Utah Utes football: Andy Ludwig still has positive feelings for Utes

SAN DIEGO — When the bowl pairings were announced two weeks ago, perhaps no one had more conflicted feelings than Andy Ludwig.

Ludwig is the offensive coordinator at Cal, the same position he held for four years at Utah, which will play the Bears Wednesday night (6 p.m. MST) in the Poinsettia Bowl at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.

"I'd rather not play them, because I'd rather not cheer against them and I'd rather not have my kids cheer against them," Ludwig said Monday after his team practiced at the University of San Diego. "In this particular instance, we're going to do everything we can to win the game."

Ludwig coached under Kyle Whittingham from 2005-2008 and still has fond feelings for Utah and the coaching staff and players. He said the day the matchup was announced, he called Whittingham and also has talked to some of the other coaches since.

"I've got a lot of love and respect for the players and coaches at the University of Utah," he said.

Ludwig was never the most popular coach among Ute fans, although they shouldn't have had much to complain about during the Utes' 13-0 Sugar Bowl-winning season.

Then a year ago, Ludwig resigned from Utah to take a job at Kansas State and two months later, resigned that job to take over as Cal's offensive coordinator when that position opened up.

Ludwig prefers not to talk about the details of his leaving Utah and the state where he grew up and played for Bonneville High School.

"Just professional advancement … I'll just leave it at that," he said when asked why he left Utah.

Although Ludwig never coached with Cal coach Jeff Tedford, he twice succeeded him as offensive coordinator, at Fresno State and Oregon.

"Andy and I have a lot of history going back to Fresno State and Oregon and we've kept in contact a lot over the years," Tedford said. "I've always admired the job that he's done."

Tedford said he's been happy with Ludwig's performance as the offensive coordinator.

"We talked a couple of times about the opportunities of joining our staff, and it worked out well this year," Tedford said. "The timing was right, and he's done a great job. He's a great coach for the kids. He's very detail-oriented and has brought some nice concepts and a lot of organization to our team."