Tag: Cal Golden Bears

REPORT: ACC to discuss adding Cal and Stanford

The ACC is reportedly set to discuss potentially adding Cal and Stanford

Per ESPN’s Pete Thamel, the Atlantic Coast Conference has two calls scheduled to “vet and have exploratory discussions on the potential addition of Cal and Stanford.”

Obviously, this possibility makes little sense from a geographic perspective with Cal and Stanford residing on the Pacific Coast, but the Pac-12’s future appears bleak following the latest round of conference realignment.

As of Monday afternoon, Stanford, Cal, Oregon State and Washington State are the only schools that remain committed to the Pac-12 after this academic year. Arizona, Arizona State and Utah recently followed Colorado into the Big 12, and Oregon and Washington are set to join USC and UCLA in the Big Ten next year.

Unless the Golden Bears and/or Cardinal somehow strike a deal with the Big 12 or Big Ten, joining the ACC figures to be the two schools’ only way of remaining in a power league.

Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports also reported on Monday that the University of California Board of Regents has a meeting scheduled for Tuesday morning to “discuss its Pac-12 membership.”

Contact/Follow us @BuffaloesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Colorado news, notes and opinions.

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Cal hires former Stanford basketball star Mark Madsen as new head coach

Experts thought #Stanford would fire Jerod Haase and hire Madsen, a star on Stanford’s 1998 #FinalFour team. Instead, the Trees punted. #Cal pounced.

What an amazing plot twist this was, and is, and will continue to be.

Imagine a situation in which School A had a chance to hire a former star, bringing him back to a program with the opportunity to revive its fortunes. A school which has struggled for the past 15 years in men’s basketball had a chance to hire a rising coach who played on the same school’s last Final Four team. This coach is popular within School A, beloved within School A. The coach was doing a good job at a smaller program. He was on the market. He was available.

School A was drifting into irrelevance under its current head coach, who has done nothing of note in seven years on the job.

School A chose to retain the coach who had done nothing in seven years instead of hiring the rising coach who had starred on the court for the program and led it to the Final Four 25 years earlier.

Then that school’s archrival, School B, which was willing and able to fire its underperforming head coach, hired the very same coach School A could have hired all along.

It’s ridiculous. It makes absolutely zero sense. It’s a situation in which School B can now humiliate School A by succeeding. Every School B achievement will reflect negatively on School A — not because the two schools are rivals, but because School A had a chance to hire a popular and successful alumnus as its coach, but passed on the opportunity and allowed School B to swoop in and seize the moment.

This is what has just happened in Pac-12 basketball. Stanford is School A. Cal-Berkeley is School B.

We told you that Cal was closing in on Mark Madsen — the Utah Valley coach and Stanford alumnus who led Stanford to the 1998 Final Four — as its next head coach.

On Wednesday, Cal made it official. The Golden Bears announced that Madsen has agreed to become the team’s new head coach.

We have been wondering for more than a year if Stanford would finally fire Jerod Haase. It seemed almost certain that the Trees and athletic director Bernard Muir would finally terminate their underperforming head coach, who has certainly been given a long amount of time to make things work in Palo Alto.

Yet, for reasons which remain inexplicable, Stanford stood pat and retained Haase for another season, even though Madsen was right there, waiting to come back to his alma mater and revive the program after a star turn at Utah Valley, which reached the NIT semifinals and very nearly made the NCAA Tournament this past season.

It’s bad enough if one school watches its bitter rival succeed. Now, though, every Cal achievement in men’s basketball will directly reflect negatively on Stanford and its athletic department, particularly Bernard Muir. Cal has a chance to humiliate Stanford, with Madsen — a Stanford alum — being the engine of that effort.

Bay Area basketball revolves around the Golden State Warriors and Stanford women’s basketball, but men’s college hoops just became a lot more interesting in Berkeley and Palo Alto.

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REPORT: Cal Golden Bears likely to hire former Stanford star as new coach

Multiple reporters and outlets are saying Cal is likely to hire Mark Madsen as its new head basketball coach.

This would be quite a plot twist in Pac-12 basketball, and multiple reporters and outlets say it’s about to happen: The California Golden Bears are on the verge of hiring former Stanford star Mark Madsen as their next head basketball coach.

Madsen is still coaching this season, leading the Utah Valley Wolverines into Tuesday’s NIT semifinal round against the UAB Blazers. The Wisconsin Badgers play the North Texas Mean Green in the other semifinal.

Madsen has turned Utah Valley into a winning program. The Wolverines lost a heartbreaker in the WAC Tournament semifinals a few weeks ago. Had they not blown a big lead in that game, they would have played in the WAC Tournament final and had a chance to make the NCAA Tournament. Madsen is clearly an up-and-coming coach. Cal will be viewed in the college basketball industry as a school which made a quality hire if it can close the sale with Madsen, who was part of Stanford’s last Final Four team in 1998.

Colorado plays its way out of NCAA Tournament conversation with horrific loss to Cal

Colorado might win 10 games in a row, but unless something like that happens in the next several weeks, the Buffs will not make the NCAAs. You can’t lose to Cal.

The Colorado Buffaloes haven’t been officially eliminated from the NCAA Tournament, but they’re certainly off the radar right now and won’t merit any discussion as a serious candidate unless or until something changes.

If there was any lingering uncertainty about Colorado’s NCAA Tournament resume, that uncertainty was smashed by an 80-76 loss to the California Golden Bears on Saturday. The setback in Berkeley — to a team which entered the game with a 1-13 record — is a crusher for any bubble team. Yes, we’re still two and a half months until Selection Sunday, but for a Colorado team which already has some not-very-good losses (UMass, Grambling, Washington) on the ledger sheet, a loss to Cal is worth at least two seed lines for selection purposes. If Colorado was, hypothetically, the 18th or 19th team outside the at-large field before this game, the Buffs are now close to being the 30th team outside the field.

They probably went into this game needing at least one win over UCLA or Arizona, plus more good wins against the third through fifth teams in the Pac-12, to carve out a path to the NCAA Tournament. Losing to Cal virtually guarantees that CU must beat both the Bruins and Wildcats (or beat one of them twice) and win other games against the upper half of the Pac-12 to make the NCAA Tournament.

Good luck with that.

This is good news for USC. The Trojans aren’t likely to make the NCAA Tournament, but they’re not unlikely to make it, either. They’re a 50-50 case at this point. However, their odds do go up with other Pac-12 teams losing ground. Colorado isn’t currently a threat to take an at-large bid away from USC. The Pac-12 has UCLA and Arizona as tournament locks. Then comes a trio of teams with legitimate at-large chances.

USC is one of those teams. Colorado is not.

Arizona State and Utah are the other two teams. Utah had a great weekend, sweeping Cal and Stanford on the road. Arizona State lost at home to Arizona.

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Bay Area bloodbath: chances of Stanford and Cal firing basketball coaches are soaring

It’s becoming increasingly harder to see how Stanford and Cal can continue with their current head coaches. That and more in this #Pac12 notebook.

It’s getting late very early in the San Francisco Bay Area. Stanford and Cal basketball are facing the very real possibility that they might have to fire their head coaches.

We can talk about how the pandemic hurts recruiting and the transfer portal. We can talk about how Cal has limited resources and will need UCLA to pay some money to Berkeley when the Bruins leave for the Big Ten. New media rights dollars will help cover the costs for the Bruins, so that Cal has more cash on hand to keep the lights on. We can talk about so many other things which limit Stanford and Cal basketball right now. Yet, none of this can be viewed as remotely tolerable.

One would have to think that in Palo Alto and Berkeley, changes are about to come. Two programs can’t be this dead, this adrift, this lifeless, this flat.

Stanford — which led by four points with 3:45 left — didn’t make another field goal in the remainder of regulation time and lost to Colorado to fall to 5-8 for the season, 0-3 in Pac-12 play.

Cal scored just 43 points and lost by 15 to Utah. Cal and Stanford are the only two Pac-12 teams to be 0-3 through three conference games. Cal has won only one game this season.

It’s not as though Jerod Haase of Stanford and Mark Fox of Cal are new coaches, either. Haase has been at Stanford since 2016. Fox has been in Berkeley since 2019.

Even with limitations existing at both schools, it’s hard to see how either coach will be around for the 2023-2024 college basketball season.

Let’s look at other notes around the Pac-12 in both basketball and football:

Cal’s Jamieson Sheahan uses wrong foot for 32-yard punt

Cal’s punter had to use his brain to think about getting a punt off against UCLA

Cal punter Jamieson Sheahan used some ingenuity when he was in trouble trying to get off a kick against UCLA in Pac-12 action on Friday.

Sheahan, a senior from Bendigo, Australia,  had trouble with the snap and thought his punt was about to be blocked.

So he took off and managed to get off a 32-yard kick with his left foot.

What makes this a story is that Sheahan punts with his right foot.

He delivered some attitude as he walked off the field to the Golden Bears’ sideline.

Cal offensive coordinator, who torched Alex Grinch’s USC defense, gets fired

Cal scored 35 vs USC and was then crushed by Oregon State. Justin Wilcox fired his OC. That and more in this #USC / #Pac12 notebook:

There is a lot to keep track of in the world of Pac-12 football after a crazy Week 11 and heading into a Week 12 which features two mammoth games.

“Showdown Saturday” gives the Pac-12 the two biggest games of the coming weekend in college football. USC-UCLA is the first game at 8 Eastern and Utah-Oregon is second at 10:30. We will preview those games as the week unfolds, but for now, let’s look back at Week 11 and offer some updates on Pac-12 teams plus sharing some rankings from analysts and commentators.

We start with the fact that California and head coach Justin Wilcox fired offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave just over a week after Cal scored 35 against USC. Cal was flattened by Oregon State this past Saturday.

Imagine what a team with USC’s offense and Oregon State’s defense would look like.

Let’s go into our Pac-12 and USC notebook:

Cal football has many problems, but two stand above all others

Cal insider Jake Curtis told us at the @VoiceOfCFB: Expect Justin Wilcox to change offensive coordinators this coming offseason.

The California Golden Bears have struggled immensely this season. How much have they struggled? Simple: They lost to the Colorado Buffaloes. That’s bad. That’s really bad.

The Golden Bears somehow put 49 points on the board against the Arizona Wildcats earlier this season — that gives you an idea of how weak Arizona’s defense is — but they haven’t been able to replicate that production in other Pac-12 games this season. Not even close.

They scored just nine points against Washington State. They scored just 21 points against a Washington defense which has given up 39 or more points multiple times this season.

If you listen to Cal Golden Bear expert Jake Curtis at The Voice of College Football, you will get a complete evaluation of the Cal football program. The two big flaws which transcend all others in Berkeley: the offensive line and offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave.

Jake Curtis provides the details surrounding these problems in his guest segment at The Voice of College Football:

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Former Cal cornerback describes what it was like to face Jared Goff in practice

Sonny Dykes is 8-0 at TCU. Jared Goff is in the NFL. Former Cal cornerback Darius Allensworth talked about both men with @DonJamesSports.

Darius Allensworth currently works for Summit Sports and Entertainment, which represents athletes and influencers who are trying to achieve explosive career growth and build their personal brands, taking their public profiles to a higher level.

Clients for Summit include Quenton Nelson, Dezmon Patton, Jaquan Hardy, and UFC fighter Randy Costa, to name a few.

In part three of our Q&A series, I got to speak to Darius about his thoughts on former Cal coach Sonny Dykes and what it was like playing alongside Jared Goff, the quarterback for the Golden Bears under Dykes before Dykes went to SMU and later TCU. The TCU Horned Frogs, coached by Dykes, are currently unbeaten. Garrett Riley, the younger brother of USC head coach Lincoln Riley, is TCU’s offensive coordinator under Dykes.

Trojans Wire: What do you make of your former coach Sonny Dykes, who recruited you to Cal and is having success at TCU? He has them currently sitting at 8-0 and making a CFB Playoff run.

Allensworth: I’m super happy for him! They are in the hunt to play for a championship in his first season, that’s special.

Trojans Wire: What was it like playing with former Cal Bear star and current Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff?

Allensworth: Playing with Jared was a challenge because every day I knew I would be challenged in practice. It was purely fun, though, because I’m a competitor, so being challenged to your best abilties is fun to me.

Trojans Wire: Who was the toughest player you went up against at Cal?

Allensworth: The 2014 reicever core we had as a whole was insane, but I’d have to give it to Chris Harper, who played in the NFL from 2015-18 for the Patriots, 49ers and Jets. Harper is currently with the Montreal Alouettes in the CFL.

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Former Cal Golden Bear Darius Allensworth reveals that he considered going to USC

There’s a reason Lane Kiffin couldn’t offer a #USC scholarship to Darius Allensworth. Find out in this @DonJamesSports Q and A.

Darius Allensworth played in 43 games with 22 starts from 2013-2017 at Cal Berkeley. He contributed 109 tackles along with 6.5 tackles for loss (-41 yards), 2.0 sacks (-10 yards) and three interceptions. He also had one fumble recovery which he returned 37 yards for his lone career touchdown as a 2017 senior.

More Allensworth stats: three forced fumbles, 26 passes defended, and 23 pass breakups over his last four seasons with the Cal program after redshirting as a true freshman in 2013.

Allensworth put up most of his top career numbers as a 2015 sophomore, when he started all 13 games and had several career highs, including a team-high 12 passes defended and 11 pass breakups. He produced a team-high-tying two forced fumbles, 41 tackles, and his first career interception.

Cal takes on USC this week, so we sat down with the former Cal Golden Bear to talk about growing up in Southern California and more.

Trojans Wire: What did growing up in Southern California mean to you during the USC “golden years” of Carroll, Bush and Leinart?

Allensworth: That era made me love football! It looked like they were having so much fun playing under a coach that was one of the first of his kind.

I say that because Pete Carroll was a player’s coach before it was cool to be one in that era.

Trojans Wire: What was your favorite moment in the Cal vs USC series as a player?

Allensworth: I honestly don’t have one, but playing in the Coliseum was cool.

Trojans Wire: Did you ever consider going to USC to be a Trojan?

Allensworth: I did, but Lane Kiffin and his staff couldn’t offer me after I tore my ACL. They only had 13 scholarship offers because of the Reggie Bush rule situation.

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