Inside The Huskies

Dollar Out on UW Hoop Staff; Are More Changes Coming?

The Husky assistant coach posts farewell message on social media following 5-21 season.

Dan Raley

Dollar Out on UW Hoop Staff; Are More Changes Coming?
Dollar Out on UW Hoop Staff; Are More Changes Coming? /

Cameron Dollar, through social media, announced on Wednesday he was leaving the University of Washington basketball program. 

It's hard to believe it was voluntary.

After a 5-21 season and 11th-place conference finish for the Huskies, a coaching staff shake-up for Mike Hopkins' staff had been all but guaranteed.

Since Hopkins recently was given a vote of confidence by UW athletic director Jennifer Cohen, the assistant coaches more than likely were going to bear the brunt of a second bad season.

The UW finished 15-17 and in last place in the Pac-12 in the 2019-20 season.

"I feel like this is a good time to pivot and recharge from the daily grind of college basketball coaching," Dollar wrote in a tweet.

Dollar, who was fired in 2017 after eight years as Seattle U head coach (118-160), had two tours of duty as a Husky assistant coach.

He coached seven years for Lorenzo Romar (2003-09), sharing in NCAA tournament success after getting suspended early on for excessive recruiting contacts, and the past four seasons for Hopkins, who replaced a fired Romar.

A former UCLA point guard, Dollar didn't accompany the Huskies on road trips this season out of precaution against the spread of COVID-19.

Dollar's departure leaves Will Conroy and Dave Rice as the remaining assistant coaches for now. 

Clearly, Hopkins' program needs a boost in recruiting because the talent level has fallen off over the past two seasons.

Conroy, a former UW point guard, is fairly well received by school basketball supporters for his energy and connection to past Husky glory.

A former assistant for Romar before joining Hopkins' staff, Conroy remains a popular staffer for his enthusiasm and ability to connect with players. 

Rice, whose son Travis was a walk-on senior guard, is a former UNLV head coach who joined Hopkins staff in 2017.

While he compiled a 98-54 record with two NCAA appearances, he was fired at midseason in 2016 when the Runnin' Rebels slipped from a 7-1 start to 9-7, demonstrating the harshness of college basketball.

As an older coach, Rice may not survive the recent downturn either, with the UW needing to show constructive efforts to make things better. 

By keeping the head coach, the only way to do that is push some or all of the assistants out.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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