UW Huskies fire men’s basketball coach Mike Hopkins

SEATTLE – Shortly after Thursday’s 74-68 win over No. 18 Washington State, one of the biggest wins in his career and only the second time he’d beaten a ranked team on the road, Washington men’s basketball coach Mike Hopkins talked with optimism about the victory possibly being a watershed moment.

“Now let’s take this momentum and see what we can do with it,” he said noting next week’s Pac-12 Tournament.

The next day, Hopkins met with UW players and informed them that he will not return next season.

Then, Washington Athletic Director Troy Dannen spoke during the team meeting and said Hopkins will remain for the remainder of the 2023-24 season.

“My thoughts are I’ve loved coaching this group,” Hopkins said during a phone interview Friday. “Obviously, there was a change made and I wanted them to talk to them about it. I don’t want it to be a distraction because it’s really about them.

“They still have a lot to play for and we’re really good. We’ve been a resilient group. Now it’s how can we stay focused? How can we bond together to go down and try to win four in a row in Vegas. I told them this isn’t a funeral. This is just life.”

“We talk about how you handle adversity all the time. You handle it by how you respond. We’ve responded all year, so that’s how I’m looking at this.”

Despite a year and $3.1 million remaining on his contract, events trended toward this outcome since Hopkins led UW to a Pac-12 regular-season title and the NCAA Tournament in 2019.

The former longtime Syracuse assistant who replaced Lorenzo Romar in 2017 compiled a 48-22 overall record that included a 25-11 mark in the Pac-12 his first two years with a core of holdovers from the previous regime, including Matisse Thybulle, Noah Dickerson, David Crisp and Dominic Green.

Hopkins had his biggest wins with the Husky quartet, including a 74-65 road victory over then-No. 2 Kansas and a thrilling last-second upset against then-No. 9 Arizona.

Still, no triumph was bigger than No. 9 seed Washington demolishing No. 8 seed Utah State 78-61 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in 2019. The Huskies lost in the next round to top-seeded North Carolina.

Before his arrival, the Huskies had a six-year NCAA Tournament drought dating to 2011.

On the eve of the Big Dance, former UW Athletic Director Jen Cohen and Hopkins agreed on a new six-year deal worth $17.5 million. It was his second contract extension in as many years on an original six-year, $12.3 million deal.

The goodwill didn’t last.

The following season, UW started 10-2 and were ranked 21st in the Associated Press poll, which proved to be the beginning of a 4½-year decline for Hopkins and the Huskies.

Washington went 5-15 the rest of the way and finished the 2019-20 season 15-17 and last in the Pac-12 at 5-13 despite a roster that included standout freshman forwards Isaiah Stewart and Jaden McDaniels, who were taken 16th and 28th, respectively, in the first round of the 2020 NBA draft.

The next season the Huskies were hit hard by COVID-19 and bottomed out to a 5-21 record, which included an 11th-place conference finish at 4-16.

That’s when speculation began about Hopkins’ job security.

After revamping the roster, in which eight players left, including six via transfers and the addition of seven new players highlighted by Pac-12 leading scorer Terrell Brown Jr., Washington rebounded to 17-15 and tied for fifth in the conference at 11-9 during the 2021-22 season.

“In many ways, that was our best coaching job,” Hopkins said. “We were picked to win one maybe two games in the league and we win 11. … But the consistency from year to year became an issue.”

Another roster overhaul – seven new newcomers and seven departures – set the stage for another mediocre season that included an in-season Wooden Legacy tournament title, six lopsided losses against ranked teams and three straight defeats to end last season at 16-16, including 8-12 in the Pac-12.

Last year, Cohen brought Hopkins back with the expectation of making the NCAA Tournament or else face termination.

Once again, the Huskies revamped the roster in the offseason with eight newcomers and got off to a promising 8-3 start highlighted by a 78-73 win against No. 7 Gonzaga, while garnering votes in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.

Since then, Washington is 9-11 in the Pac-12 and 17-14 overall.

“You could point to a lot of things. We had some injuries and particularly one key loss,” Hopkins said noting center Franck Kepnang’s season-ending injury. “We had some good moments. Lots of them. But it goes back to consistency. … And ultimately, we just didn’t win enough.

“In our business, if you don’t produce at a certain level, there’s consequences. That’s just part of it.”

Hopkins (118-91 and 53-61 Pac-12) ranks fifth among UW coaches with the most wins behind Hec Edmundson (488-195), Romar (298-196), Marv Harshman (246-146) and Tippy Dye (156-91).

With Hopkins at the helm, Jaylen Nowell won the 2019 Pac-12 Player of the Year award and Thybulle was named the 2019 Naismith Defensive Player of the Year while setting the Pac-12 career steals record.

Hopkins sent four UW players (Thybulle, Nowell, McDaniels and Stewart) to the NBA, but his Husky legacy is also marred by two off-court incidents.

On Jan. 9, 2020, standout point guard Quade Green was ruled academically ineligible and missed the final 17 games. He’s believed to be the first UW player academically suspended since 2003.

And on Dec. 5, 2020, senior guard Nahziah Carter was suspended following a school investigation that upheld two allegations against him for sexual assault from UW students. The one-time NBA prospect sat out the 2020-21 season, left school and never played college basketball again.

Hopkins acknowledged the awkwardness of his lame-duck status as the Huskies prepare to play their biggest game of the season in the Pac-12 tournament.

“Obviously, it’s not ideal,” he said. “The timing of all of this wasn’t my call.”

Dannen has known for weeks that he’s moving on from Hopkins and Friday’s announcement jump-starts the search for his replacement.

“Mike has led the program with great integrity during his seven years at Washington, and remains a highly respected coach and one of the great gentlemen in the game,” Dannen said in a statement.

“Everyone at the university is grateful for his service, his commitment to the experience of our student-athletes and his leadership within the department.

“We wish Mike, Trisha and their children the very best in the future.”