(10-13-2025 01:29 AM)SoCalBobcat78 Wrote: (10-12-2025 06:47 PM)bryanw1995 Wrote: (10-12-2025 06:06 PM)SoCalBobcat78 Wrote: (10-12-2025 03:37 PM)The Cutter of Bish Wrote: This one seemed inevitable. Surprised he lasted this long, honestly. Guess it wasn’t just about special teams, then?
The special teams did cost them a few victories. This was just a situation where a good guy and a good position coach was put in a situation that he should never have been put into. They rushed into the decision to make Bray the head coach with the chaos that was surrounding the program after the Pac-12 implosion.
Some donors are stepping up to pay the buyout, and they can now do a real search for a head coach and not rush into a selection. I would expect them to hire an experienced head coach.
Jonathan Smith’s move to MSU hasn’t worked out very well for anybody. Perhaps OSU can drag their feet until the end of the year and see if he’s available again…
Smith's buyout after December 1 is $2 million. Smith's salary at MSU is about $7.35 million annually. His salary at Oregon State was $5 million annually. Oregon State can probably pay him $3 to $4 million annually. They have a healthy G6 athletic budget.
Smith is considered a candidate for UCLA, but after the 38-13 loss to UCLA that probably is not going to happen. Smith played his high school football at Glendora high school in Southern California. There are reports that UCLA wants Jedd Fisch at Washington as the next head coach, but he has a $10 million dollar buyout.
The UC Regents, aka the governing board for the University of California system, is holding a special closed meeting on Tuesday, October 14, 2025, at UC San Francisco. One of the main topics they’ll discuss is how much UCLA can pay its next football head coach. Because this involves details about a person’s job and salary, the discussion will take place in a private session rather than in public.
Bob Myers, the former Golden State Warrior GM, is a member of the UC BOR and he is also a member of the head coach search committee at UCLA. Allegedly, the UC BOR is looking for a way to help UCLA football. Myers also works as an ESPN in-game analyst for NBA basketball, and he is a special advisor to the Washington Commanders GM Adam Peters, who is also on the UCLA football coaching search committee.
The UC Regents have a specific policy regarding coach salaries, that any increase over 30% in salary has to be approved by the Regents. This covers new coaches, including any signing bonuses they might receive.
Generally speaking, the regents want to stay out of day-to-day management of the system and the individual schools. They may particularly avoid athletics since the system schools are competitors. With so many elite academic universities, they don't treat any one school as remarkably special. Myers is unusual for a UC regent in having such a close relationship with one school (Myers also played basketball for UCLA).
Regents are appointed for 12-year terms. Jerry Brown was a policy wonk so most of his regent appointments had little to do with UC schools even as students. When UCLA announced its move to the Big Ten, Gavin Newsom had just returned from a vacation in Montana and squawked that he as chair of the Board of Regents was not informed.
The actual chair of the Board of Regents pointed out that the governor was not chair of the board, but could preside at meetings. He also pointed out that Newsom had never attended a board meeting, even though he was an ex officio member as Lieutenant Governor.
When the news of the UCLA move first came out, the argument was that the board had delegated authority to the president of the UC system, and that he had delegated that authority to the chancellors of the schools. UCLA and UC Santa Cruz could each do their own thing. When UCLA's revenue dropped during the COVID year, UCLA gave a loan to the athletic department that has to be repaid. That helped push UCLA to explore moving to the B1G. There was never much opposition on the board to the move.
At first the board was exploring a policy that would require board approval for a conference move that had an effect of more than X$$$, similar to the coach salary policy. It would not be retroactive.
There was some push back on the UCLA move, and the board finally acknowledged that they could micromanage anything if they chose. The angle that opponents chose to use was student welfare, so the resolution on UCLA moving included agreement on nutrition and travel mitigation with the Calimony added on. The executive session had agreed on a cap of $5 million, but the public meeting let this be amended to $10 million. At the time, the PAC-12 still had 10 teams and were negotiating a new contract. Ultimately, moving to the ACC cost Cal more than $10 million, but the president just let the cap be used. Cal was probably forced to move.
After the UCLA move was settled, the board created a special committee on athletics, with a two-year lifetime that has expired. I don't know what they discussed. Perhaps it triggered UCSD to explore moving to the WCC. The UC system has an agreement with the governor to increase in-state enrollment in the system, in which the governor will get them more facility spending. An athletic program can be attractive to students. International students won't care, but domestic students might.
Jonathan Guber, who owns the Dodgers and Warriors used to be on the board of regents. He resigned, and Myers was named as his replacement about six months later. I don't know if there was some sort of deal or not.
I had thought Bob Myers might have been related to Ann (and Dave) Meyers, but they spell their last name with two 'e's.
I couldn't find the actual resolution passed by the Board of Regents this week, but it might have simply been to authorize a higher salary for a new football coach (or assistant coaches). It passed on a 16 to 1, vote with three abstentions.
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Trent Bray FIRED at Oregon State
