The Increasingly Great Decisions Of Todd Howard: A Discussion Of The New Cal Defensive Line Coach

by TwistNHook on Jan 23, 2012 3:00 AM PST in California Golden Bears Football

TwistNHook: Cal just hired Todd Howard as DLine coach.

What do we make of this new coach?

HydroTech: Let me be the first to say: "who?". And I must not be the only one saying this

Avinash: Don't people always say that when a new football non-head coach gets hired at anything.

Solarise: Coach Howard has got an interesting resume. I remember Brian Price's junior season when he wrecked havoc on our Oline (Marshaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllll!) along with that Bosworth kid. Can't be too bad at recruiting if he's able to get through to Owa & Cassius Marsh. I am intrigued to say the least.

Berkelium97: I am encouraged by this hire but not blown away. To be fair, though, we probably don't have the kind of money to spend on assistants who will leave us with dazzled first impressions.

Coach Howard has had several all-conference players as well as some All-Americans and even a Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year (Brian Price). I never looked forward to going up against his D-lines when he was with UCLA. Our running game struggled against UCLA in 2007 and 2009. One of the most impressive efforts from his d-line was during UCLA's spectacular defensive effort in a 13-9 win over USC in 2006.

If I just saw the 2006 and 2007 seasons at UCLA in addition to the 2011 turnaround at Washington State, I would be very happy with the hire. I am not sure what happened with the Bruins defense in 2008-2010; it was usually in the bottom half of the nation in rushing yards per game allowed, yards per carry, tackles for loss, and sacks. If I had a better understanding of what went wrong during those years, I would be more comfortable with this hire. Until then, I am cautiously optimistic about what Howard can do.

ManBearCal: I love this hire. The guy can recruit LA. He can recruit talent. He can then develop that talent. Former player with NFL, college, an specifically P12 coaching pedigree.

He should get us recruits, and he'll get our current guys to perform well. Dig it.

Solarise: Is "cautiously optimistic" our MO going into National Signing Day and the 2012 season?

ManBearCal: That's an every year thing.

Kodiak: I thought cautiously optimistic was more of a day to day thing?

Looks okay on paper. Can't say that anyone associated with Wazzu blows me away. But the best part of those annoying ucla defenses was always their Dline. Seems like the guy knows what to do with talent, and we have plenty of that. Beat us out for some talent in recruiting wars of yesteryear. Works for me.

Atomsareenough: Yeah I think we're all on the same page. Sounds legit, but it's hard to say for sure. The thing is, how many D-line coaches could any of us have named off the top of our heads a week ago? This guy definitely has the resume to indicate he'd be successful, and we'll see if the recruits and players buy in.

"Cautiously optimistic" sums it up quite nicely.

Cugel: I feel positively about this hire, from his record at UCLA, never did I feel like UCLA's D-line was ever their weakness, and in fact, they played us stoutly. The cougs who have spoken here also think highly of him in his short time at WSU. I find it encouraging that his area of recruiting was LA proper, there's a lot of talent in this area, and he beat out Tosh in a few recruiting battles, so he's clearly no slouch. I also think the timing is important, I'm very glad that we did this quickly to remove any uncertainty in the minds of our recruits and players going forward; and given the lack of notice by by our departing D-line coach, this was as quick a hire as reasonably could be expected.

OhioBear: On paper, this looks like a good hire. The man has lots of experience coaching at the college level. He was a very good college player in his own right at Texas A&M and played two years in the NFL. He has assistant coaching experience in the NFL. He has coached some good college players in the Pac-10/12. He knows the league.

I know the question a lot of fans might have: can he recruit? We'll see. Recruiting is, obviously, a huge part of college football. I don't know anything about Coach Howard's prowess in that regard. But I do think he has credibility -- his experience as a college/pro coach and his experience in the NFL (and let's face it -- a lot of kids are looking at the next level) gives him that credibility.

Avinash: Todd Howard recruited Todd Barr last year for WSU (came to Cal!), then got Owa to commit to UCLA. Also landed Datone Jones and Brian Price, both bona fide starters. There are some other guys that didn't pan out or are lesser-known, but that always happens.

The man knows and recruits well in LA though, which is always critical every year. You need to land some guys down in Southern California to remain competitive. It's rare to have a good pool like the one we currently have in NorCal.

Berkelium97: He did win the recruiting battles against Tosh for Owa and Cassius Marsh. I don't know much else about his recruiting abilities, but he must do something right if he could beat us for some high-profile d-line recruits.

Poll

What do you think of the hire of Todd Howard?

Great hire, love it!

170 votes

Sounds good, but I am wary

248 votes

Terrible decision, what is going on here?

17 votes

No idea! Let's wait and see

149 votes

584 votes | Poll has closed

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Bear Insider story on Howard

McGill

I explained to Coach Tedford that there’s really two kinds of players: a dominant player or a break-even player.

“You watch college football on Saturday and there’s around 119 teams. I consider most of the guys out there to be break-even players -good college players that win some battles and lose some battles. They finish their college careers, get a job and start a family. That’s the majority of college players.

“Then you have your dominant players. They win their battles on Saturday, you know what I mean?

“I tell the players, you did what you were supposed to do. You handled your gap and took care of your responsibility. But you broke even. You didn’t knock your guy back and then throw him on his back.

“When I say they broke even, they know it’s a slight because they can always do better. I want them to dominate their guys. I’m pushing you to dominate guys and to do it on every play.

“In order to be a dominant player you have to do the things that get you there, You have to have dominant strength, you have to have a dominant attitude. You have to be dominant in everything and play that way.

by Avinash Kunnath on Jan 23, 2012 5:13 AM PST reply actions

Can’t believe he drove ten hours in a blizzard. Frightening.

by hunger on Jan 23, 2012 12:14 PM PST up reply actions

Love the attitude he displayed here.

The pessimist in me (i.e., the Cal fan) is gonna wait to see how well he can coach, but I have hope.

by TheScientist019 on Jan 23, 2012 12:20 PM PST up reply actions

yeah i love this guy already. intense.

no bear, no care

by EchoOfSilence on Jan 23, 2012 2:46 PM PST up reply actions

Fortune favors the bold. I am already an admirer of Coach Howard’s audacity.

by solarise on Jan 23, 2012 5:03 PM PST up reply actions

Coach Howard sounds great but...

I’ll like him a lot more once we get a proper photo of him in an appropriately BLUE shirt, not that old uclol file pic. (Same for Chandler – what’s up with the brown?)

This will help with some recruits, hurt with others. In the end, we get the kids who want the whole package, and those are the best ones anyway.

GO BEARS!

Middle-aged toothwrangler (HT: Kodiak)

by 1988goldenbear on Jan 23, 2012 7:58 AM PST reply actions

i'm starting to feel this way about recruits as well

we’re worrying about the shaqs, paytons, mccarthys, etc but in the end, if they’re hesitant on being Cal guys then i really don’t want them anyway. sure after a few months or years in the program they might be #calgang all the way, but there’s just as much of a chance of them being a problem. i’d much rather have a sebastian who truly bleeds blue and gold. great talent (even 5 star talent) doesn’t always trump pride and chemistry

@Not_Coach_Lupoi - #boatsareforclosers

by nativeson on Jan 23, 2012 11:32 AM PST up reply actions

Then there's a significant group of guys....

…..who don’t get until later on that they fit in, but who maybe chose Cal barely over some other school. I just don’t think it is that clear. You don’t know that Shaq, Payton, McCarthy et al won’t love it here anyway, even if they are hesitant now.

by ososdeoro on Jan 23, 2012 4:39 PM PST up reply actions

Excellent point.

Like we learned from the Chris Martin deal, there are some guys who just don’t fit Cal.

Previous Cal coaches have gotten in trouble when they brought in highly regarded guys who just didn’t work with the systems in place.

What I like is that our present coaching staff seems to be aware of their own brand and identity. We go after “Cal players” instead of throwing our hat in the ring for all the borderline 4 and 5*’s who just want party their way through school.

Old Toothwrangler

by Kodiak on Jan 23, 2012 11:55 AM PST up reply actions

this is the Monty way.

"#caltrollgang" - RB

by boomtho on Jan 23, 2012 1:36 PM PST up reply actions

On the other hand, it’d be nice if the “Monty way” included recruiting some more athletic players than we tend to get. Also, where are the NBA bound 7’0 twins already?!

by Missing Barry on Jan 23, 2012 7:05 PM PST up reply actions

UCLA?

"i, for one, welcome our new atomic overlords" - GoldBlooded

by atomsareenough on Jan 24, 2012 9:46 AM PST up reply actions

I said NBA bound!

by Missing Barry on Jan 24, 2012 9:50 AM PST up reply actions

Like we learned from the Chris Martin deal, there are some guys who just don’t fit Cal.

Of course, Martin doesn’t seem to fit anywhere at all.

"Let me tell you a story. I was a political prisoner for two years. The instant I was released I ran to McDonald's. I had a Big Mac and a Coke.

It was fantastic."
-Toyama Koichi, US Presidential candidate from Japan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGZqOkeYbB0

by AERose on Jan 23, 2012 3:37 PM PST up reply actions

Todd Barr

I thought was after him while he was still at UCLA. Howard didn’t get let go from the Bruins until after signing day.

by NITChamp on Jan 23, 2012 8:26 AM PST reply actions

Grown ups

By my reckoning, with the lone exception of Arroyo, Tedford’s staff now consists exclusively of 40- and 50-somethings who bring a wide range of experience as players and as coaches. While the youthful passion and charisma of Lupoi will be missed, the benefit is a more consistent fatherly message throughout the team.

Moving forward, I think the impact of Lupoi’s departure will be minimal on the recruiting side. Before the new facilities were built, you needed a Lupoi-like salesman to attract uncertain recruits, but with the facilities in place, Cal football should have a much easier time selling itself. And while there will be turnover in the staff every year, I think Tedford has refined the total package he is offering with his two latest hires. Cal will never be the flashiest, most fashionable team on the West Coast; Nike ensures that Oregon has the edge there, and Hollywood likewise provides a sense of glitz and glamour for USC and UCLA that the East Bay can never match. But Cal will continue to hold strong appeal to those recruits who are serious about their education, both on and off the field, and who are drawn to a vision of traditional old-school substance wedded to 21st-century technical excellence. We now have in place both the facilities and a coaching staff consistent with that message.

Now if we could just do something about those uniforms …

Go Bears!

by California Pete on Jan 23, 2012 9:07 AM PST reply actions 5 recs

Not that there's anything wrong with that....

….it works for Oregon, which has a staff almost exclusively in their 40s and 50s as well. The exceptions are the OC, which is a training position under Kelly, and WR, which is in his mid-thirties.

by ososdeoro on Jan 23, 2012 9:17 AM PST up reply actions

I very much want to believe that Lupoi’s departure won’t hurt our recruiting much, but man, I don’t know.

by Glanko on Jan 23, 2012 9:22 AM PST up reply actions

I think it will hurt this year but minimal in the future.

The Golden Bear is ever watching
2011 Giants Adoptee: Orlando Cabrera (because everyone needs to be loved)
San Francisco Giants Won the 2010 World Series: Not a Typo

by CalBear949 on Jan 23, 2012 9:49 AM PST via Android app up reply actions

and they are all African-Americans.
Not that it means anything, not being racial either. Just sayin’

by JustBear on Jan 23, 2012 9:33 AM PST up reply actions

When you say "great"...

Do you mean large and immense?
Do you use it in the pejorative sense?

"I'll die before I surrender, Tim."

by MR.F. on Jan 23, 2012 10:19 AM PST reply actions

From Freek

It’s glorious:

"The Bear will not quit, the Bear will not die." -Joe Kapp

by Whohah on Jan 23, 2012 10:25 AM PST reply actions 8 recs

hehehe

I’m taking this to the DBD!

2011 World Cup Champions Team India

by Rishi on Jan 23, 2012 10:32 AM PST up reply actions

Glorious

Who’s the other guy in the GIF?

by TheScientist019 on Jan 23, 2012 12:21 PM PST up reply actions

Josh Freeman

TB’s less-than-stellar QB

"Some people watch adult videos on their computer - I go to YouTube and watch Jahvid Best highlight clips. That’s what gets me going."- Jim Schwartz, Detroit Lions head coach
California Golden Blogs

by Berkelium97 on Jan 23, 2012 12:30 PM PST up reply actions

Josh Johnson

i kinda think Kelly could do wonders with Josh Johnson though. if he does end up taking the job, i could see JJ eventually taking over.

@Not_Coach_Lupoi - #boatsareforclosers

by nativeson on Jan 23, 2012 12:33 PM PST up reply actions

I dunno, that dude was pretty freaking good as a 22 year old second year QB – 61.4% completion percentage, 25 TD’s/6 INT’s, 7.3 Y/A…

by Missing Barry on Jan 23, 2012 7:07 PM PST up reply actions

off topic

Marvin Jones is heading to the Senior Bowl.
But Kendricks will not play Senior Bowl. Does anyone know what happened?

by JustBear on Jan 23, 2012 11:36 AM PST reply actions

shaq changed his twitter info :( no more calgang?

by gbearsfaith on Jan 23, 2012 1:07 PM PST reply actions

Just wait dude.

by Avinash Kunnath on Jan 23, 2012 1:14 PM PST up reply actions

a little annoyed huh lol

no bear, no care

by EchoOfSilence on Jan 23, 2012 2:17 PM PST up reply actions

I'll bet

that he’s just doing what he can to be mysterious about his decision, if he’s even made one. He probably just doesn’t want to seem committed one way or the other. I wouldn’t get too worried about a twitter bio. Hopefully #calgang or DIE will be back up there next Wednesday.

by CopyBear on Jan 23, 2012 2:35 PM PST up reply actions

Here's a study on the percentage of recruits who decommit...

This is actually pretty good news for us…

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/andy_staples/01/20/commitment.project/index.html#?sct=cf_t11_a10

Lawrence Ross

by alpha1906 on Jan 23, 2012 2:45 PM PST reply actions

by CopyBear on Jan 24, 2012 2:02 PM PST reply actions

oops, here it is:

http://www.ibabuzz.com/beartalk/2012/01/23/football-a-conversation-with-todd-howard/

The only reason I bleed is to get the red out of me.

by CopyBear on Jan 24, 2012 2:03 PM PST up reply actions

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