As a journalist, you are dependent on your sources. That said, you can work hard on developing sources, or gaining the trust of the ones you have, but the bottom line is that seldom do coaches (or businesses or politicians) have much to gain by telling journalists much of anything.
Let's take offers, and who you're interested in. So the Cal staff is open and up front about who they're after -- and like most programs, they get turned down by almost all of them. What picture does that paint for fans? For their bosses? For other players they're recruiting?
And also look at it from the young athlete's perspective. Maybe they don't want everyone to know their options; maybe they prefer to keep things quiet.
So if the coaching staff feels it's to their benefit to tell journalists something, then they will. If not, they won't, and without sources who are willing to talk, the journalist has no story.