They have to have something lined up. If they didn't this is going to set Cal way back.

We're ticket sales or player grades down?

Sonny was interviewing for every gig within a short flight from the state of Texas, so perhaps that wore out his welcome.

Extreme non-excitement around the program and Dykes not lasting past 2017 (even if he had a great season in which case he'd have left as fast as if he had a crap season) were the culprits. He was the cousin no one cared to invite but couldn't find a reason to not have at Christmas dinner. Clearly, some donor money felt it was time to cut losses and instead of waiting for the cousins parents to divorce next year decided to facilitate the separation in advance.

Bad / late timing by the Bears. eh?

Berkeley still up to their neck in debt from the facilities upgrades?

Ready for a hearty laugh on a Monday?



The KNBR morning show mentioned Ron Gould as a potential candidate for Cal's opening.

Wow... good luck with that one, Cal.

No way Gould is hired at Cal. Just someone talking who knows nothing. Timing is terrible, if not irresponsible, by Cal. Can't see how this will not detrimentally effect their recruiting. I heard rumors of his termination two months ago.

Oh, I know, they have no idea of what they speak of, but I sure got a good laugh out of the suggestion.

Rumor up here in Portland has Chip Kelly coaching at CAL next year

That seems like a very likely scenario.

Isn't their AD a highly paid lawyer? Dr. Blue comes out smelling like a rose in comparison.

I guess actively seeking a new job outweighs his big academic gains.

Lol, no idea, but if they were waiting for Chip Kelly, I can see how that would be worthwhile considering his success at the college level, but I think their recruiting will be screwed. Dykes system is not the Oregon system, although its close, and QBs will be jumping ship (Dykes uses passers, Kelly uses runners). Blue wasn't slow, it was Hakwins who was "slow" in filling his staff. Blue was on top of it.

i heard Roxy Bernstein (he does alot of Cal broadcasting, along with his play-by-play on Pac12 network) on the a radio show yesterday and he was implying that the big push behind this was big donor discord, and a significant drop in season ticket renewals. I think the flirting with other jobs really hurt his connection with the alum, administration and players. He made it sound like it made sense to take a (hopefully) one-year hit in recruiting, instead of a multi-year hit in fan/donor interest that would probably come with Dykes sticking around through 2017. I guess that makes sense..but...why wait 2 months to come to that conclusion, unless it took months of negotiations with the administration to okay it?

Why wait 2 months? +1

I think they waited two months hoping he would take a job at a Texas school then wouldn't have to be on the hook for his contract this season.

Bezerkeley has to be a very tough place to coach, esp.now with new academic requirements. Tedford had to deal with old facilities, then tree sitters, etc. Different than UCLA.

i read something about one of the cal assistants getting a job at Ole Miss, and it got me to thinking about how the timing of this impacts THOSE guys. Dykes gets his $2M payout for not coaching, but these guys will be left scrambling for whatever jobs might still be out there. its a tough profession.

Yes. I wonder if there are cutoff dates or milestones to protect them?

Yes, bad time to tick off alums. They will be needed to try and save some of their revered sports teams due to budget deficits. NY times article says just the stadium deficit (400M!) could be the death knell for some teams. Plus, 120M in ongoing operating budget deficit. Wow! Think we have problems? Not like this. . .

Out East we are hoping Tennessee dumps Butch Jones (aka Sargent Carter) and hires Chip Kelly. My first thought when Dykes was fired was that Cal is going after/getting Kelly.

How much is their yearly operating deficit?

Given the massive financial and academic holes Barbor helped put them in, I took with a grain of salt all the praise heaped on Teresa Gould by a local writer.

Here is the Bloomberg article that Sochor Field sent to me a few days ago.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2017-01-04/college-football-s-top-teams-are-built-on-crippling-debt?appsrc=sc

22M deficit last year. Yeeow.

Where is Teresa Gould now? I thought she was great. Hope she lands in a good place. Anyone know where?

Rumors are that Justin Wilcox will be named head coach.

Coach Foster pupil?

Cal also ran a $9 million profit in football and I think around $2 million in basketball. Not too shabby. Keys to remember at Cal were the stadium was mandated legally due to earthquake retrofitting and it was either retrofit or build anew elsewhere. Building elsewhere (likely off campus) would have either cost more or resulted in less ticket sales and thus less revenue. Yes the debt is there, but there was no other choice to retain its largest athletics revenue source. Loose football and they'd have lost other sports too.

But the costs were through the roof... There had to be other tweaks, potential cost savings, etc. Bezerkeley protesters Don't help.

And how much money did their Athletic Training Facility cost?

The "profit" probably comes from TV revenue.

Whether the profit comes from TV or not, ESPN and Fox games are worth more than P12 Network games, and paydays down under help too. Those are all things that are a result of money spent. The SAHP was only about $150 million and privately funded (separate from the $321 million Memorial project).

Tweaks to an unsafe and century-ish old facility don't work. Besides, Cal plays P12 Division 1 football brother, not Intramurals. The concern over Cal's athletic debt is more created by academics and newspaper writers. I agree Division 1 sports cost too much, but they are also generating the revenue. With good business decisions following a plan, its no issue any more than academic costs to attend college which is high at schools that don't have athletic debt or costs.

One thing that has always appalled me here is the hatred towards other UC's, most notably Cal. I know it sucks Davis is the backup school but really? We hold our own academically and socially. Having degrees from both I enjoy the atmosphere of both, athletics included. They are different but nonetheless "mine." Both also need to pick up their game in certain areas, but neither deserves the spurn of the other. We are more partners than not, in fact, there's no way we aren't.