To be honest I do not know any these new coaches that Cal has hired in the past few weeks. They maybe all great assets for the coming years but, my concern is that We are late on the process. We don't know why the actual reasons why certain players have enter the transfer portal early but, I bet part of the reasoning is the lost or firing of the previous coaches. If We had stability and direction from the top it would give our players the vision and progress of our program to stay with Cal.
Rolovich is a great hire. A principled man who walks the walk. He’s a great role model for our players and someone you want affiliated with the program. Kudos to JW for bringing him on.
Is it principled or just plain dumb to deny science? Not saying he’s a bad coach or human because of his weirdo beliefs but, cmon, calling him a role model is a bit much. This isn’t Mississippi
There wouldn't be a single person congratulating Charmain Smith for hiring an assistant who publicly supported Diddy on his sexual assault case...because we'd correctly not ignore how incongruent it is to have that person coaching women. No one would say, 'let's keep sexual assault out of this' because you'd know that it was inherently part of the calculus. And yet, we have folks who put their heads in the sand and think that as long as this guy is a good coach, we should ignore everything else. That's both morally bankrupt and highly dismissive of players, particularly Black players, who will be under him.
Of all my thoughts on these coaching hires, perhaps the most important one is that Wilcox must be right when he says Cal has plenty of resources. I don't have any numbers, but there is no way we hire these three guys without paying them big money. Especially Rolo. Why would he come to be an assistant with nebulous responsibilities, even to get back into coaching, if he wasn't making some bank. I think back on the days of budget hires we've had in the last years, and this feels like a new era. Maybe the money is flowing now, maybe we have the cash to attract better coaches.
All I know is that what I care most about is the Oline coach. If that is Bloesch, well, Ok. But I want a Jim Mahaliczek (sp?) again. I want Alex Mack. I want guys Rugbear praises.
Rolo isn’t making big money. Former HC’s trying to resurrect their careers by coming in as offensive analyst typically take a pretty low paycheck to get back in the game.
I very much enjoyed watching Rolovich's slow motion self-sabotage at WAZZU for the sake of some ridiculousness. But now I'm going to enjoy him go full Bronson on the rest of college football.
Call me a “this is a good hire” denier but I’ve done my research and I don’t understand all the excitement for Rolo. If he was such a great coach and offensive mind, why hasn’t he been employed or coached since 2021? You can’t say it is due to his beliefs on being vaccinated because I am sure plenty of schools in other states would not have a problem with that at all. If Auburn can hire Hugh Freeze AFTER they fired a guy like Harsin, they would have no problem bringing Rolo on as an OC or QB coach.
Plenty of SEC states and Idaho would have gladly hired him and applauded him for not getting vaccinated and suing that evil liberal state of Washington.
Also, if he is employable again due to political winds shifting, why wasn’t he hired in this cycle as an OC.
interesting that he's able to bring in guys like Harsin and Rolo. I wonder if this would have been possible under Christ, or if this is a result of Lyons and the admin being more supportive of athletics, to the point where they're willing to piss off some faculty.
In his presser this week, he said - unprompted - that he had strong support from the administration. I don't think I've ever heard that from a Cal coach before.
Not sure what they're being paid but quickly hiring two guys who are cultural and political misfits compared to the Berkeley orthodoxy tells me something is different now.
He did, but I would bet that he went back and got more money this year. I don’t know what Harsin is getting paid, but I would bet it’s around $1 million. And I’m guessing Rolo is getting $250k. And that’s just the money. I’m sure that five years ago and neither one of these guys would’ve been employable at CAL for political reasons.
Rolovich grew up in Novato, California. He attended Marin Catholic High School in Kentfield, California, (same high school as current detroit Lions, ex Cal, QB Jared Goff), and won varsity letters in football and baseball. In football, he led his teams to two league championships.
College career.
City College of San Francisco
Rolovich was a two-time junior college All-American (1998–99) at City College of San Francisco, where he led the Rams to a national championship in 1999.[6]
University of Hawaii
Rolovich was a two-year letterman at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where he replaced starter and eventual all-time NCAA career passing leader Timmy Chang early in the 2001 season, leading the team to an 8–1 record. During those nine games, Rolovich threw for 3,361 yards and 34 touchdowns on 233-of-405 passing, and ended his college career with three straight 500-yard passing games. He also set school single-game records of eight touchdowns and 543 yards in a 72–45 win over BYU on December 8.
I’m just not getting it with all the hoopla on the hires. JW is only still sitting at the table because he’s playing with house chips. We should have seen a winning conference record by now, we need a real player at the table. Too many Charlie Browns and Lucys out there just wishing it will be different — I’ve seen this episode, ready to be proven wrong..
Totally agree, but unfortunately we’re not going to wake up tomorrow morning to news that JW has been fired. If these moves make a difference next year and we’re left with having to complain about a 9 win season instead of a 10 win season I think we’ll all be happy.
I hear what you’re saying…I would’ve liked to have seen these types of hires BEFORE Wilcox’s feet were held to the fire, which seems pretty obvious to have happened.
But, they’re here now, and if these adds to the coaching staff can improve the preparation of the team as well in-game/halftime adjustments, then maybe Wilcox can snag a few more wins…which would be huge.
There’s a possibility that Willcox couldn’t hire these people before for both financial reasons and political reasons. With Lyons as the new chancellor maybe Wilcox and Knowlyon sat down with him and explained the facts of life. Lyons wants a winning team and he also knows we’ve got a huge stadium debt that we’ve gotta pay off.
I have met Lyons a number of times and came away impressed. Feel he holds the keys.
I’m definitely intrigued by the new hires, Rug, and maybe, just maybe, the sum of the football minds are enough to make just enough of the difference in turning a few L’s into W’s…honestly, if we could have made literally 1-more Liam Johnson-at-Wake type play in any number of ballgames, we’re likely 8-4 and I’m maybe not calling for Wilcox’s head as vociferously;-) …that said, someone made a comment about Charlie Brown and Lucy on the hold, and I can’t stop thinking about it ;-).
We got Wilcox at least another year - might as well win some ballgames.
Honest question: Hasn’t this been Wilcox’s MO from day one? Memory no longer sharp enough to get through even half a Cal midterm, but trust you are: Hasn’t Wilcox filled many of his coordinator posts with bright sounding former head coaches? I’m happy as the next guy to hype on the hopium, but haven’t we heard this song before?
Well, he hired Beau Baldwin, who was a very accomplished HC at Eastern WA, where he coached Cooper Kupp to a record-setting career. Unfortunately Kupp pulled a 0-0 effort yesterday for the Rams in the first round of fantasy football playoffs, killing a lotta teams. That’s not on Baldwin, tho! ;-)That went…OK, I guess? Believe he also hired Tim DeRuyter, a former HC at Fresno St, who was pretty solid here before being, what, pushed out in favor of Co-DC Sirmon?
The Bill Musgrave hire was a disaster from the start - it made no sense. A failed NFL coordinator and former UO teammate, coupled with Angus McClure, an OL coach that couldn’t coach. It was predictably a disaster, because Musgrave hadn’t coached college in 20-years, and had an antiquated system that was already being phased out in the pros, to say nothing of college.
The Spavital hire was intriguing, because that dude KNOWS college offense and was also a former college HC. But they chose the wrong horses under center, handing the keys to a damn WR, and then a QB that was simply not a P4 player. And then he packed his bags too.
Which brings us to this year… Tim Plough left for Davis, and he was clearly a big part of the success of last year. Mike Bloesch was handed the OC/OL coaching job beginning with the Independence Bowl, where Cal’s O was stymied and the OL completely overwhelmed. That continued all year - almost as if having a dedicated OL coach is helpful!
Wilcox seems to have gotten the hint with these latest hires. Good for him! Hope they work out. The minds are there!
And you know for a fact that I am pretty f-ing light on the Wilcox hopium!!! ;-) ;-)
It’s weird Coach. Lot of back n forth on the stories regarding Mendoza, depending on the source, of course. Safest consensus is both parties probably could have behaved differently and communicated a little better, but moving on is the best for all. Will be interesting where Fernando does end up, and how he does. Also, who will be under center in Corvallis for the Bears next year.
To that end, I really like the coaching staff moves. Harsin and Rolovich know O and have produced quality units. I liked Toler - such a classy family, but Cefalo seems pretty solid. Hoping to hear a good OL coaching addition.
Look, despite what plenty of folks think, I’m not advocating to fire Justin Wilcox for any reason other than his 23-43 conference record and the utter importance of Cal winning and remaining relevant in today’s landscape, where academics have unfortunately become less important, at least to the bottom line. If these minds add stability to the program and help Wilcox put an 8 or 9 win season on the board next year, fabulous.
I am very excited for 2025…
A shocking revelation. Go figure.
To be honest I do not know any these new coaches that Cal has hired in the past few weeks. They maybe all great assets for the coming years but, my concern is that We are late on the process. We don't know why the actual reasons why certain players have enter the transfer portal early but, I bet part of the reasoning is the lost or firing of the previous coaches. If We had stability and direction from the top it would give our players the vision and progress of our program to stay with Cal.
Rolovich is a great hire. A principled man who walks the walk. He’s a great role model for our players and someone you want affiliated with the program. Kudos to JW for bringing him on.
Is it principled or just plain dumb to deny science? Not saying he’s a bad coach or human because of his weirdo beliefs but, cmon, calling him a role model is a bit much. This isn’t Mississippi
There wouldn't be a single person congratulating Charmain Smith for hiring an assistant who publicly supported Diddy on his sexual assault case...because we'd correctly not ignore how incongruent it is to have that person coaching women. No one would say, 'let's keep sexual assault out of this' because you'd know that it was inherently part of the calculus. And yet, we have folks who put their heads in the sand and think that as long as this guy is a good coach, we should ignore everything else. That's both morally bankrupt and highly dismissive of players, particularly Black players, who will be under him.
Not sure how you equate sexual assault and racism to refusing to get the jab.
Agree. Thats a bit of a leap
As long as he’s analyzing game tape and play logs for us, and not the New England Journal of Medicine, I’m very cool with this.
I like this move as long as Rolo isn't in charge of vaccination policy.
😂
Hawaii, what science?
Of all my thoughts on these coaching hires, perhaps the most important one is that Wilcox must be right when he says Cal has plenty of resources. I don't have any numbers, but there is no way we hire these three guys without paying them big money. Especially Rolo. Why would he come to be an assistant with nebulous responsibilities, even to get back into coaching, if he wasn't making some bank. I think back on the days of budget hires we've had in the last years, and this feels like a new era. Maybe the money is flowing now, maybe we have the cash to attract better coaches.
All I know is that what I care most about is the Oline coach. If that is Bloesch, well, Ok. But I want a Jim Mahaliczek (sp?) again. I want Alex Mack. I want guys Rugbear praises.
Rolo isn’t making big money. Former HC’s trying to resurrect their careers by coming in as offensive analyst typically take a pretty low paycheck to get back in the game.
I very much enjoyed watching Rolovich's slow motion self-sabotage at WAZZU for the sake of some ridiculousness. But now I'm going to enjoy him go full Bronson on the rest of college football.
Call me a “this is a good hire” denier but I’ve done my research and I don’t understand all the excitement for Rolo. If he was such a great coach and offensive mind, why hasn’t he been employed or coached since 2021? You can’t say it is due to his beliefs on being vaccinated because I am sure plenty of schools in other states would not have a problem with that at all. If Auburn can hire Hugh Freeze AFTER they fired a guy like Harsin, they would have no problem bringing Rolo on as an OC or QB coach.
Suing a state government tends to make you pretty unemployable.
However it seems like most people are sensing the political windshifts and are adjusting accordingly.
Great observation Avi.
Plenty of SEC states and Idaho would have gladly hired him and applauded him for not getting vaccinated and suing that evil liberal state of Washington.
Also, if he is employable again due to political winds shifting, why wasn’t he hired in this cycle as an OC.
Hoping for a top flight QB under the Christmas tree via the portal this year
interesting that he's able to bring in guys like Harsin and Rolo. I wonder if this would have been possible under Christ, or if this is a result of Lyons and the admin being more supportive of athletics, to the point where they're willing to piss off some faculty.
In his presser this week, he said - unprompted - that he had strong support from the administration. I don't think I've ever heard that from a Cal coach before.
Maybe things are changing...
Or Rolo promised to keep his mouth shut about politics and anti vax BS and focus solely on football
Are you talking about money wise? Or people's characteristics?
maybe both?
Not sure what they're being paid but quickly hiring two guys who are cultural and political misfits compared to the Berkeley orthodoxy tells me something is different now.
Just a hunch obviously, I have no inside info
Well I don't know about character fits, but money wise, I think last year or two years ago, Wilcox fought and got a lot bigger budget for assistants.
He did, but I would bet that he went back and got more money this year. I don’t know what Harsin is getting paid, but I would bet it’s around $1 million. And I’m guessing Rolo is getting $250k. And that’s just the money. I’m sure that five years ago and neither one of these guys would’ve been employable at CAL for political reasons.
home coming for Nick Rolovich.
Rolovich grew up in Novato, California. He attended Marin Catholic High School in Kentfield, California, (same high school as current detroit Lions, ex Cal, QB Jared Goff), and won varsity letters in football and baseball. In football, he led his teams to two league championships.
College career.
City College of San Francisco
Rolovich was a two-time junior college All-American (1998–99) at City College of San Francisco, where he led the Rams to a national championship in 1999.[6]
University of Hawaii
Rolovich was a two-year letterman at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where he replaced starter and eventual all-time NCAA career passing leader Timmy Chang early in the 2001 season, leading the team to an 8–1 record. During those nine games, Rolovich threw for 3,361 yards and 34 touchdowns on 233-of-405 passing, and ended his college career with three straight 500-yard passing games. He also set school single-game records of eight touchdowns and 543 yards in a 72–45 win over BYU on December 8.
Great stats from his days at Hawaii. Can he apply for one more year of eligibility due to Covid? Everyone else is
That's all we need. A Trump anti-vaxer! willing to sue the University.
Lighten up. This isn’t a political thread. It’s about football. 😉
Not a fan of DEI, but great diversity hire
Not hired for his politics. Get over it
As the Jerky Boys once said, “SUE EVERYONE”…so long as it gets the Bears 9 wins in ‘25!
#Drop50
Go Bears!
Gimme fitty!!!
I’m just not getting it with all the hoopla on the hires. JW is only still sitting at the table because he’s playing with house chips. We should have seen a winning conference record by now, we need a real player at the table. Too many Charlie Browns and Lucys out there just wishing it will be different — I’ve seen this episode, ready to be proven wrong..
You may be right, but only time will tell
Totally agree, but unfortunately we’re not going to wake up tomorrow morning to news that JW has been fired. If these moves make a difference next year and we’re left with having to complain about a 9 win season instead of a 10 win season I think we’ll all be happy.
I hear what you’re saying…I would’ve liked to have seen these types of hires BEFORE Wilcox’s feet were held to the fire, which seems pretty obvious to have happened.
But, they’re here now, and if these adds to the coaching staff can improve the preparation of the team as well in-game/halftime adjustments, then maybe Wilcox can snag a few more wins…which would be huge.
There’s a possibility that Willcox couldn’t hire these people before for both financial reasons and political reasons. With Lyons as the new chancellor maybe Wilcox and Knowlyon sat down with him and explained the facts of life. Lyons wants a winning team and he also knows we’ve got a huge stadium debt that we’ve gotta pay off.
I have met Lyons a number of times and came away impressed. Feel he holds the keys.
I’m definitely intrigued by the new hires, Rug, and maybe, just maybe, the sum of the football minds are enough to make just enough of the difference in turning a few L’s into W’s…honestly, if we could have made literally 1-more Liam Johnson-at-Wake type play in any number of ballgames, we’re likely 8-4 and I’m maybe not calling for Wilcox’s head as vociferously;-) …that said, someone made a comment about Charlie Brown and Lucy on the hold, and I can’t stop thinking about it ;-).
We got Wilcox at least another year - might as well win some ballgames.
Bingo!
Honest question: Hasn’t this been Wilcox’s MO from day one? Memory no longer sharp enough to get through even half a Cal midterm, but trust you are: Hasn’t Wilcox filled many of his coordinator posts with bright sounding former head coaches? I’m happy as the next guy to hype on the hopium, but haven’t we heard this song before?
Well, he hired Beau Baldwin, who was a very accomplished HC at Eastern WA, where he coached Cooper Kupp to a record-setting career. Unfortunately Kupp pulled a 0-0 effort yesterday for the Rams in the first round of fantasy football playoffs, killing a lotta teams. That’s not on Baldwin, tho! ;-)That went…OK, I guess? Believe he also hired Tim DeRuyter, a former HC at Fresno St, who was pretty solid here before being, what, pushed out in favor of Co-DC Sirmon?
The Bill Musgrave hire was a disaster from the start - it made no sense. A failed NFL coordinator and former UO teammate, coupled with Angus McClure, an OL coach that couldn’t coach. It was predictably a disaster, because Musgrave hadn’t coached college in 20-years, and had an antiquated system that was already being phased out in the pros, to say nothing of college.
The Spavital hire was intriguing, because that dude KNOWS college offense and was also a former college HC. But they chose the wrong horses under center, handing the keys to a damn WR, and then a QB that was simply not a P4 player. And then he packed his bags too.
Which brings us to this year… Tim Plough left for Davis, and he was clearly a big part of the success of last year. Mike Bloesch was handed the OC/OL coaching job beginning with the Independence Bowl, where Cal’s O was stymied and the OL completely overwhelmed. That continued all year - almost as if having a dedicated OL coach is helpful!
Wilcox seems to have gotten the hint with these latest hires. Good for him! Hope they work out. The minds are there!
And you know for a fact that I am pretty f-ing light on the Wilcox hopium!!! ;-) ;-)
Jimmy. I'm getting a feeling that hiring Harsin had something to do with the Mendoza, Harris exit. Maybe something went on behind the scene.
It’s weird Coach. Lot of back n forth on the stories regarding Mendoza, depending on the source, of course. Safest consensus is both parties probably could have behaved differently and communicated a little better, but moving on is the best for all. Will be interesting where Fernando does end up, and how he does. Also, who will be under center in Corvallis for the Bears next year.
To that end, I really like the coaching staff moves. Harsin and Rolovich know O and have produced quality units. I liked Toler - such a classy family, but Cefalo seems pretty solid. Hoping to hear a good OL coaching addition.
Look, despite what plenty of folks think, I’m not advocating to fire Justin Wilcox for any reason other than his 23-43 conference record and the utter importance of Cal winning and remaining relevant in today’s landscape, where academics have unfortunately become less important, at least to the bottom line. If these minds add stability to the program and help Wilcox put an 8 or 9 win season on the board next year, fabulous.
Harris is leaving too?
I don't think it really had anything to do with it actually. Nando was very involved and was apparently supportive.