Sep 25, 2023·edited Sep 25, 2023Liked by Nick Kranz
I think the reason you have seen Wilcox struggle since 2019 is due to the upgrade in the quality of coaches in the Pac12.
USC upgraded from Helton to Riley
UW upgraded from Lake to Deboer
OSU upgraded from Andersen to Smith
Chip Kelly is a better coach than Wilcox.
Oregon has better talent and coaches that are probably on par or slightly better than Wilcox.
Whittingham is a better coach than Wilcox.
Wilcox is the second longest tenured head coach in the Pac12 but he would probably be ranked in the bottom third in terms of coaching talent, only ahead of HCs at ASU and UofA.
Now that most of us agree Wilcox has to go, the new guy needs to be from the offensive side of the tree. The three best Cal coaches in the last 50 years were offensive coordinators - Mike, White, Bruce Snyder and Jeff Tedford. Being at least good on offense is kind of in the genetic DNA of Cal football and sort of explains why most of us are so appalled by what we are seeing right now under Wilcox. Somewhere in the MWC or maybe even the MAC is a brilliant offensive mind who will maybe bring his stud quarterback and a few other guys with him. Look what happened to Washington State when Cam Ward, Robert Ferrel and OC Eric Morris came over in a package deal from Incarnate Word.
Steve: You are absolutely right to point out how offensively challenged Cal has been under Wilcox but don't forget that one of the reasons he was hired was because Sonny Dykes played ZERO defense! Sure, we had some exciting wins (swept Texas) but his defenses couldn't stop a sneeze. We would sometimes end up winning (see 60-59 win over Wazzu) but mostly losing (see 49-45 loss to Arizona on a last second hail-Mary) ridiculously high scoring games but the long-term trend was never pointing up under Dykes. Whoever takes over has to pay attention to ALL THREE PHASES OF THE GAME!
Just a little piss in the soup, here, but Sonny Dykes was extremely offense-oriented and look at what happened? We need a balance. Even, now, almost every TCU game is a shoot out- sound familiar?
Re: quarterbacks, it was always clear we had two inexperienced sophomores (one VERY inexperienced) & a frosh, all of whom would need to be coached up over the season. Starting Sam and sticking with him was clearly going to lead to more wins over the course of the season & set us up better for 2024-25 IMO, and many other fans seemed to agree. I've been on the "2020 broke the Wilcox momentum; give him time to right ship" train for a bit, but starting Finley & sticking with him, plus ALLLAAAMMMAARRR levels of special teams ineptitude, has finally put me in the "he's not up to this" boat. A sad place to be with the contract & buyout stuff.
Personally, I take no pleasure in watching Wilcox continue to helplessly struggle along with middling results. But I do love those pesky Cal Bears and want them to enjoy some semblance of success, and he is clearly not up for this challenge.
We all have our turning points…mine came on November 6, 2021 after watching just how pathetic the team looked as they struggled to execute even the most basic football concepts in that horrific loss at Tucson v. one of the worst P5 teams in history. I’ve been out on him ever since, though the Cal fan in me hoped beyond hope that Spav would make a difference, which he hasn’t.
I'd like to say that Wilcox is a genius for how he makes the most out of what he's been given, but, honestly, a downhill slide in recruiting and performance happened under his watch and he must take some or all responsibility for what's missing from the cupboard.
If only he would make himself available as a co-DC with Sirmon, when we hire a new HC, but that rarely happens.
He actually did quite well in the portal, with the 17th -ranked transfer class coming in. It's just that other conference teams had a better foundation because of past high school recruiting and some of them also hit the portal even better than he did.
In 1976, when I entered as a Freshman, at a mass orientation event in Wheeler auditorium, the host warned us of the rigors ahead.
"Take a look to your left, then to your right. Only one of the three of you will continue on to graduate from Berkeley."
I think few facts reflect the elitist aspirations of the "Cal Berkeley's" academic culture than its pretentious similarities to Harvard, which, also had a high attrition rate. Those same people are more than happy to watch a football and/or basketball program die so that they may gloat over the exclusivity of our institution. So, I'm not sure that players failing to graduate isn't more evidence of the understated contempt that many of the academic influencers feel towards popular sports, than a failing of any current or previous coach.
In short, yes, few athletes graduate when students who grew up hating PE are the priority.
I (sadly) agree with you. I just didn't understand starting Finley and sticking with him. Nothing against the kid at all - but at the same time, it's not like Jackson was horrendous. At best Finley should have spelled Jackson if he was struggling early NOT replaced him in the starting lineup. I also have been a Wilcox apologist as I like the guy but this season (and many before it)...yikes.
I think Cal fans got emotional and passionate thinking the next Murray or Mahomes was coming to Cal. A visit to several fall practices would have painfully displayed that wasn't the case.
I saw fall practices and I saw actual games. I've seen some reasonable progress across them. Sam still has the higher ceiling and it would be best for coaches to stick with him and develop him.
I don't think the issue is momentum. Recruiting hasn't really gotten any worse, the bigger problem has been player development especially on the OL and I don't think we can use the pandemic as an excuse there.
Our best HS recruiting class was 2021 and then collapsed in '22, and we only got a good bump of transfers this past year while HS recruiting languished. Meanwhile other conference teams have stepped up their game even more
I’m 100% with you on Wilcox, I don’t think he’s the man to bring us back but boy did it look like he might be after 2019. COVID really dismantled any momentum Justin built.
The issue starts with Jim Knowlton. As long as he’s at the helm of cal athletics we will continue to flail and flounder.
Knowlton is no longer at the helm, he's the Third Bilge Mate ever since the McKeever fiasco. He is powerless and that is what he should be. However, the diversity parade of Ex. Senior Assoc. ADs is interesting in that NOT ONE OF THEM WENT TO CAL AND TWO OF THOSE ARE ON THE IMAGE / IDENTITY TASK FORCE!!! These folks, who are running Cal's Athletics Dept. are NOT Cal people. Jennifer Simon-O'Neill, is the number 2 in the dept and she was tainted along with Knowlton in the L'Affaire McKeever! What a Cluster F_CK!! C'mon what the hell is going on?
Another thing, not only are these folks not Cal people, with one exception, none of them went to schools in major conferences with big time athletic programs. The schools include Mt Holyoke, Wingate U, Bowling Green, Minnesota State, Hampton U, and Oakwood U.
Once upon a time we had the resources, prestige, and the inclination, but no longer. Till Clueless Carol is ushered out things are going to continue to deteriorate. If her replacement is cut from her cloth where it's about diversity and not competency, Cal will be screwed for a long, long time.
I find it a surprising coincidence that the drive for diversity and inclusion is not extended as universally to athletes who might be short of our academic standards.
I really want Wilcox to be successful. He seems like a good guy and has ideal coach like attributes. The thing that I wonder about is after years of average recruiting classes, not necessarily top shelf but not bad, why can't we even reach .500? Coaching up, something Wittingham does, is not really there. And ST are a joke. How could that even happen? Tough defensive teams must have solid ST to pull out close games. Otherwise why even bother? The optimism I felt after NT is fading as I realize it's probably another lost season. Plus, none us are getting any younger. It's been seven years and success came early with Dykes' recruits. Since then, not so much. Somehow we need to get out of this continual wandering in the wilderness while the promised land is always behind the next mountain range.
I have seen several comments here that Covid de-railed the Wilcox momentum. Not buying it. That shortened 2020 season unveiled a team that was utterly unprepared to play UCLA, a classic turtling strategy that cost them a win against Oregon State and a sheer inability to line up correctly in place kicking formation that cost them two blocked kicks and a sure win against Stanford.
Wilcox has been mailing it in and collecting big cake for several seasons now. And I think the Washington game blew the cover off any pretense that Wilcox still puts elite defenses on the field. Auburn used three quarterbacks on Saturday who combined for 57 yards of passing against Texas A&M. So that stellar defensive effort against Auburn was maybe not so stellar. We saw what Idaho did to Cal in little over a quarter, and Saturday night speaks for itself. I would be in favor of telling him to pack his bags right now and get paid to stay home for the rest of the season except that there is no clear leader in the stable who could do any better. Really sad.
I agree about the defense being inadequate and it's the fault of the terrible DC (defense coordinator). He's so generic in his calls. NEVER a full 7 man blitz. ( called dogs by coaches). And his son just "caught" blockers instead of attacking them and he miss read his keys and was leaving gaps wide open. I was an inside LB coach at a University for a while and I see these things.
One might promote Sirmon as interim HC, but, yeah, likely it would make little difference, as there would be little else to do but continue on the same path, although, perhaps, some decisions might be made, such as QB.
Not quite accurate to say “success came early with Dykes recruits.” Goff was the reason Cal made a bowl, plain and simple. Without a strong qb, that doesn’t happen. Goff was already recruited by/committed to Cal under Tedford’s staff if I am not mistaken, has deep Cal roots and decided to stay with Cal but I don’t think it was because Dykes outrecruited anybody. I hate to say it, but with how bad the defense was under Dykes, I don’t think we would have gone anywhere with Dykes if not for a generational talent like Goff.
Strut'88, I thought that when goldenone wrote, "It's been seven years and success came early with Dykes' recruits," he or she was referring to Wilcox' success with Dykes recruits, particularly defensive players such as Evan Weaver. As Dykes only was only here for four seasons, believe "seven years" is a reference to Wilcox' time as Cal's coach.
Goldenone wrote that Wilcox has success early with Dykes' recruits, and you said that's not accurate because Goff was Tedford's recruit. So I wrote Goff has nothing to do with Wilcox.
There really isn't a QB controversy. Neither of them is all that good. Wilcox doesn't have the luxury of developing a QB, or any other position for that matter, his time is on a short leash getting shorter and shorter by each game.
While the QB position is obvious for all to see the issue at hand is the below average OL. This has been consistent for 7 years. As the undersigned has posted ad nauseum, the problem occurred on day one when Wilcox hired Greatwood. This hire, IMO, was a worse hire than any of the OCs Wilcox has tried and failed. Greatwood was in his twilight years and his recruiting was a failure. Frankly his development wasn't that great either although several lads made it to the League.
Wilcox by any measure is an old school coach. How he has missed on the basic tenet of football ~ the line of scrimmage ~ for seven years is a complete mystery turned into an abject failure. Additionally, his reluctance to fire people (it's just not in his nature) in a timely fashion ~ in this industry ~ sets u back years, not days or months. He has been too loyal to his own detriment. Even a win or 2 against ASU/furd won't change Wilcox's core beliefs and management style. Hell even Saban a defensive minded coach YEARS AGO understood the changing landscape of football and surrounded himself with offensive minded coaches. Wilcox is trying that this year w/ Spav but it ain't working. Why? cuz the OL isn't at P5 standards.
Fans can lament the QB situation all year but neither QB is the answer within Spav's system.
Lastly, our best chance to win is with either Finley or Nando. By win I mean games outside of ASU / furd (any of the 3 QBs should be able to beat those 2 teams). But to have a chance against OSU or WSU, I'd go with Finley or Nando. Weeks ago I penned that the on the job training with Jackson would soon come to an end come conference play and it has. Wilcox needs to win and win now, he can't wait 2 years for Jackson to "develop" if he even does develop.
With respect to special teams, Wilcox should have his entire staff read the book written by former VT coach Frank Beamer, it goes for $20 on Amazon. Nuff said.
Agree with you on Finley. Those three interceptions might just well bench him for the season, but there were times in the first half when that offense was moving the way that Spav probably intended when he agreed to come to Cal. The problem is that Finley needs a clean pocket to operate, and he ain't going to get it against the talented teams in the conference.
Greatwood was a good hire on paper but I agree that his results were a bit underwhelming. Greatwoods tenure only looks good in retrospect when compared to the dumpster fire hire of Angus McClure.
The real problem with Wilcox now is this is the first time I thought he behaved like a lame duck coach starting Finley over Jackson. If Wilcox thinks he’s coaching for his job this year he will prioritize the short term over the medium and long term health of the program.
If you think starting Finley increases your chances of winning by 10 percent and you are worried about your job, you start him. If you are thinking about next year and beyond you go with a raw talent like Jackson and let the sophomore take his lumps.
Along those lines I bet if we go 4-8 this year, the money will be found, we will have a new coach next year. We are all in on football now there is no turning back.
If Knowlton and Wilcox are back next year, we might as well scrap the whole department because it is a tacit admission that despite the ACC invite, Cal refuses to acknowledge and embrace the value football and basketball bring from a revenue perspective. So WTF are we even doing here, really.
Getting into the ACC was never about starting fresh, it was the least disruptive way for Christ to keep her wraparound porch of 30 varsity sports at Cal
Another problem is if I’m a rich alum there is NO WAY I’m letting Knowlton negotiate the buyout and next hire. If I’m paying for a buyout AND another round of NIL money, I’d want a completely new administration next year.
There’s definitely some conflicts of interests here but another 4-8 seasons makes the pressure for change too great to keep the status quo.
Oh for sure. I think Knowlton is toast for other reasons as well (eg McKeever). But the new Christ needs to hire the new Knowlton and so on. I think Christ is not stepping down until after this school year so we have one more year of JW in store
Another comment. This time on WRs. Did you notice how Penix threw to covered receivers? He has the ability to throw into tight windows and the receivers to make contested catches. Jackson won't throw into tight windows although he has the receivers to make contested catches. Finley will throw to covered receivers and, for example, Hunter caught a TD. It isn't that our receivers can't get open, it is all about the windows are smaller. Especially given the talent of DBs in this conference. Albeit in practice, Nando will also throw tight windows and for a young QB does a good job going through progressions. I would like to see how he does in a game.
Re. SJV...see bullet pass TD vs Idaho in double coverage (b/c someone ran the wrong route) where only Hunter could get it. See TD vs UW in tight coverage a dime where Grizzell could only get it. IMO Finley's passes are soft lobs where the D has a better chance to make a play on the ball as oppossed to SJV bullet passes...see Grizzell's dropped pass for what should have been a TD in Idaho game.
So funny you should mention "soft lobs". Both Pawlawski and Spav have commented, separately, that JV needs to learn to throw the ball with more "air" (i.e. loft). Hey but what do they know, right? Not every tight window requires a bullet pass. Sometimes it is to the back shoulder other times it could be over the DB but short of the safety. Or the QB throws the receiver open which often requires some "air" aka loft.
Receivers have to create separation or find the open grass - a QB can't live by constantly throwing into tight windows, this isn't the NFL (and even in the NFL QBs throw to the back shoulder or low and away or high and hard for a reason). Toler should stay with recruiting since he has done nothing to improve Cal's receiver's skills (in fact he's a crappy recruiting coordinator as well - legacy can be trap and in this case it was)
Funny you should mention Toler cuz I was thinking the same thing. What has he done for us lately? Hell one of our top talents ~ Grizzell ~ is a walk on for christ sake!! He'll probably get some NIL money and transfer at the end of the year.
I agree WRs can do more but at this level 1/2 a step or 1 step is about all you will get unless the DB falls or misses their assignment. I have found that Cal QBs mostly throw the ball late. There was one exception to that during the fall practices I attended, the JC kid from across the Bay who is no longer w/ the team as far as I know.
WHOEVER READS THIS...PLEASE CINVEYWHAT YOU'RE ABOUT TO READ TO THE HEAD AND SPECIAL TEAMS COACHES FOR CAL: THE ELEVEN MEMBERS OF THE TEAM ARE ALL PUT TO WAT I CONSIDER THE WORSE US WHEHBFACING A PUNT BY THE OPPOSITION BECAUSE THE ODDS ARE EXTRODINARILY LOW FOR BLOCKING A PUNT AND IF THESE SAME GUYS WERE DEPLOYED IN A BETTER FORMATION THEN, AT LEAST, SIX OF THEM WOULD BE SET UP TO, UPON A PUNT, TO IMMEDIATELY RETURN TO PROTECTING THE PUNT RECEIVER INSTEAD OF TRYING TO BLOCK A PUNT. THIS ALLSIPLY COMES DOWN TO THE PROPER, (LOGICAL) USE OF NUMBERS INRUNNING A FOOTBALL TEAM. NOW, DAMN IT, DO IT!!!!! GERBEAR CAL'51
Re QBs, every team we’ve played other than Auburn has had a better QB than us. Given our talent level under JW, we just cannot compete with such a disparity at QB. Add to JW’s list of failings that he has not really developed a QB yet - I believe he inherited Garbers, right?
Saw that Northern Arizona scored a major upset at the FCS level against a ranked and undefeated Montana team this past weekend. My narrative was going to be that Northern Arizona starting QB Kai Milner has arrived, and Cal should have fought harder to keep him from transferring. But, alas, Milner was benched after a 50-point loss last week. His backup started and engineered the win. So we go back to your very correct statement that Wilcox has never developed a QB while at Cal.
Does anyone who might be far more plugged-into all of this than me know how the donors are actually allowing all of this to continue? Wilcox’s extension was unconscionable. Knowlton’s extension, while far cheaper, was also insane. Christ and Knowlton don’t operate in bubbles do they? One would think they need donor approval to fund this nonsense and who in God’s name that is donating money to fund this trainwreck is actually singing off on all this? Who do knowlton and Wilcox have pictures of in compromising positions? That is about my only remaining explanation.
Simple answer here without going into details that i have no idea of is, we have bigger issues rn like the ACC move, and the added fact were paying a buyout for a MBB coach rn too.
Yeah, I totally get that paying Wilcox’s buyout right now is completely unrealistic. I’m just wondering how it got here in the first place? Like who thought that extension was a good idea? I assume knowlton had to sell it to someone? Ugh and to think we almost had a gift in oregon taking him off our hands (assuming it was true and not masterful work by Wilcox’s agent).
Inexperienced, mediocre talent / subpar performances / sub-average coaches / failed recruiting / clueless, no-nothing administrators who are more focused on creating a new name and image than creating winning programs / an emasculated, gutless athletic director and a staff that is a diversity alphabet showcase (LGBTQIA2S+) but basically inept / empty coffers / disinterested, disconnected student body / discouraged alumni fan base ---- What a bonanza!!! Lookout ACC, here come the Cal Berkeley Golden Bottom Feeders!
Agree 100% - but would like to add to the o-line comment - any adjustments made have been utter failures; at both tackle and guard (look at game grades). Since the line can't open a hole to save them (how long will Ott stick around?) maybe it's time to try some new bodies ... enough is enough ... and I'm so tired of hearing the word "experience" that's a BS excuse coaches use when their NIL players/favorites have failed. Nothing like going from the bottom of one conference to be at the bottom of the next especially when you don't change the captain ... this ship will stay its course (bottom feeding). Did anyone listen to Pac After Dark they couldn't even keep a straight face when talking about Cal's fight against WA ... something has to change Cal and time is of the essence!
I think the reason you have seen Wilcox struggle since 2019 is due to the upgrade in the quality of coaches in the Pac12.
USC upgraded from Helton to Riley
UW upgraded from Lake to Deboer
OSU upgraded from Andersen to Smith
Chip Kelly is a better coach than Wilcox.
Oregon has better talent and coaches that are probably on par or slightly better than Wilcox.
Whittingham is a better coach than Wilcox.
Wilcox is the second longest tenured head coach in the Pac12 but he would probably be ranked in the bottom third in terms of coaching talent, only ahead of HCs at ASU and UofA.
Now that most of us agree Wilcox has to go, the new guy needs to be from the offensive side of the tree. The three best Cal coaches in the last 50 years were offensive coordinators - Mike, White, Bruce Snyder and Jeff Tedford. Being at least good on offense is kind of in the genetic DNA of Cal football and sort of explains why most of us are so appalled by what we are seeing right now under Wilcox. Somewhere in the MWC or maybe even the MAC is a brilliant offensive mind who will maybe bring his stud quarterback and a few other guys with him. Look what happened to Washington State when Cam Ward, Robert Ferrel and OC Eric Morris came over in a package deal from Incarnate Word.
Steve: You are absolutely right to point out how offensively challenged Cal has been under Wilcox but don't forget that one of the reasons he was hired was because Sonny Dykes played ZERO defense! Sure, we had some exciting wins (swept Texas) but his defenses couldn't stop a sneeze. We would sometimes end up winning (see 60-59 win over Wazzu) but mostly losing (see 49-45 loss to Arizona on a last second hail-Mary) ridiculously high scoring games but the long-term trend was never pointing up under Dykes. Whoever takes over has to pay attention to ALL THREE PHASES OF THE GAME!
OOps. I should have read this first. ^^This, too.
Just a little piss in the soup, here, but Sonny Dykes was extremely offense-oriented and look at what happened? We need a balance. Even, now, almost every TCU game is a shoot out- sound familiar?
I would take Dillington over Wilcox any day of the week
Dillingham was a great hire.
Re: quarterbacks, it was always clear we had two inexperienced sophomores (one VERY inexperienced) & a frosh, all of whom would need to be coached up over the season. Starting Sam and sticking with him was clearly going to lead to more wins over the course of the season & set us up better for 2024-25 IMO, and many other fans seemed to agree. I've been on the "2020 broke the Wilcox momentum; give him time to right ship" train for a bit, but starting Finley & sticking with him, plus ALLLAAAMMMAARRR levels of special teams ineptitude, has finally put me in the "he's not up to this" boat. A sad place to be with the contract & buyout stuff.
Well, all I can say is welcome - it’s good to have you here, although none of us wish we were actually here.
Exactly.
Personally, I take no pleasure in watching Wilcox continue to helplessly struggle along with middling results. But I do love those pesky Cal Bears and want them to enjoy some semblance of success, and he is clearly not up for this challenge.
We all have our turning points…mine came on November 6, 2021 after watching just how pathetic the team looked as they struggled to execute even the most basic football concepts in that horrific loss at Tucson v. one of the worst P5 teams in history. I’ve been out on him ever since, though the Cal fan in me hoped beyond hope that Spav would make a difference, which he hasn’t.
I'd like to say that Wilcox is a genius for how he makes the most out of what he's been given, but, honestly, a downhill slide in recruiting and performance happened under his watch and he must take some or all responsibility for what's missing from the cupboard.
If only he would make himself available as a co-DC with Sirmon, when we hire a new HC, but that rarely happens.
I think Wilcox has been exposed in the portal era. He doesn’t even graduate his players, which is ostensibly his main strength.
He actually did quite well in the portal, with the 17th -ranked transfer class coming in. It's just that other conference teams had a better foundation because of past high school recruiting and some of them also hit the portal even better than he did.
I push back a little on the “he did quite well in the portal.”
We’re gonna finish 4-8, Chairs, with no P5-caliber starting QB…how good did he really do? It’s a fair question.
Auburn, for one, ranked ahead of us for Portal gain.
I will only say this.
In 1976, when I entered as a Freshman, at a mass orientation event in Wheeler auditorium, the host warned us of the rigors ahead.
"Take a look to your left, then to your right. Only one of the three of you will continue on to graduate from Berkeley."
I think few facts reflect the elitist aspirations of the "Cal Berkeley's" academic culture than its pretentious similarities to Harvard, which, also had a high attrition rate. Those same people are more than happy to watch a football and/or basketball program die so that they may gloat over the exclusivity of our institution. So, I'm not sure that players failing to graduate isn't more evidence of the understated contempt that many of the academic influencers feel towards popular sports, than a failing of any current or previous coach.
In short, yes, few athletes graduate when students who grew up hating PE are the priority.
😭😭😭
I (sadly) agree with you. I just didn't understand starting Finley and sticking with him. Nothing against the kid at all - but at the same time, it's not like Jackson was horrendous. At best Finley should have spelled Jackson if he was struggling early NOT replaced him in the starting lineup. I also have been a Wilcox apologist as I like the guy but this season (and many before it)...yikes.
I didn't and don't agree.
I think Cal fans got emotional and passionate thinking the next Murray or Mahomes was coming to Cal. A visit to several fall practices would have painfully displayed that wasn't the case.
I saw fall practices and I saw actual games. I've seen some reasonable progress across them. Sam still has the higher ceiling and it would be best for coaches to stick with him and develop him.
Right I mean the proof is in the pudding at this point if it wasn’t before. You can’t be a dink and dunk game manager and also throw multiple picks …
I don't think the issue is momentum. Recruiting hasn't really gotten any worse, the bigger problem has been player development especially on the OL and I don't think we can use the pandemic as an excuse there.
Our best HS recruiting class was 2021 and then collapsed in '22, and we only got a good bump of transfers this past year while HS recruiting languished. Meanwhile other conference teams have stepped up their game even more
Cindric
I’m 100% with you on Wilcox, I don’t think he’s the man to bring us back but boy did it look like he might be after 2019. COVID really dismantled any momentum Justin built.
The issue starts with Jim Knowlton. As long as he’s at the helm of cal athletics we will continue to flail and flounder.
Knowlton is no longer at the helm, he's the Third Bilge Mate ever since the McKeever fiasco. He is powerless and that is what he should be. However, the diversity parade of Ex. Senior Assoc. ADs is interesting in that NOT ONE OF THEM WENT TO CAL AND TWO OF THOSE ARE ON THE IMAGE / IDENTITY TASK FORCE!!! These folks, who are running Cal's Athletics Dept. are NOT Cal people. Jennifer Simon-O'Neill, is the number 2 in the dept and she was tainted along with Knowlton in the L'Affaire McKeever! What a Cluster F_CK!! C'mon what the hell is going on?
Another thing, not only are these folks not Cal people, with one exception, none of them went to schools in major conferences with big time athletic programs. The schools include Mt Holyoke, Wingate U, Bowling Green, Minnesota State, Hampton U, and Oakwood U.
Markeisha Everett is an utter embarrassment.
We have the resources and prestige to be Michigan yet we’re sprinting towards Rutgers.
Once upon a time we had the resources, prestige, and the inclination, but no longer. Till Clueless Carol is ushered out things are going to continue to deteriorate. If her replacement is cut from her cloth where it's about diversity and not competency, Cal will be screwed for a long, long time.
I find it a surprising coincidence that the drive for diversity and inclusion is not extended as universally to athletes who might be short of our academic standards.
I really want Wilcox to be successful. He seems like a good guy and has ideal coach like attributes. The thing that I wonder about is after years of average recruiting classes, not necessarily top shelf but not bad, why can't we even reach .500? Coaching up, something Wittingham does, is not really there. And ST are a joke. How could that even happen? Tough defensive teams must have solid ST to pull out close games. Otherwise why even bother? The optimism I felt after NT is fading as I realize it's probably another lost season. Plus, none us are getting any younger. It's been seven years and success came early with Dykes' recruits. Since then, not so much. Somehow we need to get out of this continual wandering in the wilderness while the promised land is always behind the next mountain range.
I have seen several comments here that Covid de-railed the Wilcox momentum. Not buying it. That shortened 2020 season unveiled a team that was utterly unprepared to play UCLA, a classic turtling strategy that cost them a win against Oregon State and a sheer inability to line up correctly in place kicking formation that cost them two blocked kicks and a sure win against Stanford.
Wilcox has been mailing it in and collecting big cake for several seasons now. And I think the Washington game blew the cover off any pretense that Wilcox still puts elite defenses on the field. Auburn used three quarterbacks on Saturday who combined for 57 yards of passing against Texas A&M. So that stellar defensive effort against Auburn was maybe not so stellar. We saw what Idaho did to Cal in little over a quarter, and Saturday night speaks for itself. I would be in favor of telling him to pack his bags right now and get paid to stay home for the rest of the season except that there is no clear leader in the stable who could do any better. Really sad.
I agree about the defense being inadequate and it's the fault of the terrible DC (defense coordinator). He's so generic in his calls. NEVER a full 7 man blitz. ( called dogs by coaches). And his son just "caught" blockers instead of attacking them and he miss read his keys and was leaving gaps wide open. I was an inside LB coach at a University for a while and I see these things.
One might promote Sirmon as interim HC, but, yeah, likely it would make little difference, as there would be little else to do but continue on the same path, although, perhaps, some decisions might be made, such as QB.
Not quite accurate to say “success came early with Dykes recruits.” Goff was the reason Cal made a bowl, plain and simple. Without a strong qb, that doesn’t happen. Goff was already recruited by/committed to Cal under Tedford’s staff if I am not mistaken, has deep Cal roots and decided to stay with Cal but I don’t think it was because Dykes outrecruited anybody. I hate to say it, but with how bad the defense was under Dykes, I don’t think we would have gone anywhere with Dykes if not for a generational talent like Goff.
I give credit to Wilcox for making a competent defense from Dykes' recruits whom as you know were awful under Sonny.
Goff never played for Wilcox.
Not sure where you went with this. My reply was about the Dykes regime alone, not Wilcox’s tenure
Strut'88, I thought that when goldenone wrote, "It's been seven years and success came early with Dykes' recruits," he or she was referring to Wilcox' success with Dykes recruits, particularly defensive players such as Evan Weaver. As Dykes only was only here for four seasons, believe "seven years" is a reference to Wilcox' time as Cal's coach.
Got you. My bad. Still recovering from Saturday night bender.
Yup
Goldenone wrote that Wilcox has success early with Dykes' recruits, and you said that's not accurate because Goff was Tedford's recruit. So I wrote Goff has nothing to do with Wilcox.
Spoiler alert: Wilcox can't turn it around.
He is completely overmatched running a program.
He was/is an excellent DC. Kind of like Spav, better coordinator than HC.
There really isn't a QB controversy. Neither of them is all that good. Wilcox doesn't have the luxury of developing a QB, or any other position for that matter, his time is on a short leash getting shorter and shorter by each game.
While the QB position is obvious for all to see the issue at hand is the below average OL. This has been consistent for 7 years. As the undersigned has posted ad nauseum, the problem occurred on day one when Wilcox hired Greatwood. This hire, IMO, was a worse hire than any of the OCs Wilcox has tried and failed. Greatwood was in his twilight years and his recruiting was a failure. Frankly his development wasn't that great either although several lads made it to the League.
Wilcox by any measure is an old school coach. How he has missed on the basic tenet of football ~ the line of scrimmage ~ for seven years is a complete mystery turned into an abject failure. Additionally, his reluctance to fire people (it's just not in his nature) in a timely fashion ~ in this industry ~ sets u back years, not days or months. He has been too loyal to his own detriment. Even a win or 2 against ASU/furd won't change Wilcox's core beliefs and management style. Hell even Saban a defensive minded coach YEARS AGO understood the changing landscape of football and surrounded himself with offensive minded coaches. Wilcox is trying that this year w/ Spav but it ain't working. Why? cuz the OL isn't at P5 standards.
Fans can lament the QB situation all year but neither QB is the answer within Spav's system.
Lastly, our best chance to win is with either Finley or Nando. By win I mean games outside of ASU / furd (any of the 3 QBs should be able to beat those 2 teams). But to have a chance against OSU or WSU, I'd go with Finley or Nando. Weeks ago I penned that the on the job training with Jackson would soon come to an end come conference play and it has. Wilcox needs to win and win now, he can't wait 2 years for Jackson to "develop" if he even does develop.
With respect to special teams, Wilcox should have his entire staff read the book written by former VT coach Frank Beamer, it goes for $20 on Amazon. Nuff said.
There's more than one title.
Not a book, but this, too, caught my eye.
https://www.amazon.com/Frank-Beamer-Special-Teams-Createspace/dp/B006JQCZ2U/ref=sr_1_4?crid=30BBRHAJ4CYDU&keywords=Frank+Beamer&qid=1695759955&sprefix=frank+beamer%2Caps%2C244&sr=8-4
Why would any elite talent QB choose to go to Cal?
Cal has a pretty good recent history of putting QBs in the league.
Agree with you on Finley. Those three interceptions might just well bench him for the season, but there were times in the first half when that offense was moving the way that Spav probably intended when he agreed to come to Cal. The problem is that Finley needs a clean pocket to operate, and he ain't going to get it against the talented teams in the conference.
Greatwood was a good hire on paper but I agree that his results were a bit underwhelming. Greatwoods tenure only looks good in retrospect when compared to the dumpster fire hire of Angus McClure.
Spot on, top to bottom. Thank you, Nick. What CalGal2004 said!
I'm Charlie Brown with Cal Football every September. By October I'm Eyeore.
Excellent writing.
The real problem with Wilcox now is this is the first time I thought he behaved like a lame duck coach starting Finley over Jackson. If Wilcox thinks he’s coaching for his job this year he will prioritize the short term over the medium and long term health of the program.
If you think starting Finley increases your chances of winning by 10 percent and you are worried about your job, you start him. If you are thinking about next year and beyond you go with a raw talent like Jackson and let the sophomore take his lumps.
Along those lines I bet if we go 4-8 this year, the money will be found, we will have a new coach next year. We are all in on football now there is no turning back.
If Knowlton and Wilcox are back next year, we might as well scrap the whole department because it is a tacit admission that despite the ACC invite, Cal refuses to acknowledge and embrace the value football and basketball bring from a revenue perspective. So WTF are we even doing here, really.
Getting into the ACC was never about starting fresh, it was the least disruptive way for Christ to keep her wraparound porch of 30 varsity sports at Cal
"We are the music-makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams"
I agree but I find it odd because with his buy out, I feel like he isn’t in any jeopardy of losing his job.
Present and future donor $ will go to buy out, not NIL.
Another problem is if I’m a rich alum there is NO WAY I’m letting Knowlton negotiate the buyout and next hire. If I’m paying for a buyout AND another round of NIL money, I’d want a completely new administration next year.
There’s definitely some conflicts of interests here but another 4-8 seasons makes the pressure for change too great to keep the status quo.
Personally, I'm not giving another dime to Cal Football so long as Wilcox remains.
Oh for sure. I think Knowlton is toast for other reasons as well (eg McKeever). But the new Christ needs to hire the new Knowlton and so on. I think Christ is not stepping down until after this school year so we have one more year of JW in store
Cal football upgrades for 2024 will be a new ST coach and some sweet Cal Berkeley helmets! 😀
/sarcasm/
😂
Another comment. This time on WRs. Did you notice how Penix threw to covered receivers? He has the ability to throw into tight windows and the receivers to make contested catches. Jackson won't throw into tight windows although he has the receivers to make contested catches. Finley will throw to covered receivers and, for example, Hunter caught a TD. It isn't that our receivers can't get open, it is all about the windows are smaller. Especially given the talent of DBs in this conference. Albeit in practice, Nando will also throw tight windows and for a young QB does a good job going through progressions. I would like to see how he does in a game.
Re. SJV...see bullet pass TD vs Idaho in double coverage (b/c someone ran the wrong route) where only Hunter could get it. See TD vs UW in tight coverage a dime where Grizzell could only get it. IMO Finley's passes are soft lobs where the D has a better chance to make a play on the ball as oppossed to SJV bullet passes...see Grizzell's dropped pass for what should have been a TD in Idaho game.
So funny you should mention "soft lobs". Both Pawlawski and Spav have commented, separately, that JV needs to learn to throw the ball with more "air" (i.e. loft). Hey but what do they know, right? Not every tight window requires a bullet pass. Sometimes it is to the back shoulder other times it could be over the DB but short of the safety. Or the QB throws the receiver open which often requires some "air" aka loft.
Receivers have to create separation or find the open grass - a QB can't live by constantly throwing into tight windows, this isn't the NFL (and even in the NFL QBs throw to the back shoulder or low and away or high and hard for a reason). Toler should stay with recruiting since he has done nothing to improve Cal's receiver's skills (in fact he's a crappy recruiting coordinator as well - legacy can be trap and in this case it was)
Funny you should mention Toler cuz I was thinking the same thing. What has he done for us lately? Hell one of our top talents ~ Grizzell ~ is a walk on for christ sake!! He'll probably get some NIL money and transfer at the end of the year.
I agree WRs can do more but at this level 1/2 a step or 1 step is about all you will get unless the DB falls or misses their assignment. I have found that Cal QBs mostly throw the ball late. There was one exception to that during the fall practices I attended, the JC kid from across the Bay who is no longer w/ the team as far as I know.
Throwing the ball late is a passing game cardinal sin.
WHOEVER READS THIS...PLEASE CINVEYWHAT YOU'RE ABOUT TO READ TO THE HEAD AND SPECIAL TEAMS COACHES FOR CAL: THE ELEVEN MEMBERS OF THE TEAM ARE ALL PUT TO WAT I CONSIDER THE WORSE US WHEHBFACING A PUNT BY THE OPPOSITION BECAUSE THE ODDS ARE EXTRODINARILY LOW FOR BLOCKING A PUNT AND IF THESE SAME GUYS WERE DEPLOYED IN A BETTER FORMATION THEN, AT LEAST, SIX OF THEM WOULD BE SET UP TO, UPON A PUNT, TO IMMEDIATELY RETURN TO PROTECTING THE PUNT RECEIVER INSTEAD OF TRYING TO BLOCK A PUNT. THIS ALLSIPLY COMES DOWN TO THE PROPER, (LOGICAL) USE OF NUMBERS INRUNNING A FOOTBALL TEAM. NOW, DAMN IT, DO IT!!!!! GERBEAR CAL'51
GER!
The only problem can be a punt fake. Oregon just did one against Colorado.
And GERBEAR, you’re awesome!
Anyone open to the idea of going for 2 every single time...
it's baffling we can't even make extra points consistently.
Re QBs, every team we’ve played other than Auburn has had a better QB than us. Given our talent level under JW, we just cannot compete with such a disparity at QB. Add to JW’s list of failings that he has not really developed a QB yet - I believe he inherited Garbers, right?
Saw that Northern Arizona scored a major upset at the FCS level against a ranked and undefeated Montana team this past weekend. My narrative was going to be that Northern Arizona starting QB Kai Milner has arrived, and Cal should have fought harder to keep him from transferring. But, alas, Milner was benched after a 50-point loss last week. His backup started and engineered the win. So we go back to your very correct statement that Wilcox has never developed a QB while at Cal.
That is correct that he inherited Garbers.
And you can argue just how much he actually developed Garbers.
Yeah, exactly. Garbers had a nice skill set but never fully hit his ceiling
I know it's two different people, but, apparently, neither is his brother at FUCLA.
Does anyone who might be far more plugged-into all of this than me know how the donors are actually allowing all of this to continue? Wilcox’s extension was unconscionable. Knowlton’s extension, while far cheaper, was also insane. Christ and Knowlton don’t operate in bubbles do they? One would think they need donor approval to fund this nonsense and who in God’s name that is donating money to fund this trainwreck is actually singing off on all this? Who do knowlton and Wilcox have pictures of in compromising positions? That is about my only remaining explanation.
Simple answer here without going into details that i have no idea of is, we have bigger issues rn like the ACC move, and the added fact were paying a buyout for a MBB coach rn too.
Yeah, I totally get that paying Wilcox’s buyout right now is completely unrealistic. I’m just wondering how it got here in the first place? Like who thought that extension was a good idea? I assume knowlton had to sell it to someone? Ugh and to think we almost had a gift in oregon taking him off our hands (assuming it was true and not masterful work by Wilcox’s agent).
Almost like a market manipulation, right?
Straw dog offer to Wilcox, spooks Cal AD into long term marriage contract.
One or more people at Oregon has/have a laugh at both Wilcox and us.
Not sure, but something hinky went on.
Inexperienced, mediocre talent / subpar performances / sub-average coaches / failed recruiting / clueless, no-nothing administrators who are more focused on creating a new name and image than creating winning programs / an emasculated, gutless athletic director and a staff that is a diversity alphabet showcase (LGBTQIA2S+) but basically inept / empty coffers / disinterested, disconnected student body / discouraged alumni fan base ---- What a bonanza!!! Lookout ACC, here come the Cal Berkeley Golden Bottom Feeders!
Spot on, top to bottom. Thank you Nick.
Agree 100% - but would like to add to the o-line comment - any adjustments made have been utter failures; at both tackle and guard (look at game grades). Since the line can't open a hole to save them (how long will Ott stick around?) maybe it's time to try some new bodies ... enough is enough ... and I'm so tired of hearing the word "experience" that's a BS excuse coaches use when their NIL players/favorites have failed. Nothing like going from the bottom of one conference to be at the bottom of the next especially when you don't change the captain ... this ship will stay its course (bottom feeding). Did anyone listen to Pac After Dark they couldn't even keep a straight face when talking about Cal's fight against WA ... something has to change Cal and time is of the essence!