As for the DeRuyter comment, from the context you can tell the commenter is obviously referring to DC. He is comparing DeRuyter to their previous DC Avalos.
This year's Cal defense outperformed Oregun by a lot. Sans 4 & 5*s that includes a sure 1st round pick. Cal's defensive coaches and DC are just fine. Only knock on our DC is that he should, at times, be more aggressive. Perhaps he will be next year when the D isn't as young as this year's team.
Perhaps there will be more blitzing next year given these players will be more experienced. We will be breaking in 2 new safeties but they've already had some experience, which should help.
Sirmon actually did a really good job this year after a rough start. His defensive plan is about slowing down an opponent's offense and keeping them from making big plays. They want to limit red zone scoring to 3 points. Being aggressive and blitzing can work against you if you do it too much. As much as I love seeing blitzes, I think when you look at what Sirmon did this year, I would not ask him to change his program.
We blitzed plenty and were near the top of the conference in sacks. I'm just tired of all these whiners lamenting TDR when this year's defense was better than his with a lot less talent and a bunch of freshman. Our DL only gets better next year w/ the return of BJ. Perhaps even Bimage returns but that doesn't seem likely atm.
"Wilcox goes back to his roots and accepts the head coaching job at Oregon"......."Justin Wilcox accepts the DC position at Clemson and becomes the highest paid coordinator in football"....Sorry if those two fantasy headlines gets me far more excited than anything that came from the game Saturday night. I am a 35-year fan of Cal football, but I went to bed in the third quarter of the game. Never done that before. The misery index is going to continue for Cal fans as long has he stays. That win was just too ugly to be satisfying against the worst team USC has ever fielded.
I know Wilcox turned them down last time, but that's when times were basically normal. Now that Berkeley is buckling down on COVID (For safety so I respect it), it would be easy for Oregon to double Wilcox's salary. And Wilcox would have less COVID stresses on that level.
I think Wilcox will stay anyway, but its not completely out of the blue if he picks Oregon.
I think Wilcox would be gone in less than a second if they offered him. He was also basically a deer in the headlights kind of first year head coach back then and I'd bet he didnt feel ready, or felt he probably wouldnt get it so why create the friction with his current team by interviewing.
But, I would doubt there's any way in hell Oregon would want him right now with his record.
I mean, I'd go work for Oregon for twice my salary lol.
But also, I believe the consensus here isn't that Wilcox wouldn't go, it's that UO would want a proven winner. Wilcox would be like a Plan C cheap hire type of option for them.
There's a small part of me that thinks (or hopes) that he would stay here based on the reports he wants to build something and likes the low-key atmosphere here, but that may have partially been burned by the covid issue.
But I mainly think Oregon can afford a proven winner and will go out and buy one. Wilcox's stock has fallen too much these past two years (whether deserved or not).
What do you think Oregon thinks of themselves right now? As a stopgap to something better, or a solid program who anyone would be lucky to go to? They can find peace in uncertaintity if they want to go that route, but I imagine they want someone to stay for longer than a year or three.
I would imagine after U$C's power move they're going to go bold, and I don't think its a stretch they might think Chip Kelly is the answer, which is kid of the best of both worlds in that regard.
“I’m totally committed to _____ university bc they are high academic, blah blah, (unless coach hot shot goes elsewhere, then I’m totally following him).”
Should Oregun present a bona fide offer to Wilcox, he gone. Should it come to pass, he likely takes Sirmon with him. Then he should poach the Oregun State OL coach. He'll keep the current DL coach at Oregun. Who he hires as OC will be the question (hint: it won't be Musgrave).
Um, one little problem. Oregon State's head coach truly gets how to run a good offense. The O Line coach and the head coach are going to make each other look good for now and the future. It's too much of a risk for a guy like Michalczik to come over to a graveyard for offense for a few extra shekels.
I know there are rumors of Wilcox leaving for Oregon and that may not be a wild rumor. Wilcox made significant progress with our team his first three years at CAL and CAL is a tough place to run a program. COVID had a big impact on slowing progress down, especially when Wilcox brought in a new OC with a complicated system. We observed flashes of potential this year, but never seemed to put it all together. I do believe that next year, the continuity in Musgrave's system will pay dividends, whether Garbers comes back or one of the two younger QB's compete for the starting job. I would have to think if Milner is as sharp as Zach Johnson in running the offense and making the reads, that his talent gives him the edge in the competition. There are some unspoken things going on right now that NO ONE has articulated. Coach Wilcox's contract expires after the 2023 season. Without an extension for Wilcox recruits will not have a great sense of comfort with regards to Coach Wilcox's standing and future as the Head Coach of the CAL Football team. Bluntly, this will hurt our recruiting efforts. Thus, Knowlton needs to make a decision of whether to keep Wilcox and offer him an extension, or go a new direction with a new head coach. I'm sure Knowlton is in discussions right now with the wealthy alums, that underwrite the costs of the program, about what they want. Wilcox has not yet fully proven himself to be the savior of CAL football, but he has shown a real ability to motivate his kids and he has integrity that is hard to find today in the high stakes world of P5 coaches. My thinking is I would like to give him one more year at least, but put him in a position to recruit. Perhaps a contract extension with minimal penalties if he is fired and some performance based incentives would do the trick. The other thing is that despite what we think about his record at CAL, other schools understand what he has to deal with at CAL and many would hire him and give him a nice contract, maybe even Oregon. So, if we are going to keep him, we need to be competitive with our contract for him. Lastly, I think our problems started and ended with O-Line play this year. We have the horses up front to move bodies and protect the QB in passing situations. If I were Wilcox I would be reviewing the playbook with Musgrave to see if they can simplify the number of blocking techniques and schemes required with the goal of creating a friendlier system for Big Uglies who are not pro level talent. The second thing I would do is review film, in depth with Angus, and look at every player and the technique they were supposed to apply on every play. I would ask Angus how he plans to fix the problems. Without a solid plan from Angus, I would start looking for a new O-Line coach. Drawing x's and o's and determining blocking assignments is easy. Getting guys to be fundamentally sound in both technique and assignment responsibility is the hard part, and it's where we have been failing. These failures have kept our offense from playing up to it's potential and have to often meant our defense, as good as it was, spent way too much time on the field. That's my 2 cents.
Thanks for your measured and insightful comments. As a fan with minimal ability to see beyond immediate play results, I am always interested in your take on things. Your recent posts regarding our O line performances and foundational reasons for poorly executing in game time situations helps me see the bigger picture.
I can appreciate your suggestions that need to be made, but please, please no contract extension. He's got one more year to put an entertaining brand of football on the field and put butts back in the seats. If Coach Wilcox does not like that kind of pressure, let's see if he can make $3 million somewhere else. I refuse to believe that any other P5 school would hire him with a 15-25 conference record unless it was a D coordinator slot.
Not giving him an extension would put Cal football back years if we don't plan on replacing our coach immediately. Our 2023 recruiting would be at the G5 level.
They're getting a new stadium and they're flush with cash from their medical center. (while this is weird that the medical center is turning giant profits and they're using them to reinvest in football, this is the world we live in)
Also, it will be weeks of Wilcox going to Miami!!!! OMG, which will amount to nothing. Only way Oregon hires Wilcox is if their 1-5 choices all turn them down.
In his four full seasons Wilcox is at exactly .500. The questions is: is that enough of a sample size and if so do we then assume he'll never be more than a .500 coach and thus fire him? Or do we extend him because of the academic improvement , the respect he has earned and the potential we believe the program has under him? Or do we give him another year in which we expect eight or more regular seasons or we move on?
Oregon’s OC Moorhead already left to be head coach at Akron. Cristobal was going to have to replace him.
DTR is a star QB for UCLA.
As for the DeRuyter comment, from the context you can tell the commenter is obviously referring to DC. He is comparing DeRuyter to their previous DC Avalos.
I could see Wilcox beating Notre Dame and then losing to the other two.
Wither TDR?
This year's Cal defense outperformed Oregun by a lot. Sans 4 & 5*s that includes a sure 1st round pick. Cal's defensive coaches and DC are just fine. Only knock on our DC is that he should, at times, be more aggressive. Perhaps he will be next year when the D isn't as young as this year's team.
I am fine with Wilcox and his friends at D coaching positions, but I do miss a lot of blitzing from TDR defense.
Perhaps there will be more blitzing next year given these players will be more experienced. We will be breaking in 2 new safeties but they've already had some experience, which should help.
Sirmon actually did a really good job this year after a rough start. His defensive plan is about slowing down an opponent's offense and keeping them from making big plays. They want to limit red zone scoring to 3 points. Being aggressive and blitzing can work against you if you do it too much. As much as I love seeing blitzes, I think when you look at what Sirmon did this year, I would not ask him to change his program.
If we can pressure QB with 4 man rush that would be ideal
"hey, all your friends are throwing interceptions to the Cal DBs, you should do it too .Don't you want to be cool?"
We blitzed plenty and were near the top of the conference in sacks. I'm just tired of all these whiners lamenting TDR when this year's defense was better than his with a lot less talent and a bunch of freshman. Our DL only gets better next year w/ the return of BJ. Perhaps even Bimage returns but that doesn't seem likely atm.
And Deng back
PawlOski
just now
Be interesting to see if DeRuyter follows Cristobal or is a candidate to replace him.
Let's have Heyward go and poach KT. Boomage + KT on the ends = massive destruction.
There's no amount of selling Heyward could do to get Thibedeaux to come here and pass up on that first-round money.
Ok, stop bringing up reality. My kool-aid tastes great.
"Wilcox goes back to his roots and accepts the head coaching job at Oregon"......."Justin Wilcox accepts the DC position at Clemson and becomes the highest paid coordinator in football"....Sorry if those two fantasy headlines gets me far more excited than anything that came from the game Saturday night. I am a 35-year fan of Cal football, but I went to bed in the third quarter of the game. Never done that before. The misery index is going to continue for Cal fans as long has he stays. That win was just too ugly to be satisfying against the worst team USC has ever fielded.
I know Wilcox turned them down last time, but that's when times were basically normal. Now that Berkeley is buckling down on COVID (For safety so I respect it), it would be easy for Oregon to double Wilcox's salary. And Wilcox would have less COVID stresses on that level.
I think Wilcox will stay anyway, but its not completely out of the blue if he picks Oregon.
I think Wilcox would be gone in less than a second if they offered him. He was also basically a deer in the headlights kind of first year head coach back then and I'd bet he didnt feel ready, or felt he probably wouldnt get it so why create the friction with his current team by interviewing.
But, I would doubt there's any way in hell Oregon would want him right now with his record.
I mean, I'd go work for Oregon for twice my salary lol.
But also, I believe the consensus here isn't that Wilcox wouldn't go, it's that UO would want a proven winner. Wilcox would be like a Plan C cheap hire type of option for them.
There's a small part of me that thinks (or hopes) that he would stay here based on the reports he wants to build something and likes the low-key atmosphere here, but that may have partially been burned by the covid issue.
But I mainly think Oregon can afford a proven winner and will go out and buy one. Wilcox's stock has fallen too much these past two years (whether deserved or not).
I feel the same way.
What do you think Oregon thinks of themselves right now? As a stopgap to something better, or a solid program who anyone would be lucky to go to? They can find peace in uncertaintity if they want to go that route, but I imagine they want someone to stay for longer than a year or three.
I would imagine after U$C's power move they're going to go bold, and I don't think its a stretch they might think Chip Kelly is the answer, which is kid of the best of both worlds in that regard.
And Justyn Martin finds his new "dream school" in Eugene.....
5 star stud:
“I’m totally committed to _____ university bc they are high academic, blah blah, (unless coach hot shot goes elsewhere, then I’m totally following him).”
I guess it's possible one could have repressed childhood memories of dreaming of being a Duck one day, and a major shake-up could rattle them free
It's totally normal for academics to pick schools based on professors, don't know why athletes aren't allowed to.
Wilcox will be the name that gets floated so the fan base will more readily accept whoever they end up actually hiring. Like at UW.
i want TDR back
Why???? Cal's D was way better than Oregun's D this year!!!
Because he had such a smooth yet raspy voice at the same time
The foolish Irish made the bad move of scheduling Cal as a noncon game, which guarantees them a down season.
Should Oregun present a bona fide offer to Wilcox, he gone. Should it come to pass, he likely takes Sirmon with him. Then he should poach the Oregun State OL coach. He'll keep the current DL coach at Oregun. Who he hires as OC will be the question (hint: it won't be Musgrave).
Wilcox should poach the OSU OL coach even if he stays.
Um, one little problem. Oregon State's head coach truly gets how to run a good offense. The O Line coach and the head coach are going to make each other look good for now and the future. It's too much of a risk for a guy like Michalczik to come over to a graveyard for offense for a few extra shekels.
I say the head coach owns his baggage, be it Musgrave or anyone else. Some might say it would be a leap for Wilcox to make a competent OC hire.
I know there are rumors of Wilcox leaving for Oregon and that may not be a wild rumor. Wilcox made significant progress with our team his first three years at CAL and CAL is a tough place to run a program. COVID had a big impact on slowing progress down, especially when Wilcox brought in a new OC with a complicated system. We observed flashes of potential this year, but never seemed to put it all together. I do believe that next year, the continuity in Musgrave's system will pay dividends, whether Garbers comes back or one of the two younger QB's compete for the starting job. I would have to think if Milner is as sharp as Zach Johnson in running the offense and making the reads, that his talent gives him the edge in the competition. There are some unspoken things going on right now that NO ONE has articulated. Coach Wilcox's contract expires after the 2023 season. Without an extension for Wilcox recruits will not have a great sense of comfort with regards to Coach Wilcox's standing and future as the Head Coach of the CAL Football team. Bluntly, this will hurt our recruiting efforts. Thus, Knowlton needs to make a decision of whether to keep Wilcox and offer him an extension, or go a new direction with a new head coach. I'm sure Knowlton is in discussions right now with the wealthy alums, that underwrite the costs of the program, about what they want. Wilcox has not yet fully proven himself to be the savior of CAL football, but he has shown a real ability to motivate his kids and he has integrity that is hard to find today in the high stakes world of P5 coaches. My thinking is I would like to give him one more year at least, but put him in a position to recruit. Perhaps a contract extension with minimal penalties if he is fired and some performance based incentives would do the trick. The other thing is that despite what we think about his record at CAL, other schools understand what he has to deal with at CAL and many would hire him and give him a nice contract, maybe even Oregon. So, if we are going to keep him, we need to be competitive with our contract for him. Lastly, I think our problems started and ended with O-Line play this year. We have the horses up front to move bodies and protect the QB in passing situations. If I were Wilcox I would be reviewing the playbook with Musgrave to see if they can simplify the number of blocking techniques and schemes required with the goal of creating a friendlier system for Big Uglies who are not pro level talent. The second thing I would do is review film, in depth with Angus, and look at every player and the technique they were supposed to apply on every play. I would ask Angus how he plans to fix the problems. Without a solid plan from Angus, I would start looking for a new O-Line coach. Drawing x's and o's and determining blocking assignments is easy. Getting guys to be fundamentally sound in both technique and assignment responsibility is the hard part, and it's where we have been failing. These failures have kept our offense from playing up to it's potential and have to often meant our defense, as good as it was, spent way too much time on the field. That's my 2 cents.
Hi,
Thanks for your measured and insightful comments. As a fan with minimal ability to see beyond immediate play results, I am always interested in your take on things. Your recent posts regarding our O line performances and foundational reasons for poorly executing in game time situations helps me see the bigger picture.
Thanks s bunch!
I can appreciate your suggestions that need to be made, but please, please no contract extension. He's got one more year to put an entertaining brand of football on the field and put butts back in the seats. If Coach Wilcox does not like that kind of pressure, let's see if he can make $3 million somewhere else. I refuse to believe that any other P5 school would hire him with a 15-25 conference record unless it was a D coordinator slot.
Not giving him an extension would put Cal football back years if we don't plan on replacing our coach immediately. Our 2023 recruiting would be at the G5 level.
Shocking, Miami is in bad shape. They don’t get the type of institutional support or money as Oregon.
They're getting a new stadium and they're flush with cash from their medical center. (while this is weird that the medical center is turning giant profits and they're using them to reinvest in football, this is the world we live in)
I didn’t realize they were getting a new stadium and facilities. People would be shocked how old/poor Miami’s facilities are.
Also, it will be weeks of Wilcox going to Miami!!!! OMG, which will amount to nothing. Only way Oregon hires Wilcox is if their 1-5 choices all turn them down.
In his four full seasons Wilcox is at exactly .500. The questions is: is that enough of a sample size and if so do we then assume he'll never be more than a .500 coach and thus fire him? Or do we extend him because of the academic improvement , the respect he has earned and the potential we believe the program has under him? Or do we give him another year in which we expect eight or more regular seasons or we move on?
The academic improvement all happened under Dykes, Wilcox is just maintaining that (which is worthy of being recognized)
Can we poach any recruits that had planned to go to Oregon? How about a few in the transfer portal from USC?
Tedford is among the 6 candidates Wilner thinks Oregon should consider. That made me laugh.
All signs point to Tedford returning to Fresno State.