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Dear Cal coaching staff, stop making Zach Maynard something he isn't. (My writeup on Tedford and Maynard at Pacific Takes).

"Per Jon Wilner, the total cost of firing Jeff Tedford, current Cal football coach, would come to somewhere around $10 million. That is a lot of money, particularly for a coach whose overall record over the last three years is just over .500, and an especially large sum for a program still footing the bill for recent renovations to Memorial Stadium. So to review: Jeff Tedford gets to live in houses like this, coach his team into shape while the university realizes how painful it would be to fire him, and then pull this out and win seven or eight games while reminding everyone that yes, even with the frustrations of the present, he remains the all-time winningest coach in Bears history." That buyout figure seems a little off. FiatSlug, where are you?

"The dean of Pac-12 coaches sports a solid 36-15 record when he has the superior squad. He's had his hiccups against the Arizonas and Oregon States of the world, but has taken care of business against Washington State and Arizona State on a regular basis. That record remains a solid 20-11 against equivalent competition though, so he's generally in good shape when he fields a team on equal if not stronger footing. However, it falls off when he's the clear underdog, going 3-11 overall. Most of that has to be the result of his 1-9 record against USC, but it's likely Tedford will have to beat the Trojans if he's ever to get Cal that elusive Rose Bowl bid. The good news is that recruiting is starting to pick up again for the Bears (three straight top 25 recruiting classes), so Cal should be playing more teams on the top and middle side of the distribution and generally only have to worry about the Trojans on the other side." Did this writeup on Pac-12 coaches comparing their recruiting rankings to overall on-field production. Some intriguing results. Tedford's synopsis is above.

Golden Bears - Please stop by and let us know what you think of our take on your O. Thanks.

Jeff Tedford on sports radio 95.7 August 10th

This is the most comprehensive report so far, and should hopefully assuage all your fears about the Lyles situation. (HT chowder) "Monday, the school made available a prospect list provided by Lyles entitled "2010 Texas recruits." All of the 49 prospects were found to be members of the class of 2010 – the list includes Oregon signee Lache Seastrunk, whose relationship with Lyles is part of the NCAA probe — and all but one is from Texas. The exception, Trovon Reed, is a receiver from Thibodaux, La., whose recruitment by Auburn is reportedly under examination by the NCAA. The prospect list includes contact information such as street address, email address and home and cell numbers, all of which has been redacted by Cal, which cited federal privacy laws. The list was sent from Lyles’ personal email account, as an attachment, to assistant coach Kenwick Thompson on Feb. 11, 2009 at 10:34 a.m., according to a document provided by Cal. (Thompson is from Houston and recruits the state of Texas.) The date is five days after the National Signing Day for the class of 2009 and coincides with the start of the recruiting cycle for the class of 2010. ... Tuesday, Cal provided the Mercury News with a 75-minute DVD compilation of video material sent by Lyles. Starting in Feb. ’09 and ending nearly a year later, he provided Cal with more than 30 videos of prospects in the class of 2010, a school official said."

The Pac-12 East Coast blitz continues in earnest! Ivan Maisel talks to five of the Pac-12 North Coaches. There's a button which says "14:06" on the side, click there to listen to Tedford's segment only. There's plenty of good stuff about dabbling in playcalling (my favorite part of the interview), the quarterback situation, the Maynard-Allen connection, AT&T Park, defense. By contrast, David Shaw spent 10 minutes talking about the contract Stanfurd has on his soul.

If you guys aren't reading Bill Connelly's work at Football Study Hall, you're missing out on great writing and analysis from the premier college football statistical writer. If you haven't read anything about Cal football lately, this is a good look back and a good look forward based on the numbers. I don't agree with everything--college football advanced stats are still primitive--but his analysis is solid. Here's a sample quote. "What Greg Schiano is to Rutgers, Jeff Tedford is to California. In the last nine years under Tedford, Cal has had eight winning seasons; in the 28 years before Tedford took over, Cal had eight winning seasons. But like Schiano, Tedford's program has regressed in recent years, and he's reached the "Has he peaked?" portion of the general coaching life cycle. He has recruited rather well and produced plenty of individual talent, but the overall product on the field is not as good as it was in the 2006-07 window. Can he get it back? And ... exactly what happens if he doesn't?" Also. "Some teams have ups and downs; Cal needed a Thorazine prescription [in 2010]."

My thoughts on Tedford's interview yesterday can be viewed over at the regional hub. Includes thoughts on the QB competition, the RB competition, the receiving corps, secondary, scheduling, AT&T Park and more. Listen to the MP3 of the radiocast by clicking here.

BearInsider.com posts video of Coach Tedford's comments to the media after yesterday's open practice in San Jose.