BREAKING: Cal reportedly making a change at offensive coordinator
It is unclear whether Mike Bloesch will remain at Cal.
Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports reports the first change on the Cal coaching staff. Mike Bloesch is not expected to be the offensive coordinator come 2025. It is yet unclear as to whether he will return in a different role.
This would be the fourth offensive coordinator in four years for the California Golden Bears. Bill Musgrave had the role in 2022 before being fired, Jake Spavital was here for a one-year stint in 2023, and now after being promoted to the role for 2024 along with still coaching the offensive line, Bloesch will be stepping aside.
Cal offensive production reached its highest level in the Justin Wilcox era, as the offense moved into the middle tier of efficiency numbers and logged solid passing stats. However, Cal’s struggles at offensive line, an ineffective run game, and an inability to finish in the red zone left the Bears short on numerous occasions in the scoreboard. This most notably manifested with four straight one score losses to start ACC play that ended Cal’s conference title hopes early.
Cal will have an interesting choice ahead. Quarterback coach Sterlin Gilbert has previous offensive coordinator experience, although the feedback on his Texas, Syracuse and South Florida experiences is very mixed. If they don’t look that way, Wilcox will have to turn their attention outside the program to find the right signal-caller during a critical juncture in the program.
If Bloesch returned, it’d be likely to return to his original role as offensive line coach. But demotions are very rare in college football, so there is a chance he could depart as well. We will see.
Cal fans, early thoughts on this decision?
First: I feel bad for Bloesch but he was not ready for this assignment. He needs to go to a smaller school and hone his knowledge and develop a system where the scheme works. I am happy Wilcox made the hard choice to do this. Now we need to recruit a top 10 OC from either FBS or FCS who runs a simple, easy to learn spread or air raid system, preferably with tight ends. Paraphrasing something that Bill Yeoman formerly at Houston once said when someone asked him about running a simple veer system: if you do something better than anyone else why change? The two best OC's we've had in recent history are Tony Franklin and Spav, and we had better talent this year than Dykes ever had. Time for a good OC. A great OC will help keep current top offensive players and will attract new ones.
Second: O-Line. Interesting that Wykoff will be transferring as a grad. He was demoted to 2nd team but what I did not realize is that he was CAL's highest paid NIL player. Go figure. He was a big dude, but never really lived up to his promise. We do need some studs up front and we need to pay for them. And we need an o-line coach who will teach our boys to be nasty and physical, go to the whistle and finish blocks, and drive muthafuckas into the dirt! We don't have that attitude right now. Tough is one thing and we have tough kids, but having the attitude to dominate and own your opponent is a completely different mindset. When you have that then you have guys with big balls hanging to to ground and everyone knows, both your teammates and opponents. We need the latter.
If you want to fix things you must start at the top (Knowlton & Wilcox). A new OC is just a flimsy band aid that will fall off and we will be right back where we are presently one year from now. Time to clean house!