Pre-spring Q&A with Tedford

There’s a nice Q&A with Coach Jeff Tedford up at the official Calbears.com site to kick off the upcoming spring training. He talks mostly about personnel in various positions and how they are shaping up for next season. Take a look here.

Michalczik named Offensive Coordinator

Jim Michalczik, Cal’s offensive line coach of the previous five seasons, has been promoted to the role of offensive coordinator left open by the recent departure of Mike Dunbar for Minnesota. He shall also retain his duties as offensive line coach. With Michalczik as the offensive coordinator, Cal next season will most likely remain more geared towards a pro-style offense, centered upon the run game. Cal has produced a 1,000 yard rusher in each of Michalczik’s five seasons as offensive line coach, and look towards continuing the streak with Justin Forsett in the backfield. Kevin Daft, a graduate assistant, was also promoted to take over as the quarterbacks coach.

OC Dunbar leaves for Minnesota

Offensive coordinator Mike Dunbar is leaving Cal to take the same position at Minnesota after spending one year in Berkeley. This is not an entirely surprising move, as he contributed some spread elements to Cal’s offensive scheme but Cal never adopted the spread completely.

The Contra Costa Times’ Jay Heater has an article about the move to shine some light on the situation.

“Mike was more comfortable running the spread solely,” Tedford said from Dallas on Wednesday. “There were professional opportunities for him in Minnesota, and I think he is going to be more comfortable there.”

Tedford was asked if it was a mistake to bring Dunbar to Cal. “No,” he said. “He brought some new ideas and concepts. Our goal was to meld those together. It’s not that it didn’t work. We were fine.

“But our goal was to meld the two concepts and not to be solely a spread team. I think he is of the mind to be 100 percent in the spread. He has had a lot of success doing that.”

The article goes on to state that Cal will continue to use some spread elements but never use it completely. It also mentions that Coach Jeff Tedford will “take his time” in choosing a replacement.

Confirmed (AP): Tedford 4-year contract extension

In an Associated Press report, it has been confirmed that Coach Jeff Tedford‘s contract has been extended for 4 years, through 2013. This great news comes in an article celebrating Tedford’s success and the emergence of the program as an annual contender, giving Cal some more exposure and recognition nationally. Some excerpts:

Tedford is 43-20 in five seasons, leading the Bears’ longest sustained period of excellence in a half-century. He led Cal to a 10-3 record, a Pac-10 co-championship and a victory over Texas A&M …

Tedford annually appears on the coaching wish lists of big-school athletic directors and NFL general managers. This winter alone, he was linked him with openings at Alabama and with the Atlanta Falcons. …

But Tedford seems comfortable at Cal, where he has transformed a once-struggling program into a West Coast power with burgeoning fan support and new facilities on the way. …

The Bears have reached the top 10 in three straight seasons while appearing in four consecutive bowl games — winning three — for the first time in school history. Cal’s share of the Pac-10 crown this season was its first conference title since 1975, and Tedford also has beaten archrival Stanford five straight times.

This also grants the Cal program additional stability and quashes any rumors of Tedford looking to bolt to other programs or NFL positions. This stability is crucial for Tedford’s continual success in recruiting top-tier talent. Plus, Tedford until 2013 and world-class facilities underway… it can’t get better than this.

EDIT: The Contra Costa Times has an article about the contract extension with some quotes from Tedford:

“I’ve never had a hidden agenda of moving anywhere else. We have been fortunate to have had some success here and I believe we have put ourselves in the national spotlight. I’m very excited about the future of this program, and I feel it’s a privilege to be a part of it.”

Tedford said his biggest desire in landing a contract extension was having job security. “I know that Cal can’t compete (with the NFL) in money,” he said.

Barbour acted quickly and Tedford said he never met personally with an NFL team. He said he also has received several calls from universities interested in luring him away from Cal and that he isn’t interested.

“I have a lot invested in this program,” he said. “There has been a lot of work done by a lot of people. I don’t want to take a step backward.”

Breaking news: Tedford contract extension

According to KGO’s Ken Dito, Coach Jeff Tedford will be receiving more money and a contract extension. This is unconfirmed but I will post details as they are released…

DC Gregory wins national award

Defensive coordinator Bob Gregory has been honored by the Master Coaches Survey for his defensive game plan that shut down the high-powered Oregon offense on Saturday.

Vote for Tedford for the National Coach of the Year Award

Cal fans, head over to www.coachoftheyear.com and cast a vote for Jeff Tedford. The winning coach, besides gaining national recognition in a televised award presentation in December, will also select a charity to receive a $100,000 donation and earn their school $20,000 for their own scholarship fund. Fans can vote every day through the end of the first phase of voting, which ends November 5th.

Cal at Tennessee is a Saturday storyline

Marshawn Lynch is on the home page of ESPN.com in a nice banner that also includes stars like QB Brady Quinn (Notre Dame), QB Drew Weatherford (Florida State), and WR Ted Ginn Jr. (Ohio State).

ESPN.com‘s Chris Fowler also has a lot to say about Saturday’s matchup:

But let’s see what happens Saturday. Cal is a trendy pick to win the Pac-10 (and that cutting edge Lee Corso has the Bears winning the national title!). But can the Bears get out of Rocky Top intact? They are slight underdogs against a Tennessee team coming off a dismal 5-6 year. Why? Home field, of course. But is the power of Rocky Top being hugely overrated?

About home field advantage:

… The fact is, home field often is vastly overrated. When a huge, hostile crowd is cheering on a great team, it’s hard for visitors to win. When the same crowd is cheering for a merely decent home team, upsets happen all the time.

… The point is, home field is overrated when it comes to a collision of quality teams.

Some questions and analysis about the game for each team:

Now, can Tennessee reclaim Neyland Stadium this year, starting Saturday night? A win would be a huge springboard for a team that certainly will rebound from the unthinkable 2005. A seventh straight home loss to a top-10 team would really sting. The key matchup is Tennessee’s rebuilt but veteran defensive line versus Cal’s rebuilt defensive line. Combined, the Vols’ group has 10 career sacks. These are solid guys, but can they be disruptive playmakers and “War-Daddy” run stuffers against hypertalented Marshawn Lynch and Justin Forsett? Cal’s blockers consist of three sophomore starters who will get a baptism to the big-time. How well will they handle the noise and confusion of opening night, protect Nate Longshore and open holes? Quick drops can help mask an overmatched line, but for how long?

About Tennessee’s quarterback and new offensive coordinator:

More attention on Rocky Top has been focused on the effect David Cutcliffe’s return as offensive coordinator will have on QB Erik Ainge. In the six years Cutcliffe called the plays at UT, the Vols averaged more than 30 points each year, with Peyton Manning and Tee Martin under center. Last year’s team scored fewer than 19 per game. Expect the average to be closer to 30 than 19 this year. The Vols will be fine. Corso might need a Plan B for Glendale by 9 p.m. Saturday.

And finally, some general praise for the coaches:

Fun with Corso aside, I want to salute what Jeff Tedford and defensive coordinator Bob Gregory have done at Cal. Before they got there, don’t forget, the Bears were awful. Eight straight losing seasons, bottoming out with a 1-10 debacle in 2001 that featured six losses by 27 or more points. The Bears took beatings from UCLA (by 39) and Oregon (by 41). Under Tedford, Cal has reeled off four straight winning seasons, averaging more than eight wins per. If this kind of astounding reversal had been engineered at a more visible program, Tedford would be much more fully appreciated as the absolute top-tier coach he is. That kind of national wake-up call is what can be achieved Saturday night.

No QB named starter, but Longshore favored

Longshore or Ayoob?

Coach Jeff Tedford has still not named a starter at quarterback for the season opener at Tennessee. At today’s Pac-10 coaches teleconference, Tedford stated that the decision is likely to be “a game-time decision” between Nate Longshore and Joe Ayoob.

Apparently, there was also some confusion caused by ESPN asking Marshawn Lynch about the starting situation, implying that Ayoob was to start.

However, according to an unofficial report from a respected insider at the conference, it “distinctly sounded like [Longshore] would start as he remained healthy today, although [Tedford] refused to be pinned down to announcing the starter today.”

ESPN: Cal will lead league in rushing

ESPN‘s Pat Forde has written an article with 5 predictions for the Pac-10 season. His second prediction is about Cal’s ground attack:

2. California will lead the league in rushing again, and the nation will realize that Jeff Tedford is the Mike Shanahan of college football. Shanahan’s reputation was built as a West Coast passing-game guru, but his success has been built on the running game. Tedford has been thought of as a throw-it-around guy as well, but check his stats at Cal: His teams led the Pac-10 in rushing in 2003 and ’04 and were second to USC in ’05, and he’s had a different 1,000-yard rusher in each of his four years. With uncertainty at quarterback and great talent at running back, look for the Golden Bears to pound the rock even more in ’06.