NCAA Basketball: Way-too-early hot seat power rankings for 2021-22

5. Mark Fox

The quest to reinvigorate an ailing California Golden Bears program has not panned out thus far for Mark Fox, who is coming off his second season at the helm – and has failed in bringing the team out from the basement of the Pac-12, where they finished 12th for the third time in the past four seasons.

After a slightly optimistic showing in 2019-20, where the Bears finished in a tie for eighth and finished four games under .500 both overall and in conference, Fox and his crew entered this past campaign ranked 10th in the Pac-12 preseason poll, all the while featuring a Preseason First Team selection in Matt Bradley.  However, the optimism was short-lived – and there is not much to be hopeful about moving forward.

Little went well for the Golden Bears during 2020-21, which saw the squad win just three games in conference play and finish the season by winning just four of their final 16 games.  The final two victories – a nine-point win over Colorado and an 18-point romp against Stanford in the Pac-12 Tournament – may have been the most impressive, as well as the team’s narrow loss to Colorado in the Pac-12 Quarterfinals.

Now, however, Fox will be forced to operate without Bradley, who opted to transfer to San Diego State.  To loosen the blow, the Bears have landed a double-digit transfer from Charlotte in Jordan Shepherd, as well as two three-star recruits – but with the Pac-12 coming off one of its greatest seasons in recent memory, and with a vast number of teams fighting for dominance at the top, the window of opportunity is small for the Bears.

The Bears have not broken through to the NCAA Tournament since Cuonzo Martin’s second season in 2015-16 – and between California and Georgia, Fox has not earned a tournament berth since 2014-15.

With year three quickly approaching and the Bears coming off one of the worst seasons in program history, Fox may be nearing the end of his tenure at California – especially considering the precedent that Golden Bear administration set after firing Wyking Jones after just two seasons at the bottom of the Pac-12.