Vandalus;842258011 said:

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I would do cartwheels and backflips for shannon as well. From his wiki page:

During Shannon's six years as UM's defensive coordinator, his defenses ranked as follows in total defense nationally:

2001 6th
2002 7th
2003 2nd
2004 28th
2005 4th
2006 7th

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That's FIVE Top Ten defenses in six years as a DC. And, against BSC competition, not what Utah State normally plays ... just sayin'...

Vandalus;842258006 said:

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What is Dykes' connection with Diaz exactly? I've heard this mentioned before but I'm not smart enough to recall when or if they worked together anywhere.

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Someone mentioned that they thought Diaz did some of the TFS workshops with Tony at some point in time...

This is not that risky of a job. Even if its for just a year, there is no way anyone can possibly do as bad a job as Buh did. This defense would probably improve next year if a sack of potatoes was running it--due to the injury situation alone.

Vandalus;842258011 said:

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I would do cartwheels and backflips for shannon as well. From his wiki page:

During Shannon's six years as UM's defensive coordinator, his defenses ranked as follows in total defense nationally:

2001 6th
2002 7th
2003 2nd
2004 28th
2005 4th
2006 7th

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Me as well... Not to mention a top recruiter... I am good with Todd Orlando also and Dewayne Walker, but I am not high on Diaz

Other possible names

I will add in Keith Burns (the raiders coach not the Washington one)
Tyrone Nix also

Pendergast was a throw-away

After looking at a ton of possibilities I think I would go like this...

1. Randy Shannon
2. Todd Orlando
3. Art Kaufman

I would think Shannon would be HC shopping????

moonpod;842258116 said:

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I would think Shannon would be HC shopping????

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He's been an LB coach the last couple of years after sitting a year out. He was interviewing for the Oregon DC job...

HaloBear;842257372 said:

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Nice 2012/13 list, Doc Brown.

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Trolling your own board again I see.

Where can I find the icons on mobile . . . You know, the one with the tongue out happy face??

jamonit;842258034 said:

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Other possible names

I will add in Keith Burns (the raiders coach not the Washington one)
Tyrone Nix also

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What happened with Burns? He was highly regarded as DC at Arkansas, before being not good as HC at Tulsa. Then he was DC at SJS under Tomey, but since 2009 was a DB coach at Kansas st for a year and then the same at Ole Miss for a year. Since 2012 is now Asst ST coach for the Raiders?

http://www.raiders.com/team/coaches/keith-burns/0222fa90-8ddf-4b3a-a30a-d2221a4a49dd

JerseyGoldenBear;842257378 said:

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Rod Marinelli?

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Rod is the DC at Tampa Bay

Utexbear2;842257418 said:

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never been a DC plus would cost too much

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Doubt it would cost too much; in fact I know it wouldn't cost too much, but he's not the guy. He's a recruiter and position coach.

GoBears58;842257567 said:

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No Manny!

Unless he is coming to open Raleigh's back up.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/mannys-tap-room-berkeley

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I miss Manny. He'd drink a beer with us every gameday.

I'm too lazy to link, but have seen Diaz listed at a presenter at TFS trainings before and I believe is feature on the TFS website. Not sure how there was originally a collection. I remember being surprised there was anything about defense with the TFS stuff because I had expected it to be all about offense.

manus;842257983 said:

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If one looks at any coaches resume, well, he's been all "over the map." Just the nature of the beast.

It's funny how our NegaBears always have to put an anti-Cal/coaching staff stamp on their comments.

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This could have something o do with the staff being a dumpster fire last year.

Vandalus;842258011 said:

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I would do cartwheels and backflips for shannon as well. From his wiki page:

During Shannon's six years as UM's defensive coordinator, his defenses ranked as follows in total defense nationally:

2001 6th
2002 7th
2003 2nd
2004 28th
2005 4th
2006 7th

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I would rather not get my hopes up too high. I had such high hopes last year, and after all the anticipation, the only one that didn't have me scratching my head was Tony Franklin (even that turned out to be a disappointment). I don't know if Dykes doesn't have the connections, reputation, or charm (as a comparison, see what Mora did his first year in recruiting coaches) or if the top candidates don't want to come, but I have to wonder why he hired so many head scratchers last year (maybe one or two flyers but almost every single one?) and why it would be different this time. I am just happy that there is a change because, after last year, any change is a reason for hope, even if the hope is not too inflated this time around.

calbear93;842258310 said:

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I would rather not get my hopes up too high.

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I'm for sure in the same boat. I mean, I would be sunshine and rainbows with any of the four top guys on my personal list (Shannon, Walker, Orlando, English). That said, I am resigning myself to some random lackey, because who are we kidding - we're Cal.

Vandalus;842258318 said:

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I'm for sure in the same boat. I mean, I would be sunshine and rainbows with any of the four top guys on my personal list (Shannon, Walker, Orlando, English). That said, I am resigning myself to some random lackey, because who are we kidding - we're Cal.

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...The #1 University in D1 football for paying coaches not to coach. If I'm a coach this sounds like a good place to coach to me.

buster99;842258280 said:

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What happened with Burns? He was highly regarded as DC at Arkansas, before being not good as HC at Tulsa. Then he was DC at SJS under Tomey, but since 2009 was a DB coach at Kansas st for a year and then the same at Ole Miss for a year. Since 2012 is now Asst ST coach for the Raiders?

http://www.raiders.com/team/coaches/keith-burns/0222fa90-8ddf-4b3a-a30a-d2221a4a49dd

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He did really well at SJS... He started as DB coach, then was DC for the last 3 years, then they fired the old staff and brought in Mike McIntyre who brought in his own staff... So he went to Kansas State as a DB coach and did really well there. His old buddy Houston Nutt grabbed him to Ole Miss to be a DB coach and he did ok there on a bad team. Which of course Nutt got fired also and he went to the Raiders with Dennis Allen who was one of his assistant when he was HC at Tulsa. He is viable. Excellent DB coach and has been very successful as a DC many times.

Vandalus;842258011 said:

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During Shannon's six years as UM's defensive coordinator, his defenses ranked as follows in total defense nationally:

2001 – 6th
2002 – 7th
2003 – 2nd
2004 – 28th
2005 – 4th
2006 – 7th

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Will he able to bring Miami's defensive talent from those years with him to Cal? All those South Florida athletes? Wonder if DeWayne Walker has figured out the spread offense yet?

LocoOso;842258332 said:

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Will he able to bring Miami's defensive talent from those years with him to Cal? All those South Florida athletes? Wonder if DeWayne Walker has figured out the spread offense yet?

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Walker got lit up by JT's offense. Only time he beat him was with MJD's miraculous performance at the Rose Bowl.

GoBears58;842258337 said:

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Walker got lit up by JT's offense. Only time he beat him was with MJD's miraculous performance at the Rose Bowl.

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DeWayne Walker was not DC when MJD was there

Let's hope that if SD has pulled the demote trigger on Buh that he at least has something in the way of a DC replacement nearly signed.

They refer to Diaz in Texas as _iaz due to his lack of D, I'm inclined to trust their direct experience and hope we pass on him.

There is an "Iron" rule in the dating community about trying to date your ex - "It is always time and effort better spent developing new, fresh, prospective <Defensive Coordinator> than it will ever be in attempting to reconstruct a failed relationship. Never root through the trash once the garbage has been dragged to the curb. You get messy, your neighbors see you do it, and what you thought was worth digging for is never as valuable as you thought it was."

So CPendergast is out.

Shannon is interesting.

Guess I'm feeling like there needs to be some sort of post-mortem too to understand the whole Buh hire in the first place, not that it is actually needed or expecting it to ever happen, but just never grokked the thing from Day 1 - "Sonny, WTF were you thinking? The whole knock on you for years has been a total lack of D, and then you hire THIS guy to lead you to the promised land?? Should we start referring to you as _ykes from now on?"...

So with that, you have to wonder and ask the real question about the elephant in the room - Why would someone looking to advance their career as a DC come here?

Honestly, think about it. Play the role yourself - You know in your heart you are an up and coming DC with chops and you need a chance to showcase yourself so that you can a) move on to the next level, or b) stay, prove yourself, and then leverage those results for a bigger payday.

So let's look at the situation. New coach who makes a comically bad initial DC hire. Delays and delays before finally doing the obviously needed action in opening up the DC position.... Oh... but wait, the guy who was DC? He's still on staff. Sure, that'll be fine, no reason to suspect drama or personality conflict issues will EVER arise there. Plus, that guy is now your linebackers coach. Linebackers you say? You can probably count on 1 hand the number of LB's in the program at the moment, after a year of injuries and then post season exodus. But hey, they've had a year of the 4-3... but that didn't go so well, so do you consider the 3-4 or the 4-3? Might depend on your Dline and your secondary. Get some guys coming back from injury, and some guys who took a beating gaining experience last year... Maybe the Dline has promise, seems kinda 50/50. Secondary... no need to go there, we all know how that looks right now. Add to this all the coaching changes that have just happened, all these new coaches are looking for the best people to build out their staffs with. So it is a competitive marketplace at the moment.

So you as the prospective new DC survey the landscape that is the current state of Cal Football from the defensive side of the field. The decision you make here has the great potential to impact the rest of your career. Do you risk it and take the job? Or do you shake your head and politely decline knowing what a dumpster fire you'd have on your hands, and understanding that your reputation would be forever tarnished by your past association with Cal football in the mid 2010's? Could you feel confident that you'd ever be hired again?

I'm of the belief that we'll never even be considered by a top name. Not for a moment. "<ring>Hello? Hi <DC>, it's Sonny Dykes calling from Cal, I wanted to talk wi<click>" They'd be a fool to come here right now. Maybe in 2-3 years after someone else has sacrificed their career and gotten things closer and recruiting is on the upswing (see the current Penn State coaching job dynamic) and there is an actual honest to god chance to actually fix things and make a name for yourself.

Best we can do is to hope that some young up and comer who is a solid coach that doesn't stand to lose much by giving it a go comes in, the heavens part, turns out god is a Cal fan after all, blessed serendipity rains down on him from above, and he crafts a decent defense with "the smart kids". Other than that, this is going to be like ongoing anal prison rape for the foreseeable future regardless of who is coaching.

#GoBears, and lube up, we'll need it...

Diaz had some pretty good defenses before moving to Texas. That's how he got the DC job with Mack Brown. But at Texas, he had the worse defense in Texas history in 2012 and was then canned in 2013 after his D gave up 550 yards rushing to BYU. Unfortunately, he is probably the best that Sonny can hope to get in a one-year final roll of the dice.

that's great and all, but why would Diaz, or anyone for that matter, want to risk their career by coming here now??

GrizzledBear;842258370 said:

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that's great and all, but why would Diaz, or anyone for that matter, want to risk their career by coming here now??

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Well, it's much riskier taking over a decent defense that is losing it's best players with very little experience in waiting. Although we have personnel question marks on D, the only way to go is up. It is definitely not the ideal job, but it is far from a career risking job. Also, we have more than 5 linebackers and the timing of Buh's dismissal isn't very late.

GrizzledBear;842258357 said:

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Let's hope that if SD has pulled the demote trigger on Buh that he at least has something in the way of a DC replacement nearly signed.

They refer to Diaz in Texas as _iaz due to his lack of D, I'm inclined to trust their direct experience and hope we pass on him.

There is an "Iron" rule in the dating community about trying to date your ex - "It is always time and effort better spent developing new, fresh, prospective <Defensive Coordinator> than it will ever be in attempting to reconstruct a failed relationship. Never root through the trash once the garbage has been dragged to the curb. You get messy, your neighbors see you do it, and what you thought was worth digging for is never as valuable as you thought it was."

So CPendergast is out.

Shannon is interesting.

Guess I'm feeling like there needs to be some sort of post-mortem too to understand the whole Buh hire in the first place, not that it is actually needed or expecting it to ever happen, but just never grokked the thing from Day 1 - "Sonny, WTF were you thinking? The whole knock on you for years has been a total lack of D, and then you hire THIS guy to lead you to the promised land?? Should we start referring to you as _ykes from now on?"...

So with that, you have to wonder and ask the real question about the elephant in the room - Why would someone looking to advance their career as a DC come here?

Honestly, think about it. Play the role yourself - You know in your heart you are an up and coming DC with chops and you need a chance to showcase yourself so that you can a) move on to the next level, or b) stay, prove yourself, and then leverage those results for a bigger payday.

So let's look at the situation. New coach who makes a comically bad initial DC hire. Delays and delays before finally doing the obviously needed action in opening up the DC position.... Oh... but wait, the guy who was DC? He's still on staff. Sure, that'll be fine, no reason to suspect drama or personality conflict issues will EVER arise there. Plus, that guy is now your linebackers coach. Linebackers you say? You can probably count on 1 hand the number of LB's in the program at the moment, after a year of injuries and then post season exodus. But hey, they've had a year of the 4-3... but that didn't go so well, so do you consider the 3-4 or the 4-3? Might depend on your Dline and your secondary. Get some guys coming back from injury, and some guys who took a beating gaining experience last year... Maybe the Dline has promise, seems kinda 50/50. Secondary... no need to go there, we all know how that looks right now. Add to this all the coaching changes that have just happened, all these new coaches are looking for the best people to build out their staffs with. So it is a competitive marketplace at the moment.

So you as the prospective new DC survey the landscape that is the current state of Cal Football from the defensive side of the field. The decision you make here has the great potential to impact the rest of your career. Do you risk it and take the job? Or do you shake your head and politely decline knowing what a dumpster fire you'd have on your hands, and understanding that your reputation would be forever tarnished by your past association with Cal football in the mid 2010's? Could you feel confident that you'd ever be hired again?

I'm of the belief that we'll never even be considered by a top name. Not for a moment. "<ring>Hello? Hi <DC>, it's Sonny Dykes calling from Cal, I wanted to talk wi<click>" They'd be a fool to come here right now. Maybe in 2-3 years after someone else has sacrificed their career and gotten things closer and recruiting is on the upswing (see the current Penn State coaching job dynamic) and there is an actual honest to god chance to actually fix things and make a name for yourself.

Best we can do is to hope that some young up and comer who is a solid coach that doesn't stand to lose much by giving it a go comes in, the heavens part, turns out god is a Cal fan after all, blessed serendipity rains down on him from above, and he crafts a decent defense with "the smart kids". Other than that, this is going to be like ongoing anal prison rape for the foreseeable future regardless of who is coaching.

#GoBears, and lube up, we'll need it...

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Gawd ..... I hated every word you wrote .... But it's probably the truth ....

Got it... Here are the two names that are probably most likely the only two in the running...

Lyle Setencich
Spike Dykes (like Monte Kiffin)

GrizzledBear - I nominate this for post of the year so far.

GrizzledBear;842258357 said:

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...So you as the prospective new DC survey the landscape that is the current state of Cal Football from the defensive side of the field. The decision you make here has the great potential to impact the rest of your career. Do you risk it and take the job? Or do you shake your head and politely decline knowing what a dumpster fire you'd have on your hands, and understanding that your reputation would be forever tarnished by your past association with Cal football in the mid 2010's? Could you feel confident that you'd ever be hired again?
...

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The last time we played Texas in a bowl game (=too lazy to look it up), was Diaz the DC? If so, he did a pretty good job against us....

Also, one could look at the Cal DC opening as a great challenge, and if successfulautomatic accolades, all around.

:gobears:

It's not "risking your career". You put your career on the line in every coaching job every year.

A DC will want to come here because you certainly can't do any worse. There is a real opportunity to be seen as a guy that "turned things around" and you'll have the benefit of more experienced and healthy players from last year.

manus;842259103 said:

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The last time we played Texas in a bowl game (=too lazy to look it up), was Diaz the DC? If so, he did a pretty good job against us....

Also, one could look at the Cal DC opening as a great challenge, and if successfulautomatic accolades, all around.

:gobears:

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Yes he was the DC then against us. I also agree you don't want to take over the #1 def because all you can do is go down or mantain someone elses success. From 2nd to last you almost are a lock to improve and people will praise you for the job you did. Not to mention even if you just improved to 90th that is a huge upgrade and it saves your job even longer than if you went from 1st to 20th

calbearo;842258304 said:

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I'm too lazy to link, but have seen Diaz listed at a presenter at TFS trainings before and I believe is feature on the TFS website. Not sure how there was originally a collection. I remember being surprised there was anything about defense with the TFS stuff because I had expected it to be all about offense.

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Diaz would be high risk/high reward. He had a miserable 2012 season and was gone after the disaster at BYU this season. Before that, he was the hottest DC name in the country and had success with MTSU and Miss. St. It all depends on whether you think that the dysfunction on the Texas coaching staff led to Diaz's downfall (like DB coach Akina telling his DBs to play his way instead of fitting into Diaz's scheme) or if Diaz just forgot how to coach. The fact that he didn't make a single adjustment while BYU racked up 504 rushing yards leads me to believe he was fed up with the Texas job. I know he was pulling about $800K at Texas but I cant remember if his contract ran out this season or next...

I will say this. Diaz runs a complex scheme with a heavy reliance on strong LB play. Just look at 2012 when Jordan Hicks went down injured, the Texas D fell apart with Edmonds in there. I don't think he's necessarily a fit at Cal because of the current roster but he [U]might[/U] be a great hire. Like I said, high risk/high reward.

FYI, excellent recruiter

Sorry but this isn't how most winning coaches think about things. It's how loser coaches think about things. Losers. "That Cal job looks risky. It'll ruin my career if I take it because I'm afraid I won't succeed." Losers.

Fortunately, there are many, many coaches interested in the Cal DC job. Some of these coaches have had great success elsewhere as a DC and managed to land HC jobs because of it. They are in the mix. For those winners, this is an opportunity to be a savior. "I'm good. I know I'm good enough to turn around that Cal defense. I'll be a hero there and will have the opportunity to move up again when I'm successful.

The question isn't whether or not there are excellent coaches who want the job...it's whether or not Dykes is smart enough to find them and hire them.

GrizzledBear;842258357 said:

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Let's hope that if SD has pulled the demote trigger on Buh that he at least has something in the way of a DC replacement nearly signed.

They refer to Diaz in Texas as _iaz due to his lack of D, I'm inclined to trust their direct experience and hope we pass on him.

There is an "Iron" rule in the dating community about trying to date your ex - "It is always time and effort better spent developing new, fresh, prospective <Defensive Coordinator> than it will ever be in attempting to reconstruct a failed relationship. Never root through the trash once the garbage has been dragged to the curb. You get messy, your neighbors see you do it, and what you thought was worth digging for is never as valuable as you thought it was."

So CPendergast is out.

Shannon is interesting.

Guess I'm feeling like there needs to be some sort of post-mortem too to understand the whole Buh hire in the first place, not that it is actually needed or expecting it to ever happen, but just never grokked the thing from Day 1 - "Sonny, WTF were you thinking? The whole knock on you for years has been a total lack of D, and then you hire THIS guy to lead you to the promised land?? Should we start referring to you as _ykes from now on?"...

So with that, you have to wonder and ask the real question about the elephant in the room - Why would someone looking to advance their career as a DC come here?

Honestly, think about it. Play the role yourself - You know in your heart you are an up and coming DC with chops and you need a chance to showcase yourself so that you can a) move on to the next level, or b) stay, prove yourself, and then leverage those results for a bigger payday.

So let's look at the situation. New coach who makes a comically bad initial DC hire. Delays and delays before finally doing the obviously needed action in opening up the DC position.... Oh... but wait, the guy who was DC? He's still on staff. Sure, that'll be fine, no reason to suspect drama or personality conflict issues will EVER arise there. Plus, that guy is now your linebackers coach. Linebackers you say? You can probably count on 1 hand the number of LB's in the program at the moment, after a year of injuries and then post season exodus. But hey, they've had a year of the 4-3... but that didn't go so well, so do you consider the 3-4 or the 4-3? Might depend on your Dline and your secondary. Get some guys coming back from injury, and some guys who took a beating gaining experience last year... Maybe the Dline has promise, seems kinda 50/50. Secondary... no need to go there, we all know how that looks right now. Add to this all the coaching changes that have just happened, all these new coaches are looking for the best people to build out their staffs with. So it is a competitive marketplace at the moment.

So you as the prospective new DC survey the landscape that is the current state of Cal Football from the defensive side of the field. The decision you make here has the great potential to impact the rest of your career. Do you risk it and take the job? Or do you shake your head and politely decline knowing what a dumpster fire you'd have on your hands, and understanding that your reputation would be forever tarnished by your past association with Cal football in the mid 2010's? Could you feel confident that you'd ever be hired again?

I'm of the belief that we'll never even be considered by a top name. Not for a moment. "<ring>Hello? Hi <DC>, it's Sonny Dykes calling from Cal, I wanted to talk wi<click>" They'd be a fool to come here right now. Maybe in 2-3 years after someone else has sacrificed their career and gotten things closer and recruiting is on the upswing (see the current Penn State coaching job dynamic) and there is an actual honest to god chance to actually fix things and make a name for yourself.

Best we can do is to hope that some young up and comer who is a solid coach that doesn't stand to lose much by giving it a go comes in, the heavens part, turns out god is a Cal fan after all, blessed serendipity rains down on him from above, and he crafts a decent defense with "the smart kids". Other than that, this is going to be like ongoing anal prison rape for the foreseeable future regardless of who is coaching.

#GoBears, and lube up, we'll need it...

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