Three Years Into the Justin Wilcox Era: Reviewing the First Phase

Justin Wilcox has now been coach of the Cal Bears for over a thousand days.

(Full disclosure: he actually passed the thousand day mark a few months back on his way to three years here, but a thousand days sounds better, so in it goes.)

Justin Wilcox has now been coach of the Cal Bears for over a thousand days, a number that is somehow simultaneously milestone and rest stop – enough time to be celebrated, yet enough distance away from the beginning that reflection is now warranted.

This, of course, also demands that we (briefly) relive exactly where the program was at Wilcox’s beginning, even if we would rather not think of Sonny-er days now.

Truthfully, though, as they wrapped up 2016 by beating up on a listless UCLA squad, the Cal Bears were already verging on a steep decline, thanks to a well-established brand of ball that was good for one to two moments of pure euphoria a season – they went 2-0 against Texas! - but rarely any meaningful victories over more talented teams or state rivals. Put another way: the Dykes era had already seen its best days, and the prospect of yet another shootout laden, defensively inept season under Dykes excited absolutely no one - ultimately becoming one of the primary reasons for his surprise firing that next January.

Still, considering the Bears were starting their search extremely late in the cycle, long after all the other Power Five jobs had filled up, pickings were slim enough already. Factor in the difficulties of coaching Cal in particular – the slow-moving bureaucracy, the fickle, occasionally apathetic fanbase, so on and so forth, obstacles of which you are no doubt aware – and you had yourself an extremely tough hire, who also had to be the near-antithesis of Dykes: defensive oriented, locally sourced in recruiting, West Coast oriented, deliberate. Oh, also, you have to graduate upwards of 98% of players from the top public university in the country.

Sign me up, said Wilcox.

And while it is a shade over-romantic to read deep into the first play of a coach’s tenure and all, it’s never stopped any of us from doing it anyway. Jeff Tedford’s double-pass against Baylor still lives on our lips, after all, and that was almost 20 years ago now.

Human nature is funny like that, I suppose.

Wilcox, though, was and has never been about the theatrics or flash, which is why far fewer people remember his time began like this: a tackle for loss by Devante Downs, a run stopped for a gain of one by Cam Saffle, a broken up wide receiver screen by Marloshawn Franklin.

Three plays, one yard, punt.

They did it again on the next drive, too.

And the one after that.

The Wilcox era in a nutshell: low-profile, excuse-free, no-nonsense, dependable. It too, is a well-established brand of ball at this point, and while it hasn’t carried the Bears to the heights anyone would want as fast as they would like, one need only to visit the Cal basketball home games to know that things are not at all as they once were.

There is an Axe to proudly display, but next to them are the other honors -- a win against USC that matches the numbers they’ve snatched from the ranks of the ranked: #8 Washington State, #15 Washington, #14 Washington again; the fear of God put into countless others. Season ticket renewals that eagerly anticipate a fourth season, rather than dread at its conclusion, and lately, a refusal to rule out the Rose Bowl whatsoever.

As the program enters 6th decade without a game scheduled for January 1st, it’s that last thing that has people most excited. And they’re ready to be, if the attendance surge for Arizona State is to be believed.

Still, I can’t tell you if Wilcox is going to be the guy who gets them there or not. I certainly hope so.

But at this thousand day juncture, he’s certainly got them feeling closer than they’ve been in a long while.

That’s plenty on its own.