Sonny Dykes - Cal

Harry · November 8, 2015

Sonny Dykes: Last week Dan Wolken of USA Today noted that he understands that Sonny Dykes is looking to leave Cal. Today, Trav Haney of ESPN added to that, saying, “Those who know the program say they would be surprised if Dykes returned in 2016. If there’s an opening in his home state of Texas, even at the Group of 5 level, Dykes could get in the mix.”

Travis · November 8, 2015

Interesting

MGNation92 · November 8, 2015

Would take him in a heartbeat. His success at La Tech shows he knows how to gather a staff with limited resources, find the players he wants and gets them. I think he could have just as much, if not more success here.

StealthEagle84 · November 8, 2015

If this is true, we better hope Tom Herman stays put. The only other openings in the state could be Texas State, UTSA, or UT. He's not high profile enough for UT and I feel like we'd be the better choice between the other two.

ADLER · November 8, 2015

I had no idea Sonny was looking to leave Cal. That would be a dream job for an awful lot of west coast coaches.

Sonny Dykes or Willie Fritz would be my first choices because they have already proven that they know what they're doing. Several of the coordinators that we are receiving interest from are also quite promising.

http://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/2015/11/1/9655868/sonny-dykes-california-golden-bears-coaching-rumors

http://sports.usatoday.com/ncaa/salaries/

*Dykes currently makes $2 million per year but Cal hasn't extended him past 2017. He may be just posturing for an extension.

Edited November 8, 2015 by ADLER

dawgxas · November 8, 2015

Sonny did the same with Tech. Houston job came open when Sumlin left and he used that for leverage knowing there was no way he was leaving Tech for Houston

ADLER · November 9, 2015

Well, looks like he may have been blowing smoke after all.........

Cal and Dykes are now in negotiations to extend his contract.

http://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/2015/11/8/9693398/sonny-dykes-california-golden-bears-head-coach-academics-contract-extension

I'd still love to have him coach here but it looks like he was never really slated to be available.

He still belongs in Texas though.

Harry · November 9, 2015

Well, looks like he may have been blowing smoke after all.........
Cal and Dykes are now in negotiations to extend his contract.
http://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/2015/11/8/9693398/sonny-dykes-california-golden-bears-head-coach-academics-contract-extension
I'd still love to have him coach here but it looks like he was never really slated to be available.
He still belongs in Texas though.

Cal is an interesting situation. They have outstanding academics but they have to compete with schools who can lower their restrictions and get better players.

They aren't like your typical college and if he is keeping the GPA's up they are likely to keep him around longer.

I know UT is down, but Cal beat them in Austin this year so that certainly helps his cause.

ADLER · November 9, 2015

This does highlight one of the advantages that we (and other Texas teams) have. Sonny may be making $2 million per year in California, but the cost of living is incredibly high and he's paying $270 thousand per year in state income taxes.

Suddenly $1.5 million doesn't seem so non-competitive, even with some of these P5 schools.

oldguystudent · November 9, 2015

Cal is an interesting situation. They have outstanding academics but they have to compete with schools who can lower their restrictions and get better players.

Interesting assertion. I would argue that at the very least in the Pac-12, that Stanford and UCLA have the same level of academic restrictions. Arizona and Arizona St definitely do NOT.

The Pac-12 is just a different mentality overall. Yes. They own the Rose Bowl and were a huge hindrance to consolidating the bowls because of it. Yes. They've got big money and wield a great deal of influence.

Thing is, even with USC in their up years, the west coast just doesn't have the same deeply rooted cultural emphasis on college football. It just isn't that big of a deal for Cal to cruise along at .500 ball over the course of a given decade. I would say the same is true of UCLA, Oregon St., Washington St. You don't really ever hear anything about USC outside the obligatory LA Times columns unless you work with somebody who actually went there and it's rivalry weekend with UCLA.

So in conclusion, I don't know that I'd agree that UC academic standards are a great obstacle for Cal athletics. It's more of a state of mind that Cal will always have lots and lots of athletic teams (13 men's sports, 15 women's sports), and sometimes they will be good, but it's hardly the end of the world when they're not.

VideoEagle · November 9, 2015

Our job is interesting enough to be a reasonable option for a negotiating ploy. That means a lot of people must believe it's a job worth having or the ploy wouldn't work. Certainly, it's no harm to us!

Matt Turney · November 9, 2015

I think he should top the list. He not only has experience but has it within the conference. He is a Texas boy with ties deep in the state. He will bring a phenomenal OC and a great staff. He also has big name recognition.

Edited November 10, 2015 by Matt Turney

Graddean · November 10, 2015

U.C. Berkeley is generally considered to be the top public academic university in the U.S. They are not rated as high as Stanford but higher than UCLA.

All About UNT · November 11, 2015

this would absolutely be my forerunner coach if he would come this way. 1.5 million gets a hell of a lot more in Texas than 2 million does in Cali.

HoustonEagle · November 11, 2015

this would absolutely be my forerunner coach if he would come this way. 1.5 million gets a hell of a lot more in Texas than 2 million does in Cali.

Did I miss the memo? We can pay a coach 1.5 million?

All About UNT · November 12, 2015

Did I miss the memo? We can pay a coach 1.5 million?

strong rumor running around that the salary will be kicked up significantly for this next hire....at least according to the Twitternets

GrayEagle · November 12, 2015

I think he should top the list. He not only has experience but has it within the conference. He is a Texas boy with ties deep in the state. He will bring a phenomenal OC and a great staff. He also has big name recognition.

It would be hard to disagree with that. If I have reservations it would be...can we afford both Dykes and Franklin and a good DC?

ADLER · November 12, 2015

SB Nation is speculating that Houston expects to lose their coach and that the Cougars are proactively pursuing Sonny Dykes.

http://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/2015/11/11/9716594/sonny-dykes-tom-herman-houston-cougars-coaching-rumors

Hopefully SB Nation is wrong and it's actually North Texas messing in Cal's affairs. Yeah right, but it would be nice.

MeanGreenDan · November 12, 2015

SB Nation is speculating that Houston expects to lose their coach and that the Cougars are proactively pursuing Sonny Dykes.
http://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/2015/11/11/9716594/sonny-dykes-tom-herman-houston-cougars-coaching-rumors
Hopefully SB Nation is wrong and it's actually North Texas messing in Cal's affairs. Yeah right, but it would be nice.

This seems much more realistic than him being interested in us...