularly to alums of the #1 public in the world, who generally have better than average critical thinking skills. What is obviously unsaid is that the bench is weaker than weak -- forget Next Man Up -- and that bench is all on Fox's recruiting, or lack thereof. So sure, we got injuries -- who doesn't? -- but we also have no depth and that is the responsibility of the HC not some nebulous virus.
It wasn't equally. We've seen that the city of Berkeley has been a different type of nightmare in dealing with COVID in comparison to other college towns.
That said, that's just one season. There's enough evidence outside of 2020 to can Fox.
Au contraire. Stanford faced some equally stringent rules in Santa Clara County, but they found a work around. Cal chose to capitulate instead of contest. (Personally, I would have sent the players to Arizona for the football game and dare the City Health Department to ban them from returning. Students were already in zoom classes, so quarantining would be nbd.)
Santa Clara County Health banned indoor games, so Stanford took it on the road, playing in the PNW and at UCSC. San Jose State decamped to a high school in Santa Cruz, while the Niners bugged out to Glendale AZ.
WaPo had an article about several teams going above and beyond to keep the game going. Desperate times require creativity.
OTOH, Cal just bent over....(I would have loved to see JK challenge the CoB heath department: 'we're sending ~80 young men to Arizona this week, and if you have a problem with that, send the County Sherriff to meet their return plane and you can explain it to their moms'.)
That would have required Knowlton to actually take action rather than hide under his desk, as he did.
Didn't we find out that the players actually tested positive and weren't just quarantined due to contact tracing?
yeah, its complex, but if I recall, it was the City of Berkeley that said no go, not the County. If that's the case, Bears could have practiced at Laney College, as City regs are not extra-territorial. (Not to mention whether the City even had the legal authority to ban the team from traveling. The City just can't suspend inter-state commerce. What it could do is quarantine the players upon return, but then just check into a Oakland hotel for zoom classes.)
I wish I could have used that excuse to pass some of my mid terms or finals while at Cal.
8.
The number of combined books that GSD81 did not read this semester in his classes due to time constraints, sleep, and overall procrastination.
Great point Golden.
I had my Palaeo 2 final exam in Harmon, I should have just realized I could make an excuse and enter it into my bluebook rather than taking the test. Gimme a break Fox. These dudes (Fox, Knowlton) are pulling down $1 million per year for this crap. Time to clean out the barn.
The most surprising part of this to me is that there were even fans there to see it.
For Christ’s sake, fire Knowlton.
There are no words.
The answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything except why we may be having one of the worst seasons the NCAA has seen in decades.
The only bright spot in that photo is the ad for the Choco Taco. The vale of tears that is the Haas scoreboard would have been the last place I’d look for some good news.
What the....