... and he had only exchanged one text with Coach Tedford ... quick work! Best wishes.

Bruce G will have another article in the Enterprise, this Friday... will there be any true insight or reflection... never thought it wise that we had a first time HC, first time OC, and first time DC.

New article

Davis Enterprise: Davis was a place where the Goulds hoped to make their stand

http://www.davisenterprise.com/sports/davis-was-a-place-where-the-goulds-hoped-to-make-their-stand/

i wonder when Brucey wrote this piece?

I think this just goes to what we have all been saying. Ron Gould is an excellent human being, he is an excellent running backs coach, but he was in over his head here. Good luck Coach Gould.

... and is this the 7th or 8th time Bruce has grieved Teresa Gould's departure? We get it, we get ...

Ok, full disclosure, I put on my tin foil hat. Anyone else feel like these "articles" are trying to sway Blue's opinion? It seems like Brucey had this one in the bag and was going to drop it on Monday, before Blue he thought Blue was going to fire Gould.

Tugging at our heart strings, attempting make us feel like Gould should stay one more year, these articles are fluff pieces. Then Monday morning happened and Ol' Brucey's game plan went up in smoke. I can't think of anyone who thinks that Gould is not a genuine, upstanding individual. But those qualities alone don't make you a great, or good, head coach. We've all played for a "nice guy" coach who was not cut out to be the one calling the shots.

This article gives me even more hope in Blue. He was three steps ahead of the situation, assembling his advisery staff, making the announcement the day after the banquet, and making his case for what he is looking for in the next head football coach.

Tell me about it, when Brucey wants to write about something he beats it to death.

I honestly don't think this is even tin foil hat territory, in fact I think there is a decent chance this happened. Brucey seems to be the only person that was really surprised by this. I think Blue made his decision about Gould a long time ago. I hope that he had a running list of potential candidates for the job. I love the transparency that Dr. Blue is providing throughout the process, hopefully it won't be long until we have a new coach.

Anyone catch at the end of Ol' Brucey's "article" that the buyout came via donations? Says a lot that a group who felt as though they were left out in the rain would pony up the buyout. Also, another clue that this was in the making for a while. Can't imagine an AD who has been on the job for a few months would pick up the phone and ask for $100k to buyout the coach's contract.

When is Ol' Brucey going to write and article on the search process?

He just learned that his best friend has to move away, give him some time to process.

I appreciate this article very much and think Gallaudet did a nice job of writing it. Why? Because he does a very good job of conveying the human and emotional side of what has happened to Gould and how it has affected his wife and his players too. Too often in college sports, and really all levels of sports, we hear little more than what amounts to than perfunctory "thanks and good luck but you didn't get the job done." There's more to the story than that on a personal level.

Gallaudet's two articles about Coach Gould have been respectful and personal. He has helped his readers understand something deeper about Gould: how much the job meant to him, how he considered his players "family" and how very difficult this has been for him and many others. That's good writing. Gould deserved that much at least.

A good writer tries to stay objective, but the love Bruce has for these two was too much months ago. Unfortunately, Coach Gould probably has one of the worst won-loss records in all of college football. This was an easy decision unless he went 6-5 or 5-6. I'm sure Blue had an ear full weeks into the job.

Most of the people on his list for consultation are out of respect, and / or politics. Coach Foster will have some great feedback. Where is Paul Hackett, Chris Peterson (too busy?), and others, to pinpoint potential coaches?

I liked how the College of Idaho selected Moroski. They called up Chris Peterson at Boise State and asked, "If you were starting a football program, who would you hire?"

Any added insight via the recent KDVS program?

I don't think a good writer must be objective, unless he claims to be objective. Bruce unabashedly weaves his personal feelings in his work, which makes him a "homer" but not a hack. He is eternally optimistic, focuses on the positive, and loves the hometown aspect of the Enterprise. It drives the analytical types crazy, but others eat it up, knowing that he is not entirely (or even mostly) objective.

Thanks for pointing that out, oldschool...I'm a bit of a softie for a good human interest story myself. :-}

I hate to burst Bruce's bubble, but I'd much rather read Dunning for articles of this nature. A beat writer is a beat writer, not a feature article columnist.

How about some insight... any insight... beyond injuries...

Has Gould had any self reflection? ... Would he do anything different? ... Did he really think having three first-timers in top positions was wise? ... Was it wise to play the OLine the entire game versus Oregon?

I've met Coach Gould, he is a good man, I'd just like a little reflection.

aggie6thman, take off the tin foil hat. Bruce knows Gould is done and he agrees in the article that this was the only outcome. If he didn't he wouldn't have written this:

'The 3-8 season — UC Davis’ sixth straight losing campaign — was unacceptable. Blue was forced to remove his football coach.'

If he was trying something as absurd as trying to help Gould get his job back, we'd see reasons for Blue to reverse the decision.

He's obviously humanizing Gould in this feature article, and there's nothing inappropriate about that. He likes and respects Gould, and there's nothing wrong with that either.

And Gould could legitimately offer the following reflections, and get buried for them:

-I was handcuffed by recruiting restrictions;
-We lack the facilities to attract the athletes who do qualify for admission;
-We don't have depth, of course I had to play my starters against Oregon. If I didn't and got my QB killed, those guys on the forum would rip me some more.

He's fired. Why bitch about an article that shows we showed a good man the door?

Every now and then I need a fire under my...thank you IA! No more tin foil, at least until I have to do the dishes!

I'm not saying there's a place for insight and incisive questions/commentary; I'm just saying that I've never expected that from Bruce. I expect him to write warm, fuzzy stories about the local sports scene, weaving in personal anecdotes and historical references. Personally, I'm okay with that. Having someone from AST get press credentials, which it sounds like is in the works, would fill that more analytical/critical role, and I think we're all looking forward to that.

So...buzz around Dan Hawkins again...I imagine we want to fill this hole ASAP before spring ball, and while the recruiting season is still semi-hot.

Hawkins was last on a campus recruiting high school kids in 2010. It's hard to imagine he could hit the ground running on that front, particularly in this area/CA. I'm not convinced he's our best option. I hope they at least talk to Moroski and Johnson, but I have no idea if they would want to return after how they were passed over by Tumey and discarded by Gould.

Hawkins requests may find more receptive ears this time.

I'd be interested if Dr. Blue contacted Coach Johnson, our defense was improving rapidly under his tenure. A couple people have mentioned Moroski and I get that he is an Aggie and that he did good work under Biggs, but I'm not sure you can justify hiring a coach whose heading coaching record is not great at a lower division school for this specific position with the circumstances surrounding the program (and I understand that it is tough to build a new program so I'm not really trying to knock Moroski on this, it's just the reality of the situation).

Well as an Aggie, a former NFL quarterback, longtime (very successful) offensive coordinator at Davis, and now a guy who started a program from scratch albeit at an NAIA school, he certainly should be in the conversation.

I like Mo and he can be in the conversation, I just don't know how you rationalize to a fan base that went through Gould's tenure hiring a coach that has an overall losing record as a head coach. I know he's started the program from scratch, I just don't see it sitting well with a lot of people who are already disgruntled with the football program. Also not sure what being an NFL QB has to do with it, lots of bad coaches who did play in the big leagues and a lot of good coaches who didn't.

Those are valid points. Having NFL ties is a plus, I think, and, speaking of the NFL, the Biggs/Mo years had a good number of NFL products for a D2 program... more than in recent (D1) Aggie history. I don't put much stock in the W/L record of a program that just graduated its first seniors. They beat Southern Oregon and have had some good wins. That said, Hawkins, who ran Colorado into the ground in his last head coaching job (6 years ago), should be in the conversation, too. I'm just brainstorming guys who would best fit the criteria laid out by Blue and summarized so well by aggie6thman on another post.

The list put together on the latest blog post makes me wonder which of the ten criteria Blue lays out will be the first to go when interviewing candidates. There have to be maybe a handful of coaches who will receive a check next to each of the criteria.

My other guess is that if Blue puts such a comprehensive list together he already has someone in mind. Whoever that is, I hope they say yes.

I absolutely agree with you. Biggs and Mo did a lot of great things during their time here. I would love to see more Aggies making it big time regardless of who the coach is! Hopefully we will get back to semi-regularly seeing guys do it.

And not just punters, right? ;)

HA! I mean I'll take what we can get, but some diversity would be nice!