Justin Wilcox has been the head coach of Cal for the past eight seasons. If you look at his yearly results, you would understand why he's on this list. Has Cal been a consistent power in college football? No. Have they performed to expectations during Wilcox's time at the school? Absolutely. However, now times are different for the Golden Bears.
Last year was Cal's first season in the ACC, a conference that has some of the most successful programs the sport has ever seen. So, the prioritization on being a competitive football team ramps up, and Berkeley wants to prove that it belongs in the league. Fellow newcomer SMU has already experienced a great deal of success as the Mustangs made it to the College Football Playoff.
As head coach, Wilcox has never had a season with nine wins or more. Only once has he won eight games in a season, and that was only earned through a victory over Illinois in the Redbox Bowl that year. So, if you're only looking at the regular season results, Cal's high mark for wins is seven. How much longer will the university tolerate mediocrity?
In six of the years in which Wilcox has coached, the Golden Bears have finished with losing records. They've never come close to ending a year in any of the national polls. Being in a more prestigious conference, you would think Cal would want some more wins from their football program. The school has never openly said they were considering a change throughout the entirety of Wilcox's tenure.
However, it's hard to imagine they would want to continue working with the veteran coach if the trend of mediocre football continues. Everyone involved in college football would have to think that Cal wants to prove that they are worthy of being in the ACC. They should want to accomplish that, and if they want to, they can't keep allowing the Golden Bears to finish with sub-.500 records every year.