Cal Fires Basketball Coach Mark Fox

Cal has dismissed basketball coach Mark Fox after the team went 3-29 this season, according to a report by Jeff Borzello of ESPN.

Cal athletic direcotr Jim Knowlton issued the following statement with the announcement:

"I want to thank Mark for his unwavering commitment to our men's basketball program," Knowlton said. "He led the team through some challenging times, and always did so with the class and professionalism we have come to expect from him. Mark understood and embraced our University's mission and ideals, and was always an exemplary representative of our department. I wish him the best of luck in the future.

"This was a difficult decision and one that I do not take lightly. After deliberately and holistically evaluating all aspects of our program, I felt a change was needed at this time. We will always be guided by the best interests of our student-athletes, as well as the values of our University."

Here are the Bears records in Fox's four seasons:

2019-20: 14-18 (7-11 Pac-12)

2020-21: 9-20 (3-17)

2021-22: 12-20 (5-15)

2022-23: 3-29 (2-8)

Four-year record: 38-87

This season Cal finished with a 16-game losing streak, had the worst winning percentage (.094) in program history, the most losses in program history, and the fewest wins since 1913-14, when the Bears played just two games (and won both).

Cal ranks last among all 352 Division I schools in scoring offense, averaging 58.5 points per game.

Cal's home attendance of 2,155 this season is the worst among the 76 schools in the six power basketball conferences.

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The Bears have been plagued by injuries all season. DeJuan Clayton did not play since Feb. 11, and Devin Askew, Cal’s leading scorer, did not play since Jan. 22. They were expected to be Cal's best two scorers. Jalen Celestine, the team's top returning scorer from last season, missed the entire season following knee surgery.

After Wednesday's 69-52 loss to Washington State in the Pac-12 tournament, Fox was asked whether he was bothered by the criticism coming from the outside.

"I don't pay any attention to it," he said, "because we try to deal within our program, within the administration in truth. We try to be very up front and honest with the challenges we have and the things that we have to overcome and endure.

"We understand that there's an expectation to be successful, and we didn't do that this year, but most people who are sitting where you're sitting now [in the media section], are never on the inside. They don't know the things that we have to deal with that adminstrators and coaches and players do."

The search for a successor will begin soon. The names being mentioned include San Jose State coach Tim Miles and UC Santa Barbara coach Joe Pasternack.

The firing of Fox also leads to speculation that the job of Cal athletic diector Jim Knowlton may be in jeopardy. He is the one who officially hired Fox, although he hired a search company to do the leg work in finding cadidates.

Cal has not been to the NCAA tournament since 2016, when Cuonzo Martin was the Bears' head coach. Since then the Bears have had six straight losing season, and lost at least 20 games in five of them.

Former Cal coach Mike Montgomery, who took Cal to the NCAA tournament in four of his six seasons in Berkeley, said a few weeks ago that firing Fox would not solve Cal's basketball problems. He stated that Cal needs to figure out how much it wants to commit to the sport.

A month ago, West Coast reporter John Canzano reported on the reasons Cal is struggling in basketball, and it involved cost-cutting and other issues.

In Cal's announcement of the dismissal of Fox it noted the following:

The Bears excelled academically during Fox's tenure, twice earning the National Association of Basketball Coaches Team Academic Excellence Award while also producing four NABC Honors Court selections.

Fox also helped fund an internship through the McLendon Minority Leadership initiative, which provides opportunities for approximately 30 young minorities per year within college athletic departments across the country.

Cover photo of Mark Fox by.Kyle Terada, USA TODAY Sports

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