Various January thoughts
(Written by kencraw)
1st up, after previous denying defensive changes, Dykes cleans house on that side of the ball, demoting Buh to a position coach (not announced but assumed to be linebacker) and firing both the defensive tackle (Randy Sacks) and defensive back (Randy Stewart) coaches.
Frankly, this surprises me. I mean, we all know the kiss of death for a head coach is the AD giving a “vote of confidence” to the head coach, and I guess the same is true for the assistant coaches when the head coach states he’s not making any changes. But something about the way Dykes said it in November and his image as a straight-talker, made me think he was going to ride it out.
But I’ve made it no secret that Buh doesn’t impress me. So I guess I’ll stick with calling this good news. Let’s just see who we get as a replacement.
Next up, the 2014 schedule is out. It validates what we already knew, including the Friday night Oregon game at Levi stadium and the non-conference slate of @Northwestern, Sac State and BYU and that the boycott on Thanksgiving weekend games in Berkeley is over with BYU coming to town that Saturday. The new news is that the bye weeks are set (9/13 and 11/8) and we’re playing at USC on a Thursday night (11/13).
Anybody else feel that we’re getting more than our fair share of non-Saturday games?
Depending on how good the team will be next year, this schedule is really bad or somewhat good. If you think the team will stink, it’s good, we get the worst teams at home (Colorado, Sac State). If you think we’re going to be struggling with mediocrity, the schedule is troublesome as most of the next tier games (@Arizona, @WSU, @OSU, BYU (at home)) are on the road. If you’re crazy and think this team is going to be good (and thus win those mid-tier games), most of the high-end games (UCLA, UW, Stanford, Oregon (neutral), @USC) are at home. For the non-crazy, perhaps what that means is we have a shot at a signature win for a mediocre team trying to show they’ve got the ability to beat the big boys.
Final thought on the schedule, I wish that first bye was a couple weeks later, but overall they’re not bad.
And final topic, the defections… Kline is no surprise and overall I think won’t hurt the program much. Tagaloa hurts a bit more. That guy has talent although under-achieved. But overall 3 guys defecting after a big change to the program is not that surprising. Overall it’s not too concerning. More concerning is the lack of progress on getting 4 star plus recruits and that we’re still 8 or so recruits away from the numbers we need in a month.
January 10th, 2014 at 12:39 pm
I don’t recall Dykes ever stating that all coaches would be back with any certainty. Perhaps some general praise and vague ‘still working on things’ but not no changes statement.
January 10th, 2014 at 1:10 pm
I can see both sides of that pumper, but this set of quotes sounds like he was going to keep Buh as his DC:
http://www.ibabuzz.com/beartalk/2013/11/25/football-dykes-says-he-wont-make-coaching-staff-changes-merely-to-appease-fans/
January 10th, 2014 at 1:43 pm
I think he had been non-commital, but most people (myself included) took the long pause as meaning he didn’t plan to do anything. I wonder if the announcement coming now is a result of a change brought about by Tedford’s hire elsewhere (hence, being able to now use whatever portion of his salary we get back) or if Dykes was waiting to identify a replacement for Buh first. Or, if a lukewarm response (just guessing) to the first wave of season ticket solicitations forced their hand.
Right, this class is not looking very promising. To be expected from a team that was thoroughly uncompetitive for all but a few fleeting moments. I hope Dykes has some magic tricks he’s been hiding for next year.
January 10th, 2014 at 1:45 pm
Eh, I don’t really see anything in that article that says he’s keeping anyone for sure.
January 11th, 2014 at 12:47 pm
It’s frustrating how losing is a vicious cycle: we need great recruits to rebuild but nobody wants to come here because we’re a losing program again. I sure do love how the new facilities are leading to a new golden area in Cal recruiting like everyone promised. Nice work everyone! You’re one of the worst teams in the FBS but at least you have a nice weight room!
Sigh.
At least the basketball team is showing very positive signs. Just wished I cared about basketball like I do football.
January 13th, 2014 at 6:01 pm
It is indeed frustrating Joshiemac. Playing football at Cal right now looks about as fun as it is to watch it. We may not have seen the real Dykes yet, but he may have already put himself in such a hole that he won’t ever be to unleash it–at least not at this stop. We need a momentum changer, and I fear that won’t happen until the next coaching change happens. We absolutely need to pull a few miracles on Saturdays next fall to generate some forward progress with this program. And hopefully a little can go a long way to restoring good vibes at Memorial again.
January 23rd, 2014 at 11:16 am
Wait, nothing about Bigelow deciding to go pro? That’s my favorite announcement of all time. Right behind Justin Forsett graduating.