University of California Athletics

Coach Holmoe: Really, it's the opposite. There's very little benefit to a quick snap. We utilize the longer snap count on punts became we have to change the blocking assignments at the line of scrimmage. We're primarily a man-blocking scheme and opponents can come out of the huddle with all sorts of different looks. Sometimes they line up seven players on one side of the ball and you need to make adjustments at the line of scrimmage. Since you're going to punt and there's no advantage to trying to snap quickly in trying to catch a defense off guard. We do have a quick punt, where we snap the ball early and we used that a few times this past season. However, we nearly had a couple punts blocked in those situations, even without much of a concerted rush, because not every defensive player was accounted for.

M.A. (Berkeley, CA)
Actually, I'd be very surprised if you answered this question but given the way our offense has looked this year what measures are you taking to remedy this frustrating problem?

Coach Holmoe: We've immediately begun to what is described as "self-scout." That means doing a thorough analysis of why certain plays were not successful. We do this during the season, but now there's time to do a more thorough analysis. We're looking at everything, including the whys and where-fors of offsides penalties, alignment penalties, and why player ran wrong routes. I believe having Steve Hagen as a new offensive coordinator, installing a new system, having a new quarterback and a very young offensive unit made this year somewhat of a learning process. The mistakes we made this year won't be acceptable next season. We need to use this year as an education and grow -- just as the defense grew under Lyle Setencich.

Joe Brilliant (Berkeley, CA)
I have several q's for you. First off, why don't we play more pac-10 games and less non-conference games? It would be nice to play every team every year, and it would add a bit more parity to the conference competition. Do you agree?

Coach Holmoe: That's a conference decision and it's something that has been discussed over the last few years. Because of long-range scheduling contracts, it's very difficult to fit nine conference games into an 11-game schedule. I do believe that, at some point, there will be a 12-game schedule and when that happens, I'm sure we'll add another conference game rather than a fourth non-conference opponent. There are a few years coming up when the NCAA is allowing a 12th game for all schools and that may be a prelude to a full 12-game schedule on an annual basis. That's when the Pac-10 round-robin schedule will occur.

Finally, how many years do you think it will take before we can see a completely "Tom Holmoe" Cal football team, one that we can use to accurately asses your performace as a head coach? So far I think you're doing a very good job.

Coach Holmoe: Thanks for the support. I don't want to hide behind that logic that our teams can't be analysed until a certain period of time has elapsed. I think you have to assess my performance every year. I've been here three years and most of the players we have in the program are guys I've been associated with, either as an assistant or the head coach. The results aren't there yet, but I do sense a lot of progress that will eventually translate into success in the win-loss record. We've improved the recruiting area and I think that shows on the defensive side of the football. Despite the major injuries we had to players like Matt Beck, Jerry DeLoach, Nate Geldermann and even Keith Miller and Chidi Iwuoma, we still were the No. 1 defense in the Pac-10. We've begun to put together similar depth on offense and hopefully that will show in the next two years.

Jon Reynolds (San Leandro, CA)
Coach Holmoe, I think your men have had an interesting season. You had a tough game vs. Stanfo(u)rd. On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate this season. GO BEARS!!

Coach Holmoe: There are different ways to evaluate things. However, results are what count. So, it's pretty easy to rate the season as a "4" if you're on an "11" scale, which is the number of games we played. It was very disappointing from that standpoint. There were many positives. I thought we fought harder than our past teams. We were so close to winning the Oregon and Washington games and we had a lead in the fourth quarter at Oregon State. We do need to get over the hump and win those games.

Thomas M Grimm (Mililani, HI)
With a running back the caliber of Joe Igber, and a Quarterback as capable as Kyle Boller, do you think the offensive line will improve enough to allow these two talents, along with the outstanding recieving talent, to become the most potent offense in the nation over the next few years?

Coach Holmoe: I'm very optimistic about the future of our offense, because our best players are younger players who should continue to improve. It doesn't happen automatically. There's a lot of hard work in the off-season to make things happen and I fully expect our players and staff will put in that type of effort to make us better. On offense, we need to make the same type of progress our defense did when it got better and better and now is the best in the Pac-10.

Lionel Yang (San Jose, CA)
Not really a football-related question, but I'm wondering what sort of interaction you have with Ben Braun, in that you lead the 2 most visible sports programs on campus. Is there any interaction beyond media events? Do you encourage your players to attend b-ball games and does Coach Braun do the same with his team? Do you/your staff attend b-ball games or does Coach Braun and/or his staff attend football games?

Coach Holmoe: One of the benefits in having Haas Pavilion under construction the last few years was that the basketball staff moved up to Memorial Stadium and Ben's office has been directly upstairs from men. We've gotten to know each other quite well and really enjoy spending time with each other. There's a lot of interaction and mutual support. Our players and staff are always going to the basketball games and we bring our recruits to those games. We're also very appreciative of the success basketball has enjoyed. When they win something like the NIT, the notoreity and national attention helps all our sports and makes recruiting easier.