James Moore (Concord, CA)
How do you balance the demands of coaching
college football and spending time with your
family?
COACH HOLMOE: It's a difficult proposition, but it's been made easier because of the type of family I have. We're an athletically-oriented family to begin with, so my wife and kids love going to the games and that makes things easier. I try to involve them in a lot of Cal related activities. My kids often will come up and spend most of the pre-season camp with me. When I did a Bear Backer event in Carmel over the summer, I brought my family with me. We'll often go to Cal basketball games together. Lori and I have been married since just before my senior season in college, so she only knows this type of lifestyle. Also, when I'm home, I try to make it quality time. I don't bring my work home or sit in the family room diagraming plays. I try to make that time really count with my family.
David Egashira (Yountville, CA)
How would you prioritize the responsibilities of your student-athletes?
On-field performance, practice effort, academic performance, off field demeanor, honors performance ability, teamwork, growth potential, doing a "CAL" standard well, honesty, takes instruction well...your own items.
COACH HOLMOE: A Cal student-athelte has to juggle many responsibilities and there must be balance in all of those things. I don't necessarily rate one item above the others. Doing a good job in the classroom and maintaining a high ethical standard is very important to me, but I also don't want people to think that playing poorly is fine as long as a player has strong academics. In many ways, it all inter-relates. The key is to have a good balance of all the items you list.
Mike Munday (San Bruno, CA)
Is there a chance that Matt Beck could play again this year if the team made a bowl game?
COACH HOLMOE: There's a slim chance. Right now, that's not really in our thinking. When the time comes to evaluate we'll look at all the considerations. However, his health is the key issue. He has a great opportunity to play in the NFL and he needs to rehabilitate his injury with that in mind. It's not a strong liklihood that he'll be playing with us in a bowl game, but the door isn't entirely shut either.
Ritchie Tuazon (Berkeley, CA)
Kudos on Saturday's victory. It was nice to see the Bears dig deep for a victory against a formidable Pac-10 contender. Boller and Ainsworth connected very well; however, as the season continues defenses will focus heavily on that combination. Do you plan to spread out the offense this season, so we don't depend on one receiver like we did last season? We can diversify the passing game by using Davenport and Currin (who by the way looked excellent against Rutgers when he turned a five yard hitch into an eleven yard gain). Ainsworth will be more effective in situations where the defense doesn't know the ball is going to him. Also, what is the status of Igber as a starter? His feet seem much quicker than Fields'. He is more of a big play person, and provides the potential breakout that Cal has been lacking the past few seasons. Do you plan to attempt any "big plays" or even simple streaks this season?
COACH HOLMOE: We'd definitely like to spread the ball around more to other receivers. Right now, we've all established a lot of confidence in Mike Ainsworth. We need to have the other receivers elevate their games so that we have the same confidence in them. That is a big priority for us. Joe Igber has been an exciting player for us when he's on the field. His role will continue to grow. Fields and Saleem Muhammad will also continue to make important contributions. You just can't rely on one guy in a league like this. Kyle (Boller) did get the ball down field a little against Arizona State and we're always looking for opportunities to stretch the defense. As we continue to grow on offense with all of the young guys in the line-up, there will be more of those type plays.
Thomas Chen (Berkeley, CA)
Congratulations on the big win against ASU. I just wanted to know if you think Deltha O'neil could help the team at the wide receiver position since he has great speed and athleticism. Will he see time at the wide receiver position this year?
COACH HOLMOE: We really like to use him on that side of the ball, but when he's a starting cornerback going fulltime at that position, plus returning kickoffs and punt returns, it's difficult. People don't understand how difficult it is for a player to do all those things. You can't move him around like a chess piece. There's a lot of preparations involved in a defensive game plan, so his time on offense is limited. We'd like to use him when the opportunity presents itself, but it would be a mistake to overdo that.
