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Football: Dykes’ innovative coaching roots
By Jeff Faraudo
Saturday, December 8th, 2012 at 10:15 pm in Football.
The roots of the coaching tree that spawned new Cal football coach Sonny Dykes reach down to Darrell Royal and LaVell Edwards. But his approach to the game was shaped more directly by less traditional influences.
Perhaps none was more profound than the time he spent with Hal Mumme at Kentucky.
“I hired him twice,” Mumme said of Dykes. “He was that good.”
Click here to read the rest of my profile on Sonny Dykes.
Follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/CalBearsBANG.
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December 8th, 2012 at 11:34 pm
An excellent and entertaining article.
Looks like Cal has hired one of most innovative offensive minds in the country (maybe more so than Chip Kelly), and one who has been bred by his father to be a great football coach (I haven’t heard of his father, so I want to look up his record, and may provide a link on this and a subsequent blog showing it).
I have said many times in these blogs that Cal needed to hire an innovative offensive expert, as it was clear the top offensive schemes have changed a lot in recent years and left Tedford in the dust, and it looks like Cal has done just that. Hopefully, Sandy has enough money left to get someone who is as good coaching the defensive side of the ball as Sonny will be handling the offense so we can really surprise people. As Mike Leach of WSU recently noted, Cal has top athletic football talent. I think there is an excellent chance Sonny will show how good it is, and pretty quickly.
December 9th, 2012 at 8:08 am
Spike Dykes coaching history and record at Texas Tech.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spike_Dykes
December 9th, 2012 at 9:20 am
Good too the cat back.
The more time has passes the more i like the hire. Again of course there are some concerns. But thats the case anytime theres a change. And part is just knowing the typical cal way things have turned out in the past.
I bless this thread in the name of the bigelow, mccain , and kline. Amen.
December 9th, 2012 at 9:47 am
Amen brother Juancho. I love Dykes’ approach already. Best athletes play and tailor the offense to the talent we have. Brilliant!! Why wouldn’t Tedford ever do this!!
December 9th, 2012 at 11:11 am
@Juancho,
Nice. When the word first filtered that he was a candidate, all I asked is that he be given a shot at an interview. That goes as much as by Can fans as by the AD.
December 9th, 2012 at 11:33 am
#1 True! Sonny Dykes will take us to the Rose Bowl!
Juancho, VP of BTB Recruiting, “The guy to watch is lj moore out of fresno.” He looks like a beast!
Per twitter: Victor Egu 3/4 star lb from DeLa Salle gave us a verbal. Recruited by M Arroyo???
Any insight why we seem to be recruiting so well on D?
December 9th, 2012 at 12:38 pm
The great wehofx. Egu committed a couple weeks back.
Hes been a cal lean for a couple of years. Hes cut from the same cloth of a lot of the local guys recently. Grew up a cal fan. Not a fan of just a coach or program. But a fan of the university. Hell be a great player. He plays a little tight end for de la salle too.
I think austin hopper will commit too. If that happens the murmurs that michael hutchings will uncommit from sc and come to cal will pickup steam.
It comes down to the d coordinator hire being a home run.
A lot of the defensive commits were tosh guys by the way. So this class has some residual tosh benefits. Thats why its so d heavy.
Im goi g to imbibe some liquid courage. Then later research dykes recruiting history to see what we can infer.
In klines name, amen.
December 9th, 2012 at 1:03 pm
Interesting to see how one of the criticisms of Tedford was too big of a playbook and how that will pass on to Dykes who runs 5 receiver sets and three running backs in the backfield sets that have base plays, misdirection, play action and everything and anything that a coach can think of out of any given legal formation such as the two above.
As all of you former coaches know, this offense requires specific skill people, namely the guy in the QB position and it will be fun to see who on that given depth chart steps up to the plate to handle the overload.
Tedford’s playbook wan never a fair criticism in my view. That ranked far, far below “underachievement.” With Dykes, patience may need to be a virtue, for the spread is a difficult offense to run and most important, to win with. Does not do us any good if we put up 50 points and give up 55. Just ask the underachieving Trojans who instead of playing for the title game will be 700 yards from Juarez, Mexico in a few days playing in the El Paso Underachiever of the Century Bowl.
GO BEARS! BEAT NORTHWESTERN WITH EXTREME PREJUDICE!
December 9th, 2012 at 1:26 pm
Juancho, your VP of BTB Recruiting is well deserved. Depending on DC, do you think we have a shot at Eddie Vanderdoes(sp)?
Speaking of dc’s, per twitter, D Walker has NOT been contacted by sd/Cal. If true, I hope that continues to be the case. imo C Pendergast is a much better dc than dw. In fact, cp, would not be a plan B/C.
Go Bears! Beat unlv!
December 9th, 2012 at 3:38 pm
Brethren. Check out this link:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/specials/highschool-potw/12/06/hspotw.21/index.html
This is more fodder for the speculation that Vanderdoes will decommit from SC. Definitely doesn’t read like he’s going to stick. When SI interviewed him he could have said he’s going to SC, but as the article says, he’s leaning that way.
If he or Hutchings decommit and pick Cal, so will the other. These guys were supposed to be the second phase of the big Cal recruiting class we almost had last year.
These guys were part of the same group of local guys with Shaq and Armstead etc. who wanted to put Cal back on the national stage for the bay area. Let’s hope that D coordinator is a slam dunk.
May they hire Tosh ? haha just kidding. Sort of.
December 9th, 2012 at 3:44 pm
Come on Juancho don’t ruin my Sonny “D” high by mentioning that piece of $hit Tosh Lupoi. He’s never welcomed back at my beloved CAL.
December 9th, 2012 at 3:51 pm
Ed i nominate you for most venomous tosh perspective at the bear talk blog awards.
December 9th, 2012 at 4:23 pm
SD’s half time interview he said:
1) “Going to get 1 of the best dc’s in the country.” Please, please, please.
2) “Already Recruiting hard.” YES! #10
Go Bears!
December 9th, 2012 at 7:55 pm
Fuck that piece of shit Tosh Lupoi. That bastard is NEVER welcome back to CAL. He can go Fuck himself!
December 9th, 2012 at 8:09 pm
Larry:
Tone the language down. May I suggest that you say Tosh self-propagate? Or propagate with moron? Otherwise, I agree with you.
December 9th, 2012 at 8:15 pm
Amen to #14 above (Rated E for Everyone)
December 10th, 2012 at 7:55 am
Juancho, I think Larry might have me beat. But, I’d like to accept this award on behalf of all TRUE Cal fans who would never let a turn coat piece of $hit like Lupoi near our football team again!
December 10th, 2012 at 7:58 am
Juancho, as my Louisiana Grandmother used to say, “I wouldn’t piss on Tosh Lupoi if I saw him standing on the side of the road on fire!”.
December 10th, 2012 at 8:51 am
Macintyre to colorado. New rivalry anyone ?
December 10th, 2012 at 9:18 am
I pray that letting MacIntyre get away to Colorado doesn’t come back to haunt Cal. He seemed like THE choice to me in that second tier of coaches that wouldn’t demand a $4 million annual salary. We’re about to find out how good Dykes is going to be with his staff picks.
December 10th, 2012 at 9:57 am
Bummed on the MacIntyre news. I was hoping he’d stick at San Jose after not coming to Cal. Good coach, and that program needed him. I worry about them sustaining the program again. Oh well. That’s business. And college sports now is first and foremost that now, a business.
What worries me about Mac is that he has recruiting relationships and relationships at the high schools here in California. I would have preferred Colorado hire a guy who wasn’t working here in the golden state.
December 10th, 2012 at 10:47 am
I was sure CU was going to settle for an oc or dc because no head coach with any kind of record would touch that program w its d bag of an ad. If I was McI’s agent, I would’ve told him to sit tight for one more year, he can do better. It’ll be interesting to see how McI does at cu.
Something to watch: lame k and $c are also going to hire a new dc. I think the respective dc hires will be an excellent indicator of the direction of the programs.
C’mon,on, SD! Wow us w the dc hire.
December 10th, 2012 at 10:50 am
…Juancho, if you get a chance and it (still) interests you, I’d like to see the research on SD’s recruiting success?
Also, if you have time, D Walker’s success/record as a recruiter? It feels like, it’s not very good or he would not have had such a terrible record at nm.
December 10th, 2012 at 11:05 am
Tough for MacIntyre to turn down $2mm a year living in Boulder (great city).
December 10th, 2012 at 11:51 am
Wehofx its going down tonight.
December 10th, 2012 at 6:36 pm
RUMOR ALERT: Sonny Dykes is gone. Texas Tech is coming at him hard. It makes sense. He’s a Texas guy. Reminds me of when Kiffin dumped Tennessee for USC. Hope this is just that, a rumor, or bye bye recruits.
December 10th, 2012 at 6:59 pm
Yeah, I was going to post something on the legal aspects of a possible bolt to Texas Tech, but I figured people would blame me for hoping it happens. For the record, it would hurt. I am not sold on Dykes for D and penalties, but I don’t want him bailing now.
That said, gotta wonder if the terms sheet included an opt out for his alma mater (he also went to high school in Lubbock, I believe). It would not have been ridiculous, especially as no one thought Tuberville was going anywhere when he negotiated. It would have been a “who knows, in 5-7 years . . .” type thing.
Anyways, if he wants to leave, there would be some penalty money Tech would probably have no problem paying. With all the good candidates getting gobbled up, I am more worried. Texas Tech has more reason to pilfer, and Cal would be up an creek for a replacement.
Just because, you know if he leaves, it will happen on the 21st. End of the world, at least for Cal football.
December 10th, 2012 at 9:19 pm
Tonight SD was on Coaches Corner:
pic.twitter.com/rMH3UsCH
Gorcey and usual suspects are reporting all 5 assistants have been let go inclu gould. I hope it’s not true.
December 10th, 2012 at 10:00 pm
Here’s another rumor:
BearIV is an instigatory moron. Wait…..just been confirmed. BearIV is indeed a heaving mongoloid.
GO BEARS!
December 10th, 2012 at 10:06 pm
Hey Cow, you are far dumber than I first realized. Here’s a tip on life in 2012 – not everything posted by anonymous baboons on the Internet is true. To spend the amount of time you did assessing that nonsense tells me you’re struggling upstairs.
Dykes isn’t going anywhere. Intelligent people leave their small home towns all the time. It’s called growth. Townies are derided because they don’t have the mental capacity or curiosity to handle a new environment. Dykes strikes me as the type of guy who doesn’t need to go to the same bars he went to in college to find fulfillment. He wants Chez Panisse, not Arby’s.
December 10th, 2012 at 11:35 pm
Insults will get you no where Bearclaw. Just posted a rumor and that is why I called it as such. I wasn’t trying to invoke anger. I’m as big as a Cal fan as they come. Even recruited the 7″ 1 kid from Mission Hills yesterday hard, pumping up my time in Berkeley when we didn’t lose at home. Maybe he would have boxed out to seal the win. My pops went to Cal too. Miss that man everyday and my Bears make me feel connected to him so quit the hate brother. I wish you a Merry Christmas Bearclaw and no hard feelings. Wisdom Cow doesn’t seem so bad. Maybe give the man an apology and show some love this season.
December 11th, 2012 at 7:34 am
I nominate BearIV for the most gentleman award at the Bear Talk Blog Awards.
December 11th, 2012 at 9:57 am
bearclaw, regardless that I had been reading the rumors elsewhere since the day Tuberville announced, you are clearly a mental giant, bearclaw, and I should endeavor to glory in your knowledge. No one wants to remain with their alma mater, or become the HC where they were a successful OC, or where they have strong family roots. How in the world could I be ignorant? Why would I bother pointing out the reality of the POSSIBILITY when others on different sites dismissed it because he signed a terms sheet, as if such a document could force him to remain?
December 11th, 2012 at 10:01 am
Sorry, Juancho. I agree w CalBC. BearIV = moron sn alias. anyone remember B4 posting previously? how could any poster on BTB not know SD was on Coaches Corner last night? only a sh*t disturber.
Remember ray finkle? Same obsessive posting as moron. called out. lame ima good guy post. pretends it never heard of moron. then, gone.
imo CBC’s critique of Wisdom was excessive but the arby’s vs Chez Panisse line was pretty funny.
Anyway. R Gould is gone along w rest of holdovers. Sorry to see RG go but I get SD wanting his own people. New beginning.
You know if RG wants, he’ll have his choice of jobs inclu cu.
Go Bears!
December 11th, 2012 at 10:56 am
Okay, now I’m bummed. I take back my Ode to Sonny. Why would you get rid of RG? What, does he really have someone better that he needs to bring along or “find” out there? Maybe his incestual cousin, who is actually his uncle? Man, I hope this doesn’t get too squirrelly, but I guess its the norm.
December 11th, 2012 at 11:01 am
I used to be WyomingBear living in Jackson/Laramie but moved back to the EB. I am not Moron. I’ve read this blog everyday for years and feel sorry for that person. Juancho is definitely the MVP of Bear Talk after JF of course. Long live Calvin at KIPS and GO BEARS!