Cal's Justin Wilcox Ranked 9th Among Pac-12 Coaches by CBS Sports

The site has Lincoln Riley No. 1 and suggests Wilcox's job might be in jeopardy if Cal has a disappointing 2023 football season

CBS Sports presented its ranking of Pac-12 football coaches on Tuesday, and three things are significant regarding its ranking of Cal head coach Justin Wilcox.

1. Wilcox is the only conference coach whose ranking dropped from last year. And not only did his ranking slip but it dropped three spots, from No. 6 last offseason to No. 9.

2. Two of the three coaches ranked lower than Wilcox are entering their first seasons as FBS head coaches (Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham and Stanford’s Troy Taylor).

3. CBS Sports’ assessment of Wilcox includes this ominous phrase: “It's possible with a disappointing season in 2023 that this could be his last with the Bears.”

Here is that assessment:

9 California

Justin Wilcox (58 overall):

Wilcox is one of the coaches on this list to drop a few spots from last season. It's possible with a disappointing season in 2023 that this could be his last with the Bears. Cal hasn't had a winning season since 2019, and the time is now to produce. He elected to sign a big contract extension last offseason after receiving consideration for the Washington job. As a defensive mind, he's one of the best in the country, but as a CEO of an increasingly difficult place to win, the jury remains out.

Last year: 6 in Pac-12

You will note that former Cal quarterback Troy Taylor, who is entering is first season as Stanford's head coach, is ranked last in the Pac-12 and last among the 69 Power Five conference coaches. However, he received that lowly ranking primarily because this will be his first season as an FBS head coach.

The CBS Sports ranking of Pac-12 coaches:

1. USC -- Lincoln Riley

2. Utah -- Kyle Whittingham

3. UCLA -- Chip Kelly

4. Washington -- Kalen DeBoer

5. Oregon State -- Jonathan Smith

6. Oregon -- Dan Lanning

7. Colorado -- Deion Sanders

8. Washington State -- Jake Dickert

9. Cal -- Justin Wilcox

10. Arizona -- Jedd Fisch

11. Arizona State -- Kenny Dillingham

12. Stanford -- Troy Taylor

In May CBS Sports ranked all 69 coaches in Power Fiver conference schools, and Wilcox was No. 58, with the caveat that all head coaches entering their first season at the school were listed at the bottom of the rankings.

CBS Sports' assessment of Wilcox in that ranking focused on how difficult it is to win at Cal, and included this eye-opening phrase: “Not only are you trying to recruit to a school with higher academic standards in the transfer portal era, but you're doing so at a place with members of the administration who believe the program shouldn't even exist!”

Here is that assessment:

58 California

Justin Wilcox

: There may not be a harder place to coach in the Power Five right now than Cal. Not only are you trying to recruit to a school with higher academic standards in the transfer portal era, but you're doing so at a place with members of the administration who believe the program shouldn't even exist! That can't be fun. Wilcox had gone 20-18 in his first three seasons at Cal but is only 10-18 since the COVID-19 season of 2020. I don't think that's a coincidence.

2022 rank: 44 (-14)

Cover photo of Justin Wilcox by Darren Yamashita, USA TODAY Sports

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