CoBears – I wasn’t clear about my extreme disappointment regarding Tosh. In my view, I think the circumstances that Tedford did not know about it are highly, highly questionable – what head coach doesn’t know whether an assistant coach has imposed a new signaling system? So I have deep skepticism. But what makes it worse is the timing. Everyone and their mother knew of the Oregon video within a day or two after the game (heck, my Furd “buddies” gleefully forwarded it to me ad nauseum when work started on Monday). The cbssportsline.com article came out within 48 hours of the game. See the link: http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/story/14316401/thanks-to-east-coast-bias-tedfords-cheating-goes-unnoticed/rss

So why the delay until two weeks later? Why not take the initiative and undertake an investigation? Why wait for the Pac-10 and the AD to do it? If he did undertake the investigation immediately and knew, why did he not apoligize to the media (and to Oregon) for not being correct when he represented that there were no faked injuries?

You state: “You’ll note the he says ‘I take responsibility as being the head coach to be in this with him.’ And he places the blame on the coaching staff as a whole. This wasn’t something he put on Tosh. And it isn’t fair to act as if that is the case.”

One, in this case, I think this is squarely on the head coach. I go back to what I said before – poop does not roll downhill. Tedford is not saying the buck stops with him; indeed, the statement “I take responsibility as being the head coach to be in this with him” What the heck does that mean? To be in there with him? Like, Tedford suspended himself? He docked himself his pay for one game? He apologized?

On Tavecchio, again, read the cbssportline.com article. Immediately after the game this blog was filled with numerous posters complaining about calling Tavecchio.

On playing the backups, yes, he should have pulled the starters, or at least Riley, in the 4th quarter in the U$C game. And yes, I think it would have helped Mansion. I’ll take a no pressure situation on the road as a good way to get free under fire experience without much in the way of consequences. Because when the starter goes down, and it really starts to matter, having at least a few real-time snaps definitely helps.

As for integrity, sorery, but we disagree. The examples I cite above are examples of the lack of integrity. You mentioned Tedford being by the side of Riley and Longshore when they go injured. If that is what makes a coach have integrity, then our standards are exceptionally low. I’m pretty sure my 5-1/2 year old would satisfy that in a heartbeat. But it did get me thinking about another scary injury – Jahvid Best’s. I went on to youtube and found a clip. Obviously, the clip doesn’t show everything that happened and was not on Tedford the entire time, so I can’t say for sure what he did. But the clip does show that seconds after the touchdown – after Cal players are calling over the medical staff – Tedford turns and walks the other way. The clip ends with Best being wheeled off the field on a stretcher, and Tedford is not next to him. Type in “Jahvid Best Epic Concussion (Multiple Angles)” Another video suggests that only 1:20 following the play – when medical staff and assistant coaches were around Best – does Tedford stop by. See “Jahvid Best injury during the game vs. OSU 2009″

Admittedly, it is circumstantial evidence that could easily be totally out of context. And I think it is silly to suggest that Tedford doesn’t care about the physical condition of his players, but to cite to Riley’s and Longshore’s injuries as evidence of his integrity as a football coach is a bit of a strawman argument. I also remember one of the truly frustrating and disappointing things about that particular game was how flat Cal was after the injury and during the entire second half. I had so wished Tedford had inspired the team to play their hearts out for Best, but it did not happen.

You end your post saying this my frustration is tinged by this year’s results. Strongly disagree. It is tinged by the results in the 2004 Holiday Bowl, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010. While some years have been better than others, during this stretch has Cal won any “statement” games, or games where it was the underdog? I can name two – Oregon in 2007 and Furd in 2009. In both games, we won as much on account of Luck as anything else. In the 2009 Big Game, Tedford did the one thing I have been complaining about for years – when you have a strong running game, use it to pound the other team into submission. During this stretch, we lost every year to U$C. We got blown out numerous times. We lost the “inexplicable” games. We lost games because of a ridiculous lack of preparation (Tennessee 2006, Maryland 2008, Oregon 2009, Nevada 2010). The problem isn’t this year; it is half a decade.

Despite my crticism of Tedford, I will keep going to at least 1 Cal game a year because its about sharing the Cal experience with my family. It really does not matter who wins on loses the game.

With that said, I can relate to Eric who has vowed not to attend another Cal game as long as Tedford is the coach…back in 2001, I had bought a ticket to the Cal vs. Rutgers game to be played in NJ. Because of 9/11, the game was postponed until December. Well, I boycotted the game and demanded my money back, as long as Holmoe was the coach…and vowed not to attend another Cal game if Holmoe was still coaching. I don’t know if my demand was the “straw that broke the camels’ back”, but Holmoe was fired immediately after the Rutgers game. So, Eric, your holdout may be a catalyst for another coaching change.

All I know is that my expectations rose greatly when he got that salary increase…as a fan…my expectations was for Tedford to lead the Cal football program to legitimately compete for a conference Title every year. My expectations were to win games against quality opponents…defeating USC and Oregon on more than just a rare occurance. My expectations were for Cal to get to a Rose Bowl (or BCS) before 2010. I don’t think these are unreasonable expectations given his salary level.

The reason why people are fed up with Tedford is that he is not meeting the raised expectations that come with a +$2 Million salary.

If Tedford was making $800K to $1.2M and was about the 6th or 7th highest paid coach in the conference…then his results would be acceptable. But when Cal chose to pay a coach over $2M, then comes increased expectations.

Sandy Barbour and the Cal adminstration must decide what type of football program do they want at Cal? One that is happy with “being competitive” i.e. in the 80′s and 90′s Cal would be “over the moon” with an 8-4 type of season…the only thing that was unaccpetable was multiple years of 1-10 and 2-9 type of season….everything else was OK.

So, Sandy…and other Cal Administrators…do you want to have Cal compete for conference Titles? If so, then you need to find a replacement for Tedford. If being 6-6 is OK…then you need to lower Tedford’s salary to below $1.2M or find a coach willing to accept a lower salary.

I respect your position, but I think it is overblown to a degree. First, with regard to the Lupoi suspension, here was Tedford’s quote post-game:

“I respect him a great deal. In the heat of the battle, he used poor judgment. That’s no reflection on his character, whatsoever. People make mistakes. I was told to look into it. I did. I appreciate the character of Tosh to be up front. This is no slap on Tosh’s character whatsoever. He’s a great football coach. A mistake was made and I’m sure we will learn from it as a whole. I take responsibility as being the head coach to be in this with him. We will make sure we stand for the right things and move forward.”

You’ll note the he says “I take responsibility as being the head coach to be in this with him.” And he places the blame on the coaching staff as a whole. This wasn’t something he put on Tosh. And it isn’t fair to act as if that is the case.

He also did not blame Tavecchio for the loss to Oregon. He noted that “we” need to show poise in those instances. He never said that Tavecchio screwed up, and he solidly stood behind him and said he would continue to be the kicker. Period. I don’t think Tavecchio felt that he had been called out either.

On playing the backups more, I don’t disagree that he should have, though I think it is reasonable to think that he wanted Riley to have some good moments in that game as well, considering the first half was one of the worst halves I have ever seen. I mean, should he have pulled the starters then and just given everyone experience, with the possibility of the score getting even worse and leaving every member of the team dispirited? Or do you give your players the hype talk about having something positive to hold onto and to build upon as they progressed further into the season. Besides, do you really think that having Mansion in there for a quarter or two would have helped Mansion? He’s had 3 1/2 games and still looks like he is a HS quality quarterback. With that said, I think blowout wins always are chances to play the backups, and there were missed opportunities in that regard. I don’t, however, think that is a reason for you to send your son elsewhere.

And I think your saying that Coach Tedford lacks integrity is flat out wrong. I think he is a coach with integrity, and is a coach who cares deeply about Cal and about his players and coaches. Did you not see the way he treated Riley when he was injured? Or Longshore? Integrity is not Tedford’s problem–figuring out the emotional side of the game is. And that is exactly the same problem Mack Brown is facing this year. I think a lot of that is having a real leader at QB who helps get the team through the tough environments with gritty and winning play. Riley was never that guy. Longshore was when he wasn’t injured. Will one of the other QBs step up next year and be that guy again? I certainly hope so. Great QBs can make coaches look great.

And, by the way, I, too, live outside the Bay Area, in Seattle. But I still travel with my slightly smaller family to games every year, and will continue to do so. I just don’t think that you are being fair in your analysis, which, I think, is tinged by the perfectly fair and appropriate frustration with our results this year.

Since I expressed my decision in writing, I’ll respond. I thought long and hard before writing what I wrote when i said I will not subject myself or my family to home games. Please consider.

1. I live in los Angeles. I have a family of six. I make it my mission to go to two home games a year – the UCLA/USC game and one other. It is not the cheapest thing in the world to take all that up to Berkeley, but I do it for the precise reasons you identify – supporting the team as a team (and the players). You will no doubt note that I do not criticize players in any of my posts; I criticize the coaching staff and the AD’s office, but never the players.

2. I also try my best travel to “good” out of conference games. I have gone to Oklahoma, Nebraska, Michigan State, and Tennessee. I would have gone to Southern Miss if the hurricane hadn’t caused the game to be deferred to December. Note that Oklahoma and Nebraska occurred during the Holmoe years. I am planning on going to Ohio State. These are also not particularly cheap things to undertake, but I do it because I want fans in other conferences to see the support Cal can muster.

3. I have gone to most of the bowls in the Tedford era. I missed last year, and I missed 2003 (which I sorely regretted). Also not particularly cheap and the timing is disruptive for family vacations.

4. As critical as I have been of Tedford – and I am fully convinced he or Erickson is now the worst (or at least the most overpaid) coach in the Pac-10 – I would not have stopped traveling to home games. But three events this season collectively have changed that:

A – He blamed Tavecchio for the loss to Oregon. That was inexcusable. No head coach should ever, ever do that. When I saw what Chris Peterson said to defend his kicker – who had a clear chance to win the game for Boise State to preserve a shot at the national championship – I oculdn’t help but compare it to what Tedford said.

B – He has failed to take responsibility for the Oregon injury faking. I don’t care whether it is a big deal or not, or whether Tedford knew or didn’t know what his assistant coach was doing. In my work, poop doesn’t roll downhill – it stays at the top.

C – Before Riley was injured, in response to criticisms that Tedford should play the backups in blowout losses, Tedford said (I’m paraphrasing) that he wanted to win the fourth quarter against U$C – which may be the dumbest thing i have ever heard a coach say – and that the backups were far from being ready. That tells me he has no ability to take into account contingencies and has sought immunize himself from any criticism.

These three events tell me Tedford is not a coach with integrity. He will not take personal responsibility. He refuses to learn from his mistakes. He happily fires or causes assistants to go. He looks only to blame others, whether they are players or his assistants.

I have a son who is a sophomore in high school. He plays left tackle and defensive end for his school, which is a bit of a football factory in Los Angeles – I think there are at least ten players from the school currently starting in D-1A. While I’m not sure where things will go for him, given what I have listed above, absent a mea culpa for the ages, there is no chance I would Tedford into my home to recruit my son. I would rather have my son go anywhere else to play football, if that is what he wants, than to play for this coach. So why should I spend a lot of money to watch a team when I firmly believe he is providing a gross disservice to the very players we all care about.

Let me put in these terms – if Cal had retained Todd Bozeman or Tom Holmoe after the scandals became known, would you still go to the games knowing that they were the head coaches? If you answer yes, then while I respect your commitment to attend games under any circumstances, I come from a different place. If the answer is no – that those transgressions are not forgivable to the point where you hold the institution responsible – it is just a matter of degree of what you and I find acceptable from a head coach of our alma mater.

As for the comparisons to OSU, Texas, et al., I’ll say this. I’m pretty sure Mike Riley has not called out his players or his assistant coaches. And since he twice has had Oregon State in a Rose Bowl clinching game in the Civil War the last two years, he has absolutely demolished Tedford in coaching for virtually the entire Tedford era, and he has had no problems finding ways to beat U$C when we have not, at a fraction of the salary and a fraction of the perceived talent, he gets a pass this year. In Texas’s case, as much as I detest Mack Brown for his whoring in 2004, compare his record to Tedford’s since 2004. Is there a comparison? But I guarantee you that if he goes between 5-7 and 7-5 over the next four years, there will be a lot of hard questions for him to answer. In any event, please review the Mack Brown quote below following the loss to Texas A&M:

On his thoughts about the season: I think [it's] just disappointing. You can say a lot of words. It’s not our standard at all. It was obvious tonight that our players are as good as theirs. I think it goes back on coaches. It’s not talent. We had our chances to win the game. People have said it’s talent. It’s not.

On the emotional reaction to this season: I thought we’d come out of the national championship game okay. It seemed like there was a hangover. I said from the first scrimmage of the year that I didn’t see what I wanted, and at Rice I walked out of there mad. There were some things that were flawed. That’s what I’ve got to figure out – what we missed. That’s the coaches’ job. That’s my job. Why didn’t they play with emotion early? Why didn’t we play better? Why didn’t we score points like we had? Why did we give up too many big plays on defense? Why was our kicking game inconsistent when we had really good players, and I thought it would be the best we’d ever had? Those are the things that are puzzling and will be on my shoulders to look at.

What I don’t understand is our lack lustre offense since Rogers left. It is not just that Longshore and Riley were huge disappointments. What is distressing is that they did not get better over time. Both guys got worse over time. That is what I do not understand. And I have to say that is coaching.

In similar vein are the special teams. I have seen consistently bad kickoff coverage–game after game. And it doesn’t get corrected. How can that be?

Then we get to the pass receivers. We have watched not only dropped balls these last few years, but also poor blocking by the receivers. Name a bubble screen that has worked over the last few years. Look at Cal run the play, then look at Oregon. The difference? The Oregon receivers are coached to block. Not our guys.

My feeling is that we have second rate assistant coaches who simply are not teaching their guys.

Tedford worked miracles with Boller. I wish I could see that happening again.

This team will not be No. 12 in the Pac-12, and to say as much is ludicrous. You really think Colorado will outclass us next year? UCLA, who we’ve dominated the past couple years? You really think that WSU is going to improve and beat us? UW without Locker? Oregon State may even be middling after a 5-7 season of their own, following next week’s loss in the Civil War. Stanford without Luck or Harbaugh? You think we won’t have a chance against Utah at home? Seems to me like we are going to have enough, likely with Maynard at QB, to at least be in the middle of the half rack pack, maybe even better than that.

I completely understand and share in the frustrations of this lost season, and I think coaching changes, particularly on the offensive line (bye, Marshall) and maybe even OC are absolutely necessary. I’m not ready for doom and gloom given that Pendergrast’s defense was pretty damn good IN YEAR 1, with really good linebackers and D linemen coming in for next year as well. Defense will keep us in games, and we will just need enough offense to get us through.

@ those who claim they are done going to Cal games until Tedford is gone:

I have hated this season’s results, and how we got there in a few games (Arizona, Nevada, U$C, Furd, Washington), but I will NEVER stop going to games and supporting my team, as I am a Cal Bear, not a Tedford Bear. Voice your displeasure as you feel appropriate–that’s fine. It’s fine to be disappointed with Tedford’s performance, and I would expect no less. Write to Sandy about it even. Send your donation (assuming you even make one) to somewhere other than Tedford’s salary. But to stop going to games? Really? These are college kids fighting in the trenches for our team, and I will not ever stop supporting them. Loud home crowds will help inspire them to victory, and I will always be part of that crowd.

Should Texas fans give up on their team? How about OSU fans after they got Coug’d this year? What about Cougar fans, who still attend their games and root for a team that has won just one Pac-10 game in years? Fans root for their team, good or bad, and while we may all have ideas about how to be better, not supporting the team by being at the game is not the way to go about bringing any of those changes.

Go Bears!

In Miami the decision to fire Shannon brings in a new coach, in Berkeley it seems we have no choice but to continue with the same head man.

In 4 years whose program will be better?

Now I blame Tedford for that either he is not evaluating talent properly or once he gets in talented players he is over coaching their mechanics to the point that they can’t hit an open target on a screen pass (see Brock Mansion). Still, I believe in Tedford and I hope that this giant step back will result in some analysis of the program and two steps forward.