I think it's time Wilcox FINALLY holds coaches accountable. He has a history of not doing this. Learn from Harbaugh: "Win with character, win with cruelty." Wilcox is all character, zero cruelty... at least for coaches. Another speech about "it's not good enough" isn't good enough. Talk is cheap. Walk the walk, stop just talking.
I agree. “This level of football is not acceptable” is an empty phrase tethered to nothing. He needs to tie it to letting some assistants go in order for it to have any meaning and us to have any hope of ever getting better.
Btw, man I thought I was outraged when I made this initial post. But after reading all of the posts that followed, I'm definitely less outraged... y'all are hella more mad than I am. haha.
Anyway, change has come and let's not forget the good part about Wilcox, he takes care of his players and runs a clean program. Character in CFB is rare. Wilcox at the core is a good dude. If Wilcox adopts more cruelty for the coaches, we will be successful in the long run.
We are a few injuries, o-line recruiting, and an OC away from whooping some ass.
*o-line coaching. We're note the only team that doesn't have blue chips all along the line. We do seem be one of the only ones this poor and ineffective. That's development.
Instead Wilcox supposedly said this about last night: "It is up to the players to execute the plays that are called. Hanging your head, kicking your locker means nothing."
I had hoped that he would see his way to firing Musgrave and shaking up the coaching staff after the season, but clearly Wilcox has lost the plot here.
The staff already is recruiting poorly, and if he's going to drop a deuce like this on the kids, then he's losing a bunch of them when the transfer portal opens up.
Speaking of which, I was watching highlights of the 1986 Big Game the other day, and I saw Marc Hicks among the highlights. Hicks, the hero of the win over U$c in 1985, was another promising running back who could never find sustained success at Cal and transferred schools in the wake of the 2-9 season in '86.
Jaydn Ott is about to become this generation's Marc Hicks for Cal fans--a "what if" who transferred because the team had become unsalvagable.
Wilcox's one-note post game press conferences are a tired act. So long as he refuses to make any changes, this man can not be taken seriously. He is in so far over his head it's sad.
I stopped watching his pressers for the most part a few years ago. Even when things weren't going poorly.. listening to his super basic and guarded coach speak is one of the most boring things you can do. There's like nothing whatsoever to be gained from listening to him talk to the press. You're not getting any insight, not getting any personality, so there's really no point. I'd rather stand in front of my electric kettle watching it get up to 205 degrees, and then watching the pour over coffee completely finish draining.
He’s just visibly angry at every press conference. You can tell he’s a competitive guy who hates to lose, but he can’t seem to do anything about it. He’s in over his head
I view his pressers a lot less now and if I do it's usually a week or two later. When I fire up YouTube on my big screen, I quick scroll past his intensely-glum screen shot of said presser.
I might actually check this one out now as a refresher. I usually only watch some of the Spring ones to see if I can get some intel on what young players might be flashing.
From what I remember, when things are good: boring. When things are bad: still boring, but awkwardly tense.
With the exception of if Trace Travers is there, who he will be very nice to and maybe even get into a little hint of banter.
Just a year or two into the Wilcox era and I'd become convinced he studies Bill Belichick, but since he's deep down such a nice guy he's sort of become a generic, low-rent, polite version of him, unable to go all-in.
No reason for him to stick around for FB at all when he must be wondering how it would be to have an OL that can block at the first and second level. Our only hope is that he has found the academics and environment of student life too rewarding to leave and thereby has developed an affinity for Cal.
I don’t think with Ott and the other players the situation is any different than with the fans. Just like you need to give the fans some spark of hope in order for them to care/watch, you need to give the players some spark of hope to stay. These last games will be important in that regard. It would give us all hope to play Millner, IMO, as he is a much more talented and younger player and so is a living embodiment of what the future may hold. Another thing would be letting Musgrave go, letting McClure go, giving a younger coach a shot there on an interim basis. None of this even needs to work, it just needs to show promise over the God awful stretch of play we have just had. Just create a narrative of hope by doing something different that looks to the future, JW. If you just keep playing the same average at best QB with only a year of eligibility left for every single fucking down, if you just keep trotting out the same below average offensive coaches, then all of those fans and players leaving will be on you, JW. You cannot constantly demand better without doing anything whatsoever to achieve it.
True on Hicks, but it’s a bit more complicated than that. He turned out to be dyslexic, and did so badly academically at Cal that he was only able to transfer 9 units to Ohio State when he arrived there. By the time he became eligible to play again after the transfer, the coaching staff that had courted him to go there was replaced, and he could never gain the favor of the new regime before injuries ultimately put an end to his college career.
As for Snyder, people forget that before his run in 1990-91, he went 3-6-2, 5-5-1, and 4-7 in his first 3 seasons at Cal—including the embarrassing failure at the end of the 1988 Big Game that ended in a tie when Furd blocked the game winning chip shot FG that would have won it. Heading into the 1990 season, I know I wasn’t that enthused about his coaching at that point.
Auricursine, I tested dyslexic (class 87') and one of my daughters (UCLA Grad student class 21') is dyslexic and doing well professionally. Lots of former players are dyslexic but you have to just work harder! That was a football decision before academics. What did Synder (Terry Shea) do after leaving CAL signing with ASU....Rose Bowl!
I wasn't implying that dyslexia doesn't mean one can't find success. A family friend specializes in diagnosisng and treating dyslexia and is working with my school district as I type this, to better help teachers understand what's really going on with students who struggle with it and how best to modify our teaching approaches to take that into account when we work with our kids.
My comment about Hicks was based on this passage from a bio on Hicks from the SF Comical years ago:
"...his sophomore year degenerated into a mess, marked by feuds with Kapp, limited playing time and frequent fumbles. Hicks also struggled in school, in part because he had dyslexia, a reading disorder. Hicks acknowledged he would change his study habits if he could begin his Cal experience anew. His lack of academic progress in Berkeley became apparent when only nine units transferred to Ohio State.
"'They were putting me in classes I shouldn't have been in,' Hicks said. 'They just wanted to keep me eligible. It was my fault, too. I knew what was going on, but I went along with it.'"
If nothing else, it illustrates the dumpster fire that had broken out in the program as Kapp desperately sought to keep his job. I would imagine it had something to do with why the athletic department did a better job of helping struggling readers in the program going forward. Case in point: Russell White.
If Snyder was behind that change, that would have been a huge step forward.
Russell really benefited from that Prop 48 year, which is when he discovered the dyslexia and was able to develop a way with his advisors' help to work with it. I think all of the credit goes to him. He had a chip on his shoulder to prove folks that he wasn't your typical highly recruited jock.
Bockrath botched the Gilby hire, but firing Campinelli saved the basketball program. Not sure any other AD would have the stones to do that. I don’t think he wanted to hire Bozeman, but he had no choice after that run. He had much of what Knowlton lacks.
It's not the aspect of last night forefront in most Old and not so old Blues minds, but I wanted to hop in somewhere to compliment the Cal Straw Hat Band for the job they did last night. I do detect that the Cal band does matter to a good number of Cal fans, and readers here.
Despite being stuck in a corner due to construction at Reser (and questionable crowd and game management decisions this year by certain people in the marketing department), and a tough night game wise, in the cold, the Cal band represented well.
And then joined the OSUMB for a great post game show too few from both sides saw or heard, due to being half frozen. Just as was with the players, it was a hard fought night, even given that the game didn't go according to script for anyone, but any fallout that could have happened (and would have had good reason), was set aside when the battle was over, and sportsmanship quickly returned. The Cal band gets a lot of credit for that.
I am not sure what's going on with the band and cheerleaders, etc. but it seems the athletic department is mishandling some Cal traditions. I don't know if it's a funding issue or not. Thanks to the band and all of the kids doing the cheerleading and rally stuff.
Since the AD is obviously not going to make any big / effective moves in the right direction (vs making a big contract extension), maybe we should direct our efforts to the people with the real power - the Chancellors.
I think it starts with them getting rid of the AD first and then the new AD can begin the process of hiring new Coaches.
A multi-year effort for sure, but the sooner we start…
Auricursine quoted Wilcox "It is up to the players to execute the plays that are called."
This is bullshit. If one player is failing to execute, or the team is failing to execute in one game, then it's fair. But this has been going on across the board, all season. IT'S UP TO YOU TO CALL PLAYS THAT THE PLAYERS HAVE PROVEN THEY CAN EXECUTE. IF THEY'RE NOT EXECUTING, IT'S YOUR JOB TO ADJUST. Yes, all caps because I'm yelling.
Until recently, I've thought that keeping Wilcox and replacing the O staff was the best approach. Not any more; if he really thinks it's an execution problem, then he has no business being a leader.
Wilcox was going to put Millner in the last series, but he didn't get a chance. That's fine. Just put him in the next series which is the first quarter of the Big Game.
Troy Taylor's Hornets are 10-0. A proven winning college coach, who's turned a losing program around. He's cheap now. The money is right in front of our faces! Cut the losses and move on and salvage whatever is left over. The stands are virtually EMPTY and we all know the stadium and facilities are not paid off! Clocks ticking.....
“He was going in the next series but the defense didn’t stop them”
Bro?
Really?
As if the game wasn’t already out of hand on the series prior.
This coaching is as bad as it gets.
First off, anyone with two eyes and a functioning brain understands Milner should be the starter.
And even if that wasn’t already clear to this ninkampoop how is being down 4 scores with half a quarter left not worthy of giving the guy with a qbr almost triple that of the starter, and massively more mobility behind a slap dick o-line not a consideration.
Really don’t have anymore words other than rip cal football unless some big swinging dick donor like Kennedy steps in and demands a change.
Wilcox blaming the D for not getting the ball back so Milner can play garbage time is beneath Wilcox. And also, I couldn’t understand why Milner wasn’t already in for what ultimately became our lost possession on offense.
"It's just totally unacceptable. I don't know what else to say."
-- how about, "I hereby tender my resignation"? If either Wilcox or Fox had any self-respect... or if Knowlton could be held accountable for the McKeever debacle...
Lot of ifs. We just don't have a functioning athletic dept. that devotes proper care & attn to its revenue sports.
He was going to bring in Kai if the defense made a stop? Dear Coach Dumb*ss, you should have brought him in at the 7 min mark in the 4th quarter after Oregon State scored again. It was so obvious....yet you trot out Plummer, again?????
Can somebody explain why they did this? I am so confused.
I think it's time Wilcox FINALLY holds coaches accountable. He has a history of not doing this. Learn from Harbaugh: "Win with character, win with cruelty." Wilcox is all character, zero cruelty... at least for coaches. Another speech about "it's not good enough" isn't good enough. Talk is cheap. Walk the walk, stop just talking.
I agree. “This level of football is not acceptable” is an empty phrase tethered to nothing. He needs to tie it to letting some assistants go in order for it to have any meaning and us to have any hope of ever getting better.
Looks like Wilcox pulled the trigger!
Btw, man I thought I was outraged when I made this initial post. But after reading all of the posts that followed, I'm definitely less outraged... y'all are hella more mad than I am. haha.
Anyway, change has come and let's not forget the good part about Wilcox, he takes care of his players and runs a clean program. Character in CFB is rare. Wilcox at the core is a good dude. If Wilcox adopts more cruelty for the coaches, we will be successful in the long run.
We are a few injuries, o-line recruiting, and an OC away from whooping some ass.
LFG!
*o-line coaching. We're note the only team that doesn't have blue chips all along the line. We do seem be one of the only ones this poor and ineffective. That's development.
Hopefully we can get both!
Instead Wilcox supposedly said this about last night: "It is up to the players to execute the plays that are called. Hanging your head, kicking your locker means nothing."
I had hoped that he would see his way to firing Musgrave and shaking up the coaching staff after the season, but clearly Wilcox has lost the plot here.
The staff already is recruiting poorly, and if he's going to drop a deuce like this on the kids, then he's losing a bunch of them when the transfer portal opens up.
Speaking of which, I was watching highlights of the 1986 Big Game the other day, and I saw Marc Hicks among the highlights. Hicks, the hero of the win over U$c in 1985, was another promising running back who could never find sustained success at Cal and transferred schools in the wake of the 2-9 season in '86.
Jaydn Ott is about to become this generation's Marc Hicks for Cal fans--a "what if" who transferred because the team had become unsalvagable.
Ott is gone.
Wilcox's one-note post game press conferences are a tired act. So long as he refuses to make any changes, this man can not be taken seriously. He is in so far over his head it's sad.
I stopped watching his pressers for the most part a few years ago. Even when things weren't going poorly.. listening to his super basic and guarded coach speak is one of the most boring things you can do. There's like nothing whatsoever to be gained from listening to him talk to the press. You're not getting any insight, not getting any personality, so there's really no point. I'd rather stand in front of my electric kettle watching it get up to 205 degrees, and then watching the pour over coffee completely finish draining.
He’s just visibly angry at every press conference. You can tell he’s a competitive guy who hates to lose, but he can’t seem to do anything about it. He’s in over his head
I view his pressers a lot less now and if I do it's usually a week or two later. When I fire up YouTube on my big screen, I quick scroll past his intensely-glum screen shot of said presser.
Yeah, to be fair, I've actually never watched his press conference...but I see them written about...and I am just indifferent to what he says.
I might actually check this one out now as a refresher. I usually only watch some of the Spring ones to see if I can get some intel on what young players might be flashing.
From what I remember, when things are good: boring. When things are bad: still boring, but awkwardly tense.
With the exception of if Trace Travers is there, who he will be very nice to and maybe even get into a little hint of banter.
Just a year or two into the Wilcox era and I'd become convinced he studies Bill Belichick, but since he's deep down such a nice guy he's sort of become a generic, low-rent, polite version of him, unable to go all-in.
"From what I remember, when things are good: boring. When things are bad: still boring, but awkwardly tense." This.
The nice guy schtick doesn't work in the world of football coaching. There's gotta be an edge.
No reason for him to stick around for FB at all when he must be wondering how it would be to have an OL that can block at the first and second level. Our only hope is that he has found the academics and environment of student life too rewarding to leave and thereby has developed an affinity for Cal.
I don’t think with Ott and the other players the situation is any different than with the fans. Just like you need to give the fans some spark of hope in order for them to care/watch, you need to give the players some spark of hope to stay. These last games will be important in that regard. It would give us all hope to play Millner, IMO, as he is a much more talented and younger player and so is a living embodiment of what the future may hold. Another thing would be letting Musgrave go, letting McClure go, giving a younger coach a shot there on an interim basis. None of this even needs to work, it just needs to show promise over the God awful stretch of play we have just had. Just create a narrative of hope by doing something different that looks to the future, JW. If you just keep playing the same average at best QB with only a year of eligibility left for every single fucking down, if you just keep trotting out the same below average offensive coaches, then all of those fans and players leaving will be on you, JW. You cannot constantly demand better without doing anything whatsoever to achieve it.
Hope Ott looks at Demetrius.. and decides to stay
Marc Hicks went to Ohio State and never heard from again! The grass is not always greener on the other side! Synder took over and won.
True on Hicks, but it’s a bit more complicated than that. He turned out to be dyslexic, and did so badly academically at Cal that he was only able to transfer 9 units to Ohio State when he arrived there. By the time he became eligible to play again after the transfer, the coaching staff that had courted him to go there was replaced, and he could never gain the favor of the new regime before injuries ultimately put an end to his college career.
As for Snyder, people forget that before his run in 1990-91, he went 3-6-2, 5-5-1, and 4-7 in his first 3 seasons at Cal—including the embarrassing failure at the end of the 1988 Big Game that ended in a tie when Furd blocked the game winning chip shot FG that would have won it. Heading into the 1990 season, I know I wasn’t that enthused about his coaching at that point.
Tuan Van Le's lone college career highlight was that tipped PAT, dammit. The nation's #1 recruit coming out of De La Salle.
Auricursine, I tested dyslexic (class 87') and one of my daughters (UCLA Grad student class 21') is dyslexic and doing well professionally. Lots of former players are dyslexic but you have to just work harder! That was a football decision before academics. What did Synder (Terry Shea) do after leaving CAL signing with ASU....Rose Bowl!
I wasn't implying that dyslexia doesn't mean one can't find success. A family friend specializes in diagnosisng and treating dyslexia and is working with my school district as I type this, to better help teachers understand what's really going on with students who struggle with it and how best to modify our teaching approaches to take that into account when we work with our kids.
My comment about Hicks was based on this passage from a bio on Hicks from the SF Comical years ago:
https://www.sfgate.com/sports/kroichick/article/Career-gone-awry-Former-Cal-RB-not-bitter-about-2873009.php
"...his sophomore year degenerated into a mess, marked by feuds with Kapp, limited playing time and frequent fumbles. Hicks also struggled in school, in part because he had dyslexia, a reading disorder. Hicks acknowledged he would change his study habits if he could begin his Cal experience anew. His lack of academic progress in Berkeley became apparent when only nine units transferred to Ohio State.
"'They were putting me in classes I shouldn't have been in,' Hicks said. 'They just wanted to keep me eligible. It was my fault, too. I knew what was going on, but I went along with it.'"
If nothing else, it illustrates the dumpster fire that had broken out in the program as Kapp desperately sought to keep his job. I would imagine it had something to do with why the athletic department did a better job of helping struggling readers in the program going forward. Case in point: Russell White.
If Snyder was behind that change, that would have been a huge step forward.
Russell really benefited from that Prop 48 year, which is when he discovered the dyslexia and was able to develop a way with his advisors' help to work with it. I think all of the credit goes to him. He had a chip on his shoulder to prove folks that he wasn't your typical highly recruited jock.
Bockrath botched the Gilby hire, but firing Campinelli saved the basketball program. Not sure any other AD would have the stones to do that. I don’t think he wanted to hire Bozeman, but he had no choice after that run. He had much of what Knowlton lacks.
The grass here is brown, patchy and infected with weeds.
We have to play better. I have to coach better. It's on me blah blah blah
Yawn.
A most disappointing performance. What happened to the offense? It was offensive in the wrong kind of way.
It's not the aspect of last night forefront in most Old and not so old Blues minds, but I wanted to hop in somewhere to compliment the Cal Straw Hat Band for the job they did last night. I do detect that the Cal band does matter to a good number of Cal fans, and readers here.
Despite being stuck in a corner due to construction at Reser (and questionable crowd and game management decisions this year by certain people in the marketing department), and a tough night game wise, in the cold, the Cal band represented well.
And then joined the OSUMB for a great post game show too few from both sides saw or heard, due to being half frozen. Just as was with the players, it was a hard fought night, even given that the game didn't go according to script for anyone, but any fallout that could have happened (and would have had good reason), was set aside when the battle was over, and sportsmanship quickly returned. The Cal band gets a lot of credit for that.
Well done, and thanks for coming up.
I am not sure what's going on with the band and cheerleaders, etc. but it seems the athletic department is mishandling some Cal traditions. I don't know if it's a funding issue or not. Thanks to the band and all of the kids doing the cheerleading and rally stuff.
If y’all think this season is bad. Wait for next when Wilcox is still here and all the talent hits the transfer portal.
Might have to become a Sac St. fan…
Ott already de-committed from Cal once before surprisingly coming back on board.
I really don't see him sticking around for this, given the NIL.
Since the AD is obviously not going to make any big / effective moves in the right direction (vs making a big contract extension), maybe we should direct our efforts to the people with the real power - the Chancellors.
I think it starts with them getting rid of the AD first and then the new AD can begin the process of hiring new Coaches.
A multi-year effort for sure, but the sooner we start…
One gauge of player quality is ranking service. I chose Rivals bcos it is easy to sort:
2018: Cal #46, Oregon State #67
2019: Cal #37, Oregon State #65
2020: Cal #34, Oregon State #52
2021: Cal #40, Oregon State #93
Yet, the home team dominated at EVERY position. Hey Justin, when are you gonna look in the mirror?
Home team usually has an advantage
Auricursine quoted Wilcox "It is up to the players to execute the plays that are called."
This is bullshit. If one player is failing to execute, or the team is failing to execute in one game, then it's fair. But this has been going on across the board, all season. IT'S UP TO YOU TO CALL PLAYS THAT THE PLAYERS HAVE PROVEN THEY CAN EXECUTE. IF THEY'RE NOT EXECUTING, IT'S YOUR JOB TO ADJUST. Yes, all caps because I'm yelling.
Until recently, I've thought that keeping Wilcox and replacing the O staff was the best approach. Not any more; if he really thinks it's an execution problem, then he has no business being a leader.
Concur. It's up to coaches to design plays that their players can execute well.
Wilcox was going to put Millner in the last series, but he didn't get a chance. That's fine. Just put him in the next series which is the first quarter of the Big Game.
The only way JW gets fired is if donors put up 100% of funds for his buyout and new coach’s contract. I am not holding my breath
Troy Taylor's Hornets are 10-0. A proven winning college coach, who's turned a losing program around. He's cheap now. The money is right in front of our faces! Cut the losses and move on and salvage whatever is left over. The stands are virtually EMPTY and we all know the stadium and facilities are not paid off! Clocks ticking.....
“He was going in the next series but the defense didn’t stop them”
Bro?
Really?
As if the game wasn’t already out of hand on the series prior.
This coaching is as bad as it gets.
First off, anyone with two eyes and a functioning brain understands Milner should be the starter.
And even if that wasn’t already clear to this ninkampoop how is being down 4 scores with half a quarter left not worthy of giving the guy with a qbr almost triple that of the starter, and massively more mobility behind a slap dick o-line not a consideration.
Really don’t have anymore words other than rip cal football unless some big swinging dick donor like Kennedy steps in and demands a change.
Wilcox blaming the D for not getting the ball back so Milner can play garbage time is beneath Wilcox. And also, I couldn’t understand why Milner wasn’t already in for what ultimately became our lost possession on offense.
Might be time to say bye bye to Wilcox. I said when he hired Musgrave, if he keeps him, he will go down with him… surprise… not
We weren't counting on an incompetent Athletic Director extending Wilcox's contract despite there being multiple years remaining.
This entire department is a bit of a disaster.
We've already hit the iceberg. Let's see if he will go down with the ship.
"It's just totally unacceptable. I don't know what else to say."
-- how about, "I hereby tender my resignation"? If either Wilcox or Fox had any self-respect... or if Knowlton could be held accountable for the McKeever debacle...
Lot of ifs. We just don't have a functioning athletic dept. that devotes proper care & attn to its revenue sports.
axe me no questions! GERBEAR
He was going to bring in Kai if the defense made a stop? Dear Coach Dumb*ss, you should have brought him in at the 7 min mark in the 4th quarter after Oregon State scored again. It was so obvious....yet you trot out Plummer, again?????
Can somebody explain why they did this? I am so confused.