Washington to bring back coach Mike Hopkins for 7th season

SEATTLE (AP) — Washington men’s basketballcoach Mike Hopkins will return for his seventh season in charge ofthe Huskies despite four straight years without an NCAA Tournamentappearance.

Washington athletic director Jen Cohen said in a statementSunday that though the recently concluded season did not meetexpectations, the school was sticking with Hopkins.

“After completing a postseason review of the program and afterseveral in-depth discussions with coach Hopkins, I am hopeful thatnext season will once again see the Huskies competing for a Pac-12championship and back in the NCAA Tournament,” Cohen said. “CoachHopkins understands our expectations and is committed to make anyand all necessary changes to get us there.”

Hopkins is 101-91 in his six seasons at Washington. The Huskieswere 16-16 this season, finished eighth in the Pac-12 Conferenceand lost in the opening round of the conference tournament.

After a promising opening act with 20-plus wins in each of hisfirst two seasons, the program has been stuck on a downwardtrajectory that’s led to calls from fans for a change inleadership.

Hopkins signed a six-year contract extension in 2019 and has twoyears remaining on the deal that pays him more than $3 million perseason.

The 53-year-old had his most success in his first two seasons,going 21-13 in 2017-18. The following year, he went 27-9, winningthe Pac-12 regular season title and taking the Huskies to the NCAATournament for the first time in eight years.

But those two seasons always came with an asterisk attached asHopkins’ success came mostly with older players that came toWashington under former coach Lorenzo Romar. Once Hopkins’recruiting became responsible for the bulk of the roster, theHuskies have struggled even with a handful of players that went onto be high NBA draft picks.

Washington went 15-17 in 2019-20 and a miserable 5-21 in thepandemic year of 2020-21. The Huskies were a .500 team the past twoseasons, but struggled badly in showcase opportunities withconvincing losses to the likes of Auburn, Gonzaga, UCLA andArizona.

Before taking the head job at Washington, Hopkins was the topassistant and the coach-in-waiting at Syracuse. Instead of waitingfor Jim Boeheim to retire, Hopkins jumped at the chance to takeover a Pac-12 program when the Huskies moved on from Romar afterthe 2016-17 season.