This time last year, Mark Fox was leading the Georgia Bulldogs men's basketball team through a late-season push to make it into the NCAA tournament. They went into the tournament with a 21-10 regular season record which included a win over Kentucky. They faced off against the No. 23 Washington Huskies and were defeated by a score of 68-65. It was Fox's second year as head coach of the Bulldogs.
Fast forward to this year. Georgia is tied for last place in the SEC with a 1-7 record in the conference and a 10-12 overall. After a loss to conference rival Tennessee in which Fox was ejected, he spoke to reporters about his feelings on the season and the team's struggles. One thing Fox made clear when he was asked how he and the team cope with the losing is the fact that he really hates losing.
"We move on very quickly. I'm a terrible loser. And I'll always be a terrible loser. And that will never change. And I want every guy on my team to be the same way," Fox said. "But I also understand that this group has so much to understand and experience. And it's a process and we're going through it."
In Fox's first season as head coach, the Bulldogs finished with a regular season record of 14-17 and was 5-11 in the SEC. He was asked if the team's 2011 season could be compared to their 2009 season. Fox said no.
The Bulldogs don't have a snowball's chance in hell at making it into the tournament this year and the season as a whole will be looked at as a disappointment by UGA fans. That hasn't changed Fox's coaching strategy, though. Fox is focused on one thing and one thing only and that is to get better every day and he's doing it by channeling one of college basketball's all-time greatest figures: former UCLA coach John Wooden.
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