this is a weird situation for me
I was on Tubby has to go bandwagon somewhere around 2001, on the Gillispie has to go right after he lost to Miami at Rupp, and was on the Cal has to go, well, I don't remember when but it was probably around the time he started saying he was willing to lose games in order to get a player ready for the end of the season (Diallo - NBA ready), so 2018'ish I'm guessing. My point is, when things aren't working with a coach, I as a fan don't give much leash.
But I'm not there on Pope and I really don't have a good reason other than I think 2 years isn't enough when the coach makes it to the tourney both years and there are not off the court issues. Pope is struggling but what I think happened is he just totally whiffed on the portal recruits this year, was way over his skis on how to deal with the NIL and while I have no knowledge of this, a reasonable explanation about his substitution patterns may be tied to promises of minutes in order to ink some of these players. And that major mistake killed his season. He was trying to force a square peg into a round hole. FWIW, I also dont believe JQ was ever going to be a difference maker because we need balanced players on offense/defense, not defensive specialists.
so I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do next year, and I don't really worry about recruiting....yet. I've never been excited about landing a freshmen, in every class there are only 2-3 that really make a difference in a team and if Cal wasn't getting these kids after 2020, then I have little expectation that Pope will, especially when you can land a ready made experience team from the portal in about 3 weeks. Now if its July and we're still trying to figure out if we have enough players to play his offense, then I'll start barking a bit more.
