If the Pac-10 is in a coaching arms race, Cal dropped a pretty big bomb on the field today.

No, not just Mike Montgomery.

6 years, $10 million.

Basically Ben Howland money for a guy who has been out of coaching during a period in which Howland has gone through three straight Final Fours.

This shows someone at Cal is pretty serious about basketball. A few weeks ago, I thought that the Cal job was too good for Monty to pass up.

But 6 years, $10 million? No way would I have believed that.

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The one concern people have stated about Montgomery is that he won't be willing to recruit, and that he (supposedly) didn't like to recruit at Stanford. That may well be true, but honestly, does it matter?

(1) This is basketball not football. If guys stay four years (and they almost all did under Monty at Stanford) you have to recruit a total of three players per year. Sure, you want to get some top-level guys, but winning makes basketball recruiting pretty easy.

(2) Monty is a tactician, not a recruiter. There are plenty of coaches who work their asses off to get the best recruits. I'm not sure that Monty needs to be one of them. His offense is intricate and fantastic - a step above anything else on the college level.

And let's not forget - he isn't just a brilliant tactician, he is a brilliant offensive tactician. Howland and Bennett are brilliant defensive coaches, but it is a lot easier to recruit for offense. (None of this is to say that I expect a Wazzu or UCLA like turnaround under Monty.)

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Speaking of offense - we averaged 76.4 points per game last year. If Anderson returns, we should be better. Scary.

Anderson is great, but lacking in exposure. If he comes back, he won't be lacking anymore. He has to come back, right?

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Remember the Cal-Stanford game at Haas in 2007? You probably shouldn't, Cal lost by 19.

But Monty was covering the game for Comcast Sports. He was absolutely in love with Jerome Randle. Randle scored 19, including 3-for-5 on threes.

We just went from perhaps the worst PG coach around (zeros decent PGs in 12 years) to perhaps the best (Brevin Knight, Arthur Lee, Chris Hernandez).

How happy is Jerome today?

And bizarre to consider, but did us having Randle have any influence on Monty taking the job?

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These players should be overjoyed...

Boykin - just a Monty-at-Stanford type guy through and through. If I wasn't a Cal fan, Boykin would annoy me to no end. Remember how annoying Monty's Stanford teams were.

Kamp - big decently talented white guys - a Monty specialty.

Christopher - guards who can hit a jumper will get basically an unlimited number of open shots in Monty's offense. Guess who is a guard who can hit open jumpers?

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Is Sandy Barbour officially the best AD around?

Keeping Tedford (and if you don't think this makes Tedford feel better, you are crazy.)

Boyle. Firing Braun. Hiring Monty. (You might even be able to add not firing Esquer to the list at the end of the year. The baseball team is even ranked No. 7!)

And announcing getting this rumor going at the Final Four? Saavy. If Monty leaves after a few decent years, guess what? Barbour upped the Cal coaching profile about two notches today. Think the future Anthony Grant-ish coaches aren't thinking - "6 years. $10 million?"

You can tell that Barbour has a lot of confidence right now.

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Is Pac-10 basketball now SEC football?

Are we seriously that coaching crazy?

Ernie Kent is probably the 9th best coach in the league (hell, there is a possibility he could be No. 10 by next week depending on who OSU game get.)

Ernie Kent has two Elite Eights (2002, 2007) in the last six years.

Yet, some Oregon fans are talking job security. Wow.

(OK, somebody should be say it - Lute is clearly No. 9 right now. But he does has a national title, so I don't think he gives a shit.)

Update [2008-4-5 0:54:21 by Kevin]: And its official...