KoreAmBear said:I'm pretty sure he didn't even try. We wrapped up this coaching search in like a couple of weeks. Who knew how lucky we were to have such a high caliber coach who took a year off? Actually with Monty we really were lucky. With our currently guy, not so much.mbBear said:He didn't hire Fox over Kidd. There wasn't that option. Happy for Jason, seeing he has had ups and downs in the NBA...BearForce2 said:calumnus said:BearForce2 said:
Congratulations to Jason Kidd for taking the Mavericks to the 2022 Western Conference Finals by beating the number one seed Phoenix Suns in seven games.
And to think, in 2019 when we fired Wyking Jones, Jason Kidd expressed interest in coaching at Cal ("the only college job I am interested in") and Knowlton hired Mark Fox.
It could have been beautiful.
Less than a week between reversing course and announcing Jones fired, then announcing Fox hired. Knowlton said he only interviewed two candidates (Travis and Fox). Let the search firm do the heavy lifting. Said he chose Fox over Travis because he "felt more comfortable around him" the could "relate" (affinity hire). He interviewed Travis the Monday after his return from the NCAA Tournament and said the unemployed Fox had been "better prepared" for the interview.
Kidd was between jobs and in an interview said he wanted to return to being a head coach and "Cal was the only college job (he) was interested in." There was some excitement and debate about it on this board. Fox was announced soon after to the excitement of no one. It was clear, Knowlton never followed up on the Kidd overture. Kidd became an assistant coach for the Lakers.
Knowlton/Fox apologists have since said Fox is the only coach that would take our $millions.