NCAA Basketball: 10 coaches that may get fired or leave after 2022-23 season

Mike Hopkins – Washington Huskies

The first two years for Washington were very strong for Mike Hopkins, winning 20+ games, including a 27-win season in 2019 that included an NCAA Tournament appearance. That was the last time the program made the Big Dance and they’ve taken a major dip since.

The downfall for the Huskies was in 2021 when the Huskies went a dismal 5-21 overall and 4-16 in Pac-12 play. That was a year that Hopkins could’ve easily been fired but after signing a new seven-year deal and raise in 2019, it made it difficult to pull the trigger. Since then, they’ve gone 17-15 a year ago and are currently 13-13 this season, which is okay but nowhere near contention for a postseason bid.

One thing that Coach Hopkins has done was recruit transfers with local ties, such as Terrell Brown, who averaged over 21 ppg to keep them competitive a year ago. This time around, Keion Brooks, a transfer from Kentucky and the lone double-digit scorer on the roster (17.9 ppg), has made them competitive this year. But have they reached their peak with Hopkins, whose success was with players that he didn’t recruit at first?

Washington has some options with ties to the Seattle area, such as former NBA all-star Brandon Roy and assistant coach Quincy Pondexter. There could be a desire to move on from the admin and fans and with some options out there, they may want to pull the trigger if the Huskies remain around .500.