Does anyone know if Knowlton/Cal donors are playing any defense here in an effort to retain Wilcox if Oregon makes him an offer? I was reading a blog post by John Canzano of the Oregonian this morning that mentioned that UCLA donors were preparing to play defense and keep Chip Kelly at UCLA if possible. Regardless of the mixed opinion about Wilcox's potential departure that is presented in these comments, it would be pretty telling on Cal's end if the Cal donors and higher ups were to just let Wilcox walk.
So here's a question for everyone. If Wilcox gets the Oregon job does Musgrave and Sirmon go with him and does Garbers to a grad transfer and head to Oregon as well. And, all those other seniors who entered the grad transfer portal, do they go to Oregon? Wilcox is a man of integrity and would never encourage it, but if he goes their and installs a system the kids already know, they might look at it as a chance of a lifetime.
Oregon really seems to be at a major crossroad. Other than the few flashes in the national spotlight, they’ve historically been like a middling MWC school. Given their location, not even a metro area like Portland, they couldn’t get the recruits to compete with the big boys, especially on the line. That’s why they latched onto what was the gimmicky Kelly system. Spread out and fast paced. Which was exciting while it was new. Outside of the 5 or 6 year run they’ve had, they were perennially bad. Looks like they might be dropping back down to their norm. Money can’t always buy everything.
I already posted this on a different but older thread. Repeating hear so people can see it. Well, Chris Brooks is leaving, Tevis is leaving, Remigio is leaving, Clark is leaving and Tonges is leaving. Meanwhile, all of our previous 4 star commits de-committed. Next we will hear that Chase is leaving. And today Wilcox interviewed for the Oregon HC job whereas two years ago he told them a flat out no. What does that tell you? Knowlton better have a good fucking back up plan.
Ideally for Cal they’d all stay (besides Clark, who is out of eligibility and declaring for the draft). However, they are all in positions of relative strength, and there have been hints that younger guys will be ready to step up.
The RB room was arguably too deep this year, taking snaps away from Chris, and Moore was the clear #1 until his fumble bug hit.
The DL room is the best recruited and best coached of the past few years, so the new guys (and healthy Brett) are going to explode next year. No worries there.
Nikko has been an exemplary student athlete representative for Cal, which is hard to replace. But Toler has also recruited and coached up the WR room well, so there are young guys ready to see the field there.
For TEs, we are clearly going with Terry and Latu as our main guys. The seniors have done admirably, but I don’t blame them for not wanting to step back into supporting roles as the young guys (with their ideal physical frames and skill sets) take over.
Plenty of issues around the team and the coaching staff, but all the announcements so far have been bummers but not devastating.
He told them no to an interview early on in his time at CAL. He promised to give us 5 years. He kept his word. I'm not sure CAL has recently done for him what is required to build a successful program. Maybe Knowlton was going to fire him but he's given Wilcox a chance to land another job before giving him the ax. I don't know. I do know that the absence of a public vote of confidence and contract extension has neutered Wilcox's ability to recruit, and this really limits the upside of the program. When I see so many of our stars with another year of eligibility leaving I ask myself what do they know that we don't know?
I'm torn on the transfers....Makai Polk last year was a rough one (and possibly quite telling), but the recent collection of grad transfers, tho disappointing, has fit the graduate trend in CFB of late. The COVID mess of a season gave all these guys and extra go at it in Berkeley.
But hearing that Wilcox basically had a 5 year window is interesting. With that in mind, if Knowlton is not operating under some sort of plan for HC, then we've got serious troubles.
Unless he already has a replacement picked out and he's being a gentleman to Wilcox. If he doesn't then he has fucked this up royally if Wilcox leaves.
Are you reading the writing on the wall!? Maybe, unless Wilcox doesn’t get hired by Oregon or another school, in which case it’s going to be pretty rough sledding at least for a couple of years.
I wish I had more confidence that Knowlton was working on a contingency plan if Wilcox is somehow offered the Oregon job.
I have the sneaking feeling that he would nonetheless be caught flatfooted and have to hire a search firm, despite these machinations being in the works for a week now.
All the folks who dumped hard on Wilcox… I bet you a cookie the next coach won’t be as good as him. Cal is a rough place to try to coach football these days.
I hope he stays around for program/coaching continuity, but I'll take that bet in an f-ing heartbeat. Plenty of coaches can lose more than they win, including 10 games below .500 in conference when the P12 has been dogschitt....
Gotta side w/ Jimmy on this one, no picket fence play here, my friends.
Wilcox was meh, still is meh, maybe he stays, but if not, Cal's history of 'meh' hires will continue. BTW, has anyone noticed that way too many coaches (including OC/DC) have been fired this season following 1 bad game or 1 bad season, let alone 5 mediocre years. I know I'm old-school, but a decade of my life has been spent the same way for Dykes & now Wilcox: hoping for the best, expecting the worst.
If Wilcox doesn't get the Oregon job and stays at Cal, has he screwed himself? Will players and recruits (and potential coaches on his staff) now see him and the program differently, that he has one foot out the door? I guess he'd be able to claim that Oregon was a very unique opportunity and that Oregon-aside, he's very committed to Cal.
No, he has now shown that an elite program has considered him. Everyone in the coaching world knows how hard it is to succeed at CAL. His stock is going up.
It’s his alma mater and he grew up down the street from the campus. I think it’s less he was looking for another job and more being willing to hear what your former school and team you grew up cheering for has to say.
All true...but you want plausible deniability, which he no longer has...recruits now know he was interviewing with a Conference rival during an f-ing crucial recruiting window and they & their parents don't give a schitt that Justin Wilcox grew up in the shadow of Autzen.
It's a bad look all around for Cal right now, any way you slice it. Hopefully Knowlton is working the phones, tho he's probably not...
Side story: the night that Dykes visited Max Gilliam in his family home -- that very night after recruiting the QB to come to Cal, Dykes was on a plane to interview for the Mizzou job.
I feel like he does have plausible deniability and cover because it is Oregon. He attended, played, graduated and coached at Oregon which gives him a compelling reason to listen to them.
This isn’t like Kelly to LSU or Lincoln Riley out of nowhere territory.
Like I said in DBDs today, does Oregon even interview him if he didn’t attend, play, and coach at Oregon? Probably not.
They aren’t interviewing other coaches with losing record and coming off a 5-7 season.
No, of course Wilcox and his 15-25 P12 record do not get a call from UO if he's not a legacy...but the fact that the whole world knows he actually interviewed with them is nonetheless a bad look for Cal, especially in light of the exodus of commits from this class and the totally-not-unexpected parade of grad transfers.
Somehow I'd just feel better if his actually interviewing with the Ducks was "speculation"...I dunno.....
Either way, it seems a rough time to be a Cal fan....
aside from rugby, water polo, infrequent swimming & rowing successes, when is it ever NOT a tough time to be a Cal fan? See my comment on another post about double-dipping as a lifelong Lions fan.
Well, if they interviewed him, he would surely impress them. Wilcox is a great all around human. I now think if they want him, and he wants them, it's a done deal. Bummer. But for all of us that want to see Cal stop being a 6-7 win team every year, we have no choice but to hope Knowlton and our donors have the moxy to bring in a coach that will recruit better and coach better. I'd hate to play against Wilcox, as I truly do like him, but there you go. It's a big pants world.
Troy Taylor is a solid offensive mind. But going from a winning high school coach, OC of a FCS national champion school with a record breaking QB (Eastern Washington), to a FBS school that did very well with him in the OC spot (Utah), to a rapid turnaround specialist as the HC of Sac State, does not mean he will enjoy the same success or a rapid turnaround as a HC at a school in the P5 (CAL). However, he would have Kai Milner to work with. That would be great for both Kai and Troy.
Always a big believer in 'fit' -- if Taylor wants to be in Berkeley, fine by me. Apparently, not all coaches Cal's hired in the recent past have felt the same way. [smirk emoji intentionally omitted]
Can’t blame Wilcox. What makes this troubling for Cal is the timing and evidence that Knowlton would likely botch hiring his replacement. Hope I’m wrong though.
Does anyone know if Knowlton/Cal donors are playing any defense here in an effort to retain Wilcox if Oregon makes him an offer? I was reading a blog post by John Canzano of the Oregonian this morning that mentioned that UCLA donors were preparing to play defense and keep Chip Kelly at UCLA if possible. Regardless of the mixed opinion about Wilcox's potential departure that is presented in these comments, it would be pretty telling on Cal's end if the Cal donors and higher ups were to just let Wilcox walk.
Playing defense? Holy hell I hope they’re playing offense. “You know I hear Eugene is beautiful this time of year!”
The best defense is a good offense!
So here's a question for everyone. If Wilcox gets the Oregon job does Musgrave and Sirmon go with him and does Garbers to a grad transfer and head to Oregon as well. And, all those other seniors who entered the grad transfer portal, do they go to Oregon? Wilcox is a man of integrity and would never encourage it, but if he goes their and installs a system the kids already know, they might look at it as a chance of a lifetime.
Oregon really seems to be at a major crossroad. Other than the few flashes in the national spotlight, they’ve historically been like a middling MWC school. Given their location, not even a metro area like Portland, they couldn’t get the recruits to compete with the big boys, especially on the line. That’s why they latched onto what was the gimmicky Kelly system. Spread out and fast paced. Which was exciting while it was new. Outside of the 5 or 6 year run they’ve had, they were perennially bad. Looks like they might be dropping back down to their norm. Money can’t always buy everything.
I already posted this on a different but older thread. Repeating hear so people can see it. Well, Chris Brooks is leaving, Tevis is leaving, Remigio is leaving, Clark is leaving and Tonges is leaving. Meanwhile, all of our previous 4 star commits de-committed. Next we will hear that Chase is leaving. And today Wilcox interviewed for the Oregon HC job whereas two years ago he told them a flat out no. What does that tell you? Knowlton better have a good fucking back up plan.
Ideally for Cal they’d all stay (besides Clark, who is out of eligibility and declaring for the draft). However, they are all in positions of relative strength, and there have been hints that younger guys will be ready to step up.
The RB room was arguably too deep this year, taking snaps away from Chris, and Moore was the clear #1 until his fumble bug hit.
The DL room is the best recruited and best coached of the past few years, so the new guys (and healthy Brett) are going to explode next year. No worries there.
Nikko has been an exemplary student athlete representative for Cal, which is hard to replace. But Toler has also recruited and coached up the WR room well, so there are young guys ready to see the field there.
For TEs, we are clearly going with Terry and Latu as our main guys. The seniors have done admirably, but I don’t blame them for not wanting to step back into supporting roles as the young guys (with their ideal physical frames and skill sets) take over.
Plenty of issues around the team and the coaching staff, but all the announcements so far have been bummers but not devastating.
I thought Clark had one more year of eligibility?
If Knowlton doesn't have a plan, Cal fans have a great plan. We all become Huskies fan.
Thanks, Rug....totally agree....wish I had confidence that Knowlton was working the phones right now....
I was, however, unaware that Wilcox turned down the Oregon job...can't imagine he ever said no to his Uncle Phil...
He told them no to an interview early on in his time at CAL. He promised to give us 5 years. He kept his word. I'm not sure CAL has recently done for him what is required to build a successful program. Maybe Knowlton was going to fire him but he's given Wilcox a chance to land another job before giving him the ax. I don't know. I do know that the absence of a public vote of confidence and contract extension has neutered Wilcox's ability to recruit, and this really limits the upside of the program. When I see so many of our stars with another year of eligibility leaving I ask myself what do they know that we don't know?
I'm torn on the transfers....Makai Polk last year was a rough one (and possibly quite telling), but the recent collection of grad transfers, tho disappointing, has fit the graduate trend in CFB of late. The COVID mess of a season gave all these guys and extra go at it in Berkeley.
But hearing that Wilcox basically had a 5 year window is interesting. With that in mind, if Knowlton is not operating under some sort of plan for HC, then we've got serious troubles.
Unless he already has a replacement picked out and he's being a gentleman to Wilcox. If he doesn't then he has fucked this up royally if Wilcox leaves.
Are you reading the writing on the wall!? Maybe, unless Wilcox doesn’t get hired by Oregon or another school, in which case it’s going to be pretty rough sledding at least for a couple of years.
ESPN reporting the push is for Kelly....
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/32831822
Why do we have two articles on JW interviewing with Oregon? Avi already posted this, along with Oregon now wanting to interview Chip Kelly.
It's just THAT big a news...
A Troy Taylor hire would be consistent with head coaches returning to their alma mater. A nice symmetry.
I wish I had more confidence that Knowlton was working on a contingency plan if Wilcox is somehow offered the Oregon job.
I have the sneaking feeling that he would nonetheless be caught flatfooted and have to hire a search firm, despite these machinations being in the works for a week now.
This sucks
Seriously?
All the folks who dumped hard on Wilcox… I bet you a cookie the next coach won’t be as good as him. Cal is a rough place to try to coach football these days.
I too will take this bet.
I hope he stays around for program/coaching continuity, but I'll take that bet in an f-ing heartbeat. Plenty of coaches can lose more than they win, including 10 games below .500 in conference when the P12 has been dogschitt....
Gotta side w/ Jimmy on this one, no picket fence play here, my friends.
Wilcox was meh, still is meh, maybe he stays, but if not, Cal's history of 'meh' hires will continue. BTW, has anyone noticed that way too many coaches (including OC/DC) have been fired this season following 1 bad game or 1 bad season, let alone 5 mediocre years. I know I'm old-school, but a decade of my life has been spent the same way for Dykes & now Wilcox: hoping for the best, expecting the worst.
Yes, this!
Marshawn Lynch for HC. I bet he can recruit.
If Wilcox gets the Oregon job, can we steal Sonny Dykes from TCU or Tedford from Fresno? Or Bob Melvin from San Diego?
If Wilcox doesn't get the Oregon job and stays at Cal, has he screwed himself? Will players and recruits (and potential coaches on his staff) now see him and the program differently, that he has one foot out the door? I guess he'd be able to claim that Oregon was a very unique opportunity and that Oregon-aside, he's very committed to Cal.
No, he has now shown that an elite program has considered him. Everyone in the coaching world knows how hard it is to succeed at CAL. His stock is going up.
It’s his alma mater and he grew up down the street from the campus. I think it’s less he was looking for another job and more being willing to hear what your former school and team you grew up cheering for has to say.
All true...but you want plausible deniability, which he no longer has...recruits now know he was interviewing with a Conference rival during an f-ing crucial recruiting window and they & their parents don't give a schitt that Justin Wilcox grew up in the shadow of Autzen.
It's a bad look all around for Cal right now, any way you slice it. Hopefully Knowlton is working the phones, tho he's probably not...
Love your books, BTW ;-)
Ha, Knowlton. As if...
Side story: the night that Dykes visited Max Gilliam in his family home -- that very night after recruiting the QB to come to Cal, Dykes was on a plane to interview for the Mizzou job.
Viva la Max
https://www.outkick.com/max-gilliam-below-deck-sushi-nude-model/
I feel like he does have plausible deniability and cover because it is Oregon. He attended, played, graduated and coached at Oregon which gives him a compelling reason to listen to them.
This isn’t like Kelly to LSU or Lincoln Riley out of nowhere territory.
Like I said in DBDs today, does Oregon even interview him if he didn’t attend, play, and coach at Oregon? Probably not.
They aren’t interviewing other coaches with losing record and coming off a 5-7 season.
No, of course Wilcox and his 15-25 P12 record do not get a call from UO if he's not a legacy...but the fact that the whole world knows he actually interviewed with them is nonetheless a bad look for Cal, especially in light of the exodus of commits from this class and the totally-not-unexpected parade of grad transfers.
Somehow I'd just feel better if his actually interviewing with the Ducks was "speculation"...I dunno.....
Either way, it seems a rough time to be a Cal fan....
aside from rugby, water polo, infrequent swimming & rowing successes, when is it ever NOT a tough time to be a Cal fan? See my comment on another post about double-dipping as a lifelong Lions fan.
Oh man...heart goes out to you...beating Zimmer was nice tho! And agreed, there are too few days where it’s great to be a Cal fan. Sigh.
Nah, he's screwed...whether he stays or goes, he can't walk this back.
Well, if they interviewed him, he would surely impress them. Wilcox is a great all around human. I now think if they want him, and he wants them, it's a done deal. Bummer. But for all of us that want to see Cal stop being a 6-7 win team every year, we have no choice but to hope Knowlton and our donors have the moxy to bring in a coach that will recruit better and coach better. I'd hate to play against Wilcox, as I truly do like him, but there you go. It's a big pants world.
Cool. Maybe I can hitch a ride from Sac with Coach Taylor.
Troy Taylor is a solid offensive mind. But going from a winning high school coach, OC of a FCS national champion school with a record breaking QB (Eastern Washington), to a FBS school that did very well with him in the OC spot (Utah), to a rapid turnaround specialist as the HC of Sac State, does not mean he will enjoy the same success or a rapid turnaround as a HC at a school in the P5 (CAL). However, he would have Kai Milner to work with. That would be great for both Kai and Troy.
Always a big believer in 'fit' -- if Taylor wants to be in Berkeley, fine by me. Apparently, not all coaches Cal's hired in the recent past have felt the same way. [smirk emoji intentionally omitted]
Can’t blame Wilcox. What makes this troubling for Cal is the timing and evidence that Knowlton would likely botch hiring his replacement. Hope I’m wrong though.