Bearly Clad said:
You very well may be right but there are a few reasons to think things might've changed re: Rivera.
1. Last time the job was open he was still working in the NFL and making big money. Now post-Washington Commies tenure it seems very unlikely that he still has an NFL future so it would be essentially coming out of retirement or staying busy because he's not ready to be done
2. The state of college football has changed drastically since then and he's aware of that, I think he knows that it wouldn't just be 'doing us a favor' it could very well be saving a program that he loves. With realignment and our near, and possibly future, relegation he knows that the program needs to get back on track immediately. He's always been one of our outspoken supporters and it's not ridiculous to think he might be willing to come in for a handful of years to right the ship.
3. It doesn't have to be as HC; if he doesn't want to travel, thinks he could make the necessary administrative changes as a football GM, and identifies and lands the right HC to get the job done then everyone would be all for that as well. We just need some people who care and know what they're doing around the program
Personally I'd love it if next year Wilcox is out and we bring in Davis Webb to be our young superstar HC but that's just a personal opinion and there are problems with that as well. Namely, we don't know if he's interested, he has little coaching experience except a few years as an assistant, and with his star on the rise in the NFL there's no telling if he'd be willing to drop down a level (even for a promotion)
Frist, we can't afford Ron. He will be in demand when the coaching carousel comes around again, and the going rate for an uber experienced NFL head coach is $10 million or so these days. At least as a college head coach he get in the millions, for a GM college job pay, he is just throwing money away.
Second, he doesn't have the experience in the college game.
Third, he doesn't need the aggravation of being a college head football coach, which has become significantly more burdensome in recent years. There is now year round recruiting, massive roster changes, complex recruiting, transfer and NIL rules (when was the last time Ron had to recruit his draft choices?), way greater public attention, and then now ******** fans questioning your political views, at least at Cal. There really is very little off season now, and shockingly more grind as a college coach than a NFL Coach.
Creating a winning culture is hard enough, but imagine doing it under the immense pressure of the short time your school requires in the face of conference realignment. Rebuilds are no longer a thing for college football programs, it is more like reloading, and Cal really has very little to reload from relative to the football powers. It is not like the NFL draft where the weaker teams are handed a tool to compete by having better draft picks. In college, it is really is how good a fundraiser is Ron? Because he is buying talent.
As long as we are looking at fit, what makes everyone so sure Ron can recruit to Cal or fundraise so well? NFL coaches don't really do that. Ron is smart guy who knows what he is good at, which is being a NFL coach. Why change now given what a time sucking pressurized, underpaying job being a power school head coach has become?