37 Comments

Who is 'furds OL coach? He seems pretty good and has recruited some good OL.

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Troy Taylor to furd would be devastating on so many levels.

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So is Ron Gould available?

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Yes, but as what? OC? AT seems fine as RB coach.

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If I’m Jaden Ott and Gould will coach me, no way I’d leave Berkeley.

New OC will probably want bring in a new O staff, so I’d expect turnover anyway.

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That's true but also there's risk of changing his position coach to give him reason for transferring too.

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That's true

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Well we know that Gould was retained during HC change which is really rare. He was the only assistant who Tedford retained. He also went through all the OC changes but stayed because he was so good. Cortez, Dunbar, Cignetti, Ludwig, Michalczik.

Thompson came with Musgrave. Our RB coach under Baldwin was Baldwin and Edwards.

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Evidence? Why do you think AT could be better?

As RB coach, Gould has coached nine RB's who were drafted by the NFL: Tarik Smith, Adimchinobe Echemandu, J.J. Arrington, Marshawn Lynch, Justin Forsett, Jahvid Best, Shane Vereen, and Bryce Love. Not even counting C.J. Anderson, who was signed as free agent and won a super bowl and played in another.

Thompson has zero. Yes, the running backs at Cal Poly were generally successful during his tenure, getting conference and occasional national FCS honors.

But if you're a stud high school running back, who would you rather have as your coach?

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No, AT is not better than Gould.

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Wow. Oregon OC vacancy. Stanford vacancy. Colorado vacancy. ASU vacancies.

Does not give me hope for a home run OC hire…

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Nov 28, 2022·edited Nov 28, 2022

Dillingham to ASU was a lock when they fired Herm, unfortunately. Dude’s from Phoenix, went to ASU, coached at ASU, and parlayed the Oregon OC into a P12 job…nice movement up the ladder…now can he recruit away from Florida State/Oregon brands…

Colorado is a tough job - who knows what happens there.

Was Wilcox EVER gonna make the HR hire though? He doesn’t do that flashy schitt. Tho flashy is needed…if he goes after another veteran married to the pro style offense, he’s do9med because he can’t recruit the bodies needed. Gimmick O needed!

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"if he goes after another veteran married to the pro style offense"

I physically cringed reading that line

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They have a co-oc in junior adams. itll probably be him and you hire a new qb coach.

I had adams on my shortlist for cal oc but that ship has now sailed with dillingham leaving.

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I bet one of them will go after Troy Taylor.

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While Cal is busy letting Wilcox try reboot 3.0 and Wilcox is offering Troy Taylor the OC position, Stanford is going to hire Troy Taylor as their HC.

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Nov 27, 2022·edited Nov 27, 2022

I didn't want to speak this into existence but it was my first thought. Furd is still within Taylor's (presumed) preferred geographic area.

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We’ll see.

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My thought exactly

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It seems like both Stanford and Cal are at a fork in the road.

With NIL and focus on enhancing the football culture even more at traditional power schools it seems like the schools in the Bay Area are being left behind. Both campuses have had years to pretend that athletics were important but have let their fanbases shrivel whilst they cashed revenue-sharing checks from TV money which in effect, underwrote both the revenue sports and the non-revenue sports.

But the administrations of both schools by their actions have avoided giving anything more than lukewarm support to their athletic departments which makes the goal of "winning" more difficult, or even actively eschewed at places like Cal and Stanford with their academic traditions.

Even the value of a degree from either institution is increasingly going to be minimized when compared with NIL money, so that recruiting selling point becomes much weaker.

In effect, since the priority is not about winning but about something else is that an approach that can even be sustained? Without the guaranteed TV money neither program would be tenable, especially Cal, which lacks the enormous endowment of Stanford.

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Are you listening Mark Fox?

Wilcox?

AD Knowlton?

Do the honorable thing.

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Buried in the most recent Knowlton Notes: "On the men’s basketball front, we haven’t met expectations so far this year and nobody is more frustrated than Coach Fox and I. Our student-athletes continue to battle and work hard every single day." This may sound familiar to anyone who has written Knowlton about the basketball program in the past two years, as you undoubtedly got the same response, word-for-word. I'd also love to know what "expectations"? I don't think there are any besides keep whatever is left of Cal fandom quiet and off my back.

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Nov 27, 2022·edited Nov 27, 2022

Stanford is so opaque about their football program that it genuinely is a challenge to discern between stepped down and fired. I don't look forward to them being good again if they make a good hire.

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Despite recent changes in circumstances, David Shaw is a brilliant and aware person. He made a tough decision for he University that was obvious.

How Stanford handles this will have effects across the conference, one way or another.

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Will Stanford commit to a big salary package for someone outside the fold of the Farm? Shaw was an insider having played there. What Stanford does in the age of NIL will reveal how much they value winning and staying atop the Pac-12. If they do hire Troy Taylor it will make Cal look ridiculous. I mean they already hired Ron Gould, former Tedford running backs coach....even though his luster may have faded a bit since the time he coached Cal's backs.

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I agree with all this.

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Might they be interested in Wilcox? On a more serious note, I read that Willie Taggart got fired from FAU and he might be a fit.

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Nov 27, 2022·edited Nov 27, 2022

Seems unlikely. Stanford can do better. Taggart has had two consecutive bad HC stints that went nowhere. He's also not really in the Stanford mold.

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Taggart is horrid.

Taylor to The Farm is very much in play.

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They’d maybe be interested in Troy Taylor…

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If they do, Bob becomes a Furd fan.

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Heh

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If they get Troy Taylor, that will be the most Knowlton outcome ever.

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Ever. Jim Knowlton…height of incompetence.

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Don’t say it!

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Nov 28, 2022·edited Nov 28, 2022

There’s zero chance of Deion.

Keep your eye on Jim Leonhard.

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Nov 28, 2022·edited Nov 28, 2022

CBS Sports:

https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/wisconsin-hires-luke-fickell-badgers-make-splash-luring-cincinnati-coach-with-deep-big-ten-ties/

ESPN and The Athletic reporting Fickell is expected to be named Wisconsin’s Head Coach. We’ll see…I buy Fickell to Madison though, now that Nebraska went with Rhule.

Nebraska had eyes on Leonhard - Badgers did not want that, and Chryst’s O had stagnated. They gave Jim a shot, though honestly, it sounds like they kinda did Leonhard dirty…

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