Fire Tedford. Are you NVTS!?!
(Written by kencraw)
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.
November 19th, 2007 at 4:29 pm
I completely agree that it would be NVTS to fire Tedford. I think that’s totally off the table among those who would actually make such a decision and probably also among most fans.
The greater risk is that he would be more likely to jump after this fiasco of a season. He has to be thinking about the fact that one more typical Cal meltdown would permanently tank his reputation.
Les Miles has to be considered the #1, #2, and #3 candidate for the Michigan job (former player and assistant coach). But if he turned it down and Tedford were offered the job, would Tedford bolt? I think it is more likely than not, and FAR more likely than it was before Cal dropped 5 out of 6.
November 19th, 2007 at 7:23 pm
Firing Tedford would be NVTS on so many different levels. As Nonplussed says, the greater worry is him cutting his losses and bolting. Hopefully something that many people have been bagging Tedford about will be the reason he stays: his loyalty. I think he likes the Bay Area, I think he feels comfortable at Berkeley, and if the SAPHC can proceed I think he’ll stay for awhile to continue what he’s built.
That doesn’t mean I don’t worry about him leaving. And this season has been so bad on so many different levels (now Jahvid Best may have a serious hip injury?!) my inner pessimist is half-expecting the worst possible outcome on the stadium just so the the universe can definitively prove that being born into a Cal family really is some sort of sick cosmic joke. I wish I could be more of an optimist on that front but the UW game snuffed out all remaining optimism I had about this year.
Deep down, I know that ALL programs go through years like this, and I’m confident that Tedford can do what needs to be done to regroup in ’08. But I’m going to have to sign up for optimism rehabilitation before I stat feeling good about this team again. 😉
November 19th, 2007 at 11:31 pm
There is NO “Fire Tedford” movement.
But it sure feels good to say there’s one, just so you can knock it down.
Please stop making up all these reports that Cal fans, even a small minority, want Tedford gone.
If you read Cyber Bears, where tons of posters are getting really antsy, there’s never been a single post seriously calling for Tedford’s head.
It’s like you want to deflect criticism from Tedford, so you throw out the worst case scenario — Cal fans calling for Tedford’s firing is outrageous!
Even though that’s purely fictional.
You’re a better blog than this.
Stop making stuff up!
November 20th, 2007 at 8:47 am
Yuk. Did you know that if you google “cyber bears” the first entry is for a gay porn site? Not that there’s anything wrong with that…
November 20th, 2007 at 10:19 am
I gotta agree with John, Ken. I haven’t seen a serious movement to fire Tedford on cyberbears the message board; I have no idea what the porn site thinks about this matter. Maybe you were on the wrong site?
When’s the Washington podcast coming out? In a sick way, I enjoy your disgust with our team after the ugly losses. It puts into words the sinking nauseated feeling in the pit of my stomach.
Finally, is there any way I can move up the Pick’em standings at this point?
November 20th, 2007 at 10:50 am
You guys are probably right that the number who really think it are too small to warrant posting about. However, this wasn’t a case of me heading over to BearInsider (I really, really, really, really, really don’t wan to know what “Cyber Bear” has to do with porn) and over-reacting to frustrated comments. I got a comment here in my former live-blogging thread by “The Duke” asking if it was time to fire Tedford. You’ll find that I rarely comment about any of the reactions at BearInsider. But when someone brings those comments to this site, I’m much more likely to respond.
Nevertheless, you’re all probably right that it wasn’t worth responding to.
November 20th, 2007 at 10:50 am
Oh, and the podcast should be out later today CBG.
November 20th, 2007 at 11:32 am
Sweet! I enjoy the podcasts, win or lose. Keep up the great work.
November 20th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
No, there isn’t a true “fire Tedford” movement, but there IS a “fire [insert scapegoat assistant coach here]” movement. And while I agree that there appears to be major problems with the 2007 Bears in terms of coaching and leadership, I doubt seriously that any of us can accurately assess who is most at fault. I remember back in 2004 and 2005 when special-teams breakdowns were among the Bears’ most glaring weaknesses, and Coach Alamar became our collective target. What happens? Under the same coach the following year, Cal developed what arguably was the top all-around special teams unit in the conference, if not the country. Likewise, it seems to now be Coach Gregory et al. talking most of the heat, when from 2004 to 2006, most observers around the country would have pegged Cal’s defense as among the best in the West–and statistically, at least, that certainly seemed to be the case. (Hence the rumors of Gregory being considered for the Wazzu job.)
Given the many roles in recruiting and organization that the assistant coaches play, the only person qualified, in my opinion, to judge the work of the assistants is Tedford himself. Thus, if one really wants to blame coaching for this year’s struggles, they should be pointing their finger at the top dog. “Keep Tedford, but fire all the assistants”, is one of the lamest sentiments I’ve read.
As for me, I remain firmly in the Keep Tedford camp, and let him decide to make whatever changes he chooses. And my sense of cautious optimism for 2008 wouldn’t be impacted whatsoever if he chose to make zero changes to his staff. (My sense of optimism would decline, however, if Kevin Riley doesn’t get a legitimate chance this spring/summer to compete for the starting job and/or if Alex Mack jumps for the NFL. Getting THA1 back for his senior year would be a welcome surprise, but I frankly am more worried about retaining our all-American center.)
November 21st, 2007 at 9:03 am
I agree with Ken Crawford on this one. Not only will I come out against the “Fire Tedford” movement, but also against the “Burn DeSean At The Stake” movement.
People, how many times do I have to say this: DeSean is NOT a witch. He’s not a magician. He’s not even a warlock! He just seems like one out on the field. This is neither the time nor the place to be burning people at the stake and I decry any and all in that movement (just like I do those in the Fire Tedford movement).
I also think the “Run Over Mike Tepper” movement is just in bad taste. Can we change that to the “Run Over Runningwolf” movement? I’d be ALL for that one!
November 26th, 2007 at 5:16 pm
Is the notion really that insane?
I have been a Bears fan long before Tedford took over, and boy am I thankful that he saved us from Holmoe and turned things around. His legacy is awesome.
I am also very grateful that (mostly) because of his contract negotiations, it looks like we will have a new SAHPC and a retrofitted stadium (fingers still crossed). This will help recruiting.
But the purpose of turning the program around is the same as getting better facilities… the purpose is to win the big games and get to a BCS bowl. Tedford has consistently shown the inability to get us over the hump when things are looking pretty good.
Evidence:
1) We should have gone to a BCS game in 2004, but Tedford refused to play politics and we got bumped to the Holiday Bowl. If he had done the job with the media that Mack Brown did, we would have been in Pasadena. No question. To follow that up, he did not get the team ready to play, and we got completely embarrassed by Texas Tech, who had no business even stepping on the same field as Cal.
2) Last year… JUST BEAT ARIZONA!!!! We would have been in the Rose Bowl!!!! Tedford did not have the Bears ready to play, and we were upset. His team did not even compete in the 2nd half against USC.
3) This year… complete, unmitigated disaster. We has one of the most talented teams in the conference. The best Cal receiving core EVER. We beat two tough teams. But then disaster hit. We can’t beat anybody right now. If Loyd Carr got pushed out of Michigan for dropping from #5 to unranked (but then bringing back the Wolverines within one win of the Rose Bowl), then how can we say Tedford’s job security should be absolutely beyond questioning? We fell from #2 to completely unranked. We lost to really poor teams along the way (Oregon St., UCLA, Washington) and we were not even competitive in the 2nd half against good teams (Arizona St., USC). Our recruiting this year has been far less than stellar, and we couldn’t even beat the worst team in the Pac 10 when their quarterback was out. The coaching has been absolutely terrible since the Oregon game.
3) We can’t beat USC. I know they have a lot of weapons, but we have not been competitive for the last three years, and have not won since 2003. We could have won in 2002, but the Bears fell apart at the end. We should have won in 2004, but Tedford’s play calling was aweful on our last drive (I was crying in the stands). 2005 was a complete disaster, and a good coach would have started Levy. Last year we didn’t even show up in the second half, and ditto this year. I rushed the field in 2003, and it was unbelievable! But since then, Tedford has not been stellar versus the Trojans.
I’m not saying that Cal should definately fire Tedford, but I am saying that the idea is not completely rediculous. Look what Arizona St. has been able to do with Erickson, even though they have inferior talent. Or what Harbaugh has done at stanfurd with the worst talent in the Pac 10.
Tedford’s legacy has been awesome for Cal. I have not missed a single home game since he came in 2002, and have been averaging 2 away games each year. I have been giving to the Stadium fund. I am not anti-Cal by any means. I am a proud alumnus who bleeds blue and gold. But I refuse to give another penny to the stadium until I see a season end with a coach who can get us over the hump. I hope that it is Tedford, but if it won’t be, then we need to find someone can help us finish a season with a BCS win.
If this is outrageous, then please, show me why!
November 27th, 2007 at 9:25 am
Duke, I think the answer to your question is so self-evident that everyone doesn’t feel the need to respond and instead give me a playful jab for responding. As such I won’t respond again.
But just so it’s clear to everyone else: while the Fire Tedford movement may be ridiculously small, it is out there.
November 27th, 2007 at 1:59 pm
Ken, I love your site.
I like Tedford, I always have. I just don’t think he has proven capable of getting us to the next level. He may be very capable, and I hope he is, but he hasn’t proven it yet. I am not going to give any more money to the stadium until we can finish a season strong. If donors like me matter, and we should, then he needs to get us to a BCS bowl soon.
I am not calling for his head exactly. I am just saying the idea is not ludicrous after the debacle that is the 2007 season. The 4 points I mentioned are worth a little consideration, I think.
If we lose to stanfurd, then yes, he should be fired. Any coach (at any program) who loses 6 of his last 7 and fails to get to a bowl, after being ranked #2, should be fired. Even the savior of our program.
November 27th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
Duke, despite the fact that you hold an opinion way outside the norm, you’re always welcome here as long as, and you’ve been excellent at this, you focus on logical arguments and reasoning.
Here’ the fundamentals of the situation: Why do you fire someone? Many who are wrong-headed see it as a punative thing that is done for the purpose of punishing them for not succeeding. That’s a wholy wrong attitude for football related failures (entirely different than moral failings). You fire someone because you don’t think they’re capable of success in the future.
So the question is, will Tedford be able to deliver in the future better than a replacement? Considering the success of the vast majority of replacements Cal has had in the past and Tedford’s success as well as ability to improve, it seems self-evident to most that he’s our best chance for success moving forward. It has nothing to do with the failure this season or the previous two.
November 27th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
Hi,
I just found this site and I haven’t read everything, so please excuse me if I am repeating stuff.
It feels to me like we are looking at 2005 all over again. Longshore is etiher too injured to throw good passes or he has just fallen apart altogether. If this year’s team had a careful quarterback like Steve Levy playing for the second half of the season, I feel the Bears would have won at least 2 or 3 of the games which were lost. Perhaps Riley could have done that. Just look at Longshore, he doesn’t plant his front foot and he doesn’t follow through and the ball sails, often to the defenders. It reminds me of Ayoob all over again. Tedford needs to hire an offensive coordinator, one who will stand up to him. Yes 2006 didn’t work but this year his loyalty or blind spot to Longshore has hurt the Bears. And the problems on offense, read Longshore, have “forced” Tedford to make the game plans and calls pretty conservative. What happened to calling slants? A focused offensive coordinator who runs Tedford’s brand of offense, not the spread, is needed.
Tedford should also think long and hard about replacing Gregory. The defense just doesn’t strike the fear in opponents that it did a few years ago. The Bears have very few three and outs on defense anymore.
I think Tedford has done wonders for the program but he needs to reorganize the coaching staff for 2008.
ET
September 27th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
[…] was some variant of “Fire Coach Tedford”. That was taking them to my old post titled “Fire Tedford, are you NUTS!?!”. Rather than repeat the sentiment there, which I fully stand behind, allow me to give some thoughts […]