If Vigan goes to the beavers maybe we can trade the Griz next year for the cats.

$2M for what 3 years max? Cal goes through coaches like used tissue paper on a bad cold day. After 3 years he gets fired and then what? Start over? Instead, he stays at UC Davis where his kids can attend elementary school and grow. He could stay here for 10 years....make more money, more success, and raise his kids a small community. There is nothing Cal has that is better than UC Davis. Nothing.

Top Dog. He could live in Walnut Creek. But I agree, he's establishing our future foundation and a tie to his mentor.

I think he’d have to work around 6 years to get 1 years worth of salary at Cal or P4. I’m just saying…We all have families

Why? Why would you uproot your family for a 3 year gig max? You'd make more money at Davis in the long term. Way more....

disagree. Cal is only going to give him 3 years max. Add in cost of living, moving,....Cal is not a great place for a football coach. Stanford too. Those are research universities with a crappy fan base. They have no road to success. ZERO.

ACC is way better than MWC or new Pac. They don't even have to live in Berkeley. Lots of nice suburban communities nearby.

I believe that free lodging is part of the deal too.

yeah for 3 years...then what?

When was the last time Cal won anything? They play in the ACC. They have very high academic standards. It's a great university, but for football??? Nah.

Davis is way better option.

I think Slak is paying Marion 750K. I’d like to see Tim get something similar.

the OSU job does not seem appealing at all. I know the Pac12 is rebuilding BUT I can’t see this being a place to have great success. Maybe in a few years, he and Jeff Choate can have some beers and ask each other why they leave Bozeman for such crappy jobs.

I agree that OSU's situation looks pretty bleak at the moment. The main thing they can offer right now is a bigger paycheck and who knows, if he can poach enough talent from MSU he can maybe at least make them more competitive... Like Eck this season.

You apparently don't know Cal well. They have 'mic' majors like Recreation Management, Criminal Justice, and Communications.

I hope Plough stays, he wouldn't take the gig for three years, and bc Sac overpaid doesn't mean we should overpay. Yes, give him a raise, and extend his contract by two years.

“ All told, Vigen will make $455,000 a year simply for remaining employed by Montana State and making his contractually-obligated public appearances.”
https://www.footballscoop.com/2025/03/03/contract-details-top-fcs-coach-brent-vigen-montana-state
I’d like to see Tim making at least that. He’s worth every penny.

1. It is not obvious that Cal would fire Plough after 3 years. Wilcox just got 9 years, and made tens of millions of dollars, by going .500.
2. Davis is a great town but Berkeley also has positive attributes. There are reasons it is ~twice as expensive a housing market as Davis.
3. When you're signing a contract for $30 million or whatever, you're not going to be sweating the moving costs.
4. This is all a crazy discussion - obviously if he can 10x his salary, he should and is going to take it.

Coach Plough covered this in an interview and said you've got the top 20-25 teams (not Cal), and everybody else. That it is a time of great flux. His family is his anchor, and he wants to win a championship here.

I don't think he will be a top candidate anyways, so this discussion is moot

I know Cal. I grew up in the Bay. That schools football program is hanging on by a thread. It would not shock me if in 10 years Cal and Davis are in the same league.

Gould kept his house in Pleasant Hill when he took the Davis job (at least for a while) and commuted out to Davis. It not crazy to think Plough could keep the fam in Davis and spend long days in Berkeley.

No idea whether he's on any kind of short list for the Cal job though. Anything is possible, right....

People have been saying this about Cal since about 1985, though. Still around.

Cal doesn't have a way forward in FBS football. ACC is a short term answer, there is already complaining coming from ACC schools who don't want to travel across the country for a league game. If ACC kicks them out, where do they go?

There are always going to be people who doubt Cal (and Stanford) football.
Conferences will realign again, but I don't think anyone really believes Cal football is going anywhere.

No kidding. And the Cal staff lives out in WC/Danville/San Ramon, not Berkeley. Plough’s connection to Cal was through Wlicox. Rivera needs a bigger fish to help his NIL bankroll.

Some of you may prefer long commutes from exurban heat but most people don't, which is why it's a lot more expensive to live in close in, nice neighborhoods. I don't know where Wilcox's staff lives but Sonny Dykes lived in this house on the Oakland/Piedmont border. https://www.redfin.com/CA/Piedmont/271-Crocker-Ave-94610/home/526622

Plough listed as marginal candidate here https://writeforcalifornia.com/p/cal-head-coaching-big-board-10

Why he would be an exciting hire
He was closely involved in maybe the best Cal offense of the Wilcox era, and maybe it’s not a coincidence that the offense took a schematic step back after he left?

Why he could be a risky hire
He never had a chance to do much as an HC. Sure he has brought UC Davis to the FCS playoffs in 2024 and 2025, but Davis is a perennial FCS playoff participant, so Plough can’t exactly take credit for building the program up. Before that, he was relieved of his duties as OC at Boise State due to poor offensive performance of the team… who shortly thereafter made the CFP. Furthermore, there are few if any players he can bring from UC Davis that can make a Teddye Buchannan level impact on the program’s short term trajectory.

Would he take the job if offered?
Tim Plough is something of a replacement level candidate. Cal can increase his salary by an order of magnitude AND he’s not going to get serious looks from anywhere else on Cal’s level, meaning that he’ll be there as a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency option.

Honestly I dont want them to take him and I agree its too early in his hc career to make a move like this and leave a place like Davis he seems deeply committed to, but the whole thing about Davis being a perennial FCS playoff participant and not getting all this credit and getting fired as OC at Boise is poorly researched journalism. Boise was a shitshow under the old hc and most boise fans admit plough probably wasnt at fault. The thing about players that could move to the power 5 level is a stupid argument too. Its well know Plough is a really good recruiter (look at some of his boise state players and davis alum now). Also, I think the whole "he didnt build the program" is a weak argument at best. You could make this argument about a thousand coaches moving up that were previous coaches at decent programs. Hawk obviously deserves a lot of credit but objectively plough deserves a ton of credit at most of his coaching jobs (especially this HC gig).

Yeah somehow I doubt much research went into this line "Furthermore, there are few if any players he can bring from UC Davis that can make a Teddye Buchannan level impact on the program’s short term trajectory."