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It's confirmed that Jake Spavital is the new offensive coordinator for the California Golden Bears. The announcement is expected to come later Thursday. Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports has the report.
We've gone over the Spavital story before. He is an Air Raid disciple and has spent most of his time in spread-heavy offenses, whether it be with Gus Malzahn and Tulsa, Kevin Sumlin and Dana Holgorsen in Houston, Mike Gundy and Oklahoma State (all three stints as grad assistants), Holgo with West Virginia (quarterbacks coach), and back to Sumlin in Texas A&M (offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach). Brandon Weeden, Geno Smith, Johnny Manziel are players he's directly coached in the past few seasons.
Things fell apart at Texas A&M last season, but all signs point to a toxic situation brewing in College Station. Kyle Allen and Kyler Murray (both recruited by Spavital) didn't make a lot of progress, but there are some weird rumors about one quarterback being promised playing time, bizarre quarterback management by Sumlin, and both Allen and Murray are much happier. Let's call last season a mulligan and see what he's capable of this year.
Spavital's first task at Cal won't be easy. He'll have to rebuild the Bears offense in his image with new starters at quarterback and wide receiver all over the board. Tony Franklin had an elite offense rolling by the end of his tenure here, what will Jake do?
UPDATE: Official. More from CalBears.com:
"It is a tremendous honor to join the Cal coaching staff as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach," Spavital said. "The turnaround this program has enjoyed the past three seasons under the leadership of Sonny Dykes is phenomenal. I am excited to become a part of the staff and help take this program to new heights. I'm looking forward to building on the great foundation that has been established. I think this will be an excellent fit and I can't wait to get started."
"Jake is one of the brightest young coaches in college football and he is a tremendous addition to our coaching staff," Dykes said. "We were looking for someone to join our coaching family that shares our vision and has a similar offensive philosophy to what we have used to produce some of the nation's top offenses for nearly two decades. Jake has gained a tremendous amount of experience by working with some of the top coaches in the game, while he has tutored some of the best quarterbacks in college football history. Both will pay huge dividends for us."