Noooooooooooooooooo... unfortunately not surprising though. He's put our program on the right track, so he was bound to be on the radar for major teams looking for a coach. Such is life being a stepping stone program.

If Cal wants to hire a Big West coach, I would guess Turner would be preferred as he's had more consistent success these past few years.

Here's hoping it's not Les.

Wow, what a bummer. Let's hope he stays.

This is what happens at our level. Couple of good years and coaches are plucked away.

Somewhere during the big dance, he was asked by a reporter whether he was interested in the Cal job and he said (I'm paraphrasing) "no, we have more to accomplish at Davis." I'll see if I can find the quote. With that said, as much as I like my job, I have a price. If I were him and was offered an interview, I would at least look at all the facts.

Yeah, we would need to up his salary.

I hope he stays, but I'm very happy with what he has done.

I'm not sure how Athletics friendly the new Chancellor will be at Berkeley. I think May will be very friendly towards athletics.

I am officially worried.

Test the water, and if nothing else, you know what's out there when you're current contract is set to end.

If you're Davis or Irvine, keep Bob Williams' number on your "contacts."

Not worried yet. The advantage for Cal, with their financial limitations, is it may require less salary to pry Les and McGuire away than Musselman and Turner.

Cal would probably pay Les 3-4 times what he makes here and he would be coaching at a program that expects success at the upper D1 level and has resources. Of course, along with that comes the high pressure to win or get canned. Les is an intense competitor so I could see him aspiring to the upper level of D1 basketball.

On the other hand, he has quite a bit of history and lots of friends and contacts in the Sacramento area His wife, Jodi, is in real estate in the Granite Bay area and, I believe, that his son, Tyler, is working in San Francisco.

Good point. I think these 4 coaches are just the beginning and there will certainly be some big names yet to come.

i think Les has done a really nice job at Davis, and think he has the program on a upward trajectory. I think he likes Blue, and Blue will do what he can to keep him aboard. Sounds like May reached out last week, which is a good sign.

i would think the Berkeley folk would not be excited about a Les hiring. this is their second major hiring in the past few months, and they need to make a big splash. Les' overall record at Davis is not going to get the Old Blue reaching for their wallets for season tickets and/or donations.

at least, that's my hope....LesGoDancingAgain!

Cal will never ever hire a UC Davis head coach. Just too demeaning for them. We're safe for now.

Career record around .500, but he can pitch 2 banner years out of 6. Recruiting would be easier for him at Berkeley, and his NBA creds would work well. Cal may be sensitive how the last coach left so quickly.

Typical cal: les uninspiring what the hell that means?

If he is offered, how do you not take the job? More cash and a larger platform. You go from Mott to Maples, Matadome to McKale. Hard to turn down the biggest stage Les would ever be on.

I agree with you 6th, 100%. If Cal ends up offering Les the job, I believe there is close to a 0% chance he doesn't take it. Huge pay raise and a chance to coach Pac-12 basketball. If this was in fact our last season with Les, at least we have a competent athletic director at the helm now.

Given the $$$ and the bigger stage, you would think if Cal offered the job to Les that he would leave. But, you know, sometimes coaches just find a place that fits for them in many ways like it was for Sochor here at Davis. Davis has many things which I think are important to Les like our emphasis on scholar ballers with high character and the opportunity to continue to build this program from his vision. He has a lot of history and many friends and contacts in the Sacramento area and has said he and his wife love the area. So I think there a factors here that make the Davis job very special too and that offers a quality of life that may not be as good for him in the bay area.

BGA, the Sac ties I get, but he isn't moving to Maine. If he went to Cal it would be 70 miles away.

Yep. And from what I know he doesn't live in Davis, so he doesn't have the deep roots many have - local schools, church, community day to day bonds.

If there is no cap on UC pensions, that could be an added bonus given his years here. Might be a great change of pace for him and his wife, working in a semi urban area. And if they didn't want to live in the Berkeley Hills with a view of the bay, they could reside in suburban areas like Dan ville. Anyway, good luck to coach, I'm sure everything will work out well either way.

Cal needs a bigger splash, I think. Collins, Hurley (URI), etc. But more likely is they go hard after Bennett at St. Mary's.

Or, and this is absolutely likely, I am crafting ANY alternative narratives because I desperately want to keep Coach Les an Aggie.

The day before Californiagoldenblogs ran the piece that sparked this thread, they ran a piece that threw out Bennett's and Les' names, then quickly dismissed them both.

http://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/2017/3/19/14976780/randy-bennett-california-golden-bears-basketball-coaching-search

Same as with UCD, some alums at Call look at St. Many's as small time.

Not sure what the new ADs thought process is. Les is effective on the PR front.

For those interested, Coach Les had a good radio interview with nationally syndicated host Jim Rome at tourney time.

He does an excellent job describing us as an elite academic institution. ICA could learn from him.

Had a family member who went to St. Mary's and am aware that the Bears look down on that little college in their backyard. They just might look at a place like that like England looked at the colonies 250 years ago.

I think Les is going to be a guest on KHTK 1140 tomorrow, Wednesday, at noon.

If Blue could land the equivalent of Coach Hawkins for our basketball program, then that'd be less worrying. I'm just a little scared that the school would lose all the recruiting momentum it got from the NCAA games

And that is why Cal hasn't gone to Moraga for a basketball game in years and why they rarely schedule the Gaels at all.

There is no love lost between older Gaels and Bears, some great rivalries back in the old days!

Robert Ehsan?

Not sure that would happen due to his salary and buyout at UAB.

https://www.google.com/amp/www.al.com/articles/18414297/check_out_uab_coach_robert_ehs.amp

Comparison with Les:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/sacbee.relaymedia.com/amp/sports/college/article21757479.html

Unnattributed blog reports, but this one says Musselman is in, and there is a lot of turmoil in the athletic department at the Mother Campus.
http://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/2017/3/22/15019780/california-golden-bears-eric-musselman-ashwin-puri-mike-williams-athletic-director