Cal football coach Justin Wilcox addressed the decision to part ways with offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave and offensive line coach Angus McClure, but he didn't go much deeper on any aspects of the move while taking questions Tuesday.
Not on the timing, not on the process for hiring a replacement, what he's looking for in the next Golden Bears offensive coordinator or even who will call the plays Saturday against Stanford.
"Those are very difficult decisions. They feel personal. A lot of times people in this situation say it's not personal, but it feels that way," Wilcox said during his weekly Zoom call with reporters. "But my role as the head coach is to make decisions in the best interest of the team. There's a lot of consideration given to the timing, and I'm not going to necessarily go into details on all of that. I have a great amount of respect as do all of our players and coaches for Angus and Bill -- they're good people and good coaches and it is very, very difficult.
"But again, at the end of the day, my job, my role is to make those decisions void of any emotion or relationship. And that's what I did."
Cal ranks 89th in total offense at 362.1 yards per game and tied for 96th in scoring at 23.2 points per game. The Bears are tied for 108th nationally in sacks allowed, having given up 30 through 10 games, and 120th in rushing at 97.9 yards per game.
The staff changes came on the heels of Cal's sixth straight loss, a particularly lackluster 38-10 loss at Oregon State in which the Bears managed just 156 total yards (including just 9 rushing yards).
The 'why' on the changes is not one of the questions that needed any answer, but there are plenty of unknowns in the wake of the move.
Understandably and standard with such mid-season changes, Wilcox did not want to get into the process or filling those staff positions.
"When the time is right to discuss all that, I'll discuss it. Until then, we're focusing on our team today," he said. "We certainly know what we're looking for, and again, when the time is right we can delve into that a bit more. But today wouldn't be that time."
Cal (3-7, 1-6 Pac-12) has a very winnable game against rivals Stanford (3-7, 1-7) at home Saturday.
So that is understandably where Wilcox wants to keep the focus, but even on that matter, he wasn't willing to share much, other than to say the offensive side of the ball will be a "collaborative effort" this week. clarity to be had as to how the Bears would operate, who would call in the plays to the field.
As for who will actually call the offensive plays Saturday?
"I'm not necessarily going to get into all that right now, but the game plan will be set up in a way that is friendly and we'll all know the sequence of kind of what's coming next based on this week's preparation and our practice reps and what we feel like gives us the best opportunity in the game in a given situation," Wilcox said.
Less clear is what's coming next for Cal football a program, having already clinched a third-straight losing season as fan frustrations mounts six years into Wilcox's tenure.
