Cal’s Sonny Dykes widens job search

Cal’s head football coach Sonny Dykes has been in contact with University of South Carolina and Virginia University about job opportunities at those schools, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.

Dykes has a contraction extension offer from Cal, but has yet to agree to terms, a university spokesman reiterated Thursday morning.

When he left Louisiana Tech for Cal in December 2012, Dykes was tasked with lifting the program’s academic profile and improving graduation rates.

Challenges remain, and the university has introduced heightened admission standards, which, beginning in 2017, will require 80 percent of all recruits to have a 3.0 high school grade-point average.

Junior quarterback Jared Goff, owner of 26 school records, is projected to go early in the 2016 NFL draft.

Dykes’ $2 million base salary ranks 55th among FBS coaches, according to a USA Today database, and last in the Pac-12.

Cal is in the final year of paying former head coach Jeff Tedford’s negotiated buyout of $5.5 million.

FootballScoop.com reported Thursday morning that Air Force head coach Troy Calhoun and former Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Greg Schiano are also being considered for the Virginia vacancy.

If Dykes leaves Cal, one potential candidate who would be a popular choice among donors is Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Hue Jackson.

Before joining the NFL, where he has coached for the past 16 seasons, Jackson served as offensive coordinator at Cal (1996) and USC (1997-2000).

Jackson, the Oakland Raiders’ head coach for the 2011 season, was reportedly a top candidate for the Bears’ job before Dykes was hired.