In one of the worst kept secrets at Cal, it was announced this morning that Art Kaufman will no longer be the defensive coordinator at Cal.

Kaufman's 2016 Cal defense was second to last in rushing defense, yielding almost 273 yards per game, and last in the country in yards per carry allowed. The Cal defense allowed over 300 yards of rushing in five games, including 474 to Oregon State.

Kaufman took over as defensive coordinator in 2014, taking over for Andy Buh after a disastrous 1-11 campaign.

Kaufman's rushing defenses at Cal got worse from a yards per carry standpoint, ranking 44th in the country by that metric (3.98 YPC) in 2014, to 95th (4.83 YPC) in 2015, all the way down to 128th in 2016 (6.16 YPC). Kaufman's pass defenses did improve every year, marginally at least, going from last in 2014, to 92nd in 2015, to 86th in 2016.

While the defense had a number of key injuries in 2016, including losing multiple starting safeties to season-ending injuries and retirement, recruiting on the defensive side of the ball became a bigger issue due to the lack of depth, and poor tackling allowing longer runs became an issue.

Kaufman's buyout, listed here at the top of page seven of his contract, appears to be $365,000, as his contract was renewed at the beginning of the season and was set to last until the end of April in 2018.

(Note: DL Coach Fred Tate, CB coach John Lovett, and Safeties coach Greg Burns still remain on staff)