Tightwad Hill

OUR EARLY PICK FOR OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR

In the hours since we posted that Mike Dunbar has left Cal for the land of 10,000 lakes, we've thought long and hard about who would be the best choice to replace him. And we've come to a pretty firm opinion that we'd like to share with Coach Tedford, his staff and the Golden Bear Nation. The best choice to be the new offensive coordinator at Cal is:

Let's drop the pretense. Tedford is a great - not good, great - offensive coach. Why filter that asset through an established OC who a) probably isn't as terrific as Tedford and b) would inevitably have at least slightly different ideas than the boss about play selection, general philosophy and the like? Tedford is willing to defer to his coaches to an extent - the Bears play Bob Gregory's defense, not Tedford's - but when it comes to offense JT has shown that he runs the show.

Now, it makes little sense to literally give Tedford the OC title. He needs someone to literally call the plays in line with Cal's scheme and...well...coordinate things. For all his offensive prowess, Tedford has also demonstrated the administrative abilities necessary to run a successful program. Graduation rates are up, staff morale has been pretty good, and the team is almost always prepared to play. This isn't to suggest that Tedford couldn't handle both roles - a certain head coach in Los Angeles has had quite a bit of success wearing a coordinator's hat. But it's a risk, and we'd prefer not to add new burdens to our workaholic head man.

Based on history, it would seem that an established coordinator isn't likely to be comfortable running Tedford's offense. George Cortez worked for a while because he was content to stay in the background and focus on offensive execution. But even Cortez eventually left. All the speculation about OC's at other schools (or former OCs' like Tom Cable - who by the by is probably going to wind up in Westwood) is pointless, in our view. History suggests that Cal would be back in this same position a couple of years later.

We need a coordinator who can work with Tedford, implement his schemes and be satisfied with such. This last criteria suggests a position coach, as opposed to a coordinator making a horizontal move. The first criteria suggests someone who has a track record and comfort level with JT. Put together, it seems to us that this is the perfect moment to promote Ron Gould.

Gould is the only staff holdover from the Tom Holmoe era, and has done an outstanding job working with Cal's running backs during his career. He's also an important part of Cal's recruiting effort. Gould would certainly welcome the promotion, and we're sure he'd be up to wearing both hats for a time. Tedford could bring in another staff member - an ace recruiter, perhaps? - to assist with the backs, if necessary.

Any other ideas?

posted by Tightwad @ 11:50 AM