Any Fox Supporters Left?

8,359 Views | 91 Replies | Last: 2 yr ago by Bear8995
GMP
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Genuinely curious. If so, why?

Personally, I don't know why anyone bothers going to these games, or even spending time watching them. I didn't watch one second but just stumbled on the score. Embarrassing.
pingpong2
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Well, we know Christ is still a Fox supporter.
stu
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I went to the 4 PM women's game (we won by 30) but didn't want to wait around for the 8 PM start.
Econ141
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pingpong2 said:

Well, we know Christ is still a Fox supporter.


Christ and Knowlton are his two biggest fans. They are leading us to join the big west conference!
eastcoastcal
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What sucks is we have to sit through a full season of this! I would feel better if we were a week or two away from seeing a change, but I have to wait til March (god forbid we retain Fox. If that happened I might stop being a fan of the basketball program) to have any hope for this program
GMP
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eastcoastcal said:

What sucks is we have to sit through a full season of this! I would feel better if we were a week or two away from seeing a change, but I have to wait til March (god forbid we retain Fox. If that happened I might stop being a fan of the basketball program) to have any hope for this program

This post bummed me out for you. You do not, under any circumstance, "have to sit through a full season of this." This was me like 3 years ago, but I am not certain Fox is fired if he goes winless in conference. Just wash your hands like I did and do your best to avoid Cal basketball until this clown is fired. It might be a while.
eastcoastcal
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GMP said:

eastcoastcal said:

What sucks is we have to sit through a full season of this! I would feel better if we were a week or two away from seeing a change, but I have to wait til March (god forbid we retain Fox. If that happened I might stop being a fan of the basketball program) to have any hope for this program

This post bummed me out for you. You do not, under any circumstance, "have to sit through a full season of this." This was me like 3 years ago, but I am not certain Fox is fired if he goes winless in conference. Just wash your hands like I did and do your best to avoid Cal basketball until this clown is fired. It might be a while.
Thing is, I really want to support the teams! A huge reason why I came to Cal was because I love sports and wanted to root for basketball and football teams (and even baseball) that played meaningful games. The sports were a huge reason for coming to Cal over schools like brown columbia mit or rice (and I know a lot of other kids feel this way too, which is why I really think it is an administrative mistake by the admin to not invest in sports). I enjoy going to games but it really bums me out that we're this bad. All I want is to see us play in a good bowl game or see us play in the NCAA tournament while I'm here. sadly it does not appear like it'll happen. just sucks
KoreAmBear
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eastcoastcal said:

GMP said:

eastcoastcal said:

What sucks is we have to sit through a full season of this! I would feel better if we were a week or two away from seeing a change, but I have to wait til March (god forbid we retain Fox. If that happened I might stop being a fan of the basketball program) to have any hope for this program

This post bummed me out for you. You do not, under any circumstance, "have to sit through a full season of this." This was me like 3 years ago, but I am not certain Fox is fired if he goes winless in conference. Just wash your hands like I did and do your best to avoid Cal basketball until this clown is fired. It might be a while.
Thing is, I really want to support the teams! A huge reason why I came to Cal was because I love sports and wanted to root for basketball and football teams (and even baseball) that played meaningful games. The sports were a huge reason for coming to Cal over schools like brown columbia mit or rice (and I know a lot of other kids feel this way too, which is why I really think it is an administrative mistake by the admin to not invest in sports). I enjoy going to games but it really bums me out that we're this bad. All I want is to see us play in a good bowl game or see us play in the NCAA tournament while I'm here. sadly it does not appear like it'll happen. just sucks
I am also bummed for you, because going to Harmon and Memorial in the late 80s/early 90s were some of the best times of my life. Especially Harmon with a sometimes above average to mediocre team, we filled the student section from floor to ceiling (the ceiling wasn't quite as high back then), but it was a special time. Almost Indiana basketball-esque -- every game -- esp. against UCLA -- was fun. I wish you could experience that like many of us did. I'm bummed that Carol Christ and Jim Knowlton are robbing you of that experience and you have only a short window to do so.
calumnus
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eastcoastcal said:

GMP said:

eastcoastcal said:

What sucks is we have to sit through a full season of this! I would feel better if we were a week or two away from seeing a change, but I have to wait til March (god forbid we retain Fox. If that happened I might stop being a fan of the basketball program) to have any hope for this program

This post bummed me out for you. You do not, under any circumstance, "have to sit through a full season of this." This was me like 3 years ago, but I am not certain Fox is fired if he goes winless in conference. Just wash your hands like I did and do your best to avoid Cal basketball until this clown is fired. It might be a while.
Thing is, I really want to support the teams! A huge reason why I came to Cal was because I love sports and wanted to root for basketball and football teams (and even baseball) that played meaningful games. The sports were a huge reason for coming to Cal over schools like brown columbia mit or rice (and I know a lot of other kids feel this way too, which is why I really think it is an administrative mistake by the admin to not invest in sports). I enjoy going to games but it really bums me out that we're this bad. All I want is to see us play in a good bowl game or see us play in the NCAA tournament while I'm here. sadly it does not appear like it'll happen. just sucks


I arrived at Cal in 1980 from LA. I grew up rooting for UCLA. Cal was not good, but it was fun being a student in the student section. We wallowed in our ineptitude. Good enough to always disappoint. Beating Stanford, getting the Axe made the season. It was part of the miracle of the 82 Big Game. We had the game won. On third down we sacked Elway. It was 4th and 19. Then he had a huge completion, went down the field and kicked the go ahead FG leaving 4 seconds on the clock. Cal once again somehow managed to snatch a loss from the jaws of victory. Many Cal fans started up the aisle to leave. The mic man urged us up to wave our blue and gold for the kickoff which we did forlornly. Then the miracle. That was the peak of the Kapp years.

So love the players, love the team and work to get them good coaches worth the $millions we give them and hold Knowlton accountable for insane contract extensions and ignoring complaints of abuse and racism.
GMP
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eastcoastcal said:

GMP said:

eastcoastcal said:

What sucks is we have to sit through a full season of this! I would feel better if we were a week or two away from seeing a change, but I have to wait til March (god forbid we retain Fox. If that happened I might stop being a fan of the basketball program) to have any hope for this program

This post bummed me out for you. You do not, under any circumstance, "have to sit through a full season of this." This was me like 3 years ago, but I am not certain Fox is fired if he goes winless in conference. Just wash your hands like I did and do your best to avoid Cal basketball until this clown is fired. It might be a while.
Thing is, I really want to support the teams! A huge reason why I came to Cal was because I love sports and wanted to root for basketball and football teams (and even baseball) that played meaningful games. The sports were a huge reason for coming to Cal over schools like brown columbia mit or rice (and I know a lot of other kids feel this way too, which is why I really think it is an administrative mistake by the admin to not invest in sports). I enjoy going to games but it really bums me out that we're this bad. All I want is to see us play in a good bowl game or see us play in the NCAA tournament while I'm here. sadly it does not appear like it'll happen. just sucks


First, good for you. I had forgotten you are a current student and that would probably change the equation for me, too. I also chose Cal in part because I wanted to go see big time college sports and I don't regret it.

Of course, the Cal football and basketball teams were good when I was there in the first half of the 2000s. Haas was not quite what I hear about Harmon, but the student section was packed and the teams were good and fun. The football team was awesome, too. Like you, I was and am a Cal baseball fan, even though the team is usually not great. I used to walk over on Fridays after class with some sunflower seeds and watch Cal baseball by myself in the sun. It was the best.

All that is to say, I feel even worse for you than I did before. As KAB said, you are being robbed of a great experience. So I don't blame you for attending, you only have so many years of this - attending with your peers to see games played by your peers.
bearister
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After a couple of lifetime bans, I think there are only a few left on the OT Board.
Cancel my subscription to the Resurrection
Send my credentials to the House of Detention
I got some friends inside
bearister
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stu said:

I went to the 4 PM women's game (we won by 30) but didn't want to wait around for the 8 PM start.


Cancel my subscription to the Resurrection
Send my credentials to the House of Detention
I got some friends inside
panda
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eastcoastcal said:

GMP said:

eastcoastcal said:

What sucks is we have to sit through a full season of this! I would feel better if we were a week or two away from seeing a change, but I have to wait til March (god forbid we retain Fox. If that happened I might stop being a fan of the basketball program) to have any hope for this program

This post bummed me out for you. You do not, under any circumstance, "have to sit through a full season of this." This was me like 3 years ago, but I am not certain Fox is fired if he goes winless in conference. Just wash your hands like I did and do your best to avoid Cal basketball until this clown is fired. It might be a while.
Thing is, I really want to support the teams! A huge reason why I came to Cal was because I love sports and wanted to root for basketball and football teams (and even baseball) that played meaningful games. The sports were a huge reason for coming to Cal over schools like brown columbia mit or rice (and I know a lot of other kids feel this way too, which is why I really think it is an administrative mistake by the admin to not invest in sports). I enjoy going to games but it really bums me out that we're this bad. All I want is to see us play in a good bowl game or see us play in the NCAA tournament while I'm here. sadly it does not appear like it'll happen. just sucks

I feel bad for you. Cal basketball was a blast during the Monty years while I was a student. Im so sorry you are not going to experience a fun Haas Pavilion.

Hindsight is 20/20 but you should have gone to either UCLA or Michigan if you wanted the good academic/sports combo. If you decide to go to grad school somewhere, maybe consider attending one of those schools so you can switch allegiances after 10 years of post-grad Cal sucking like almost every one of my college classmates at Cal have done. Wilcox/Fox/Jimbo have killed Cal sports as we know it.
Oakbear
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eastcoastcal said:

What sucks is we have to sit through a full season of this! I would feel better if we were a week or two away from seeing a change, but I have to wait til March (god forbid we retain Fox. If that happened I might stop being a fan of the basketball program) to have any hope for this program
we may have to sit thru more than one season of this.. AD loves the guy? so will not fire him
GMP
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Oakbear said:

eastcoastcal said:

What sucks is we have to sit through a full season of this! I would feel better if we were a week or two away from seeing a change, but I have to wait til March (god forbid we retain Fox. If that happened I might stop being a fan of the basketball program) to have any hope for this program
we may have to sit thru more than one season of this.. AD loves the guy? so will not fire him


The Fox hiring and retention is another example of subconscious institutional racism at work. Knowlton admitted he hired him because he felt so comfortable with him. But that's not a job requirement. And it's caused by subconscious racism - who you're comfortable around is who you are used to being around.

It's also instructive to read Knowlton's words about why he fired Jones:

Quote:

"What I was really evaluating was: Where are we now after two years and how much can we move the needle in another year? By the end of the season, and then with another couple days of evaluating, it became obvious that we wouldn't be able to move the needle enough, and that's when I had to make a leadership change."


If he applied that same logic to Fox, he would have fired him after last season. But he feels comfortable and now, well, he's got to let him coach until we get a practice facility, 3-4 years from now! Good lord. Knowlton is the worst thing that ever happened to this program. Worse than Boseman.
BC Calfan
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There is only one Fox supporter left: Knowlton.
CalLifer
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BC Calfan said:

There is only one Fox supporter left: Knowlton.
You beat me to the punch! But I'd argue that there's a second indirect supporter of Fox: Christ, through her support of Knowlton and her understanding that there is more to being a coach than winning. In this case, that "more" is losing, lack of development, lack of recruiting, lack of engagement with students/fans.
HKBear97!
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GMP said:

Oakbear said:

eastcoastcal said:

What sucks is we have to sit through a full season of this! I would feel better if we were a week or two away from seeing a change, but I have to wait til March (god forbid we retain Fox. If that happened I might stop being a fan of the basketball program) to have any hope for this program
we may have to sit thru more than one season of this.. AD loves the guy? so will not fire him


The Fox hiring and retention is another example of subconscious institutional racism at work. Knowlton admitted he hired him because he felt so comfortable with him. But that's not a job requirement. And it's caused by subconscious racism - who you're comfortable around is who you are used to being around.

It's also instructive to read Knowlton's words about why he fired Jones:

Quote:

"What I was really evaluating was: Where are we now after two years and how much can we move the needle in another year? By the end of the season, and then with another couple days of evaluating, it became obvious that we wouldn't be able to move the needle enough, and that's when I had to make a leadership change."


If he applied that same logic to Fox, he would have fired him after last season. But he feels comfortable and now, well, he's got to let him coach until we get a practice facility, 3-4 years from now! Good lord. Knowlton is the worst thing that ever happened to this program. Worse than Boseman.


Sorry, but you're trying too hard here. Under Wyking the team looked like it never practiced. We couldn't break a press, set plays were terrible, inbound plays were non-existent and we were losing to real bottom dweller teams.

I think it was an idiotic hire, but I could see the rationale for Knowlton hiring Fox. Fox had a lot of experience as a head coach (in contrast to Wyking who had none), was seen as a developer of talent (didn't see a lot of that under Wyking), west coast experience at Nevada and had the resume of a good teacher/coach (Nevada record, US Olympic team coach, etc). Again, absolutely idiotic hire and Knowlton clearly relied way too much on the search firm, but in terms of checking the box after the Wyking disaster, Fox did technically check some boxes. A competent AD would have weighed his resume at Georgia and realized there was a reason he was fired, but sadly, Knowlton's not a competent AD.
CalLifer
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HKBear97! said:

GMP said:

Oakbear said:

eastcoastcal said:

What sucks is we have to sit through a full season of this! I would feel better if we were a week or two away from seeing a change, but I have to wait til March (god forbid we retain Fox. If that happened I might stop being a fan of the basketball program) to have any hope for this program
we may have to sit thru more than one season of this.. AD loves the guy? so will not fire him


The Fox hiring and retention is another example of subconscious institutional racism at work. Knowlton admitted he hired him because he felt so comfortable with him. But that's not a job requirement. And it's caused by subconscious racism - who you're comfortable around is who you are used to being around.

It's also instructive to read Knowlton's words about why he fired Jones:

Quote:

"What I was really evaluating was: Where are we now after two years and how much can we move the needle in another year? By the end of the season, and then with another couple days of evaluating, it became obvious that we wouldn't be able to move the needle enough, and that's when I had to make a leadership change."


If he applied that same logic to Fox, he would have fired him after last season. But he feels comfortable and now, well, he's got to let him coach until we get a practice facility, 3-4 years from now! Good lord. Knowlton is the worst thing that ever happened to this program. Worse than Boseman.


Sorry, but you're trying too hard here. Under Wyking the team looked like it never practiced. We couldn't break a press, set plays were terrible, inbound plays were non-existent and we were losing to real bottom dweller teams.

I think it was an idiotic hire, but I could see the rationale for Knowlton hiring Fox. Fox had a lot of experience as a head coach (in contrast to Wyking who had none), was seen as a developer of talent (didn't see a lot of that under Wyking), west coast experience at Nevada and had the resume of a good teacher/coach (Nevada record, US Olympic team coach, etc). Again, absolutely idiotic hire and Knowlton clearly relied way too much on the search firm, but in terms of checking the box after the Wyking disaster, Fox did technically check some boxes. A competent AD would have weighed his resume at Georgia and realized there was a reason he was fired, but sadly, Knowlton's not a competent AD.
Not sure that the bolded is what you want to lead with on the day after we lost to UC Davis for the first time ever in Mark Fox's FOURTH year as head coach at Cal.

We can dump on all of Wyking's failings ad nauseum, but it is inarguable that at the moment of Wyking's firing the program was in an infinitely better position than the program is now.
BC Calfan
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Also if you recall, the rationale was Fox will lift our floor and stabilize the program.

That plan never made sense to me and we're seeing the disastrous results.
GMP
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HKBear97! said:

GMP said:

Oakbear said:

eastcoastcal said:

What sucks is we have to sit through a full season of this! I would feel better if we were a week or two away from seeing a change, but I have to wait til March (god forbid we retain Fox. If that happened I might stop being a fan of the basketball program) to have any hope for this program
we may have to sit thru more than one season of this.. AD loves the guy? so will not fire him


The Fox hiring and retention is another example of subconscious institutional racism at work. Knowlton admitted he hired him because he felt so comfortable with him. But that's not a job requirement. And it's caused by subconscious racism - who you're comfortable around is who you are used to being around.

It's also instructive to read Knowlton's words about why he fired Jones:

Quote:

"What I was really evaluating was: Where are we now after two years and how much can we move the needle in another year? By the end of the season, and then with another couple days of evaluating, it became obvious that we wouldn't be able to move the needle enough, and that's when I had to make a leadership change."


If he applied that same logic to Fox, he would have fired him after last season. But he feels comfortable and now, well, he's got to let him coach until we get a practice facility, 3-4 years from now! Good lord. Knowlton is the worst thing that ever happened to this program. Worse than Boseman.


Sorry, but you're trying too hard here. Under Wyking the team looked like it never practiced. We couldn't break a press, set plays were terrible, inbound plays were non-existent and we were losing to real bottom dweller teams.

I think it was an idiotic hire, but I could see the rationale for Knowlton hiring Fox. Fox had a lot of experience as a head coach (in contrast to Wyking who had none), was seen as a developer of talent (didn't see a lot of that under Wyking), west coast experience at Nevada and had the resume of a good teacher/coach (Nevada record, US Olympic team coach, etc). Again, absolutely idiotic hire and Knowlton clearly relied way too much on the search firm, but in terms of checking the box after the Wyking disaster, Fox did technically check some boxes. A competent AD would have weighed his resume at Georgia and realized there was a reason he was fired, but sadly, Knowlton's not a competent AD.

Maybe I needed to be more clear:

1. Fox was hired because of subconscious racism. I'm not saying he was completely unqualified. Yes, he was a passable candidate. But Knowlton publicly stated he went with Fox because he felt more comfortable with him. The other widely rumored candidate was Decuire, who is not white. This, IMO, is not a coincidence.

2. In determining whether Fox should have continued as our coach after 2021, Knowlton failed to apply the logic he used in firing Jones. If he had done so, Fox would have been fired. And he should have been fired. Unlike point #1, I don't know (or very strongly believe) that Knowlton's failure to be consistent is due to subconscious racism because unlike when Fox was hired, Knowlton has not admitted as much this time around. I suspect it is due to subconscious racism (based on what I believe is Knowlton's admitted history of subconscious racism in hiring Fox), but I am also open to the fact that Knowlton is just a complete idiot who doesn't understand how to do his job.

PtownBear1
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We really don't know what "felt more comfortable means". It may just be because they were both losers in their prior roles and were unemployed at the time Cal moronically hired them.
HKBear97!
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GMP said:

HKBear97! said:

GMP said:

Oakbear said:

eastcoastcal said:

What sucks is we have to sit through a full season of this! I would feel better if we were a week or two away from seeing a change, but I have to wait til March (god forbid we retain Fox. If that happened I might stop being a fan of the basketball program) to have any hope for this program
we may have to sit thru more than one season of this.. AD loves the guy? so will not fire him


The Fox hiring and retention is another example of subconscious institutional racism at work. Knowlton admitted he hired him because he felt so comfortable with him. But that's not a job requirement. And it's caused by subconscious racism - who you're comfortable around is who you are used to being around.

It's also instructive to read Knowlton's words about why he fired Jones:

Quote:

"What I was really evaluating was: Where are we now after two years and how much can we move the needle in another year? By the end of the season, and then with another couple days of evaluating, it became obvious that we wouldn't be able to move the needle enough, and that's when I had to make a leadership change."


If he applied that same logic to Fox, he would have fired him after last season. But he feels comfortable and now, well, he's got to let him coach until we get a practice facility, 3-4 years from now! Good lord. Knowlton is the worst thing that ever happened to this program. Worse than Boseman.


Sorry, but you're trying too hard here. Under Wyking the team looked like it never practiced. We couldn't break a press, set plays were terrible, inbound plays were non-existent and we were losing to real bottom dweller teams.

I think it was an idiotic hire, but I could see the rationale for Knowlton hiring Fox. Fox had a lot of experience as a head coach (in contrast to Wyking who had none), was seen as a developer of talent (didn't see a lot of that under Wyking), west coast experience at Nevada and had the resume of a good teacher/coach (Nevada record, US Olympic team coach, etc). Again, absolutely idiotic hire and Knowlton clearly relied way too much on the search firm, but in terms of checking the box after the Wyking disaster, Fox did technically check some boxes. A competent AD would have weighed his resume at Georgia and realized there was a reason he was fired, but sadly, Knowlton's not a competent AD.

Maybe I needed to be more clear:

1. Fox was hired because of subconscious racism. I'm not saying he was completely unqualified. Yes, he was a passable candidate. But Knowlton publicly stated he went with Fox because he felt more comfortable with him. The other widely rumored candidate was Decuire, who is not white. This, IMO, is not a coincidence.

2. In determining whether Fox should have continued as our coach after 2021, Knowlton failed to apply the logic he used in firing Jones. If he had done so, Fox would have been fired. And he should have been fired. Unlike point #1, I don't know (or very strongly believe) that Knowlton's failure to be consistent is due to subconscious racism because unlike when Fox was hired, Knowlton has not admitted as much this time around. I suspect it is due to subconscious racism (based on what I believe is Knowlton's admitted history of subconscious racism in hiring Fox), but I am also open to the fact that Knowlton is just a complete idiot who doesn't understand how to do his job.




Subconscious racism. Um, sure, go with that. This is Cal after all.

Personally, I'll stick with Knowlton is not qualified to hire head coaches.
HKBear97!
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CalLifer said:

HKBear97! said:

GMP said:

Oakbear said:

eastcoastcal said:

What sucks is we have to sit through a full season of this! I would feel better if we were a week or two away from seeing a change, but I have to wait til March (god forbid we retain Fox. If that happened I might stop being a fan of the basketball program) to have any hope for this program
we may have to sit thru more than one season of this.. AD loves the guy? so will not fire him


The Fox hiring and retention is another example of subconscious institutional racism at work. Knowlton admitted he hired him because he felt so comfortable with him. But that's not a job requirement. And it's caused by subconscious racism - who you're comfortable around is who you are used to being around.

It's also instructive to read Knowlton's words about why he fired Jones:

Quote:

"What I was really evaluating was: Where are we now after two years and how much can we move the needle in another year? By the end of the season, and then with another couple days of evaluating, it became obvious that we wouldn't be able to move the needle enough, and that's when I had to make a leadership change."


If he applied that same logic to Fox, he would have fired him after last season. But he feels comfortable and now, well, he's got to let him coach until we get a practice facility, 3-4 years from now! Good lord. Knowlton is the worst thing that ever happened to this program. Worse than Boseman.


Sorry, but you're trying too hard here. Under Wyking the team looked like it never practiced. We couldn't break a press, set plays were terrible, inbound plays were non-existent and we were losing to real bottom dweller teams.

I think it was an idiotic hire, but I could see the rationale for Knowlton hiring Fox. Fox had a lot of experience as a head coach (in contrast to Wyking who had none), was seen as a developer of talent (didn't see a lot of that under Wyking), west coast experience at Nevada and had the resume of a good teacher/coach (Nevada record, US Olympic team coach, etc). Again, absolutely idiotic hire and Knowlton clearly relied way too much on the search firm, but in terms of checking the box after the Wyking disaster, Fox did technically check some boxes. A competent AD would have weighed his resume at Georgia and realized there was a reason he was fired, but sadly, Knowlton's not a competent AD.
Not sure that the bolded is what you want to lead with on the day after we lost to UC Davis for the first time ever in Mark Fox's FOURTH year as head coach at Cal.

We can dump on all of Wyking's failings ad nauseum, but it is inarguable that at the moment of Wyking's firing the program was in an infinitely better position than the program is now.


Fair point, although Fox has yet to match Wyking's 8 wins for a season, which he did twice. That's pretty hard to do and hasn't been done at Cal since Dick Kuchen
GMP
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HKBear97! said:

GMP said:

HKBear97! said:

GMP said:

Oakbear said:

eastcoastcal said:

What sucks is we have to sit through a full season of this! I would feel better if we were a week or two away from seeing a change, but I have to wait til March (god forbid we retain Fox. If that happened I might stop being a fan of the basketball program) to have any hope for this program
we may have to sit thru more than one season of this.. AD loves the guy? so will not fire him


The Fox hiring and retention is another example of subconscious institutional racism at work. Knowlton admitted he hired him because he felt so comfortable with him. But that's not a job requirement. And it's caused by subconscious racism - who you're comfortable around is who you are used to being around.

It's also instructive to read Knowlton's words about why he fired Jones:

Quote:

"What I was really evaluating was: Where are we now after two years and how much can we move the needle in another year? By the end of the season, and then with another couple days of evaluating, it became obvious that we wouldn't be able to move the needle enough, and that's when I had to make a leadership change."


If he applied that same logic to Fox, he would have fired him after last season. But he feels comfortable and now, well, he's got to let him coach until we get a practice facility, 3-4 years from now! Good lord. Knowlton is the worst thing that ever happened to this program. Worse than Boseman.


Sorry, but you're trying too hard here. Under Wyking the team looked like it never practiced. We couldn't break a press, set plays were terrible, inbound plays were non-existent and we were losing to real bottom dweller teams.

I think it was an idiotic hire, but I could see the rationale for Knowlton hiring Fox. Fox had a lot of experience as a head coach (in contrast to Wyking who had none), was seen as a developer of talent (didn't see a lot of that under Wyking), west coast experience at Nevada and had the resume of a good teacher/coach (Nevada record, US Olympic team coach, etc). Again, absolutely idiotic hire and Knowlton clearly relied way too much on the search firm, but in terms of checking the box after the Wyking disaster, Fox did technically check some boxes. A competent AD would have weighed his resume at Georgia and realized there was a reason he was fired, but sadly, Knowlton's not a competent AD.

Maybe I needed to be more clear:

1. Fox was hired because of subconscious racism. I'm not saying he was completely unqualified. Yes, he was a passable candidate. But Knowlton publicly stated he went with Fox because he felt more comfortable with him. The other widely rumored candidate was Decuire, who is not white. This, IMO, is not a coincidence.

2. In determining whether Fox should have continued as our coach after 2021, Knowlton failed to apply the logic he used in firing Jones. If he had done so, Fox would have been fired. And he should have been fired. Unlike point #1, I don't know (or very strongly believe) that Knowlton's failure to be consistent is due to subconscious racism because unlike when Fox was hired, Knowlton has not admitted as much this time around. I suspect it is due to subconscious racism (based on what I believe is Knowlton's admitted history of subconscious racism in hiring Fox), but I am also open to the fact that Knowlton is just a complete idiot who doesn't understand how to do his job.




Subconscious racism. Um, sure, go with that. This is Cal after all.

Personally, I'll stick with Knowlton is not qualified to hire head coaches.

I have evidence. He said it himself. It's a classic case of a well studied phenomenon.
socaltownie
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I am going to start a new thread because on this because it is deeper than Basketball (and frankly deeper than Jeff K.)
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CalLifer
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HKBear97! said:

CalLifer said:

HKBear97! said:

GMP said:

Oakbear said:

eastcoastcal said:

What sucks is we have to sit through a full season of this! I would feel better if we were a week or two away from seeing a change, but I have to wait til March (god forbid we retain Fox. If that happened I might stop being a fan of the basketball program) to have any hope for this program
we may have to sit thru more than one season of this.. AD loves the guy? so will not fire him


The Fox hiring and retention is another example of subconscious institutional racism at work. Knowlton admitted he hired him because he felt so comfortable with him. But that's not a job requirement. And it's caused by subconscious racism - who you're comfortable around is who you are used to being around.

It's also instructive to read Knowlton's words about why he fired Jones:

Quote:

"What I was really evaluating was: Where are we now after two years and how much can we move the needle in another year? By the end of the season, and then with another couple days of evaluating, it became obvious that we wouldn't be able to move the needle enough, and that's when I had to make a leadership change."


If he applied that same logic to Fox, he would have fired him after last season. But he feels comfortable and now, well, he's got to let him coach until we get a practice facility, 3-4 years from now! Good lord. Knowlton is the worst thing that ever happened to this program. Worse than Boseman.


Sorry, but you're trying too hard here. Under Wyking the team looked like it never practiced. We couldn't break a press, set plays were terrible, inbound plays were non-existent and we were losing to real bottom dweller teams.

I think it was an idiotic hire, but I could see the rationale for Knowlton hiring Fox. Fox had a lot of experience as a head coach (in contrast to Wyking who had none), was seen as a developer of talent (didn't see a lot of that under Wyking), west coast experience at Nevada and had the resume of a good teacher/coach (Nevada record, US Olympic team coach, etc). Again, absolutely idiotic hire and Knowlton clearly relied way too much on the search firm, but in terms of checking the box after the Wyking disaster, Fox did technically check some boxes. A competent AD would have weighed his resume at Georgia and realized there was a reason he was fired, but sadly, Knowlton's not a competent AD.
Not sure that the bolded is what you want to lead with on the day after we lost to UC Davis for the first time ever in Mark Fox's FOURTH year as head coach at Cal.

We can dump on all of Wyking's failings ad nauseum, but it is inarguable that at the moment of Wyking's firing the program was in an infinitely better position than the program is now.


Fair point, although Fox has yet to match Wyking's 8 wins for a season, which he did twice. That's pretty hard to do and hasn't been done at Cal since Dick Kuchen
Fox has managed to achieve a Wyking-like sub-0.200 conference winning percentage in his second year, and somehow parlay that into TWO more years at the helm, which Wyking did not get. I'm not sure what point you are trying to make that about Fox other than he is a better game coach than Wyking. However, his inability to recruit could easily allow him to attain Wyking-depths of failure this season (he's certainly on track with the opening loss).
Big Dog
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BC Calfan said:

Also if you recall, the rationale was Fox will lift our floor and stabilize the program.

That plan never made sense to me and we're seeing the disastrous results.
Well he's been successful in 1 out of 2, as the program is definitely 'stabilized' as consistently the worst in the p12 and near worst in P5.
movielover
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FWIW, the Aggies had 4 bigs who didn't play, so that dismisses the Fox injury excuse.

Henry - 6'7" Jr
Strong - 6'7" Frosh
Rocak- 6'9" Soph
Borrow- 6'11" big / So
HKBear97!
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CalLifer said:

HKBear97! said:

CalLifer said:

HKBear97! said:

GMP said:

Oakbear said:

eastcoastcal said:

What sucks is we have to sit through a full season of this! I would feel better if we were a week or two away from seeing a change, but I have to wait til March (god forbid we retain Fox. If that happened I might stop being a fan of the basketball program) to have any hope for this program
we may have to sit thru more than one season of this.. AD loves the guy? so will not fire him


The Fox hiring and retention is another example of subconscious institutional racism at work. Knowlton admitted he hired him because he felt so comfortable with him. But that's not a job requirement. And it's caused by subconscious racism - who you're comfortable around is who you are used to being around.

It's also instructive to read Knowlton's words about why he fired Jones:

Quote:

"What I was really evaluating was: Where are we now after two years and how much can we move the needle in another year? By the end of the season, and then with another couple days of evaluating, it became obvious that we wouldn't be able to move the needle enough, and that's when I had to make a leadership change."


If he applied that same logic to Fox, he would have fired him after last season. But he feels comfortable and now, well, he's got to let him coach until we get a practice facility, 3-4 years from now! Good lord. Knowlton is the worst thing that ever happened to this program. Worse than Boseman.


Sorry, but you're trying too hard here. Under Wyking the team looked like it never practiced. We couldn't break a press, set plays were terrible, inbound plays were non-existent and we were losing to real bottom dweller teams.

I think it was an idiotic hire, but I could see the rationale for Knowlton hiring Fox. Fox had a lot of experience as a head coach (in contrast to Wyking who had none), was seen as a developer of talent (didn't see a lot of that under Wyking), west coast experience at Nevada and had the resume of a good teacher/coach (Nevada record, US Olympic team coach, etc). Again, absolutely idiotic hire and Knowlton clearly relied way too much on the search firm, but in terms of checking the box after the Wyking disaster, Fox did technically check some boxes. A competent AD would have weighed his resume at Georgia and realized there was a reason he was fired, but sadly, Knowlton's not a competent AD.
Not sure that the bolded is what you want to lead with on the day after we lost to UC Davis for the first time ever in Mark Fox's FOURTH year as head coach at Cal.

We can dump on all of Wyking's failings ad nauseum, but it is inarguable that at the moment of Wyking's firing the program was in an infinitely better position than the program is now.


Fair point, although Fox has yet to match Wyking's 8 wins for a season, which he did twice. That's pretty hard to do and hasn't been done at Cal since Dick Kuchen
Fox has managed to achieve a Wyking-like sub-0.200 conference winning percentage in his second year, and somehow parlay that into TWO more years at the helm, which Wyking did not get. I'm not sure what point you are trying to make that about Fox other than he is a better game coach than Wyking. However, his inability to recruit could easily allow him to attain Wyking-depths of failure this season (he's certainly on track with the opening loss).


Agree with it or not, Knowlton seems to buy into the Covid excuse and is giving Fox (and all the other coaches for that matter) more time.
movielover
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How you jump from 'feeling comfortable with someone' to subconscious racism is interesting, and common for some today with the "woke" culture.

First, if W Jones was the next John Wooden, he wouldn't be the #2 assistant at UW. Is that racism? BTW, I don't have the time, but if he was a coaching legend he'd be an in demand off season speaker / instructor. He seems to like professional acting.

Fox has nine 20 win seasons on his resume, not bad, but inflated w longer seasons and the CBI. 15 years HC experience vs 2 losing years (16-47). Yes, Fox was fired after going 18-15, 7-11 in league.

I'm not defending Fox, but dealing with alumni, graduating student athletes, and not having scandals matters to many ADs.

socaltownie
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movielover said:

How you jump from 'feeling comfortable with someone' to subconscious racism is interesting, and common for some today with the "woke" culture.

First, if W Jones was the next John Wooden, he wouldn't be the #2 assistant at UW. Is that racism? BTW, I don't have the time, but if he was a coaching legend he'd be an in demand off season speaker / instructor. He seems to like professional acting.

Fox has nine 20 win seasons on his resume, not bad, but inflated w longer seasons and the CBI. 15 years HC experience vs 2 losing years (16-47). Yes, Fox was fired after going 18-15, 7-11 in league.

I'm not defending Fox, but dealing with alumni, graduating student athletes, and not having scandals matters to many ADs.


I am not sure racism played a role here but to an extent race.

JK and Christ clearly view sports through the lense as Victorians do. At the core it was the idea that by molding the young elites of the Empire at the Public Schools you forged qualities that allowed you to rule the world. Coaches practiced "discipline" and very much tought love with the idea that by winning on the pitch you forged the officer corp that could win on the battlefield. Wins and losses _ARE_ very much beside the point - far better to lose with "honor" than to win in a way that elevated norms and morals that would not make for very good imperial overlords.

This is very different ethos and view of sports versus one that is culturally embedded in the idea that sports is a means of furthering the economic interests of yourself and your family. Here sports is not a mechanism to train toward the end goal but very much the means to the end. Winning through Honor might be ideal but far better to WIN and excel at the sport more than your competitors..

These views ARE culturally (and class) rooted. Since Class is highly correlated with Race in the united states it is not at all suprising who JK fealt more comfortable with. Bluntly so do many posters on this board - who have long not really shown any appreciation for the many kids in Revenue sports Cal has and what they want out of their athletic experience.
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socaltownie
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Duplicate
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movielover
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socaltownie said:

movielover said:

How you jump from 'feeling comfortable with someone' to subconscious racism is interesting, and common for some today with the "woke" culture.

First, if W Jones was the next John Wooden, he wouldn't be the #2 assistant at UW. Is that racism? BTW, I don't have the time, but if he was a coaching legend he'd be an in demand off season speaker / instructor. He seems to like professional acting.

Fox has nine 20 win seasons on his resume, not bad, but inflated w longer seasons and the CBI. 15 years HC experience vs 2 losing years (16-47). Yes, Fox was fired after going 18-15, 7-11 in league.

I'm not defending Fox, but dealing with alumni, graduating student athletes, and not having scandals matters to many ADs.


I am not sure racism played a role here but to an extent race.

JK and Christ clearly view sports through the lense as Victorians do. At the core it was the idea that by molding the young elites of the Empire at the Public Schools you forged qualities that allowed you to rule the world. Coaches practiced "discipline" and very much tought love with the idea that by winning on the pitch you forged the officer corp that could win on the battlefield. Wins and losses _ARE_ very much beside the point - far better to lose with "honor" than to win in a way that elevated norms and morals that would not make for very good imperial overlords.

This is very different ethos and view of sports versus one that is culturally embedded in the idea that sports is a means of furthering the economic interests of yourself and your family. Here sports is not a mechanism to train toward the end goal but very much the means to the end. Winning through Honor might be ideal but far better to WIN and excel at the sport more than your competitors..

These views ARE culturally (and class) rooted. Since Class is highly correlated with Race in the united states it is not at all suprising who JK fealt more comfortable with. Bluntly so do many posters on this board - who have long not really shown any appreciation for the many kids in Revenue sports Cal has and what they want out of their athletic experience.


Please elaborate.
GMP
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movielover said:

How you jump from 'feeling comfortable with someone' to subconscious racism is interesting, and common for some today with the "woke" culture.

First, if W Jones was the next John Wooden, he wouldn't be the #2 assistant at UW. Is that racism? BTW, I don't have the time, but if he was a coaching legend he'd be an in demand off season speaker / instructor. He seems to like professional acting.

Fox has nine 20 win seasons on his resume, not bad, but inflated w longer seasons and the CBI. 15 years HC experience vs 2 losing years (16-47). Yes, Fox was fired after going 18-15, 7-11 in league.

I'm not defending Fox, but dealing with alumni, graduating student athletes, and not having scandals matters to many ADs.




Re the bold: Perhaps. But in my opinion it is the older generations (Boomers and older in particular) who find no objection to hiring based off of "affinity" aka comfort level which has continued institutional racism for decades after hiring based on race was explicitly outlawed. Interestingly, as well, is that my "woke" opinion will survive long after the older generations die off. Progress.

Re the rest, you miss my point. I am not arguing Jones was good or should have been retained. Both coaches suck and deserved to be fired. Jones was. Fox wasn't.
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