Cal football coaching staff not finalized: Will Andy Buh & Garret Chachere return?

The Bears have their defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach. But a few other things might be in the air.

By Avinash Kunnath@avinashkunnath Feb 6, 2014, 6:44pm PST

We know that most of the California Golden Bears coaching staff isn't going anywhere.

Offensive coordinator: Tony Franklin
Associate head coach/outside recievers coach: Rob Likens
Running backs coach: Pierre Ingram
Offensive line coach: Zach Yenser
Inside receivers coach/special teams coach: Mark Tommerdahl
Defensive coordinator: Art Kaufman
Defensive backs coach: Greg Burns
Strength and conditioning coach: Damon Harrington

All the above names will be back or coming in this year. That leaves two names in question.

Defensive end coach: Garret Chachere
Assistant coach: Andy Buh

It's not clear how exactly Sonny is planning to handle this situation. Chachere was pretty active on the recruiting trail in the final few weeks (not that this means anything). It's possible that he returns. But is he ready to coach the entire defensive line? In his two decades of coaching he hasn't spent anytime coaching defensive tackles. Last year was the first time he's done any line coaching of any sort. Considering how big a question mark defensive line is, I wouldn't be surprised if Dykes and Kaufman reconsider things here.

The big question is Andy Buh. Buh was demoted from the defensive coordinator position to apparently only coach linebackers, but it's still unclear as to how he's handled that situation and how Dykes and Kaufman plan to handle the situation. More from Jeff Faraudo.

Asked specifically whether he expects Buh will be on the staff by next fall, Dykes said, "We'll see. I don't know. We'll see."

It's a tricky situation because Buh still has two years on his contract, which pays him a guaranteed $500,000 per season.

But Buh handled linebackers last season, and that's been Kaufman's specialty while also serving as coordinator at Cincinnati, Texas Tech and North Carolina.

Additionally, Kaufman has plenty of experience coaching linebackers while coordinating the defense at the same time, so it's like a demotion within a demotion. If Kaufman wanted to double duty, I doubt Sonny would begrudge him.

We also have no idea what Kaufman thinks of either of these assistants. While Buh and Chachere have been team players the last few weeks to help wrap up defensive recruiting, they are Sonny's hires that didn't work out all so well. I can't help but feel that Kaufman will want to take a close look at whether there are better options out there.

What do you think will happen?