Robocheme said:
I like the last sentence, "Wilcox is signed through 2027 and should be safe as long as he keeps hitting the six-win mark." In other words, as long as he's mediocre, he's fine.
https://www.espn.com/college-football/insider/story/_/id/43275282/college-football-coaches-hot-seat-2025
The perception of Cal football is 6 wins is a good season. The reputation of Cal football is that they are so dysfunctional and literally work against the program that 6 wins is seen as a good season.
Realignment and the likely continued realigning has changed the stakes. Money is the driving force. TV runs college football. You either become a member of a conference that can provide revenues via TV or you die. Cal is on the clock. They are effectively on death row. They can have their sentence commuted but it will require winning and significantly improved attendance and TV viewing results.
You are seeing TV drive everything. The CFP is a major money maker. TV wants the bluebloods as they drive eyeballs. The angst generated by the SEC only getting 3 bids is telling.If the CFP moves to 16 (very likley) the SEC and B1G are trying to leverage 4 auto bids per league. They would still be able to add more teams with at large bids. Notre Dame will get in with 10 or perhaps even 9 wins. They are one of the most watched programs in history. The ACC and Big 12 would get one auto bid and TV (ESPN) will move to keep those teams to just 1 bid most seasons. And there is movement to exclude the G5 from any auto bids. It would require likely an unbeaten season to even get consideration.
The CFP is a made for TV event. You have to draw eyeballs. ASU and Indiana were great stories. And the articles being written about how both were frauds are being pushed forward daily.
I fully expect a culling of the P4 in the somewhat near future. TV does not want Indiana or ASU. They want Ohio St., Michigan, Oregon, Alabama, Texas, Georgia, Notre Dame, USC, Penn St. LSU and Oklahoma. They will accept a few other like Clemson and FSU but conferences will no longer be able to keep the likes of Cal and Stanford. Unless they start winning. Drawing fans on TV and in person and do it soon. Like now.
College football is now a TV league. It always was but now they are no longer trying to hide it. Cal is not good TV. They were a great gimic for College Gameday. Calgorithm is fun. The team is not good. They do not win and half their games are played in the Pacific Time Zone which is not good for college football TV ratings.
The acceptance of mediocrity and worse has really hurt Cal in the perception game. Great University. But TV wants wins. Eyeballs. Money. Cal provides precious little of that so here we are. Forced to keep a bad HC and a doofus AD at a time when you have to win. Cal cannot afford to move away from either. But the reality is keeping both literally ensures a permanent relagation soon. Hopefully it is not too late. But it may be.
