I await the start of the season, hoping that JW will not play his usual trick on me

I actually think Covid and the CoB were the one's playing tricks on JW. This year we'll really find out how good or bad of a coach he is. I am leaning toward the good.

jy1988 said:

---

I actually think Covid and the CoB were the one's playing tricks on JW. This year we'll really find out how good or bad of a coach he is. I am leaning toward the good.

---

I'm not being rude, but don't we have 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022 and 2023 to get a feel for how good or bad he is? Isn't five years a good enough sample size?

jy1988 said:

---

I actually think Covid and the CoB were the one's playing tricks on JW. This year we'll really find out how good or bad of a coach he is. I am leaning toward the good.

---

2020 was 4 seasons ago.

Berkeley's rules were not different from Los Angeles' or Seattle's and were not as tough as Santa Clara County's, but I'm sure this will trigger a COVID/Vax political discussion.

Mark Fox used the COVID excuse too, but last year, two years after the pandemic, won 3 games, the worst in Cal history, worst in the country with the lowest scoring team in the country.

Sometimes it really is the coaching and the excuses have to end. If not by year 8, when?

In 2022, we went 4-8.
In 2023, we went 6-6.

If we can keep improving, I will be patient. The moment we slip back, that's it, he's done.

Big C said:

---

In 2022, we went 4-8.
In 2023, we went 6-6.

If we can keep improving, I will be patient. The moment we slip back, that's it, he's done.

---

Why drop 2021? He did better than 2022.

2021 5-7
2022 4-8
2023 6-7

Oakbear said:

---

I await the start of the season, hoping that JW will not play his usual trick on me

---

This is really the critical year. If we go 7-5 or worse and a losing conference record, in our last year with Ott, I believe this will send us into a death spiral. We can't afford to buy him out because he's signed to 2027 at close to $5M a year. But if we decide that we want to go another direction and not renew him by say 2025, other programs will point to our lame duck situation with recruits. Wilcox simply must win this year and by that let's start with a winning conference record and at least 8-9 wins. I hope for all us that he does that because we might be really screwed for a long time if we don't.

Time is relative.

Bobodeluxe said:

---

Time is relative.

---

.. until we die

calumnus said:

---

Big C said:

---

In 2022, we went 4-8.
In 2023, we went 6-6.

If we can keep improving, I will be patient. The moment we slip back, that's it, he's done.

---

Why drop 2021? He did better than 2022.

2021 5-7
2022 4-8
2023 6-7

---

I was just starting at the nadir in an attempt to craft a possible narrative in which we are showing steady improvement.

Clearly, he needs to win. Now.

KoreAmBear said:

---

Oakbear said:

---

I await the start of the season, hoping that JW will not play his usual trick on me

---

This is really the critical year. If we go 7-5 or worse and a losing conference record, in our last year with Ott, I believe this will send us into a death spiral. We can't afford to buy him out because he's signed to 2027 at close to $5M a year. But if we decide that we want to go another direction and not renew him by say 2025, other programs will point to our lame duck situation with recruits. Wilcox simply must win this year and by that let's start with a winning conference record and at least 8-9 wins. I hope for all us that he does that because we might be really screwed for a long time if we don't.

---

Been saying this all off-season since the schedule came out, scraping for bowl games in the final years of the PAC-12 were one thing (last year we had to play 2 teams that were national title contenders, the reigning Heisman winner, Utah at their place who was still solid, and a mega-hyped 5 star QB in Dj Uiagaleli), but if we are just MARGINALLY improved from last year then we should hit double digit wins, if we're still toiling around 7-5 then this whole deal is over.