oskidunker said:
Wrong. The team that hires him will regret it. He did alot damage to Cals basketball program. There is no kumbaya.
Not wrong at all. This is harsh, and is almost mean-spirited, and even though I very much respect your feelings about Jones as a coach, there is no call for passing more judgment on Jones than has already been passed. Jones had no intent whatsoever of doing any damage to the Cal program. He worked damn hard to make the program a success, and spent many a sleepless night worrying about it, you can bet on that. He wasn't seen chugging water and joking with his assistants at any time down the stretch of his final season. He tried his best, but he just failed at his first try at a head coaching job. He will likely never get such an opportunity again. His career might be in the tank, as far as moving up the ladder again to a head coaching job of any importance to the basketball world.
The damage Jones did do was in the way he handled some personal relationships with his players, and that affected them, no doubt. He handled the situation of Winston and McCullogh very poorly, upsetting the players and their parents, and maybe some teammates who had become friends with them. They were recruiting mistakes, but every coach has them. Kaileb Rodriguez or Khalil Johnson anyone? But to dismiss them, and not foresee the public spectacle did not reflect well on Jones and Cal. Fortunately, the kids regrouped at a lower lever under a good coach, and both had good seasons at CCSF, and probably began to enjoy the game again.
Jones also did damage in the way he handled Don Coleman, a very emotional and stubborn player, IMO, putting the weight of being called his "go-to guy" and then when it didn't work out, benching him, then playing him again. Maybe no one could handle Coleman, but Jones did exactly the wrong thing with him, IMO. Jones was no psychologist, that is apparent, IMO. Jones did other damage with the way he handled Andre Kelly, handing him a starting role, when he had others he could have just as easily used. Then he benched Kelly in favor of Vanover. He made the right decision, IMO, to bring Vanover along slowly, and not put too much pressure on him too early. It paid off. He should have done the same with Kelly, but he did not have enough bodies to have that flexibility. He also did not run any offense through Kelly. In basketball, you just can't give your shooters all the shots, and not run some of the offense through the guys who do the hard work of rebounding and defending the paint. Every player wants to score some. Kelly was hurt and upset by the benching, IMO. I expect him to bounce back this season. I think he gave Sueing the green light every time he got the ball, and I think he did bond with Sueing, which may be why Sueing did not like Fox's first speech and may have seen the writing on the wall that he would not be allowed to play with that much freedom under Fox, and thus he entered the portal and was gone. McNeill clearly was unhappy under Jones. I think McNeill was given opportunity to play point guard as a frosh, and he looked more like an off guard, calling his own number. The 2nd year he made McNeill an off guard, but he seemed to produce less without the ball in his hands. I think his lack of improvement was more on him than on Jones.
I think ii is right to blame Jones for Cal's poor seasons, but it is nothing that a new experienced coach with new players and new system can not fix. The long term damage (and we don't know yet if there will be any, or how much), is more the fault of Mike Williams who hired a novice coach who had never coached before. He got what everyone expected but hoped we would not get. I love the look of the players coming in, I like a coach who surprises us all with exciting (for me at least) recruits and a transfer, when no one thought he could do that. I like the tough-minded talk of defense from this coach. If we get a few good wins out of the gate, or we have a decent season, Wyking Jones will just become a footnote, forgotten, except by those who paid good money for season tickets to witness his demise. His last three games were fun though. Just too little too late.
I think Jones is a good big man coach. Both Vanover and Anticevich improved. That may be his best skill, and not being a head man. But if he can convince some school to hire him, why deny him that chance? He can perhaps learn from his mistakes.
SFCityBear
