Pac-12 Head Coaches

On a recent Move the Sticks podcast, Daniel Jeremiah and Bucky Brooks were at the Pac-12 Media Day talking to some of the head coaches and players. Those interviews got me thinking about the Pac-12's head coaches. It's an interesting group.

Cal: Justin Wilcox
Stanford: David Shaw
USC: Clay Helton
UCLA: Chip Kelly
Oregon: Mario Cristobal
Oregon State: Jonathan Smith
Washington: Chris Petersen
Washington State: Mike Leach
Utah: Kyle Whittingham
Colorado: Mel Tucker
Arizona: Kevin Sumlin
Arizona State: Herm Edwards

As a Cal fan and alum, I was thrilled with the hire of Justin Wilcox in 2017. Despite his playing for Oregon I thought of him as a Cal original due to his being a part of Jeff Tedford's coaching staff in the 2000s. His hire felt like a return home. If I had any doubts about his head coaching prospects they were put to rest when I saw the effort from his players on defense in 2017. Cal hadn't played a bit of defense for the four years Sonny Dykes was the head coach. Despite having Jared Goff, the Golden Bears were a painful watch on a weekly basis. The tackling was terrible. The effort was embarrassing. The head coach didn't care about defense so the players played no defense. With most of the same players that flailed around for Dykes, Wilcox put a respectable defense on the field in 2017. The Cal offense over the last two years hasn't been good. If Wilcox's tenure at Cal is to be longer than that of Dykes that has to change.

As for the other 11 coaches. David Shaw, Chris Petersen, Kyle Whittingham, and Chip Kelly are among the best coaches in college football. Some might put Mike Leach in there as well. Herm Edwards and Leach are two of the biggest personalities at any level of the coaching profession. A press conference/interview with either is never boring. In a short period of time Mario Cristobal has brought Oregon back to the cusp of Chip Kelly-like success. His head coaching future looks really bright. If nothing else, Kevin Sumlin has a big name in college football. If he can bring the sort of success to Arizona that he had at times at Texas A&M he'll be more than just a big name. Mel Tucker has had assistant coaching success at the pro and college level for about 20 years. There was a time when he was my top choice to be the defensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings under Leslie Frazier. That's why he's been on my coaching radar for a while and why I'm curious to see how he does with his first real shot (he was once the interim head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars) as a head coach. Jonathan Smith is the least known. I only really know him from his playing days at Oregon State. He has experience and some success at Washington as Chis Petersen's QB coach and offensive coordinator. Clay Helton's seat at the Pac-12 coaching table is probably the hottest. Coaches at USC don't last long if they don't go to bowl games. And at USC any bowl game isn't good enough. Big bowl games are the objective. National titles are the objective. Right now, USC isn't really close to either.

The Pac-12 teams haven't been getting a lot of national attention in recent years. USC and/or Oregon probably have to get back to national title contention for that to change. I expect the Pac-12 to get much more national attention in the coming years. If for no other reason than a roster of coaches that's as interesting as any conference in the country.