Why They Coach: Cal WR Coach Burl Toler III, Part Two
With football in a nebulous position and the recruiting process in a relative holding pattern, we at Golden Bear Report are looking to do interviews wherever we can. This week, we got Cal wide receivers coach Burl Toler on the line to discuss the turnaround Cal had in the early 2000s, playing in nearly every pro league known to man, and why he came back to Cal
This is part two of an interview that has been transcribed and lightly edited for clarity.
Previous Installments: Justin Wilcox, Part One | Justin Wilcox, Part Two | Charlie Ragle, Part One | Charlie Ragle, Part Two | Peter Sirmon, Part One | Peter Sirmon, Part Two | Aristotle Thompson, Part One | Aristotle Thompson, Part Two | Angus McClure, Part One | Angus McClure, Part Two | Tim DeRuyter, Part One | Tim DeRuyter, Part Two | Andrew Browning, Part One | Andrew Browning, Part Two | Burl Toler, Part One
TT: What was the moment you knew the program was turning around in the early 2000s?
BT: I knew the program was going to turn around as a player toward the end of that tough year where we went 1-10, that was the 2001 season. We started to lose players, when you lose, everybody gets hurt more often, those things happened, but you really see the guys that cared, the guys that wanted to be there, you could see them coming together even tighter.
At the beginning of the season, nobody hung out with each other, it was kind of like a ‘do your own thing, go to football, that’s it.’ Towards the end of the season, nobody wants to lose 10 games in a row, I wouldn’t wish losing 10 games in a row on anybody, but I’m thankful that I went through it because I was able to see things from a different perspective. The things that you go through to play college football are strenuous enough, then on top of that you throw losing 10 games in a row? It really forces you to keep everything in check, and realize that you’re playing football for yourself, and whatever you put into it you’ll get out of it. Football is a unique sport, that there has to be so many pieces to come together to make it happen, to be successful, and win. We didn’t have all those pieces together during my freshman season. We won our last game of the season, which was against Rutgers, we were supposed to play Rutgers early on, but that’s when 9/11 pushed everything back.
Going into that game, it was our last chance, we were going out to the east coast with nothing to lose and really felt the guys that were checked out and the guys that were together. Since I was a freshman, I knew I was going to use this to propel me into my next seasons to come. You could also feel on the other side, and there was a group of guys that were feeling that way, that were saying ‘alright, I’m out of here, I’m done playing.’ I felt our team coming together tight then, we beat Rutgers and when we came back, our new head coach ended up being coach Tedford, but we were putting our trust in the core group of guys who were allowed to have input, we felt that they cared about our opinion when they were picking a new head coach. That core group of guys was myself, Lorenzo Alexander, Geoff MacArthur, Chase Lyman, Terrell Williams, guys like that who were already there, we felt it was up to use to make things happen, and at the time Nnamdi Asomugha and Kyle Boller were there for one more year as well.
We had a good core group of guys then, and more than anything, it was the culture that had us going in the right direction. Obviously we added talent, we added some guys here and there, but those guys wouldn’t have come if we hadn’t had the culture. I think that’s the best way to recruit, the best way to win game, to have the players have the right mindset day in and day out, that keeps the guys on the team, and gets the guys that need to be there. That’s when it started to turn, at the end of that 2001, we propelled that into 2002. The culture got tighter and we able to recruit some guys like Marshawn Lynch, Aaron Rodgers, Jonathan Makonnen came in, Francis Blay-Miezah, JJ Arrington, we had some JC transfers, Joe Maningo, and having all those guys come together, they came to the team because the culture changed, things were going the right way and everybody felt that.
Going into our years to come we got tighter and tighter on and off the field, went to each other’s houses, our families knew each other, and it was a combination of all those things coming together that had us winning games.
TT: When did you know Aaron Rodgers was ‘the guy’?
BT: When Aaron Rodgers came, you asked me when I knew he was going to be a guy, it was immediately, he got there before spring ball and picked up the entire playbook before spring ball started, and that’s just his photographic memory, the way he does things, he was able to pick it up, get going, and we were like ‘this dude is going to be a guy.’ Then we started practicing and some guys were really smart in the playbook and don’t do that well, but he started slinging that thing, slinging the ball around the field immediately, it was like ‘alright, he’s going to be a dude.’
The thing at the time, I always say iron sharpens iron, we had Reggie Robertson, and he did a great job. He was extremely competitive and he had a huge role in a good amount of games, you look at the USC game (in 2003), having that competition, everybody thrived off that. I didn’t like Jonathan Makonnen when he first came to our team. Geoff MacArthur didn’t like Jonathan Makonnen, we all had a chip on our shoulder, but once we were together, we were like ‘instead of being disappointed that they brought in another receiver, let’s be excited because we have competition every day.’ We had no set starters, coach Kiesau didn’t allow us to do that, we were at each other’s throats every day. Same with the defense, I talk about it with Francis Blay-Miezah, Mike McGrath, Donnie McCleskey, I used to get in fights with those guys every single day, but when the game came, we knew a lot more about each other and we were able to use that, we were like siblings.
It was cool to have that connection with the guys and I always go to relationships, culture, and how things work out, there’s a reason why and how teams are better and a lot of that is the reason why, in my opinion.
TT: You have had one of the more unique professional careers on the Cal staff, with playing in nearly every league known to man, when was the point where you knew you wanted to transition into coaching?
BT: I took offense to it when someone asked if I wanted to do something else other than play football for a long time. I graduated from Cal in 2005 and I had job opportunities from 2006-10, and I took offense when people would offer me a job (outside of football), because I was so wrapped up in football, it was my passion and that’s how I lived my life, through my action with football. I think it’s kind of ridiculous that I felt that way at the time, but nobody told me different and I was going to make it, that’s what I wanted to do. That’s what my complete and pure focus was.
I played professionally from 2005 to early 2013, I played for, I’d have to count it, but for eight teams in a professional game in seven different countries, Germany, Italy, Canada, the US, I played a game in Amsterdam, I played a game in France, and I played a game in Serbia, being able to experience those things, I wouldn’t change that for anything. The majority of the time someone goes to the NFL and they play in another league, they have the feeling, I’ll speak for myself and say that I thought I was going to play in the other league and use that to propel me back to the NFL. I was with the Redskins and I was with the Raiders, then I signed with the San Jose Sabercats and I thought ‘ I’m gonna play one season or half a season and get back to the NFL.’ To whatever you want to call it, I was able to do that, to go back to the NFL, then back to Arena, then back to the NFL, then to NFL Europe and back to the NFL, and I was able to do it for a good amount of time.
When I got to 2012, I had already gone to NFL Europe, I had already gone to the Redskins and the Raiders, I played Arena Ball in San Jose, Orlando, and I signed my last contract in San Antonio in 2012, and when I signed there, I knew I wasn’t going back to the NFL, I had gotten out of it what I had wanted out of it. I knew that I wanted to be around football, and I’d say that was the first time (I said), ‘I want to be around ball and I want to do something,’ and in 2012 it really clicked for me that it’s a natural transition to coach football. I was so wrapped up in playing that I’m not like some coaches (who’d say), ‘when I was five, I knew I wanted to coach,’ I was always playing. I had a backup plan, I taught first grade for a while, and being at Cal, I was able to do everything that I wanted to do, it opened up opportunities for anything I could’ve thought of. I was living out my plan B and I had a plan A.
In 2012, it hit me that I was done with football, and (the question was) did I want to do something else or stay in football? I had experienced so much that it was a natural progression, and I was able to take what I learned from Germany, take what I learned from Italy, take what I learned from Randy Moss on the Raiders, Santana Moss on the Redskins, Antwaan Randle El, everyone I crossed paths with that were my idols, that I had the opportunity to play with and pick their brain, there’s not too many people that can draw from real life experiences and teach them to guys who are trying to do something similar to what I did.
And just like we talked about with recruiting, I don’t have to make up things because I was able to live it, I was able to play at Cal, I was able to play college football and transition to the NFL, and that’s a lot of what the players I’m talking to now want to do. It comes naturally for me to speak on that and on recruiting and things like that, I was fortunate enough to live through it.
As far as the coaching part, the last couple years of (Arena Ball) was when I knew I really wanted to coach. I commentated a few games of Arena Ball when I was toward the end, which was a really cool experience, found out it wasn’t necessarily for me, but I had a great time doing it. I landed in coaching, and I don’t play on looking back any time soon, I’m addicted to the football and coaching game, and I love what it brings to me as far as the relationships and being able to live out my passion.
TT: You came back to Cal as a QC coach in 2013, how did that happen?
BT: When I was finishing my last couple years of playing, I wanted to live out every dream I had playing football, and I had a unique experience of choosing when I was done. I didn’t stop because I was injured, I didn’t stop because I didn’t have a contract. I was able to have my family in the stands, my wife Drea, we were together for my last two years of playing, she was able to watch me play, which is kind of an alter ego for me, I was glad that she was able to watch me play in that aspect of my life as well.
When I was finishing, I had a youth football camp, that was my transitioning point of saying ‘I want to put this camp together.’ My wife forced me to do it, I was always saying I wanted to do a youth camp, and I ended up doing one in 2013 and it was great, I was able to really explain things and I thought ‘this is great.’ I went throughout San Antonio and got a bunch of kids to come, it ranged from age 5 to 16-17 and I absolutely loved it. That’s the point in my life where I said this was the next step, so I went to see what connections I had at Cal.
I was close to Sandy Barbour, she was the athletic director at the time, expressed my interest and felt I would have a good edge in recruiting and coaching and wanted to come back home, so I had an opportunity to interview with Sonny Dykes. At the time, they didn’t have anything open, positions were filled, but I stayed in contact and something opened up as a special teams quality control (coach), I always played special teams so I had something to contribute for that, I interviewed with coach Dykes, he said ‘we don’t need you until July, finish your season, then come join, we’d love to have you.’ I thoroughly enjoyed it and it was a smooth transition.
TT: I’ve asked you and coach Wilcox about this before, how quick was the conversation around coming back in 2018?
BT: Like I’ve said before, in coaching it’s about relationships, and the fact that coach Wilcox and I had built a great relationship when I was a player and he was a coach, and maintaining that relationship for 15 year, fast forward to 2018, I don’t think there were very many questions about who the other person was or things that you would typically ask in an interview. He didn’t need to ask me if I wanted to come back, that was already assumed. I’m just extremely thankful that the timing worked out and I was able to gain experience as a player, (as a coach) at Fresno State and UC Davis, just to really be ready to join the staff in 2018.
Coach Wilcox, I’ve always followed his career, the first time I saw him (after Cal) was when he was at UW and I was at Cal in 2013, I was like ‘this is crazy, I’m coaching, I see him out here,’ it’s pretty cool to see somebody that you played for however many years prior, to see them on the field doing the same thing you’re doing. I rely heavily on relationships, and my transition back to Cal was natural for me, and in that natural progression boxes have to be checked and you have to prove yourself, be ready for whatever’s to come, and for me, the experience of playing, going from Fresno to UC Davis, coaching a position, recruiting, being able to sign a good amount of guys at my position, all those things were things I was able to throw on my resumé and to be able to prove to coach Wilcox that I was ready to take the task he gave me.
TT: For you, why Cal in particular?
BT: A bunch of reasons, yes it is a place that I played football at, my dad played, so it is home for me. More important is the vision that coach Wilcox has, the staff that he’s put together, there’s alignment from the Chancellor to the AD to the head coach, there’s great players on the team. One of my favorite things is the culture, it’s an awesome culture, and in making the decision to come back home, that had something to do with it, but I had to make a decision based on the current state of the program.
It makes it an easy answer because I went to Cal and because it is home, but if I’m looking at why I made the decision in my professional career, those professional decisions need to be based on the current state and what’s going on and how that’s going to affect your career, and I felt like it was the best decision for me, I was able to extend my career at Cal, and it makes things that much better that it is at home.