Disgusted! I feel sorry for Coach Madsen trying to keep players from leaving Cal. He has to recruit more players to replace the departing players and teach them everything all over again. Big setback for him. Grrrr
Never mind the Justin Wilcox guaranteed contract extension malpractice…for one, the entire Mark Fox disaster; he hired Markeisha Everett (head Marketing dope) and other incompetent AD staff members. Most importantly, he was openly hostile to season ticket holders and alienated a large portion of the MBB donor base, which is a major reason why we remain a bottom 5 P4 school in MBB NIL.
Knowlton was absolute poison - here’s hoping he gets the shingles.
I understand that he was terrible, but since we turned a new page after his retirement, isn't the program on Madsen, Lyons and the Cal basketball supporters at large now?
Under normal circumstances, in a pre-NIL/transfer portal world where you have a solid season-ticket holder/donor base and some modicum of student/alumni support, absolutely. These are no longer normal circumstances unfortunately, as you know. Problem is many of those important people/groups are quite simply no longer interested in the Cal MBB program because of the neglect of the previous regime (actually regimes - Mike Williams and Dirks are also culpable, as is Carol Christ - but Knowlton was the biggest culprit).
So, you're now asking Madsen to build something from scratch, with a much, much smaller group of Cal Basketball supporters, and massive administrative hurdles at nearly every turn, in an era where players transfer EVERY season for high $$$ contracts that Cal simply does not have the donors to pay....tough ask, and while he's on the right track, it takes time. Because the program was basically destroyed.
The catastrophic depths to which Jim Knowlton's decisions and general incompetence sunk the program was always going to require a truly massive rebuild - all goes well, and MM/staff digs us out of the hole in less than 5 years, we should build a statue of Mad Dog outside Haas.
As with football, in a pre-NIL/portal world, Knowlton's decisions would probably not have been nearly as damaging to the department overall. But he was the worst possible AD to be presiding over Cal's revenue sports at this moment in NCAA history - conference realignment, NIL, and the transfer portal. And the department continues to try and dig itself out of the holes he dug...and this doesn't even factor in the Teri McKeever disaster.
Disgusted! I feel sorry for Coach Madsen trying to keep players from leaving Cal. He has to recruit more players to replace the departing players and teach them everything all over again. Big setback for him. Grrrr
Cal fans can not despise Jim Knowlton nearly enough.
Pardon my ignorance, but what does Knowlton have to do with this?
A lot..
Never mind the Justin Wilcox guaranteed contract extension malpractice…for one, the entire Mark Fox disaster; he hired Markeisha Everett (head Marketing dope) and other incompetent AD staff members. Most importantly, he was openly hostile to season ticket holders and alienated a large portion of the MBB donor base, which is a major reason why we remain a bottom 5 P4 school in MBB NIL.
Knowlton was absolute poison - here’s hoping he gets the shingles.
I understand that he was terrible, but since we turned a new page after his retirement, isn't the program on Madsen, Lyons and the Cal basketball supporters at large now?
Under normal circumstances, in a pre-NIL/transfer portal world where you have a solid season-ticket holder/donor base and some modicum of student/alumni support, absolutely. These are no longer normal circumstances unfortunately, as you know. Problem is many of those important people/groups are quite simply no longer interested in the Cal MBB program because of the neglect of the previous regime (actually regimes - Mike Williams and Dirks are also culpable, as is Carol Christ - but Knowlton was the biggest culprit).
So, you're now asking Madsen to build something from scratch, with a much, much smaller group of Cal Basketball supporters, and massive administrative hurdles at nearly every turn, in an era where players transfer EVERY season for high $$$ contracts that Cal simply does not have the donors to pay....tough ask, and while he's on the right track, it takes time. Because the program was basically destroyed.
The catastrophic depths to which Jim Knowlton's decisions and general incompetence sunk the program was always going to require a truly massive rebuild - all goes well, and MM/staff digs us out of the hole in less than 5 years, we should build a statue of Mad Dog outside Haas.
As with football, in a pre-NIL/portal world, Knowlton's decisions would probably not have been nearly as damaging to the department overall. But he was the worst possible AD to be presiding over Cal's revenue sports at this moment in NCAA history - conference realignment, NIL, and the transfer portal. And the department continues to try and dig itself out of the holes he dug...and this doesn't even factor in the Teri McKeever disaster.
Portal taketh, Portal giveth. We're making the necessary investments and generating cash so there's no need to lose faith.