Seth Davis' The Athletic article, contained this infuriating attribution from the Chancellor:
“To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”
It’s not common for an interview about a college athletics program to begin with a quote from Tennyson, but Cal is a most uncommon place. In the most recent edition of U.S. News and World Report’s rankings of best global universities, Cal came in at No. 4, behind only Harvard, MIT, and its private Bay Area rival, Stanford. The quote that concludes Tennyson’s “Ulysses” is proffered by the university’s chancellor, Carol Christ, a renowned scholar in Victorian literature who once chaired Cal’s English department. Her responsibilities are a lot bigger nowadays, but her perspective on athletics remains the same. Asked whether she believes that big-time sports should serve as a “front porch” to the university, Christ throws a sharp elbow, literary-style.
“So I’m going to change your metaphor,” she says. “We really have a wraparound porch. We have 30 sports, and it’s extraordinarily important to me that our athletes, and there are over 900 of them, have opportunities to compete at the highest level. Last year we had three national championships, in men’s water polo, men’s swimming and diving, and men’s crew. I understand that football and basketball are revenue sports, but I don’t see them as the sole measure of athletic success.”
My apologies for copying the long chunk here, but this whole porch analogy is downright puerile.
There may well be a porch, but the house where it's supposed to be attached--is burning.
It's somewhat disappointing that Christ views her own perspective as the only one that counts when it comes to Cal Athletics.
Look. This is what Wilcox believes in and what “we” signed up for when he got extended til 2028 and when Knowlton got extended. Orange slices for everyone.
“ Cal extended our football head coach through 2027 after two straight losing seasons because he declined the Oregon job and we felt we owed him? What other major program does this?”
NO OTHER MAJOR PROGRAM would have done this. It’s idiocy.
I think the transfer portal after the season will tell us what we need to know. If we can retain our top talent then maybe there's some hope. But if we lose it (like we see with our basketball program) then that should be the final dagger in the Wilcox era.
Troy Taylor continues to win. Most successful organizations cut their losses and move on to a brighter future. Instead our organization sits back continues to hope, wish and complain.
Thanks Avi. I'm so thinly invested in the team these days that I'm not even making comments much. But I will say that any improved performance by the Oline must have something to do with Greatwood. I'd love to hear someone like Rugbear share their views on how, if at all, Oline play has changed since Greatwood arrived. What is he even doing? Is he coaching on the field?
I don't blame the faculty at all. Many are in the top tier of their profession and, collectively, they bring in the "big bucks" for the university (esp. in terms of grantsmanship). The state of California, the faculty, and the students (via tuition) are paying the electric bills (not the athletic department). Meanwhile, we spent 500 million dollars on facilities, are paying a head coach 4.5 million a year....who is losing, consistently, and the assistant coaches are getting 5x to 10x what the best faculty are getting paid. And oh yeah, now some of the players are out earning the best faculty!
I would be irritated with football and MBB too; it's one thing to get that win and bring in revenue; it's a whole different story when you fail. Let's admit it, this war of attrition in college football has landed squarely on planet stupid. From the outside looking in, I completely understand why some would not support it.
It's a notable accomplishment that Wilcox has kept the Bears in, or got them back in, so many games that no one would reasonably expect Cal to come close in, given the resources and challenges at hand.
I truly hope Musgrave's continued tenure through the season is a function of Wilcox searching but not identifying any replacements at this point in time. It seems to be that a new OC hire could help create recruiting momentum and stem the tide of kids entering the portal. The sooner we generate this momentum, the better.
Another way to look at it: USC played down to their competition. They sleep-walked the first quarter until they realized that they are gonna have to put out some effort bcos the Bears really believed that they could win.
Plus, the score is a whole lot different if the Trojans did not have a couple of critical first down drops late in the game.
Is there any chance that some divine power negotiates with Wilcox and Troy Taylor that Troy Taylor become OC next year with the eventual takeover of HC in a few years? Or we do a Remember the Titans and bring Taylor in as HC and demote Wilcox to DC. Lol.
I believe Wilcox will probably get two more seasons to turn the program into a winner. starting - maybe with a new OC. I suspect if we win against OSU and Stanford the OC will be retained. Hopefully next season with more players back and maybe some dabbling in the portal the defense will advance to the mean it has been during Wilcox' time at Cal. If we beat OSU then 5 wins is probably where we end up, giving us that 5-7 floor we've seen time and again in the Wilcox era. Beating UCLA would be great, but even at home this might be a daunting task.
Cal > UNLV > Utah St > UConn > BC > L'ville > Wake Forest > Florida St > LSU > Florida > Utah > USC
Thank you for the article, Avi!
Seth Davis' The Athletic article, contained this infuriating attribution from the Chancellor:
“To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”
It’s not common for an interview about a college athletics program to begin with a quote from Tennyson, but Cal is a most uncommon place. In the most recent edition of U.S. News and World Report’s rankings of best global universities, Cal came in at No. 4, behind only Harvard, MIT, and its private Bay Area rival, Stanford. The quote that concludes Tennyson’s “Ulysses” is proffered by the university’s chancellor, Carol Christ, a renowned scholar in Victorian literature who once chaired Cal’s English department. Her responsibilities are a lot bigger nowadays, but her perspective on athletics remains the same. Asked whether she believes that big-time sports should serve as a “front porch” to the university, Christ throws a sharp elbow, literary-style.
“So I’m going to change your metaphor,” she says. “We really have a wraparound porch. We have 30 sports, and it’s extraordinarily important to me that our athletes, and there are over 900 of them, have opportunities to compete at the highest level. Last year we had three national championships, in men’s water polo, men’s swimming and diving, and men’s crew. I understand that football and basketball are revenue sports, but I don’t see them as the sole measure of athletic success.”
My apologies for copying the long chunk here, but this whole porch analogy is downright puerile.
There may well be a porch, but the house where it's supposed to be attached--is burning.
It's somewhat disappointing that Christ views her own perspective as the only one that counts when it comes to Cal Athletics.
Look. This is what Wilcox believes in and what “we” signed up for when he got extended til 2028 and when Knowlton got extended. Orange slices for everyone.
“ Cal extended our football head coach through 2027 after two straight losing seasons because he declined the Oregon job and we felt we owed him? What other major program does this?”
NO OTHER MAJOR PROGRAM would have done this. It’s idiocy.
I think the transfer portal after the season will tell us what we need to know. If we can retain our top talent then maybe there's some hope. But if we lose it (like we see with our basketball program) then that should be the final dagger in the Wilcox era.
Troy Taylor continues to win. Most successful organizations cut their losses and move on to a brighter future. Instead our organization sits back continues to hope, wish and complain.
Thanks Avi. I'm so thinly invested in the team these days that I'm not even making comments much. But I will say that any improved performance by the Oline must have something to do with Greatwood. I'd love to hear someone like Rugbear share their views on how, if at all, Oline play has changed since Greatwood arrived. What is he even doing? Is he coaching on the field?
NTURE ABHORS A VACUUMM AND CAL? GERBEAR
I don't blame the faculty at all. Many are in the top tier of their profession and, collectively, they bring in the "big bucks" for the university (esp. in terms of grantsmanship). The state of California, the faculty, and the students (via tuition) are paying the electric bills (not the athletic department). Meanwhile, we spent 500 million dollars on facilities, are paying a head coach 4.5 million a year....who is losing, consistently, and the assistant coaches are getting 5x to 10x what the best faculty are getting paid. And oh yeah, now some of the players are out earning the best faculty!
I would be irritated with football and MBB too; it's one thing to get that win and bring in revenue; it's a whole different story when you fail. Let's admit it, this war of attrition in college football has landed squarely on planet stupid. From the outside looking in, I completely understand why some would not support it.
It's a notable accomplishment that Wilcox has kept the Bears in, or got them back in, so many games that no one would reasonably expect Cal to come close in, given the resources and challenges at hand.
I truly hope Musgrave's continued tenure through the season is a function of Wilcox searching but not identifying any replacements at this point in time. It seems to be that a new OC hire could help create recruiting momentum and stem the tide of kids entering the portal. The sooner we generate this momentum, the better.
Another way to look at it: USC played down to their competition. They sleep-walked the first quarter until they realized that they are gonna have to put out some effort bcos the Bears really believed that they could win.
Plus, the score is a whole lot different if the Trojans did not have a couple of critical first down drops late in the game.
Just sayin'.
Is there any chance that some divine power negotiates with Wilcox and Troy Taylor that Troy Taylor become OC next year with the eventual takeover of HC in a few years? Or we do a Remember the Titans and bring Taylor in as HC and demote Wilcox to DC. Lol.
I believe Wilcox will probably get two more seasons to turn the program into a winner. starting - maybe with a new OC. I suspect if we win against OSU and Stanford the OC will be retained. Hopefully next season with more players back and maybe some dabbling in the portal the defense will advance to the mean it has been during Wilcox' time at Cal. If we beat OSU then 5 wins is probably where we end up, giving us that 5-7 floor we've seen time and again in the Wilcox era. Beating UCLA would be great, but even at home this might be a daunting task.