socaliganbear said:

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Civil Bear said:

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socaliganbear said:

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Martin left but I wouldn't have him anywhere near this list.

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Martin certainly was negotiating his exit before the season was over and left Cal hanging with a depleated roster. He needs to be near tge top of my list.

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Yeah I would imagine most employees negotiate their next job while still employed. Once you leave it's up to them to figure it out.

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True. Just contrasting that with those that want to make Haase a villain for chatting it up with Roy Williams after our NCAA exit to UNC.

Civil Bear said:

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socaliganbear said:

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Civil Bear said:

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socaliganbear said:

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Martin left but I wouldn't have him anywhere near this list.

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Martin certainly was negotiating his exit before the season was over and left Cal hanging with a depleated roster. He needs to be near tge top of my list.

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Yeah I would imagine most employees negotiate their next job while still employed. Once you leave it's up to them to figure it out.

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True. Just contrasting that with those that want to make Haase a villain for chatting it up with Roy Williams after our NCAA exit to UNC.

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Haase also wanted guaranteed admission for any future children. Can't blame him for bailing.

Civil Bear said:

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socaliganbear said:

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Civil Bear said:

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socaliganbear said:

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Martin left but I wouldn't have him anywhere near this list.

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Martin certainly was negotiating his exit before the season was over and left Cal hanging with a depleated roster. He needs to be near tge top of my list.

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Yeah I would imagine most employees negotiate their next job while still employed. Once you leave it's up to them to figure it out.

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True. Just contrasting that with those that want to make Haase a villain for chatting it up with Roy Williams after our NCAA exit to UNC.

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I used to think it was his coaching at Stanford that made him a villain, but now Troy Taylor coaches their football team and I can't come close to feeling that way about him, yet. Maybe if he beats us in Big Game and is gloating in red at the post game with the Axe….

True story: Rene Herrerias was one of my teachers in 10th grade at El Camino HS in SSF. Nice guy.

GoOskie said:

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True story: Rene Herrerias was one of my teachers in 10th grade at El Camino HS in SSF. Nice guy.

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I can't view Herrerias as a villain either. From what I understand, he was a nice man whose background (St. Ignatius head coach, primary assistant/scout for Pete Newell) left him completely unprepared for dealing with athletes, particularly African-American athletes, in the late 1960s. If you want insight to what that was like, you should read Bruce Jenkins biography of Newell, which includes a description of Earl Robinson, a great Cal player for Newell, reading the riot act to Bob Presley and other athlete-militants at an ASUC meeting.

Herrerias just wasn't prepared to deal with that. Supposedly Jim Padgett was hired because of his ability to relate to black players, and he recruited good ones (Charley Johnson, Jackie Ridgel, Ainsley Truitt, Phil Chenier). But he wasn't able to get them past Kareem and company, or Walton, and he wasn't a great Xs and Os coach, similar to Cuonzo Martin.

ncbears said:

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Jones did not handle the Winston/McCullough situation well - nor the Theo situation.
But, at least Jones came in with a plan and didn't recruit poorly.

Did Fox have a plan when he came to Cal? It sure has never looked like it.

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Yeah, WK came in with a plan... to play 40 minutes of hell defense and run and gun on every play

how did that work out?

I think "goat" is a little easier word than "villain," if we're clear that we're using lower case letters. If the definition of "villain" includes evil actions or motivation, then I think the only possible villains on the OP's list are Bozeman and Jelani Gardner's Dad.

If we a definition of "villain" that isn't generally the top definition, but "one blamed for a particular evil or difficulty," which comes awfully close to "goat" with lower case letters, then it is a toss up for me. Mike Williams or Jim Knowlton. The one that hired the clearly unqualified Jones and gave us an incredible kick start to being a truly horrific program, or the one that hired Fox and, because he was willing to accept mediocrity as the best we can do, got punishment from the basketball gods and made mediocrity a pipe dream?

I'll accept Fox as a goat or villain in that sense because not only because he is a bad coach, but he is so tone deaf, he seems to care nothing about doing sensible promotion of the program, but most importantly, he blames everybody but himself for the disaster that is the Cal basketball program. He's probably a great guy for old farts like me to have a beer with, but as a basketball coach, he is a complete disaster, and it goes beyond the W's and L's.

Everyone else on possible lists is pretty minor compared to the top 3. Maybe there's recency bias, but even Bozeman and Jelani Gardner's dad seem minor compared to them.

It isn't really Jones fault he was in over his head, it is hard to turn down all that money even if you know you're in over your head. Jones is a villain, however, for the Theo incident. That one was maybe the most evil act of all, but in terms of impact on the program, not that big. Winston and McCullough was pretty bad, too, that adds to Jones' villainous nature.

I can't accept Martin as a villain or goat. As pointed out elsewhere, the talent left behind was pretty darned good compared to what we have now, we just needed a coach who could keep all the talent and could coach the talent.

Herrerias was before my time, but all I understand is that a) he was no Pete Newell, and b) he was a bit of a dinosaur trying to coach a team in the 60's. Not that much of a villain.

KoreAmBear threw Justin Davis in there, which is totally unfair, not really at all a villain. Justin Davis' mother? Sure, I'll accept her as a villain. Justin himself wanted to go to Cal, but after mom's blowup, a) Justin's mom would do everything she could to stop Justin going to Cal, and b) Braun didn't want a player whose mom would obviously be that much trouble.

Knowlton and Fox are SO bad, however, that I would like them both gone from Cal forever, starting the day Fox was hired.

Bob Bockrath is a 1st round selection into the Cal Villain Hall of Fame.


GLENN DICKEY -- Cal Is Finally Clear of Bockrath Era


https://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/GLENN-DICKEY-Cal-Is-Finally-Clear-of-Bockrath-2965882.php

His statue will be placed at the base of Sather Tower so that the falcons can shat on it and endangered species regulations will prohibit removal of the sacred goop.

Has the Donut Boy been mentioned?

Can we put Furd Monty on our Villains List and Cal Monty on our Heroes List?
(wouldn't do the first unless we could do the second)

He is mentioned in the Glenn Dickey article about Bobby B.

Remember, Monty was a Furd @$$h@le, world class ref baiter, Whiner Extraordinaire and happy to run up a score by 50….but then he became our @$$h@le …..so He Cool.

bearister said:

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Bob Bockrath is a 1st round selection into the Cal Villain Hall of Fame.


GLENN DICKEY -- Cal Is Finally Clear of Bockrath Era


https://www.sfgate.com/sports/article/GLENN-DICKEY-Cal-Is-Finally-Clear-of-Bockrath-2965882.php

His statue will be placed at the base of Sather Tower so that the falcons can shat on it and endangered species regulations will prohibit removal of the sacred goop.

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The amazing thing about this post is that includes a link to a local newspaper columnist, providing actual penetrating analysis of the Cal athletic program.

Admittedly, Glen Dickey was an Old Blue. But still, comparing this column to what we get now, just shows how far Cal sports and local journalism have fallen.

….and people hated on Dickey, BIGLY. Now people line bird cages or wrap fish with articles about Cal hoop.

Cal Coaches since Newell by W/L%
1. Pete Newell .750
2. Todd Bozeman .643
3. Mike Montgomery .640
4. Cuonzo Martin .614
5. Ben Braun .587
6. Lou Campanelli .532
7. Jim Padgett .495
8. Rene Herrerias .490
9. Dick Edwards .456
10. Dick Kutchen .417
11. Mark Fox .311
12. Wyking Jones .254

calumnus said:

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Cal Coaches since Newell by W/L%
1. Pete Newell .750
2. Todd Bozeman .643
3. Mike Montgomery .640
4. Cuonzo Martin .614
5. Ben Braun .587
6. Lou Campanelli .532
7. Jim Padgett .495
8. Rene Herrerias .490
9. Dick Edwards .456
10. Dick Kutchen .417
11. Mark Fox .311
12. Wyking Jones .254

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The Cal record book lists Todd Bozeman at .357, because it doesn't count the Jelani Gardner forfeit games as victories.

The sad and pathetic thing about our last two hires is that they are below Bozeman's winning percentage even with those forfeits counted as losses instead of wins.

Until Mike Williams hired Wyking Jones, I never thought Bozeman could be defeated for the official worst winning percentage -- there are too many creampuff wins in the OOC schedule. When Fox was hired, I thought that the typical OOC creampuff schedule combined with Fox likely averaging the middle of the bottom of the Pac would mean Fox would end up in Padgett/Herrerias territory. I was very unhappy that Knowlton made a hire that would likely lead to such mediocrity, but I never dreamed Fox could outdo the Bozeman forfeit record. Congrats, Fox, for exceeding my expectations!

If Knowlton just gives Fox a couple more years, I think Fox will have a very good shot at beating Jones for worst all-time.

Cal8285 said:

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calumnus said:

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Cal Coaches since Newell by W/L%
1. Pete Newell .750
2. Todd Bozeman .643
3. Mike Montgomery .640
4. Cuonzo Martin .614
5. Ben Braun .587
6. Lou Campanelli .532
7. Jim Padgett .495
8. Rene Herrerias .490
9. Dick Edwards .456
10. Dick Kutchen .417
11. Mark Fox .311
12. Wyking Jones .254

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The Cal record book lists Todd Bozeman at .357, because it doesn't count the Jelani Gardner forfeit games as victories.

The sad and pathetic thing about our last two hires is that they are below Bozeman's winning percentage even with those forfeits counted as losses instead of wins.

Until Mike Williams hired Wyking Jones, I never thought Bozeman could be defeated for the official worst winning percentage -- there are too many creampuff wins in the OOC schedule. When Fox was hired, I thought that the typical OOC creampuff schedule combined with Fox likely averaging the middle of the bottom of the Pac would mean Fox would end up in Padgett/Herrerias territory. I was very unhappy that Knowlton made a hire that would likely lead to such mediocrity, but I never dreamed Fox could outdo the Bozeman forfeit record. Congrats, Fox, for exceeding my expectations!

If Knowlton just gives Fox a couple more years, I think Fox will have a very good shot at beating Jones for worst all-time.

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Please don

Here is my list, Not villains per se, but some boys and men associated with Cal basketball who committed acts out of immaturity, mostly, which cast some aspersions on Cal's reputation. In order of severity, IMO:

1. Jabari Bird. For beating up his girlfriend, and nearly killing her

2. Jason Kidd. For assaulting two of his wives and drunk driving offenses

3. Omondi Amoke. For stealing laptops.

4. Todd Bozeman. For violating recruiting regulations with under the table payments to recruits, placing Cal on NCAA Probation, forfeiting 52 games that his players had won for Cal. Cal ended up 0/27 in 1995, and 2/25 for 1996

5. Richard Solomon. For either plagiarizing a paper, or cheating on an exam, I can't remember which, and he was suspended from the team. Richard, to his credit, later was reinstated to the team, and went on to become a dominant player in the PAC10 as a senior.

6. Wyking Jones. For booting Winston and McCulloch off the team, breaking his commitment to them, so he could try and land some better players.

7. Gary Franklin. For abandoning his Cal teammates just as the Conference season was starting, and transferring to Butler.

8. Lou Campanelli. For the abusive verbal tirade towards his players, which got him fired, and got assistant coach Bozeman hired, all of which resulted in Cal being placed on NCAA probation. It took years for the basketball program to fully recover.

SFCityBear said:

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Here is my list, Not villains per se, but some boys and men associated with Cal basketball who committed acts out of immaturity, mostly, which cast some aspersions on Cal's reputation. In order of severity, IMO:

1. Jabari Bird. For beating up his girlfriend, and nearly killing her

2. Jason Kidd. For assaulting two of his wives and drunk driving offenses

3. Omondi Amoke. For stealing laptops.

4. Todd Bozeman. For violating recruiting regulations with under the table payments to recruits, placing Cal on NCAA Probation, forfeiting 52 games that his players had won for Cal. Cal ended up 0/27 in 1995, and 2/25 for 1996

5. Richard Solomon. For either plagiarizing a paper, or cheating on an exam, I can't remember which, and he was suspended from the team. Richard, to his credit, later was reinstated to the team, and went on to become a dominant player in the PAC10 as a senior.

6. Wyking Jones. For booting Winston and McCulloch off the team, breaking his commitment to them, so he could try and land some better players.

7. Gary Franklin. For abandoning his Cal teammates just as the Conference season was starting, and transferring to Butler.

8. Lou Campanelli. For the abusive verbal tirade towards his players, which got him fired, and got assistant coach Bozeman hired, all of which resulted in Cal being placed on NCAA probation. It took years for the basketball program to fully recover.

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Bozeman was also embarrassing for getting into it with the CSUN facilities manager and taking a swipe at him for allegedly making a racial statement. I grew up around Northridge and know of the manager and he is the nicest guy and would highly doubt he said anything of the sort. Bozeman was probably just frustrated that he he agreed to a road game in a 1600 seat gym.

He was left a championship team and he Wyking'd it.

In fairness to Jason, I believe the only reported incident of domestic violence was in 2001 involving his first wife:

"In January 2001, Jason Kidd was arrested and pleaded guilty to a domestic abuse charge for assaulting his wife Joumana in anger." Wikipedia

I believe Jason's issues in the past related to alcohol, and he appears to have gotten control of that issue.