California has fired head football coach Justin Wilcox. The California Golden Bears were 48-55 during his nearly nine year tenure at the helm as head football coach. Here is a look at the California Golden Bears football program since 2008 (the first year that in which I have data for the model) and only covers the last five seasons of Jeff Tedford (2008-2012), Sonny Dykes (2013-2016) and Justin Wilcox (2017-2025*). After the figure below is a more detailed look at the California Golden Bears football program during head coach Wilcox's tenure based on the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model using data provided by www.cfbstats.com. (The vertical school color bars represent seasons where head coaches changed).
Justin Wilcox [2017-2025*]
2017
The Golden Bears finished
the regular season at 5-7 making them bowl ineligible.
The Golden Bears played
against an “average” strength
of schedule (SOS), meaning that California's SOS was plus or minus one standard deviation of the "league's" average SOS. California's
best regular season win
was against #46 ranked Washington State by a
score of (37-3) and their worst regular season loss was to #97 ranked UCLA by a
score of (27-30). California was the #82 ranked team overall, with the #104 ranked
offense and the #44 ranked defense using the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model from the data provided from www.cfbstats.com.
2018
The Golden Bears finished
the regular season at 7-5 making them bowl eligible, where they were
defeated by #56 ranked TCU by a score of (7-10) to finish the
season overall at 7-6. The Golden Bears played
against an “average” strength
of schedule (SOS). California's
best regular season win
was against #12 ranked Washington by a
score of (12-10) and their worst regular season loss was to #103 ranked UCLA by a
score of (7-37). California was the #57 ranked team overall, with the #89 ranked
offense and the #33 ranked defense using the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model from the data provided from www.cfbstats.com.
2019
The Golden Bears finished the regular season at 7-5, making them bowl eligible,
where they defeated #74 Illinois by a score of (35-20) to finish 8-5 overall. The Golden Bears played
against an “average” strength
of schedule (SOS). California's
best regular season win was against #31 ranked Washington by a score of (20-19) and their worst regular
season loss was to #64 ranked Oregon State by a
score of (17-21). California was the #68 ranked team overall, with the #100 ranked
offense and the #34 ranked defense using the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model from the data provided from www.cfbstats.com.
2020
The Golden Bears finished
the COVID-19 shortened regular season at 1-3. The Golden Bears played
against an “average” strength
of schedule (SOS). California's
best/only regular season win
was against #59 ranked Oregon by a
score of (21-17) and their worst regular season loss was to #85 ranked Oregon State by a
score of (27-31). California was the #105 ranked team overall, with the #125 ranked
offense and the #14 ranked defense using the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model from the data provided from www.cfbstats.com.
2021
The Golden Bears finished
the regular season at 5-7 making them bowl ineligible. The Golden Bears played
against an “easier” strength
of schedule (SOS), meaning that California's SOS was between one and two standard deviations higher than the "league" average SOS. California's
best regular season win
was against #65 ranked Oregon State by a
score of (39-25) and their worst regular season loss was to #125 ranked Arizona by a
score of (3-10). California was the #74 ranked team overall, with the #93 ranked
offense and the #37 ranked defense using the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model from the data provided from www.cfbstats.com.
2022
The Golden Bears were 4-8 at the end of the regular season and bowl ineligible. The Golden Bears played
against an “average” strength
of schedule (SOS). California's
best regular season win was against #67 ranked UNLV by a score of (20-14) and their worst regular
season loss was to #131 ranked Colorado by a
score of (13-20). California was the #91 ranked team overall, with the #82 ranked
offense and the #85 ranked defense using the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model from the data provided from www.cfbstats.com.
2023
The Golden Bears finished
the regular season at 6-6 making them bowl eligible, but were defeated
by #67 ranked Texas Tech by a score of (14-34) to finish at 6-7 overall. The Golden Bears played
against an “average” strength
of schedule (SOS). California's
best regular season win
was against #25 ranked UCLA by a
score of (33-7) and their worst regular season loss was to #61 ranked Utah by a
score of (14-34). California was the #70 ranked team overall, with the #49 ranked
offense and the #106 ranked defense using the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model from the data provided from www.cfbstats.com.
2024
The Golden Bears finished
the regular season at 6-6 making them bowl eligible, but were defeated
by #17 ranked UNLV by a score of (13-24) to finish at 6-7 overall. The Golden Bears played
against an “average” strength
of schedule (SOS). California's
best regular season win
was against #35 ranked Auburn by a
score of (21-14) and their worst regular season loss was to #125 ranked Florida State by a
score of (9-14). California was the #52 ranked team overall, with the #74 ranked
offense and the #25 ranked defense using the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model from the data provided from www.cfbstats.com.
2025*
The Golden Bears were 3-3 at the time of Wilcox's firing. The Golden Bears played
against an “average” strength
of schedule (SOS) to this point in the season. At the time, California's
best win was against currently ranked #118 Florida International and their worst regular
season loss was to currently ranked #110 UCLA by a
score of (37-42). At the time of Wilcox's firing, California was the #39 ranked team overall, with the #58 ranked
offense and the #24 ranked defense using the Complex Invasion College Football Production Model from the data provided from www.cfbstats.com.
2025 FBS Head Coach Changes