Dunbar Replaced by Former Assistants Michalczik and Daft
After a season that saw the Cal football team lead the Pac-10 in scoring, head coach Jeff Tedford stayed in-house to fill the team’s coaching vacancies on offense. Tedford completed his coaching staff Thursday, promoting coach Jim Michalczik to offensive coordinator and former graduate assistant coach Kevin Daft to quarterbacks coach. The spots opened up after last season’s offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, Mike Dunbar, took the same position at Minnesota on Jan. 24. Tedford said he considered outside candidates before deciding on Michalczik and Daft.
“After evaluating our situation, it felt like the best transition and the way we were going to continue to improve was to keep continuity on the staff,” Tedford said. “Now we can move forward, we can evaluate what we’ve done and look to get better, instead of bringing an outsider in to teach them the path.” The Bears implemented elements of the spread offense last season and averaged 415.6 yards and 32.8 points a game. Michalczik said he will further discuss with Tedford how much play-calling each will handle next season, but both coaches said spreading the field will continue to be part of the game plan. “There are certain things (with the spread) that we all understand here (that) we will want to continue to use to match our personal and our opponent so we have a wide variety of offense,” Tedford said. Michalczik spent the past five years as offensive line coach, a position he will continue to occupy. Before coming to Cal, Michalczik coached at Miami, Montana State and Oregon State. “I’m fired up, obviously,” Michalczik said. “I appreciate coach Tedford having the confidence in me, and I’m looking forward to the future.” Added Tedford: “He’s very knowledgeable about our offense and has played an integral part in all our game-planning. He’s very respected by our players and coaching staff.” Although tailback Marshawn Lynch has made himself eligible for the NFL Draft in late April, wide receiver DeSean Jackson and quarterback Nate Longshore will both return for their junior seasons.
Longshore’s development will be overseen by Daft, who becomes the quarterbacks coach after three seasons as the graduate assistant on offense. Draft will also work with Kyle Reed and Kevin Riley, both highly-touted recruits at quarterback. On Jan. 17, Cal named former San Jose State defensive tackles coach Kenwick Thompson as the new linebackers coach, replacing Bob Foster, who retired after the season.
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