California has fired men’s basketball coach Mark Fox after four seasons, the school announced Thursday.
The Golden Bears ended their season on Wednesday with a first-round loss to Washington State in the Pac-12 Tournament, dropping them to 3-29 on the season. They were 2-18 in Pac-12 play.
“It was a tough decision and one I don’t take lightly,” said Cal Director of Athletics Jim Knowlton. “After a deliberate and comprehensive evaluation of all aspects of our program, I felt a change was necessary at this time.”
Fox took over Berkeley in 2019 and initially had cause for optimism among the Cal fan base. The Golden Bears went 14-18 in his first season and 7-11 in the league, a significant improvement over the previous two seasons. Over the past three seasons, however, Cal has really struggled, finishing last in the Pac-12 in 2021 and 2023. The Bears are 10-50 in league play over the past three seasons.
Prior to replacing Viking Jones at Cal, Fox spent nine seasons as Georgia’s head coach, leading the Bulldogs to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances and hitting over .500 in each of his last five seasons. Fox was also the head coach at Nevada State, where he made three NCAA Tournament appearances and won at least 21 games in his five seasons in Reno.
Fox began his career as an assistant coach at Washington and also served as an assistant at Kansas State and Nevada.
Two names consistently linked to the Cal opening in recent weeks are UC Santa Barbara’s Joe Pasternak and San Jose State’s Tim Miles, sources told ESPN.
