Mike Hopkins' UW tenure shows winning is everything — except when it's not

SEATTLE — No, that headline is not a typo.

As Mike Hopkins' seven-year tenure as the leader of the Huskies came to an official end with an 80-74 loss to USC in the Pac-12 Tournament the reality set in, one that UW fans, and even coach Hop himself, was aware of.

They just didn't win enough.

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That's the business of sports. Win or you're out.

The argument can be made that Hopkins didn't have a lot of the same resources of other power five schools, and that his teams battled an incredible amount of injuries, including this year to Franck Kepnang.

The argument can also be made, again, the Huskies just didn't win enough.

Both can be true.

And that's where our headline comes into play.

Winning is everything, but it's not everything.

What we mean by that is obviously the lack of wins led new UW Director of Athletics Troy Dannen to make a change.

But, that's not the only thing left behind by Hop.

He'll forever be remembered at the University of Washington and really across college basketball as one of the true and genuine good people in this business.

A cutthroat business where a coach can leave in hours and out of nowhere — as UW football fans saw in January — Hopkins stood out as a rare breed. Someone who genuinely put his kids first.

Don't take my word for it, listen to what Hopkins said in his final press conference at UW.

Hopkins finished his UW run with a 118-106 overall record. He's a two-time Pac-12 Coach of the Year and ended the Huskies' NCAA tournament drought with a bid in 2019.

Ultimately, the Dawgs did not make the tournament since then and in the last three seasons finished with records hovering around .500, including a 17-15 mark this year.

That was enough for Dannen to make the change.

But it's not enough to change the lasting impact on the players Hop coached.

In the video above, he talked about how Keion Brooks will graduate from UW and how it's been one of his greatest thrills to watch guys like Brooks develop on and off the floor.

The point is, it's rare to see an impact from a coach who is ultimately being let go for falling short of expectations. That's what makes Hopkins so unique. Even his most severely critical pundits who follow UW admit the impact on the players and university.

While seven years after his hiring it didn't work out to the hopes of everyone involved, there's no denying that in the end, the results weren't absolutely everything Hopkins was about.

He's the kind of coach who made every person he met smile and a guy his players loved to lay it all on the line for.

He'll move on and coach again.

UW will move on and find its next leader in the coming weeks.

Rarely can you say after a coaching change that the future is bright for both parties.