Congrats to Fox on landing a nice job out west. Wish him and Cindy the best out there.

Congrats and best wishes for him.

Awesome news. Not a fit here, but the guy is a class act.

UCal's AD has been heard to mention focusing more on the non-revenue Olympic Sports. This hire could move UCal's men's hoops into a non-revenue position, and basketball is an Olympic sport. This was a perfect hire for the direction the AD wants to head in.

Cal's B-ball is right in line with the average PAC-12 teams with around a 10 million surplus in revenue over the past decade. Like most every school there are two revenue producing sports men's football and men's basketball,

Congrats.... And 2 guys have already transferred. LOL

Monkdawg said:

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Congrats.... And 2 guys have already transferred. LOL

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One was their starting PG, maybe Crean can get him here? And the other is a forward. All a sudden it seems like we've got wing men coming out our ears, but he was their leading scorer and rebounder, so heck, let's get both those guys!! LOL!!

Isn't that terrible? You run off your starting PG and best scorer in less than 48 hours.... He's gonna be starting from scratch. I hope the Bear fans are patient.

Monkdawg said:

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Isn't that terrible? You run off your starting PG and best scorer in less than 48 hours.... He's gonna be starting from scratch. I hope the Bear fans are patient.

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9 years patient?

I doubt anyone would have our patience. The analogy "the patience of Job" comes to mind....

Georgia waited six years too long to make a change. That's why we didn't have a single player last year that could shoot, dribble, pass or catch. The future looks bright.

Dawg44 said:

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Georgia waited six years too long to make a change. That's why we didn't have a single player last year that could shoot, dribble, pass or catch. The future looks bright.

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Was more like 3 years too late. And UGA has a few guys that can shoot. They lack playmakers and ballhandlers. They need someone who can get the ball to the shooters in position to shoot

I would say about 4-5 years too long myself. Everybody deserves a chance. I still can't believe he stayed around as long as he did. I can't figure it out myself. I guess the administration didn't want to really to win like the fanbase did. Just look at the attendance this season. 2-16 record in conference and we set an attendance record....

5 years too long. I say if Crean has losing seasons in years 3 and 4, I will be ready for a change. That was what Fox recorded, and should have never seen year 5.

Y'all realize there were a grand total of two SEC Schools that had a winning record in conference those three seasons that you're saying Fox should have been fired (13/14 through 15/16)?? Kentucky and Georgia.

Going back 20 years... 97/98 through 17/18 UGA finished .500 or better 10 times. 6 under Fox, 3 under Harrick (2 vacated of course) and 1 under Felton. To portray Fox and Staff as ruining this program is ridiculous.

Coach Fox has hired his old boss at Nevada, Trent Johnson, as an assistant at Cal. Coach Johnson has a history of being a good recruiter.

Looks like an obvious hire for Fox with Trent's history as HC at Stanford. He was Coach of the Year in the PAC at Stanford his last year there and COY in the SEC at LSU his first year in Baton Rouge besides being COY at Nevada as well. All of these successes came 10+ years ago, hasn't looked like he's got much left in the tank since then, he's a little long in the tooth at this point to be your lead recruiter.

I think a good comparison might be Scott Stricklin in baseball. His first 4 years were not very good at all, many were wanting him fired that 4th year, but the team had a great stretch run with predominantly FR kids playing. Last year of course was a great year, and they hosted a regional, this year is going even better and the future is really bright. But what if UGA fires him after year 4, the new coach likely has success but can he sustain it.

When firing/hiring coaches, I believe there is so much involved in the decision and I am glad I don't have to make those decisions to be honest. For Fox, his second year he takes us to the NCAA tourney-something Felton had done only once with the tornado team. So years 3 and 4 were NOT good, 15-17 both years, year 5 we got back to the NIT tourney, followed by our second trip the NCAA tourney in year 6. Years 7 and 8 brought back to back NIT appearances-year 8 brought a 19-15 record and first round exit from the NIT. I think the argument could be made that we waited one year too long to make the change, because year 7 was after the NCAA appearance, and we did go 20-14, 10-8 in the SEC. So in my mind and being realistic, I can say we kept Fox one year too long.

I wish him the best at Cal, I personally think it is going to be a struggle for him there. You come from a conservative place like Athens and hit a very liberal town in Berkley, that is like night and day but it is sure is beautiful out by the bay.

That just shows how poor the conference was in hoops at the time. Fox was not recruiting well enough to sustain any level of success. Just look at Crean's first real class. Wow! Talk about successful recruiting! If he consistently recruits in Athens, we will be going gangbusters.

Good points about Stricklin, but he was having some recruiting success to set the team up for on field success. Fox was recruiting pretty marginally, and he was certainly not getting it done in state or on a national level. Also, Fox hated promoting his team, something Crean thrives on. And Fox's system was just not fan friendly. When Crean gets the pieces in place, playing the way he wants, then we can judge how successful he is. I mean, people were so ready for Fox to go that we set an attendance record in a 2-16 SEC year. That says a lot.

Good points Monk, I guess I am just looking at it as UGA basketball doesn't have a high bar-baseball at UGA has a higher bar, winning a title, making the CWS I think 4x, and basketball has how many NCAA tourney appearances-trying to think-maybe 7-8 total trips?? So, when a coach has two trips to the NCAA in what 6 years here, it is a tough thing for an AD to fire him. I agree he was in place when the SEC was really down, but it was a tough spot for any AD to be in. Like I say, I think he should have been gone one year before he was but I am very excited the future for sure.

I just don't get the ever repeated how poor the conference was argument, we were still the only other school to have a winning record those three seasons. By that logic, If Fox needed firing, the other 12 coaches damn sure needed firing.

This recruiting class is all about AE and everyone believes he is here for one season, that concerns me. I don't quite understand the logic behind the other 3 commits all being 6' 6" small forwards. Let's get a real PG in case the AE @ the point experiment doesn't workout and a big man or two and then I'll be impressed. Without Edwards this recruiting class is nothing extraordinary and somewhat baffling.

SidViciousDawg said:

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This recruiting class is all about AE and everyone believes he is here for one season, that concerns me. I don't quite understand the logic behind the other 3 commits all being 6' 6" small forwards.

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In Crean's system, these 3 "small forwards" can play at the 2-Walton, at the 3-Brown, and at the 4-Camara. But I agree, I hope CTC can sign a point, or combo guard, and someone 6'8"+ in this class.

blackmountaindawg said:

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SidViciousDawg said:

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This recruiting class is all about AE and everyone believes he is here for one season, that concerns me. I don't quite understand the logic behind the other 3 commits all being 6' 6" small forwards.

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In Crean's system, these 3 "small forwards" can play at the 2-Walton, at the 3-Brown, and at the 4-Camara. But I agree, I hope CTC can sign a point, or combo guard, and someone 6'8"+ in this class.

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If he can get Beverly this weekend, you have to think that helps with Precious since they're teamates..

I also wonder future construction.

Think two years out, if we assume Claxton and Edwards are pro after this year, maybe Hammonds too, plus Harris and Crump graduate.

Fagan as a PG plus who else?
Ngumezi inside plus who?
Brown, Camara, Walton, and Toppin aren't exactly excess option as 2/3/4s.

So the 2020 class should help us learn more about Crean's ideal roster construction. I'm assuming right now he's just about getting the kind of best player available and will work on fits positionally later. Especially if he can lock in Kessler early to be a bell cow and Star big man to continue building around.