Reaction to Pac-12 developments on and off the field …
1. One hire, three teams
Oregon filled its defensive coordinator vacancy this week and created a ripple effect through the North in the process.
The Ducks hired Tim DeRuyter, the former co-architect of Cal’s defensive turnaround and one of the top defensive coaches in the conference.
It’s a stellar hire for Mario Cristobal — one that meets the bar set by Oregon’s previous coordinator, Andy Avalos, who left recently to become the head coach at Boise State.
Consider DeRuyter’s work in Berkeley, where he combined with head coach Justin Wilcox to orchestrate a dramatic turnaround:
— The year before they took over, Cal allowed 6.7 yards-per-play, good for No. 122 nationally.
— In their first season (2017), that figure dropped to 5.8 yards per play (No. 80 nationally).
— In their second season, the Bears allowed just 4.6 yards per play — tops in the Pac-12 and No. 9 nationally.
From No. 122 to No. 9 in two years, with DeRuyter calling the plays.
With DeRuyter and Joe Moorhead, the Ducks possess a coordinator tandem that ranks with any in the conference, just as they did with Avalos and Moorhead.
2. The impact below
Not only did Oregon fortify its defensive staff with DeRuyter, it weakened a North rival.
And not just any North rival but the one that does a better job than any of flummoxing the Ducks.
Oregon averaged 35.4 points per game in 2019 but scored just 17 against Cal.
Last season, the Ducks averaged 31.3 points but, again, managed just 17 against the Bears.
Wilcox and DeRuyter had Oregon figured out.
Now, the Berkeley braintrust has been weakened.
The financial terms of DeRuyter’s deal have not been disclosed, but here’s what we know:
DeRuyter made $400,000 at Cal this season (without pandemic reductions), according to the USA Today salary database.
Avalos made $815,000 at Oregon (per USAT).
Whatever the final number, it will constitute a significant raise for DeRuyter … and a promotion.
He was hired by Wilcox in 2017 as the defensive coordinator and retained the title for three seasons.
But in 2020, DeRuyter became co-coordinator along with Peter Sirmon, who oh-by-the-way was handed the play-calling responsibilities.
You can see why DeRuyter was open to other offers.
The Ducks smartly swooped in and took a good coach from a division peer.
Now it’s up to Wilcox to fill a significant void.
3. The impact above
The repercussions of the DeRuyter hire don’t necessarily end in Berkeley — at least in a theoretical sense.
The Ducks also raised the bar for their chief adversary: Washington, which is fresh off a staff change of its own.
Defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski, one of the best in the west, is heading to Texas to work for Steve Sarkisian and perhaps collect a 50 percent raise over the $1 million (approx) he was making in Seattle.
(Washington spent $5.1 million on its coaching staff last season, compared to $6.3 million for Texas — and we assume Sarkisian will have even more cash at his disposal … perhaps as much as $7 million.
(It’s another example of the resource disadvantage Pac-12 programs face when richer schools come knocking for top coaches.)
As a result of Kwiatkowski’s exit, second-year coach Jimmy Lake had a high bar to clear with his coordinator hire before Oregon filled its vacancy with a first-rate coach.
It’s a double whammy for the Huskies, at least until Lake makes his move.
Except we’re not sure there’s an equivalent of DeRuyter available for UW.
4. Utah mines the portal
We’re months away from finalized rosters, with hundreds of players moving through the transfer portal this offseason.
Out of necessity, Utah has been active.
From the looks of it, Utah has been successful, too.
The Utes finished 2020 with three consecutive wins and had the framework for a first-rate depth chart next season, save for two positions.
They needed a No. 1 tailback following Ty Jordan’s death and at least one candidate to compete for the starting quarterback spot.
(Week One starter Cameron Rising is recovering from shoulder surgery; Jake Bentley, who replaced Rising as the starter, is transferring; and touted rookie Peter Costelli is, well, a rookie.)
It appears both hurdles have been cleared.
The Utes landed two quarterbacks to compete with Rising: Ja’Quiden Jackson from Texas and Charlie Brewer from Baylor.
Jackson is a freshman while Brewer threw for almost 10,000 yards as a multi-year starter for the Bears.
The Utes also grabbed two possible starting tailbacks in T.J. Pledger, who rushed for 100+ yards in two games for Oklahoma this season, and Chris Curry, who arrives in Salt Lake City from his backup role at LSU.
Our guess is that quartet from the portal, in some combination, will produce Utah’s starting quarterback and tailback.
If the results match their resumes, the Utes should be in position to challenge for the South title.
Everything else is in place.
5. Warning from afar
In what could be considered a narrow but notable victory over COVID, the Pac-12 has played nine of the 10 basketball games thus far this weekend. And the the lone cancellation came as the result of a false positive test within the USC program.
Saturday night brought a warning flare, all the way from Ann Arbor.
Michigan announced that all of its winter sports are shutting down for two weeks because of positive test for coronavirus.
But not the COVID-19 we’ve come to know and hate.
Instead, the shutdown reportedly comes as a result of five positive tests for the B.1.1.7 strain — the United Kingdom version that is believed to be 50 percent more transmissible than the strains circulating in the U.S. for the past year.
Health authorities everywhere will undoubtedly (and understandably) take a cautious approach to the new strain.
On the west coast, the amount of caution could double what we see elsewhere.
It’s easy to envision the B.1.1.7 strain eventually infiltrating Pac-12 programs and causing state and county health departments to impose multi-week pauses.
That could impact the Pac-12 regular season and perhaps the tournament, which is currently scheduled to begin March 10 in Las Vegas.
And it might affect the NCAA tournament, which has a March 18 start date within the Indianapolis bubble.
In other words, the potential for major disruption within the sport — and perhaps even for May Madness — remains high.
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