Cal Football: One-on-One Interview With Coach Justin Wilcox - Part 1

He addresses the successes and failures of the first seven games and his frustration over not getting things fixed.

Cal is one game past the halfway point of its regular-season schedule and no one is more dissatisfied with the Bears’ 3-4 overall record and 1-3 ledger in Pac-12 play than coach Justin Wilcox.

Coming off back-to-back losses to Top-25 teams Oregon State and Utah, the Bears have a bye this week before facing USC at Memorial Stadium on Oct 28.

Wilcox agreed to a one-on-one interview where we discussed every aspect of the Bears’ season, starting with how he has used this week to evaluate what has worked and what has not.

The Bears will devote two days this week to beginning prep work for the USC game  and the players will get the weekend off.

Mostly, though, the focus has been self-scouting, dissecting what needs fixing: Why the Bears haven’t generated more explosive plays on offense, why they still have zero sacks in four Pac-12 games, what’s amiss with their placekicking and return game.

Here’s Part 1 of our conversation:

— During this week, how much evaluation have you done on the performance of your coaching staff, and your own performance?

“That’s what the self-scout is all about. What are we doing well? What aren’t we doing well? How do we need to coach this better? That’s what the self-scout really starts with — us. Before it ever gets to the players, the self-scout starts with the coaches. What are we doing as a program? Practice structure, the meeting time, the walk-through time.

“You start at 10,000 feet and then you go all the way down. And really the last portion is personnel. You start systematically and scheme and practice and workouts and you drill it all the way down to the individual players.”

— As you take stock of the season so far, what are you pleased with?

“I would say, in no particular order, the team has shown up and competed. We haven’t always played well — that’s obvious. In terms of their attentiveness in meetings and practice, I’m pleased with the attention that they bring.

“Three wins against teams that we felt if we play good football, we should beat. I guess that’s a positive.

“Offensive line and the run game, not completely, but has been a strength of ours and much improved.

“Finding some stability at the quarterback position is a positive. I think Fernando (Mendoza) has done a nice job in his opportunities. The program believes in him.

“Our punter (Lachlan Wilson, averaging 45.4 yards), he’s punting at a really high level right now.”

— What has been most disappointing?

“We lost three games that we really had a number of opportunities to win, starting with Auburn. Oregon State, I felt like there were a number of chances for us if we performed better to win that game. Even last week (tied at 7-7 late in the first half at Utah), I really feel that way.

“The efficiency in doing our job on the routine plays we think we can make, we’re not making those at a high enough rate. You’re probably never going to be 100 percent but I think we can be much better there.

“That is one area where I was thinking: OK, what is missing? Why is it we’ve had some routine things where we feel we should make this play on defense or that play on kickoff or that play on offense? What is holding us back from doing that?

"Defensively, in particular, we’ve got to find more negative plays. What we do we need to add? Do we need to pull some things out in order to find some negative plays in the run game and especially in the pass game? 

"We’ve really struggled to get to the quarterback. And even we got there, we’ve had a really hard time getting him on the ground. Especially last week, you could say it was a three- or four-sack game if we tackle him.

“I thought we would have been better in that area this year than we have been. Our aim is to finish much stronger than we’ve started.”

— I presume these are things you’ve been addressing on a weekly basis?

“It’s a constant evaluation of yourself in terms of, all right, are we not seeing something? It can be a bit frustrating, I’ll be honest with you. Our job is to give players answers.

“Sometimes those answers are schematic, sometimes the answers are technique driven. Sometimes those answers are pulmonary, in like you have to play harder more often. Sometimes they’re matchup or ability driven, meaning we make sure this rusher gets on this tackle when we make this call because that’s our best chance to win a one-on-one. It’s all those things. We’re constantly doing that.”

— Watching you for seven seasons, you are very competitive but you also maintain an even keel most of the time. We have seen some frustration from you — do you feel that way and how to do you deal with?

“That’s a great question. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit frustrated, but I’ve got to do a better job of finding answers for the guys. If that means more technique work for them or if it means rotating them more often, we’ve got to play more zero blitz than maybe you think is appropriate to get to the quarterback.

“When you start trading in scheme, there’s give and take with that. If we zero more often, you’re going to be in man and now you’ve got to make those one-on-one plays in coverage if the ball gets out, which it can. You’re constantly living in that gray area. Ultimately, we’ve got to make that decision.

“My job and our job is to make sure that we provide as many answers as we possibly can for the players and then ultimately give them the tools to put them in position to go out and make the play.”

“I know we can play better."

Tomorrow: In Part 2 of our interview, Wilcox addresses staying on task while working through the rough stretches, his conversations with athletic director Jim Knowlton and his response to angry fans on social media.

Cover photo of Cal coach Justin Wilcox by Joe Nicholson, USA Today 

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo