I'm literally just watching Write for California email headlines to say something interesting like Knowlton or Fox is fired. New OC hiring for football and Basketball changes is all I'm looking for.
On the one hand, i'm not sure that a new coach right now could change much in terms of winning games this year. So may as well not pay for Fox plus the new coach. On the other hand, is there someone who could be brought in now that could land meaningful recruits? Or semi-meaningful? Because who would commit to Fox at this point? And, just as symbol of hope to the players and fans, sooner rather than later makes sense.
This is what happens when you never bring former players back into the fold. Help recruit players, show some type of tradition. I have nothing but time on my hand and a PHD in basketball. 12 years NBA, 3 years international. Never get a call to come watch a practice or help with player development. Oh yeah, ended my career at Cal, all time leading scorer. Top Ten pick in 94’ draft. Still have not gotten my jersey retired.
Lamond Murray, it was so much fun to watch you! Such a beautiful shot, seemed like you could elevate over anyone, and also great away from the ball. Harmon was crazy and fun back then! Even when we had the year of Ivan Rabb and Jaylen Brown, certainly no knock on them but Haas was nowhere close to as fun as it was back then with Murray and Kidd.
If this is the real Lamond Murray, I graduated in 91 and watched you play so many times in person. What a player. I'm so sorry to hear former greats, and there are a lot of them from Cal basketball, are not being included in meaningful ways. I think Wilcox does this pretty well over at football. Better days are ahead, and if former greats like you and others get involved, the whole program is better off. Hope you are doing really well, Sir. Thank you for your playing years at Cal and Go Bears!
Ben and Monty. Speaking of them, they both seem to have a lot of time on their hands, doing some broadcasts and such. How about bringing one or both of them back as interims for the remainder of the season as they do a search for a permanent HC replacement?
So what do you think it takes to get Fox fired? A winless season? Has that ever happened in college basketball? Normally a P6 team takes down the free wins to start the season, but we lost all ours.
Fox will be gone after the end of the season at the latest. I think he only has one season his contract after this one, so this would not be another Wyking scenario if we let him go. The question is really whether Knowlton has the stones to fire him midseason. The argument is often that firing a coach midseason may be seen as a negative to prospective coaches, but I think in our exceptional case, it sends the opposite message. There are serious questions about whether Cal actually cares at all about winning. No coach worth their salt would want to sign up for anything less. Firing Fox early, at least sends a message that the atheletic department might have at least have some modest standards.
Yup, he never was a committed Golden Bear, nor was he a top-elite coach. Winning record yes, but didn't win a lot of meaningful games, bailed when the walls started to close in, didn't recruit well, and begat Wyking Jones
Strong disagree. We had multiple POY players under Monty. We went to the NCAA tournament 4 times. We had multiple top 10 victories under him. He did exactly what he was supposed to do. Came in for 6 years, did very well during that time, and left the program in good shape going forward. He actively campaigned for Asst Coach DeCuire to take his place when he left. Instead, we went with Cuonzo, which led to Wyking....and here we are.
Yes, Monty's undoing was that he had major surgery for pancreatic cancer but came back to work waaay too soon, before he was fully recovered. Thank god that he survived, but he admitted this a couple of years afterwards. In fact, he said he would've wanted to stay at Cal or come back, if given the chance.
Still don't get how Cuonzo was responsible for Wyking. He was an assistant on his staff and not even his primary one. Mike Williams pulled Wyking from total obscurity. Musselman wanted the job before Williams gave him the creeps. I'm sure Cuonzo would have taken a bag from us had we been willing to match Mizzou, but we didn't.
I honestly think Cal has a legitimate chance of losing all their games this year. Feel truly bad for all the players for having to experience this, hopefully they all end up with Cal degrees because none of them will be making much money from basketball. I genuinely hope Mark Fox and the rest of his staff never have another job coaching basketball at any level after this year. They clearly don't know what they are doing and would only ruin a wonderful sport for even more people.
Knowlton, as an AD, is a clown who is in over his head. If Cal's aim was to have a winning, exciting, revenue-generating program, Fox never should have been hired. And if this wasn't the aim, then we should've just scrapped basketball altogether. On our current course, we're risking literal generations of revenue as we alienate the current and future donor base.
Thanks Avi. Very well said, as always. There’s really no need to repeat what we’ve all been writing following games for a whole year…the whole college basketball world knows the dude’s gotta go. Until that actually happens though, we’re in a holding pattern.
Again, Bob, completely and totally disagree with you, as these are just desperate Fox excuses to explain his failures.
Celestine is a solid ball player and a nice rotation piece on a better team, but he doesn’t create his own shot, which the Fox offense demands…not sure you’ve watched much Cal basketball, but this O doesn’t create looks for guys. There’s an astounding 6 years of data on Dejuan Clayton at the mid major level that shows he is an inefficient, below average shooter, with a career 28% 3P average…if you’re waiting for these guys to return before rendering your verdict, boy are you going to be disappointed. But to each their own - it’s not the most forgiving fan base in the Conference for nothing.
Same process as we have for the recent football OC position. We've got a big board started, very dartboard style. If and when a change happens, we will formalize the list and publish something appropriate.
It’s already been done, but my number one choice is Chris Victor at Seattle…former Bear Alex Pribble is his Assoc HC, though he would probably ascend to the Seattle job like Victor did a few years back. Other options who I was down on but given Fox’s complete ineptitude, I’ve actually warmed to because ANYONE is better: Pencil-Neck at UCSB and Legans at Portland. UCSB is arguably a better job, and Legans bailed on Cal as a player, but again…either are a step up from Fox.
The importance of changing coaches in mid-season comes in the perception arena. Cal is a laughingstock right now, your boy Knowlton especially - firing Fox controls the narrative….it allows Knowlton to be proactive, and it allows Cal time to do research for the hire. You are not hiring Fox’s replacement mid-season, but a dysfunctional department like Cal needs all the time it can get. And the longer Fox remains employed, the weaker Knowlton looks as an AD.
ooops, my bad, I forgot about Montgomery : I agree, he was a fine coach --- let me rephrase / correct my statement, "Cal basketball has been a disgrace and an embarrassment since Mike Montgomery"
I seem to recall we won all our home games in 2015-16 and had our highest seed ever. Lousy ending, but Cuonzo didn't break Tyrone Wallace's wrist or give Jabari Bird back spasms.
Justified or unjustified, his departure set off a bad chain of events. Both Jones and Fox had to build back from the ground up but have not been able to restore the depth of talent required to win at this level.
You can keep kicking the blame backwards infinitely with that train of thought. At the end of the day, Wyking and Fox are bad at their jobs and their bosses were/are bad at their jobs for enabling them with those jobs. Place blame where it deserves: That's with Mike Williams, Wyking, Knowlton and Fox.
I think it's also fair to say Christ is a problem too. Overall she's a great chancellor, but she is disinterested in involving herself in the athletics program. That's great if you have a strong AD. But ours needs oversight and a lot of help.
I'm literally just watching Write for California email headlines to say something interesting like Knowlton or Fox is fired. New OC hiring for football and Basketball changes is all I'm looking for.
On the one hand, i'm not sure that a new coach right now could change much in terms of winning games this year. So may as well not pay for Fox plus the new coach. On the other hand, is there someone who could be brought in now that could land meaningful recruits? Or semi-meaningful? Because who would commit to Fox at this point? And, just as symbol of hope to the players and fans, sooner rather than later makes sense.
This is what happens when you never bring former players back into the fold. Help recruit players, show some type of tradition. I have nothing but time on my hand and a PHD in basketball. 12 years NBA, 3 years international. Never get a call to come watch a practice or help with player development. Oh yeah, ended my career at Cal, all time leading scorer. Top Ten pick in 94’ draft. Still have not gotten my jersey retired.
Lamond Murray!
As a Cal grad and a Clippers fan, I loved watching you both at Cal and at the LA Sports Arena back in the day!
Lamond Murray, it was so much fun to watch you! Such a beautiful shot, seemed like you could elevate over anyone, and also great away from the ball. Harmon was crazy and fun back then! Even when we had the year of Ivan Rabb and Jaylen Brown, certainly no knock on them but Haas was nowhere close to as fun as it was back then with Murray and Kidd.
If this is the real Lamond Murray, I graduated in 91 and watched you play so many times in person. What a player. I'm so sorry to hear former greats, and there are a lot of them from Cal basketball, are not being included in meaningful ways. I think Wilcox does this pretty well over at football. Better days are ahead, and if former greats like you and others get involved, the whole program is better off. Hope you are doing really well, Sir. Thank you for your playing years at Cal and Go Bears!
Love you, Lamond! Silkiest game! Patterned my jump shot after yours. You're on the Cal Mt. Rushmore for those of us old and lucky enough to be there.
Facts. One of the All-time GREATS
See my earlier correction - I forgot Monty - he was a damn good coach and a good fit at Cal (and a great wit)- wish he was still the Cal coach
Ben and Monty. Speaking of them, they both seem to have a lot of time on their hands, doing some broadcasts and such. How about bringing one or both of them back as interims for the remainder of the season as they do a search for a permanent HC replacement?
So what do you think it takes to get Fox fired? A winless season? Has that ever happened in college basketball? Normally a P6 team takes down the free wins to start the season, but we lost all ours.
Fox will be gone after the end of the season at the latest. I think he only has one season his contract after this one, so this would not be another Wyking scenario if we let him go. The question is really whether Knowlton has the stones to fire him midseason. The argument is often that firing a coach midseason may be seen as a negative to prospective coaches, but I think in our exceptional case, it sends the opposite message. There are serious questions about whether Cal actually cares at all about winning. No coach worth their salt would want to sign up for anything less. Firing Fox early, at least sends a message that the atheletic department might have at least have some modest standards.
The only problem is that the guy who hired Fox in the first place is still there and will be the one who hires the next Coach.
Knowlton goes first so that we can get a new AD to hire a new Coach (or Coaches),
Yup, he never was a committed Golden Bear, nor was he a top-elite coach. Winning record yes, but didn't win a lot of meaningful games, bailed when the walls started to close in, didn't recruit well, and begat Wyking Jones
Strong disagree. We had multiple POY players under Monty. We went to the NCAA tournament 4 times. We had multiple top 10 victories under him. He did exactly what he was supposed to do. Came in for 6 years, did very well during that time, and left the program in good shape going forward. He actively campaigned for Asst Coach DeCuire to take his place when he left. Instead, we went with Cuonzo, which led to Wyking....and here we are.
Yes, Monty's undoing was that he had major surgery for pancreatic cancer but came back to work waaay too soon, before he was fully recovered. Thank god that he survived, but he admitted this a couple of years afterwards. In fact, he said he would've wanted to stay at Cal or come back, if given the chance.
Still don't get how Cuonzo was responsible for Wyking. He was an assistant on his staff and not even his primary one. Mike Williams pulled Wyking from total obscurity. Musselman wanted the job before Williams gave him the creeps. I'm sure Cuonzo would have taken a bag from us had we been willing to match Mizzou, but we didn't.
I honestly think Cal has a legitimate chance of losing all their games this year. Feel truly bad for all the players for having to experience this, hopefully they all end up with Cal degrees because none of them will be making much money from basketball. I genuinely hope Mark Fox and the rest of his staff never have another job coaching basketball at any level after this year. They clearly don't know what they are doing and would only ruin a wonderful sport for even more people.
Chris Mack is the hero we need
I'd take him for sure.
This horrific, 0-6 Louisville team would beat Cal by 10.
No thank you. He has been cleared in scandals up to this point, but we should not be looking at Pitino's coaching tree.
We already did…Wyking was a Pitino guy.
I forgot about that. Thank you for proving my point :-)
Knowlton, as an AD, is a clown who is in over his head. If Cal's aim was to have a winning, exciting, revenue-generating program, Fox never should have been hired. And if this wasn't the aim, then we should've just scrapped basketball altogether. On our current course, we're risking literal generations of revenue as we alienate the current and future donor base.
Thanks Avi. Very well said, as always. There’s really no need to repeat what we’ve all been writing following games for a whole year…the whole college basketball world knows the dude’s gotta go. Until that actually happens though, we’re in a holding pattern.
Again, Bob, completely and totally disagree with you, as these are just desperate Fox excuses to explain his failures.
Celestine is a solid ball player and a nice rotation piece on a better team, but he doesn’t create his own shot, which the Fox offense demands…not sure you’ve watched much Cal basketball, but this O doesn’t create looks for guys. There’s an astounding 6 years of data on Dejuan Clayton at the mid major level that shows he is an inefficient, below average shooter, with a career 28% 3P average…if you’re waiting for these guys to return before rendering your verdict, boy are you going to be disappointed. But to each their own - it’s not the most forgiving fan base in the Conference for nothing.
You fire the coach so the fans don't just completely give up on your program.
Keeping Fox and his 3-4 wins this year makes Knowlton look weak.
Same process as we have for the recent football OC position. We've got a big board started, very dartboard style. If and when a change happens, we will formalize the list and publish something appropriate.
It’s already been done, but my number one choice is Chris Victor at Seattle…former Bear Alex Pribble is his Assoc HC, though he would probably ascend to the Seattle job like Victor did a few years back. Other options who I was down on but given Fox’s complete ineptitude, I’ve actually warmed to because ANYONE is better: Pencil-Neck at UCSB and Legans at Portland. UCSB is arguably a better job, and Legans bailed on Cal as a player, but again…either are a step up from Fox.
The importance of changing coaches in mid-season comes in the perception arena. Cal is a laughingstock right now, your boy Knowlton especially - firing Fox controls the narrative….it allows Knowlton to be proactive, and it allows Cal time to do research for the hire. You are not hiring Fox’s replacement mid-season, but a dysfunctional department like Cal needs all the time it can get. And the longer Fox remains employed, the weaker Knowlton looks as an AD.
ooops, my bad, I forgot about Montgomery : I agree, he was a fine coach --- let me rephrase / correct my statement, "Cal basketball has been a disgrace and an embarrassment since Mike Montgomery"
I seem to recall we won all our home games in 2015-16 and had our highest seed ever. Lousy ending, but Cuonzo didn't break Tyrone Wallace's wrist or give Jabari Bird back spasms.
Justified or unjustified, his departure set off a bad chain of events. Both Jones and Fox had to build back from the ground up but have not been able to restore the depth of talent required to win at this level.
You can keep kicking the blame backwards infinitely with that train of thought. At the end of the day, Wyking and Fox are bad at their jobs and their bosses were/are bad at their jobs for enabling them with those jobs. Place blame where it deserves: That's with Mike Williams, Wyking, Knowlton and Fox.
It's like we gave ourselves the death penalty. What a disgrace and embarrassment. So callous and unnecessary. When oh when will the adults show up?
Rephrasing Knowlton's Notes -- Cal basketball has lived down to expectorations.
I can only repeat this so many times: Fox is a symptom, Knowlton is the root of the problem. As long as Knowlton is at the helm we’re doomed.
I think it's also fair to say Christ is a problem too. Overall she's a great chancellor, but she is disinterested in involving herself in the athletics program. That's great if you have a strong AD. But ours needs oversight and a lot of help.
She’s done more than any of her predecessors, stadium debt, etc… but if she doesn’t move on from Knowlton it’s a huge scar on her resume.
She's basically I. Michael "I don't care if Cal ever gets to the Rose Bowl" Heyman, but with a beautiful wraparound porch.
She's wrapping that porch around our necks.
We may get company. Louisville is 0-6 and also has a loss to Lenoir-Rhyne in an exhibition. They did win another exhibition though.
"Lenoir-Rhyne in an exhibition"
Sounds like the new showing at the San Francisco MOMA.
It makes me wonder how Fox would be able to handle the International College of Cosmetology in Oakland...
actual lipstick on a pig?
Negligence is right.
The constant throwing of players under the bus, especially Newell and Okafor, is such a bad look.
We've had tons of loser coaches before. This is a special run because now we've had two loser jerk coaches back to back.