Genyk Hoping to Shore Up Bear Weakness

The Bears' special teams units had become a critical liability in recent years, with kickers continually misfiring on kickoffs, with out-of-bounds penalties, short kicks and big returns handcuffing the Bear defense, forcing them to continually contest short fields, with opponents often starting from beyond their 40 yard line.

After seven years at the helm of special teams and tight ends coaching, veteran coach Pete Alamar's contract was not renewed at season's end.

Enter 18-year coaching veteran Jeff Genyk.

Genyk brings a wealth of experience and success to Cal, having served at Northwestern University for 12 seasons before moving on as head coach as Eastern Michigan from 2004-08.

"We are excited about bringing in an experienced coach with Jeff's high level of expertise, energy and passion," said Cal head coach Jeff Tedford when he announed Genyk's hiring was announced in January. "He is a versatile and well-rounded coach that has all the qualities we are looking for in members of our coaching staff."

Genyk got his start in football as an all-state quarterback at Milan High School in Milan Michigan before moving on to Bowling Green University from 1978-81 as a quarterback and punter.  

Genyk spent 12 years at Northwestern from 1994 to 2003, working in several capacities with the Wildcats, starting as a defensive grad assistant before moving to Director of Football Operations, then coaching linebackers and safeties.  Beginning in '99, Genyk spent his last five years at Northwestern coaching running backs and serving as recruiting coordinator, while also having responsibility for special teams his last eight seasons there.

During his tenure at Northwestern, the Wildcats experienced a revival of their downtrodden program, achieving three Big Ten championships and four bowl appearances, including the Rose Bowl, Citrus Bowl, Alamo Bowl and Motor City Bowl. 

Genyk most recently served as the head coach at Eastern Michigan from 2004-08. Genyk coached the Eagles to their best conference finish in seven years in 2004 with a third-place finish in the West Division of the Mid-American Athletic Conference. His 2006 squad ranked third nationally in punt return yardage defense and ranked 15th in the nation the following season. Eastern Michigan also set three NCAA passing records as well as multiple MAC and school records during his tenure.

Following his stint at Eastern Michigan, Genyk served as a television color analyst, serving in that position for ESPN Regional Television's coverage of Atlantic Coast Conference football during the 2009 season.

"It was an amazingly special time at Northwestern," said Genyk. "I came on board in 1992 and I think there was a period of 21 straight years of losing seasons when I came in. 

"I think the best way to put their situation into perspective is that the Northwestern program had been to one bowl game in 100 years. So we had a lot to overcome.

"At that particular time, the facilities were crumbling.  The stadium had to have $250,000-$300,000 invested in it every year just to keep it from crumbling and falling on the patrons.

"We really had to work on the mental side of things to make sure the players felt like they were ready to compete at a high level. We really believed in developing players and we worked very hard at recruiting, finding diamonds in the rough like Pat Fitzgerald -the current coach of Northwestern- Darnell Awtry, Dwayne Bates -all ended up being solid professional players. We brought in high-character, high-work ethic players.

"All of the sudden in '95, we went into Notre Dame as 28 point underdogs to a highly-ranked Lou Holtz team and won.  During that period, we went 15-1, which was unheard of with the level of competition we were playing and won back-to-back championships for a program that hadn't won a bowl game in 100 years.

Genyk's years of experience provided him valuable opportunities to be able to help shape and mold the Bears' future efforts in recruiting and in special teams and he hopes to be able to draw from his wealth of knowledge in bringing value to his new position at Cal.

"Most of my stint at Northwestern, I had the opportunity to be involved in at least a couple units of special teams much of my time there.  When Gary Barnett left, I was one of two coaches retained, the other being my mentor, defensive coordinator Jerry Brown. So then I had an opportunity to work on the offensive side of the ball and get more involved in special teams, focusing a lot on the spread and the no-huddle offense.

"I think by-and-large, we were very solid on special teams and an asset to the program. Over that course of time, we were really able to have some outstanding specialists and that always makes a big difference in the unit's performance.  But, most importantly, we were able to take some starters and a lot of 2nd team and backup players and get them highly-invested in their contribution to the overall success of the team based on their 10-15 snaps on special teams each week."

For those that followed the program at Cal with any level of consistency, it was apparent to one and all that special teams was a glaring factor in much of the team's struggles in recent years.  Genyk has had the opportunity to delve into some of the past issues and begin to assess what can be done to get things on track at Cal.

"I've had a chance to watch a lot of film from last year but not so much from a technical standpoint yet," said Genyk.

"It's been interesting; a lot of players have come by and said, 'Hey coach, you have some new schemes for us this year?'  My response is that it's not so much about the schemes but having the great effort, great attitude and acknowledging how important it is to you and the whole program that you give your all.  It's all about effort, attitude and an understanding of the impact that special teams can make in the outcome of a football game.

"I think the specialists' performances demand so much consistency -the kickers, punters, snappers- because their performance is magnified because of the number of reps they take.  If you're a starting linebacker, if you miss a play, you can bounce back and make a play in thirty seconds and all is forgetten.  As a specialist, you can do some incredible things but if you make one mistake, you can impact a whole game and people will remember it all year.

"Consistency is developed by making sure that the players are put into pressure situations in practice, where the outcome of their actions somehow effect more than just them, but the team."

Recruiting is a key element to a program's success and Genyk's predesessor, Pete Alamar, never player an integral role in the process.  It seems in Genyk, the Bears will get a legitimate boost in the recruiting arena.

"I hope to be very involved," said Genyk.  "As a recruiting coordinator at Northwestern for nearly ten years and being heavily-involved at a program where you really needed to give maximum effort in recruiting at Eastern Michigan, you learn how important recruiting efforts are to a program, so I hope to be an asset. I really enjoy it because you have a chance to meet parents and to meet families that have their sons in the top 1% of athletics and also academically.

"Recruiting is like crude oil coming out of the ground.  It's extremely important.  So the more hands you have on deck, the better off you are.  So I hope to me heavily involved in recruiting my territory, which is Northern California and with some of my links to the midwest, the east coast and some of the prep schools.  Hopefully those relationships I've built over the last twenty years will be put to good use.

"What's been very interesting to me is in announcing to my friends that we're moving out there, it's amazing how many have so many close friends or relatives living in the area.  So when I'm recruiting the midwest -Illinois, Ohio, Michigan- there's going to be a lot of players that will have a grandparent, an aunt or uncle a close family friend that live here in the bay area.  So all the sudden, you have that link to your area and your program and that link is very vital when you're 1,500 to 2,000 miles away.  And with the time the visits are happening, you can certainly play the weather card when they're shoveling snow at home." 

Having coached at an academically prestigious school like Northwestern, while also holding a bachelor's and two masters degrees, Genyk is in a unique position to fully-capitalize on all that Cal has to offer from an academic and athletic perspective to the recruits they're pursuing.

"I had a great opportunity to get a pair of masters degrees, including at the Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern, which at that time was the #1 graduate business school in the nation, so I can speak from experience how important their degree is from Cal and being able to use those skills in life.

"At Cal, you're able to speak to the fact that you're the number one public institution in the country," said Genyk.  "It's amazing to be around some of the families of the players we recruit and they're very invested in helping get their sons to the point they're at athleticly and academically.  I'm able to use some of their techniques in motivating their sons and incorporate some of their philosophies and stories I use with the players in recruiting and on the team.

"If you can get your son or daughter into a Northwestern or Cal and also be playing at one of the top athletic programs around...I mean, there are 300,000 kids who play high school football in the country as seniors each year and on signing day, the BCS conferences sign about 1,400 players.  That's less than half of one percent. So how special a group are those players?  This morning, I talked to a group of players that are specialists and tight ends and told them, 'Have an attitude of gratitude. Think about what you're doing.  You're on scholarship to the best school in the world, in a great program.  Carry yourself like that today."

In making the cross country move and making the move to get back into coaching at an assistant level, there were many considerations for Genyk.  But perhaps the biggest factor was the work environment he would soon become a part of.

"The way the staff treats each other and the players, taking their role as mentors rather than just coaches so seriously is one of the things that attracted me to the program, certainly," said Genyk.  "Coach Tedford and how he relates to the players and the system and how it's set up to allow a lot more than x's and o's but winning in life, those are all very attractive things to me."

Genyk is known in coaching circles as being an innovator and motivator.  Will Cal fans be seeing the patented "Warp Speed" offense anytime soon in Berkeley?

"I think at this time of year, you're constantly in a research and development mode so you throw various things at the wall and see what sticks," said Genyk.  "Obviously Coach Tedford and Coach Ludwig have been very successful at what they've done offensively.  So they might incorporate some of the new ideas here and there but, by-and-large, there's a system that's been successful and has been built successfully.

"Some of my experience in the no-huddle and extremely fast, empty passing game I've incorporated and employed over the years -there's spots for that but certainly not at a high level.  We won't be seeing the warp speed 100% of the time, by any means," concluded Genyk, with a smile.