Should the UW Make a Basketball Coaching Change?
The University of Washington basketball team finished dead last in the Pac-12 Conference in 2019-20.
Twelve months later, the Huskies are 11th out of the 12 teams, thanks only to the greater ineptitude of California, which is slowly in a program rebuild being orchestrated by former UW assistant coach Mark Fox and currently occupying the conference cellar.
In their head-to-head matchup, though, the Bears won the battle of the bottom feeders last month, edging Mike Hopkins' team 84-78.
The Huskies are limping along at 3-14.
At this juncture of a season, just one UW basketball team has been worse than that in school history — when Bob Bender's first team came out of the gate at 2-15 in 1993-94 on the way to a program-low 5-22 season record.
Twenty-seven years ago, the Huskies dealt with the coaching change, claims of racism against the previous Lynn Nance staff (which included Fox), Nance's four non-winning seasons out of four and standout forward Mark Pope's transfer to Kentucky (he's now the BYU coach).
That's a lot of distractions.
Bender, Nance and Fox were all fired by the UW.
The pressing question is: After an uncomfortable two-year Husky basketball downturn, should Hopkins suffer a similar fate, as well?
After four seasons of mixed success, should the UW pull the plug on the highly personable and deeply engaged Mike Hopkins?
According to Jennifer Cohen, the not-so-visible Husky athletic director these days, the answer is no.
“Absolutely not. I believe in Mike. I’m supportive of Mike," Cohen told the Seattle Times last week. "I’m excited to be his partner and figure out how we’re going to reevaluate things after this year. We’re looking to still move forward with the basketball [facility] project. Sometimes these things are cyclical. Sometimes they’re really frustrating. There’s nobody that’s more upset with losing and where this program is right now than Mike Hopkins and me. So I’m confident that we’re going to come up with a plan at the end of the year and we’re going to get headed back in the right direction.”
OK.
Let's consider the pros and cons of Mike Hopkins, the erstwhile UW leader.
There's this in his favor.
The former Syracuse assistant coach, who, unlike most college basketball coaches, has never been canned before in his career, deserves a pass because he's shown he can coach.
He's twice won Pac-12 Coach of the Year honors during his short stay in Seattle.
Only Stanford's Mike Montgomery (1999, 2000) and Oregon's Dana Altman (2014, 2015) previously accomplished that feat in the 44 seasons the award has been presented by the conference.
Hopkins won with someone else's talent, you say?
So?
He won.
Hopkins was hired by Cohen in her first big hire, practically before the lame-duck coach, Lorenzo Romar, was fired.
That's Lorenzo Romar, as in the one-time 15-year UW coach (2003-17), former Husky point guard (1979-80) and three-time Pac-12 Coach of the Year recipient, though never consecutively (2005, 2009, 2012). He's now at Pepperdine.
Cohen is deeply invested in Hopkins.
Her reputation as an accomplished administrator is involved.
Hopkins will get more leeway than most because the Husky AD doesn't want to give up on her guy until she absolutely has to.
Hey, there's a pandemic going on, too.
Rash moves should not be made during a world crisis that affects everyone's every move, general health and quality of life.
Sure, others have been able to win during this time of masks, virus tests and vaccine shots.
Very much to his credit, Hopkins has prevented his UW players from testing positive for COVID-19, not had to quarantine anyone and not had to cancel any games because of this ordeal.
Let's get down to the two most pressing factors when considering a college coach's staying power.
Can he coach and recruit?
They used to say Marv Harshman could coach but he didn't recruit big names. They used to say Andy Russo couldn't coach, but he brought in some fairly decent players.
With Hopkins, the answer to the latter question was yes, yes and yes when he signed 5-star players Isaiah Stewart and Jaden McDaniels, and brought in Kentucky transfer Quade Green, another 5-star.
The response to that question also has been no when he whiffed on nearly an entire recruiting class that sent players such as Bryan Penn-Johnson (LSU) and Elijah Hardy (Portland State) scurrying out of the program.
Most importantly, are his players getting any better once they come to the UW?
A prime example is RaeQuan Battle.
The guy has size, swagger and an explosive shot.
He's often out of control, too.
And seated.
The sophomore guard had 19 points against Oregon in January in Seattle. He didn't even play against the Ducks on Saturday in Eugene.
Battle is in a constant battle to find his way as a college player.
How much of that is his fault? Or Hopkins' fault?
The guy should be a star. A starter. A big scorer by now.
Shouldn't he?
You wonder what he might look like wearing a Gonzaga uniform?
After all, others have left the Huskies and become Zags and improved their basketball situations.
Hopkins has one of the two tallest players in America in 7-foot-4 sophomore Riley Sorn, now in his third season in the program.
Shouldn't Sorn be stronger and a lot more physical by now?
To go with that long reach and his agreeable nature.
Will the Huskies ever take full advantage of having an 88-inch man roaming the key?
Then there's this.
Why did it take Jamal Bey so long to show his considerable talent?
Two and a half seasons went by before he had his breakout game against Utah.
He's got the size and the skills to be one of the league's better players.
Why is he so reticent to assume a greater role?
Shouldn't a coach convince him of that. Demand that of him.
Hopkins didn't recruit any new players last year, which might have been a program first, at least in modern times.
He opted instead to give scholarships to transfers in J'Raan Brooks (USC), Erik Stevenson (Wichita State) and Cole Bajema (Michigan).
Out of that mix, he has one full-time starter in Stevenson, who has obvious skills but has struggled to fit into the system.
Bajema, with a little encouragement and teammates looking for him, might become an impact player.
Michigan thought so at one point.
He needs a coach to pull it out of him.
Hopkins signed two recruits in his latest recruiting class.
Jackson Grant, a 6-9 big man from Olympia, Washington, and Dominiq Penn, a point guard from Dublin, Ohio.
For Hopkins' sake, they better be more ready to play than most of the other Huskies on the roster.
The coach is still shy of inside players.
Can he find a grad transfer with some size and something to offer?
His job might depend on it.
Meantime, Cohen will probably make someone pay for the Huskies' two-year slide.
It won't be Hopkins just yet.
Expect her to ask the UW leader to fire an assistant coach or two.
Somebody has to answer for 22 losses over the past 30 games.
Expect Cohen to give Hopkins one more season out of loyalty and then have no choice but to say goodbye if things don't improve.
It's all on Coach Mike's shoulders to show what he can do under ultimate pressure.
For the time being, he should break out the handbooks on rebounding.
Whatever he's teaching there isn't working.
He has one of the worst rebounding teams in the nation.
That's a hustle play.
Losing is one thing, but a lack of hustle is a serious issue.
Fans always want to fire coaches. Some Husky loyalists already are calling for Hopkins' head right now. Yet others are even complaining about football coach Jimmy Lake after four games.
Nine of the past 11 Husky basketball coaches have been fired.
It comes with the territory.
Hopkins appears safe for now.
Unless Cohen changes her mind.
Will we be having this same discussion about the coach a year from now?
Follow Dan Raley of Husky Maven on Twitter: @DanRaley1 and @HuskyMaven
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