I don't think people realize how deep it cut him too. I don't claim to know him well but I have met him 3 or 4 times since he was out here and brought this up. I said it was complete crap the way people treated you during those 9 games. He said, "Coach was coming back. It wasn't my team. I had to do what I thought coach would want me to do." I could tell looking at his face it really hurt him.
Interesting. So, Hop who learned everything from JB implied that what JB wanted him to do went against his grain in what he would've done if it was "his" team? He seems to be doing many/most of the same JB tendencies at UW. Him not claiming any ownership in the way we played those 9 games, to a degree, is a cop out in my opinion.
Perception is reality, whether right or wrong. And, with having absolutely zero head coaching experience, instead of shining, it appeared as he was just going through the motions. Moreover, the team played that way. Interestingly enough, when JB returned, the team suddenly played much better, all the while JB was doing the same thing he informed Hop to do.
Again, right or wrong, perceptually it didn't look good. And, without any head coaching experience, the team played poorly and uninspired. That debacle in the Garden against a pathetic St. John's team had a damning impact as we got crushed. Afterwards, St. John's went on to lose against a team called Incarnate World for Pete's sake, and a slew of other bad losses as well.
I didn't hammer Hop, but if I'm being completely transparent, I certainly had concerns and questions after the only cross sample we ever had of him in that role at the time.
He had a great rookie season at UW, we'll see how it plays out over the next few years and a larger sample size can be drawn. One thing he clearly has in his favor, is that the P12 is a pretty weak conference overall.
