Well with the Grant of Rights we'll still be in the ACC in 2030, it will just be a shell of itself - flying across the country to play Wake Forest and Syracuse, the teams that cannot afford to bail.
I think I probably qualify as a Wilcox apologist since I am content to keep him if he can keep delivering the Axe and a bowl game. Would I like to see us recruit and keep top-tier talent and win championships? Of course. But let me ask you a question, and it's not rhetorical, I'm genuinely interested in how you see the situation:
How likely is it that we can get a coach who can take us to 9+ win seasons, and more importantly, how likely is it that we'd keep that coach?
I just don't think we have resources and culture to compete at that level. Trying to get an elite coach who would be willing to stay at Cal is like trying to win the lottery. I am happy if we beat Stanford and get to see the team in the postseason. Wilcox may very well fail to deliver those in the near future, especially if our team gets gutted. But until he does fail, I'm content to keep him. How do you see it?
There is absolutely nothing wrong with beating Stanford and going to a bowl game. But…
…the landscape has changed so drastically in college sports that a school like Cal either needs to COMMIT to being better than just simply beating their rival…there is too much money at stake. If Cal gets left in the dust in the next realignment, the athletic department as we know it will cease to exist. Sports will be cut…that is a fact. It is why remaining with Oregon State and Wazzu and joining some quasi-Mountain West was simply not a viable option. It’s going to be ugly…just retaining the Axe, while great, is a relic of the Tom Hansen-led Pac-10 days when they ran the conference out of a trailer in Walnut Creek and a guy like Rich Brooks could slowly build a program over 18 years and with the help of a billionaire.
I would trade an L to Stanford for the next decade if it meant yearly 9-10 win seasons.
Jimmy. In order to get a top notch coach who would stay here would cost A LOT more than what Cal can pay. Even then, why should a coach want to come to Cal if they have such high academic standards for incoming athletes. Do you want to become a low class academic school and have a 9 or 10 win season every year? I doubt it if you are a true alum and go to games to cheer and root for Cal instead of screaming at Wilcox because you think you know more about coaching than him. By the way, we park near the Mendoza family in the stadium parking structure and his mother has MS so bad that she has to be carried out of the car and put own a wheelchair to go see the game. I think this why he is transferring. To be near to his mother.
“I doubt it if you are a true alum and go to games to cheer and root for Cal instead of screaming at Wilcox because you think you know more about coaching than him.” - That’s a patently absurd statement. Don’t be a total dope, Coach. I’m as big a Cal fan as you or anyone, and I always support the Bears. Doesn’t mean I blindly follow an incompetent HC.
As for your other points, Wilcox makes nearly $5M per year. That’s pretty damn competitive.
It’s gonna be real interesting then when he signs with Indiana. Maybe the whole family is moving to Bloomington.
We got very lucky with Tedford. He could have left us for a much cushier job and didn't. But here's the thing: Tedford was so successful in part because he let the academics slip. It's hard to compete with big boys when you have exacting academic standards. If Wilcox was going 6-6 and the academics were off the rail I'd be on board with canning him (if that's even possible with the buyout). But my understanding is he has done a good job upholding the academic standards for the team. I'm not ecstatic, but I am content with a coach who can keep the Axe and get to bowl games while maintaining academic integrity. I think in the longshot that we get a coach who can make Cal into a championship contender while maintaining academic integrity, there's almost no chance we'd keep him. Feels like hunting for a unicorn.
So, I’ve been watching Cal football since the Joe Kapp days…that’s 8 head coaches…25% of them have built a team that is top-10 nationally. How many other non blueblood football programs can you say that about? It is absolutely doable in Berkeley…good coaches win here. Bad coaches do not. Justin Wilcox is a bad head coach.
Look at what Indiana did this year with the right hire and tell me that Cal could not do the exact same thing. Indiana is neither a football school nor a diploma mill. Hell, 2 Cal Head Coaches in my lifetime have practically reached the pinnacle.
Rich Lyons is a start.
Next step is cutting ties with Knowlton.
Then you cut ties with Wilcox.
This year showed beyond any reasonable doubt that this is a sleeping giant of a fanbase with the potential for massive alumni support financially.
Wilcox is not the person to galvanize that support. Once he is replaced, Cal absolutely has a chance.
IF it is not too late…which it may already be, unfortunately.
But this current trajectory with Justin Wilcox is untenable. It puts the entire Athletics Department on the chopping block. The game has changed…Cal needs to adapt, or it will be destroyed.
Without more details, the timeline of the past week takes the idea of Justin Wilcox being Justin Wilcox to the next level...
He announces a change at OC the day before NSD, and loses his highly ranked QB recruit.
He then announces a new OC on the day players can officially enter the transfer portal, and loses his starting QB.
So we're left wondering if somehow some modification to those two events at least leaves the team with one of those quarterbacks.
At some point, Wilcox should be understanding that at the center of all the dysfunctional choices the football program has made since 2017 has been him.
The writing was probably on the wall when Hunter entered the portal. I assume Mendoza waited until he had a chance to talk to Harsin. Whatever he heard wasn’t enough.
The coaching staff disrespected Fernando when they brought in a transfer to compete with him in camp. When they didn’t name Fernando the outright starter to begin the season. When they made him split snaps in game one. Why would Fernando want to go through all of that again when he can go somewhere to be QB #1 from day one?
This never should have been a “football decision”. Fernando made the difference last year and he was the offense this year. He should have been in the inner circle with Ott. Now, as fans, we are the ones on the outside looking at the ruin of what was our team.
Oh Boo Hoo for Fernando. He had to continue competing for his starting role. That’s D1 athletics. I’m sure he left for the money, pure and simple. And I’m equally sure the money is in the hundreds of thousands.
You're right. I had forgotten about the disrespect shown to Fernando at the beginning of the season. We will probably never know how much that factored into his decision, but it's been awhile since I bashed Justin. If I could've, I would have fired him through the TV back in 2017 after the failed 2-pt. conversion 2OT loss to Arizona. How much anguish would Cal fans been spared?
Haha seriously! And I get it, Wilcox has probably forgotten more about football than I’ll ever know, but when you see the results on the field, it’s like wtf are fans supposed to think? There was a serious qb competition coming into this year to the point they were splitting reps in game 1? What are these football savants seeing that we aren’t lol???
My favorite is the former HS HC/LB coach on this board that questions the Cal fandom of anyone that dares to ask whether an obviously overmatched HC with a .348 winning % v conference foes over 8 frigging seasons is right for the job. It’s laughable really.
Perhaps it's time to quit trying to play with the big boys and join the new Pac 12. Stanford is in the same boat; they've already had 16 players, including both QBs enter the portal in the first two days (Ashton Daniels has already committed to Auburn).
As much as we might wish otherwise, me thinks Cal can never attract the kind of coaches and players they'd need to be competitive at the top levels.
The one thing that is clear about this new world of college athletics is that as turbulent as things are, these can change very quickly. See ASU and Indiana.
I know, but nothing needs to stand forever. We have had different entry requirements under different admins. And we've moved on from coaches for the same or less. Hell, we even fired Tedford once we started losing.
We'd have to cut most of the nonrevenue sports if we dropped down to the Pac-12. Our athletic department has always prioritized protecting the nonrevenue sports.
Either pony up more NIL or move onto the next one.
This is the reality of college football and we either adapt or die. No point losing our minds / clinging to some vague romantic notions of what used to be.
ETA: It’s the same game in the corporate world. Pay for good talent or watch them walk.
If you can't or won't pay competitively, and can't put a line in front of him that can protect him, you can't expect him or anyone else capable of being a difference maker to destroy their career, and probably their health.
I think the good news in college football is that even when you lose stars other kids rise. Losing Nyziah Hunter is tough. What’s obvious is that these good players are frustrated knowing the CAL had the opportunity for a nine or 10 win season and squandered it. Any player on offense who’s been here for three years or more has now had three different OCs and systems they’ve had to learn and anybody that’s been here for two years has had to learn two systems under two OC’s. So this will be the fourth offensive coordinator in four years. Kids get tired of the lack of stability and having to learn new systems every year. And then maybe the system that the new offensive coordinator is gonna run doesn’t fit with the goals of the individual players that the decide to leave. In any event, we have enough good players that with a good offensive system and offensive player will still be better than we were this year. Bloesch was a disaster. But I’m going to suggest we need to do one more thing and that is our alums need to step up and put money in our NIL fund to attract talent. I’m sure some of these guys who are entering the portalare looking for bigger paydays.
It's gonna be harder than ever to get donors to buy into a future for this program, at least until we can belatedly, finally and mercifully turn the page on Knownothing and Wilcox.
We have no future without donors. You gotta spend money to make money. If alums pull back on donations this team will end up worse than Stanfurd (who just hired Andrew Luck as their GM...what does that tell you about financial commitment?)
We're in purgatory at least for as long as Wilcox is here. Then we need to get lucky on a good hire who can rebuild the team quickly and revitalize the fan base. And now with the backdrop of evolving ncaa landscape and conference alignment, this program can be in long term if not permanent trouble staring into the abyss.
I don't want to depend on luck. While the buyout for Wilcox is $15m we aren't getting a new HC. So, being based in reality, my next hope is that we hire some good assistants that will build a better program. If Wilcox has a flaw, its that he is to loyal to his staff, but that may be based on budget realities as well. If any of his assistants were truly top level, they would have job offers for more money. Perhaps we can't get the best coaching talent because our budget does not permit it. That's not on Wilcox. Another reason for our alums to donate more.
I don't disagree, but I don't know what the appetite will be to contribute after this news and yet more evidence that Wilcox is capable of delivering with resources or not. That sell--at least for this year--got infinitely tougher IMO.
But again, 6-6 next year. Totally doable. Start stacking consistent bowl appearances…3 straight bowls is nothing to sneeze at for the Cal football program.
There are a lot of players out there that can get you 6-6. A lot of players.
That sounds reasonable. Harris could do it. A relatively weak schedule also help. I wouldnt take .500 for granted though at this point. We could finally see the bottom drop out for Wilcox this time. Chandler Rogers as the starter this year wouldve been a losing record. Something was wrong with him and he was a shell of his G5 production.
“98 yards with my boys”. Sorry Mendoza, you are intentionally leaving “your boys” behind. They and Cal are no longer your boys. As far as I’m concerned ur status as a “ Big Game Hero” is rescinded. I understand u put big money ahead of Cal (such a temptation) and 99% of college football players in your position would have done the same. Too bad you were not in the elite 1%……you came across that way in your MANY post game interviews (which Cal made happen for your and the programs exposure) and you were very convincing. So go get the money. See u down the road (from a distance).
Cal gave this guy a shot coming out of high school when no one else did (Yale hardly counts as a football team) and then gave him the opportunity to start last year. If not for Cal this guy would be on a bench somewhere. But in this era of professional college football the words class and loyalty are long gone from the vocabulary. Sad state of affairs.
Cal didn’t give him the opportunity to start, he earned the opportunity to start. And coming into this year, he was clearly the best option and yet Wilcox and his merry band of buffoons ran a qb competition into week one. Nando basically single-handedly dragged us to bowl eligibility two seasons in a row. Wilcox should be charged criminally with assault for what he subjected Nando to behind completely incompetent offensive lines. I blame him 0% for leaving.
You meant 100%. I hear you that he “earned” his starts, but often times in major college athletics it’s not enuf to “earn” playing time: the coach has to acknowledge that you earned it and give you playing time. Once he got significant playing time he shined.
True . There’s probably over 500,000 at stake. Not a bad pay day for a 20 year old college (professional) football player with 2 more years of eligibility.
Cal fans: Not unexpected. He was a human pinata for most of the season. No point staying with a program if your future is going to be a qb/human tackle dummy.
This isn’t any different from what coaches have been doing all along. The moment a better opportunity comes along, they leave. Now, players are doing the same. I watch college football because I love the game, my alma mater, and the memories I create with those around me. Once you let go of attachments to specific coaches or players, moments like these don’t faze you. That said, it’s “next man up.”
Starts with Knowlton. 1-11 might not be the worst thing. Apparently our programs need to mine historically unexplored depths to provoke change (see Mark Fox and Wyking Jones)
Every time Wilcox had to make an important staff decision, like picking an OC, he choose wrong. The unnecessary QB battles every season. The poor HS recruiting. At least Holmoe could recruit.
As an aside, Ben Finley ended up having a good year with Akron. He led the team to its most wins since 2017 (granted, not a high number, but he played very well for the Zips, especially in the final five games).
I've been going to Cal football games since I was 5 ( and I'm 76 now). Being the eternal optimist, I always thought that the program had a future ( with the right coach and players and a real commitment by the University). That belief has been shaken to the core. After the Bug Game and "Cal forever," Mendoza was really commitcommitted to zcal because he loved the place. Let's face it, it's all about NIL money now (not a potential future on the NFL, which most players will never see(. Truly a sad day for the Golden Bears.
So much for Mendoza’s legacy as a Cal legend. He’ll go down as a solid QB here, nothing more.
The last Cal QB who wore #15 and won a Big Game also wound up transferring.
Maybe we need to take that into consideration when the equipment managers are issuing uniform numbers...
Who was it?
Vince Ferragamo?
Deep cut! BTW, who else gets Ferragamo confused with Dan Pastorini like I do from time to time?
Hope the Wilcox apologists are happy now…your boy literally torpedoed the entire Cal Athletic Department.
Awesome times.
Dead in the water. We will be in the Mountain West or PacState 12 by 2030.
Good thing Wilcox “gets” Cal!
Those "He gets us." jesus commercials should do a Cal football themed one
Yup.
In the new NCAA landscape, incompetent leadership has consequences.
Well with the Grant of Rights we'll still be in the ACC in 2030, it will just be a shell of itself - flying across the country to play Wake Forest and Syracuse, the teams that cannot afford to bail.
I think I probably qualify as a Wilcox apologist since I am content to keep him if he can keep delivering the Axe and a bowl game. Would I like to see us recruit and keep top-tier talent and win championships? Of course. But let me ask you a question, and it's not rhetorical, I'm genuinely interested in how you see the situation:
How likely is it that we can get a coach who can take us to 9+ win seasons, and more importantly, how likely is it that we'd keep that coach?
I just don't think we have resources and culture to compete at that level. Trying to get an elite coach who would be willing to stay at Cal is like trying to win the lottery. I am happy if we beat Stanford and get to see the team in the postseason. Wilcox may very well fail to deliver those in the near future, especially if our team gets gutted. But until he does fail, I'm content to keep him. How do you see it?
If Indiana can do it, Cal can do it.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with beating Stanford and going to a bowl game. But…
…the landscape has changed so drastically in college sports that a school like Cal either needs to COMMIT to being better than just simply beating their rival…there is too much money at stake. If Cal gets left in the dust in the next realignment, the athletic department as we know it will cease to exist. Sports will be cut…that is a fact. It is why remaining with Oregon State and Wazzu and joining some quasi-Mountain West was simply not a viable option. It’s going to be ugly…just retaining the Axe, while great, is a relic of the Tom Hansen-led Pac-10 days when they ran the conference out of a trailer in Walnut Creek and a guy like Rich Brooks could slowly build a program over 18 years and with the help of a billionaire.
I would trade an L to Stanford for the next decade if it meant yearly 9-10 win seasons.
Jimmy. In order to get a top notch coach who would stay here would cost A LOT more than what Cal can pay. Even then, why should a coach want to come to Cal if they have such high academic standards for incoming athletes. Do you want to become a low class academic school and have a 9 or 10 win season every year? I doubt it if you are a true alum and go to games to cheer and root for Cal instead of screaming at Wilcox because you think you know more about coaching than him. By the way, we park near the Mendoza family in the stadium parking structure and his mother has MS so bad that she has to be carried out of the car and put own a wheelchair to go see the game. I think this why he is transferring. To be near to his mother.
“I doubt it if you are a true alum and go to games to cheer and root for Cal instead of screaming at Wilcox because you think you know more about coaching than him.” - That’s a patently absurd statement. Don’t be a total dope, Coach. I’m as big a Cal fan as you or anyone, and I always support the Bears. Doesn’t mean I blindly follow an incompetent HC.
As for your other points, Wilcox makes nearly $5M per year. That’s pretty damn competitive.
It’s gonna be real interesting then when he signs with Indiana. Maybe the whole family is moving to Bloomington.
We did with Tedford…
We got very lucky with Tedford. He could have left us for a much cushier job and didn't. But here's the thing: Tedford was so successful in part because he let the academics slip. It's hard to compete with big boys when you have exacting academic standards. If Wilcox was going 6-6 and the academics were off the rail I'd be on board with canning him (if that's even possible with the buyout). But my understanding is he has done a good job upholding the academic standards for the team. I'm not ecstatic, but I am content with a coach who can keep the Axe and get to bowl games while maintaining academic integrity. I think in the longshot that we get a coach who can make Cal into a championship contender while maintaining academic integrity, there's almost no chance we'd keep him. Feels like hunting for a unicorn.
So, I’ve been watching Cal football since the Joe Kapp days…that’s 8 head coaches…25% of them have built a team that is top-10 nationally. How many other non blueblood football programs can you say that about? It is absolutely doable in Berkeley…good coaches win here. Bad coaches do not. Justin Wilcox is a bad head coach.
Look at what Indiana did this year with the right hire and tell me that Cal could not do the exact same thing. Indiana is neither a football school nor a diploma mill. Hell, 2 Cal Head Coaches in my lifetime have practically reached the pinnacle.
Rich Lyons is a start.
Next step is cutting ties with Knowlton.
Then you cut ties with Wilcox.
This year showed beyond any reasonable doubt that this is a sleeping giant of a fanbase with the potential for massive alumni support financially.
Wilcox is not the person to galvanize that support. Once he is replaced, Cal absolutely has a chance.
IF it is not too late…which it may already be, unfortunately.
But this current trajectory with Justin Wilcox is untenable. It puts the entire Athletics Department on the chopping block. The game has changed…Cal needs to adapt, or it will be destroyed.
Without more details, the timeline of the past week takes the idea of Justin Wilcox being Justin Wilcox to the next level...
He announces a change at OC the day before NSD, and loses his highly ranked QB recruit.
He then announces a new OC on the day players can officially enter the transfer portal, and loses his starting QB.
So we're left wondering if somehow some modification to those two events at least leaves the team with one of those quarterbacks.
At some point, Wilcox should be understanding that at the center of all the dysfunctional choices the football program has made since 2017 has been him.
Don't worry, I bet Wilcox knows "we've got to get better" and he'll get right on that
Yup, "starting with him"
Agreed. And I hear one of the reasons for Nandos departure is not feeling “loved” by JW. Of all the F ups by JW, this could be the biggest one
Wilcox would never show emotion
interesting, where do you hear that?
Can’t say but it’s reliable
Crushing…
The writing was probably on the wall when Hunter entered the portal. I assume Mendoza waited until he had a chance to talk to Harsin. Whatever he heard wasn’t enough.
The coaching staff disrespected Fernando when they brought in a transfer to compete with him in camp. When they didn’t name Fernando the outright starter to begin the season. When they made him split snaps in game one. Why would Fernando want to go through all of that again when he can go somewhere to be QB #1 from day one?
This never should have been a “football decision”. Fernando made the difference last year and he was the offense this year. He should have been in the inner circle with Ott. Now, as fans, we are the ones on the outside looking at the ruin of what was our team.
Oh Boo Hoo for Fernando. He had to continue competing for his starting role. That’s D1 athletics. I’m sure he left for the money, pure and simple. And I’m equally sure the money is in the hundreds of thousands.
You're right. I had forgotten about the disrespect shown to Fernando at the beginning of the season. We will probably never know how much that factored into his decision, but it's been awhile since I bashed Justin. If I could've, I would have fired him through the TV back in 2017 after the failed 2-pt. conversion 2OT loss to Arizona. How much anguish would Cal fans been spared?
The staggering incompetence of Justin Wilcox…
Sssshhh, you’ll get labeled a hater that thinks he knows more than the coach! ;-)
Haha seriously! And I get it, Wilcox has probably forgotten more about football than I’ll ever know, but when you see the results on the field, it’s like wtf are fans supposed to think? There was a serious qb competition coming into this year to the point they were splitting reps in game 1? What are these football savants seeing that we aren’t lol???
My favorite is the former HS HC/LB coach on this board that questions the Cal fandom of anyone that dares to ask whether an obviously overmatched HC with a .348 winning % v conference foes over 8 frigging seasons is right for the job. It’s laughable really.
Perhaps it's time to quit trying to play with the big boys and join the new Pac 12. Stanford is in the same boat; they've already had 16 players, including both QBs enter the portal in the first two days (Ashton Daniels has already committed to Auburn).
As much as we might wish otherwise, me thinks Cal can never attract the kind of coaches and players they'd need to be competitive at the top levels.
The one thing that is clear about this new world of college athletics is that as turbulent as things are, these can change very quickly. See ASU and Indiana.
absolutely but let’s keep in mind that CAL has the 3.0 GPA requirement…and an entrenched coach.
I know, but nothing needs to stand forever. We have had different entry requirements under different admins. And we've moved on from coaches for the same or less. Hell, we even fired Tedford once we started losing.
We'd have to cut most of the nonrevenue sports if we dropped down to the Pac-12. Our athletic department has always prioritized protecting the nonrevenue sports.
I agree. Cal can not compete at this level anymore. Football or basketball.
Face reality..
Basketball is already a disaster and ACC conference (other than Stanford) hasn't even started.
Either pony up more NIL or move onto the next one.
This is the reality of college football and we either adapt or die. No point losing our minds / clinging to some vague romantic notions of what used to be.
ETA: It’s the same game in the corporate world. Pay for good talent or watch them walk.
If you can't or won't pay competitively, and can't put a line in front of him that can protect him, you can't expect him or anyone else capable of being a difference maker to destroy their career, and probably their health.
I don’t think this is a money issue at all from what I’m hearing from insiders. Getting crushed is definitely more of an issue
This reality is brutal for fans. I guess root for the school but don't get attached to any of the players.
It's time to just root for each other (the fans).
Mendoza's official statement: https://writeforcalifornia.com/p/fernando-mendoza-transfer-portal
Ott has to be next. The real question is - who stays.
Can’t imagine any one.
Mass exodus.
The new NCAA has made academics largely irrelevant…and absent dynamic leadership, Cal is toast.
I think the good news in college football is that even when you lose stars other kids rise. Losing Nyziah Hunter is tough. What’s obvious is that these good players are frustrated knowing the CAL had the opportunity for a nine or 10 win season and squandered it. Any player on offense who’s been here for three years or more has now had three different OCs and systems they’ve had to learn and anybody that’s been here for two years has had to learn two systems under two OC’s. So this will be the fourth offensive coordinator in four years. Kids get tired of the lack of stability and having to learn new systems every year. And then maybe the system that the new offensive coordinator is gonna run doesn’t fit with the goals of the individual players that the decide to leave. In any event, we have enough good players that with a good offensive system and offensive player will still be better than we were this year. Bloesch was a disaster. But I’m going to suggest we need to do one more thing and that is our alums need to step up and put money in our NIL fund to attract talent. I’m sure some of these guys who are entering the portalare looking for bigger paydays.
It's gonna be harder than ever to get donors to buy into a future for this program, at least until we can belatedly, finally and mercifully turn the page on Knownothing and Wilcox.
We have no future without donors. You gotta spend money to make money. If alums pull back on donations this team will end up worse than Stanfurd (who just hired Andrew Luck as their GM...what does that tell you about financial commitment?)
We're in purgatory at least for as long as Wilcox is here. Then we need to get lucky on a good hire who can rebuild the team quickly and revitalize the fan base. And now with the backdrop of evolving ncaa landscape and conference alignment, this program can be in long term if not permanent trouble staring into the abyss.
I don't want to depend on luck. While the buyout for Wilcox is $15m we aren't getting a new HC. So, being based in reality, my next hope is that we hire some good assistants that will build a better program. If Wilcox has a flaw, its that he is to loyal to his staff, but that may be based on budget realities as well. If any of his assistants were truly top level, they would have job offers for more money. Perhaps we can't get the best coaching talent because our budget does not permit it. That's not on Wilcox. Another reason for our alums to donate more.
This.
I don't disagree, but I don't know what the appetite will be to contribute after this news and yet more evidence that Wilcox is capable of delivering with resources or not. That sell--at least for this year--got infinitely tougher IMO.
Jet and Cabe have to be the top priorities to keep
Fear from sources that Jet sitting at SMU was also a business decision, like Mendoza.
Ugh
Yah.
But again, 6-6 next year. Totally doable. Start stacking consistent bowl appearances…3 straight bowls is nothing to sneeze at for the Cal football program.
There are a lot of players out there that can get you 6-6. A lot of players.
That sounds reasonable. Harris could do it. A relatively weak schedule also help. I wouldnt take .500 for granted though at this point. We could finally see the bottom drop out for Wilcox this time. Chandler Rogers as the starter this year wouldve been a losing record. Something was wrong with him and he was a shell of his G5 production.
Jet and Ott are about to fly away.
Sadly those two are the top candidates to be leaving.
“98 yards with my boys”. Sorry Mendoza, you are intentionally leaving “your boys” behind. They and Cal are no longer your boys. As far as I’m concerned ur status as a “ Big Game Hero” is rescinded. I understand u put big money ahead of Cal (such a temptation) and 99% of college football players in your position would have done the same. Too bad you were not in the elite 1%……you came across that way in your MANY post game interviews (which Cal made happen for your and the programs exposure) and you were very convincing. So go get the money. See u down the road (from a distance).
Cal gave this guy a shot coming out of high school when no one else did (Yale hardly counts as a football team) and then gave him the opportunity to start last year. If not for Cal this guy would be on a bench somewhere. But in this era of professional college football the words class and loyalty are long gone from the vocabulary. Sad state of affairs.
Cal didn’t give him the opportunity to start, he earned the opportunity to start. And coming into this year, he was clearly the best option and yet Wilcox and his merry band of buffoons ran a qb competition into week one. Nando basically single-handedly dragged us to bowl eligibility two seasons in a row. Wilcox should be charged criminally with assault for what he subjected Nando to behind completely incompetent offensive lines. I blame him 0% for leaving.
You meant 100%. I hear you that he “earned” his starts, but often times in major college athletics it’s not enuf to “earn” playing time: the coach has to acknowledge that you earned it and give you playing time. Once he got significant playing time he shined.
I mean I blame Nando 0% for leaving. But yea, I also blame Wilcox 100%.
Still, I can't blame him for not wanting to destroy his long-term health playing behind a dangerously incapable O-line.
True . There’s probably over 500,000 at stake. Not a bad pay day for a 20 year old college (professional) football player with 2 more years of eligibility.
Cal fans: Not unexpected. He was a human pinata for most of the season. No point staying with a program if your future is going to be a qb/human tackle dummy.
This isn’t any different from what coaches have been doing all along. The moment a better opportunity comes along, they leave. Now, players are doing the same. I watch college football because I love the game, my alma mater, and the memories I create with those around me. Once you let go of attachments to specific coaches or players, moments like these don’t faze you. That said, it’s “next man up.”
Go Bears!
UNLV coach just left his team high and dry to take the head coaching job at Purdue, which is pretty much a dead end Power 4 program.
Coaches take the money and run why should I be mad players do the same.
By next man up, you mean Belay Brummel?
Gather yourself sir. There’s still plenty of fish in the sea.
Gallows humor my friend . . . Gallows humor.
Whoever we get from the portal.
It would have been a misplaced and underserved level of institutional loyalty if Mendoza did stay honestly
Kinda agree. Guy got pulverized this season.
No surprises anymore.
Winless Wilcox might go 1-11 next season. Cal football is officially dead and Wikcox killed it.
Starts with Knowlton. 1-11 might not be the worst thing. Apparently our programs need to mine historically unexplored depths to provoke change (see Mark Fox and Wyking Jones)
That’s a tad harsh, but we know where you’re coming from.
Every time Wilcox had to make an important staff decision, like picking an OC, he choose wrong. The unnecessary QB battles every season. The poor HS recruiting. At least Holmoe could recruit.
Spav was a good hire, just couldn’t retain him.
Spav was not a Mendoza guy and was phased out accordingly.
As an aside, Ben Finley ended up having a good year with Akron. He led the team to its most wins since 2017 (granted, not a high number, but he played very well for the Zips, especially in the final five games).
Meaningless at the G league
That tracks. His skillset probably fit a little better in the Mid-American.
Hopefully his teammates didn’t play poker with him….
I've been going to Cal football games since I was 5 ( and I'm 76 now). Being the eternal optimist, I always thought that the program had a future ( with the right coach and players and a real commitment by the University). That belief has been shaken to the core. After the Bug Game and "Cal forever," Mendoza was really commitcommitted to zcal because he loved the place. Let's face it, it's all about NIL money now (not a potential future on the NFL, which most players will never see(. Truly a sad day for the Golden Bears.