Cal Athletic Director Sandy Barbour made perhaps the most popular move of her tenure today when she announced the firing of Ben Braun, who leaves Berkeley after 12 seasons of modest success. Braun's overall record and accomplishments are certainly not embarrassing, but his teams -- particularly the recent ones -- had a knack for underachieving and failing in crunch time.A solid recruiter, Braun went 219-154 and led the Golden Bears to five NCAA appearances (including a Sweet Sixteen in 1997, his first season) and an NIT Championship, so it's impossible to say that he was a complete failure as coach. However, his teams rarely outperformed expectations, which could be seen throughout this season. Cal had two probable NBA first-rounders in Ryan Anderson and DeVon Hardin and a wealth of offensive talent, but the Bears finished 17-16, went a poor 6-12 in an admittedly tough Pac-10, and lost to Ohio State in the second round of the NIT. Cal rarely looked interested in playing defense and dropped several games in the closing moments.
Analysis of possible replacements after the jump.
Braun's primary problems as a coach can be seen in a few important areas. First, his prize recruits (e.g. Shantay Legans and Marquise Kately) often left Cal amidst controversy and as underachievers. Second, Braun's latest teams had a laughably consistent habit of coming out of late-game timeouts with shot-clock violations and extremely poor shots late in the clock. Overall, Braun just didn't seem to have the level of control you like to see from a top coach.
Several names pop up as possible replacements for Braun. The biggest name is surely former Stanford and Warriors coach Mike Montgomery, whose hiring would cause a sensation on both sides of the Stanford/Cal rivalry. Other, possibly more realistic names include Saint Mary's Randy Bennett, former Warriors and Kings coach Eric Musselman, and USD coach Bill Grier. Bennett might be the most likely candidate given his record of success and familiarity with the Bay Area.
