California football now enters the list of Power Conference openings, after the school fired Justin Wilcox Sunday. The move comes after Stanford pummeled its Bay Area rival to win back the famed Axe.
Wilcox once appeared to be safe. He guided the Golden Bears to a third straight bowl eligible season — a first for the head coach. That feat also tied Wilcox with Jeff Tedford and Pappy Waldorf in becoming only the third Cal coach to lead three straight bowl campaigns.
However, Wilcox's team never replicated the success of his past coaching mentor in Berkeley Tedford. None of Wilcox's teams won more than eight games each season at Cal. Now the Stanford loss became the final straw.
His current team sits at 6-5 overall following the crushing loss to Stanford. The Cardinal also underwent its own coaching change involving Troy Taylor and Frank Reich, the latter replacing Taylor during the spring.
Who steps in for Justin Wilcox at California?
Nick Rolovich will lead the team for the SMU game, Pete Nakos of On3/Rivals and ESPN reported.
The interim head coach has led teams before — notably at Hawaii and Washington State. Rolovich was fired from the latter university after refusing to get the state required COVID-19 vaccine during the pandemic. Rolovich then lost a Jan. 2025 lawsuit against Washington State.
Cal delivered its mix of high and low moments under Wilcox. He managed to help win over five-star quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele on the college football recruiting trail — who eventually won Cal's starting gig.
But Wilcox struggled to adjust to a changing CFB climate — one that involved Ron Rivera stepping in as general manager. Cal also lost star running back Jaydn Ott to the portal, amid reported tensions between players and new offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin. But the most high-profile loss was quarterback Fernando Mendoza, who's since become a Heisman Trophy contender at Indiana.
The next head coach takes over a team that'll enter their third season in the Atlantic Coast Conference. But hasn't won 10 games since 2006.
