Cal Sports Report

Cal Confirms It Is Making a Change at Offensive Coordinator

Mike Bloesch is in his first year as Cal's offensive coordinator after being only the offensive line coach the previous season.

Jake Curtis

Cal's football field
Cal's football field / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
In this story:

Cal is making a change at offensive coordinator, following an earlier report by Matt Zenitz of CBS Sports/247 Sports.

Mike Bloesch is Cal's offensive coordinator and offensive lne coach this season, but the Bears rank 13th in the 17-team ACC in scoring offense (26.1 points per game) and ninth in total offense (382.8). The biggest surprise is that the Bears rank 14th in the conference in rushing offense, averaging 3.5 yards per carry. Bloesch's plan was to rely heavily on the running game.

Cal said no decision has been made on position assignments going forward, meaning we don't know if Bloesch will be retained as offensive line coach.

Current Cal quarterbacks coach Sterlin Gilbert might be a candidate to become the Bears' next offensive coordinator. He has been an offensive coordinator at Texas, Syracuse, South Florida, Tulsa and Bowling Green. Gilbert was a head coach at McNeese State.

Bloesch was Cal's offensive line coach last season, and he was lauded for the work he did with the offensive line in 2023. He has served as offensive line coach at several colleges, and it's very possible he will retain that position at Cal. However, assistant coaches often leave after having a coordinator title taken away.

Bloesch added the title of offensive coordinator after last season when Jake Spavital left his position as Cal's offensive coordinator after one season in Berkeley to become Baylor's offensive coordinator. Spavital succeeded Bill Musgave as Cal offensive coordinator.

Cal was plagued by offensive shortcomings all season. The Bears scored just nine points in a 14-9 loss to Florida State, which was the Seminoles' only ACC victory.. The Bears scored 15 points in a 17-15 loss to Pittsburgh, and did little offensively in a 38-6 loss to SMU in the final regular-season game. Starting quarterback Fernando Mendoza and leading rusher Jaivian Thomas did not play for Cal against SMU.

Follow Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

Find Cal Sports Report on Facebook by going to https://www.facebook.com/si.calsportsreport

Published |Modified
Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.

Home/Football