Cal fired football coach Justin Wilcox on Sunday, a day after the Bears were blown out by Stanford, turning the ball over three times to sabotage their chances of winning the 128th Big Game.
The school announced the move Sunday afternoon. Offensive assistant Nick Rolovich will serve as the interim coach.
Entering Saturday’s 31-10 loss at Stanford, Wilcox had won four consecutive Big Games and led the team to a third consecutive bowl-eligible season, but the meltdown proved too much to keep his job.
“After careful consideration, we believe the time has come for new leadership,” Bears football general manager Ron Rivera said in a statement. “We wish Justin the best of luck in his future endeavors.”
Rivera, the former All-American Bears linebacker, took over as general manager of the football program last spring, reporting directly to Chancellor Rich Lyons.
With Rivera on board, the Bears jumped out to an impressive start like they have several times under Wilcox. After beginning the year 3-0 with promising freshman quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele shining, though, Cal has lost five of its last eight games.
Saturday’s loss was the last straw as two of the Bears’ turnovers were returned for Cardinal touchdowns and Cal was flagged for 13 penalties totaling 123 yards. Cal outgained Stanford but lost by 21 points.
“I think they were ready to play in terms of energy and excitement,” Wilcox said of the team after the loss. “Unfortunately, want-to doesn’t equal good football.”
Wilcox, the 49-year-old son of 49ers Hall of Fame linebacker Dave Wilcox, took over the job in Berkeley after spending the 2016 season as Wisconsin’s defensive coordinator. He previously held the position at Boise State, Tennessee, Washington and USC.
Wilcox was 48-55 over nine seasons at Cal, including 5-4 in the Big Game. He won one of four bowl games while in charge of the Bears, whom he took over in 2017 after Sonny Dykes was dismissed.
The high point of his tenure may have been a 2019 win at Mississippi that took the Bears to No. 15 in the Associated Press poll, but that was the last time Cal has been ranked. They lost their next four games but recovered to win the Big Game, beat UCLA and win the Redbox Bowl over Illinois.
That year was Wilcox’s only eight-win season in Berkeley. Before the season, Rivera identified eight or nine wins as his bar for a successful season. With the loss Saturday, eight wins is the ceiling for Cal’s season.
Sagapolutele’s future also hangs over the program. Last offseason, star quarterback Fernando Mendoza left for Indiana, where he has led the Hoosiers to an undefeated start and No. 2 ranking. Rivera and Lyons have touted a renewed energy for fundraising among the Bears’ boosters but without a coach in place, Cal’s pitch to keep Sagapolutele is less clear in the era of Name, Image and Likeness deals and revenue sharing.
Rolovich, the former Washington State coach, joined the Bears staff last offseason along with former Auburn coach Bryan Harsin, as Wilcox sought to boost the offense.
He will lead the Bears next Saturday in their home finale against SMU (5 p.m., ESPN2) and in a bowl game, the program’s third straight.