sycasey said:
Bobodeluxe said:
Dykes brought some variation of that to Berkeley, and was run out of town on a rail by certain donors who demanded a square jaw.
Except he was always looking for the next flight out of town anyway.
Not initially. He really wanted the Cal job, he knew the area well and wanted to raise his family here. But he was replacing Tedford, who was beloved and many thought should not have been fired, has a Texas accent and didn't adapt to the culture well ("Pigskins and Pearls"), is pudgy, ran Air Raid which many older Cal fans thought was "gimmicky" and started freshman Goff who many on this board disparaged ("small hands") over fan favorite Kline.
However it was that disastrous losing first season when we had almost no heathy scholarship DBs plus all of the above that sealed his fate at Cal.
He was a bad cultural fit, replaced a legend, lost too many games early and was hated by the majority of Cal fans, certainly the vast majority on this board who made their complaints to Williams and he knew it. The fact he got fired for doing what nearly all coaches do and that was rejoiced was evidence he was not wanted at Cal but knew he had other options (was hired at SMU that same year). Tedford interviewed elsewhere and got a raise. Wilcox interviewed at Washington and then Oregon twice and got a raise and a six year extension. Snyder interviewed at ASU and everyone blames Bockrath for not countering.
The bottom line is firing Dykes for interviewing is stupid. If you don't want him, let him go and avoid the huge payout. But blaming a coach that you hate for looking elsewhere is nuts. I don't hate Wilcox, but I was hoping he would take the Oregon job.
