The basketball program can absolutely be saved. More than resources, we need both a willingness to get us there and some competence that will allow us to make the most of the resources we do have--and not just make excuses. There is a great appetite for Cal basketball in the Bay Area, but people have more to their lives than to stick around for a program that has no expectations beyond maintaining it's own mere existence. You have to do more than just drop 5 students in Cal uniforms on a court.
Great article and just put me into a deep depression.
I do honestly think, with the right Coach, the basketball program can snap back a lot faster than say football. I’m thinking approaching .500 in the first year or two.
The issue, as you highlighted, is that the hiring process is clearly broken.
What a great article and analysis. Painful but necessary. Thank you so much. This sort of catharsis helps us heal. It is cathartic because like many here I was following closely with Wyking and remember the Blah reaction to Fox. As I've said before, it is so much like your good buddy continuing to date some loser girl and you just know he is awesome and she is a nightmare for him. It is so crystal clear from the outside, but he just can't see it until the whole nasty drama plays out and there you are giving him a hug and telling him it's OK, and he'll be alright when you knew full well and told him as much years ago.
There is nothing wrong with Cal basketball that Cal can't solve. There is nothing wrong with Cal basketball a good AD and Chancellor couldn't solve.
I'm super interested in whether our amazing alums like Kidd, Shareef, Johnson, Brown and the many others who went on to NBA and professional careers have the ears of any major donors and offer advice? Or because some of them are themselves capable of being major donors, they offer advice directly to Knowlton who should be requesting it? It's not like Cal doesn't have a royalty of our basketball program.
You speak for many of us. Thanks for hanging in there and (still) caring.
Let’s hope some unsung young John Wooden type can see potential to write a fairy tale at Haas. And that Carol and Jim can get outta the way and let him recruit some outstanding local hs uber talents who would like to join the party.
I just never, ever understood the logic of the Fox hire. If you're a school that is not able or willing to break the bank for John Calipari or something (and Cal is not), then you need to follow one of two strategies:
1. An assistant who had success at a major program.
2. A head coach who had success at a smaller program.
Not a head coach who was mediocre at a major program! Where's the upside to that? This whole thing went predictably badly.
Weird to see Reef's words and realize that we won't be getting his wisdom this time.
Agree, Knowlton completely botched the Fox hire and extension in very predictable ways. The problem with mediocre "known quantities" is that you know their ceiling but not their floor.
I'm sure Knowlton was worried about another inexperienced hire after Wyking but Fox did project terribly. The extension was mind boggling. Maybe Knowlton will do something different since he's not entirely a "known quantity" but... I'm not impressed.
I specifically remember reading back then, and COMPLETELY agreeing with, this statement: "Is a coach who couldn’t get over the hump at Georgia likely to reinvent himself in Berkeley now that his reputation as an average power conference coach has calcified?" Tim Miles, anyone?
He blamed injuries (other teams don’t have injuries), he blamed the pandemic (other teams didn’t have to deal with Covid), he blamed facilities (neither Braun nor Monty nor Martin had to deal with that). He can make all the excuses he wants, but ultimately you are what your record says you are, and in 13 years as a power conference coach, he’s been to two NCAA tournaments.
Reef got 1 point wrong; that there was no ceiling with Fox. There was very much a low ceiling, but the real problem was there was no floor.
In order to climb to any reasonable level, Cal is going to have to realize that they are Washington St in that they are going to have to find quality on the margins, and in places no one else has looked. Trying to go head to head with, well, anybody else in the Pac, or the regional powers like the LA schools, or Gonzaga, or for that matter the better half of the Mr West won't work. The models would seem to be St Mary's (possibly, if you can find someone with both creativity with recruiting, whether internationally or fringe cases stateside AND also aggressive and creative x's and o's), or more likely Sacramento St and San Francisco, which have all had considerably more success.
A LARGE lean into analytics is also imperative, to not only find incremental efficiencies, but to identify strategy and tactics that will NOT work over the long haul to be avoided at all cost. In a highly competitive conference and region, Cal's margin of error can be measured in microns, and its even thinner in hoops, where a even a couple of roster misses, or tactical error, will be disastrous.
I was trying to find that video of Fox when he was introduced to the team, which seems to have vanished. It was such an off-putting performance, and doubly concerning that the athletic department's comms team thought it worthy of publishing publicly. Felt for the guys. You could see they all just wanted to get out of the room, and a few of them left the program in the days after. Pretty much ever moment since has been a repeat of the that tone-deafness--from both Fox and the athletic department.
"Failing to set any expectations" might be a more accurate title. I've yet to hear Knowlton utter a single word in his 5 or six years about any performance based expectations for any of the sports. There has just been no accountability in the athletic department, accept to the bottomline. Knowlton is basically a glorified accountant.
The apparent apathy of the administration towards success in the revenue sports, especially basketball is highly concerning. While not a new thing, the problem appears to be getting worse. We need a turnaround expert who can engage with the fan base and recruit a few more 4 stars. Only a handful of skilled players are needed to be a successful BB team, so there is perhaps a light at the end of the tunnel, but this hire has to be a home run.
Again, Fox is a symptom of the larger problem which is an AD way over his skis.
The basketball program can absolutely be saved. More than resources, we need both a willingness to get us there and some competence that will allow us to make the most of the resources we do have--and not just make excuses. There is a great appetite for Cal basketball in the Bay Area, but people have more to their lives than to stick around for a program that has no expectations beyond maintaining it's own mere existence. You have to do more than just drop 5 students in Cal uniforms on a court.
Great article and just put me into a deep depression.
I do honestly think, with the right Coach, the basketball program can snap back a lot faster than say football. I’m thinking approaching .500 in the first year or two.
The issue, as you highlighted, is that the hiring process is clearly broken.
Let’s see if it’s different this time.
What a great article and analysis. Painful but necessary. Thank you so much. This sort of catharsis helps us heal. It is cathartic because like many here I was following closely with Wyking and remember the Blah reaction to Fox. As I've said before, it is so much like your good buddy continuing to date some loser girl and you just know he is awesome and she is a nightmare for him. It is so crystal clear from the outside, but he just can't see it until the whole nasty drama plays out and there you are giving him a hug and telling him it's OK, and he'll be alright when you knew full well and told him as much years ago.
There is nothing wrong with Cal basketball that Cal can't solve. There is nothing wrong with Cal basketball a good AD and Chancellor couldn't solve.
I'm super interested in whether our amazing alums like Kidd, Shareef, Johnson, Brown and the many others who went on to NBA and professional careers have the ears of any major donors and offer advice? Or because some of them are themselves capable of being major donors, they offer advice directly to Knowlton who should be requesting it? It's not like Cal doesn't have a royalty of our basketball program.
Good morning Nick!
You speak for many of us. Thanks for hanging in there and (still) caring.
Let’s hope some unsung young John Wooden type can see potential to write a fairy tale at Haas. And that Carol and Jim can get outta the way and let him recruit some outstanding local hs uber talents who would like to join the party.
Go Bears! [Beat...somebody, anybody]!!
I just never, ever understood the logic of the Fox hire. If you're a school that is not able or willing to break the bank for John Calipari or something (and Cal is not), then you need to follow one of two strategies:
1. An assistant who had success at a major program.
2. A head coach who had success at a smaller program.
Not a head coach who was mediocre at a major program! Where's the upside to that? This whole thing went predictably badly.
Weird to see Reef's words and realize that we won't be getting his wisdom this time.
Agree, Knowlton completely botched the Fox hire and extension in very predictable ways. The problem with mediocre "known quantities" is that you know their ceiling but not their floor.
I'm sure Knowlton was worried about another inexperienced hire after Wyking but Fox did project terribly. The extension was mind boggling. Maybe Knowlton will do something different since he's not entirely a "known quantity" but... I'm not impressed.
Awesome article, Nick...
I specifically remember reading back then, and COMPLETELY agreeing with, this statement: "Is a coach who couldn’t get over the hump at Georgia likely to reinvent himself in Berkeley now that his reputation as an average power conference coach has calcified?" Tim Miles, anyone?
He blamed injuries (other teams don’t have injuries), he blamed the pandemic (other teams didn’t have to deal with Covid), he blamed facilities (neither Braun nor Monty nor Martin had to deal with that). He can make all the excuses he wants, but ultimately you are what your record says you are, and in 13 years as a power conference coach, he’s been to two NCAA tournaments.
Jim Knowlton hands out extensions like Oprah hands out cars.
Reef got 1 point wrong; that there was no ceiling with Fox. There was very much a low ceiling, but the real problem was there was no floor.
In order to climb to any reasonable level, Cal is going to have to realize that they are Washington St in that they are going to have to find quality on the margins, and in places no one else has looked. Trying to go head to head with, well, anybody else in the Pac, or the regional powers like the LA schools, or Gonzaga, or for that matter the better half of the Mr West won't work. The models would seem to be St Mary's (possibly, if you can find someone with both creativity with recruiting, whether internationally or fringe cases stateside AND also aggressive and creative x's and o's), or more likely Sacramento St and San Francisco, which have all had considerably more success.
A LARGE lean into analytics is also imperative, to not only find incremental efficiencies, but to identify strategy and tactics that will NOT work over the long haul to be avoided at all cost. In a highly competitive conference and region, Cal's margin of error can be measured in microns, and its even thinner in hoops, where a even a couple of roster misses, or tactical error, will be disastrous.
Let’s not shoot for a mediocre replacement.
https://twitter.com/CalMBBall/status/1634344517452144642?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1634344517452144642%7Ctwgr%5E1cbaefb652ba80dc081ce4bfe857bd8e9b075ef1%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fbearinsider.com%2Fs%2F3516%2Fcal-makes-change-in-mens-basketball-leadership---fox-gone
I just hope this time we spend more than 5 days before hiring a new coach...
I was trying to find that video of Fox when he was introduced to the team, which seems to have vanished. It was such an off-putting performance, and doubly concerning that the athletic department's comms team thought it worthy of publishing publicly. Felt for the guys. You could see they all just wanted to get out of the room, and a few of them left the program in the days after. Pretty much ever moment since has been a repeat of the that tone-deafness--from both Fox and the athletic department.
"Failing to set any expectations" might be a more accurate title. I've yet to hear Knowlton utter a single word in his 5 or six years about any performance based expectations for any of the sports. There has just been no accountability in the athletic department, accept to the bottomline. Knowlton is basically a glorified accountant.
The apparent apathy of the administration towards success in the revenue sports, especially basketball is highly concerning. While not a new thing, the problem appears to be getting worse. We need a turnaround expert who can engage with the fan base and recruit a few more 4 stars. Only a handful of skilled players are needed to be a successful BB team, so there is perhaps a light at the end of the tunnel, but this hire has to be a home run.