BREAKING: The new Cal offensive coordinator is Former Texas State HC and Cal OC Jake Spavital
BREAKING: The new Cal offensive coordinator is Former Texas State HC and Cal OC Jake Spavital
The Bears fill in their open position.
BREAKING: The new Cal offensive coordinator is Former Texas State HC and Cal OC Jake Spavital
Cal has a new offensive coordinator. The Bears made the decision to hire former Texas State Head Coach and one time Cal Offensive Coordinator Jake Spavital to serve as the new signal-caller at Cal. This was first reported by Pete Thames of ESPN.
Jake Spavital returns to a position he held in 2016 in Sonny Dykes’ final year in Berkeley. Cal’s offense in 2016 was 22nd in the country, averaging 37.1 points per game on 86.3 plays per game. They also had a YPP of 5.9. The Bears finished in the top 15 on offense for both Yards per Game, Total Yards, Yards per Play and Touchdowns.
The Bears dominated through the air with grad transfer QB Davis Webb, who went on to be drafted in the 3rd round by the New York Giants. Webb finished 2016 with 4295 yards on 61.6% completion with 37 TDs to 12 INTs. Wide receivers Chad Hansen and Demetris Robertson were the focal point of the attack. Hansen exploded onto the scene with 1249 yards on 92 catches with 11 touchdowns. Robertson had 50 catches for 767 yards and 7 TDs in his freshman season.
After his one year in Berkeley, Spavital made the move to be the OC at West Virginia, under then coach and current Houston coach Dana Holgorsen. After two years in Morgantown, he was named Head Coach of the Texas State Bobcats. Spavital would go 13-35 at Texas State before he was relieved of his duties after the 2022 season.
Cal parted ways with offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave after Cal lost six games in a row following a 3-1 start. The Bears again struggled with offensive consistency, playing well at times and then following it up with utter duds. Cal did not win a single road game outside the Bay Area during Musgrave’s tenure with the Bears.
This is a huge decision for Justin Wilcox. The success or failure of this hire will likely make or break his future as Cal head coach.
With his return to Berkeley, we can look back at some of the analysis on his coaching scheme and philosophies that we did when he joined the Bears back in 2016. Check out Piotr’s stat based evaluation on Spavital back when we were at California Golden Blogs.
From what I can gather in what went on this week. And stuff I was told. Nothing about the hire was really slow or inefficient. Parts kept moving and then finally aligned. Also knowing who was in the mix Spav is a solid choice of an OC who has succeeded as an OC at every P5 stop he has been to.
Solid hire where we know the floor with a coach that recruited here annd knows how to recruit at Cal. And that floor on the field is a conference leading offense with a top 15 offense in YPG, TDs, YPP and total yards.
For those of you who wondered why this took so long......it was because I wad glued to twitter and looking at sources for the next move. Today I traveled.....and here we are. You're welcome :)
On a serious note: Spav has proven not only at other places but also at Cal that he can run an offense. I think Wilcox needed someone who was the anthesis of him and here we are. This benefits the receivers and Ott, who can attack the 2nd level and break a tackle and he's gone.
Also and I cannot stress this enough: his head coaching record DOES NOT have relevance here. The administrative work and purpose is completely different. I give this hire a B.