Pittstop said:
calumnus said:
Pittstop said:
calumnus said:
Pittstop said:
calumnus said:
Pittstop said:
6956bear said:
calumnus said:
Strykur said:
calumnus said:
HearstMining said:
Since 2021, Wilcox has averaged 4+ losses per season where the other team has scored >28 points. So, I don't know where he gets this "scoring 28 pts should be enough" philosophy. He must think a string of 7-5 or 8-4 seasons will get him a contract extension because that's what he's aiming for.
People here are "demanding" 7 or 8 wins this season. While I think it is critical that we move on to a smarter, more competitive, more charismatic, offensive minded coach, I have my doubts as to whether we would really fire him if he wins 7 or 8, despite the fact he would almost certainly own the Cal record for conference losses.
Let's get real, after the crap we saw last year, and against this year's schedule, retaining him after a 7-5 2025 would signal that this program is not serious about sticking around the major college football scene and will be kicked out of the club once the super league starts, we have maybe a few dozen games left to change that notion and we have no time to dither as to what our intentions are.
Agreed, but say he goes 8-4? Does that really change things? Does he get retained then? And if so, do we go into year 10 of Wilcox with him only having one year left on his contract? Or does that get him an extension?
I don't see the clear path forward here.
It feels like we are just prolonging the inevitable, spending a lot of money increasing the staff trying to prop him up when time is running out.
I agree retaining Wilcox was a mistake. But I am pretty strongly convinced he will be not be the HC in 2026. When Rivera was actually put in charge it was really late in the game to change the HC. So for now he evaluates Wilcox and the staff. Observes the college football landscape which is different than the NFL. And fundraises to set up the next HC with a chance to win.
Rivera has a big job putting into place everything else that a strong football program needs to win. That is a big job here. For now we have to trust Rivera and Lyons that they know what needs to be done. And that it does not include Wilcox beyond this season.
8-4 and another mid tier or less bowl game should not suffice. IMO only an ACC championship gets him to 2026. And no extensions. At least not one that increases the buyout.
I believe the Cal HC job could be attractive if the other pieces are in place. One good season does not make you a strong program. You need to have the pieces in place to do that annually. People fear that removing Wilcox after a good season would hurt their prospects for attracting a strong HC. I disagree with that. Good coaches want a chance to win. If under Rivera/Lyons the program has the structure in place to win they can attract a good coach to lead the team. Good coaches know what that looks like.
But yes time is running out. We can only hope there is enough time to change the narrative around Cal football.
My belief is that RR is going about things the right way. I don't think he would assume a position like FB GM and just start indiscriminately taking a meat ax to the on-field product. I think he has gone about it appropriately by eliminating 'infrastructure inefficiencies' (like Bloesch, Gilbert, AT, & Burl, on O, and 'moving on from Sirmon - regardless of how it was framed - and Tre Brown on D) and building out that part of the infrastructure with quality, proven coaches and leaders; investing in recruiting staff and enhancing the recruiting operation and implementing an actual recruiting plan/approach/model; eliminating any program confusion, ambiguity, and apathy/absence of commitment related to leadership and who is driving the car; being in charge of identifying (with appropriate input from coaches and recruiting leadership) where NIL/Revenue Share dollars should best be allocated. And now that all of the broad infrastructure is 'mostly' in place - and no viable, or lack-of-institutional-support excuses remain - RR has time during his 1st season as FB GM to thoroughly evaluate and consider "JW replacement options" and avoid the knee-jerk, unprepared, willy-nilly emergency [interim] HC appointment we witnessed take place down on The Farm. When he replaces the HC it will be done "the right way", like the professional that he is.
Ron Rivera was not responsible for ANY of those personnel changes. Most happened before he was named GM, long before he was "given the keys" and none happened with his input. It was Wilcox/Harsin. Rivera is spending this year "observing" and advising but if he was going to recommend firing people walking in the door he would replace them with people he has connections to (Toler was one) maybe NFL people, and not people Wilcox/Harsin have connections to.
You don't know that. Ron "had the keys" from the moment he accepted the job. Most of you just refused to take Sebasta's and Greg's word for it. You needed some kind of proof, like the immediate beheading of JK. Ron will evaluate who will be the best HC candidate for Cal and, more importantly, the 'best HC' for Cal. He has a very deep rolodex from years of professional networking contacts and personal working relationships and NFL Winter Meetings, and Scouting Combines attended, as well as hirings and firings within his own NFL staffs over 13 seasons as an NFL HC, and DC before that. It will not necessarily be a Cal alum. Likely not. It definitely will not be Burl. He's never even been an OC, and has never called a play or designed an offense or a game plan, or a practice plan.
You have it wrong. Sebasta was very vocal about withholding his NIL contribution until he was assured Rivera was given the keys because he believed he had not been. That was long after the personnel changes. Moreover, there is absolutely no way Ron Rivera comes in and immediately pushes out fellow Cal alum and Cal legacy Burl Toler and alienates the entire Toler family (all Cal alums) and all their Cal alumni friends in Berkeley and the East Bay in order to bring in a WR coach that worked for Harsin in the past? That was all Harsin.
Not trying to speak for Sebasta by any means, and I remember well his leadership in the campaign to withold further financial support from the program until Lyons made it unequivocally clear that Ron had total control of fb by both clarifying that JW was HIS
direct report, and by resolving the JK situation that contiinuesd to hang like a spectre over the fb program and undermine confidence in the new structure. Nevertheless it was stated early, by Sebasta and others - including Ron himself - that "Ron had the keys". But ultimately as the JK shadow persisted, and constant doubts were expressed daily on here and on TOS, I believe that Sebasta felt he needed to press the action to the middle of the table - to exert the maximum leverage at his disposal - to erase all doubt, and all the naysayers, and to assuage the concerns of all of the 'would be' and 'might be' donors who remained on the sidelines until they could be absolutely , unequivocally sure. But that doesn't mean that it wasn't so all the time. It's just that Ron's initial word and Sebasta's initial word, based on what he obviously understood, and relayed to us up front, wasn't good enough. And next steps ultimately had to be taken. That is basically my recollection of the entire process. Sebasta can correct me if I am misstating the correct chronology.
Sebasta said essentially "I'm not speaking for others or telling them what to do, but I am withholding my money until Ron is given the keys."
And again, Toler, a Cal alum that Rivera knows and has worked with in California Legends as our best recruiter, was replaced by Cefalo, a WR coach from Utah State who worked with Harsin at two other stops (Boise State and Arkansas State) and was named on December 13, 2024 according to Calbears.com. That is three days after Harsin was named OC but 4 months before Rivera was even named GM in late March 2025 and 7 months before Rivera was "given the keys" in June 2025, with Knowlton announcing his "retirement" later that same month.
All the personnel changes have been Wilcox/Harsin.
I keep hearing - from a few isolated corners of BI - that "Burl was our best recruiter". WHO has he ever recruited that was a legitimate 4 or 5 star recruit? And of those [ostensibly] borderline 4-star wrs he recruited (and before that he was a rb coach), which ones did he ever develop, coach up, or otherwise 'improve', to a level of talent, skill, or proficiency where an NFL team was even remotely interested enough to commit even a 'Mr. Irrelevant'- level draft pick for? Please, remind me.
Wilcox has had zero high school recruits drafted, and all our drafted players have been on defense, almost all DBs. He has had a staff of poor recruiters, but our best recruiting has been at WR and DB, with a nod to RB recently. OL, DL, and QB recruiting has been terrible.
There is a lot more to an offense than the WRs, but we landed more 4 star talent there than any other position, offense or defense. We have been consistently the worse offense on our conference under Wilcox, but have repeatedly had freshman star WRs who departed for greener pastures after big freshman years under Toler. Nyziah Hunter is just the latest.
The only player Toler coached that got drafted was KeeSean Johnson when Toler was WR coach for his old college coach, Jeff Tedford at Fresno State. Though I bet Hunter will get drafted.
Toler has coached 7 players that made NFL rosters, including Patrick Laird when he was RB coach. Laird was a revelation, but a lot of credit goes to Toler for giving him the carries despite being a walk-on. More recently, Toler found the Jet, Javan Thomas. 4.0 student from Oakland. Prototypical Cal football player. Similarly Toler had a WR at UC Davis that lead FCS in receiving and made the NFL. Context matters.
No we haven't had a Desean Jackson or Keenan Allen, but if we had a good offense, Toler would give us a good shot at landing one. However, maybe another charismatic alum like Geoff McArthur? People here now realize that having a Polynesian OL coach from Hawaii helps us land Polynesian kids including from Hawaii (something long known by most of the top programs on the West Coast who have long had Polynesian OL and DL coaches). Well, I assert it is good for recruiting African American players from LA and the East Bay to have an African American from California on the offensive staff. A Cal alum, even better. A Cal alum, in a big family of Cal alums, spread throughout the state that can make recruits and their families feel like family? I don't think it was smart of Harsin to fire him on day 1 without understanding that, but maybe that is just me.
