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Hue Jackson spoke with Faraudo about the head coaching vacancy at Cal. He has not been contacted but would welcome a phone call.
"I think they can be as good as they want to be," Jackson told this newspaper Tuesday in a phone interview. "They should have an opportunity to compete for the Pac-12 championship, BCS bowls, the national championship. Why not Cal?"
Jackson, 47, was offensive coordinator at Cal in 1996. Currently coaching defensive backs and special teams for the Cincinnati Bengals, Jackson led the Raiders to an 8-8 record in 2011, his only as head coach in Oakland. He was the Raiders' offensive coordinator in 2010.
He stressed that he has not heard from anyone at Cal, but would welcome a call. "I'm sure I would. I see no reason not to," he said.
He spoke at length about how excited he would be to recruit at Cal.
"In the National Football League you still have free agency, which is like recruiting. It's not totally the same, but there a lot of parallels," he said.
Jackson also is confident that the renovated Memorial Stadium and year-old high-performance center will help them attract top-level prospects.
"I know they've done a tremendous upgrade. It's a place you can recruit to," he said.
Jackson spent the '96 season at Cal, working under coach Steve Mariucci on a team that featured quarterback Pat Barnes and tight end Tony Gonzalez. The Bears started 5-0, including a road win over 17th-ranked USC, then wound up 6-6 before Mariucci left to become coach of the 49ers.
"I know from my time there it's a special place," Jackson said. "It was a lot of fun and it was an environment where a student-athlete could go an get an unbelievable education while competing at the highest level you could.
"There was a sense they were very interested in Cal being among the elite teams in all of college football."
He's obviously excited about the position. We'll have to wait and see if the search committee is equally excited about contacting him.
Football
- First off, some concrete news! Cal has gauged Troy Calhoun's interest.
- Chris Petersen laughed off the latest coaching rumors at this week's press conference.
- Faraudo reached out to various candidates to see if they had heard from Cal. It's been radio silence for local prospect Mike MacIntyre as well as Hue Jackson and Willie Taggart.
- After prematurely firing Jon Embree, Colorado may consider Jeff Tedford. (Stay way from that administration, Coach! Stay away!)
- ESPN looks at the nation's coaching vacancies and says Gary Andersen (Utah State), Tim DeRuyter (Fresno State), Mike MacIntyre (San Jose State), Chris Petersen (Boise State), or Greg Roman (San Francisco 49ers) would be a good fit for Cal.
- Brian Schwenke and Vince D'Amato were named to the All-Pac-12 first team. Keenan Allen, Brendan Bigelow, Josh Hill, Chris McCain, Avery Sebastian, and Steve Williams earned honorable mentions.
- CalBears.com does its weekly check-in with the Bears in the NFL.
- ManBearCal puts together his dream coaching staff for Rivals.
- Pac-12 released the schedule rotation for next season. Cal will host Arizona and visit Colorado in 2013.
- After breaking some ribs, DeSean Jackson will end the season on the injured reserve list.
Basketball
- Cal won the DirecTV Classic with a 78-58 win over Pacific. Monty talks about the state of his team at the post-game press conference.
- Monty and the Bears prepare for a tough three-game stretch over the next few weeks. The Bears' opponents are a combined 13-3.
- Justin Cobbs was named Pac-12 Player of the Week.
- The men's team is 36th in the AP Poll (one spot behind upcoming foe Wisconsin) and 35th in the Coaches' Poll.
- The women's team climbed to 10th in the AP Poll.
Tennis
Rugby
- The second-ranked Bears head to College Station, Texas this weekend for the USA Rugby 7s Championships. As the top seed in Pool B, the Bears will face Middlebury, NC State, and Arkansas State.
Water Polo
- Cal's woes against USC continue as the Bears lost 9-5 in the MPSF final.