Arizona Football: Coaching candidates to not touch with a ten-foot pole
By Mason Duhon
Not desirable
2. . Justin Wilcox. 2. . Justin Wilcox. player. 2287. . Cal HC: 2017-Present
Wilcox has emerged as a popular name to replace Fisch at Arizona, but his resume with Cal has been underwhelming. Having higher academic standards is no excuse; look at Michigan, Texas, and Notre Dame. He's accumulated a 36-43 record in his seven seasons as Cal's head coach. He's only ever finished above .500 twice, and that was in 2018 and 2019.
The 2019 season was a good one, given that the Golden Bears finished 7-5 in the regular season and won the Redbox Bowl. Since then, it's been tough sledding with four straight losing seasons. Even in 2023, when Cal finished 6-6 and played in the Independence Bowl, they were throttled 34-14 by Texas Tech and ended the season 6-7. To make it worse, the Golden Bears have never had a winning record in Pac-12 play under Wilcox.
Wilcox simply doesn't have the resume to reasonably justify taking over the helm of a rising Arizona squad. Arizona needs to look at postseason records too, and Wilcox just doesn't cut it.