calumnus said:HearstMining said:Cal88 said:HungryCalBear said:
Hypothetical question: Tosh vs Desean - who would you choose?
Cal would be the dream job for Desean, while Tosh has had a track record of a mercenary mindset, viewing coaching as a business. That's one knock against Tosh, but the reason I don't want Tosh is that I don't think he is good enough in the bread and butter aspects of the job to lead Cal.
Desean has done a tremendous job in his first assignment as a head coach, turning a 1-11 program into an 8-4 winner.
Good article from the Sporting News about DJ and the Cal opening:
https://www.sportingnews.com/us/ncaa-football/news/desean-jackson-signals-where-he-stands-aaron-rodgers-marshawn-lynch-cal-and-future-coaching-opportunities/1f3205df308b63f8581dcc64
Excerpts:Quote:
Cal does not just need a new football coach. It needs a spark. It needs a direction. It needs a program builder who can reconnect the team to its alumni, reset the culture, and give the Bears an identity in a rebuilt ACC. DeSean Jackson checks every one of those boxes and brings something Cal has not had in years. Undeniable belief.
What Jackson did at Delaware State was not a rebuild. It was a resurrection. In one year he took a 1-11 program and turned it into an 8-4 team that played for the MEAC championship. The Hornets posted the largest win improvement in all of FCS football, and Jackson has been named an Eddie Robinson Award finalist. That honor goes to the national FCS Coach of the Year. It is national validation that his rise is real.
More importantly, he changed the program's heartbeat. Jackson explained on the MEAC coaches call that his philosophy begins with people, not plays. Be where your feet are, he told reporters. It is the same message he gives his players. We cannot get caught up in the chaos of the noise.
When he was asked about his coaching aspirations, Jackson did not dodge the question. He gave one of the clearest windows into who he is and how he sees his future.
...But nothing defines him more than the way he pours into his players. Jackson returned repeatedly to one theme. His players needed love, structure, honesty, and belief. These young men believe and trust in us, he said. They are willing to run through a brick wall for us. That level of buy in does not happen by accident. It happens when players know their coach sees them, respects them, and pushes them toward something greater than football.
Cal needs that. It needs a unifier and a motivator. It needs a face of the program who can recruit the Bay Area, energize the fan base, and bring back the swagger of the Marshawn Lynch, Aaron Rodgers, and DeSean Jackson era. It needs someone the players will follow and the alumni will rally behind.
We could do a lot worse than Desean.
Reads A LOT like the Joe Kapp story, doesn't it? And it worked for Kapp's first season because he surrounded himself with good X and O guys. As I recall, he lost several to the short-lived Oakland Invaders, didn't replace them with the same expertise, and that started the downward spiral. I moved up near Seattle at that point and could only follow the carnage from a distance. So, maybe if Desean could surround himself with the right staff and hold on to them, and if he worked well with Ron, it could work. It's a swing for the fences, that's for sure.
The key is that Ron Rivera would be the GM and coming in Desean would be agreeing to Rivera being completely involved in football operations and mentoring him or Rivera doesn't hire him. Desean is smart and would take that opportunity in a heartbeat.
Ron started by having a low level position with the Chicago Bears, then met Andy Reid(no big formal introduction) at the Senior Bowl, and impressed him enough to get hired as LB position coach in Andy's first year with the Eagles.. So, definitely had to go step by step for his success. I can't say for certain if he would hold that against DeSean... But let's face it, no matter how we think it could or would "work," Ron' s perception is the bottom line with any of these names.