In the first round of the Pac-12 Conference Tournament the Washington Huskies fell to Colorado, 74-68.  The loss brought an end to an up and down season that ended with more downs than ups, despite a 16-16 record.

In the end, the Huskies found themselves in a similar spot as the 2016-17 Husky team.

Another year of the Huskies finishing in the middle-to-bottom of the conference.

Similar themes are playing out when Hopkins was first hired after the disappointing 2016-2017 season that saw Lorenzo Romar produce the #1 overall pick but fail to win.

The fear around campus was the firing would lead to a mass exodus of recruits. Washington had a top 10 class including #1 player in Michael Porter Jr.  However, outside of Porter Jr., Washington had some very good pieces that a coach could build around. Sophomores  David Crisp, Dominic Green, Noah Dickerson, and Matisse Thybulle took their lumps in the 9-win season but showed that the cupboard was not bare for the next coach.

Romar was relived of his duties, Porter Jr. committed to Missouri, and Mike Hopkins got to work to keep his core players here.

And it worked.

The next two seasons saw not only better results on the hardwood, but Hec. Ed was rocking like it did in the mid 2000’s. Hop was buying pizza for the students and homecourt felt like the advantage it should be.

2017-2018 came and Hopkins brought the Huskies back to the tournament, and life was good.

Either the wheels fell off or they got stuck in the mud, whichever metaphor you like, they were going nowhere in a hurry.

Eerily similar seasons the past two years, middling with no shot of a tournament bid have cursed the Husky faithful once again with no end in sight. Hopkins has failed to bring in the top talent around the region and early losses every year has doomed the Huskies into the roll of quad four losses and merciful ends to lost seasons.

Many feel that Hopkins should be relived of his duties at Washington—the setting is all-too-familiar to that of the state of the program when he took over.

This is not what is meant by the hiking phrase : “Leave no trace”.

This is Thee University of Washington.  The standard is not 16-16.

The cupboard is not bare, a young core of players is presently on campus. Big men Braxton Meah and Franck Kepnang both have another year of eligibility while and Keyon Menifield and Koren Johnson are two freshman guards who looked like a dangerous backcourt for years to come, are just getting started.

Yes, a new coach would have to work hard to keep those players in the purple and gold and convince them that the new program is a winner, but Mike Hopkins did it; and, at the time, he was right.

It appears that is the time for someone else to do what Hopkins did 6 years ago.

Mike Hopkins will be fired, whether it is this year or in the next couple years it will happen. It is unknown what Jennifer Cohen and the rest of the athletic department is going to do.

Time to rip off the band-aid and give a proven head coach a chance to come in here, secure the talent that is already here, and build a sustainable winner.

Act one for Hopkins was incredible, but the sustainability of the program never materialized. It is time to pass the torch.