My brother in Cal, Bob (if you jump in this thread), Ole Miss fired their coach Kermit Davis (their version of Mark Fox) last night, with a week to go. Yeah, it's pretty late in the year for that, but they actually had 10 wins! Only 2-13 in conference, but the bar is now set.
Also, I remembered that last year, Chris Mack was fired in January at Louisville after 4.5 seasons of mediocrity...that guy was a major success at Xavier and considered a huge get when first hired. He just never got going on Louisville, now their program is as bad as Cal's.
I don't really care at this point, fire him this week, next week, after the P12 championships...but Knowlton will find a way to completely F this up, just wait.
That’s the worry - Knowlton will take his time in terminating a guy that should’ve been fired in December, and lacking any sense of urgency or a plan will settle for some retread exactly like a Mark Fox (ie Tim Miles) and the cycle will continue.
One thing that was evident in watching this game, as well as the Stanford/Wazzu tilt immediately following, is just how far this Cal team is from actually competing in its current incarnation. I’ve felt for awhile that a different scheme more catered to the actual skills of the players would have this Cal team at least playing better than 3-25, though as others have pointed out, probably not a whole lot better. That said, even 11-17 would look a helluva lot better.
But UW and Wazzu are both decidedly better teams than Cal, yet find themselves treading water near .500 in the P12. We’ve got a long, long ways to go…but it starts with a new leader in Berkeley…
I really like Coach Smith at WSU. It's a really difficult place to recruit, but he was the guy I wanted a few years when I saw how well he was doing at USF (also not an easy play to recruit and win). His WSU teams actually do play defense, you can look up the stats, they were top 50 in defensive efficiency up until this year. The drop off could be due to the team now being his players, not sure, but if they trend back up, I'm gonna call this one a huge miss. Reportedly there was no interest at Cal for some reason back in 2019? Anyway, maybe he's tired of freezing his balls off and wants to come back the Bay? He was a long time assistant at St. Mary's and we know that Randy Bennett knows what he is doing.
Well said, dd9999! From what I have heard, Jim Knowlton was the reason there was no interest in Kyle Smith…he farmed the search out to a firm that had a relationship with Fox, and voila…it was a done deal quickly.
Hopefully Knowlton is prepared, proactive and works with purpose on this search…if not, it may be time to scrap the program. Telling the exact same story and having the identical conversation of how hard the rebuild will be 4 years later must be embarrassing for the Colonel.
I have said this all year, Cal doesn’t have a div 1 shooter on the team. Not one guy who can consistently shot the ball. I don’t want to hear the injury excuse. Fox has completely missed on recruiting even one good athletic player. This is a complete embarrassment to the program and fans who support the program. Knowlton and Fox need to get walking papers ! Get a quality coach who can recruit quality players, at least players that can create their own shot for crying out loud. Is the season over yet? Uggggg
The kicker is, Fox rarely ever has shooters, even back at UGA. His teams usually struggled mightily with shooting percentages and efficiency, because his offense does not create consistent good looks. Lots of forced shots as the shot clock wears down as this idiot tries to shorten the game and limit possessions because that’s the only way he knows how to coach.
Sure, you’d like to see Lars convert some of his gimmes, but as to your point, he’s just not a skilled enough player to do so, especially last night with a better player that had him by 3” contesting shots…a layup v. a 7’4” dude is not a high percentage shot.
These officials were the worst I have seen in a college game, men or women's games.
My brother in Cal, Bob (if you jump in this thread), Ole Miss fired their coach Kermit Davis (their version of Mark Fox) last night, with a week to go. Yeah, it's pretty late in the year for that, but they actually had 10 wins! Only 2-13 in conference, but the bar is now set.
Also, I remembered that last year, Chris Mack was fired in January at Louisville after 4.5 seasons of mediocrity...that guy was a major success at Xavier and considered a huge get when first hired. He just never got going on Louisville, now their program is as bad as Cal's.
I don't really care at this point, fire him this week, next week, after the P12 championships...but Knowlton will find a way to completely F this up, just wait.
Peace.
That’s the worry - Knowlton will take his time in terminating a guy that should’ve been fired in December, and lacking any sense of urgency or a plan will settle for some retread exactly like a Mark Fox (ie Tim Miles) and the cycle will continue.
December 2021?
That argument can definitely be made. I mean, he did his best with guys he didn’t even recruit…tells you all you need to know.
Thanks Rick…good stuff.
One thing that was evident in watching this game, as well as the Stanford/Wazzu tilt immediately following, is just how far this Cal team is from actually competing in its current incarnation. I’ve felt for awhile that a different scheme more catered to the actual skills of the players would have this Cal team at least playing better than 3-25, though as others have pointed out, probably not a whole lot better. That said, even 11-17 would look a helluva lot better.
But UW and Wazzu are both decidedly better teams than Cal, yet find themselves treading water near .500 in the P12. We’ve got a long, long ways to go…but it starts with a new leader in Berkeley…
I really like Coach Smith at WSU. It's a really difficult place to recruit, but he was the guy I wanted a few years when I saw how well he was doing at USF (also not an easy play to recruit and win). His WSU teams actually do play defense, you can look up the stats, they were top 50 in defensive efficiency up until this year. The drop off could be due to the team now being his players, not sure, but if they trend back up, I'm gonna call this one a huge miss. Reportedly there was no interest at Cal for some reason back in 2019? Anyway, maybe he's tired of freezing his balls off and wants to come back the Bay? He was a long time assistant at St. Mary's and we know that Randy Bennett knows what he is doing.
Well said, dd9999! From what I have heard, Jim Knowlton was the reason there was no interest in Kyle Smith…he farmed the search out to a firm that had a relationship with Fox, and voila…it was a done deal quickly.
Hopefully Knowlton is prepared, proactive and works with purpose on this search…if not, it may be time to scrap the program. Telling the exact same story and having the identical conversation of how hard the rebuild will be 4 years later must be embarrassing for the Colonel.
Sigh...
I have said this all year, Cal doesn’t have a div 1 shooter on the team. Not one guy who can consistently shot the ball. I don’t want to hear the injury excuse. Fox has completely missed on recruiting even one good athletic player. This is a complete embarrassment to the program and fans who support the program. Knowlton and Fox need to get walking papers ! Get a quality coach who can recruit quality players, at least players that can create their own shot for crying out loud. Is the season over yet? Uggggg
The kicker is, Fox rarely ever has shooters, even back at UGA. His teams usually struggled mightily with shooting percentages and efficiency, because his offense does not create consistent good looks. Lots of forced shots as the shot clock wears down as this idiot tries to shorten the game and limit possessions because that’s the only way he knows how to coach.
Sure, you’d like to see Lars convert some of his gimmes, but as to your point, he’s just not a skilled enough player to do so, especially last night with a better player that had him by 3” contesting shots…a layup v. a 7’4” dude is not a high percentage shot.
As of reading this I have received a technical foul