The coach got the players. Most good coaches can coach bad players somewhat, but Fox is a retread who has always thrived on (semi) talent, and can't coach up players. Can we please see the end of this as soon as possible?
He’ll most likely make it to the end of the season because there is no logical interim candidate…all the assistants are his cronies. But this team maybe wins 7 games…maybe, if we’re being really generous…Texas St, Eastern Washington, UT-Arlington are best chances in non-con, but none of them will be easy…maybe they beat a Mountain school at home if Buffs or Utes are cold. Maybe they steal one v. Stanford and sweep Oregon State…they’re getting swept by UCLA, USC, U of A, ASU, Wazzu, UW and the Ducks. Butler, TCU and @ Santa Clara are losses.
If Mark Fox gets a 5th season, I’m quitting Cal basketball. Sigh.
After Mark Fox leaves, it'll be disheartening if he receives any job offer in college athletics anywhere in North America. If teams want to top out at his top level (Nevada/UGA) please give new coaches a chance.
You were right the first time. The problem is the players. There shouldn’t be a need to coach 3-pt defense. Defense is purely effort, and Cal’s was lacking. When a coach says “it’s on me”, he means “I coached the hell out of these guys and they came out & gave a lackluster effort”. Brown and Alajiki were good, worked hard, did a lot of good things. Lars works hard, but is not that coordinated, and still has no hands. Askew is playing like early Jordan Shepard - going 1 on 4, making lazy passes, showing poor judgement. He has physical talent, but it’s apparent why this 5* has shuffled from program to program. The fact that a few of his contested Hail Mary 3’s at the end of the game dropped shows shooting skill, but either light it up before the game is out of reach, or work on making your teammates better. A different coach is not going to turn this group into winners. Fox is correct that you need long, athletic players to win in today’s game, and which he is starting to get, but they are almost all missing the most essential skill-putting the ball in the damn basket.
A different coach could absolutely win with this team.
The length, athleticism and depth of this roster screams up tempo, yet Fox’s horrific offense is suffocating them. A better coach would ratchet up the D with more pressure and trapping, but Fox is a stubborn dinosaur.
This is nonsense. When a power 5 team gets repeatedly whomped by schools with less talent/money/etc, it's on the coach. Our scholarship players would start on just about every team that has beaten us so far. And if you don't like that explanation, then perhaps it's on coach Fox to recruit players he can inspire. Either way, the only reason Fox still has a job is that Knowlton would have to acknowledge his own incompetence to make a move.
So is he going to resign then?
Best for everyone
The coach got the players. Most good coaches can coach bad players somewhat, but Fox is a retread who has always thrived on (semi) talent, and can't coach up players. Can we please see the end of this as soon as possible?
He’ll most likely make it to the end of the season because there is no logical interim candidate…all the assistants are his cronies. But this team maybe wins 7 games…maybe, if we’re being really generous…Texas St, Eastern Washington, UT-Arlington are best chances in non-con, but none of them will be easy…maybe they beat a Mountain school at home if Buffs or Utes are cold. Maybe they steal one v. Stanford and sweep Oregon State…they’re getting swept by UCLA, USC, U of A, ASU, Wazzu, UW and the Ducks. Butler, TCU and @ Santa Clara are losses.
If Mark Fox gets a 5th season, I’m quitting Cal basketball. Sigh.
After Mark Fox leaves, it'll be disheartening if he receives any job offer in college athletics anywhere in North America. If teams want to top out at his top level (Nevada/UGA) please give new coaches a chance.
I think we were hoping he would top out at Nevada/UGA level but the game has passed him by.
Don't know what to say at this point. We are wandering in the wilderness with very few possible positive outcomes for the season.
Well they didn’t block. But they made up for it by not shooting
You were right the first time. The problem is the players. There shouldn’t be a need to coach 3-pt defense. Defense is purely effort, and Cal’s was lacking. When a coach says “it’s on me”, he means “I coached the hell out of these guys and they came out & gave a lackluster effort”. Brown and Alajiki were good, worked hard, did a lot of good things. Lars works hard, but is not that coordinated, and still has no hands. Askew is playing like early Jordan Shepard - going 1 on 4, making lazy passes, showing poor judgement. He has physical talent, but it’s apparent why this 5* has shuffled from program to program. The fact that a few of his contested Hail Mary 3’s at the end of the game dropped shows shooting skill, but either light it up before the game is out of reach, or work on making your teammates better. A different coach is not going to turn this group into winners. Fox is correct that you need long, athletic players to win in today’s game, and which he is starting to get, but they are almost all missing the most essential skill-putting the ball in the damn basket.
This is on Fox.
A different coach could absolutely win with this team.
The length, athleticism and depth of this roster screams up tempo, yet Fox’s horrific offense is suffocating them. A better coach would ratchet up the D with more pressure and trapping, but Fox is a stubborn dinosaur.
He’ll be removed following this season.
This is nonsense. When a power 5 team gets repeatedly whomped by schools with less talent/money/etc, it's on the coach. Our scholarship players would start on just about every team that has beaten us so far. And if you don't like that explanation, then perhaps it's on coach Fox to recruit players he can inspire. Either way, the only reason Fox still has a job is that Knowlton would have to acknowledge his own incompetence to make a move.
It would be Askew, Celestine, Kuany, Sam/Newell, and Lars most likely
a good article would be "Cal parts ways with Mark Fox"
soon....hopefully
It’s really just a matter of time. The program’s bottomed out under Fox, falling below even Wyking’s depths.
Then again, Jim Knowlton is incompetent, so maybe he extends him after a 3 game win streak.
Apparently Knowlton handed Justin Wilcox a fully guaranteed contract.