I guess this game is payback for the football team losing last October. At least Buff fans know what it is like to lose to the worst team in college basketball, just like we found out what it was like to lose to the worst team in college football. Sigh.......
Since we don't have a woman's basketball post - just some notes from yesterday's loss against #18 Arizona.
- Nick has been pessimistic about the state of CWBBall's defense, and I've been more optimistic with the additions of Tuitile and Martin, and the improvement of Michelle Onyiah. We've been beaten pretty handily by any of the top 100 teams we've played so fa - Notre Dame, SMU and Stanford - but I would argue that Notre Dame and Stanford outclassed us pretty badly on the talent end - and we hung with them until the last few minutes. Losing to SMU and giving up some high shooting percentages against teams we've beaten - left Nick feeling down about the state of the defense.
- We hung in there against Arizona - even without Peanut Tuitile. We were down as many as 13, and both Jayda and Evelein were really misfiring. And even though we gave up a bunch of transition buckets - we dug in defensively - and relied on scoring from Lei and Kemery to keep us close. We got within 3 at one point, but just couldn't hit the shot to tie or go ahead.
- Charmin drew up this absolutely beautiful SLOB play that was a lob from Kemery to Evelein in the opposite corner and then had Jayda coming around a top of the key screen for the 3. Such a sweet play - alas, Jayda missed the shot.
I was at the game, so saw the whole thing. Was very pleasantly surprised. As I noted in the post-game thread, Fox should be gone (last night's game be damned). I'd say the win had nothing to do with him. The offense (altho inappropriate to use that word here) was stagnant per usual, but the late-in-the-shot-clock shots just happened to go in. Yes, and Joel had some great drives. And Grant Newell was vacuuming up boards (and ended with a double double).
"The best part about the Colorado game was how much fun the Bears looked like they were having."
I was behind the bench, so was hard to see that. But none of the joy was coming from Fox. He was stomping and yelling at them even when the Bears were up 21 (with 6 minutes to go). What an unpleasant person he must be to play for.
"the silliest futile garbage time runs I’ve ever seen"
Not sure if by "silliest" you meant "surreal" or "unexpectedly effective". It seemed silly at the start, until everyone realized that Fox had seemingly never prepped the team on how to beat a press. The Buffs were one missed 3 (with about 25 secs left) from tying the game.
As far as when to fire him, I agree that the now or March might not really matter. Besides just getting the search process started sooner. And letting the players know that there is accountability.
If memory serves, Campanelli was fired mid-season and replaced with Bozeman. To great success (at least that season, and until more was learned about his process). But that was a team with great talent that blossomed with the change. I think a firing now doesn't change results, but shows a decision being made. Versus "covid, injuries, etc."
I don't really think wins are going to be a determining factor (barring something wildly implausible, like Cal finishing .500 or better in the Pac-12 or something). Like, if they bring Fox back, they might SAY that it's because he won a few games, but the actual factor is money. If they don't fire Fox, it means they don't have the money/are unwilling to spend the money.
I don't know about that. What if they get to 7 wins. Knowlton makes the argument that it would have been 14 if the team had been healthy, blah, blah, blah and he deserves another year under the circumstances, blah, blah, blah.
This is the biggest reason I'm for firing him right now.
I guess part of my thinking is that if there is ANY scenario in which Cal retains Fox for reasons other than "Cal is very broke," then we're screwed anyway because we're run by the dumbest and/or most indifferent administration in major athletics.
Good post, Nick. I think the stars all aligned for this game. This is the sort of season where we really can't expect any win so have to take pleasure in the bright spots when they happen. Congrats to Joel for his fantastic performance.
(And, yes, Fox needs to be gone either at the end of the season or before. I think Knowlton also needs the boot but will probably get to see a trial year of Spavital.)
What you’re completely missing is that you’re not firing him now because you think you’ll start winning a bunch more games and salvage the season. The season is lost and the final record is completely irrelevant. It became lost when we couldn’t win “buy” games against bottom tier opponents.
You’re firing him now because it sends a message to potential candidates that you’re serious, to your players that there is accountability and to your fans that you have a respect for their support. In addition to that, it gives the athletic department time to officially begin a search so we can act fast once the season ends. Or so the president has time to find a new AD before we need to hire a new basketball coach (I can dream, right?)
Lists of football and basketball coaches recently fired mid season for performance has already been posted, so I won’t waste my time there. Just wanted to help point out where you’re missing the purpose of firing him now.
Bob, you’re going to alienate reputable candidates if you start searching while concurrently employing a head coach. That’s a bad look for the department. Word will get around and then we look even more incompetent as an athletic department.
If you’re having having the very real discussion to fire the coach, you should absolutely fire him, rather than expect something that is not working to suddenly start working despite NO changes.
Nebraska found this out the hard way in football this past year with Scott Frost…
I guess I don't really care, firing now vs. firing in March. Either way this is a lost season and Knowlton should be furiously working on prep to make a hire in three months. I guess if you fire him now you can be a little more open about your coaching search, but I think the writing is on the wall either way and Knowlton should be able to operate in either scenario, were he a competent administrator.
This roster has no top level players, which is a major part of the problem, and plenty can be gained by changing coaches now. We can see what this roster could do with someone other than Mark Fox, who is a dinosaur retread that is set in his ways. Maybe the interim coach plays more uptempo, or features different players.
We’ll probably never know because a bigger issue is that Jim Knowlton is not a competent administrator.
Interim Coach Todd Bozeman went 9-1 down the stretch, unleashing point guard Jason Kidd to run more and get away from Lou's ball control offense and brought the Bears to the NCAA tournament, additionally, switching to Bozeman enticed Murray, Grigsby, and Kidd to stay when they had discussed leaving if Campenelli had stuck around.
So, Nick just articulated for you what many of us have been saying on this board the entire season, Bob. Hope that helps.
The other factor at play here, Bob, is that Mark Fox is doing what no other Power 5 HC has done in the history of the sport, ever. Losing that many games to mid major programs with rankings that low is unheard of in major college basketball, especially in year 4. He should have been terminated already…unfortunately, Jim Knowlton is inept.
There are a ton of football teams who fired their coaches mid-season this year and saw immediate improved performance. Among others, Wisconsin, Colorado, and Georgia Tech.
But more relevantly, if forced to choose I'd fire Fox now for two reasons:
1. it allows Knowlton to work on openly hiring a replacement with no restrictions.
2. It sends a message that this program is actually going to take basketball seriously and attempt to win games, which might actually get donors/fans to consider paying attention.
In short, there's nothing to lose (Fox should get fired regardless) and something potentially to gain, even if it doesn't make any difference in the end.
I guess this game is payback for the football team losing last October. At least Buff fans know what it is like to lose to the worst team in college basketball, just like we found out what it was like to lose to the worst team in college football. Sigh.......
So what you're saying is it's time for another extension?
Since we don't have a woman's basketball post - just some notes from yesterday's loss against #18 Arizona.
- Nick has been pessimistic about the state of CWBBall's defense, and I've been more optimistic with the additions of Tuitile and Martin, and the improvement of Michelle Onyiah. We've been beaten pretty handily by any of the top 100 teams we've played so fa - Notre Dame, SMU and Stanford - but I would argue that Notre Dame and Stanford outclassed us pretty badly on the talent end - and we hung with them until the last few minutes. Losing to SMU and giving up some high shooting percentages against teams we've beaten - left Nick feeling down about the state of the defense.
- We hung in there against Arizona - even without Peanut Tuitile. We were down as many as 13, and both Jayda and Evelein were really misfiring. And even though we gave up a bunch of transition buckets - we dug in defensively - and relied on scoring from Lei and Kemery to keep us close. We got within 3 at one point, but just couldn't hit the shot to tie or go ahead.
- Charmin drew up this absolutely beautiful SLOB play that was a lob from Kemery to Evelein in the opposite corner and then had Jayda coming around a top of the key screen for the 3. Such a sweet play - alas, Jayda missed the shot.
Let's see how we do tomorrow against ASU
I was at the game, so saw the whole thing. Was very pleasantly surprised. As I noted in the post-game thread, Fox should be gone (last night's game be damned). I'd say the win had nothing to do with him. The offense (altho inappropriate to use that word here) was stagnant per usual, but the late-in-the-shot-clock shots just happened to go in. Yes, and Joel had some great drives. And Grant Newell was vacuuming up boards (and ended with a double double).
"The best part about the Colorado game was how much fun the Bears looked like they were having."
I was behind the bench, so was hard to see that. But none of the joy was coming from Fox. He was stomping and yelling at them even when the Bears were up 21 (with 6 minutes to go). What an unpleasant person he must be to play for.
"the silliest futile garbage time runs I’ve ever seen"
Not sure if by "silliest" you meant "surreal" or "unexpectedly effective". It seemed silly at the start, until everyone realized that Fox had seemingly never prepped the team on how to beat a press. The Buffs were one missed 3 (with about 25 secs left) from tying the game.
As far as when to fire him, I agree that the now or March might not really matter. Besides just getting the search process started sooner. And letting the players know that there is accountability.
If memory serves, Campanelli was fired mid-season and replaced with Bozeman. To great success (at least that season, and until more was learned about his process). But that was a team with great talent that blossomed with the change. I think a firing now doesn't change results, but shows a decision being made. Versus "covid, injuries, etc."
Dude was garbage.
Anyone else worried that we win just enough games to give Knowlton the opportunity to make some ridiculous argument for keeping Fox?
I don't really think wins are going to be a determining factor (barring something wildly implausible, like Cal finishing .500 or better in the Pac-12 or something). Like, if they bring Fox back, they might SAY that it's because he won a few games, but the actual factor is money. If they don't fire Fox, it means they don't have the money/are unwilling to spend the money.
I don't know about that. What if they get to 7 wins. Knowlton makes the argument that it would have been 14 if the team had been healthy, blah, blah, blah and he deserves another year under the circumstances, blah, blah, blah.
This is the biggest reason I'm for firing him right now.
Yes, but 14 is still much short of what we should aspire to. Unless we basically run the table to 20 wins, Fox should be fired.
I agree with Nick's assessment that it's probably just coming down to money if he doesn't get fired.
In comparison to other buyouts, it’s not a lot of money.
I guess part of my thinking is that if there is ANY scenario in which Cal retains Fox for reasons other than "Cal is very broke," then we're screwed anyway because we're run by the dumbest and/or most indifferent administration in major athletics.
On this I'm afraid we may have to agree.
Absolutely terrified.
Good post, Nick. I think the stars all aligned for this game. This is the sort of season where we really can't expect any win so have to take pleasure in the bright spots when they happen. Congrats to Joel for his fantastic performance.
(And, yes, Fox needs to be gone either at the end of the season or before. I think Knowlton also needs the boot but will probably get to see a trial year of Spavital.)
Thanks Nick!! They’re totally fixed. Just shoot 60% from the field and we’re golden!!
Extend Fox.
;-)
What you’re completely missing is that you’re not firing him now because you think you’ll start winning a bunch more games and salvage the season. The season is lost and the final record is completely irrelevant. It became lost when we couldn’t win “buy” games against bottom tier opponents.
You’re firing him now because it sends a message to potential candidates that you’re serious, to your players that there is accountability and to your fans that you have a respect for their support. In addition to that, it gives the athletic department time to officially begin a search so we can act fast once the season ends. Or so the president has time to find a new AD before we need to hire a new basketball coach (I can dream, right?)
Lists of football and basketball coaches recently fired mid season for performance has already been posted, so I won’t waste my time there. Just wanted to help point out where you’re missing the purpose of firing him now.
Bob, you’re going to alienate reputable candidates if you start searching while concurrently employing a head coach. That’s a bad look for the department. Word will get around and then we look even more incompetent as an athletic department.
If you’re having having the very real discussion to fire the coach, you should absolutely fire him, rather than expect something that is not working to suddenly start working despite NO changes.
Nebraska found this out the hard way in football this past year with Scott Frost…
I guess I don't really care, firing now vs. firing in March. Either way this is a lost season and Knowlton should be furiously working on prep to make a hire in three months. I guess if you fire him now you can be a little more open about your coaching search, but I think the writing is on the wall either way and Knowlton should be able to operate in either scenario, were he a competent administrator.
Poll results
Option 1 = 99%
Option 2 = 1%
Who in the right mind thinks it's okay to keep Fox?
Two: Bob and OskiOfTarth…
Option 1) is what they call an “interim” coach…it happens all the time in sports, including by this very program.
Fox did nothing different yesterday, Bob. Nothing. The kids had a rare hot night from the field, but it was the same offense he’s had for 15 years.
This roster has no top level players, which is a major part of the problem, and plenty can be gained by changing coaches now. We can see what this roster could do with someone other than Mark Fox, who is a dinosaur retread that is set in his ways. Maybe the interim coach plays more uptempo, or features different players.
We’ll probably never know because a bigger issue is that Jim Knowlton is not a competent administrator.
There's a school, maybe you've heard of it - the University of California, Berkeley (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_California,_Berkeley) who fired their basketball coach mid-season (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lou_Campanelli) when he had the Bears at a disappointing 10-7 (4-6 conference) record, and having lost 3 in a row, and having lost the locker room - he was fired.
Interim Coach Todd Bozeman went 9-1 down the stretch, unleashing point guard Jason Kidd to run more and get away from Lou's ball control offense and brought the Bears to the NCAA tournament, additionally, switching to Bozeman enticed Murray, Grigsby, and Kidd to stay when they had discussed leaving if Campenelli had stuck around.
So, Nick just articulated for you what many of us have been saying on this board the entire season, Bob. Hope that helps.
The other factor at play here, Bob, is that Mark Fox is doing what no other Power 5 HC has done in the history of the sport, ever. Losing that many games to mid major programs with rankings that low is unheard of in major college basketball, especially in year 4. He should have been terminated already…unfortunately, Jim Knowlton is inept.
There are a ton of football teams who fired their coaches mid-season this year and saw immediate improved performance. Among others, Wisconsin, Colorado, and Georgia Tech.
But more relevantly, if forced to choose I'd fire Fox now for two reasons:
1. it allows Knowlton to work on openly hiring a replacement with no restrictions.
2. It sends a message that this program is actually going to take basketball seriously and attempt to win games, which might actually get donors/fans to consider paying attention.
In short, there's nothing to lose (Fox should get fired regardless) and something potentially to gain, even if it doesn't make any difference in the end.
Hell, we fired our own OC and our offense improved immediately.