BearTalk

UPDATED WITH NEW MATH

What Pac-12 coordinators earned in 2012

Here’s a look at what Pac-12 schools paid their football coordinators in 2012, according to the USA Today football coaches salary database. All are base salaries, not including potential bonuses earned:

– Arizona
Calvin Magee, co-offensive coordinator, $300,000
Rod Smith, co-offensive coordinator, $235,000
Jeff Casteel, defensive coordinator, $425,000

– Arizona State
Mike Norvell, offensive coordinator, $320,000
Paul Randolph, defensive coordinator, $320,000

– Cal
Jim Michalczik, offensive coordinator, $294,600
Clancy Pendergast, defensive coordinator, $245,000

– Colorado
Eric Bieniemy, offensive coordinator, $480,000
Greg Brown, defensive coordinator, $301,000

– Oregon
Mark Helfrich, offensive coordinator, $350,833
Nick Aliotti, defensive coordinator, $552,500

– Oregon State
Danny Langsford, offensive coordinator, $240,000
Mark Banker, defensive coordinator, $440,000

– Southern Cal
Kennedy Polamalu, offensive coordinator, N/A
Monte Kiffin, defensive coordinator, $1,533,764

– Stanford
Pep Hamilton, offensive coordinator, N/A
Derek Mason, defensive coordinator, N/A

– UCLA
Noel Mazzone, offensive coordinator, $350,000
Lou Spanos, defensive coordinator, $550,000

– Utah
Brian Johnson, co-offensive coordinator, $225,500
Kalani Fifita Sitake, defensive coordinator, $500,000

– Washington
Eric Kiesau, offensive coordinator, $375,004
Justin Wilcox, defensive coordinator, $750,000

– Washington State
Mike Breske, defensive coordinator, $326,500

Note: Southern Cal and Stanford are private universities and not subject to public records searches. At Washington State, head coach Mike Leach also served as offensive coordinator.

Cal coach Sonny Dykes has identified running back as an area of need in the 2014 recruiting class, and he got his first commitment at the position from Tre Watson, a 5-10, 184-pounder from Centennial-Corona.

He likely won’t be the last, especially if the Bears can lure four-star local talent Joe Mixon of Freedom-Oakley.

Watson committed Sunday, according to Rivals.com, which ranks Watson as a three-star prospect. Scout does not rate him.

Still, hard to say just how good Watson might be. He rushed for 1,483 yards and scored 24 total touchdowns last season, despite barely playing half a game because Centennial was so far ahead on most nights. He averaged 9.1 yards per carry for the season and scored two TDs in a 41-34 win over Narbonne Harbor in the SoCal open division title game.

He carried seven times for 33 yards in Centennial’s 48-24 loss to De La Salle in the state open division championship.

Watson had offers from BYU, Washington State, Nevada and Fresno State, among others, according to Rivals.

The No. 2-ranked Cal women’s rowing team won its sixth straight Pac-12 title on Sunday, with victories in the varsity four and second varsity at Lake Natoma.

The Bears totaled 39 points to edge second-place and top-ranked USC (37.5) and third-place and fourth-ranked Washington (36.5) in the team standings.

Cal, which has won nine of the past 10 conference titles, awaits Tuesday’s seeding for the NCAA championships, to be held May 31 through June 2 at Eagle Creek Park in Indianapolis.

Khalfani Muhammad, who will be a freshman running back for the Bears next fall, showed off the speed he will bring to Berkeley by winning four events Saturday at the CIF Southern Section championships.

Muhammad, who competes for Notre Dame HS in Sherman Oaks in Division 3, won the 100- and 200-meter dashes and anchored winning teams in the 4×100 and 4×400 relays.

Muhammad logged a wind-aided 100-meter time of 10.33 seconds. Although not eligible for record purposes, because of the 3.1-meters-per-second wind reading, the time was the fastest Muhammad has run under any circumstances.

It’s also faster than any California sprinter has clocked this season, according to the website www.dyestat.com.

Later, Muhammad won the 200 meters with a wind-legal time of 20.84, crossing six-tenths of a second ahead of the runnerup. That time is the third-fastest in the country this year.

Muhammad also anchored his team to victory in the 400 relay with a time of 41.27, and 1,600 relay to first place in 3:18.92.

Damon Harrington was hired as Cal’s new football head strength and conditioning coach, and will work under Mike Blasquez, the athletic department’s director of strength and conditioning.

“We have restructured our strength and conditioning department to better serve the needs of our entire student-athlete population,” athletic director Sandy Barbour said. “The addition of Damon will add to an already excellent and experienced staff  that will take both our entire strength and conditioning program as well as our specific operation for football to new heights.”

“I think we got better as a program today,” head football coach Sonny Dykes said. “We added more expertise with both Mike’s move and Damon’s addition. We’re very excited about the future and both guys are excited to work with each other.”

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In honor of Chuck Muncie, who died Monday at the age of 60, we pose this simple question:

Who is the great Cal running back of all-time?

Actually, not that simple because the question covers a lot of years and a lot of talented players, although let’s limit the discussion to the post-World War II era.

The candidates (presented chronologically):

– JACKIE JENSEN: Cal’s first 1,000-yard back  — 1,080 yards, a 7.3 ypc average in 1948 — Jensen played on Pappy Waldorf’s Rose Bowl teams and on a College World Series championship team. Was the American League MVP one season, playing alongside Ted Williams.

– JOHNNY OLSZEWSKI: Led the Bears in rushing in 1950-51-52, including a 1,000-yard campaign as a sophomore, when he was a first-team All-America pick. Played 10 seasons in the NFL.

– CHUCK MUNCIE: Ran for 1,460 yards as a senior in 1975, when the Bears led the nation in total offense and posted an 8-3 record. Was a consensus first-team All-America pick, the Pac-8 Player of the Year and runnerup in the Heisman Trophy voting. Still No. 5 on Cal’s career rushing list. A three-time Pro Bowl pick in the NFL.

– PAUL JONES: A straight-ahead runner, Jones led the Bears in rushing three straight years (1977-78-79) and ranks No. 6 on the all-time list with 2,960 yards.

– RUSSELL WHITE: Cal’s only three-time 1,000-yard rusher, he returned a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown against defending national champion Miami the first time he touched the ball at Memorial Stadium. Remains the Bears’ career rushing leader with 3,367 yards.

– JOE IGBER: Led the Bears in rushing as a freshman and sophomore in 1999 and 2000 and sits No. 4 all-time at Cal with 3,124 yards. The downside: He played on teams that were a combined 4-29 his first three seasons.

– J.J. ARRINGTON: Had the most prolific season of any Cal running back in 2004, rushing for 2,018 yards with 15 touchdowns as the Aaron Rodgers-led Bears went 10-2.

– MARSHAWN LYNCH: Had back-to-back seasons of 1,246 and 1,356 rushing yards in 2005 and ’06, and sits second on Cal’s career list with 3,230 yards … despite leaving for the NFL after his junior season. Averaged 6.6 yards per carry for his Cal career. Has topped 1,000 yards four of his six seasons in the NFL.

– JUSTIN FORSETT: Played behind Lynch for three years, then ran for 1,546 yards — third-best in school history — as a senior in 2007. Despite three seasons as an understudy, totaled 3,220 yards, third-most by any Cal player.

– JAHVID BEST: Probably Cal’s fastest running back — although Brendan Bigelow might make an argument — Best ran for 1,580 yards and 15 TDs as a sophomore in 2008. He averaged a ridiculous 8.1 yards per carry that season. In parts of three seasons, Best totaled 2,668 yards on 7.3 per attempt.

You may have others in mind, but these are 10 of the most accomplished.

Here is my Top 5: 1. Muncie; 2. Lynch; 3. White; 4. Jensen; 5. Best.

Cast your votes now.

Click here to see a video of Muncie’s Cal highlights.

Former Cal quarterback Steve Bartkowski called Chuck Muncie “the most talented athlete I’ve ever been on the football field with.”

Muncie, one of the greatest running backs in Cal history and a three-time Pro Bowl selection in the NFL, died Monday. He was 60. Family spokesman Vintage Foster of AMF Media Group told The Associated Press that Muncie died at his Los Angeles-area home from heart failure.

Muncie was a consensus first-team All-America and runner-up for the Heisman Trophy for Cal in 1975, then was the third overall pick in the 1976 NFL draft by the New Orleans Saints. He rushed for 6,702 yards and scored 74 total touchdowns during his pro career, much of it spent with the San Diego Chargers.

Chuck Muncie was runnerup for the 1975 Heisman Trophy.  (Courtesy of Cal Athletics)

Muncie’s off-field issues often overshadowed his abilities as a versatile big back with great pass-catching skills. He was suspended for the 1984 NFL season after testing positive for cocaine and later spent 18 months in prison for selling cocaine.

Bartkowski, who played quarterback for 12 seasons in the NFL, called Muncie “one of the most likable, nicest guys I’ve ever been around, which I think was his downfall.

“It was a strength that really became a weakness. I don’t think he ever met a stranger.”

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One-time basketball career scoring leader Sean Lampley, former NFL standout Todd Steussie and four-time Olympic medalist Heather Petri head the 2013 class entering Cal’s Athletic Hall of Fame.

Also scheduled for induction into the 28th class will be track star Rick Brown, softball player Candace Harper, women’s basketball player Trish Stafford-Odom, swimmer Staciana Stitts, and rower and long-time contributor Gary Rogers.

Induction ceremonies are scheduled for Friday, Oct. 18, at the annual Hall of Fame banquet at the Greek Orthodox Church Conference Center in Oakland. Information on tickets to the banquet can be found online at bigcsociety.org.

The new inductees will also be honored at halftime of Cal’s Oct. 19 football game vs. Oregon State at Memorial Stadium.

Here’s more on each of the eight inductees:

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One of the benefits of Cal finishing spring workouts sooner than any other team in the Pac-12 — way back on March 23 — was the opportunity for the coaching staff to focus early on recruiting the high school Class of 2014.

The Bears’ priorities are clear, coach Sonny Dykes said. He wants to sign five defensive backs and two running backs next February.

He identified running back as “a position where guys have a hard time staying healthy through the course of a year. Those guys get beat up. You’ve got to have a good stable of running backs.”

Cal is hot after Joe Mixon, a 6-foot, 195-pound four-star running back from Freedom HS in Oakley. But so is everyone else. Mixon has perhaps three dozen teams pursuing him, including Notre Dame, Michigan, Ohio State, Texas, Florida and most of the Pac-12.

He’d be huge for Dykes and the Bears, but obviously he’s by no means a lock for the home team. 

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Coach Sonny Dykes said during a Pac-12 coaches teleconference on Monday morning that he has no better idea who his starting quarterback will be than he did a month ago when spring practice ended 44 days ago.

He added that he’d like to have it figured out within 12 to 15 practices after fall camp begins on Aug. 5. In other words, we should know the starting QB in about 100 days.

As of right now, Zack Kline, Jared Goff and Austin Hinder all remain in the mix.

“Had a chance to go back and review everything and really felt similar as we did after wrapping spring ball up,” Dykes said. “We felt like we had three guys that we thought were very different in what they brought to the table, but all three of them were good players, good leaders, were competitive guys we felt like could handle being the starting quarterback at Cal and all the stuff that goes with that.

“We felt similar after going back and looking at tape. Guys traded days, so there were days you’d walk off the field and you’d say, `OK, Zack Kline’s the guy.’ And then the next day, you’d say, `Jared Goff’s the guy,’ and then Austin Hinder would make a run. I don’t think anybody solidified the position during the spring.”

Asked how quickly after fall practice begins he’d like to settle on a starter, Dykes said, “As soon as possible … the best thing would be one of the guys really improves over the summer and takes over the job a week into camp and we just move on from there.

“I think we’re going to need to make a decision by practice 12, practice 15, probably at the latest. We’re hoping somebody is the clear-cut winner.”

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