BERKELEY — Cal soccer basic supervisor Ron Rivera mentioned he already has a working checklist of 14 candidates for this system’s vacant head-coaching place and that he’ll contain a broad spectrum of individuals in pursuit of the suitable man.
Freshman quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele received’t be an afterthought within the course of.
“Knowing who he is and what he means to us, there’s going to be a lot of thought in who’s next and what that staff’s going to look like as well,” Rivera mentioned Tuesday, two days after relieving Justin Wilcox of his duties following a 31-10 loss at Stanford within the 128th Huge Sport.
Cal followers are wringing their fingers in worry that Sagapolutele, one of many nation’s most promising younger quarterbacks, might switch in response to the teaching change.
Rivera mentioned he intends to make it clear that the hiring course of is about doing the suitable factor for the college but in addition for the gamers.
“Part of it will be about his growth and development as a football player and as a student-athlete,” Rivera mentioned. “This is very, very important, making sure he understands that we are looking in his best interests as well. We’ve got him in mind, as we do his teammates.”
Interim head coach Nick Rolovich looks like he has gotten to know Sagapolutele fairly effectively since approaching board earlier this 12 months as senior offensive analyst.
“I think he’s very happy here. I think he’s a wonderful young man, I think he wants to win. I think he’d like to make everybody at this university, including the fans, proud of the football team,” Rolovich mentioned.
“But he’s still a 19-year-old young man who needs somebody there for him. Being there for him if he wants to talk about it, he wants to cry, laugh, whatever, that’s what I would like to do.”
Rivera mentioned there isn’t any agency timetable for naming a brand new coach and that he received’t be rushed to get it completed earlier than the beginning of the early highschool signing interval on Dec. 3.
Rivera mentioned he is not going to rent a search agency however plans to type a committee that features alumni, former gamers, school members, donors with a stake in this system and the Bears’ present gamers.
“I think it’s important they have a voice in this as well because whoever becomes head coach is going to lead these young men,” he defined. “So they deserve to have a say in it as well.”
Candidates received’t be restricted to these with head-coaching expertise. Rolovich and offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin — each former head coaches — are a part of his present checklist of 14 names.
All severe candidates can be requested to reply one key query:
“Why Cal? Why would you like to be part of what we’re doing?” mentioned Rivera, who was an All-America linebacker for the Bears in 1982. “I’ve got to make sure they understand what this university is about and what it takes to be here.”
Rivera mentioned he didn’t enter Huge Sport week anticipating to make his determination earlier than season’s finish. “I was very optimistic about our opportunity to win that game and what it would mean for us going forward as a program,” he mentioned.
As an alternative, the Bears stumbled laborious and fell to 6-5 general, 3-4 within the ACC with Saturday’s residence recreation towards 13.5-point favourite SMU set to shut out the common season. Cal already is bowl eligible, however its probabilities for even an eight-win season have dimmed.
Rivera awoke at 5 a.m. Sunday, gave the difficulty extra thought earlier than making a number of telephone calls, together with to Cal Chancellor Wealthy Lyons.
“We had a good conversation. At the end of the day, when I gave the recommendation, he agreed. This was done with some serious conversation, some serious intent, knowing what was at stake.”
Rivera described his subsequent dialog with Wilcox on Sunday as skilled.
“The guy’s a class act, a man of character,” Rivera mentioned. “The guy’s done a lot for this program — very grateful for him getting us to where we are, three consecutive bowl games. The hard part is we’d like to see a lot more success in terms of wins and losses.”
Wilcox, who was in his ninth season, completed with a 48-55 win-loss file and and not using a profitable season since 2019.
