The typical strategy is hire someone familiar because it helps with trust and familiarity. Wrong Strategy. Hire the best you can and this coach is not the best - see the feedback on Harsin on Reddit..."a hold back to commit to Auborn was Harsin."
I wouldn't get that caught up in him flopping at Auburn. He had many years of success at Boise State; I doubt he all of a sudden became an idiot when he went to Auburn. Who knows why things didn't work there. I'd guess he'd be a major upgrade over what Cal has had this year. And if he's successful at Cal and jumps for another HC job down the road, you could say the same risk is there for any OC..
This guy doesn’t sound good to me. What I hear is that the players love the coaches, so I give them props for this. This hire looks like the antithesis and while we may need a shakeup to wake up the Bears, I don’t like this route. My 2 cents…
Dear Buddha, this would be another Wilcox hire that is doomed to mediocrity. A guy he "knows" and feels "comfortable" with. A guy with no interest at all in being a true Golden Bear and would bolt for his first shot at a HC gig again. This hire would only deepen the despondency of those of us who have withdrawn from Cal football fandom despite every fiber of our beings being Go Bears!
Honestly, CB91, IF, within the next calendar year they can:
a) terminate Knowlton, preferably with cause and save the $5M on a buyout; and,
b) cobble together at least another 6-6 season to make a 3rd consecutive bowl, there’s a pretty good chance you’re changing the direction of the program this time next season…
Absolutely. The potential and necessity of change is pretty simple at Cal. With simply better coaching we'd have won several more games this year. Beyond our issues at AD and HC, I have deeper concerns about the whole college football landscape until they possibly decide to impose salary caps and such on teams so there is some potential for equity among teams instead of seeing the same 12 fight it out every year. It's not that I doubt Cal has the alumni resources to compete with the SMU's of the world, but don't like that vision of college football.
Yup. It’s basically turning CFB into a minor league system. Academics are not even a factor, which makes Cal’s self-imposed 3.0 GPA req for incoming football recruits borderline absurd nowadays.
Oregon, SMU and Ohio State have higher payrolls than the A’s, Marlins and Rays, at least until Severino.
High than the As with that owner isn’t surprising. But it is still scary…I don’t like this age of CFB, but I’m a diehard and will keep pulling for my Bears in perpetuity…can’t give up hope.
My confidence in Wilcox remains at a low point. Harsin tried to make the jump to a P5 conference at Auburn and he crashed and burned.
Unfortunately, this also says nothing at all about the ability of Cal's sports admin to attract coaches who have a strong upside. An AD should be more than a fundraiser, although that skill is very important.
The first few years, I was really impressed with Wilcox's ability to bring in great coaches.
On paper, it looked like OC Baldwin and DC DeRuyter were amazing hires. Baldwin was a successful HC at EWU, and DeRuyter was a great DC with HC experience. He also brought in Azzinaro. Anyway, bringing Harsin as OC gives me the same feeling that I had when Wilcox took over Cal HC job. Impressive. However, with recent failures of Wilcox's coaches, I can't really trust Wilcox's buddy coaches anymore.
The Davis gig is a great opportunity for him and he's got them humming. Jumping back to Cal for a coordinator gig would not only be bad career move, it would also be a dick move. If he keeps it up at Davis he has a much greater path for a bigger HC job somewhere.
I guess it could be worse, it could be Hugh Freeze
Say what you like about Mr. Hooker-Hotline, but he's got some great recruiting ongoing.
Amazing how the that conference starts to struggle a little bit more once everyone can pay players now, and not just the SEC.
Remigio is playing in the Chiefs game tonight.
And getting Fresno State callouts from Tirico. Boo.
If we’re looking for a recruiter in the position, I know that was one of the rubs on him at Auburn.
Typical Wilcox hire…an underwhelming retread.
The typical strategy is hire someone familiar because it helps with trust and familiarity. Wrong Strategy. Hire the best you can and this coach is not the best - see the feedback on Harsin on Reddit..."a hold back to commit to Auborn was Harsin."
It reminds me a lot of the Musgrave hire, at least in many respects.
No up and comer is taking the coordinator position for a mediocre program with a lame duck coach.
No arguments there whatsoever. I said the same thing on another thread.
It’s also why this is likely an exercise in futility, as the program is basically just waiting to fire Wilcox.
You could honestly make an argument that Harsin is more qualified to be the head coach at Cal than Wilcox is.
No doubt, A79…think that is more like a statement of fact, no?
Wilcox is 20 games below .500 in conference…20. The fact that he is still employed in this day and age of CFB is laughably absurd.
I think Auburn's standard for a recruiter is very very different from ours.
Sorry, but the candidate from Auburn would be downgrade.
I wouldn't get that caught up in him flopping at Auburn. He had many years of success at Boise State; I doubt he all of a sudden became an idiot when he went to Auburn. Who knows why things didn't work there. I'd guess he'd be a major upgrade over what Cal has had this year. And if he's successful at Cal and jumps for another HC job down the road, you could say the same risk is there for any OC..
He could very easily jump to the Cal HC position in 2026 ;-)
The former-friends-of-Justin carousel continues to turn, lazily.
Yawn.
This does not please me.
This guy doesn’t sound good to me. What I hear is that the players love the coaches, so I give them props for this. This hire looks like the antithesis and while we may need a shakeup to wake up the Bears, I don’t like this route. My 2 cents…
Dear Buddha, this would be another Wilcox hire that is doomed to mediocrity. A guy he "knows" and feels "comfortable" with. A guy with no interest at all in being a true Golden Bear and would bolt for his first shot at a HC gig again. This hire would only deepen the despondency of those of us who have withdrawn from Cal football fandom despite every fiber of our beings being Go Bears!
Honestly, CB91, IF, within the next calendar year they can:
a) terminate Knowlton, preferably with cause and save the $5M on a buyout; and,
b) cobble together at least another 6-6 season to make a 3rd consecutive bowl, there’s a pretty good chance you’re changing the direction of the program this time next season…
Doable.
Absolutely. The potential and necessity of change is pretty simple at Cal. With simply better coaching we'd have won several more games this year. Beyond our issues at AD and HC, I have deeper concerns about the whole college football landscape until they possibly decide to impose salary caps and such on teams so there is some potential for equity among teams instead of seeing the same 12 fight it out every year. It's not that I doubt Cal has the alumni resources to compete with the SMU's of the world, but don't like that vision of college football.
Yup. It’s basically turning CFB into a minor league system. Academics are not even a factor, which makes Cal’s self-imposed 3.0 GPA req for incoming football recruits borderline absurd nowadays.
Oregon, SMU and Ohio State have higher payrolls than the A’s, Marlins and Rays, at least until Severino.
High than the As with that owner isn’t surprising. But it is still scary…I don’t like this age of CFB, but I’m a diehard and will keep pulling for my Bears in perpetuity…can’t give up hope.
My confidence in Wilcox remains at a low point. Harsin tried to make the jump to a P5 conference at Auburn and he crashed and burned.
Unfortunately, this also says nothing at all about the ability of Cal's sports admin to attract coaches who have a strong upside. An AD should be more than a fundraiser, although that skill is very important.
The first few years, I was really impressed with Wilcox's ability to bring in great coaches.
On paper, it looked like OC Baldwin and DC DeRuyter were amazing hires. Baldwin was a successful HC at EWU, and DeRuyter was a great DC with HC experience. He also brought in Azzinaro. Anyway, bringing Harsin as OC gives me the same feeling that I had when Wilcox took over Cal HC job. Impressive. However, with recent failures of Wilcox's coaches, I can't really trust Wilcox's buddy coaches anymore.
Can we snag the coach from Uc Davis?
Apparently word is he has ZERO desire to return to Cal in any capacity.
That says a lot about the coaching staff and lack of culture.
I thinks it's more that UC Davis is his alma mater and dream job.
The Davis gig is a great opportunity for him and he's got them humming. Jumping back to Cal for a coordinator gig would not only be bad career move, it would also be a dick move. If he keeps it up at Davis he has a much greater path for a bigger HC job somewhere.
bigger HC job being like Cal/Stanford or some Mountain West team?
Most likely G5 FBS HC then P4 HC.
Yes.
If he makes noise this year (as he is) and next, he’s probably a name to watch next year.
100% makes sense.
Which probably says as much about Knowlton *and* Cal's admin as it does about Wilcox.
I wish we knew how big a voice Knowlton actually has right now.
He wants to stay at Davis because that's where he played and graduated. He loves it there.
Not even as head coach?
Negative, Ghostrider.