Mike Dunbar had nothing left to prove and few records left to break. As the head coach at Central Washington, he was named the Columbia Football Association Coach of the Year.
As the offensive coordinator at Toledo in 1995, he engineered an offense that broke 21 school records. His exploits as Northwestern’s offensive coordinator are legendary. In 2005, the Wildcats became the second Big Ten team to ever generate over 500 yards per game. But with the chance to coach a potential national-championship contender and move closer to home, Dunbar left behind the comforts of the record books and an unblemished reputation to take the job as the Bears’ offensive coordinator before the season. “I’m from the West Coast, my family is out here,” Dunbar said. “My wife jokingly said to get her back to the right time zone, and it’s an exciting time to be a part of this program.” It seemed that with the fusion of Tedford and Dunbar, the possibilities were endless. “He’s brought a great deal of organization and skills for game-planning that he’s made a mark on and a few schemes here and there,” Tedford said. “Just the spread offense especially and trying to work some of those things in.” Dunbar mastered the spread offense at Northwestern, Tedford knew how to run the ball and both coaches were among the nation’s best at developing quarterbacks. “It’s about us trying to mesh our two styles to be successful,” Dunbar said.
But Dunbar made the shift with quite a few question marks. Looming over him was the prospect that Tedford would want near-full control over the offense, much as he had before George Cortez left as the Bears’ offensive coordinator before this season. “Coach Tedford and I talked a lot about that ahead of time,” Dunbar said. “We knew there were some things we’d have to work through, but I didn’t have any major concerns. We were upfront and honest with each other.” Dunbar also came to Cal without knowing who the quarterback would be. Developing quarterbacks, however, is something he has been more than capable of doing in the past. Northwestern quarterback Brett Basanez, who matured under Dunbar, left the Wildcats as the second most prolific quarterback in Big Ten history. One key difference with Cal quarterback Nate Longshore, however, is he is not nearly as mobile as Basanez. That is why the Bears have only implemented parts of the spread and do not resemble a complete spread like West Virginia or Dunbar’s Northwestern teams. “The spread from the quarterback-run perspective, we’re not going to get into, and that’s because we need to play to our strengths,” Dunbar said. Looking at the stats, the process has been a success. Cal is averaging a conference-leading 32.74 points per game and is second in total offense with 416.6 yards per game. The Bears have installed more shotgun sets, which Longshore is more comfortable with. The addition of more three- and four-receiver sets has allowed tailback Marshawn Lynch to line up as a receiver and has ensured that the Bears’ trio of wideouts can all get on the field. Tedford has entrusted Dunbar with the bulk of the play-calling after calling most of them himself over the past few years. While he has been largely successful, there have been more than a few bumps in the road. “There are a few games we’d like to have do-overs, but they don’t give us any mulligans unfortunately,” Dunbar said.
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