74 Comments

Hi. I am new here. (not really) But anyway, the importance of the DC pales in comparison to the importance of the OC when the HC is a defensive guy. I didn't want TheRooter to go, but still I view this as a win based on dude's recruiting and success with DBs. All that matters is if Musgrave can get this offense to score 25-30 points a game and if we have a country left after Covid and her cousins run train on us.

Expand full comment

Jpark: You are right. I forgot myself by suggesting that Heyward should have pulled a Tosh and brought Cardwell with him. College football recruiting is sleazy enough so we don't need to replicate what other programs might be doing. The bottom line is that Cal is an amazing place all on its own. If recruits don't want to be a part of it aside from sports, then they really do belong somewhere else. Thanks for reminding me what is important. GoldenBear88.

Expand full comment

I really expect this to be a net positive for us. I don't see our play calling or coaching to downgrade given Wilcox and Sirmon, and our recruiting will be improved. Call me positive on this.

Expand full comment

The line on our turnover differential shall now be called the Heyward Fault Line

Expand full comment

This is good. Im gonna steal this for football season, credit you of course.

Expand full comment

I declare this as a win for the Bears!! College football is all about recruiting. Hell I spend more time looking at the recruiting pages than I do actual games. Yeah yeah only 4 games this year. So it doesn't really matter which position group he ends up coaching as long as he brings in some blue chip DB's. Even with GA we didn't land any so this chap just may be the ticket. And whatever "title" he gets is to qualify for the pay scale, nuttin new there.

Go Bears!!

Expand full comment

How do you know we will only play 4 games this year?

Expand full comment

errrr, I meant last year. I haven't adjusted to the new year yet.

Expand full comment

haha ok. But then why bring up last year when talking about what position group Heyward is going to coach?

Expand full comment

Why is there no gif of Wilcox licking his lips?? No, it does not get old!

Expand full comment

The only thing I like about the change to Substack is that nobody can post that gif

Expand full comment

Yeah but I don’t have to click it

Expand full comment

You should click it to see what it is.

Expand full comment

I've never been sold on Yates as a DB guy, and Heyward has the body of work to prove he knows what he's doing.

My hope would be Heyward as passing game coordinator/safeties/recruiting coordinator, Yates as CBs, and Sirmon taking all LBs.

Expand full comment
Comment removed
Jan 27, 2021
Comment removed
Expand full comment

many

Expand full comment

Welp speaking of Oregon...they just landed Cardwell

Expand full comment

So we didn’t get a single RB I’m this cycle. Great!

Expand full comment

Seems like we have enough running backs, though we lack breakaway speed at the position.

Expand full comment

As long as the portal don’t taketh

Expand full comment

:'(

Expand full comment

Lurking on his twitter feed, no news yet. He did land Jevon Holland from O'Dowd (and we didn't).

Expand full comment

I can say, with complete certainty, that this will turn out to be either an inspired, average, or poor hire.

Expand full comment

Welcome Coach Heyward! Nice Hire Coach Wilcox. As much as I really like DeRuyter, he was not much of a recruiter.

Expand full comment

[Oiled Up Sax Player from The Lost Boys.gif]

Expand full comment

Cal fans: Tell me if I'm wrong but I'm having trouble seeing this as a win. We swapped DC's with a program that played LOUSY defense this year. Was Oregon's defense this year a COVID-hiccup or should we worry? God forbid that we go back to the era of Sonny Dykes defenses that couldn't stop a sneeze. Football gods, pray for us.

Expand full comment

Upgrade in recruiting which we need desperately. Lost another big offensive recruiting battle today. Offense needs talent badly.

Expand full comment

He didn’t call plays. That was Avalos. Plus their safeties are all nfl caliber and have been the last few years.m. And now you have a proven top P5 recruiter who also has proved he can coach DBs. AND has a grudge against Oregon for not considering him for the open job. This is a massive win.

Expand full comment

Agreed. Look, it sucks DeRuyter left, but he did. To fill gaps we just got a very good coach and a great recruiter. Coaches move around and you make the best of it. I’d say we did pretty well given the people we have on staff, etc.

Expand full comment

We didn't swap DC's. Sirmon has been our actual DC. He called the plays during games. Avalos was the DC at Oregon. Titles are meaningless in this situation.

Expand full comment

Were they lousy? They have up about 2 more pts per game than cal with usc and iowa st on their schedule. Plus oregons had one of the best D's in the conf the previous 2 years.

Expand full comment

We're getting a Tosh level recruiter in this trade

Expand full comment

Some recruiter....We just lost Byron Cardwell (who we have been recruiting since he was a freshman) to his former employer. The bad mojo for all things related to Cal Football continues.....Somebody perform an exorcism NOW!

Expand full comment

Oh I'm sorry but was Heyward on our staff while we were recruiting Cardwell? NO? See how easy that was to deduce? Man you are the worst type of whiny-the-sky-is-falling Cal fan. I hope to never run into you at a game.

Expand full comment

I'll be easy to find. I'm the guy in the Oski suit. Come and do your worst!

Expand full comment

He recreated Cardwell to Oregon before he left, it was his parting gift to the Ducks.

Expand full comment

GoldenSD81: If what you are saying is true, then something is very wrong. The big reason Cal was so devastated by the Tosh defection many years ago is because he took one of the all time great college linebackers (Shaq Thompson) with him to UDUB where he absolutely TERRORIZED Cal during his time there. If this new guy actually recruited Cardwell (but decided to LEAVE HIM AT OREGON?!?!?!?!?), then that will come back to haunt us in the years ahead.

Expand full comment

It wasn’t just Shaq, it was Arik Armstead and, IIRC, two other top recruits. It devastated our defensive class just days before LOI day.

Expand full comment

Wait, so are you saying he should have pulled a Tosh and sabotaged the Ducks' class?

Expand full comment

he was not Cardwell's primary or secondary recruiter. If anything he maybe was on a group call with Cardwell.

Expand full comment

First of all, I don’t believe that is true.

Second of all, that would be the exact opposite of what Tosh did to Cal.

Expand full comment
Comment removed
Jan 27, 2021
Comment removed
Expand full comment
Comment removed
Jan 26, 2021
Comment removed
Expand full comment

It really depends - but often times coaches split responsibilities by geography AND by position/side of ball. So someone like Charles Ragle obviously would recruit an Arizona player, but he would tag team with someone like Burl Toler if it was a wideout. And then a lot would depend on who the recruit connected better with.

So the answer is - it changes for every recruit.

Expand full comment

If that's the case then we are screwed! He will jump ship for the first program that doubles his salary (and since he's coming from Cal that won't be hard). Sigh......

Expand full comment

Maybe we should only hire coaches that are proven to suck, so nobody will poach them. I think Buddy Teevens and Walt Harris are available; Knowlton should give them a call.

Expand full comment

HA,HA,HA!!!!

Expand full comment

We will still hopefully recruit some Thibodeaux- and JuJu-levels of talent in the short time that he's here and hope that we can elevate the program well enough to get a good replacement then.

Expand full comment
Comment removed
Jan 25, 2021
Comment removed
Expand full comment

Comment on my article without actually reading it?? Appreciate the click.

Expand full comment

All you do is post click bait articles with no actual facts.

Expand full comment

Damn it you got me. My real article about us hiring Darrius Heyward-Bey and Jason Heyward will be up on TMZ.

Expand full comment

I came to this article to find out Heyward's height, weight, 40 yard time, and if he's a 4 star recruit. But NONE OF THAT was included in here. I am considering asking for my money back.

Expand full comment

Send a raven to TwistNHook in Moraga. He's good for the money.

Expand full comment

For as much as you enjoy reading other sites, you might find the answer to your question if you read this site.

Expand full comment

It’s literally in the article. Like literally I wrote names.

Expand full comment

But you didn't say it "with authority." Unless you use bold fonts, GB49 doesn't think it's said with authority.

Expand full comment

Yeah but did you update Heywards Wikipedia page and then post a link to his Wikipedia page?

Expand full comment

reading is hard

Expand full comment

It has been widely reported that Heyward landed Thibodeaux at Oregon and Smith-Shuster at USC.

Expand full comment
Comment removed
Jan 25, 2021
Comment removed
Expand full comment
Comment removed
Jan 25, 2021
Comment removed
Expand full comment

Hmmm...his wiki page now says he is defensive coordinator at Cal.

Expand full comment

Looks like a very sloppy edit. Should have wrote University of California to be consistent with the rest of the paragraph.

Expand full comment

AFAIK no official announcement yet

Expand full comment

I'm guessing with the Wilcox-Sirmon braintrust, they'll focus on gameplanning and playcalling; this hire is more for the recruiting.

Expand full comment

I think this starts with recruiting but there has to have been conversations of fast tracking him to becoming a play caller. Otherwise this is very much a lateral move with the same career projection.

Expand full comment

I feel like he'll be short-lived anyway. If he's nearly as good of a recruiter as Duck fans are saying he is, he's gonna get poached in a few years anyhow.

Expand full comment

So we make the most of him and his talents while we can, and hopefully he likes it here!

Expand full comment

This could be a terrific outcome to some less than positive recent news.

Expand full comment

Exactly...mitigation.

Expand full comment
Comment removed
Jan 27, 2021
Comment removed
Expand full comment

Oregon has split CB and S duties between coaches, and its turned out pretty well for them. We also had that split under Coach Dykes.

Expand full comment

I'm sure one will end up as LB coach , especially since our current LB coach also has a role as DC. That being said, remember just a few years ago we had DE coach and DT coach? and then right after that a safety coach and a cornerbacks coach? It's not that rare and not sure what is so puzzling about it.

Expand full comment

yup. pretty simple someone will move. my bet is on either Yates moving down to LBs, which he coached at Arizona and a kid named Colin Schooler OR Heyward teaches a new position with the help of Sirmon, since they'll most likely be Co-DC and teach their group in tandem.

Expand full comment