Great writeup, but I am a sell on Wilcox. Seemingly great guy, looks awesome in Cal gear, but the results speak for themselves. His record in the conference is now a putrid 11-21, meaning for every win he loses two. Let's face it, the conference has not been that good since his time here. The traditional powerhouses like UCLA, USC and Washington have been sputtering, and even Oregon has not been great until maybe this year. And we have reached an all-time level of stinkeroo in the PAC this year with Washington State, Arizona and Colorado all ranked below Cal in the Colley Matrix rankings that supposedly take emotion out of how teams are evaluated.
I think Drew nailed it on maybe the biggest knock on Wilcox' tenure here: player development. Other guys like Jonathan Smith at OSU and Kyle Whittingham at Utah are doing a far better job of coaching up their 3-stars that dominate the rosters of the lower tier conference schools. (Cal only had one player selected in the draft this year - Cam Bynum.) Wilcox was winning a lot of those close games in 2018 and 2019, and he's been going the other way the last two seasons. If he cannot produce at least four conference wins the rest of the way in a critical year 5 of his tenure, he needs to go in the off season.
Hoping for the best, prepared for the worst, and unsurprised by anything in between.
Maya Angelou
Over last 60 years:
22 winning seasons
10 8+ win seasons
(We can thank Tedford for most of both above stats..)
2 conference championships
0 Rose Bowls
Institutionally and across the football fan base there is a quiet expectation and acceptance of this status quo. “A ‘B-/C+ at Cal is a good grade in football or classes because it’s a tough place to be” seems to be widely acceptable to most fans and administration. Each year we get a standout recruit or two with a promise of broad over-achievement, but with few exceptions most turn out slightly above average but content with the experience and being able to say ‘I made it through Cal’. Our historical record doesn’t fill the cupboard with 4* recruits. Most coaches of late show some promise before they stumble onto a 3-6 or 4-5 season and two years later ZAP - they are gone. Not a pitch an AD wants to make trying to recruit a new hire… Our visions are lofty, but Grit is what we learn to stand on. One thing every Cal football fan learns: there is always next year! Need to stay the course (for once..) to see what happens and give Wilcox a chance to grow..
Those shopping for a new head coach place far too much trust in the administration and the fan base. Unless Carol Christ makes a top level football coach her life mission, I think the only way we go is down if we make a coaching change.
Half the university despises football. The AD has show zero willingness to make any productive change on the basketball front. There is zero creative support for making the fan experience better, zero understanding that most fans love tradition and the band.
Great writeup, but I am a sell on Wilcox. Seemingly great guy, looks awesome in Cal gear, but the results speak for themselves. His record in the conference is now a putrid 11-21, meaning for every win he loses two. Let's face it, the conference has not been that good since his time here. The traditional powerhouses like UCLA, USC and Washington have been sputtering, and even Oregon has not been great until maybe this year. And we have reached an all-time level of stinkeroo in the PAC this year with Washington State, Arizona and Colorado all ranked below Cal in the Colley Matrix rankings that supposedly take emotion out of how teams are evaluated.
I think Drew nailed it on maybe the biggest knock on Wilcox' tenure here: player development. Other guys like Jonathan Smith at OSU and Kyle Whittingham at Utah are doing a far better job of coaching up their 3-stars that dominate the rosters of the lower tier conference schools. (Cal only had one player selected in the draft this year - Cam Bynum.) Wilcox was winning a lot of those close games in 2018 and 2019, and he's been going the other way the last two seasons. If he cannot produce at least four conference wins the rest of the way in a critical year 5 of his tenure, he needs to go in the off season.
Hoping for the best, prepared for the worst, and unsurprised by anything in between.
Maya Angelou
Over last 60 years:
22 winning seasons
10 8+ win seasons
(We can thank Tedford for most of both above stats..)
2 conference championships
0 Rose Bowls
Institutionally and across the football fan base there is a quiet expectation and acceptance of this status quo. “A ‘B-/C+ at Cal is a good grade in football or classes because it’s a tough place to be” seems to be widely acceptable to most fans and administration. Each year we get a standout recruit or two with a promise of broad over-achievement, but with few exceptions most turn out slightly above average but content with the experience and being able to say ‘I made it through Cal’. Our historical record doesn’t fill the cupboard with 4* recruits. Most coaches of late show some promise before they stumble onto a 3-6 or 4-5 season and two years later ZAP - they are gone. Not a pitch an AD wants to make trying to recruit a new hire… Our visions are lofty, but Grit is what we learn to stand on. One thing every Cal football fan learns: there is always next year! Need to stay the course (for once..) to see what happens and give Wilcox a chance to grow..
Those shopping for a new head coach place far too much trust in the administration and the fan base. Unless Carol Christ makes a top level football coach her life mission, I think the only way we go is down if we make a coaching change.
Half the university despises football. The AD has show zero willingness to make any productive change on the basketball front. There is zero creative support for making the fan experience better, zero understanding that most fans love tradition and the band.