#3 Worst Hire of the This Decade. Wow!

The article calls this hire "Colossal Fail by Williams".

. That is what was said by national publications when this hire was made in 2017.

. That is what I have been saying for over a year (and been criticized for pointing out the obvious).

. That is what has been said recently by Yahoo, SB Nation and many other national and local publications.

Go Bears!

The week after tournament will be bad.

BearGreg said:

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Over the last decade - Wyking comes in at #3


Mike Williams called out

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Looking at this list, most of the coaches listed in the worst coaching hire of this decade have already been fired.

Go Bears!

calbear80 said:

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BearGreg said:

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Over the last decade - Wyking comes in at #3


Mike Williams called out

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Looking at this list, most of the coaches listed in the worst coaching hire of this decade have already been fired.

Go Bears!

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Uh, even without looking at the list, the sky is blue.

Considering this list seems to be based not just on what a bad idea the hire was at the time, but on how it turned out, you'd expect only ones hired very recently would still have their jobs, and Jones is the only one hired less than 2 years ago. You're not going to see, "Seemed like a really bad idea at the time, but it turned out fine" kind of hire on the list, instead, you'll see coaches who have been fired, or if hired fairly recently, should be.

Danny Manning is the one besides Jones still in his job, and he's in his fifth year and still going, the only coach on the list to make it past 4 years, although I suspect Goodman thinks he should be fired.

It is notable that of the 10 other than Jones, 6 lasted more than 2 years. Ouch. The two that lasted only a single season lost their jobs for off the court reasons. So that means for coaches other than Jones who didn't have off the court issues, 25% lasted 2 years and 75% lasted MORE than 2 years. One lasted 2 1/2 years, three lasted 3 years, one lasted 4, and the aforementioned Danny Manning is at 5 and counting.

In general, you shouldn't be, in hindsight, one of the 10 worst hires of the decade and be able to keep your job very long, but based on the history of these coaches, don't use this list to either argue that Jones should have been fired before now or to get your hopes up too high that Jones will be gone after this year (although I do think he's gone if Knowlton finds the money).

Cal8285 said:

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calbear80 said:

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BearGreg said:

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Over the last decade - Wyking comes in at #3


Mike Williams called out

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Looking at this list, most of the coaches listed in the worst coaching hire of this decade have already been fired.

Go Bears!

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...this list seems to be based not just on what a bad idea the hire was at the time, but on how it turned out, ... (although I do think he's gone if Knowlton finds the money).

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Cal8285, thank you for the thoughtful fact based post.

I want to point out that even at the time Jones was hired, national publications were calling it the worst hire of any major conference school. One publication ranked hiring of Jones even below the coach Akron Zips hired (yes, below Akron Zips). Ouch!

What was Mike Williams thinking?

Go Bears!

he wasn't.

oskidunker said:

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The week after tournament will be bad.

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Would 5-33 (13% winning percentage) change the OP?

Go Bears!

on the other side of the coin...
[url=https://watchstadium.com/news/how-tony-bennett-landed-the-head-coaching-job-at-virginia-03-06-2019/][/url]
https://watchstadium.com/news/how-tony-bennett-landed-the-head-coaching-job-at-virginia-03-06-2019/

The 10 Best College Basketball Coaching Hires This Decade
https://watchstadium.com/news/the-10-best-college-basketball-coaching-hires-this-decade-03-06-2019/

Too bad we didn't hire Tony Bennett.... if only.

Interesting, I didn't know Virginia poached Bennett from WSU.

I think on that list the only coach we had a realistic chance at hiring based on timing and circumstance was Mussellman.

PtownBear1 said:

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Interesting, I didn't know Virginia poached Bennett from WSU.

I think on that list the only coach we had a realistic chance at hiring based on timing and circumstance was Mussellman.

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I don't know if "poached" is the right word. The reason his old man took the HC job at Wasu was to groom his son for the job, and when they turned the program around (perennial BDW to top-half conference performer) you knew he wasn't going to stick around very long.

You did not have a chance to hire Musselman then and you have even less now. If you think the Cal BB HC job is such a desirable position you are deslsional. Just because you went to shool there does not make it so,.

I graduated from Cal in 1959. I was around for 1 Rose Bowl, 2 Final Fours and 1 national championship. In the next 59 years the total is ZERO. FIFTY NINE YEARS! Why should anyone care who they hire as the coach of either BB or FB? I gave up caring years ago. FB and BB are historical failures. Now Nobel laureates? There we have had a lot of success. Guess what? Cal should be in the Ivy league. It is just too far away. Where is Elon Musk when we ned you?

Everyone knows we don't care.

caltagjohnson said:

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You did not have a chance to hire Musselman then and you have even less now. If you think the Cal BB HC job is such a desirable position you are deslsional. Just because you went to shool there does not make it so,.

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Musselman was lobbying for the Cal job before he settled for the Nevada job.

PAC-12 is still the premier league in the West, and the Bay Area is one of the two best recruiting bases. We can attract McDonald's All Americans from across the country, something only a handful of PAC-12 teams can say. Thinking players like Shareef and Jordan Brown are attracted to the very things at Cal you seem to disdain. If you are a young millionaire basketball coach, what better place than the Bay Area to live and spend your money?

Haas has good BART access and there is great dinning in Downtown Berkeley at any price level. With a compelling/winning team and good marketing we could easily sell out regularly.

Cal fans are easily satisfied. A coach that merely gets us into the NCAA tournament will be lauded even if we don't make it past the first weekend.

Any up and coming coach with a modicum of vision would see it as a great opportunity.

EricBear said:

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Why is the Bay Area "one of the two best recruiting bases?" Not much hoops talent there. Kids from LA getting pulled all over the country.

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The Bay Area is one of the two best recruiting bases in the West.

socaliganbear said:

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Everyone knows we don't care.

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2 vacancies?

Wsu and ucla

HoopDreams said:

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socaliganbear said:

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Everyone knows we don't care.

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2 vacancies?

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UCLA & WAZZU

Seems like Seattle area has the bay beat.

LA area has the most recruiting talent in the West.

Go Bears!

EricBear said:

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calumnus said:

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EricBear said:

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Why is the Bay Area "one of the two best recruiting bases?" Not much hoops talent there. Kids from LA getting pulled all over the country.

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The Bay Area is one of the two best recruiting bases in the West.

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It is?

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I'm perplexed by this comment too. Maybe he's confusing Football and Basketball. As for the Bay Area Basketball (the last decade or so), wouldn't you say that Seattle probably has turned out more talent than they Bay Area?

Other smaller metro areas like Portland, Sacramento, Vegas and Phoenix may even be comparable to Bay Area in the last ten years or so.

My sense is the Bay Area gets a star now and then (i.e. Rabb) and a missed gem (Lillard), but overall, its not filling up D1 rosters like LA and some of the others.

The way they poach Oakland Soldiers, Arizona might think so.

EricBear said:

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Most of the Oakland Soldiers aren't from the Bay Area anymore.

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What areas are they from?

There are a few from the Bay Area but there are more SoCal and LoCal players than NorCal players.

calbear80 said:

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LA area has the most recruiting talent in the West.

Go Bears!

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LA area has the most PEOPLE in the West, by far, which might possibly be a factor.

TheSouseFamily said:

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There are a few from the Bay Area but there are more SoCal and LoCal players than NorCal players.

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What is "LoCal"? 44 years of living in NorCal and SoCal and have never heard of "LoCal".

Go Bears!