Hopkins Likely Down to Playing Out the String with the Huskies

A basketball season with so much promise hasn't played out that way.

Mike Hopkins was a lonely looking figure on Saturday night when he emerged alone from Alaska Airlines Arena, an hour after losing to California 82-80 on a last-second shot, and disappeared into the darkness.

It almost seemed like a metaphor for the seven-year University of Washington basketball coach who can see a season slipping away — if not his job — as the disappointment mounts.

Hopkins and the now 10th-place Huskies (14-12 overall, 6-9 league) are probably down to five regular-season games and a Pac-12 tournament outing or two in Las Vegas before a coaching change is made by new UW athletic director Troy Dannen.

Contrary to a Sunday social-media posting by some obscure online entity, Hopkins, 54, hasn't been told he's out of a job just yet, but there's no avoiding the inevitable. Dannen, for that matter, was in Sun Valley, Idaho, over the weekend, holding a football get-together.

After an encouraging beginning at the UW, where Hopkins twice was named Pac-12 Coach of the Year and earned the program's only NCAA Tournament berth since 2011, the Huskies have been stuck in a serious malaise going on five seasons now.

Over that time, Hopkins' teams have compiled a 67-81 record and regularly finished in the lower half of the conference. 

"Obviously, we've lost a lot of close games and it's frustrating," he said on Saturday night. "You've got to be able to execute down the stretch and be able to make those plays."

It's got to the point that after each game now a significant number of UW fans line up like annoying crows sitting on a power line and chirping, "Fire Hopkins, fire Hopkins, fire Hopkins."

Remaking his roster and getting rid of his trademark zone defense, the coach entered the current season with a veteran team that boasted a pair of former Kentucky starters in Keion Brooks and Sahvir Wheeler, multiple serviceable big men and some promising young guards, lending to great optimism for a breakthrough year and continued employement.

However, Hopkins lost his best big man, 6-foot-11 Franck Kepnang, to a knee injury in December and an exceptional freshman guard from Texas in 6-foot-4 Wesley Yates III to a couple of ankle injuries so severe they've prevented him from playing at all.

The Huskies still had enough manpower to be better than the break-even team it has become — as shown in their 78-73 upset of then seventh-ranked Gonzaga in December — but the Cal game was yet another example of why this season won't save Hopkins.

The UW had the ball and the lead with 15 seconds remaining, only to have Wheeler dribble the ball off his foot for a turnover and the Bears' Jalen Celestine, who was scoreless until the game's final 2:21, hit a game-winning 3-pointer with four seconds left.

This comes on the heels of the Huskies needing only to make a free throw at the end of regulation time to upset San Diego State (20-6) early in the season and letting home games against Oregon (17-8) and Washington State (20-6) slip away late.

Hopkins looks worn out by it all. During the Cal game, he watched the game momentarily from a most unusual position, down on one knee and awkwardly draped over the scorer's table.

He's tried to remain the cheerful, upbeat personality that is his calling card, but he's lost five out of his last eight games and it shows on his face that appears wane and in his voice that's become a lot softer.

Finishing out the string knowing it won't end well no matter what happens always is an uncomfortable situation for any coach, let alone this Husky leader.

Yet Hopkins had to know this UW job wouldn't be easy when he took it. After all, the school had fired each of his five predecessors and nine of the 11 coaches that have come before him.  

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