Cal fires coach Justin Wilcox after 9 seasons
BERKELEY, Calif. -- Cal has fired coach Justin Wilcox after he went 48-55 over nine seasons with the Golden Bears, general manager Ron Rivera announced Sunday.
Wilcox's final game came on Saturday, as Cal lost 31-10 to rival Stanford, a game in which Cal was favored. The loss dropped Cal to 6-5 on the season, which marked the third-straight year that Cal reached bowl eligibility.
"I want to thank Justin for all of his contributions to our football program, our athletic department and our university," Rivera said in a statement. "He has always comported himself with class and professionalism. After careful consideration, we believe the time has come for new leadership. We wish Justin the best of luck in his future endeavors."
Per his contract, Wilcox, the sixth-winningest coach in program history, will be owed approximately $10.9 million.
The end of Wilcox's tenure comes at an interesting crossroads for Cal. They have two co-directors of athletics -- Jay Larson and Jenny Simon O'Neill. Cal also hired Rivera, the longtime NFL coach, as its new football general manager to help modernize the program.
Nick Rolovich, the former head coach at Washington State and Hawai'i, has been named interim coach. He'd been working as a senior offensive assistant for Cal this season.
Wilcox's teams were always solid and competitive, but they'd recently been undercut by a lack of NIL support. A flurry of starters left the 2024 Golden Bears, including Heisman Trophy favorite Fernando Mendoza (Indiana), former first-team all-Pac-12 tailback Jaydn Ott (Oklahoma) and star tight end Jack Endries (Texas).
Even with all the high-profile defections, it'd been a season of relative optimism for Cal until the Stanford loss, the tenor of which was unexpected. Cal had recruited perhaps the country's best true freshman quarterback, Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, who flashed the promise of being a linchpin for the future.
They'd also reloaded with a solid transfer class that helped them with solid wins against Minnesota, North Carolina and an upset win just last week at Louisville.
Cal is in its second season in the ACC, and Wilcox was just 5-10 in ACC play the past two seasons. In none of his nine seasons at Cal did he manage a winning record in league play, which included seven years in the Pac-12 and two in the ACC.
Wilcox, 49, is a well-regarded coach with strong ties to the West Coast, as he'd been defensive coordinator at spots like Boise State, Washington and USC. He'd also been a coordinator at Tennessee and Wisconsin, where he worked in 2016 prior to getting the Cal head coaching job.
