Cal wanted to get in on the fun, joining Stanford and UCLA as California-based former Pac-12 schools in need of a football coach for 2026. Cal’s job came open when the school and general manager Ron Rivera fired Justin Wilcox. College Sports Wire has more:
“He was hired ahead of the 2017 season after a stint as the defensive coordinator at Wisconsin, and the highlight of his tenure was an 8-5 finish in 2019. However, he also had six sub-.500 seasons, including a 6-7 finish last year in the Golden Bears’ first season as a member of the ACC. Offensive analyst Nick Rolovich, previously the head coach at Hawaii and Washington State, will serve as the interim head coach for the regular-season finale against SMU and Cal’s bowl game.”
Cal and Stanford, the two Bay Area rivals, are both looking for a coach along with UCLA. It will be fascinating to see where each school lands in its football coaching search. It will also be interesting to see if the three in-state schools will compete with each other for the same pool of candidates or will seek unique directions which don’t interfere with the others’ plans. After games are played this weekend, schools are free to interview any currently employed coach unless that coach is involved in a conference championship game. Such is the process for interviewing coaches directly. The only communications occuring now are with coaches’ agents in backchannel situations.
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: Justin Wilcox firing means 3 of 4 California Pac-12 schools need coach
Reporting by Matt Zemek, UCLA Wire / UCLA Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
