instead of being defensive ask yourself why is there no excitement at UV Davis men’s basketball?

Coach Mike Bibby on mission and plan

Watch this video. There is an excitement to the program. He is getting calls from NBA players about coaching their sons. He is looking to build something. If has been sent over 200 recruit videos in his first year....look out.

The one key thing I have not seen is a local reporter asking UCD coach Les his opinion on SACST which is wild. We are going to be forced to change, because the status quo is not going to work anymore.

The whole point of athletics especially at the D1 level is to win. If we win we get more exposure to the university itself. Look at Gonzaga, Duke, etc. I'm surprised anyone would be ok with being below average in anything. Look, if you didn't want to compete at the D1 level, we should have stayed D2, but we are not D2, we are D1. We have to start winning so the athletic program can start generating money to pay for travel and other operating expenses in the future. This is the business of D1 sports.

Coach Les I'm sure is a great human being, but what has he won? Nothing. The team is not getting better it is getting worse. The student body is not interested enough to invest their time and money into watching this team. Fine keep him and this staff on for another year. Keep him for the next decade, guess what? UCD is going to win anything and apathy will continue to fester.

I give it a year, because I think SACST is going to have a really good year in football and basketball. And once those seats start selling out because people enjoy winning programs, you will see UCD have to make a move just to stay relevant.

It it ok to have high expectations of our coaches. It is ok to say "The results for the past 10 years were fine, but we expect better." If next year Coach Les somehow puts together a winning team that wins the conference ok...he bought some time. But if he finishes with another losing record or lower than 3rd in conference you have to replace him.

None of that has anything to do with winning. That is the problem. I remember when we had the Grad, we had Murder Burger, we had a more lively downtown. All that is coming back. Winning basketball means not rewarding coaches who are below average.

I care about winning. I care about academic rankings. I care about being elite. UC Davis is one of the best universities in the nation. We should act like it.

don’t be afraid of change.

This is exactly the response I would expect in defense of the current coaches. "Its not their fault"...please. Yes, it is. It's been over 10 years. It is past time to get some new blood in the mens basketball program. There is nothing being done today that displays an earning of more years of mediocrity. The student body is not vested in the program. We are moving up in competition. It's time to get some some new blood. Our university deserves winning not a participation trophy. Look I get it, change is tough, but sitting back and being comfortable should not be an option for such a great school.

if you think being a below .500 coach is somehow “successful” we disagree on the meaning of success. The program needs a jolt of energy.

This is silly. We are not a big time sports program. We are not building anything in men’s basketball. It’s an average program that is struggling in a lower conference. Once we move to the mountain west Coach Les will get exposed. We will be lucky to have a winning season as the competition gets better. You think we are building something? What is it? Because all I see is a bunch of people who have grown very comfortable in their positions. We can do better. If you want the student body to get behind men’s basketball we have to be better. There are a ton of kids who want to support davis sports but the AD has to expect more. Coach Les has been here since 2012. It’s time for new blood.

That is a cheap shot. You think SACST offering Mikey Williams is somehow a bad thing? The kid made a mistake and paid the price. That doesn't mean his life is over now. He paid his penalty and looking for a 2nd chance. I hope he succeeds and turns his life around.

That being said, your telling me you wouldn't want Shaq, and other NBA players on campus hyping up the AGGIES? Of course you would.

I agree. If there is one thing I have learned in life its that those who sit back and hope things get better without being proactive never go anywhere. Imagine if SACST took our approach. Do you think they would be better off? Of course not. I have heard the name SACST on ESPN, FOXSports, and other sport cites in the past couple weeks way more than I've heard anything about UC Davis. That is called FREE Advertising and their moves are working. Ryder Lyons the #1 overall recruit in California and out of Folsom is taking a recruiting trip to SACST. That is wild.

Next year will be very interesting to see how SAC plays out.

Look, UC Davis basketball was a nice community FCS school at one time. But times have changed and we are now D1. It is time to hold the basketball program to higher standards. This shouldn't be controversial. Coach Les is an average coach at best. He has been in charge since the first Obama administration and during that time is the program trending up? No. It's not. We have not finished higher than 3rd since 2018. That means there are two classes that have graduated Davis and never had championship team. You think that is building a solid program? That is not a solid program. That is being comfortable and ok with being average. And as an Aggie I'm not ok with this. We are strive to better at everything from academics to scholastics.

The Sacramento region is the fastest growing area in California. SacSt and UCD can both benefit from this population boom by becoming a place welcoming to local talent. In order to do this, you have create an atmosphere that caters to the GenZ population.

We have grown to comfortable in this town with the status quo. I don't know what it is, but I feel like we are stuck in 2011. With our move to the Mountain West we are not going to be playing Montana St or Portland St anymore...we are going to be playing New Mexico, UNLV, Stanford, etc. We have to make moves to build for the future if you want to have an excited campus who wants to support UCD basketball. What we are doing right now, isn't working, unless winning isn't important.

Doesn’t matter if we like it or not, SacSt is going to really benefit from these moves. You know how much money in free advertising SAC is getting from these moves? Really great for the university as a whole. Their success next year will have an impact on us, not sure how but it will. We need to figure out how these moves can benefit us.

SACST has decided to make sports a revenue generator. Pretty smart move really. They are going to make SACST a place for kids to play high level sports. It's pretty smart. I think next year the SACST football team is primed to do really well with the amount of players they are bringing in through the portal.

The amount of free publicity for the university and now increased revenue with ticket sales is impressive. We really need to step up our game or we are going to get left behind.

Wow, SACST understands getting high visibility for the program will attract high level recruits. I like the strategy. UC Davis has to start looking at improving or we are going to get left behind.

We should be doing much better than this.

I really like what SACST is doing. Very smart to get a name and capitalize on brining in names to play. Getting Shaq to watch his sons games is worth millions in free advertising. Davis should follow up and get a new young coach to attract high quality players.

Haha! Great joke!! I was pissed for a second!! Well played!

I completely understand where you're coming from. Coach Les is a good man, and his staff has done a solid, consistent job since he was hired in 2011. His early years were promising, and he coached some competitive teams with success.

That said, since 2018, his teams have not finished higher than third in the Big West Conference. Between 2018 and 2025, his record at UC Davis stands at 195 wins and 199 losses, bringing his overall career coaching record to 349 wins and 339 losses. That's an average performance, even in a weaker conference. If you compare his record to Coach Gross, who was also hired in 2011, it's clear that the women's program is in a much better place than men's basketball. Let’s not fool ourselves into thinking we can’t be competitive — we don’t necessarily need the best athletes in the world. We need good athletes who also want a great education, and as Coach Gross has shown, you can win with those players. If I believed Coach Les was moving the men's program in a direction similar to UCD football or women’s basketball, I’d be on board with him staying. But I don't see that happening.

We’ve had enough time and data to evaluate Coach Les, and it seems that he’s a solid but average coach. If you’re okay with that, then fine, keep him. But I don’t think that’s going to lead to any championships. Sure, we may be competitive in some games, but once we transition to the Mountain West, I believe the weaknesses will be exposed.

Sacramento State’s move to bring in a name like Bibby will shake up recruiting in the area. He’ll attract talent that wouldn’t normally consider SACST, and we need to recognize that. If we don’t make a change, we could find ourselves chasing them for a while. I’m not saying we need to bring in someone like Mike Brown or an NBA-level coach, but we need some fresh energy. Right now, sticking with Coach Les isn’t going to cut it.

We’re UC Davis — one of the top universities in the world, committed to excellence. Changing coaches doesn’t have to be seen as a bad thing. It’s about striving to be better. Coach Les has done some great things, but complacency is dangerous, especially if we want a truly competitive sports program. It’s not personal, it’s just business. He’s had a great run since 2011, but consider that students on campus today have never seen the team in the NCAA tournament. We’ve been close, but we should be aiming higher than simply being “okay.” Why would a young undergrad care about a men’s basketball program that doesn’t win anything?

It’s time to get a young, up-and-coming coach who can inject some energy into this program. Right now, I don’t see that urgency or direction, and that’s a real problem we need to address if we’re serious about building a winning basketball team.

I’m a UCD alumni. Don’t get upset because change is suggested. The fact is we are moving up in competition. Coach Les has done a fair job at the school, but it’s time for new blood. New leadership can be scary but you have to embrace change. If Coach Les had a more significant record you could justify keeping him, but he has been avg for his competition.

I’m aware. However, the basketball team needs a new coach. The program is stale.