He knows you can’t raise expectations too much or get to many people to take interest in the football program because that would mean people might notice he isn’t a good coach and a 6-6 record might actually get him fired.
Keeping expectations low and fan support and engagement low means you can coach at Cal for a decade despite never having a season with a winning conference record
6-6 should get him fired. Ron Rivera's job is to evaluate the state of the football program, Wilcox's plan and execution, and that of the coaching staff. Based on Wilcox's perofrmance plan (such as it is) and results, Rivera must act.
I think that all of us want more and want a team that executes not just competently but with aggression, vigor, and relentless push for 60 minutes.
In Year 9, I see nothing that shows me the program is progressing to a higher level, nor is it anywhere near the top third in FBS teams for 2025.
Half of the regular season remains. There are opportunities to show improvement and correct course. Failure to do so should exact termination of employment.
With respect, I don't know how Duke could have more adjustment tactics at their disposal. In the first few minutes the Duke MLB and his backup were out of the game. Imagine if Uluave and Taggart were both missing! Perhaps because they were winning the DE versus OT battles, their defense could do a lot more on passing plays...
Yes our lines got completely overpowered last night. You can't coach players who are slow and not very aggressive. Actually, the hardest position to recruit and then coach them up are O linemen.
What happened to James, the blazing fast wide receiver? What’s happened to Grayes? These are both tall fast wide receivers rated 4 stars we got in portal. Why is Uluave always out of position on run plays (trying to do too much)? Why is JKS throwing deep outs to the shortest wide receiver on the team? What happened to the good old fashioned screen? Did our RB coach really leave because his idiot bosses tried to get him to take a pay cut? Why didn’t we blitz a LB in 2nd quarter to at least show their QB something different to think about? The list of imponderables goes on and on. That’s Cal football. The D stepped up in the 3rd Q but repeated 3 and outs and bad field position did them in. Ultimately we lost the game in the trenched but it certainly wasn’t that way until the 1st interception…..so did we get beat on talent or something else? Seems like it falls into the “something else” category!
Are any of our current WRs getting drafted like Chad? No. He was 6’2” with NFL speed - a legit contested catch guy and why he played on Sundays. JDJ does some good things but at 5’8” in cleats, jump balls in traffic is not a strength.
The INT was a game changer but I completely blame the coaching staff. Yes, JKS should have not thrown it (or, at minimum, needed to throw it way to the outside). JKS is uber talented but he is not great on deep outs. His best bet is a back shoulder throw to a tall WR. But...
We are up 21-14 but our defense just got torched in back to back quick drives. They need time for a reset.
We were doubling them on time of possession. Our running game was starting to pick up (watch the carry right before the INT). Play-action - out of an I-formation or single back - was working. Why not run the ball on first down or play-action with a short pass between the hashes? Those had worked on the first THREE drives.
The play to De Jesus made no sense. One, the other two WR both ran short crossing routes. No one ran an intermediate/post to draw the safety. Two, no play-action so the safety was not frozen. Three (and this has proven to be the case in multiple games), deep outs to De Jesus are bad calls. He is TINY. He is quick but not blazing fast. So unless he is clear by 3-4 yards by the time the ball is getting to him on the run, a defender will get in the way no matter what.
Good observation of what went wrong with the O last night. This all is on our OC, Harsin. His offense really sucks. Not just in play designing but in play calling. He does all that, not Wilcox. However, Wilcox could take over the D calling since he was a good D coordinator before he was a head coach.
Since joining the ACC - Miami, Syracuse, NC ST, and now Duke, have all traveled to Berkeley and won. JW is now 0-4 in true home ACC contests (not counting Palo Alto)
For context: Palo Alto’s Team has beaten 2 ACC opponents at home since joining the same conference.
Impressed by Duke’s talent. They have considerably more of it than we do unfortunately. And though 8 wins is still achievable, this game laid bare that our margin for success is paper thin.
Cal got motorboated in the 2nd quarter and never recovered. Duke adjusted, Cal did not, so this is on JW and staff. The post game presser was just a rerun of JW's comments from the last 9 years. SDSU was better coached, BC is awful, and Duke has talent and good coaching. 6-6 against an easy schedule is not what Cal fans deserve. RR, please Rip the band aid off now!
Cal has bounced between good performances and poor ones game to game. Last night, it did so from one segment of the game to another. Same pattern, just shorter time frames.
Inconsistence when faced with different opponents and circumstances, or opponents adjustments, usually indicates a team that has some talent, but a lack of overall depth AND breadth, and maybe experience, and it works in some combinations of circumstances, but not others, and there is a lack of effective alternatives.
That is once again Cal football, and has been for modern history.
OL just doesn’t have it, obviously can’t protect JKS so he’s rushed, throws balls he shouldn’t and/or gets sacked. Firing Wilcox is unlikely to fix the OL problem this season because Cal just doesn’t have the horses. What firing Wilcox now might do is head off another mass portal exit once the season ends. Why would JKS stay if he’s offered a better opportunity at a winning program with a proven coach and a better OL, better WR group and better RBs? We will lose him just like we lost Mendoza and Ott. If Wilcox stays, all the good players will leave, so better for Rivera to step up now and start the search. Otherwise, it will be more portal puzzle play next year. And beating Stanford this year is not a given.
For all of you that want to "fire Wilcox now", remember that if the HC is fired mid season, the portal opens immediately and our roster will be picked clean like a Thanksgiving Turkey. This season will be flushed.
We literally have to wait and see how this season plays out. 8-4 has to be the minimum acceptable record. Anything else and the Wilcox era will need to end. 8-4 or 9-3 will still be a successful season and merit him keeping his job.
it is true that under NCAA rules, if a head coach is fired mid-season, a 30-day transfer portal window opens for players on that team. This allows players to enter the transfer portal and potentially transfer to another school during the ongoing season.
However, even if a player transfers mid-season in this scenario, they would typically not be eligible to play for their new team until the following season. This rule has been enforced in the current 2025 college football season following coaching changes at schools like UCLA and Virginia Tech.
Would love to see a Write for California article on the timing of all this (though it’s probably too early in the season). For example, when would be the optimal dates to let a Coach go to give time to find a new one, ideally before any portal window opens (and if this is even possible). Ideally you’d want the current players to at least meet with the new Coach.
I think the highest likelihood of keeping JKS from transferring is firing Wilcox now. If the HC is fired, he can enter the portal, but the chances of entering the portal seems to be lower during mid season than during the off season. If Wilcox is fired off-season, then there's a very high chance of him entering the portal regardless of who comes in next. If Wilcox is not fired, then he still might transfer because this team is terrible. The best we can hope for right now is the interim HC can get the team going and has a momentum going into off-season.
An interim coach is not going to improve this team with the sub talent level at several key positions we have now. The only thing that will Improve this team is better recruiting at positions that the lay person doesn't watch each game. O line, D line, OLB, DB. These are the positions which are really sub par in talent now.
Agree completely that an interim coach likely will not improve the outcome of this season The strategy for firing Wilcox now would be to send a clear message that the program is going to look for the best head coach that money can buy in order to put the program on a winning trajectory. And, to try to stanch the inevitable flow of JKS and others to the portal once the season ends by convincing them to wait to see who the new HC will be.
Where to begin? Line play on both sides of the ball after the first quarter didn't cut it. Couldn't protect the qb nor get the running game going. What perhaps is most troublesome is the collapse of the defense. No pressure on a very good quarterback who completed passes at will. Didn't respond with any creative blitz packages. Completely unable to adjust on either side of the ball. It's one more mediocre Cal team regardless of what the final record is. So disheartening.
Seems like we need the other team to play bad and make mistakes to win. Should get us a winning record and a minor bowl game with this year’s easy schedule.
In other words, one more year of Wilcox.
I just don’t have faith in Wilcox to coach this team up and to maximize the talent to where we outright beat a good team like Duke.
A strong OL can make an average QB look good, and a strong QB look great. As for our zone secondary: lose it, burned just too many times. Adjust. These are both remedied by recruitment and skilled coaching, something Wilcox just can’t seem to consistently get his head around. If an average observer like me sees it, players (and prospects) see it in spades. Rip the bandaide, get it done NOW
All too familiar. The hope is now with Rivera and Lyons needed changes will finally be made. On the plus side, the crowd was awesome; solid 42k (in spite of Duke's anemic turnout) and loud, but it was the same old Cal in October under the current regime. Cal has too much going for it and Rivera and Lyons have built too much fan momentum to accept this. Never a winning conference record in nine years, that is the most damning stat of all in my opinion. With the Raiders and A's gone, Cal could easily sell out and be a huge draw if the team could just do better on the field. With this schedule, as far as I'm concerned Cal needs to finish 8-4 or better to remotely justify keeping the current HC.
When JKS relies on the pre-game script, he excels. Neither he or coaches appear to be able to adapt to game conditions as they develop. O-line can compete for a quarter or so. D has a few standouts but not deep enough. Looking to Riverboat Ron to right this sinking ship.
I was "thrilled" with the 14 point lead. Acknowledged Duke getting 7. The cracks, though small, I could tell were gonna widen so I clicked off before the half. Could see the writing on the wall so why be a witness. Wait till morning, it may have worked out.
Could swear in my fitful sleep, I heard a post game reviewers voice..."Cal & JKS were shutout in the 2nd half." I credit this to reading a recent book about remote viewing.
The crowd was amazing. Fans filled the stadium. Wilcox is an expert at letting fans down whenever fans and students start engaging.
He knows you can’t raise expectations too much or get to many people to take interest in the football program because that would mean people might notice he isn’t a good coach and a 6-6 record might actually get him fired.
Keeping expectations low and fan support and engagement low means you can coach at Cal for a decade despite never having a season with a winning conference record
6-6 should get him fired. Ron Rivera's job is to evaluate the state of the football program, Wilcox's plan and execution, and that of the coaching staff. Based on Wilcox's perofrmance plan (such as it is) and results, Rivera must act.
I think that all of us want more and want a team that executes not just competently but with aggression, vigor, and relentless push for 60 minutes.
In Year 9, I see nothing that shows me the program is progressing to a higher level, nor is it anywhere near the top third in FBS teams for 2025.
Half of the regular season remains. There are opportunities to show improvement and correct course. Failure to do so should exact termination of employment.
Oh he's sneaky!?
Duke adjusts. Wilcox does not. Also I think we know that both of our lines are poor, again.
Duke had more effective adjustment tactics at their disposal than Cal did,
With respect, I don't know how Duke could have more adjustment tactics at their disposal. In the first few minutes the Duke MLB and his backup were out of the game. Imagine if Uluave and Taggart were both missing! Perhaps because they were winning the DE versus OT battles, their defense could do a lot more on passing plays...
Yes our lines got completely overpowered last night. You can't coach players who are slow and not very aggressive. Actually, the hardest position to recruit and then coach them up are O linemen.
Wilcox recruited all these players and is in year 9, he has only himself to blame for the poor talent on this roster
Maybe he should recruit fast and aggressive players then.
He does adjust, but he does it more slowly and often after it's probably too late.
He adjusts after the game.
No he doesn’t.
What happened to James, the blazing fast wide receiver? What’s happened to Grayes? These are both tall fast wide receivers rated 4 stars we got in portal. Why is Uluave always out of position on run plays (trying to do too much)? Why is JKS throwing deep outs to the shortest wide receiver on the team? What happened to the good old fashioned screen? Did our RB coach really leave because his idiot bosses tried to get him to take a pay cut? Why didn’t we blitz a LB in 2nd quarter to at least show their QB something different to think about? The list of imponderables goes on and on. That’s Cal football. The D stepped up in the 3rd Q but repeated 3 and outs and bad field position did them in. Ultimately we lost the game in the trenched but it certainly wasn’t that way until the 1st interception…..so did we get beat on talent or something else? Seems like it falls into the “something else” category!
I can't think of any reason to target de Jesus on any deep route. I get using him in space or to clear out defenders, but he's shorter than our RBs.
Seriously. He’s a gadget guy to use in exotic plays and a return man.
That ball was getting picked regardless of the WR, but he’s simply not a contested catch guy that can bring the ball down in traffic.
Former Cal WRs are now playing at Florida and Nebraska, etc….tough to plug those holes with G5 guys.
Chad Hansen
Sure. I didn’t say impossible. I said tough.
Are any of our current WRs getting drafted like Chad? No. He was 6’2” with NFL speed - a legit contested catch guy and why he played on Sundays. JDJ does some good things but at 5’8” in cleats, jump balls in traffic is not a strength.
I agree.
JDJ is a slightly better version of Jeremiah Hawkins.
Chad Hansen with JKS would feed families.
The INT was a game changer but I completely blame the coaching staff. Yes, JKS should have not thrown it (or, at minimum, needed to throw it way to the outside). JKS is uber talented but he is not great on deep outs. His best bet is a back shoulder throw to a tall WR. But...
We are up 21-14 but our defense just got torched in back to back quick drives. They need time for a reset.
We were doubling them on time of possession. Our running game was starting to pick up (watch the carry right before the INT). Play-action - out of an I-formation or single back - was working. Why not run the ball on first down or play-action with a short pass between the hashes? Those had worked on the first THREE drives.
The play to De Jesus made no sense. One, the other two WR both ran short crossing routes. No one ran an intermediate/post to draw the safety. Two, no play-action so the safety was not frozen. Three (and this has proven to be the case in multiple games), deep outs to De Jesus are bad calls. He is TINY. He is quick but not blazing fast. So unless he is clear by 3-4 yards by the time the ball is getting to him on the run, a defender will get in the way no matter what.
Good observation of what went wrong with the O last night. This all is on our OC, Harsin. His offense really sucks. Not just in play designing but in play calling. He does all that, not Wilcox. However, Wilcox could take over the D calling since he was a good D coordinator before he was a head coach.
This is Wilcox’s 5th OC he has hired in his 9 seasons, this is Wilcox’s offense through and through
Since joining the ACC - Miami, Syracuse, NC ST, and now Duke, have all traveled to Berkeley and won. JW is now 0-4 in true home ACC contests (not counting Palo Alto)
For context: Palo Alto’s Team has beaten 2 ACC opponents at home since joining the same conference.
FIRE WILCOX!
Impressed by Duke’s talent. They have considerably more of it than we do unfortunately. And though 8 wins is still achievable, this game laid bare that our margin for success is paper thin.
Yep, as it has been for the past decade, unfortunately.
Cal got motorboated in the 2nd quarter and never recovered. Duke adjusted, Cal did not, so this is on JW and staff. The post game presser was just a rerun of JW's comments from the last 9 years. SDSU was better coached, BC is awful, and Duke has talent and good coaching. 6-6 against an easy schedule is not what Cal fans deserve. RR, please Rip the band aid off now!
Cal has bounced between good performances and poor ones game to game. Last night, it did so from one segment of the game to another. Same pattern, just shorter time frames.
Inconsistence when faced with different opponents and circumstances, or opponents adjustments, usually indicates a team that has some talent, but a lack of overall depth AND breadth, and maybe experience, and it works in some combinations of circumstances, but not others, and there is a lack of effective alternatives.
That is once again Cal football, and has been for modern history.
OL just doesn’t have it, obviously can’t protect JKS so he’s rushed, throws balls he shouldn’t and/or gets sacked. Firing Wilcox is unlikely to fix the OL problem this season because Cal just doesn’t have the horses. What firing Wilcox now might do is head off another mass portal exit once the season ends. Why would JKS stay if he’s offered a better opportunity at a winning program with a proven coach and a better OL, better WR group and better RBs? We will lose him just like we lost Mendoza and Ott. If Wilcox stays, all the good players will leave, so better for Rivera to step up now and start the search. Otherwise, it will be more portal puzzle play next year. And beating Stanford this year is not a given.
For all of you that want to "fire Wilcox now", remember that if the HC is fired mid season, the portal opens immediately and our roster will be picked clean like a Thanksgiving Turkey. This season will be flushed.
We literally have to wait and see how this season plays out. 8-4 has to be the minimum acceptable record. Anything else and the Wilcox era will need to end. 8-4 or 9-3 will still be a successful season and merit him keeping his job.
it is true that under NCAA rules, if a head coach is fired mid-season, a 30-day transfer portal window opens for players on that team. This allows players to enter the transfer portal and potentially transfer to another school during the ongoing season.
However, even if a player transfers mid-season in this scenario, they would typically not be eligible to play for their new team until the following season. This rule has been enforced in the current 2025 college football season following coaching changes at schools like UCLA and Virginia Tech.
Correct. They can transfer immediately, but not play immediately.
We don't have to wait to see if we can finish the season 9-3 or 8-4. This team is worse than last year.
Despite having an easier schedule and probably the easiest schedule of Wilcox’s tenure.
At the end of the season, we may have only played 1 ranked team
Has anyone left UCLOL since DeShaun Foster was fired?
Would love to see a Write for California article on the timing of all this (though it’s probably too early in the season). For example, when would be the optimal dates to let a Coach go to give time to find a new one, ideally before any portal window opens (and if this is even possible). Ideally you’d want the current players to at least meet with the new Coach.
The day after the season ends.
Ideally RR has a list of candidates and can hit the ground running.
I think the highest likelihood of keeping JKS from transferring is firing Wilcox now. If the HC is fired, he can enter the portal, but the chances of entering the portal seems to be lower during mid season than during the off season. If Wilcox is fired off-season, then there's a very high chance of him entering the portal regardless of who comes in next. If Wilcox is not fired, then he still might transfer because this team is terrible. The best we can hope for right now is the interim HC can get the team going and has a momentum going into off-season.
An interim coach is not going to improve this team with the sub talent level at several key positions we have now. The only thing that will Improve this team is better recruiting at positions that the lay person doesn't watch each game. O line, D line, OLB, DB. These are the positions which are really sub par in talent now.
Agree completely that an interim coach likely will not improve the outcome of this season The strategy for firing Wilcox now would be to send a clear message that the program is going to look for the best head coach that money can buy in order to put the program on a winning trajectory. And, to try to stanch the inevitable flow of JKS and others to the portal once the season ends by convincing them to wait to see who the new HC will be.
Where to begin? Line play on both sides of the ball after the first quarter didn't cut it. Couldn't protect the qb nor get the running game going. What perhaps is most troublesome is the collapse of the defense. No pressure on a very good quarterback who completed passes at will. Didn't respond with any creative blitz packages. Completely unable to adjust on either side of the ball. It's one more mediocre Cal team regardless of what the final record is. So disheartening.
Seems like we need the other team to play bad and make mistakes to win. Should get us a winning record and a minor bowl game with this year’s easy schedule.
In other words, one more year of Wilcox.
I just don’t have faith in Wilcox to coach this team up and to maximize the talent to where we outright beat a good team like Duke.
Bingo!
A strong OL can make an average QB look good, and a strong QB look great. As for our zone secondary: lose it, burned just too many times. Adjust. These are both remedied by recruitment and skilled coaching, something Wilcox just can’t seem to consistently get his head around. If an average observer like me sees it, players (and prospects) see it in spades. Rip the bandaide, get it done NOW
All too familiar. The hope is now with Rivera and Lyons needed changes will finally be made. On the plus side, the crowd was awesome; solid 42k (in spite of Duke's anemic turnout) and loud, but it was the same old Cal in October under the current regime. Cal has too much going for it and Rivera and Lyons have built too much fan momentum to accept this. Never a winning conference record in nine years, that is the most damning stat of all in my opinion. With the Raiders and A's gone, Cal could easily sell out and be a huge draw if the team could just do better on the field. With this schedule, as far as I'm concerned Cal needs to finish 8-4 or better to remotely justify keeping the current HC.
When JKS relies on the pre-game script, he excels. Neither he or coaches appear to be able to adapt to game conditions as they develop. O-line can compete for a quarter or so. D has a few standouts but not deep enough. Looking to Riverboat Ron to right this sinking ship.
Cal does not have the materials of Duke and other strong teams to beat them. Sigh!
I was "thrilled" with the 14 point lead. Acknowledged Duke getting 7. The cracks, though small, I could tell were gonna widen so I clicked off before the half. Could see the writing on the wall so why be a witness. Wait till morning, it may have worked out.
Could swear in my fitful sleep, I heard a post game reviewers voice..."Cal & JKS were shutout in the 2nd half." I credit this to reading a recent book about remote viewing.