The hard work starts now. And by hard work, I mean seeing the potential and the future of this program and building toward it. Staying the course. Celebrate the culture.
It's been an absolute gut punch. The highs of beating Auburn and College Game Day seem like a lifetime ago. But believe me, we're in a good place.
I've been through the highs and lows with this program since Joe Kapp was HC. Although I'm an eternal optimist and "sunshine pumper", I've always been one of the first fans calling for regime change. And I've never been wrong. (Tedford 2009, Dykes 2015).
This is not the time. Wilcox is a brilliant, classy coach who loves Cal. Cal has been an IMPOSSIBLE place to coach for decades. Never worse than during the Covid pandemic and realignment. As stated above, the State is still trying to destroy our ability to compete.
So, lets look at the bright side.
- Chancellor Lyons is THE BEST Chancellor we've had in 75 years. Let him cook.
- We've been a depleted team on offense all season. Our star, Jaydn Ott, played one half (healthy). If you were following the camps, WRs Grayes and Merriweather are "game changers". Neither has played. And our Oline has been a MASH unit. Sometimes the football gods are cruel.
- We have a very young stud QB who hasn't even played a full season yet. He was in 7th grade when Ward, Rising, and DJU started playing in College. He's a leader. He's the future.
-If he's not a 1st round pick, I'm hoping OTT takes the rest of the season off and preps for 2025.
- Our national brand has never been bigger. And people see that we've lost FOUR GAMES BY 9 POINTS (sigh) and feel bad for us.
Now, do I think some major changes need to be made? Yes, I do. And I think they will be made.
But in the mean time, go have some fun. Go to the games, keep the Calgorithm going, and enjoy the ride.
It only hurts because College Football is The Best.
If he's not a 1st round pick, I would not blame Ott for finally transferring and maximizing his value over wasting his last year trusting Wilcox to highlight him in an offense.
I greatly appreciate and admire everything you’ve done for the Cal fan community. I agree we need to show that the fanbase cares — and I think this season definitively put that question to bed. GameDay and the Calgorithm proved that we have a passionate, dedicated, vibrant fanbase. The TV network powers that be have taken notice. We won’t be relegated in the next round of realignment, unless we accept and enable this continued languishing on the field.
Now we need to change strategies, it can’t just be continued support and positivity and patience. The Cal fanbase needs to be relentless in pressuring the administration for Knowlton and Wilcox to be replaced. Loudly, publicly, persuasively, privately. Cal fans deserve better, and we need to make it known. There is always a path forward. Maybe Wilcox accepts a negotiated reduced buyout because he realizes he doesn’t have continued administrative support. Maybe he pulls a Chip Kelly and goes back to being a DC because he realizes he can’t deliver on what the fans need and expect of him. Maybe Lyons finds some emergency funding to overhaul the athletic department because he recognizes the costs to inaction are too large. But the Cal fanbase needs to be vocal and express that the status quo is unacceptable, for any change to happen.
Fans can be upset and pushing hard for change, but the future of the program also requires continued engagement and support (NIL donations, attending games, watching on TV). Replacing Knowlton would go a long way towards assuaging donor concerns (and is also more financially feasible) and would provide some optimism for the future - particularly the concern that Wilcox would get another extension if he achieved middling results (6-6, 7-5) through the support of the NIL funds. I agree with this article that Cal cannot afford to have its fans checking out in an all out boycott.
Yeah I’m not advocating for checking out (FWIW, I donate to NIL and will continue to do so). But staying checked in needs to involve continued vocal dissatisfaction and demand for changes in athletic department and football leadership. NIL is not managed by the AD so donating exclusively there does not relieve the administration of the pressure they need to feel here.
I’m sorry Avi, I just don’t think this argument is gonna fly this time. I’ve been an alum for over 20 years and I have never seen this level of apathy from my college friends. Anecdotally these last 4 losses have completely sucked the life out of alumni enthusiasm. In a weird way the Gameday experience has backfired on the program because it showed everyone what it could be and made it painfully clear Wilcox isn’t the person to lead us there. Telling fans we have to endure this for another couple years is unacceptable. Its not even clear to me the program could survive it.
We all understand the financial considerations. The path forward now is to prioritize buying out Wilcox even over NIL donations. Tell alums to pressure the administration to make a change at AD. Then bring in a coach that has a history of doing more with less even at a lower tier program, or a coordinator who has shown some real innovation. The idea that some coach or coordinator making 200k a year wouldn’t jump at the opportunity to make a couple million a year, even if its an underpay by power 4 standards doesn’t make sense to me. Someone smart will take the job. The path forward is to make it clear to alums this is no longer acceptable and get them to dig deep financially (again) to put the program in a new direction, it isn’t to tell fans they have to support this for another couple years because of money constraints.
Unfortunately the Knowlton situation seems to be at the mercy of the McKeever investigation, and the law does not care about alumni pressure. Firing him now would open up the university to a host of legal issues that would just delay everything even further.
And donors are not opening their wallets until Knowlton is gone. So I can't really be positive that a change will happen this year until that situation is done with.
So basically, knowlton is a such a worthless buffoon who so massively neglected his duties as the head administrator, that he’s put himself into a position of unfirability because if the university actually did the right thing and canned him, they’d basically be admitting guilt that their head administrator is a worthless buffoon who completely neglected his duties. Am I understanding the situation correctly?
Carol has done many good things for the university. Her goal for the AD was fundraising to balance the budget, and to his credit Knowlton did a good job on that front.
Fine, she found the one thing Knowlton can do…he can fundraise. ;-)
Meanwhile the entire department is fighting for its very survival and the optics of her role as part of Larry Scott’s CEO group were poor. That Seth Davis article was such a bad look for her and Knowlton.
But true,she definitely did some positive things…I just feel we are in a better spot with Rich Lyons.
This is 100% spot on. There is no more wilcox time left. We must find some talented lower paid hc or coordinator who's willing to 5x his comp..and coach for 2M or something..coaching change is the only hope for the program to survive IMO...Wilcox and Knowlton are on the verge of sinking this ship for good.
Support the Bears through thick and thin, for better or worse, though admittedly there has been more "thin" than anything else. The TV ratings are paramount going forward so we can eventually get more favorable placement within the grant of rights framework.
Attendance at yesterday’s game was abysmal. Barely any students (TG for the Cal Band) and lots of empty seats even in the Alumni section. Discussion at Tailgate Town and in our Section noted this and we came up with some solutions, at least for the “non-marquee” games.
1) Bring back the Family Ticket Package. Two adults, 3 kids (or inexperienced adult & 4 kids) for one price in the end zone sections. The South End Zone is covered with tarps, so those seats are available.
2) Bring back the “Cub Club,” with activities for kids. Make Cal Football an affordable family activity and introduce the next generation to Cal football and the Campus. In fact, more family-friendly activities and food pre-game would be good.
3) Offer a “Sports Clinic” activity at Tailgate Town pregame Jeff Kent did something like this with Cal Women’s Sports before a SF Giants Game back in the 1990’s. Ask some former Cal stars to help out. (What’s Steve Bartowski doing these days? Or Jay Torchio?) (Yes, I’m old)
4) Bring back the Joe Roth Memorial Game. Maybe tie it in with Homecoming? Or a former Pac6/8/10/12 opponent? Get the local TV stations to talk about Joe.
So that’s what we came up with off the top of our heads over soda and beer. I’m sure the #Calgorithm and the Cal Community have more ideas!
I believe you vote with your dollar and my dollar is not going near this dumpster fire anymore until wholesale changes are made (i.e. Knowlton and Wilcox & Co.). Burn the boats or let it die and sell the parts. Cal and its alumnus (the donor class at least) needs to flex their muscles and show everyone they are serious. Otherwise, let it die.
Hmm, am I awake enough to be coherent? This is perhaps the most interesting moment in my history as a Cal fan, and the call from Avi must be seen as a Greek tragedy of competing urgencies. It's utterly absurd. It's completely tragic.
On the one hand, for my personal health, and trust me on this, I mean it, for my personal health, I need to detach my tentacles from the various ways I engage with Cal football. I must not make the long trips down to Berkeley. I must not build my Saturdays around watching. I must redirect my donations from football to basketball or Cal athletics. I'm a grown man with a great life and family and I can't let my Cal football fandom prevent me from enjoying the very life I've worked hard to create.
On the other hand, I get the argument the program is at this inflection point. I get the buyout for Wilcox. I get the moment in the ACC. I get the moment in college football generally. As Avi argues, this suggests we need to lean in and ACT like everything is fine and show up and support and scream and be rabid.
But there's the rub! How are we to do all this supporting while knowing that the same story of missed opportunities will continue? How can you show enthusiasm while hiding despair?
It's Shakespeare, I tell you. Shakespeare. Someone with more talent could really write a play about this moment for Cal football fans.
Push come to shove, I have to prioritize my own life. I'll still check every score, and watch games we win on TV. I got up at 4am to go to GameDay despite riding 12 hours on my motorcycle the day before and getting little sleep. No one can think I don't care. I just can't walk around unhappy and upset for weeks on end for the rest of the year. My wife is a Cal grad too, and does her best to support my mania, but there are limits. I can't feel one thing so strongly and act as though I have no feelings or believe the opposite.
I feel this. But this goes beyond who the head man is. Your support helps the players and the program and our overall value in realignment.
Keep in mind Cal is no special from many other programs struggling to tread water. Our lack of support is the narrative we've been trying to fight that has put us on the brink of relegation. If we reverse that narrative, we can keep ourselves afloat, and likely survive the realignment struggles. But we have to provide as much support as we can, whereever we can.
And it doesn't just have to be football! There are many other things Cal alum can bond over to build community and support our team. The Calgorithm is one such example. We are a creative bunch.
Support starts with the university. They're the ones that wrested away control from the students, now they need to at least attempt to put a product on the field that anyone would be willing to watch. They have not shown the willingness to do that for 60 years. This feels like blaming the fans for their own actions. And the fans do show up when there's literally any reason to. The school just needs to create those reasons, even if it's not wins for now. They can't just keep expecting everyone to repeatedly save them with no expectations of anything changing.
This is not about saving them--as they've proven, they are likely underequipped to do the work here--it's about saving ourselves.
We came very close to a world where meaningful Cal football doesn't exist, and we can easily get there again in this very strange ACC world. Our fanbase has to show that we care constantly and actively, even if things are bad. I know it's an uphill battle, but this is what we have to do.
No doubt many of us will be squeezed balloons, with our support going to basketball or soccer or some other sport we love. I agree it's Go Bears, for some of us, all our lives! While the football head coach is not the entirety of the Cal Athletics program, we know they are responsible for the bulk of revenue for the entire department. It's still a tragicomedy to consider this moment, and we sway between laughing and crying.
I've been a Cal fan since I can remember. My dad was the official timer when they sat on the field at a table on the west side and he took me to every home game. That was in the 40's. Yes I'm in my 80's and
I've been through much worse periods of Cal football than this one. In fact, I was at the "play" game and that was a terrible season. I will continue to drive from Browns Valley for every home game and root for Cal football until I'm not able to do so.
I appreciate the hard work and passion Avi. But I feel like the administration (Chancellor, AD, etc) for decades and even now, doesn't want to do what it takes to really be successful at the P4 level anyway. If they don't, then why should fans support keeping them there? I agree with all the comments that the university has to show us something. The problem is structural and goes deep. If the university isn't willing or able to address that then let the chips fall.
I think Lyons getting that chancellor seat is an acknowledgement by the University that a foundational change is needed to save athletics. Whether he can actually help turn around the culture and our athletics fortunes, and do so quickly enough to save us is another matter altogether.
I guess the existential question for fans is, do we really need a high level athletic program? There are plenty of institutions out there, including the Ivies, that do just fine without feeling the need to compete on the athletic front.
The Alabama's and the Oregon's of the world need football to be relevant on the national stage. I think the major sticking point for us is that UCLA seems to be pulling away, but I seriously doubt that they are going to do well in the B10, they face a lot of the same institutional road blocks that we do, and I am not sure being the Rutgers of the West coast is really going to create much separation for them.
In a perfect world, there would be some sort of Ivy League of the West coast that we could escape to. I think big institutions on the west coast are always going to be attractive for Olympic sports, largely because of the weather. So as long as we can find a way to keep that going, does it really matter what level are football team is playing at? Personally, I kinda like my sports teams to be lower key affairs. It is why I was a fan of the A's before they left. Cheap seats, easy going tailgates. From what I read, ticket prices at some of these SEC games are starting to hit $1000+ mark. How is that good for fans?
Anyways just a rant. I wouldn't mind a successful team, but I also hope we don't kill the spirit of college ball chasing the giants.
I was an Ivy undergrad, and Ivy football can be fun: show up to play your rival and sing the century-old fight songs, etc. But the appeal is niche; attendance is poor outside rivalry games. Definitely won’t fill Memorial or pay off the debt…
The much maligned Oline didn’t miss those field goals. And it’s not the fault of the Oline that the OC calls runs into the heart of the opposing defense in the red zone when short passes to our tight end, WR and backs got us there…..with our field goal kicker watching all this unfold as the pressure on him mounts to win the game mounts.
I mean does he really need a coach to tell him to practice and get ready while it's going on...vs shitting his pants...well we don't have a special teams coach...hee who's fault is that. Oh yeah.
We may not have money now, but we will have even less money when we are left out of the next conference realignment and it will be impossible to climb back up again after that.
In order to remain among the big boys and get big money, we have to take football seriously
Demote Wilcox to defensive coordinator. That way we avoid a buyout, although he will be a very expensive defensive coordinator. Or maybe, fantasizing here, if he is such a great person like people say, he will do the honorable thing and resign.
This article was great, love the passion put into it. However, the facts are facts. Wilcox continues to stumble as a coach, every year around this time we see the collapse of cal football. The opportunity was there to take the program to the next level . The Miami loss blew it out of the water and now it’s back to the typical sinking ship. The sad thing is the talent is where it should be but the coaching is not. I will continue to support the call football team but you must realize that the only way to fill that stadium is to produce winning football. Last week we should have had free tickets to watch that mess. I have zero confidence in Knowlton. He has botched just about everything he touches, except maybe taking funds. The basketball years under Fox were a complete disaster. This guy continues to be one step behind on what needs to be done to run a successful program.
Let me present an alternative perspective which I think may be unpopular.
I'm gonna go against the common perspective here and suggest that Wilcox can be successful. The biggest problems have been a bit of bad luck but mainly IMHO just a lack of killer instinct. This manifests at times offensively in playing not to lose when we hold a lead or to try to play it safe so we become very predictable. Anyway, my point is that if the objective for Cal football is 8-4, we already have our guy.
We're already competitive with the top teams in the ACC. I mean seriously there are a lot of 90%+ plays that didn't go our way, like short FGs, etc. Unfortunately, we just play in a style that keeps games close.
Also, the best way to not lose close games... is don't let the games be close. Stop taking the foot off the gas pedal. Play to win always. Stop playing to the level of competition so when we get ahead to not turtle up and become super predictable.
Many of us old Cal alumni love Wilcox for being a man of character and teaching our guys in the right way. I also feel that having adversity is good for these kids to learn from. So there's also that going for him and one of the reasons I'd still love to see us be successful with Wilcox.
Having said all of that, at the end of the day, this is Wilcox's fault. If I were him, the biggest move he can make would be to donate his 2023 salary to NIL matching new donations for 2 superstar OL and a FG kicker.
We are very close to greatness. Some injuries, some bad luck, and a few key pieces away from success.
Wilcox has also shown he can be aggressive e.g., the 2 point failed conversion, which I know is not popular, but was likely the right statistical and aggressive play to make. To play to win. If Wilcox and Bloesch can become even more aggressive, stop turtling/becoming predictable and we solve those other issues, then we could be dominating in the ACC with Wilcox.
One thing I want to add. I think we have to give Wilcox credit for making the team better. This year's team is better than last year. What was more depressing: 1. Blowing a huge lead against a top 10 team to eventually barely lose - and arguably because of bad officiating or 2. Not even being close last year to Oregon State, Oregon, or Texas Tech - where it wasn't even competitive?
It all starts at the top. Fire Knowlton and Wilcox now! Eight years, even if subtracting the COVID years has given us more than enough time to see Wilcox is not capable of taking the program any further than where they are now and that is not going to change this year, next year or the year after. Keeping him another year or two will without a doubt hinder our chances of being well positioned for the next realignment whenever that might be and that will cost us more in the long run than buying out Wilcox. Of course all this is based on the premise that the next AD and Head Coach are successful hires and that’s on the administration to get right. I feel for the players. But after almost 50 years of this I’m done. Life is too short to waste time watching such incompetence by Wilcox. It would be one thing if they were just plain being beat by better teams but they are losing the games on their own accord and not being beaten by their opponents. Which is COACHING, go for 2 points on the first touchdown of the game, not appreciating the importance of good special teams, not hiring an offensive line coach, not focusing on technique or coaching up players, poor play calling, poor recruiting up until the NIL. The list goes on and on. Cal fans have proven it time and again over the decades they will fill the stadium when there’s a good product on the field. I for one will not reward what is currently be produced by Cal on the football field.
Great take, Avi. And the perfect time for it.
The hard work starts now. And by hard work, I mean seeing the potential and the future of this program and building toward it. Staying the course. Celebrate the culture.
It's been an absolute gut punch. The highs of beating Auburn and College Game Day seem like a lifetime ago. But believe me, we're in a good place.
I've been through the highs and lows with this program since Joe Kapp was HC. Although I'm an eternal optimist and "sunshine pumper", I've always been one of the first fans calling for regime change. And I've never been wrong. (Tedford 2009, Dykes 2015).
This is not the time. Wilcox is a brilliant, classy coach who loves Cal. Cal has been an IMPOSSIBLE place to coach for decades. Never worse than during the Covid pandemic and realignment. As stated above, the State is still trying to destroy our ability to compete.
So, lets look at the bright side.
- Chancellor Lyons is THE BEST Chancellor we've had in 75 years. Let him cook.
- We've been a depleted team on offense all season. Our star, Jaydn Ott, played one half (healthy). If you were following the camps, WRs Grayes and Merriweather are "game changers". Neither has played. And our Oline has been a MASH unit. Sometimes the football gods are cruel.
- We have a very young stud QB who hasn't even played a full season yet. He was in 7th grade when Ward, Rising, and DJU started playing in College. He's a leader. He's the future.
-If he's not a 1st round pick, I'm hoping OTT takes the rest of the season off and preps for 2025.
- Our national brand has never been bigger. And people see that we've lost FOUR GAMES BY 9 POINTS (sigh) and feel bad for us.
Now, do I think some major changes need to be made? Yes, I do. And I think they will be made.
But in the mean time, go have some fun. Go to the games, keep the Calgorithm going, and enjoy the ride.
It only hurts because College Football is The Best.
Go Bears
If he's not a 1st round pick, I would not blame Ott for finally transferring and maximizing his value over wasting his last year trusting Wilcox to highlight him in an offense.
I greatly appreciate and admire everything you’ve done for the Cal fan community. I agree we need to show that the fanbase cares — and I think this season definitively put that question to bed. GameDay and the Calgorithm proved that we have a passionate, dedicated, vibrant fanbase. The TV network powers that be have taken notice. We won’t be relegated in the next round of realignment, unless we accept and enable this continued languishing on the field.
Now we need to change strategies, it can’t just be continued support and positivity and patience. The Cal fanbase needs to be relentless in pressuring the administration for Knowlton and Wilcox to be replaced. Loudly, publicly, persuasively, privately. Cal fans deserve better, and we need to make it known. There is always a path forward. Maybe Wilcox accepts a negotiated reduced buyout because he realizes he doesn’t have continued administrative support. Maybe he pulls a Chip Kelly and goes back to being a DC because he realizes he can’t deliver on what the fans need and expect of him. Maybe Lyons finds some emergency funding to overhaul the athletic department because he recognizes the costs to inaction are too large. But the Cal fanbase needs to be vocal and express that the status quo is unacceptable, for any change to happen.
Fans can be upset and pushing hard for change, but the future of the program also requires continued engagement and support (NIL donations, attending games, watching on TV). Replacing Knowlton would go a long way towards assuaging donor concerns (and is also more financially feasible) and would provide some optimism for the future - particularly the concern that Wilcox would get another extension if he achieved middling results (6-6, 7-5) through the support of the NIL funds. I agree with this article that Cal cannot afford to have its fans checking out in an all out boycott.
Yeah I’m not advocating for checking out (FWIW, I donate to NIL and will continue to do so). But staying checked in needs to involve continued vocal dissatisfaction and demand for changes in athletic department and football leadership. NIL is not managed by the AD so donating exclusively there does not relieve the administration of the pressure they need to feel here.
How do we let them know Can we start a petition?
I’m sorry Avi, I just don’t think this argument is gonna fly this time. I’ve been an alum for over 20 years and I have never seen this level of apathy from my college friends. Anecdotally these last 4 losses have completely sucked the life out of alumni enthusiasm. In a weird way the Gameday experience has backfired on the program because it showed everyone what it could be and made it painfully clear Wilcox isn’t the person to lead us there. Telling fans we have to endure this for another couple years is unacceptable. Its not even clear to me the program could survive it.
We all understand the financial considerations. The path forward now is to prioritize buying out Wilcox even over NIL donations. Tell alums to pressure the administration to make a change at AD. Then bring in a coach that has a history of doing more with less even at a lower tier program, or a coordinator who has shown some real innovation. The idea that some coach or coordinator making 200k a year wouldn’t jump at the opportunity to make a couple million a year, even if its an underpay by power 4 standards doesn’t make sense to me. Someone smart will take the job. The path forward is to make it clear to alums this is no longer acceptable and get them to dig deep financially (again) to put the program in a new direction, it isn’t to tell fans they have to support this for another couple years because of money constraints.
Unfortunately the Knowlton situation seems to be at the mercy of the McKeever investigation, and the law does not care about alumni pressure. Firing him now would open up the university to a host of legal issues that would just delay everything even further.
And donors are not opening their wallets until Knowlton is gone. So I can't really be positive that a change will happen this year until that situation is done with.
So basically, knowlton is a such a worthless buffoon who so massively neglected his duties as the head administrator, that he’s put himself into a position of unfirability because if the university actually did the right thing and canned him, they’d basically be admitting guilt that their head administrator is a worthless buffoon who completely neglected his duties. Am I understanding the situation correctly?
So McKeever investigation is ongoing, and we can't fire Knowlton until that's over?
My general understanding is the McKeever situation is the major blocker.
Thank you. That's terrible
100% agreed, A.
Game Day showed to the college football world that this is a sleeping giant of a fan base. Two weeks later, that momentum is, stunningly, gone. Gone.
There has to be repercussions…otherwise what are we even doing here.
Maybe it was Christ and Knowlton's plan to hobble Cal football to fatally wound it with an unproven coach.
*cue XFiles theme
I move to have her permanently referred to as Carol Antichrist on this blog.
Seconded.
The damage she has done to Cal Athletics from her wraparound porch is staggering.
Carol has done many good things for the university. Her goal for the AD was fundraising to balance the budget, and to his credit Knowlton did a good job on that front.
Fine, she found the one thing Knowlton can do…he can fundraise. ;-)
Meanwhile the entire department is fighting for its very survival and the optics of her role as part of Larry Scott’s CEO group were poor. That Seth Davis article was such a bad look for her and Knowlton.
But true,she definitely did some positive things…I just feel we are in a better spot with Rich Lyons.
This is 100% spot on. There is no more wilcox time left. We must find some talented lower paid hc or coordinator who's willing to 5x his comp..and coach for 2M or something..coaching change is the only hope for the program to survive IMO...Wilcox and Knowlton are on the verge of sinking this ship for good.
Support the Bears through thick and thin, for better or worse, though admittedly there has been more "thin" than anything else. The TV ratings are paramount going forward so we can eventually get more favorable placement within the grant of rights framework.
Attendance at yesterday’s game was abysmal. Barely any students (TG for the Cal Band) and lots of empty seats even in the Alumni section. Discussion at Tailgate Town and in our Section noted this and we came up with some solutions, at least for the “non-marquee” games.
1) Bring back the Family Ticket Package. Two adults, 3 kids (or inexperienced adult & 4 kids) for one price in the end zone sections. The South End Zone is covered with tarps, so those seats are available.
2) Bring back the “Cub Club,” with activities for kids. Make Cal Football an affordable family activity and introduce the next generation to Cal football and the Campus. In fact, more family-friendly activities and food pre-game would be good.
3) Offer a “Sports Clinic” activity at Tailgate Town pregame Jeff Kent did something like this with Cal Women’s Sports before a SF Giants Game back in the 1990’s. Ask some former Cal stars to help out. (What’s Steve Bartowski doing these days? Or Jay Torchio?) (Yes, I’m old)
4) Bring back the Joe Roth Memorial Game. Maybe tie it in with Homecoming? Or a former Pac6/8/10/12 opponent? Get the local TV stations to talk about Joe.
So that’s what we came up with off the top of our heads over soda and beer. I’m sure the #Calgorithm and the Cal Community have more ideas!
I believe you vote with your dollar and my dollar is not going near this dumpster fire anymore until wholesale changes are made (i.e. Knowlton and Wilcox & Co.). Burn the boats or let it die and sell the parts. Cal and its alumnus (the donor class at least) needs to flex their muscles and show everyone they are serious. Otherwise, let it die.
If 0-7, a true Cal fan would still support the team.
Sure, but not the coach or AD. I trust that this is the distinction you were making, right?
Absolutely.
Hmm, am I awake enough to be coherent? This is perhaps the most interesting moment in my history as a Cal fan, and the call from Avi must be seen as a Greek tragedy of competing urgencies. It's utterly absurd. It's completely tragic.
On the one hand, for my personal health, and trust me on this, I mean it, for my personal health, I need to detach my tentacles from the various ways I engage with Cal football. I must not make the long trips down to Berkeley. I must not build my Saturdays around watching. I must redirect my donations from football to basketball or Cal athletics. I'm a grown man with a great life and family and I can't let my Cal football fandom prevent me from enjoying the very life I've worked hard to create.
On the other hand, I get the argument the program is at this inflection point. I get the buyout for Wilcox. I get the moment in the ACC. I get the moment in college football generally. As Avi argues, this suggests we need to lean in and ACT like everything is fine and show up and support and scream and be rabid.
But there's the rub! How are we to do all this supporting while knowing that the same story of missed opportunities will continue? How can you show enthusiasm while hiding despair?
It's Shakespeare, I tell you. Shakespeare. Someone with more talent could really write a play about this moment for Cal football fans.
Push come to shove, I have to prioritize my own life. I'll still check every score, and watch games we win on TV. I got up at 4am to go to GameDay despite riding 12 hours on my motorcycle the day before and getting little sleep. No one can think I don't care. I just can't walk around unhappy and upset for weeks on end for the rest of the year. My wife is a Cal grad too, and does her best to support my mania, but there are limits. I can't feel one thing so strongly and act as though I have no feelings or believe the opposite.
Go Bears!
I feel this. But this goes beyond who the head man is. Your support helps the players and the program and our overall value in realignment.
Keep in mind Cal is no special from many other programs struggling to tread water. Our lack of support is the narrative we've been trying to fight that has put us on the brink of relegation. If we reverse that narrative, we can keep ourselves afloat, and likely survive the realignment struggles. But we have to provide as much support as we can, whereever we can.
And it doesn't just have to be football! There are many other things Cal alum can bond over to build community and support our team. The Calgorithm is one such example. We are a creative bunch.
Support starts with the university. They're the ones that wrested away control from the students, now they need to at least attempt to put a product on the field that anyone would be willing to watch. They have not shown the willingness to do that for 60 years. This feels like blaming the fans for their own actions. And the fans do show up when there's literally any reason to. The school just needs to create those reasons, even if it's not wins for now. They can't just keep expecting everyone to repeatedly save them with no expectations of anything changing.
This is not about saving them--as they've proven, they are likely underequipped to do the work here--it's about saving ourselves.
We came very close to a world where meaningful Cal football doesn't exist, and we can easily get there again in this very strange ACC world. Our fanbase has to show that we care constantly and actively, even if things are bad. I know it's an uphill battle, but this is what we have to do.
Despite being as big a Wilcox/Knowlton/Carol critic as I know, I nonetheless look forward to seeing y’all at the game Sat.
Speaking of.
Where does one find W4C people pre-game?
No doubt many of us will be squeezed balloons, with our support going to basketball or soccer or some other sport we love. I agree it's Go Bears, for some of us, all our lives! While the football head coach is not the entirety of the Cal Athletics program, we know they are responsible for the bulk of revenue for the entire department. It's still a tragicomedy to consider this moment, and we sway between laughing and crying.
I've been a Cal fan since I can remember. My dad was the official timer when they sat on the field at a table on the west side and he took me to every home game. That was in the 40's. Yes I'm in my 80's and
I've been through much worse periods of Cal football than this one. In fact, I was at the "play" game and that was a terrible season. I will continue to drive from Browns Valley for every home game and root for Cal football until I'm not able to do so.
I appreciate the hard work and passion Avi. But I feel like the administration (Chancellor, AD, etc) for decades and even now, doesn't want to do what it takes to really be successful at the P4 level anyway. If they don't, then why should fans support keeping them there? I agree with all the comments that the university has to show us something. The problem is structural and goes deep. If the university isn't willing or able to address that then let the chips fall.
I think Lyons getting that chancellor seat is an acknowledgement by the University that a foundational change is needed to save athletics. Whether he can actually help turn around the culture and our athletics fortunes, and do so quickly enough to save us is another matter altogether.
I guess the existential question for fans is, do we really need a high level athletic program? There are plenty of institutions out there, including the Ivies, that do just fine without feeling the need to compete on the athletic front.
The Alabama's and the Oregon's of the world need football to be relevant on the national stage. I think the major sticking point for us is that UCLA seems to be pulling away, but I seriously doubt that they are going to do well in the B10, they face a lot of the same institutional road blocks that we do, and I am not sure being the Rutgers of the West coast is really going to create much separation for them.
In a perfect world, there would be some sort of Ivy League of the West coast that we could escape to. I think big institutions on the west coast are always going to be attractive for Olympic sports, largely because of the weather. So as long as we can find a way to keep that going, does it really matter what level are football team is playing at? Personally, I kinda like my sports teams to be lower key affairs. It is why I was a fan of the A's before they left. Cheap seats, easy going tailgates. From what I read, ticket prices at some of these SEC games are starting to hit $1000+ mark. How is that good for fans?
Anyways just a rant. I wouldn't mind a successful team, but I also hope we don't kill the spirit of college ball chasing the giants.
I was an Ivy undergrad, and Ivy football can be fun: show up to play your rival and sing the century-old fight songs, etc. But the appeal is niche; attendance is poor outside rivalry games. Definitely won’t fill Memorial or pay off the debt…
Yes, 4th quarter collapse is not new. It's reared it's head time and time again for 50 years.
The much maligned Oline didn’t miss those field goals. And it’s not the fault of the Oline that the OC calls runs into the heart of the opposing defense in the red zone when short passes to our tight end, WR and backs got us there…..with our field goal kicker watching all this unfold as the pressure on him mounts to win the game mounts.
I mean does he really need a coach to tell him to practice and get ready while it's going on...vs shitting his pants...well we don't have a special teams coach...hee who's fault is that. Oh yeah.
O line has played like shit. Hold them accountable
We may not have money now, but we will have even less money when we are left out of the next conference realignment and it will be impossible to climb back up again after that.
In order to remain among the big boys and get big money, we have to take football seriously
Demote Wilcox to defensive coordinator. That way we avoid a buyout, although he will be a very expensive defensive coordinator. Or maybe, fantasizing here, if he is such a great person like people say, he will do the honorable thing and resign.
This is not an even remotely plausible scenario.
That is what he should do if he had any honor.
This article was great, love the passion put into it. However, the facts are facts. Wilcox continues to stumble as a coach, every year around this time we see the collapse of cal football. The opportunity was there to take the program to the next level . The Miami loss blew it out of the water and now it’s back to the typical sinking ship. The sad thing is the talent is where it should be but the coaching is not. I will continue to support the call football team but you must realize that the only way to fill that stadium is to produce winning football. Last week we should have had free tickets to watch that mess. I have zero confidence in Knowlton. He has botched just about everything he touches, except maybe taking funds. The basketball years under Fox were a complete disaster. This guy continues to be one step behind on what needs to be done to run a successful program.
Let me present an alternative perspective which I think may be unpopular.
I'm gonna go against the common perspective here and suggest that Wilcox can be successful. The biggest problems have been a bit of bad luck but mainly IMHO just a lack of killer instinct. This manifests at times offensively in playing not to lose when we hold a lead or to try to play it safe so we become very predictable. Anyway, my point is that if the objective for Cal football is 8-4, we already have our guy.
We're already competitive with the top teams in the ACC. I mean seriously there are a lot of 90%+ plays that didn't go our way, like short FGs, etc. Unfortunately, we just play in a style that keeps games close.
Also, the best way to not lose close games... is don't let the games be close. Stop taking the foot off the gas pedal. Play to win always. Stop playing to the level of competition so when we get ahead to not turtle up and become super predictable.
Many of us old Cal alumni love Wilcox for being a man of character and teaching our guys in the right way. I also feel that having adversity is good for these kids to learn from. So there's also that going for him and one of the reasons I'd still love to see us be successful with Wilcox.
Having said all of that, at the end of the day, this is Wilcox's fault. If I were him, the biggest move he can make would be to donate his 2023 salary to NIL matching new donations for 2 superstar OL and a FG kicker.
We are very close to greatness. Some injuries, some bad luck, and a few key pieces away from success.
Wilcox has also shown he can be aggressive e.g., the 2 point failed conversion, which I know is not popular, but was likely the right statistical and aggressive play to make. To play to win. If Wilcox and Bloesch can become even more aggressive, stop turtling/becoming predictable and we solve those other issues, then we could be dominating in the ACC with Wilcox.
One thing I want to add. I think we have to give Wilcox credit for making the team better. This year's team is better than last year. What was more depressing: 1. Blowing a huge lead against a top 10 team to eventually barely lose - and arguably because of bad officiating or 2. Not even being close last year to Oregon State, Oregon, or Texas Tech - where it wasn't even competitive?
I’ll make it short and sweet. Fire Knowlton. Fire Wilcox. DONE.
There's a big difference bt being aggressive and being stupid.
It all starts at the top. Fire Knowlton and Wilcox now! Eight years, even if subtracting the COVID years has given us more than enough time to see Wilcox is not capable of taking the program any further than where they are now and that is not going to change this year, next year or the year after. Keeping him another year or two will without a doubt hinder our chances of being well positioned for the next realignment whenever that might be and that will cost us more in the long run than buying out Wilcox. Of course all this is based on the premise that the next AD and Head Coach are successful hires and that’s on the administration to get right. I feel for the players. But after almost 50 years of this I’m done. Life is too short to waste time watching such incompetence by Wilcox. It would be one thing if they were just plain being beat by better teams but they are losing the games on their own accord and not being beaten by their opponents. Which is COACHING, go for 2 points on the first touchdown of the game, not appreciating the importance of good special teams, not hiring an offensive line coach, not focusing on technique or coaching up players, poor play calling, poor recruiting up until the NIL. The list goes on and on. Cal fans have proven it time and again over the decades they will fill the stadium when there’s a good product on the field. I for one will not reward what is currently be produced by Cal on the football field.
Liked your post/article in regards to your take on the subject, but as to the thought of more Justin torture in the future, not so much.