Sunday, December 18, 2005

San Jose Mercury: Cal defense a quiet force

By Jon Wilner

It's a little-known fact that Cal's football coach rarely speaks to his defensive coordinator. Sure, they'll chat if they cross paths in the hallway or if there's an issue that can't be ignored. But for the most part, Jeff Tedford doesn't acknowledge Bob Gregory in the office. The reason isn't bad blood. It's good hands. Tedford's confidence in Gregory is so complete that he simply stays away during their 19-hour days. While Gregory holes up with the defense, Tedford spends his time with the offense. Only on the practice field do the two men interact. ``It's not only the Xs and Os and the game plan that gets taken care of,'' Tedford said, ``but I know Bob's mindset is consistent with our philosophy. I'm very comfortable spending all my time with the offense.'' Only die-hard Cal fans would recognize Gregory if they passed him on campus, and that's by design. He rarely makes public appearances, has little use for press clippings and credits his top-notch staff for the Bears' defensive success. But Gregory has a sterling reputation within coaching circles -- he was a finalist for the 2004 Broyles Award, given to the nation's top assistant -- and his defense has performed as well as Tedford's acclaimed offense during their four years in Berkeley.

The Bears finished second in the Pacific-10 Conference in scoring defense last season (16 points allowed per game) and were the league's stingiest unit this fall (20.5) despite having only four returning starters. They held four teams without a touchdown, recorded nine sacks against Stanford and limited USC's Reggie Bush to 86 yards rushing and receiving -- half his per-game average. In fact, Gregory's gang has played USC tougher than anyone else. The Trojans have averaged 370 yards against Cal the past four years, compared with 489 against all other opponents. The only blemishes in the Gregory era have come in the postseason. Two years ago, Virginia Tech hung 49 points and 551 yards on Cal in the Insight Bowl, and last year Texas Tech rolled up 45 and 597 with its spread offense -- the same system used by Brigham Young, Cal's opponent in the Las Vegas Bowl on Thursday. ``The Texas Tech deal was not good,'' Gregory said. ``Hopefully, we've learned from that.''

Learning the ropes

Despite his success, Gregory, 42, doesn't burn to be a head coach. He grew up in Spokane, Wash., the son of teachers, and was a walk-on defensive back at Washington State. He planned to teach English after graduation but couldn't refuse an offer to become an assistant at Washington University in St. Louis.  A year later, he joined the staff at Willamette College in Salem, Ore., where he worked for future Colorado Coach Dan Hawkins and met the man who would become his mentor: Bob Foster, the former UC-Davis coach. ``I remember that Dan had asked me to speak at a clinic . . . and there's a guy in the front row, directly in front of me, and he's writing notes like crazy,'' Foster recalled of Gregory. ``He's still the same way. His mind is always open.'' Gregory spent seven years at Willamette, then joined Oregon's staff as the secondary coach. It so happened the Ducks were also breaking in a new offensive coordinator: Tedford.

An early connection

Although they worked in different offices and coached different units, it was clear that Tedford and Gregory shared more than even-keeled dispositions. Both men are workaholics, obsessed with detail and committed to fast-paced practices. They are extremely demanding but never threatening, and they treat the players with respect. ``When we're done with practice and meetings, Coach Gregory is like, `Go do your homework or play video games,''' Cal linebacker Ryan Foltz said. ``He doesn't expect us to be football players 24 hours a day. And from our perspective, that's great. It's not an accident that he and Coach Tedford work together.'' Gregory left Oregon after the 2000 season to become the defensive coordinator at Boise State under Hawkins. When Tedford took the Cal job a year later, he hired Gregory to rebuild a defense that ranked 110th in the country in points allowed. Three years later, the Bears were eighth. Gregory installs his entire playbook during spring practice and the early part of training camp, then picks and chooses throughout the season. One of his favorite phrases is, ``Guys, we're going to resurrect something.'' ``Bob has enough schemes that he has something to show for every offense he sees,'' Foster said. ``I think that's why he does well against USC.'' Like all defensive coordinators, Gregory's goal each week is to stop the run and prevent big plays. But his system is more complicated than standard college defenses. Instead of having the linebackers and defensive backs playing the same coverage, he divides the field into what he calls ``components'' and assigns a different coverage scheme to each. This gives him -- what else? -- more flexibility. The key is being able to teach it. ``Bob and his staff have done a nice job putting the kids in situations

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