Cal -
Phogge - 12-01-2019
Despite a lack of four star recruits the Bears go 7-5 with the Axe back in Berkeley. Isn’t it time to give Wilcox some credit? Probably not from you Bear haters.
RE: Cal -
gailtate - 12-01-2019
(12-01-2019, 06:46 AM)Phogge Wrote: Despite a lack of four star recruits the Bears go 7-5 with the Axe back in Berkeley. Isn’t it time to give Wilcox some credit? Probably not from you Bear haters.
Bear hater here. With nothing but good things to say about Wilcox. Good coach. Hope he can hang around for many years and keep the pressure on the other California schools. Berkeley needs a guy like him. And Stanford needs a bona-fide rival.
RE: Cal -
OutsiderFan - 12-01-2019
(12-01-2019, 06:46 AM)Phogge Wrote: Despite a lack of four star recruits the Bears go 7-5 with the Axe back in Berkeley. Isn’t it time to give Wilcox some credit? Probably not from you Bear haters.
I have been telling this board to beware of Wilcox for a couple years. Leach, Wilcox, and Jonathan Smith all doing more with less. Oregon and Washington doing more with more. That leaves Stanford at the bottom of the Pac-12 North standings.
Cal would have likely gone 9-3 had Garbers stayed healthy, and they possibly could have taken down Oregon to go 10-2. It wasn't that far from happening.
RE: Cal -
SamuelMcF - 12-01-2019
I laughed when Wilcox was hired, since he was USC's DC when they gave up 461 (?) all-purpose yards to CMac in the 2015 P12 championship and was promptly fired.
I am no longer laughing.
RE: Cal -
BostonCard - 12-01-2019
(12-01-2019, 09:07 AM)OutsiderFan Wrote: (12-01-2019, 06:46 AM)Phogge Wrote: Despite a lack of four star recruits the Bears go 7-5 with the Axe back in Berkeley. Isn’t it time to give Wilcox some credit? Probably not from you Bear haters.
I have been telling this board to beware of Wilcox for a couple years. Leach, Wilcox, and Jonathan Smith all doing more with less. Oregon and Washington doing more with more. That leaves Stanford at the bottom of the Pac-12 North standings.
Cal would have likely gone 9-3 had Garbers stayed healthy, and they possibly could have taken down Oregon to go 10-2. It wasn't that far from happening.
I’m not sure that a 7-5 season from Petersen qualifies as doing more with more, and while Oregon has had a step function improvement in recruiting, two losses probably has left a lot of duck fans disappointed. Given that Herbert came back, I’m fairly certain that many fans were hoping to make the playoffs. Cristobal is an outstanding recruiter as back to back top classes in the PAC-12 attest. It’s still TBD if he is a great coach.
To me the biggest upside surprise this year was OSU. Unfortunately, they just missed a bowl, but they took a few teams by surprise.
I agree with others that Cal has also outperformed this year.
BC
RE: Cal -
winflop - 12-01-2019
Wilcox has turned out better than I thought but it's one good year. If he has a second good year I expect him to leave
RE: Cal -
Goose - 12-01-2019
(12-01-2019, 01:19 PM)BostonCard Wrote: I agree with others that Cal has also outperformed this year.
BC
Cal is a bit hard to figure. I do think the fan base expected them to improve over 6-6, and they did, but not by much. Harder to say they "outperformed". They had lots of injuries, especially on the OL and QB, that definitely cost them some games. In that sense, improvement would not be probable, yet it happened. Garbers was much better than advertised. He seems to be one of those guys who isn't obviously superior, he just goes out and wins. OTOH, the defensive secondary was supposed to be very strong. They were not as good as billed. Next year will probably be an inflection point for Wilcox, one way or the other. He has lots of defense to replace. The offense should be as good if not better, although WR is a bit of an issue as I understand it. Recruiting has supposedly not been great, making the defense replacements a bit of a question.
If Cal is better next year than this year, look out, they are going to stick around as a problem for quite a while. If they regress, it is not clear how much patience the fan base will have. The large Wilcox buyout may be his best friend in that case. It sounds a bit crazy that anybody would want to replace the coach after year on year improvement, but one "oh shit" cancels out all the "attaboys" with football fans.
RE: Cal -
BostonCard - 12-01-2019
I would think the injuries would have given Wilcox a bit of an out, though I don’t go to Bearinsider so I don’t know what the gestalt is there. But if he were coaching Stanford I’d look at year to year improvement, and take heart in the offensive improvement when Garbers was playing, and lament the fact he was injured.
BC
Forgot... the biggest outperformer this year was Wittingham, and though they brought back an experienced group, I don’t think anyone expected them to have a shot at the playoffs.
BC
RE: Cal -
martyup - 12-01-2019
Cal sucks.
RE: Cal -
Phogge - 12-01-2019
Marty that post belongs in a separate thread, “Cal Sucks.”
RE: Cal -
martyup - 12-01-2019
(12-01-2019, 07:10 PM)Phogge Wrote: Marty that post belongs in a separate thread, “Cal Sucks.”
Yeah, we should have a permanent thread pinned to the top of the board -- CAL SUCKS!
RE: Cal -
Farm93 - 12-01-2019
(12-01-2019, 01:27 PM)winflop Wrote: Wilcox has turned out better than I thought but it's one good year. If he has a second good year I expect him to leave
He doesn't need another good year. There will be plenty of big time openings this season. And if he can get 7 or 8 wins at UCB he can definitely get 10 wins at .... Missouri, Florida State, Texas, etc.
UCB does not have the budget to keep a good coach, and he has almost nothing that binds him to UCB for the long haul.
Perhaps more importantly the rumors of his departure will dominate the narrative until he leaves likely ruining recruiting efforts every season he stays. Even if UCB signs him to a big contract, it will not be enough to keep the big football powers away.
And he has to know that his odds of long term success are much better at almost any other program in the FBS.
It is the stress for fans in the West that comes from not having a coach with real bonds to the school. Most of the Pac-12 programs will struggle to keep any coach or assistant coach with a season or two of success given the money in the SEC and BigTen.
RE: Cal -
CowboyIndian - 12-01-2019
I just read that $C had fired Clay Helton. Wonder which direction they'll take.
RE: Cal -
BostonCard - 12-01-2019
(12-01-2019, 11:03 PM)CowboyIndian Wrote: I just read that $C had fired Clay Helton. Wonder which direction they'll take.
Might have been premature publication.
https://www.latimes.com/sports/usc/story/2019-12-01/clay-helton-remains-usc-football-coach-for-now
BC
RE: Cal -
Phogge - 12-02-2019
Would that be a premature eviction?
RE: Cal -
qwerty49 - 12-02-2019
(12-02-2019, 01:57 AM)Phogge Wrote: Would that be a premature eviction?
Premature ejection....