I'm surprised at the timing of letting Cutts go right before the start of conference play. You would think that they would have let him finish the year and then evaluate their options. Lots of coaches are shown the door at the end of the season so they would have a lot more potential candidates to choose from also. Of course, they may not hire anyone before the end of the season either.

Timing is strange and they weren't that far from .500. Three days before Big West play starts...yikes...

They beat Cal to start the season then haven’t done much. Two wins over d2 (is Merced even that?) teams. Timing is very weird

Which makes you wonder why Kal hasn't fired their coach...

And I know, first year coach. Cupboard was left bare after Martin bolted for "greener" pastures...but losing to Chaminade by 30ish...yikes.

So Cutts was cut ? Maybe he should go work at a hair salon Stitt, the football coach for Montana was found to be full of himself I guess ? I hear Dan Hawkins has two sisters, Sadie and Sophie. One likes to set up dances, while the other prefers to sing soothing music for people who have been depressed since the 1990's. If Jim Les gets fired at some point, it will likely be because he was "Les" than a winning coach.

Is it a prerequisite that you have a pun- worthy name to be a coach?

I almost forgot. Years ago I saw SF State play the Aggies. Took all my strength to avoid shouting "Okaaaaaaay!!" when assistant coach Littlejohn was announced

Silliness

UC Merced is NAIA.

"Okaaaaaaay!!" when assistant coach Littlejohn was announced.

I salute you, sir. :D

I wonder how they work that. I thought the school had to be a non- profit to be NAIA. Supposedly that's what kept Grand Canyon from making the change sometime after Davis moved up. D1 wasn't their first choice. They'd already left the WAC to go the CCAA.

Cal State Hayward (refuse to call them CSU East Bay) can't seem to decide what they want to be. When the CCAA decided they were losers I guess and didn't invite them to join in 1998 they went down to D3. Now they're in the CCAA finally.

Apparently Cutts was fired in the parking lot...

https://www.pe.com/2018/01/02/alexander-cutts-firing-at-ucr-still-baffling-and-underexplained/amp/

Ouch! Sounds like things are in total disarray at UCR...

Alexander's article did not paint a pretty picture of UCR athletics.

Odd. Multiple departures at UCR.

Ya, fire someone in the parking lot? ... and their AD has a degree in business and Masters in Public Policy.

I also saw an odd press release that they had hired Barry Bonds as their HC... but no follow up, nothing. He was let go as a batting coach from MLB. ... the article was April 4th, an April Fools prank?

Her last few tweets...yikes. She is doubling down on all of this. @tjsports23 is her twitter handle.

UCR's athletic department is 91.7% funded by student fees according to Jim Alexander....highest percentage reported to the NCAA. Wow. Link is to Fansmanship podcast with Alexander.

http://www.fansmanship.com/podcast-episode-177-jim-alexander-on-the-dennis-cutts-firing/

Taking on the local writer and questioning his intent?

Unless the former coach went way of the rails this sure smells.

And they beat Cal, Air Force, and Valparaiso!

And blocking a donor who replied to the local writer’s tweet without tagging her twitter handle. Seems like quite the amateur hour down there.

I agree with all of you. This reflects on the AD and her department. That said, the writer has produced some nice pieces on wealthier Cal Baptist (UCR's crosstown rival) and she may unfairly feel like UCR is attacked often. But, what a foolish reaction to a ill-advised firing.

Cal Baptist opened a new basketball arena this year and it is NICE.

https://www.pe.com/2017/11/10/new-cal-baptist-university-arena-in-riverside-impresses-on-opening-day/

I used to work in the area; CBU’s campus is more akin to a somewhat nice strip mall/corporate center than a university. They are politically connected and often received puff pieces from the Press Enterprise.

UCR was always loooked as an outsider with a much nicer campus in a better area, but less politically connected.

Riverside and the surrounding desert areas are the armpit of California.