Well, Alamar haters got what they wanted a couple months back and now Gregory haters can join in the reveling. Via calbears.com:

Bob Gregory will depart Cal to join the Boise State coaching staff as a defensive assistant, head coach Jeff Tedford announced Wednesday. Gregory spent eight seasons as Cal’s defensive coordinator and was one of the original hires made by Tedford upon his arrival at Cal in 2002.

A national search for a replacement will begin immediately.

Pretty surprising news for a few reasons. For one, Gregory is taking a serious demotion, from DC at a BCS school to a position coach (word is he’s going to be the linebacker coach) at a WAC/non-BCS school (admittedly BSU is a “special” non-BCS school, but still). Secondly, the timing is somewhat odd, being so late in the post-bowl, pre-spring ball off-season.

My guess is that Tedford told Gregory that he wanted to make a change at DC but that he liked him too much to fire him and asked him to go find a new job. Gregory started shaking the trees and found less interest than he would like. But, instead of insulting his old friend by not leaving, he took a demotion to a position that’ll give him a big upside down the road.

In other words, as always, the Cal coaching staff acted with class.

Update at 2:02 PM: Okanes caught up with Tedford and he indicates that it was entirely Gregory’s decision:

(Tedford) emphasized that this was strictly Gregory’s decision and that he wanted Gregory back as defensive coordinator. Tedford said Gregory is making the move to lighten his workload to spend more time with his two young boys. He said Gregory’s priorities have changed and has decided to focus more on his family. Not being a coordinator will allow him to do that.

Of course the classy thing to do when you’ve asked your defensive coordinator to find another job so that you don’t have to fire him is to NEVER tell anyone. Otherwise, what’s the point? But for what it’s worth, that’s what Tedford is saying.

To add to the “we knew this was coming” indicators, Tedford indicated that they could have an announcement of a replacement as early as today.

(end update)

As for whether this is a good thing, call me a doubter. I thought Gregory had his issues, but I felt like he was growing and getting better all the time. It took real guts to go to the 3-4 and while the 2nd year wasn’t as good as the first, he was still learning it and I had confidence it would be vastly improved in 2010.

At the same time, this is a great opportunity to bring in someone who’s not just learning but very good right now with the 3-4.

Then there are the rumored replacements:

• Tosh Lupoi, Cal DL coach: My thought is that he’s not ready yet. He needs a couple more years of experience and even then he’d be young. Plus, his only coaching experience is under Gregory, so if you’re looking for a change, this is someone who won’t have a lot of experience with other ideas/schemes. Yes, he’s awesome at his job, but even the most awesome guy needs time to grow.
• Dick Bumpas, TCU DC: It would be a great hire if we could get him. Problem is that TCU is quickly becoming one of those “special” non-BCS schools and he may not want to leave.
• Corwin Brown, former Notre Dame DC: I’ve got split feelings on Brown. Supposedly a great recruiter and a great guy. Also comes from ND, where I’ve always got a soft spot. But did you SEE ND’s defense the last couple years!?! It’s the reason Weis is looking for a job right now. Seems like we’d want someone who’s coaching experience was good.
• Some NFL Linebacker coach like Steeler’s Keith Butler or Charger’s John Pagano: I’m not a big fan of NFL coaches going to the college ranks if they don’t already have college coaching experience. I’ll site Charlie Weis. The level of skill that NFL guys expect their players already have and don’t need to be coached is so high, they often overlook the simple things like tackling. The best defensive scheme in the world won’t work if the guys can’t do the fundamentals. But if you’re going to go with an NFL position coach, I think the LB coach is the way to go as it’s the heart of the 3-4 defense. Luckily Butler has college experience at Memphis and since the Cal 3-4 is modeled after the Steeler’s 3-4, it would be one of the better hires. Pagano has no such experience so not so much, even though they run the 3-4 in San Diego.
• Ray Horton, Steeler’s DB coach: Another Steeler’s coach worth having but I’d rather have Butler since he’s got college experience and is the LB coach. At the same time, Horton is very highly revered for being a great coach.
• Ken Norton Jr., USC assistant DC/Linebacker coach: Probably a good hire talent wise and has a great deal of college experience at an elite program. It would still be a promotion for him even though he’s now in the NFL but part of me thinks he doesn’t want to leave Pete Carroll’s side now that he’s in the NFL. I also worry about his integrity coming from USC’s dirty staff.
• Dick Tomey, former San Jose St. and Arizona head coach: A bit over the hill in my opinion and could pull an Erickson (great for a year or two while fired up but age catches up with him). Also, why does a former head coach make that much of a step down? Plus, was he really that good of a coach? I wasn’t impressed with SJSU.
• Ron English, Eastern Michigan head coach: Hard to get behind a guy who’s team went 0-12 in their first year, but it’s a big rebulding process at EMU. At the same time, he did good things at both Michigan and the Jets as a position coach and may see EMU as too much to take on. Some like him because he’s a Cal grad and it’s hard to argue with that. Tosh is working out great and the loyalty to the program of an alum is higher than most. But sometimes that wish carries with it a bias that clouds one’s vision about the quality of the coach. Do I need to remind everyone about Joe Kapp? Occasionally his team would do great things that only a True Blue could do, like The Play and the 1986 Big Game. However, overall the program suffered under him.
• Jon Tenuta, North Carolina State LB coach and former Georgia Tech DC: Supposedly his defenses at NC State were viscous, but I worry a bit about his character. I like my coaching staff squeaky clean and there are some rumors about him that worry me.
• Justin Wilcox, Tennessee DC: He had a great run at Boise State before leaving for Tennessee this off-season. Unlike others, I don’t think the Ludwig maneuver (two school changes in one off-season) is going to happen twice.
• Mark Banker, Oregon State DC: Another great hire but one that I guarantee you isn’t going to happen.

So, I guess my overall thought is that it will really depend on who the replacement is and how quickly he can come in and be productive. Remember that spring practice starts 3/6 and is just over 2 weeks away (anyone care to wager that it’ll be pushed back?), so time is of the essence. In fact, it may already be too late to make any good use of spring ball other than talent evaluation.

So, we’ll see. As they say, Be careful what you wish for, you just may get it.

I did not know that Bruce Snyder was ill, but apparently he’s had an aggressive form of Cancer for the last year or so. He died today (Hat tip to CGB).

Being born in 1975, minus the 1982 Big Game there wasn’t much for me to cheer for as the son of a Cal Engineeing alumni on the football field until Snyder came along. I remember with fondness the 1991 game versus UW (despite being a loss) because it was a HUGE game between ranked teams. Something unheard of in Berkeley.

You could go so far to say that I earned my Cal football stripes through Snyder. It was his teams that got me hooked and his departure that ensured that I knew what it meant to be a Bears fan (learning to live with disappointment).

Coach Snyder, may you, God willing, be brought into the light of Heaven and the peace and joy that lasts for all eternity.

Jeff Tedford has signed a two-year contract extension to keep him at Cal through 2015… or at least through next year and the next contract extension.

“Jeff Tedford’s leadership of our football program has placed us among the nation’s finest in combining on-field success with academic and community excellence,” Sandy Barbour said. “He truly represents ‘Athletics Done Right.’ The Cal football program has become an integral part of the comprehensive excellence of the Berkeley campus. I’m pleased that we’ve agreed to this mutual long-term commitment.”

Well, all right.

There’s nothing that cures a season-killing streak in which you lose six of seven games like… removing names from your uniforms?

So says Jeff Tedford in today’s Chronicle:

Maybe as jarring as the gold stripe down the middle of the new Cal helmets, will be the lack of names on the back of the newly designed jerseys. Coach Jeff Tedford removed the names before last season’s Armed Forces Bowl as a tribute to the military, and he admitted Monday that the tribute will continue this season because it was a twofold statement. “After the way Washington and Stanford happened, it was evident that we all needed to come together and look at accountability issues,” Tedford said. “That’s what we did. It was taking identity off of individuals and putting it back on the team.”

Not to freak anyone out, but this is not the first time Cal has pulled a move like this. The last time it happened was during, you guessed it, the depths of the Tom Holmoe era.

Now I’m pretty sure that players are not able to spin their heads around, “Exorcist” style, and read their names (upside-down) on their jerseys as an ego boost. But there is one group that directly benefits from names being placed on jerseys: The fans.

While many of our readers no doubt can memorize the name and number of every Cal player — and can even pick on the subtle physical characteristics that differentiate that number 4 from that other number 4 — I’m betting that 99% of Cal fans can’t.

Names on jerseys help the process by, y’know, actually telling you the name of the guy who just made that play.

Of course the no-names-on-jerseys trick is a cheap motivator. But to me it reeks of desperation, perhaps (I admit) because this is the same kind of genius motivational tactic we saw in the tainted Holmoe era. And because it’s disrespectful to the fans.

But hey, I guess those of us paying hundreds or even thousands of bucks to go watch games in Memorial Stadium aren’t as important as a team-unity stunt. There are plenty of ways to preach team unity to a bunch of college athletes. Couldn’t they find one that didn’t degrade the fan experience?

(Update: Look, this is not exactly a gigantic issue that’s going to rock Cal’s football team to its foundations. But it’s just so stupid that it drives me batty. So I wanted to add one more point. If this is really about “taking identitity off of individuals and putting it back on the team,” why not go all the way? Assign jersey numbers randomly every week and give the number listing only to accredited members of the media! And don’t announce the names of players on the Memorial Stadium system! Make the fancy introduction video on the little BearVision screen all about the team and don’t read off the names of players in a pre-game ceremony. Sadly, the rules don’t allow you to remove numbers completely, but if you really want to “take identity off of individuals,” there are a lot of annoying things you could do. Why stop at nameplates? -J.S.)

Well, it’s not exactly what had been rumored, but the changes have been officially announced:

• Frank Cignetti Jr is replacing Michalczik as offensive coordinator, as well as taking on the QB coach responsibilities, giving Michalczik a slight demotion back to primarily being the offensive line coach as well as keeping the titles of assistant offensive coordinator and assistant head coach.
• Al Simmons will come on board to be the new defensive back coach, replacing Littlejohn, who it is unannounced if he is leaving the program, but one would assume so.
• Kevin Daft will move from QB coach, a responsibility being taken over by Cignetti, to WR coach, displacing Ferringo who is leaving the program to “pursue other opportunities”.
• Former player and graduate assistant Tosh Lupoi is taking over as defensive line coach, to replace Ken Delgado who has accepted a position at another school.

For the most part the rumors was accurate as to what positions were in play although the individuals coming in were wholy wrong.

Of course the key name to know moving forward is Frank Cignetti Jr.. He’s been working his way up through the college offensive coordinator ranks over the last 5+ years with 4 at Fresno State and 1 at North Carolina. He’s done a number of stints before that as QB coach and last year he took a detour from the OC jobs to be the 49er QB coach. He seems like a good find but I must admit I don’t know much about him.

The other change of key interest to me at least is Lupoi taking over as defensive line coach. This is a unit that has been under performing the last couple years and I think a lot of that has to do with coaching. I really don’t know how good of a coach Lupoi is but he was a pretty good player when he manned the line. This was particularly true of his technique and technical talents, which, more so than talent, makes for a potentially good coach.

The final key is that Tedford will be giving up play-calling, which I think is a very good thing. He’s going to have a REAL offensive coordinator instead of a O-Line coach that was really the assistant offensive coordinator to Tedford. I think that will leave him much more free to be the great head coach he is and notice things liike… oh, I don’t know… that his QB can’t hit the broadside of a barn and it’s time for the backup to get another shot.

Here’s looking at a good 2008!

I generally like to stay away from the rumor mill because 9 out of 10 times they end up being… well… just rumors. But these rumors are worth passing on.

The main link is to WildWestSports that suggest that Ferringo and Littlejohn (WR and DB coaches respectively) were fired and that Michalczik was pseudo-demoted back to offensive line coach from offensive coordinator but will keep the title of assistant head coach duties. It is speculated that Trent Dilfer will come in as the new OC and QB coach while current QB coach Kevin Daft will move over to WR coach leaving only the DB coach spot unfilled.

There are no official announcements yet so I won’t give analysis on rumors. What I will do is state what I think the changes that need to be made:

• Tedford needs to give up play-calling responsibilities to someone who is of the same mind as him to free him to be a head coach and observe his players instead of being overly focused on play-calling.
• Offensive line need to be main focus of Michalczik, probably including being on the sideline during the games. It seems too much of a coincidence that the first season his duties were split is the first season the OL struggled in a long while.

While there are other areas of the team that I think need improvement, specifically the defensive line and the QB to WR communication/route-running, I’m not so sure that coaching is the problem. I think the first item on my list (Tedford not calling plays) is key to a lot of things, including that QB/WR communication as our QB guru Tedford is too busy designing/calling plays to be working with his QBs.

There’s a great line from movie “History of the World, Part I” from the Roman Empire period:

Oh you are nuts. N-V-T-S – NUTS!

That’s the way I feel about anyone who thinks it is time to dismiss Tedford. Apparently these people don’t know about the alternative and just how hit and miss a new coach can be, and that’s not even taking into account the GUARANTEED short-term downsides in recruiting and other problems the loss of continuity causes. So for those of you who think stupid thoughts, here is a quick list of things to remember:

• Number of Coaches a winning record in every one of their seasons (3 seeason min.): 1 – Jeff Tedford
• Tedford’s winning percentage rank (3 season min.): 4th behind Andy Smith, James Schaeffer and Pappy Waldorf
• Number of 10 win seasons outside of Tedford’s 2: 5 and only one since 1949
• Number of coaches who have had any success in getting new facilities since the 20s: 1 – Jeff Tedford

That last one is the kicker for me. For a moment lets pretend that Tedford is a horrible coach who somehow managed to use Holmoe’s recruits (snicker, snicker) to do well and will now fall on his face. Even if that was true, he’s in the middle of building something (quite literally) that’ll have a larger impact on the longterm success of the program that any coaching staff could ever have: renovating the facilities.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but the most important game of the 2007 season in my opinion was not played on Saturday. It was played in the court room during the week. We don’t have the official answer yet but it seems that the worst case scenario is a delay of game penalty and not a loss. Hopefully we’ll hear soon that it won’t even cost the University a delay but assuming there is a delay, we need to keep this good thing rolling long enough to cut down the trees and break ground on the SAHPC.

Tedford is a great coach. Yeah, 2007 wasn’t his shining hour, in fact nothing has matched his most shining season of 2004 yet, but I have full confidence in his ability to learn from this season’s mistakes and improve in the future. He’s got a great eye for talent and continues to put together good recruiting classes despite the sub-standard facilities (unlike Oregon and UCLA) and and lack of a long term tradition of winning (unlike USC). Down years are part of the experience of college football. Sometimes it’s a key injury. Sometimes it’s the lack of talent at a position or two. Sometimes it’s losing the moral of the team. What sets good coaches apart from bad ones is their ability to retool and rebound in future years.

I have full faith in Tedford to be able to do so.