Let's talk potential new OC candidates for next year. I'm hopeful that Wilcox actually breaks out of his need to run his preferred offensive style and it creates more opportunities to pick up an interesting coach. Wilcox isn't getting fired with the reported buyout, so a new offensive system and coaches are definitely in the future. The one advantage we do have is that even though Wilcox would be on the ropes at nearly every other school, if his buyout is actually $28M this year, he probably has a minimum of 3 years of job security left and that means someone may be more willing to take the OC role.
My guess is that Burl Toler and Aristotle Thompson are retained and Musgrave, Geep and Angus are all shown the door. I didn't include Paul Chryst on this list because I don't think there is any chance he takes the job (nor would i want him to). The other candidate I would be thrilled with as a football coach but didn't include is Nick Rolovich, cause he's an idiot.
If anyone has any more names or suggestions, toss them out.
1. Troy Taylor - He is apparently going hard after the Colorado job, but if he doesn't get it, would he entertain getting paid $1M a year to come be the OC for Wilcox? Taylor is 54 years old, and if he wants to be a P5 HC, the clock is ticking. Aside from getting the CU job, his best bet may be to come to Cal and turn around a horrible offense and get noticed for it. But maybe he really wants to just be a HC and the money isn't that important for him and he sticks around at Sac State. If he was hired at Cal, I think we'd need to pony up to hire some additional assistants. His whole staff at Sac State is made up of guys you've never heard of (his OL coach was the Folsom HS OL coach for 18 years) and I'm not sure how many connections Taylor has in the business. Another question would be his ability to recruit outside of the Sac area. But his offense works and is exciting and we know he can coach QBs.
2. Brennan Marrion - Currently the WR coach at Texas, he is very on record about wanting to be an OC and then a HC in short order. He sent some tweets out after Baldwin left Cal lobbying for the job. He has a history in the Bay Area as both a player and coach at local JCs. His "go go" offense is pretty cool but a very drastic change from the pro style stuff Wilcox seems to prefer. He coached the Biletnikoff winner at Pitt and before that was WR coach at Hawaii and the OC at William & Mary along with Howard. He can definitely recruit, but you'd probably like someone else on the staff to have a history calling plays if Marrion needs some support. Maybe Marrion gets better offers, but Sark and Wilcox are buddies and he has Bay Area history perhaps that's intriguing to him. Again, Cal's lone advantage is that if you can turn around this offense, you are DEFINITELY going to get noticed for it and get some HC offers.
3. Aaron Roderick - Roderick is the OC at BYU currently. The offense this year has taken a step back, but he's coached some pretty exciting football and spent a good chunk of his career at BYU and Utah coaching QBs who played really well. He's a BYU grad and I don't think has ever coached outside of the state, but could potentially be tempted if the pay is right.
4. Eric Kiesau - Kiesau is currently OC at Auburn, but not for much longer as that whole staff is a dead man walking. He's a very familiar name, having worked for Tedford, but he also coached alongside Wilcox at UW with Sarkisian. Kieasau was always a very good recruiter and he has a ton of experience. Feels a bit like a retread, but still only 49 years old. He'll be available, has ample experience working and recruiting the west coast, and has had a lot of offensive success.
5. Kirby Moore - Moore is OC at Fresno State. Fresno State is having a dismal year, but it's mostly because Haener got hurt. Moore has been at Fresno since Tedford hired him in his first stint, and then Kalen Deboer retained him. Moore has done a very good job of recruiting the central valley, including landing a handful of kids that had much better offers, and his wide receivers are legitimately good. He's still very young and this is only his first year calling plays so it would probably be a stretch for him to make the jump to Cal. Tedford has a fairly good history of plucking out offensive coaches who go on to successful careers (Kiesau, Arroyo, DeBoer, Ludwig), so I tend to be partial to folks that have worked for him. Tedford is a grinder and workaholic so if you work for him, you aren't lazy and you normally can call offense.
6. Taylor Housewright - Currently the OC at Montana State in his 2nd year in that role. Last year he led them to the FCS national championship game in his first year as play caller and had to do it with a hurt QB. He coached under Joe Moorhead at both Miss State and Oregon in analyst roles. He's only 32 years old, but seems to have the right stuff at a pretty competitive level in FCS, and if he's running what Moorhead ran, that's fun. Montana State is currently 7th in FCS in total offense and are scoring over 40ppg with their only loss this season to Oregon State. The current Montana State HC, Brent Vigen, coached at Wyoming where Housewright had been a grad assistant and Vigen immediately made him the OC when he took the Montana State job, so he saw something impressive there.
My guess is that Burl Toler and Aristotle Thompson are retained and Musgrave, Geep and Angus are all shown the door. I didn't include Paul Chryst on this list because I don't think there is any chance he takes the job (nor would i want him to). The other candidate I would be thrilled with as a football coach but didn't include is Nick Rolovich, cause he's an idiot.
If anyone has any more names or suggestions, toss them out.
1. Troy Taylor - He is apparently going hard after the Colorado job, but if he doesn't get it, would he entertain getting paid $1M a year to come be the OC for Wilcox? Taylor is 54 years old, and if he wants to be a P5 HC, the clock is ticking. Aside from getting the CU job, his best bet may be to come to Cal and turn around a horrible offense and get noticed for it. But maybe he really wants to just be a HC and the money isn't that important for him and he sticks around at Sac State. If he was hired at Cal, I think we'd need to pony up to hire some additional assistants. His whole staff at Sac State is made up of guys you've never heard of (his OL coach was the Folsom HS OL coach for 18 years) and I'm not sure how many connections Taylor has in the business. Another question would be his ability to recruit outside of the Sac area. But his offense works and is exciting and we know he can coach QBs.
2. Brennan Marrion - Currently the WR coach at Texas, he is very on record about wanting to be an OC and then a HC in short order. He sent some tweets out after Baldwin left Cal lobbying for the job. He has a history in the Bay Area as both a player and coach at local JCs. His "go go" offense is pretty cool but a very drastic change from the pro style stuff Wilcox seems to prefer. He coached the Biletnikoff winner at Pitt and before that was WR coach at Hawaii and the OC at William & Mary along with Howard. He can definitely recruit, but you'd probably like someone else on the staff to have a history calling plays if Marrion needs some support. Maybe Marrion gets better offers, but Sark and Wilcox are buddies and he has Bay Area history perhaps that's intriguing to him. Again, Cal's lone advantage is that if you can turn around this offense, you are DEFINITELY going to get noticed for it and get some HC offers.
3. Aaron Roderick - Roderick is the OC at BYU currently. The offense this year has taken a step back, but he's coached some pretty exciting football and spent a good chunk of his career at BYU and Utah coaching QBs who played really well. He's a BYU grad and I don't think has ever coached outside of the state, but could potentially be tempted if the pay is right.
4. Eric Kiesau - Kiesau is currently OC at Auburn, but not for much longer as that whole staff is a dead man walking. He's a very familiar name, having worked for Tedford, but he also coached alongside Wilcox at UW with Sarkisian. Kieasau was always a very good recruiter and he has a ton of experience. Feels a bit like a retread, but still only 49 years old. He'll be available, has ample experience working and recruiting the west coast, and has had a lot of offensive success.
5. Kirby Moore - Moore is OC at Fresno State. Fresno State is having a dismal year, but it's mostly because Haener got hurt. Moore has been at Fresno since Tedford hired him in his first stint, and then Kalen Deboer retained him. Moore has done a very good job of recruiting the central valley, including landing a handful of kids that had much better offers, and his wide receivers are legitimately good. He's still very young and this is only his first year calling plays so it would probably be a stretch for him to make the jump to Cal. Tedford has a fairly good history of plucking out offensive coaches who go on to successful careers (Kiesau, Arroyo, DeBoer, Ludwig), so I tend to be partial to folks that have worked for him. Tedford is a grinder and workaholic so if you work for him, you aren't lazy and you normally can call offense.
6. Taylor Housewright - Currently the OC at Montana State in his 2nd year in that role. Last year he led them to the FCS national championship game in his first year as play caller and had to do it with a hurt QB. He coached under Joe Moorhead at both Miss State and Oregon in analyst roles. He's only 32 years old, but seems to have the right stuff at a pretty competitive level in FCS, and if he's running what Moorhead ran, that's fun. Montana State is currently 7th in FCS in total offense and are scoring over 40ppg with their only loss this season to Oregon State. The current Montana State HC, Brent Vigen, coached at Wyoming where Housewright had been a grad assistant and Vigen immediately made him the OC when he took the Montana State job, so he saw something impressive there.
