I don't care the race or gender of a person, if they are qualified and the best candidate ~ I hire them. So, if an Asian woman was the best candidate to be Cal's head coach ~ she's hired.
That said, if I were the AD I would not hire a HC. I would hire a DC and OC. They can hire their assistants. For in-game management, I would hire a numbers guy that understands probabilities, the game, and the strengths of the team. S/he would make in-game decisions and would be accountable only to me.
I was talking with my boy, who is a sportswriter and fellow Cal alum. And we mused about the fact that Cal is held back by a number of things:
a. Old Old Blues...the white guys who couldn't give to shits about football versus our academic reputation.
b. Massive debt.
c. The fact that Cal has never hired a Black head coach in football.
d. Cal doesn't market itself well to the greater Bay Area, creating "BART Cal Alum" in the tradition of Subway ND fans.
e. ADs who lack imagination.
f. Fans who can't remember Cal football being consistently good.
g. The lack of land to keep up with the building and facilities race (even with the improvements)
h. Our half assed recruiting of local Bay Area schools. Cal gets the second and third tier recruits.
i. Not paying for top flight coaches and assistant coaches. See Point b.
I walked on the Cal campus in 1984 from Loyola High, where we were #1 in the country at one point. I couldn't understand why Cal football wasn't a behemoth as the flagship school, and I still don't understand why.
Might not hurt to have a black AD while we are at it. You and have both harped on point d in particular in the past. One measure that could help that would be a sustained outreach to area schools, involving the many black football and other area alumni, like Marshawn Lynch. Lots of empty seats to be filled at the moment.
1985 Cal 14, 'SC 6. SC had a first and goal at the 4 at the end of the game. They figured, hey it's just Cal, let's run it up middle a couple of times and we'll be fine. On 4th down , Hardy shot the gap, met the 'SC RB, stood him straight up and then threw him straight down. GAME OVER! Etched in my brain. Love Hardy. If I get a chance before the 'SC game, I'll look for his gathering and say hey to you guys.
If we could only have 124 years of Wyking's to match the mediocrity of the white coaches that preceded him (and followed him), then we'd have equality. But alas, his failure has to do half the representation (along with Cuonzo, the other Black coach).
Having a Wikipedia understanding of MLK isn't an understanding of how race works in this country. And if you believe that the uninterrupted line of white coaches at Cal were hired on the basis of their character and not their skin, I've got a Bay Bridge to sell you.
Which is crazy since, unfortunately black coaches tend to get their HC opportunity at poorly run programs or franchises like Cal.
I can only think of a handful of black HC that were hired to genuinely good CFB programs or NFL franchises that were considered “good” or coming off some success.
1. Mike Tomlin
2. Art Shell (this could be debatable)
3. Jimmy Lake
4. John Blake
That’s about all I can think of off the top of my head. I’m sure I’m missing some but not many.
With nearly 50% of college players in D1 being Black, less than 10% of the head coaches are Black. This goes back to them being marginalized as super recruiters or position coaches who never can get the head coaching position because of HELLA excuses: Alums. Fundraisers. etc.
It definitely is time for a black head coach. Why not? If they are always interviewing but never hired that's a red herring. When first arriving at Cal as a freshman I was struck by the lack of integration and the fact that blacks and whites pretty much stuck to their own groups, which coming from an integrated urban high school (catholic, too) I found strange.
Absolutely, Saturday saw one of the rarest sites to ever occur in a CFB game. Two black coaches coaching against each other when Maryland played Michigan State.
Mel Tucker was able to parlay his short stay at Colorado to a better job at MSU.
What about Herm Edwards? Ones that came up to my mind were Karl Dorrell at UCLA or Randy Shannon at Miami for good programs. Not sure about their reputation.
Funny that he twice mentioned that he loves working with the players and staff. Both times I expected him to also mention the department or administration, which standard coachspeak would require. But he didn’t.
Also, does the second person who mentions Ron Rivera also get a kick in the nuts?
If UW wants Wilcox, he's probably gone. Cal can't (i.e. won't) match UW's purse when it comes to football. Wilcox has done reasonably well here given the lack of depth/talent (at least some of which is his fault, sure), but with UW's roster and recruiting power, I think UW is back to contending for the P12 north.
For those who want to see Wilcox move on, whom (within reason) would you like to see as his replacement? DeBoer? Jay Norvell? They won't be easy to get. Perennial head coach replacement candidate Troy Taylor? First person to say "Ron Rivera" gets a kick in the nuts.
I cannot imagine why a high profile program like Washington would hire Wilcox. In fact, it boggles my mind. I have been watching Cal football for 35 years, and some of the biggest stink job games ever have come under his helm just in the last two years. This year, Washington State, TCU, Nevada, and Arizona.....last year, Oregon State, UCLA and Stanford. Wrong career arc, folks, for a man using his own players in years 4 and 5.
I like Norvell as a hire, and he would be the first black head coach at Cal. But I like Troy Taylor even better. The man is 14-1 in the Big Sky, considered the best FBS conference. I graduated from Sac State many years ago, and I can tell you the place does not brim with institutional support for the football program. Most people do not care. I certainly didn't when going there, and I never went to a game. Taylor has been a proven winner wherever he has gone, and I almost feel like his hiring would be destiny for long suffering Cal fans like myself.
DeBoer would be a viable candidate from the Tedford coaching tree (his OC & did wonders w/ the O in Bloomington), tho not sure how big a Berkeley fit he is. DeRuyter would probably pounce on the gig as well.
Don't mean to beat a dead horse here, and while he may be a solid HC up in Seattle eventually, hiring Justin Wilcox will be a real tough sell to the donors and fan base at UW.
From my limited online engagement with them, the UW fanbase seems to be impatient and somewhat delusional as to their program. Maybe it's overcorrecting for an inferiority complex having to compete with the Moneybags University of in Eugene, who knows.... but they (the fans) don't seem to want anything to do with Wilcox. They look at his record and think he's not good enough for them (with the Cal W's against them being a fluke).
As an aside, they just got rid of a defensive minded coach for no offense. For better or worse that's also Wilcox's reputation. Why would they want more of the same?
I checked out dawg pound and they are saying Wilcox might be the number one most likely candidate, but only 10th if the fan/viewership survey opinion is counted, e.g., he is not an exciting candidate as deemed by the fan base.
OL status is not good at all, not good. 2 starters out and the 2 deep is chock full of kids that have never played D1 ball. Stanfurd appears to be at full strength (as much as any team can at this point in the season).
This is setting up to be a much tougher game than anticipated. Cal struggles so much at OL even when all the lads are available. I must say, Craig is an injury prone dude.
I doubt UW wants a coach that has fallen off nearly as hard as Lake has. This is probably his agent fishing for an extension before Wilcox becomes a lame duck.
On that last point, does anyone know if Stanfurd will accept phone photos of vaccine cards for entry to Stanford or do they need to see the actual card?
He'd be a fool not to be interested frankly. I don't think the UW job is the greatest job. Even though the ceiling is higher, the expectations are probably a little higher there than they probably should be. Assuming he's not fired, his seat will be warmer next year. If you can bypass that, get a raise, and have greater support for the program and your assistants, it's hard to argue. If he was on the verge of something here, he might think differently. But it's hard to see next year being considerably different than what we've already seen here.
He should bolt if offered. OR, he bides his time until Crystoballs heads back down to FL and get the Oregun job. Wilcox at Oregun would dominate the PAC12 North.
I would love for this to happen. This would be my dream scenario but Wilcox would have to take Musgrave “home” with him.
Musgraves offense to Oregon would be the ultimate square peg in a round hole.
Wilcox taking Musgrave and changing Oregon into a pro style offense would be coaching malpractice to the highest degree and would probably get him fired faster than Lake.
Ya - it would be naive to think Cristobal to Miami is not completely in play, so Wilcox to OR is a much more viable option than UW right now, IMO...UW needs a splashy guy after the Peterson retirement & ho-hum in-house Jimmy Lake hire/disaster...Wilcox is not that. For all the Wilcox talk, Jonathan Smith is actually a more likely fit, regardless of what that boob Wilner says....he's arguably done a better job in Corvallis than JW has done at Cal, and had a longer tenure and more success in Seattle as UW OC/QB coach....he's a bigger splash as well.
Could be wrong, and have no problem admitting it if I am, but I just don't see JW as the big fish UW is going to want and need right now.
It might matter if you are successful. If Cal is your dream job, you stay. Otherwise Cal is just another step on the bigger paycheck/prestige/I want to go back to Texas/fill in any other reason ladder and you are gone.
That's a big plus, but at this point I will gladly take any success first. If he's successful enough that a bigger program hires him away, that means we had successful seasons.
I don't care the race or gender of a person, if they are qualified and the best candidate ~ I hire them. So, if an Asian woman was the best candidate to be Cal's head coach ~ she's hired.
That said, if I were the AD I would not hire a HC. I would hire a DC and OC. They can hire their assistants. For in-game management, I would hire a numbers guy that understands probabilities, the game, and the strengths of the team. S/he would make in-game decisions and would be accountable only to me.
Aren't you glad I'm not the AD??
Andy Buh for Wilcox replacement if he leaves
damn I wanted him fired but now that other schools want him, I want him to stay
We don't actually know for sure that other schools want him. Wilner opined that they did, but who knows for sure. It's all speculation.
I was talking with my boy, who is a sportswriter and fellow Cal alum. And we mused about the fact that Cal is held back by a number of things:
a. Old Old Blues...the white guys who couldn't give to shits about football versus our academic reputation.
b. Massive debt.
c. The fact that Cal has never hired a Black head coach in football.
d. Cal doesn't market itself well to the greater Bay Area, creating "BART Cal Alum" in the tradition of Subway ND fans.
e. ADs who lack imagination.
f. Fans who can't remember Cal football being consistently good.
g. The lack of land to keep up with the building and facilities race (even with the improvements)
h. Our half assed recruiting of local Bay Area schools. Cal gets the second and third tier recruits.
i. Not paying for top flight coaches and assistant coaches. See Point b.
I walked on the Cal campus in 1984 from Loyola High, where we were #1 in the country at one point. I couldn't understand why Cal football wasn't a behemoth as the flagship school, and I still don't understand why.
Might not hurt to have a black AD while we are at it. You and have both harped on point d in particular in the past. One measure that could help that would be a sustained outreach to area schools, involving the many black football and other area alumni, like Marshawn Lynch. Lots of empty seats to be filled at the moment.
Cal apparently had Marvin Lewis as #1 on their list, but he turned them down and #2 was Jeff Tedford. Jay Norvell might be a good choice for HC.
also I hope you're at the big game tailgate you seem like a dope person
I MIGHT. Hardy Nickerson is organizing a Black alumni meet up before the game, so I may fly up.
Oops, that's for the 'SC game.
1985 Cal 14, 'SC 6. SC had a first and goal at the 4 at the end of the game. They figured, hey it's just Cal, let's run it up middle a couple of times and we'll be fine. On 4th down , Hardy shot the gap, met the 'SC RB, stood him straight up and then threw him straight down. GAME OVER! Etched in my brain. Love Hardy. If I get a chance before the 'SC game, I'll look for his gathering and say hey to you guys.
Point H. Enough said
I find it crazy that Cal has never hired a black coach.
Maybe because hiring should be done on the content of one's character rather than the color of their skin. How did Wyking turn out for us???
So 124 years of Cal football white men have always had the superior character? Got it.
If we could only have 124 years of Wyking's to match the mediocrity of the white coaches that preceded him (and followed him), then we'd have equality. But alas, his failure has to do half the representation (along with Cuonzo, the other Black coach).
Having a Wikipedia understanding of MLK isn't an understanding of how race works in this country. And if you believe that the uninterrupted line of white coaches at Cal were hired on the basis of their character and not their skin, I've got a Bay Bridge to sell you.
Damn "Katrina Johnson" is gonna make alpha take off the kid gloves
LOL! I'm trying to get right with God for 2022, so I'll stay cool. LOL
Tell’em why you mad Alpha! Also, it isn’t 2022 yet so get it all out before gettin good with God.
They've always interviewed...never been hired.
Which is crazy since, unfortunately black coaches tend to get their HC opportunity at poorly run programs or franchises like Cal.
I can only think of a handful of black HC that were hired to genuinely good CFB programs or NFL franchises that were considered “good” or coming off some success.
1. Mike Tomlin
2. Art Shell (this could be debatable)
3. Jimmy Lake
4. John Blake
That’s about all I can think of off the top of my head. I’m sure I’m missing some but not many.
With nearly 50% of college players in D1 being Black, less than 10% of the head coaches are Black. This goes back to them being marginalized as super recruiters or position coaches who never can get the head coaching position because of HELLA excuses: Alums. Fundraisers. etc.
It definitely is time for a black head coach. Why not? If they are always interviewing but never hired that's a red herring. When first arriving at Cal as a freshman I was struck by the lack of integration and the fact that blacks and whites pretty much stuck to their own groups, which coming from an integrated urban high school (catholic, too) I found strange.
Absolutely, Saturday saw one of the rarest sites to ever occur in a CFB game. Two black coaches coaching against each other when Maryland played Michigan State.
Mel Tucker was able to parlay his short stay at Colorado to a better job at MSU.
And with a win Saturday, he could ride that wave all the way down to the SEC...
What about Herm Edwards? Ones that came up to my mind were Karl Dorrell at UCLA or Randy Shannon at Miami for good programs. Not sure about their reputation.
Charlie Strong at Texas
James Franklin at Penn State
Those were the ones that came up off the top but you’re right about Randy Shannon and Karl Dorrell.
When you refer to Herm, are you talking about his NFL HC job or ASU?
NFL
Didn't mean Cal. Loyola High School was #1 in the nation via USA Today.
Funny that he twice mentioned that he loves working with the players and staff. Both times I expected him to also mention the department or administration, which standard coachspeak would require. But he didn’t.
Also, does the second person who mentions Ron Rivera also get a kick in the nuts?
If UW wants Wilcox, he's probably gone. Cal can't (i.e. won't) match UW's purse when it comes to football. Wilcox has done reasonably well here given the lack of depth/talent (at least some of which is his fault, sure), but with UW's roster and recruiting power, I think UW is back to contending for the P12 north.
For those who want to see Wilcox move on, whom (within reason) would you like to see as his replacement? DeBoer? Jay Norvell? They won't be easy to get. Perennial head coach replacement candidate Troy Taylor? First person to say "Ron Rivera" gets a kick in the nuts.
I cannot imagine why a high profile program like Washington would hire Wilcox. In fact, it boggles my mind. I have been watching Cal football for 35 years, and some of the biggest stink job games ever have come under his helm just in the last two years. This year, Washington State, TCU, Nevada, and Arizona.....last year, Oregon State, UCLA and Stanford. Wrong career arc, folks, for a man using his own players in years 4 and 5.
I like Norvell as a hire, and he would be the first black head coach at Cal. But I like Troy Taylor even better. The man is 14-1 in the Big Sky, considered the best FBS conference. I graduated from Sac State many years ago, and I can tell you the place does not brim with institutional support for the football program. Most people do not care. I certainly didn't when going there, and I never went to a game. Taylor has been a proven winner wherever he has gone, and I almost feel like his hiring would be destiny for long suffering Cal fans like myself.
DeBoer would be a viable candidate from the Tedford coaching tree (his OC & did wonders w/ the O in Bloomington), tho not sure how big a Berkeley fit he is. DeRuyter would probably pounce on the gig as well.
Don't mean to beat a dead horse here, and while he may be a solid HC up in Seattle eventually, hiring Justin Wilcox will be a real tough sell to the donors and fan base at UW.
From my limited online engagement with them, the UW fanbase seems to be impatient and somewhat delusional as to their program. Maybe it's overcorrecting for an inferiority complex having to compete with the Moneybags University of in Eugene, who knows.... but they (the fans) don't seem to want anything to do with Wilcox. They look at his record and think he's not good enough for them (with the Cal W's against them being a fluke).
As an aside, they just got rid of a defensive minded coach for no offense. For better or worse that's also Wilcox's reputation. Why would they want more of the same?
I checked out dawg pound and they are saying Wilcox might be the number one most likely candidate, but only 10th if the fan/viewership survey opinion is counted, e.g., he is not an exciting candidate as deemed by the fan base.
Why not riverboat Ron?
It's just such a ridiculous suggestion. He's making $7M a year in the NFL. Usually the same folks who think we can hire Jason Kidd to coach MBB.
*kick*
How did that kick in the crotch feel? -- asking for a friend
Ouch.
Cal football!
Or ovaries. I don't discriminate.
OL status is not good at all, not good. 2 starters out and the 2 deep is chock full of kids that have never played D1 ball. Stanfurd appears to be at full strength (as much as any team can at this point in the season).
This is setting up to be a much tougher game than anticipated. Cal struggles so much at OL even when all the lads are available. I must say, Craig is an injury prone dude.
Sadly, it's tough not to saddle Will with that label...the Granite Bay native had trouble staying on the field consistently.
Yep, without the full starting OL crew we are at a disadvantage. Hopefully they will do better than during the last game. We need that running game.
I doubt UW wants a coach that has fallen off nearly as hard as Lake has. This is probably his agent fishing for an extension before Wilcox becomes a lame duck.
On that last point, does anyone know if Stanfurd will accept phone photos of vaccine cards for entry to Stanford or do they need to see the actual card?
You should also be able to get a QR code from California Dept of Public Health delivered to your phone (android or iPhone).
Go to https://myvaccinerecord.cdph.ca.gov to get started.
Yeah what else is he supposed to say. I have no idea but even if he's interested in UW Job he knows the right things to say.
He'd be a fool not to be interested frankly. I don't think the UW job is the greatest job. Even though the ceiling is higher, the expectations are probably a little higher there than they probably should be. Assuming he's not fired, his seat will be warmer next year. If you can bypass that, get a raise, and have greater support for the program and your assistants, it's hard to argue. If he was on the verge of something here, he might think differently. But it's hard to see next year being considerably different than what we've already seen here.
He should bolt if offered. OR, he bides his time until Crystoballs heads back down to FL and get the Oregun job. Wilcox at Oregun would dominate the PAC12 North.
Wilcox at Oregon would probably be his dream job, and Sirmon's, and Musgrave's.
I would love for this to happen. This would be my dream scenario but Wilcox would have to take Musgrave “home” with him.
Musgraves offense to Oregon would be the ultimate square peg in a round hole.
Wilcox taking Musgrave and changing Oregon into a pro style offense would be coaching malpractice to the highest degree and would probably get him fired faster than Lake.
Ya - it would be naive to think Cristobal to Miami is not completely in play, so Wilcox to OR is a much more viable option than UW right now, IMO...UW needs a splashy guy after the Peterson retirement & ho-hum in-house Jimmy Lake hire/disaster...Wilcox is not that. For all the Wilcox talk, Jonathan Smith is actually a more likely fit, regardless of what that boob Wilner says....he's arguably done a better job in Corvallis than JW has done at Cal, and had a longer tenure and more success in Seattle as UW OC/QB coach....he's a bigger splash as well.
Could be wrong, and have no problem admitting it if I am, but I just don't see JW as the big fish UW is going to want and need right now.
I agree, Udub will want to go for a bigger fish than Wilcox. Wilner, as far as I know, started the rumor, which national media followed.
Not much of a rumor. It's pretty blatant.
Petersen
Sczemantixx
Tre Watson and Keith Heyward both coached at Oregon before Cal.
Willcox, Sirmon, and Musgrave are all former Oregon players.
He's not saying he is uninterested in the job.
Count me in on the Troy Taylor bandwagon! GO BEARS!
I would rather hire Kalen DeBoer. Kalen DeBoer has FBS HC experience and is 6 years younger. Does the Cal Alumni factor really matter that much?
It might matter if you are successful. If Cal is your dream job, you stay. Otherwise Cal is just another step on the bigger paycheck/prestige/I want to go back to Texas/fill in any other reason ladder and you are gone.
That's a big plus, but at this point I will gladly take any success first. If he's successful enough that a bigger program hires him away, that means we had successful seasons.