Yep. The days of the head coach being ace recruiter and mediocre as coordinator are over. Here’s my question, will that change make teams move away from the insane buyouts?

— Ralph Malbrough 🥃 (@SaintsForecast) October 4, 2026

BearSD said:

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wifeisafurd said:

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The Mario Christobal model seems to work. Great recruiter, good with alums/donors/ at alumni school, etc. Gets top coordinators, and then set the overall scheme - and turn over the details to the coordinators and coaches. Mario isn;t exactly a great game coach. but he gets the job. done.

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Some of us were hoping that Tosh would get results like Cristobal. But that can't work with learning-on-the-job coordinators.

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It took a good 3 seasons for Cristobal to get Miami going and that is with their built-in advantages plus Cristobal was an experienced head coach

Cristobal had ten years HC experience, the cluster-F of FIU, and four years under Saban.

Mario Cristobal has been the head coach at two programs, Oregon and Miami, with major resources plus a history and a commitment to winning. Tosh is at Cal. That's a completely different degree of difficulty.

There are 3 parts to the HC job: 1. Recruit 2. Hire assistants 3. In-game tactics.

We all knew that Tosh was good at #1; there's too small a sample size to make a judgment on #3.

It appears he's really bad at #2, but if he's good at the other parts he may have time to recover from his hiring choices.

philly1121 said:

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DaveT said:

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What dumb comments. HC recruiting is still as vital as ever, and a HC that can't recruit is going to fail. What teams are selling is different now than a few years ago, but the HC still needs to sell it effectively.

A guy like Tosh can succeed, he just needs to know his strengths, and rely on coordinators to cover his weaknesses. This is management 101. I think his biggest failure is not understanding his limitations and believing he's something he isn't. He's never going to out maneuver other coaches, he's not that guy. But he can assemble a group of coordinators who are smarter and more capable than he is, and rely on them while he handles recruiting, motivation, program leadership, etc. Had he done this initially, we'd be in a much better position.

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Isn't that what this guy is saying? Recruiting is less important to a head coach because of NIL. The 4 star recruits are going to the major programs anyway. So what matters is identifying need and the commensurate and available financial package for the recruit.

Head coach recruiting has evolved. Rivera is supposed to be doing the management and alot of the home visits. He's working, or should be working, with Tosh to get what the team needs. Tosh should be able to delegate most of these duties to Rivera or to whoever Rivera has on staff to meet recruits, bring them to campus and go over the financials.

Its too bad we can't do an "exit interview" with Mayo and Davis and ask them what they saw or didn't see in terms of campus, coaching, existing roster, game day experience, actual recruitment, and finances.

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There are way more roster spots than good players. You will compete with other programs who will offer similar amounts of money to them. How do you get them to choose you?

concernedparent said:

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philly1121 said:

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DaveT said:

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What dumb comments. HC recruiting is still as vital as ever, and a HC that can't recruit is going to fail. What teams are selling is different now than a few years ago, but the HC still needs to sell it effectively.

A guy like Tosh can succeed, he just needs to know his strengths, and rely on coordinators to cover his weaknesses. This is management 101. I think his biggest failure is not understanding his limitations and believing he's something he isn't. He's never going to out maneuver other coaches, he's not that guy. But he can assemble a group of coordinators who are smarter and more capable than he is, and rely on them while he handles recruiting, motivation, program leadership, etc. Had he done this initially, we'd be in a much better position.

---

Isn't that what this guy is saying? Recruiting is less important to a head coach because of NIL. The 4 star recruits are going to the major programs anyway. So what matters is identifying need and the commensurate and available financial package for the recruit.

Head coach recruiting has evolved. Rivera is supposed to be doing the management and alot of the home visits. He's working, or should be working, with Tosh to get what the team needs. Tosh should be able to delegate most of these duties to Rivera or to whoever Rivera has on staff to meet recruits, bring them to campus and go over the financials.

Its too bad we can't do an "exit interview" with Mayo and Davis and ask them what they saw or didn't see in terms of campus, coaching, existing roster, game day experience, actual recruitment, and finances.

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There are way more roster spots than good players. You will compete with other programs who will offer similar amounts of money to them. How do you get them to choose you?

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Similar amounts of money? Sweet talking tosh.

The Berkeley Bears have a lower than average nil budget. Sweet talking tosh over more $?

BearSD said:

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wifeisafurd said:

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The Mario Christobal model seems to work. Great recruiter, good with alums/donors/ at alumni school, etc. Gets top coordinators, and then set the overall scheme - and turn over the details to the coordinators and coaches. Mario isn;t exactly a great game coach. but he gets the job. done.

---

Some of us were hoping that Tosh would get results like Cristobal. But that can't work with learning-on-the-job coordinators.

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Agreed.

Major tactical mistake with the OC. My initial reaction was that JS was an up and coming guy who was DC in name only, and that he would install some NFL scheme structure and be the X and O guy and that Rolo would really be calling plays, etc., but this was not the case. Instead, they should have gotten a big name OC. Huge tactical mistake.

Hutchins was going get a full DC job somewhere, and with Tosh mentoring you should have firm base. My read is the defense is pretty good, but young and inexperienced, and thus giving-up explosive plays from time to time due to mistakes that you see with young players.

Special teams actually played well at UNLV, so I'm taking a time out from berating them

concernedparent said:

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philly1121 said:

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DaveT said:

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What dumb comments. HC recruiting is still as vital as ever, and a HC that can't recruit is going to fail. What teams are selling is different now than a few years ago, but the HC still needs to sell it effectively.

A guy like Tosh can succeed, he just needs to know his strengths, and rely on coordinators to cover his weaknesses. This is management 101. I think his biggest failure is not understanding his limitations and believing he's something he isn't. He's never going to out maneuver other coaches, he's not that guy. But he can assemble a group of coordinators who are smarter and more capable than he is, and rely on them while he handles recruiting, motivation, program leadership, etc. Had he done this initially, we'd be in a much better position.

---

Isn't that what this guy is saying? Recruiting is less important to a head coach because of NIL. The 4 star recruits are going to the major programs anyway. So what matters is identifying need and the commensurate and available financial package for the recruit.

Head coach recruiting has evolved. Rivera is supposed to be doing the management and alot of the home visits. He's working, or should be working, with Tosh to get what the team needs. Tosh should be able to delegate most of these duties to Rivera or to whoever Rivera has on staff to meet recruits, bring them to campus and go over the financials.

Its too bad we can't do an "exit interview" with Mayo and Davis and ask them what they saw or didn't see in terms of campus, coaching, existing roster, game day experience, actual recruitment, and finances.

---

There are way more roster spots than good players. You will compete with other programs who will offer similar amounts of money to them. How do you get them to choose you?

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Well, that's a good question. With Mayo and Davis - was it the actual Clemson game and what they saw in terms of coaching and play? I suppose if you had similar dollar amounts with other schools, did they look at us and say, "yeah, this isn't gonna work here"? As Oakbear wrote, its hiring, not recruiting.

wifeisafurd said:

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BearSD said:

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wifeisafurd said:

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The Mario Christobal model seems to work. Great recruiter, good with alums/donors/ at alumni school, etc. Gets top coordinators, and then set the overall scheme - and turn over the details to the coordinators and coaches. Mario isn;t exactly a great game coach. but he gets the job. done.

---

Some of us were hoping that Tosh would get results like Cristobal. But that can't work with learning-on-the-job coordinators.

---

Agreed.

Major tactical mistake with the OC. My initial reaction was that JS was an up and coming guy who was DC in name only, and that he would install some NFL scheme structure and be the X and O guy and that Rolo would really be calling plays, etc., but this was not the case. Instead, they should have gotten a big name OC. Huge tactical mistake.

Hutchins was going get a full DC job somewhere, and with Tosh mentoring you should have firm base. My read is the defense is pretty good, but young and inexperienced, and thus giving-up explosive plays from time to time due to mistakes that you see with young players.

Special teams actually played well at UNLV, so I'm taking a time out from berating them

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I disagree the defense is pretty good. It's true that Cal's DBs are pretty good, but the linebackers are practically non-existent. That seems to be design, as Tosh drove off Uluave and Ferrelli, two of Cal's best defenders last year. As for the DL, they're unable to generate enough of a rush into the backfield regularly to give the QB problems. That said, the DL has shown flashes of dominance and gives me hope that with good coaching they can be pretty good. But for now, they're not there.

Also, the defense's greatest weakness is still its inability to stop the run. That seems to be a scheme issue as the defense seems to rely on the DBs stopping the opposing team's RBs. I really don't understand why Hutchings wants his 180lb DBs to be the guys tackling 210lb RBs. It just doesn't make sense to me. Maybe someone who knows football better can explain it to me.

movielover said:

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JSC 76 said:

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There are 3 parts to the HC job: 1. Recruit 2. Hire assistants 3. In-game tactics.

We all knew that Tosh was good at #1; there's too small a sample size to make a judgment on #3.

It appears he's really bad at #2, but if he's good at the other parts he may have time to recover from his hiring choices.

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4. Develop players (i.e., tackling, avoiding penalties, etc.)

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Blocking & tackling technique generally falls on the position coaches, not the HC....so that would be included in the failure of #2, hiring competent assistants.

01Bear said:

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wifeisafurd said:

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BearSD said:

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wifeisafurd said:

---

The Mario Christobal model seems to work. Great recruiter, good with alums/donors/ at alumni school, etc. Gets top coordinators, and then set the overall scheme - and turn over the details to the coordinators and coaches. Mario isn;t exactly a great game coach. but he gets the job. done.

---

Some of us were hoping that Tosh would get results like Cristobal. But that can't work with learning-on-the-job coordinators.

---

Agreed.

Major tactical mistake with the OC. My initial reaction was that JS was an up and coming guy who was DC in name only, and that he would install some NFL scheme structure and be the X and O guy and that Rolo would really be calling plays, etc., but this was not the case. Instead, they should have gotten a big name OC. Huge tactical mistake.

Hutchins was going get a full DC job somewhere, and with Tosh mentoring you should have firm base. My read is the defense is pretty good, but young and inexperienced, and thus giving-up explosive plays from time to time due to mistakes that you see with young players.

Special teams actually played well at UNLV, so I'm taking a time out from berating them

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but the linebackers are practically non-existent. That seems to be design, as Tosh drove off Uluave and Ferrelli, two of Cal's best defenders last year.

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The LB's are the 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 7th highest tackling players on the team. They aren't invisible, in fact if anything they play too fast and are visibly mistake-prone.

concernedparent said:

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01Bear said:

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wifeisafurd said:

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BearSD said:

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wifeisafurd said:

---

The Mario Christobal model seems to work. Great recruiter, good with alums/donors/ at alumni school, etc. Gets top coordinators, and then set the overall scheme - and turn over the details to the coordinators and coaches. Mario isn;t exactly a great game coach. but he gets the job. done.

---

Some of us were hoping that Tosh would get results like Cristobal. But that can't work with learning-on-the-job coordinators.

---

Agreed.

Major tactical mistake with the OC. My initial reaction was that JS was an up and coming guy who was DC in name only, and that he would install some NFL scheme structure and be the X and O guy and that Rolo would really be calling plays, etc., but this was not the case. Instead, they should have gotten a big name OC. Huge tactical mistake.

Hutchins was going get a full DC job somewhere, and with Tosh mentoring you should have firm base. My read is the defense is pretty good, but young and inexperienced, and thus giving-up explosive plays from time to time due to mistakes that you see with young players.

Special teams actually played well at UNLV, so I'm taking a time out from berating them

---

but the linebackers are practically non-existent. That seems to be design, as Tosh drove off Uluave and Ferrelli, two of Cal's best defenders last year.

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The LB's are the 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 7th highest tackling players on the team. They aren't invisible, in fact if anything they play too fast and are visibly mistake-prone.

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If the LBs are playing too fast, then that's another coaching issue, though (possibly) not necessarily a scheme issue. Correct me if I'm wrong, but is the defense relying on DBs to tackle RBs? Or am I just seeing things that aren't there?

Negatory on the ST play. Another successful fake punt against us, a missed FG that wasn't close to the necessary distance, and continue to be dead last in the ACC in punt returns. Bravo on the onside kick though!

Pleasantly surprised with ST play today. One successful fake punt, 2 FGs, 1 20 yard punt return, did not give up any ST TDs. Just a solid day for the STs.

I disagree that the squib kick was a horrible decision. It was pretty much the standard, expected play -- force the Hokies to field the ball and start the clock; ideally burning 5 precious seconds at the cost of maybe 10 yards. The execution was poor, so it cost more than 10 yards.