I just went through the 2015 preview guide from Phil Steele.
Cal enters this year as THE most experienced team in a power 5 conference. We have a consensus top 5 national QB and Steele rates our DL, our OL and our WRs (in addition to our QBs) as among the top 1/3 units in the country
The more you dig into prep recruiting rankings, proven production, depth, experience, etc, the more you can't help view Cal as having the pieces in place to win.
This will be Sonny's third year, he's had a lengthy opportunity to create the culture he wants, multiple years of S&C and overall player development and three recruiting classes whose players will make up more than 2/3 of the roster. Our defensive coordinator will be in his second year and everyone knows the X's and O's on both sides of the ball cold.
The single biggest determinant of success in college football is coaching. Look no farther than what UCLA has done with Mora, ASU with Graham, Arizona with Rich Rod and Stanford with Harbaugh in recent Pac 12 history. You often hear the argument that coaches need time to get their players and culture in place and there is SOME truth to that statement especially if you're talking about a time period of three seasons. However, I cannot think of a single instance of a power 5 program in the last 20 yeards that created sustained success not having it be crystal clear after the third year of a coaches tenure that he was the guy. No doubt Cal was a mess after Tedford's last year but it wasn't four years to turn it around bad. Harbaugh had something far worse and Rich Rod and Graham didn't inherit situations that were that much better than what Dykes saw.
You either create a winning culture, you make players believe in themselves, you sweat and nail the details, you recruit well, you develop skills, fitness and strength or you don't.
I'm a fan of Dykes, I believe there is a lot of positive momentum and trends throughout the program, I love how well our kids are performing in the classroom and off the field. I'm an optimist for 2015 and believe this could be a special season.
Yet, I will not deny reality that either Dykes makes it dead obvious that he's a strong coach or we need to find a replacement.
It is a fallacy to believe that incremental momentum in 2015 will eventually result in greatness. Going 6-6 is not a better season than 2014 given the talent, depth, experience and time this coaching staff has had to build a team. It would be a disappointment in every respect. Such a result would be a STRONG indicator that at the very best Dykes will be a mediocre coach for Cal. I don’t know that our AD will make a change in that situation but at the very least, they need to be working hard in preparing a search for 2016.
And don't get confused by discussions of schedule difficulty. Our schedule PROVED to be very difficult in 2014. It's PROJECTED to be difficult again in 2015. Given our strategy with non conference scheduling and the current quality of the Pac12, it's going to be tough year in and year out. We may have more home or road games and we may miss or catch a hot team in a given season. The bottom line is that you have to transcend that which you can't control and perform. To believe differently assumes that magically our schedule will get materially easier in future years. It will not.
When you hire and manage a college football coach, you have to shoot for the moon and the results are 90% of the time binary within three seasons. You’ve either found a winner who fits or you have not.
This is it for Dykes IMO. He needs to show everyone that he’s the guy. This is the year the team has to be more than the sum of its parts and achieve. To make it clear that we are not 2nd class citizens to the Arizona, Utah, ASUs of this world. To clearly eclipse rebuilding UW and OSU teams and to be competitive and clearly capable of upsetting the Oregon, UCLA and USCs.
Coaching is the biggest determinant of success in college football without a doubt. Successful coaches either have it or they don’t. Dykes has had sufficient time and clearly has enough pieces to show us that he’s the guy. I’ve said before I believe this is an 8 win team (inclusive of a bowl game). No win total is a perfect measurement instead the evaluation is like that quote on porn - I’ll know it when I see it and that’s exactly the case with Dykes. After 2015, we will know from watching the season unfold whether Dykes is a failure, a perennial mediocre coach or someone capable of leading Cal to be a conference contending team for years to come.
Cal enters this year as THE most experienced team in a power 5 conference. We have a consensus top 5 national QB and Steele rates our DL, our OL and our WRs (in addition to our QBs) as among the top 1/3 units in the country
The more you dig into prep recruiting rankings, proven production, depth, experience, etc, the more you can't help view Cal as having the pieces in place to win.
This will be Sonny's third year, he's had a lengthy opportunity to create the culture he wants, multiple years of S&C and overall player development and three recruiting classes whose players will make up more than 2/3 of the roster. Our defensive coordinator will be in his second year and everyone knows the X's and O's on both sides of the ball cold.
The single biggest determinant of success in college football is coaching. Look no farther than what UCLA has done with Mora, ASU with Graham, Arizona with Rich Rod and Stanford with Harbaugh in recent Pac 12 history. You often hear the argument that coaches need time to get their players and culture in place and there is SOME truth to that statement especially if you're talking about a time period of three seasons. However, I cannot think of a single instance of a power 5 program in the last 20 yeards that created sustained success not having it be crystal clear after the third year of a coaches tenure that he was the guy. No doubt Cal was a mess after Tedford's last year but it wasn't four years to turn it around bad. Harbaugh had something far worse and Rich Rod and Graham didn't inherit situations that were that much better than what Dykes saw.
You either create a winning culture, you make players believe in themselves, you sweat and nail the details, you recruit well, you develop skills, fitness and strength or you don't.
I'm a fan of Dykes, I believe there is a lot of positive momentum and trends throughout the program, I love how well our kids are performing in the classroom and off the field. I'm an optimist for 2015 and believe this could be a special season.
Yet, I will not deny reality that either Dykes makes it dead obvious that he's a strong coach or we need to find a replacement.
It is a fallacy to believe that incremental momentum in 2015 will eventually result in greatness. Going 6-6 is not a better season than 2014 given the talent, depth, experience and time this coaching staff has had to build a team. It would be a disappointment in every respect. Such a result would be a STRONG indicator that at the very best Dykes will be a mediocre coach for Cal. I don’t know that our AD will make a change in that situation but at the very least, they need to be working hard in preparing a search for 2016.
And don't get confused by discussions of schedule difficulty. Our schedule PROVED to be very difficult in 2014. It's PROJECTED to be difficult again in 2015. Given our strategy with non conference scheduling and the current quality of the Pac12, it's going to be tough year in and year out. We may have more home or road games and we may miss or catch a hot team in a given season. The bottom line is that you have to transcend that which you can't control and perform. To believe differently assumes that magically our schedule will get materially easier in future years. It will not.
When you hire and manage a college football coach, you have to shoot for the moon and the results are 90% of the time binary within three seasons. You’ve either found a winner who fits or you have not.
This is it for Dykes IMO. He needs to show everyone that he’s the guy. This is the year the team has to be more than the sum of its parts and achieve. To make it clear that we are not 2nd class citizens to the Arizona, Utah, ASUs of this world. To clearly eclipse rebuilding UW and OSU teams and to be competitive and clearly capable of upsetting the Oregon, UCLA and USCs.
Coaching is the biggest determinant of success in college football without a doubt. Successful coaches either have it or they don’t. Dykes has had sufficient time and clearly has enough pieces to show us that he’s the guy. I’ve said before I believe this is an 8 win team (inclusive of a bowl game). No win total is a perfect measurement instead the evaluation is like that quote on porn - I’ll know it when I see it and that’s exactly the case with Dykes. After 2015, we will know from watching the season unfold whether Dykes is a failure, a perennial mediocre coach or someone capable of leading Cal to be a conference contending team for years to come.
