The only explanation I could see is Kiffin had Clancy lined up to coach the USC defense before Dykes began making personnel decisions.

Clancy is one of the premier DCs in college football, period. If Shark doesn't retain Clancy, Dykes needs to get on the horn and get this guy here, offer him a great payday he can't refuse. The USC defense has looked dominate.

Something tells me though, if he isn't retained by Shark, realistically he'll get snatched up by another powerhouse football program or get poached by an NFL team. Dykes needs to get honest with himself about our current defensive coaching.

I'd love to see Pendergast back at Cal. I just don't think Dykes is ready to make a change.

No decent DC is gonna sign on to work with Dykes. It's pretty much career suicide. The offense continually puts the defense in difficult situations and the whole staff is probably gonna get canned after next year anyhow. Clancy would have to be really desperate to join Dykes' staff.

Nice fans.

He is much better suited for the NFL than Cal or any other college. That is why he hasn't had a winning defense in college - he's had a break but don't bend defense that is too complex for his players to execute, thus resulting in unpredictable blowouts and missed assignments at key times. Seems like he can be a very good coach, but I hope he has learned that you can't do too much in college. The continued blowouts with USC ie v ASU tell me that he hasn't, but who knows.

Most of the defensive staff except for Ambrose was out the door once Tedford got fired. Whether that was because they had other plans or Cal chose not to retain them, I do not know.

Dykes had nothing to do with their departure, although I suppose he could have called them back for an interview.

BerlinerBaer;842249753 said:

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Most of the defensive staff except for Ambrose was out the door once Tedford got fired. Whether that was because they had other plans or Cal chose not to retain them, I do not know.

Dykes had nothing to do with their departure, although I suppose he could have called them back for an interview.

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I though Pendy was cut by Dykes, in which case would be an embarrassment to call him back for an interview.

Like him or not, he would be a big improvement over Buh you can't deny that!

I do deny that he would be a big improvement over Buh. I choose Buh over him for sure. I at least need to see more of Buh. No, I am not trolling.

I would rather not see more of Buh, but that doesn't mean I'm itching for a CP return either. What CP has or hasn't done at $C has nothing to do with his prospects at Cal. When he was at Cal he could not generate a pass defense that kept the big pass play from hurting Cal. And in his Cal tenure, he never learned from those mistakes. Once the talent level dropped, he became a mediocre DC.

heartofthebear;842249781 said:

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I would rather not see more of Buh, but that doesn't mean I'm itching for a CP return either. What CP has or hasn't done at $C has nothing to do with his prospects at Cal. When he was at Cal he could not generate a pass defense that kept the big pass play from hurting Cal. And in his Cal tenure, he never learned from those mistakes. Once the talent level dropped, he became a mediocre DC.

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He couldn't figure out how to stop Nevada's pistol offense as well. I can still visualize our DEs biting on the fake handoff to the RB and letting the QB run past them for long gainers.

rjgoode;842249713 said:

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No decent DC is gonna sign on to work with Dykes. It's pretty much career suicide. The offense continually puts the defense in difficult situations and the whole staff is probably gonna get canned after next year anyhow. Clancy would have to be really desperate to join Dykes' staff.

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Only a defensive coach that was unsure of himself and his abilities would "think" like this. Most would welcome the challenge.

:gobears:

CP's defense at Cal was predicated on having a dominant player to man the Predator position. But Cal hasn't had such a player since Zach Follett graduated. So his defense didn't really stand a chance since we couldn't recruit to that absolutely vital position.

No doubt the pistol had been CP's Achilles heel. If I remember correctly, the bears Defense was top of the pac for a couple years. When was the last time Cal has had a defense like that? And let's be honest, he's made that USC defense relevant once again.

Calntheplay;842249857 said:

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No doubt the pistol had been CP's Achilles heel. If I remember correctly, the bears Defense was top of the pac for a couple years. When was the last time Cal has had a defense like that? And let's be honest, he's made that USC defense relevant once again.

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I remember some fans who were very critical of Coach Pendergasp in his last year(s) for his defenses against UNv, UDub, $uSC, OSu, etc. At $uSC this year he was deep in super talent and coached most of the season under Orgeron.

kad02002;842249758 said:

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I do deny that he would be a big improvement over Buh. I choose Buh over him for sure. I at least need to see more of Buh. No, I am not trolling.

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:facepalm


wow

Premier? Lay off the meth. Go look at the scores from 2012.

"premier DC's in college football"-yeah, SC talent will do that for you.
It was claimed on this very board that he didn't recruit while at Cal and the Cal D was not among the highest echelons in college football when he was on the staff.
OR, was this just sarcasm? Or do you want to speculate what CP would have done with the Cal D this year? I WILL GIVE YOU that at least he wouldn't have been playing a 4-3 without the personnel...

tim94501;842249889 said:

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Premier? Lay off the meth Go look at the scores from 2012.

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tim94501, why don't you post something of value instead of resorting to some bullying response attacking my character. My 4 yr old daughter could respond more intelligently Mr. 'go look at the scores.'

I prefer to look at things a little more in depth than the score board. But the one thing you failed to look at was where CP'S defenses have ranked since he's coached in the pac10/12.

2010 = #1 total defense in the Pac10

2011 = #1 total defense in the Pac12

2012 = #9 total defense

2013 = #1 total defense in the Pac 12

http://pac-12.com/content/football-statistics

3 out of 4 years he has the #1 total defense in the Pac10/12. Has Cal ever been ranked #1 in total defense 2 years in a row in the last 3 decades in the Pac? Let me know if we have...

Clancy was undervalued by Cal fans, but USC fans seem to appreciate him.

Calntheplay;842249857 said:

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No doubt the pistol had been CP's Achilles heel. If I remember correctly, the bears Defense was top of the pac for a couple years. When was the last time Cal has had a defense like that? And let's be honest, he's made that USC defense relevant once again.

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was #1 in the conference in 2010 and 2011, but it fell to 10th in 2012 according to this [URL="http://pac-12.com/content/football-statistics"][COLOR="Navy"]link[/COLOR][/URL], indicating to me that the cupboard was getting empty.

Let's not forget that our Offense gave the ball to our opponents in great field position so they didn't have to go far to score. Where did we stand when looking at points scored against us?

Pretty sure CP was let go before Dykes was hired.

Calntheplay;842249706 said:

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The only explanation I could see is Kiffin had Clancy lined up to coach the USC defense before Dykes began making personnel decisions.

Clancy is one of the premier DCs in college football, period. If Shark doesn't retain Clancy, Dykes needs to get on the horn and get this guy here, offer him a great payday he can't refuse. The USC defense has looked dominate.

Something tells me though, if he isn't retained by Shark, realistically he'll get snatched up by another powerhouse football program or get poached by an NFL team. Dykes needs to get honest with himself about our current defensive coaching.

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CP was fired by SB with JT. Also the special teams coordinator. SB wanted the new coach to start off with a clean slate, and interview the position coaches.

As for SC, its a matter of what Petersen does with Wilcox. If he doesn't retain Wilcox, there is no buy-out, and SC hires Wilcox. If Wilcox is retained by Udub, then CP stays at SC. BTW, SC wonks like CP, think he really improved the defense over Monty Kiffen.

SanseiBear;842249971 said:

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was #1 in the conference in 2010 and 2011, but it fell to 10th in 2012 according to this [URL="http://pac-12.com/content/football-statistics"][COLOR="Navy"]link[/COLOR][/URL], indicating to me that the cupboard was getting empty.

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you are correct the defense was ranked 10th. As far as the reasoning for the drop in defensive ranking, we can all give our best guess, but ultimately I think the kids werent very motivated, and probably werent very coachable given the state of Tedfords program in his last year. Or it could have been that CP was too busy sipping on the sauce and not out recruiting. Either way, hes back in the #1 spot for the Pac12 in overall defense. No doubt he goes through a rough patch where he might get blown out, but in those instances the offense needs to step up their game and rally.

We dont see the WV insight bowl as us getting blown out in that high scoring affair. We see it as Aaron Rodgers and company putting the necessary points on the board to win the game, and an amazing game it was. You have to score points. You cant expect your defense to hold everyone, every Saturday.

To the extent that he was "fired by SB" borders on semantics. New Coach=New Coordinators most of the time. In the Cal scenario specifically there is certainly the perception from afar that the "Tedford Era" was going to be wiped clean, more so than anything going on at SC.

CP has coached the top defense in the pac 12 two of the last four years, and top three there of the last 4 years.

But he sucks.

SC defense was the only thing keeping Kiffin somewhat alive in LA. And, like at Cal, when the offense could not stay on the field more than three plays in a row, eventually the defense did buckle (like at ASU, when everyone became despondent). Orgeron, who was assistant head coach, coached the defensive line and coached for Clancy Pendergast on defense. Pendergast called the plays - not Orgeron.

THe fact is that he is probably the best defensive coordinator in the Pac 12; Sarkisian would be stupid to let him go, and I do not think he will. He is hiring the d-line coach from Washington State, who is very good. The only think will be recruiting, but Sarkisian believes that SC sells itself, which I sort of agree with. Washington's defense is crap. Perhaps stanford is better, but that could also be the roids.

At the end of the day, SC will be very good on defense, and eventually CP will get another job in the NFL.

Espn reporting that Sharkesian will not retain Pendergast.

SoCalBear323;842251237 said:

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Espn reporting that Sharkesian will not retain Pendergast.

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Dumb move.

Just an off the wall guess, but maybe Jerry Jones fires Kiffin Sr. and hires Pendergast to replace him.

SoCalBear323;842251237 said:

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Espn reporting that Sharkesian will not retain Pendergast.

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CP may be the first Tedford assistant that Sark isn't interested in appropriating.

bar20;842251269 said:

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Just an off the wall guess, but maybe Jerry Jones fires Kiffin Sr. and hires Pendergast to replace him.

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That would be a great move for them. He supposedly has interest from Notre Dame and some NFL teams.

It's official. Pendy out and Wilcox to USC. How many years we giving Sark at $C?

kad02002;842249758 said:

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...I at least need to see more of Buh. No, I am not trolling.

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you are the most extreme masochist I've ever heard of. or perhaps you're a Furd.