So Art Kaufman and Duane Akina are going to be the coaches?

CalGang;842265414 said:

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So Art Kaufman and Duane Akina are going to be the coaches?

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Rumors and wishful thinking?

This is what Art Kaufman sounds like:

I could see how he might not be a charmer extraordinaire, but if he can coach like a mofo that's just fine by me.




This is what Duane "the most fired up coach in Texas football" Akina is like:

Here is what Art Kaufman did his last two DC jobs, both under Tommy Tuberville:

Inheriting a defense that ranked 114th in the nation in 2011 [sound familar Cal fans?], the Texas Tech finished the 2012 regular season ranked No. 39 in the NCAA FBS in total defense and led the Big 12 Conference in pass defense, surrendering only 195.8 passing yards per game.

In 2013 Kaufman's first year at Cincinnatti, the Bearcats defense ranked 9th nationally, moving up from 14th the previous year.

Moved up 75 slots in NCAA FBS in 2012. Moved up five slots in 2013, up to #9.

Kaufman is a highly regarded coach. It would be a tremendous coup if SD can get him.

The reason why he was let go by Tuberville had nothing to do with his coaching. Tuberville said that he simply wanted a coach with more recruiting ties to the Midwest.

I guess DC's and OC's at other programs across the country have to recruit too, except at Cal where Tony Franklin can leave for his out of state seminar without repercussion.

I still don't get why tuberville hired him twice then

wanderlust;842265479 said:

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I still don't get why tuberville hired him twice then

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Maybe because Tuberville might not be the sharpest knife in the drawer. He as many detractors too. He messed up at Auburn by hiring Tony Franklin to run his offense, then didn't have his back when the coaching staff was butting heads about running it. There was dissension among the coaches and they never ended up running the TF system as it was supposed to be run. Hate TF if you want, but Tuberville fell asleep at the switch and ended up firing TF and then he himself getting canned.

If it's Kaufman and Akina, that's fine. Akina especially is a very well-respected DB coach, and that could be a really good hire for us. But Kaufman isn't a "big name" or a "massive hire", I don't think. I'm not down on it or anything, but it just feels like folks are maybe overhyping it a bit, if that's the case.

atoms;842265497 said:

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If it's Kaufman and Akina, that's fine. Akina especially is a very well-respected DB coach, and that could be a really good hire for us. But Kaufman isn't a "big name" or a "massive hire", I don't think. I'm not down on it or anything, but it just feels like folks are maybe overhyping it a bit, if that's the case.

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Well aren't you the negatively-charged ion? :p

Man, have to say I'm perplexed by the negabears. There is no question last year that our D was a disaster. But to ignore the roll of buh's abject failure as a Dc or the fact we had at least 1 starter at every defensive stop go down is just crazy. And to bag on guy like McClure and say they aren't that good is equally fool hardy.

A ton of college ball is dependant on good coaches and getting the most from talent. Look at programs like WSU or Boise St. Equally so, look at what happens at Sc between Lame Kitten and Coach O. Night and day results.

Don't under estimate what a good dc and db coach can do. I would still like to get a quality Dl coach and am a bit concerned about buh as a lb coach (he has a good record there but obviously some water under the bridge at Cal) but I have no doubts a good hire could result in dramatic improvement.

aweissburg;842265503 said:

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Man, have to say I'm perplexed by the negabears. There is no question last year that our D was a disaster. But to ignore the roll of buh's abject failure as a Dc or the fact we had at least 1 starter at every defensive stop go down is just crazy. And to bag on guy like McClure and say they aren't that good is equally fool hardy.

A ton of college ball is dependant on good coaches and getting the most from talent. Look at programs like WSU or Boise St. Equally so, look at what happens at Sc between Lame Kitten and Coach O. Night and day results.

Don't under estimate what a good dc and db coach can do. I would still like to get a quality Dl coach and am a bit concerned about buh as a lb coach (he has a good record there but obviously some water under the bridge at Cal) but I have no doubts a good hire could result in dramatic improvement.

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Very true. Getting many (very good) players back from major injuries/health issues, combined with the younger players getting maturity from playing will make a big difference. Next year will be much more competitive. You don't win much in any league playing so many first year guys, and having only two senior starters, one of which is a kicker. That wasn't this coaching staff's fault. But I agree on the staff changes, and like that he pulled the trigger on that.

freshfunk;842265502 said:

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Well aren't you the negatively-charged ion? :p

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Hahahahahaha

SacBear87;842265087 said:

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Massive would be Ed Orgeron as DC. But I think it will be Greg Robinson. GR makes the most sense in terms of experience needed to fix an unbelievably bad D at this time.

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So this also makes sense. If its Orgeron, Sonny is right, we will have the 3rd best recruiting class. I know Ed comes with some baggage, but wow would that be a ballsy move. Its interesting everyone thinks this is big. Did SB open the checkbook and get some big name assistants?

freshfunk;842265502 said:

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Well aren't you the negatively-charged ion? :p

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Not really

Cal_Fan2;842265494 said:

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Maybe because Tuberville might not be the sharpest knife in the drawer. He as many detractors too. He messed up at Auburn by hiring Tony Franklin to run his offense, then didn't have his back when the coaching staff was butting heads about running it. There was dissension among the coaches and they never ended up running the TF system as it was supposed to be run. Hate TF if you want, but Tuberville fell asleep at the switch and ended up firing TF and then he himself getting canned.

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Didn't he slap/hit a coach in his last gig?

Then, firing a good DC because he doesn't recruit enough?

I would assume that older college coaches loose their enthusiasm for recruiting.

:gobears:

manus;842265548 said:

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Didn't he slap/hit a coach in his last gig?

Then, firing a good DC because he doesn't recruit enough?

I would assume that older college coaches loose their enthusiasm for recruiting.

:gobears:

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manus;842265548 said:

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Then, firing a good DC because he doesn't recruit enough?

I would assume that older college coaches loose their enthusiasm for recruiting.

:gobears:

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A lot of recruiting is about connections. Kaufman has primarily coached his entire career in the South and Texas. Tuberville specifically said the reason for the change was to better recruit the Midwest where I'm sure most of the Cincy roster hails from. Kaufman may have the same problem recruiting in California but in my opinion that's a secondary concern right now. We need someone to coach up the guys who are currently on the roster.

I would think it is easier to recruit in Tx for Cal than Cincy.

atoms;842265547 said:

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Not really

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I know. Just couldn't resist the apropos moment to use that comment.

Why do people like Akina so much?

Was with AZ and Dick Tomey with Desert Storm, a great defense.
Was with Texas for NC with Mack Brown.
Stable-Has been at only two stops (AZ &TX) for roughly the past 20 years.
Has more NFL DB's in the league than any other coach, IIRC.
Has 3 Thorpe award winners (best DB in college annually).

He is one of the best and has Pac 10 experience. He is an accomplished winner.

Why don't you like him?

I never understood the logic behind "he coached x # of future NFL guys so therefore he's good". That just means he's coached a lot of talented players at a high profile program.

wanderlust;842265614 said:

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I never understood the logic behind "he coached x # of future NFL guys so therefore he's good". That just means he's coached a lot of talented players at a high profile program.

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And it also means he has attracted a lot of talented players to programs he has coached. Akina will be an effective recruiter of high school safeties and cb's with hopes of playing on Sundays. He might be able to pull a JC DB into this class. This could be a huge hire.

wanderlust;842265614 said:

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I never understood the logic behind "he coached x # of future NFL guys so therefore he's good". That just means he's coached a lot of talented players at a high profile program.

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but his coaching them put them in a position to be drafted. Talent can only take you so far. Learning the x's & o's from someone who knows what they're talking about and has had success doing so is a BIG plus for me. I mean there's talented highly ranked guys going to a lot of colleges but that doesn't mean they make it to the league based off that talent. It's being taught to be in the right places on the field and making plays.

DrDanger;842265602 said:

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Why do people like Akina so much?

Was with AZ and Dick Tomey with Desert Storm, a great defense.
Was with Texas for NC with Mack Brown.
Stable-Has been at only two stops (AZ &TX) for roughly the past 20 years.
Has more NFL DB's in the league than any other coach, IIRC.
Has 3 Thorpe award winners (best DB in college annually).

He is one of the best and has Pac 10 experience. He is an accomplished winner.

Why don't you like him?

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Dr D - wasn't he officially Tomey's DC during the "Desert Swarm" years as well?

If it is akina, how the hell did we get him? By all accounts this is the ron gould of DBs who was only let go bc strong cleaned house (like dykes)

Davidson;842266456 said:

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If it is akina, how the hell did we get him? By all accounts this is the ron gould of DBs who was only let go bc strong cleaned house (like dykes)

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In spite of what some here want to believe, our HC has a good reputation and does have some pretty good relationships, especially in his home state.

Starting with the DC, virtually ANYBODY will be an upgrade over Buh, which was an obviously stupid hire from the get go. So right off the bat we're going to be better by having a competent person at the helm (i.e., I doubt we ever have a game where an FCS team boat races us because the DC has never seen what they were doing to us). Add to that the person might actually have affirmatively positive traits and it gets that much better. I don't know that the last DB coach was bad or if it was just the injuries, but I like that we're apparently getting a proven big time commodity to take over. Another positive. Then we reverse that stupid decision to have two DL coaches and no LB coach...you have to think we're better up front just by having coaches assigned to positions properly. Add in the guys returning from injury. It seems pretty likely we'll at least be competent in year one of the new staff...which would be a major improvement.

My bigger picture question is what the hell happened with Dykes making these hires last year and/or allowing these stupid decision (coaching assignments) to occur. Last year all we heard was that hires were made on the basis of people being a 'good fit'. That approach was an abject failure. I want to be positive about the likely new staff members but I have diminished confidence in Dykes going forward because of how last year's hires turned out.

Please someone give me some good news about our DC after yesterday

Anybody catch this in MB's White commitment story?

"They said the coaches should be in sometime next week and that the secondary coach from Texas will be coming and they'll give me a call when it's all taken care of," said White

Oskigo;842266530 said:

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Anybody catch this in MB's White commitment story?

"They said the coaches should be in sometime next week and that the secondary coach from Texas will be coming and they'll give me a call when it's all taken care of," said White

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Nice catch....just read that after you posted. Seems like that is who it is after all....great !!!!

SanseiBear;842265391 said:

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his [URL="http://www.hawaiian-roots.com/chinese_4.htm"][U][COLOR="Navy"]surname[/COLOR][/U][/URL] would indicate he's Chinese and native Hawaiian at a minimum and possibly other ethnicities as well as is common here. Should he be hired at Cal, I'd be totally happy for him!

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Isn't Akina a Japanese surname? Oh and he's from Hawaii.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akina_(Japanese_name)

Not that it matters though. He and Kaufman would be a great get!

Someone just posted a link on the "DC announcement" thread that says Akina is headed to Arizona where he coached previously

Cal Panda Bear;842266538 said:

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Isn't Akina a Japanese surname? Oh and he's from Hawaii.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akina_(Japanese_name)

Not that it matters though. He and Kaufman would be a great get!

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Akina, in this case, is Hawaiian.

CalGang;842266613 said:

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Someone just posted a link on the "DC announcement" thread that says Akina is headed to Arizona where he coached previously

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That article is from 2011 as pointed out by Oskigo. So maybe there is hope.

HKBear97;842265357 said:

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Both of you are being too kind to the coaching staff. In 2013, we had the worst defense in the history of Cal football and the third worst in the history of the conference. No matter what you think about the talent, we had way better talent than those results. It is 100% on coaching. Coaching is the difference in college sports and the defense last year essentially had none.

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Completely agree. One just has to look at what Monty does(less talent in the past years than many other programs) to see how critical coaching is to performance.