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For a working model of the #CalFamily, look no further than the volleyball program.

A potentially awkward situation had a happy ending last winter when the Bears were searching for a new head coach. Former Cal assistant Sam Crosson, who staged a highly successful seven-year stint resurrecting Cal Poly's program, was a leading candidate for the job. But so was Jennifer Dorr, Cal's longtime assistant who did a superlative job serving as the program's interim head coach in 2018.

Problem was that Crosson and Dorr are good friends, a relationship that started when they were both on staff in Berkeley and didn't diminish when Crosson's career path took him to California's Central Coast.

So when it came time to apply for the Cal job, Crosson called Dorr immediately and addressed the fairly large elephant in the room.

"I heard that the job was going to be open, and I called Jenn and said, 'this is where I tell you I'm going to apply for the job. I'm assuming you are. If you get it, I'll be stoked for you'," Crosson said.

It turned out that it was Dorr that was happy for Crosson, who was hired as the Bears' new head coach on Dec. 19 of last year. Crosson had already told Dorr that he wanted her to be his top assistant in the event he got the job. She was his first call.

"I think it's a testament to both of us," Crosson said. "It's only awkward if you make it awkward. I made it pretty clear to Jenn very early on that if I get offered this job, she's my first phone call and I wanted her here with me. And I wanted to make it work so she felt like she was supported."

Dorr accepted Crosson's offer to become an associate head coach the day he was hired, and now the duo with long and deep Cal roots have already lifted the program back into the national conversation.

Dorr, who originally arrived in Berkeley as the program's director of operations in 2009, served as an assistant coach for the Bears from 2011-2017, with a year off in 2015 to give birth to her twin girls, Lily and Piper. She served as interim head coach last season and led the Bears to a 15-16 record, their best since 2013, and knocked off four ranked opponents along the way.

"I know he felt I had done a good job in my short time here," Dorr said. "He knew me both professionally and personally, and has respect for me. I think that's why he wanted to offer me his right-hand role. I never felt there was malicious intent behind it. It was easy to have trustful, free-flowing conversation."

Crosson and Dorr checked in with each other during each step of the hiring process. Crosson said he was at home in San Luis Obispo when he received the phone call offering him the job. After calling his wife, Courtney, he immediately placed the call to Dorr.

"It was very nice to be held in such regard by someone who I've admired as one of my mentors and that I have looked up to over the years," Dorr said. "I've followed his route at Cal Poly and his journey there, and was really happy with how he turned that program around. I knew he's someone that could do that again. I'm happy to be part of it and continue on the journey that I started in my brief time, and to have some say in that regard with someone who I also felt had truly done it as an outsider."

Crosson is confident the Bears are not far away from once again reaching heights he became familiar with during his first stint at Cal. He arrived in 2010 and immediately helped the Bears reach the NCAA title match – the best finish in program history. The following year, the Bears were ranked in the top-5 for all but three weeks during the season, including four weeks at No. 1.

"I remember how great he was coming into our program," said 2016 Olympian Carli Lloyd, a four-year starting setter at Cal and the 2010 National Player of the Year. "His ideas, how he liked to do things – he was able to implement that structure in a short amount of time. He's a great leader from that standpoint. The program is in great hands."

Lloyd also credited Crosson with changing her serve, something she says had to happen for her to ultimately make the U.S. National Team.

Along with Lloyd, Crosson also coached All-Americans Tarah Murrey and Corey Johnson at Cal. Murrey served on the interview committee.

"Sam is not only an amazing coach, but also a great person," Murrey said. "There was always a method, and I don't mean a method to his madness. Everything he did made sense. He's an extremely logical coach. When he explained something and you did it, you would have success."

Crosson carried Cal Poly to unprecedented success, leading the Mustangs to the best season in school history with a 27-3 record in 2017. They also captured their first Big West title in seven years. Last year, Cal Poly repeated as conference champions and reached No. 11 in the national rankings – its highest since 2008.

Crosson said he would have been perfectly content remaining at Cal Poly but always had an eye on a return to Berkeley someday.

"I loved my seven years down there," Crosson said. "When I went down there, this was always the one place I wanted to come back to. I just felt at home here. I literally wake up every day and think I'm in the greatest place in my life professionally. I get to come to work to this place which is amazingly awesome. I have a staff that I love. I have players that are hungry to improve and work. Everyone is excited for what is in front of us."

Crosson and Dorr were together during the highest of highs for Cal volleyball, and they both hope that history can help carry them back there.

"He knows what it's like to be at Cal and be at the top," Dorr said. "It's not easy. He knows how to put his nose down and grind. I he knows Cal as well as anyone could since he did work here before, and it takes a very special person to want to work at this university and succeed at this university. And Sam has those characteristics."