Cal Coaching Staff: Defensive Coordinator Hire Coming?

First things first. Texas Tech has a head coach opening, and Sonny Dykes has been mentioned as a potential candidate, but it seems like Dykes is quite happy at being a Golden Bear. Considering he's already signed a contract, it's unlikely he will renege this deep into the proceedings.

Dykes is starting to assemble his coaching staff. One of the hires will be the engine that drove the Louisiana Tech offense the past year and Dykes's partner-in-crime in building the team.

Tony Franklin is on his way to Cal! The offensive coordinator joined up with Dykes in Louisiana Tech to create one of the best offenses in the country, and it looks like they're ready to replicate the magic in Berkeley.

Rob Likens is probably on his way too. The Louisiana Tech wide receivers coach was given interim responsibilities with the Bulldogs, but they were later retracted and handed over to defensive line coach Stan Eggen the same day. It's a bit of a mess down in the Bayou. Additionally, Likens is no longer listed on the Louisiana Tech coaching staff, which is a good indicator that he's going somewhere (Franklin is still listed, although he probably hasn't been formally hired yet).

It was rumored that Likens would be one of the three Louisiana Tech coaches. Here is the initial rumor from Football Scoop.

Sources tell us Tony Franklin, Pierre Ingram & Rob Likens expected to go to Cal as well. Not meaning 2 leave others out, just told those 3

— FootballScoop Staff (@footballscoop) December 6, 2012

There is no word yet on the statuses of any of the five Cal assistants and whether any of them will be retained. Franklin and Likens seem to be sure things, which probably means Wes Chandler will not be sticking around or he'll be shuffled to one part of coaching the receivers. The third coach could raise questions on whether Ron Gould will be retained, since Ingram was the running back coach at Louisiana Tech.

Gould has been at Cal for nearly 16 years, and considering how well-respected he is at Cal, the Bears might try and find a way to keep him to maintain continuity between one staff and the next. Also, Gould is one of the brightest recruiters and greatest reps of the Bears (and just a great RB coach in gneeral), so it makes perfect sense to retain him.

The big question for Cal is who will become their defensive coordinator? Dykes aims to have a hire in sometime this week.

@coachsonnydykes interviewed at halftime of Cal BB game. Said his DC hire will be this week."One of the top guys in the country."

— GoldenBlogs (@GoldenBlogs) December 10, 2012

The only name that has really been circulated is New Mexico State head coach DeWayne Walker, who is well-acquainted with the West Coast and has been a defensive coordinator for a few seasons before UCLA. Walker is one of the top recruiters out of Los Angeles and he could pair up well in coaching up the defensive side of the football with Dykes.

However, there are probably other names in the running that we don't know about. So we have a long way to go here.