What a weird season it has been. Amazing wins. Devastating losses. Amounting to what will likely be a another forgettable 6 or 7 win season.

In all, I think the coaching staff did a good job with the players available. If you think about how destitute the program was a year ago after losing a Heisman QB, our entire running back room, all but one wide receiver, an NFL tight end along with four NFL draft picks on defense…

I think we would have taken 6 – 4 going into the Big Game in a heartbeat.

There have been a lot of highs:

JKS whooping that ass at Oregon State

Great team win against Minnesota

Upsetting #15 Louisville (+1000)

The moment before SDSU kick-off when we genuinely believed… With all of our hearts… That Cal would make the College Football Playoff.

And the lows:

What went wrong?

Our preseason keys to the season were:

“Decent QB Play from Freshman JKS”  ✅

• Despite some inconsistency, JKS over performed in every way. 

“Decent play from DBs and Safeties” ✅

• Aside from some of the worst tackling known to mankind… They over performed big time.

Was it the offenses fault?

The Wide Receivers dropped so many passes. So many.
Run game was wildly inconsistent and lacked speed.

Still, I put 90% of the blame on the other side of the ball.

Terrible Defense:

We were worried about the DBs before the season… But they were actually great. 

The worst call in the history of Bearly Interesting was the following:

We gave both our Defensive Line and our Inside Linebackers the preseason grades of 

“Incredible” 

Could not have felt more comfortable about our front seven. Cal ranked 14th in the nation against the run in 2024… And everything signaled improvement. 

I cannot believe how bad we have been. It has shocked me to my core and forced me to re-evaluate everything I think I know about football, myself and our collective general existence. 

I could write a full article on what has been going wrong against the run, but I will spare the details. 

This video says it all. Here is the Virginia Tech QB after the game where VT ran for 355 yards against Cal on 58 carries.

*****

I can’t find the video. But basically he says…

“Yeah our game plan was not to run the ball like that. But we kept doing it, and they couldn’t adjust, so we just kept doing it ”

****

I owe an apology to Peter Sirmon, our DC who left after 2024. I believed our defense was underperforming under his tenure, and that having him out of there so WIlcox could act as DC himself would be good for the team.

It was not. Peter Sirmon was a good coach.

So, what is next?

The season isn’t over, but the question on everyone’s mind is… 

What do we do about Wilcox?

A brief review of Wilcox Era:

His first few years… Great start!  

He gets a 5 year extension, deservedly so. Then COVID. 

The 2021 team was garbage. It seems insane looking back, but we extend him AGAIN in January 2022.

At the time I believe the logic was… given conference realignment we can’t afford a rebuild. 

Also, he was flirting with the Oregon Head Coaching job. That freaked us out and we panicked.

Then the three most boring years imaginable. (Dark Age) 

I doubt we will remember the thrilling upset wins and heartbreaking losses because they canceled each other out and left us with unmemorable records.

Justin, if you are reading this I apologize. 

I apologize for not firing you after the 2022 season. And I mean that genuinely. We did you a huge disservice. If you think about the successful careers of Sark and Kiffin… They each needed a good firing plus a stint as a coordinator under a coaching legend for them to come into their own. 

You didn’t get that because Cal was ok with mediocrity. 

If Oregon actually did offer you the coaching job, you probably should have taken it. Cause at least you would have had a new environment to learn and grow. 

There is a huge part of me that wants to keep you next year. No one puts more value on coordinators and position coaches than I do, and the staff you have put together is legit. If we get you an improved roster, and Rivera thinks Cal can make the jump to compete for a CFP spot with you at the helm…. Then I am with it 100%. 

But I would hate to see you sticking around because the buyout number is too high for Cal to pay.

2026 would be your tenth year… The program has been so stagnant for so long, it is hard for me to imagine a breakthrough now. 

I will be the first to admit… We have not made it easy on you. You dealt with bullshit from our administration from day one. Plus NIL changes, conference realignment, etc. I blame you for nothing. 

Sadly, it’s probably time for us to go our separate ways. 

Thank you for everything. You’ve been an amazing Golden Bear.

Before you go though…. How about we go get one more at the farm tomorrow, just for old times sake???