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As Downturn Continues, Hopkins Needs to Step Up as UW Coach

Husky basketball has been miserable and unsuccessful for 12 months now. How much longer can this go on?
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Mike Hopkins is an extremely likable guy.

Personable, funny, upbeat.

Some even might say he has a little 1960s hippiedom in him, regularly espousing peace, love and happiness.

Which wouldn't be all that surprising, though he was born six days before Woodstock opened.

No, Hopkins is the Huskies' 19th men's basketball coach, agonizingly finding out what most of his predecessors learned — that for more than a century this has been a job with few rewards.

Nearly every one of those previous UW leaders got pushed out involuntarily, including pavilion namesake Hec Edmundson, Hall of Fame inductee Marv Harshman and the popular Lorenzo Romar, who were let go after coaching 27, 14 and 15 seasons in Montlake, respectively.

Hey, it's a football school.

Always has been. 

Always will be.

Hopkins has been in the unique position of twice being named Pac-12 Coach of the Year and then having his basketball program implode and finish last in the conference last season and sink to the cellar once more last weekend.

It's been 12 months of really bad basketball.

A year ago, the Huskies went through a stretch of losing 13 of 15 games. Currently, they've dropped 9 of 10.

It's reached a point where one has to wonder if Hopkins' job is in question.

Probably not.

Hopkins was practically hired before Romar was jettisoned by UW athletic director Jennifer Cohen, announced as the new coach just a few days following the firing. Cohen likely is going to give Hopkins a lot of rope since he's her hand-picked guy.

"You know, I don't know," Hopkins said this week of his situation. "I just coach every day and make these guys better. That's the most important thing, just staying focused and getting better. We have a lot of season left."

Romar, who's back at Pepperdine coaching for a second time, got fired by the UW following a 9-22 season.

Hopkins, who has at least 15 games left on this schedule by counting at least one Pac-12 tourney game, has to go 8-7 just to reach Romar's final Husky win total. On Thursday night, he sends the Huskies (1-9 overall, 0-4 Pac-12) up against USC (9-2, 4-1) in Los Angeles.

He needs four more victories to avoid having the worst season in UW history, which was Bob Bender's staggering 5-22 debut in 1993-94.

The Huskies showed signs of life last week with Erik Stevenson getting untracked with a 27-point outing, Marcus Tsohonis providing a 24-point game, Jamal Bey supplying a pair of double-figure games, and players such as J'Raan Brooks and Cole Bajema drawing increasing minutes and confidence.

Hopkins remained fairly upbeat through the sudden downturn a year ago, where his team opened 11-4, lost Quade Green to academic issues, went into a nosedive and finished 15-17.

He's been much more somber this time around, not his usual playful and funny self, almost shellshocked by the unshakable lack of success.

What it boils down to is this: Hopkins has all the players he's going to get this season and, regardless of their obvious limitations, he needs to step up and do a better coaching job.

It's on him from here on out. 

After all, isn't Hopkins a two-time Pac-12 Coach of the Year selection?

Follow Dan Raley of Husky Maven on Twitter: @DanRaley1 and @HuskyMaven

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