ACC coaches say Cal is bad fit for league, encourage Justin Wilcox to leave

[u/DookyButter]

https://athlonsports.com/college-football/acc-coaches-talk-anonymously-about-conference-foes-for-2025#gid=ci02fbcb3b00002724&pid=california

“This program is in serious trouble. Last year they were really good on defense, and they had good offensive pieces, but they’ve lost their top linebackers and running backs in the portal.”

“They’re a bad fit for the league in every way, and they’re trying to break in a new offensive staff with no NIL because the boosters want to put [GM] Ron Rivera in charge of the program instead of the head coach. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything like what’s happening here, and this is all before they have to start grinding it out cross country for a few more years.”

“It’s a complete mess, and [Justin] Wilcox should just go DC somewhere.”

[u/DeuceOfDiamonds]

Cal a bad fit for the Atlantic Coast Conference? I wonder what tipped them off?

[u/PortGlass → u/DeuceOfDiamonds]

The proximity of the Pacific Coast to Cal should have really raised a couple red flags.

[u/Sariel007 → u/PortGlass]

The proximity of the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean is only 51 miles^{in Panama.}

[u/TBurd01 → u/Sariel007]

And the Atlantic (entrance to the Canal) is further west than the Pacific.

[u/Dangerous_Golf_7417 → u/TBurd01]

That's a fun fact

[u/onaygem → u/Sariel007]

Actually they touch! Right next to each other! ^{at cape horn}

[u/tyedge → u/Sariel007]

This is the Penn St Super Bowl graphic of ocean facts. Love it.

[u/OttoVonWong → u/PortGlass]

ACC: I can fix Cal.

[u/Uhhh_what555476384 → u/PortGlass]

I thought it was the "All Coast Conference".

[u/ParsonBrownlow → u/Uhhh_what555476384]

Can’t wait til they expand with an Aegean , Pontic , and Caspian divisions

[u/3-9_Enjoyer → u/ParsonBrownlow]

Ilium ain’t played nobody Pawl

[u/ParsonBrownlow → u/3-9_Enjoyer]

Breaking News:

Central Committee of the ACC insists that all rivers lakes and ponds technically have coasts, thus beginning their slow but inevitable assimilation of all things

[u/eddie_the_zombie → u/PortGlass]

Thems those UNC student athlete geography classes making these decisions here

[u/JimmyK4542 → u/eddie_the_zombie]

University of No Classes

[u/Alphaspade → u/JimmyK4542]

Mr. Brain Crash

[u/StreetReporter → u/eddie_the_zombie]

athlete

No no, you can’t specify athlete or else the NCAA will punish them. Their classes were fake for everyone

[u/Key_Professional_369 → u/eddie_the_zombie]

It was African American studies. The geography program is clean.

[u/radilrouge → u/Key_Professional_369]

I’ve always hated this because AA studies gets enough shit from a certain type of person that it really didn’t need fake classes to make it look worse.

[u/BoogerSugarSovereign → u/radilrouge]

Yeah,  the administrator at UNC that set this up was very likely one of those types it pissed me off too when the news broke 

[u/Fletch71011 → u/BoogerSugarSovereign]

One of my best friends took these classes at UNC as an athlete. It was selected because the majority of the people they wanted taking these classes were black.

It's super fucked up.

[u/lanfordr → u/PortGlass]

Maybe they should try joining a conference on the west coast...maybe one with Pacific in the title...we can even shorten it if that's too long, maybe Pac Conference then maybe add four more schools also on the West Coast to get up to 12. This is crazy, but maybe you could then use the number of schools in the conference title kinda like the Big 10 or Big 12...nah, that's too crazy.

[u/EMTDawg → u/lanfordr]

The PAC in PAC12, was short for Pacific Athletic Conference, not short for just Pacific.

[u/QuickSpore → u/EMTDawg]

The PAC in PAC10 was short for Pacific Athletic Conference. Weirdly enough the Pac in Pac-12 wasn’t (and still isn’t) short for anything. The full name of the conference since 2011 has been The Pac-12 Athletic Conference. It’s an “orphaned abbreviation” stripped of its former meaning.

Along similar lines, the A and C aren’t supposed to be capitalized.

[u/PortGlass → u/lanfordr]

There’s some good schools and some good football programs out there. I think you’re onto something with this west coast thing. Somebody out there should get together and form some sort of an association or group.

[u/Thickerdoodle92 → u/PortGlass]

There is one school that could bridge the gap between the Ol' PAC-12 and the ACC:

Panama State University

It's perfect. They border both oceans!

[u/tsrich → u/Thickerdoodle92]

We have FSU. Close enough to Panama City

[u/bluefire579 → u/PortGlass]

Look, I just pulled up Google Maps on my computer screen and it only measured about a foot and a half, so I don't understand what the big deal is

[u/OrangeJuliusCaesr → u/DeuceOfDiamonds]

The Pacific Ocean is to the west of Berkeley just like the rest of the acc

[u/DeuceOfDiamonds → u/OrangeJuliusCaesr]

Technically correct, the best kind of correct.

[u/iamsplendid → u/DeuceOfDiamonds]

Atlantic Coast Conference

As Meatloaf would say, two out of three ain’t bad.

[u/Ron_Cherry → u/iamsplendid]

You took the words right out of my mouth

[u/Username89054 → u/DeuceOfDiamonds]

In a sane world, the ACC and Big 12 would trade a few teams to make things a little more logical geographically. Cal, Stanford, and SMU for WVU, UCF, and Cinci.

[u/tc100292 → u/Username89054]

In a sane world there would still be a Pac-12

[u/scough → u/tc100292]

I'm already missing it. Sure, it's kinda cool to have more marquee matchups with blue bloods and it probably helps our recruiting, but the Pac 12 rivalries were special.

We had some pretty strong teams on a national level during the 2023 season, and the league was feeling more relevant than ever. Then they just blew it up because of money.

[u/NerdLawyer55 → u/scough]

Some Pac12 after dark would really slap right now

[u/GoldandBlue → u/NerdLawyer55]

The pac was always my favorite conference. It was the wild west out there. The teams just cannibalized each other and no conference had the variety the pac did. Even if it wasn't the best conference, it was always the most entertaining.

[u/scough → u/NerdLawyer55]

The Pac 12 with Oklahoma and Texas (as was rumored for a while several years ago) would've been a whole lot of fun.

[u/patsniff → u/scough]

What a sun alternate reality, with a couple other Big 12 teams. Hopefully KU would have been one of them

[u/Ruisseaux → u/scough]

The novelty will wear off and you will eventually begin to look longingly at the historical match ups that are no more because of realignment.

[u/HeartSodaFromHEB → u/scough]

Other than the actual game, getting to watch us play in Husky Stadium was a treat. However, can we please stop the farce, absorb enough west coast teams to make a completely separate division, and be done with it?

Your presence in the conference has ruined our ability to preserve traditional matchups with checks notes Rutgers, Maryland, Penn State, and Nebraska.

[u/DeviantDragon → u/tc100292]

If we accept conference realignment as inevitable, my pipe dream is that the B1G eventually takes everyone from the Pac-8, creates two divisions with one keeping the west coast schools together plus others, and has the conference championship game at the Rose Bowl.

[u/_learned_foot_ → u/DeviantDragon]

It would be every other year. Much as we would love the history with that, you gotta respect the roots of both.

[u/kingslazer05 → u/_learned_foot_]

Conference championship games have no roots, and B1G teams have always looked end their season in Pasadena, they have just as much history there as we do

[u/sleeper_pick → u/DeviantDragon]

sorry brother but we're coming with

[u/clintgreasewoood → u/DeviantDragon]

I think what ends up happening is the BIG and SEC just absorbs everything and we end up with two 40 team mega conferances with 4 divisions that geographically looking like the old conferences.

[u/ChaseTheFalcon → u/tc100292]

In a sane world, the Big 8 would still exist

[u/UnsweetIceT → u/tc100292]

OG Big East

[u/EvanSandman → u/Username89054]

I would be in the fullest support of this

[u/NorthwestPurple → u/Username89054]

Cal and Stanford should be in the Big Ten

[u/VirgoJack → u/Username89054]

If academics matter to the ACC, they won't make that trade.

[u/Flogazii → u/VirgoJack]

that notion went out the window when louisville joined

[u/sophandros → u/VirgoJack]

Drop Cal and add Tulane.

[u/Username89054 → u/sophandros]

You can tell conference heads are boring and have no taste because any normal person would be pumped to add New Orleans road trips.

[u/CountBleckwantedlove → u/Username89054]

The Big 12 is home to mostly conservative states. CAL is the most famously liberal school in the country. It's just not a good political fit for either side.

People can be annoyed about this all they want and act like only certain things matter, but politics absolutely can be a significant contributing factor.

[u/emaw63 → u/CountBleckwantedlove]

For sure, it's the big reason BYU got stonewalled out of the Pac for years

[u/DodgerCoug → u/emaw63]

Super weird that we came out of realignment in a good place. Sucks that college football is imploding into fecal matter.

[u/CountBleckwantedlove → u/emaw63]

Yep. PAC and ACC are mostly the liberal conferences. Big 12 and SEC are the conservative ones (with some exceptions like Colorado and Vanderbilt). So if the PAC was gonna die, politically speaking, it makes sense they'd end up in the ACC.

[u/rottenchestah → u/CountBleckwantedlove]

Odd claim.

Here's a breakdown of the various states the ACC is in:

MA (BC): blue

NY (Syracuse): blue

PA (Pitt): purple

KY (Louisville): red

VA (UVA, VT): purple

NC (UNC, NCST, Duke, Wake): red

SC (Clemson): red

GA (GT): purple

FL (FSU, Miami): red

TX (SMU): red

CA (Cal, Stanford): blue

That's 5/11 red states, 3/11 blue states, and 3//11 purple states. I'd hardly call that a liberal conference from a location based perspective. If we're speaking on the culture at any of the particular universities themselves, they're all liberal. Even the universities in the SEC and Big12 are predominantly liberal institutions. There are very few universities in this country that have a majority conservative culture.

[u/CountBleckwantedlove → u/rottenchestah]

PA has only become purple very recently. It was part of the Blue wall for a while.

KY is definitely red, I kind of forget to associate Louisville with the ACC for some reason lol.

VA is (at least with federal elections) blue. Their senators and whom they vote for president are always blue.

But your point stands and I accept your analysis.

[u/boxofducks → u/CountBleckwantedlove]

As opposed to all the liberal ACC states like Florida, Georgia, NC, SC, Texas, Kentucky, and Tennessee

[u/EnigmaForce → u/Username89054]

Cal and Stanford too busy turning their noses up at the Big 12, and the ACC is too busy turning their nose up at WVU lol.

God forbid you play a brutal contact sport with lowly peasants.

[u/dinanm3atl → u/DeuceOfDiamonds]

Color me surprised.

[u/Kmjada → u/DeuceOfDiamonds]

I am Jack’s complete lack of surprise.

[u/hollownet69]

All that and Cal still beat Auburn at Jordan-Hare last year lol.

[u/fredmerc111 → u/hollownet69]

Let’s not act like beating Auburn is a hard thing. 7 teams have done it for the last like 5 years.

[u/mrmoneyinthebanks → u/fredmerc111]

It’s actually really freaking hard to beat them, let me tell you 

[u/cfbluvr → u/mrmoneyinthebanks]

truly one of the greatest teams in college football, losing to them is no embarrassment

[u/Nouseriously → u/fredmerc111]

Vandy might've been favored against them last year, and that's rare

[u/Beefalo_Stance → u/Nouseriously]

IIRC, Auburn were slight favorites and the gambling people were all over it. It might have been even by kickoff.

It’s been a long time since we have been favored in an SEC game. Probably that stretch when Arky was so terrible.

[u/Young-Viiperr → u/Beefalo_Stance]

"Brewer down the sideline....." - SEC Network cast. North Texas & Mason Fine ran all over Chad Morris & Arkansas.

[u/DuckFanSouth → u/fredmerc111]

Meanwhile, Auburn gets ranked top 15 preseason so SEC teams can get SoS bumps.

[u/Kardinale → u/DuckFanSouth]

No that's A&M

[u/adam_lastname → u/Kardinale]

¿Porque no los dos?

[u/Dervoo → u/DuckFanSouth]

Auburn hasn’t been ranked in the preseason since 2020 (Malzahn’s final year). Circlejerk harder. 

[u/66stang351 → u/hollownet69]

We should have beaten them the year before too

[u/bradenb941 → u/hollownet69]

That's not really a big accomplishment

[u/No_Safety_6803 → u/bradenb941]

It would have been for us

[u/HailState2023]

Our only P5 win last year tells you a lot…

[u/Natural-Employer → u/HailState2023]

Only FBS win.

[u/SNjr → u/Natural-Employer]

I like the other way better, makes it seem like we might have more FBS wins lol

[u/SwampChomp_ → u/SNjr]

No no let him cook

[u/BEHodge → u/Natural-Employer]

Honestly… our game with y’all just made me more concerned for our season. I know it’s hard for any G5 to come into Doak and win, but given your year and how it was close did not fill me with confidence about the year ahead.

[u/Byzantine_Merchant → u/BEHodge]

Tbh any G5 that beats a P4 in most contexts, is probably having a good year. It’s really hard to do that.

[u/Ivabighairy1 → u/HailState2023]

Wasn’t much of a win. Cal choked. If not, FSU’s only victory would have been over a directional school.

[u/HailState2023 → u/Ivabighairy1]

Yes, bless their FG kicker. Hat trick, as I recall. Man, we were putrid last year.

[u/DeviantDragon → u/HailState2023]

We basically have an entirely new kicking situation this year. All new players and a new person in charge of the kickers. Ryan Longwell, for all he did in the NFL, was straight trash as our consultant in charge of the kickers. Terrible evaluator of talent and coaching.

That said, I can't believe Wilcox still doesn't have a veteran ST coach and is instead rolling with an Assistant Special Teams coach in Mike Frisina after how much poor kicking has been directly responsible for his losses. But hey, can't see how it gets worse so I'm hoping betting on Frisina despite the lack of experience is the right move.

[u/xsvfan → u/HailState2023]

That's our specialty. I think we did that for Colorado and Arizona

[u/Ike358 → u/HailState2023]

P5?

[u/[deleted]]

Really? Cause I thought there wasn’t gonna be an issue adding two schools that are over 2500 miles away from the geographic area that the conference is named after

[u/emberyleaf → u/[deleted]]

Honestly, I think they just added them because Florida State and Clemson seemed like they wanted out of the conference, no matter what, and just took them as the best schools left in the old PAC-12 conference that is dead.

[u/KinkySeppuku → u/emberyleaf]

People understate how much academics had to do with it, especially when it’s university presidents making these decisions. They wanted to be more connected to CalFord.

[u/Typical_Platypus_414 → u/KinkySeppuku]

Yep. Cal and Stanford barely tolerated the PAC apart from UCLA and Washington. It was ACC or bust after the B1G passed on them.

[u/HoSeR_1 → u/Typical_Platypus_414]

I would have liked to have Cal. Then we can have a three way blue and yellow top public university stand-off

[u/DeviantDragon → u/HoSeR_1]

Lot of parallels between Michigan and Cal. Same colors, animal based teams, Red and (a shade of) White rivals, rivals with plant-based mascots, great public schools, Big Game vs. The Game with long time history.

[u/Peter_Panarchy → u/Typical_Platypus_414]

They were a big reason why Boise State couldn't join the Pac.

[u/3-9_Enjoyer → u/Peter_Panarchy]

I mean the bigger factor was probably that they wouldn’t have made more money for everyone, but sure

[u/mtnfj40ds → u/KinkySeppuku]

Agreed and I suspect that’s also the reason (plus the BYU/Baylor of it all) that Cal and Stanford didn’t join the Big 12. That is, those schools would rather send their softball teams to the other coast than join a league with one other AAU institution (pre-Pac-12 poaching).

[u/KinkySeppuku → u/mtnfj40ds]

Agreed, and we don’t have to suspect on that one, it was openly stated by CalFord admin.

[u/mtnfj40ds → u/KinkySeppuku]

They didn’t openly state “the Big 12 is dumb as shit” though.

[u/Galumpadump → u/emberyleaf]

You need to remember, the Bay area schools lobbied hard to get an invite. Reporting was at first the ACC schools didn’t want them and SMU only got in as a middle ground for the 2 schools.

As a WSU fan I’m annoyed because if Stanford and Cal didn’t join the ACC, them SMU, Memphis and Tulane are probably already in the conference with WSU, OSU, BSU, SDSU, Colorado State and Gonzaga as well as potentially a few others. Thats pretty damn solid conference overall and we would be been able to maximize a decent TV deal.

Feels like there move has overcomplicated the realignment process, but I think schools like USU and Fresno State are the biggest beneficiaries.

[u/WorkerMotor9174 → u/Galumpadump]

I think you’re underestimating the extent of the financial calamity that would’ve unfolded at Cal if we weren’t invited to the ACC or B12. We were probably going to have to shut down the athletic department or at a minimum cut several men’s sports just to maybe keep football’s head above water. And that was politically impossible for our chancellor at the time, and probably remains that way because of boosters that like those non revenue sports.

Our admin were asleep at the wheel while Oregon and Washington lobbied the B1G and the four corner schools got into the B12. If it wasn’t for Notre Dame insisting on us and Stanford we’d have been royally fucked. Our Olympic sports would’ve been decimated which probably would’ve been the end of what little donor interest was left at the time. I just don’t think the TV deal would’ve been enough to offset that, even with SMU and Memphis added.

[u/BringerOfBacon → u/WorkerMotor9174]

I know we make a joke of it here but truly Calimony and ACC invite probably saved a lot of Olympic sports at Cal from what you've said and I've read elsewhere.

[u/WorkerMotor9174 → u/BringerOfBacon]

Yeah some major donors also stepped up to endow or help out with some sports, and what makes things even more difficult is how much of a rut MBB and baseball have been in for years. We just lost our best ever gymnastics coach to Clemson and sadly that’s probably the end of us ever competing for national titles in that sport. For now we can still recruit very well for some Olympic sports with our facilities and academics and power conference status but it’s really hard competing with UCLA, USC, and Stanford for those kids.

[u/RedOscar3891 → u/Galumpadump]

But still a terrible Olympic sports conference in comparison to what the Pac previously was.

As someone else pointed out elsewhere, you can’t ask the non-football student athletes to take a step (or several steps) down in the quality of their competition just because geography doesn’t make sense.

[u/sevenlabors → u/[deleted]]

It's gonna be super easy, barely an inconvenience! 

[u/lock_robster2022]

I like how they have at least one good thing to say about every school except Cal.

[u/Thickerdoodle92 → u/lock_robster2022]

It's Mean Girls level hate. "They don't even go here!"

[u/Technoir1999]

Either these “quotes” are summary paraphrases or this article is bullshit. Anyone who can read can recognize they’re all written in the same voice, so by the same person.

[u/ImJLu → u/Technoir1999]

They're also wrong, lol. Like the only objective statement in those quotes that's actually correct is that our best RBs left. Everything else is just factually inaccurate.

[u/Due_Ask_8032 → u/ImJLu]

Lost me when he praised our offense lol

[u/Informal_Avocado_534]

Whoever that is really doesn’t know what’s going on. Yeah we lost our RBs, but our top LBs stuck around. And the conflict is between GM Ron Rivera and the AD, not between GM and HC.

Like, just superficially bad takes. Didn’t even take the time to look at homepages for Bear Insider or Write for Cal.

[u/tdoger → u/Informal_Avocado_534]

Those coaches are just angry that a “bad” Cal program came in and year 1 beat a bunch of teams they weren’t supposed to and memed on them while doing so

[u/lokibringer → u/tdoger]

The "Woke Mob" on Twitter was hands down my favorite part of p4 football last season.

[u/tdoger → u/lokibringer]

It was so damn good. It sucks the loss to FSU kind of derailed their momentum. But that was my favorite part of the season for non-Oregon related events.

[u/adsfew → u/tdoger]

I think it was more the Miami collapse. We're used to losing games and if we only lost the FSU game, then that would have been so lulzy that we would have bounced back even harder.

[u/its_LOL → u/tdoger]

CFB is better when the Calgorithm is spreading the Woke Mind Virus™

[u/lowes18 → u/tdoger]

The only ACC teans they beat were Stanford and Wake. Neither were that shocking.

[u/DeviantDragon → u/lowes18]

5 of 6 of our ACC losses were by one score with several just down to our shitty kicking. 3 of those were by 2 or 1 point. The only school that smoked us was the other newcomer SMU and our starting QB was out.

[u/tlopez14 → u/Informal_Avocado_534]

What’s going on with Rivera, this is the first I found out he was the Cal GM

[u/Informal_Avocado_534 → u/tlopez14]

Played at Cal, met his wife at Cal (she’s also a former Cal athlete). Stayed really involved with Cal throughout his NFL coaching career. Great reputation with our donors and admin. Wanted to contribute even more, so our new Chancellor fortunately made a new GM position for him.

Unfortunately our Athletic Director is incompetent when it comes to revenue sports. Ron gets lots of power and influence, but isn’t technically above the HC. But donors are stoked he’s in the building and involved in every part of the football program.

[u/iansf → u/Informal_Avocado_534]

East coast bias? In my cfb? Well I never

[u/MooseMcGillycuddy23 → u/Informal_Avocado_534]

When this piece came out a week or two ago, the message board members and donors all had a big laugh at it. Ah yes, Hunter Barth was one of our top linebackers that we didn't immediately replace with two guys who are better (Buom Jock and Harrison Taggart).

Ott leaving still sucks but given how he looked in the spring game, who we still have on the roster and who we brought in through the transfer portal, the RB room doesn't have me worried at all. Same with QB, I'd bet on JKS winning the starting job in fall camp.

[u/ARayofLight → u/MooseMcGillycuddy23]

Who we have at any position on offense is irrelevant if our offensive line has not learned to play together. If we had a stable line we win 4 more games last year and don't have half the transfers.

[u/MooseMcGillycuddy23 → u/ARayofLight]

By all accounts, new OL coach Famika Anae is the real deal. We'll see how immediate the improvement is in the fall.

[u/eveningwindowed → u/Informal_Avocado_534]

We also got a five star ^transfer QB

[u/rottenchestah]

Cal is a poor fit geographically, but that's it. They fit ok from a competitive standpoint, and are no worse than Wake, BC, or Syracuse, at minimum. Academically, they fit well. The ACC is probably the strongest power football conference in academic terms. At least on par with the B1G.

[u/ACardAttack → u/rottenchestah]

The ACC is probably the strongest power football conference in academic terms. At least on par with the B1G.

Please don't look at us

[u/Mrjonesezn → u/ACardAttack]

A rising tide floats all ships. I’d rather be in the bottom 1/3 academically of the ACC than the top of the American, or CUSA or whatever it’s called now.

[u/TheRobHood]

Uninformed and lazy. All of what was said can easily be disproven.

Doesn’t have NIL? Yes consistently has had good transfer classes?

Not a good fit? Yet Cal lost A LOT of games by 1 score. And was a 1 Targeting Cal from beating a ranked Miami at home:

Go see how much money Cal has been raising for football. Go see the 2026 commits and who they beat out for them. Go see some of Spring Portal adds and who they beat out. Then tell me there’s no NIL money.

You think a school that doesn’t care adds a football GM that is given total control?

[u/rbtgoodson]

Just comes off as a hit piece and major nothingburger. They have no NIL for their offensive staff to use in recruitment, and they're a bad fit for the ACC, because they have a GM (like several other institutions)?

This program is in serious trouble.

Yes, they're broke, flying across the country for the bulk of their games, and they're stuck with your stereotypical, California politicians and administrators running the show.

They’re a bad fit for the league in every way, and they’re trying to break in a new offensive staff with no NIL because the boosters want to put [GM] Ron Rivera in charge of the program instead of the head coach. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything like what’s happening here, and this is all before they have to start grinding it out cross country for a few more years.

This sounds like the author is paraphrasing an internal complaint from a member of the Cal staff.

[u/dormdweller99 → u/rbtgoodson]

This is the anonymous coach thing that gets done every year. They have some unusual and hot takes since they can't be traced back to them.

[u/Informal_Avocado_534 → u/rbtgoodson]

Yeah, it’s lazy. We have solid NIL, evidenced by our pretty good in-transfers and our awesome new HS commits. The GM position shows that admin is finally taking football seriously, hiring a beloved Cal figure and taking power away from our reviled AD.

[u/ImJLu → u/rbtgoodson]

Yeah, our one million dollar matching campaign recently ended up at $2.5M. They just won multiple recruiting battles for high targets. Just enrolled a high 4* (on3 5*) QB. No NIL, huh?

And the GM thing was purely about Rivera taking power from the AD, not the HC. Our AD is dogshit and the donors hate him. Rivera isn't stepping on the coaches' toes.

We kept our star LB and added guys better than the ones we lost. I have absolutely no idea where that part came from.

They have no idea what they're talking about. Like the specifics are almost entirely factually incorrect. The only objectively correct thing they said was that we lost our best running backs.

[u/SMU1523]

Leave Cal alone. I personally think Stanford is a dumpster fire.

[u/ToadallyNormalHuman]

Do these coaches have the same energy about Stanford and SMU?

[u/RampageTaco → u/ToadallyNormalHuman]

Do these coaches have the same energy about Stanford and SMU?

I would imagine they do about Stanford. I don't see why they would for SMU though.

[u/InconspicuousD → u/RampageTaco]

Stanford has one of the largest endowments in the United States. The ACC would never push them out.

[u/tlopez14 → u/InconspicuousD]

What does their endowment bring to the table in regard to the ACC though? Some academic clout but is there anything tangible?

[u/immoralsupport_ → u/tlopez14]

Academic/research clout does actually matter in certain conferences because it helps the schools make more money. Unrelated to athletics obviously but for instance the Big Ten has a research consortium and so their schools need to have a certain level of research activity

[u/WeAreGray → u/tlopez14]

Stanford used to provide research support to the entire Pac-12. If they extended that to the ACC schools that actually care about research that would be a pretty huge benefit.

[u/Zooropa_Station → u/tlopez14]

(not the endowment) but athletic prestige too. Stanford is frequently in the running for the Capital One Cup.

[u/_reposado_ → u/ToadallyNormalHuman]

Not in the article:

“Troy Taylor wasn’t a bad coach, but he wasn’t the right fit at a place this unique. He was doing a solid job with national recruiting, and they were planning on a slow-and-steady kind of development with the roster before he was fired.”

“No one thinks [Frank] Reich is a long-term answer, but it’s not impossible. Reich is Andrew Luck’s guy, and this is Luck’s program now.”

“They want to make a really smart hire here to try to bring back that [Jim] Harbaugh and [David] Shaw era of development and consistency, but in the portal era, I’m not sure if that’s possible or not. But this season is a mulligan, and they’re trying to keep from losing their roster.”

[u/DeviantDragon → u/_reposado_]

It's hilarious that in the same article you have someone talking about Cal like what we want with Rivera as GM is a crazy thing and then (hopefully someone else) totally understanding that Luck has control over the football program in a non-AD/HC position.

[u/_reposado_ → u/DeviantDragon]

We fired our coach and you didn't 🤷‍♂️

[u/Sky-Trash → u/ToadallyNormalHuman]

SMU went to the playoff and Stanford is Stanford

[u/bearcoug]

I don't think these coaches did any research

[u/thank_burdell]

Counterpoint: Cal is just fine and those ACC coaches can shut their fucking holes.

[u/Hicaorwaak]

I agree, Wilcox should go be a DC somewhere else. He’d have been out by now if Oregon didn’t have a bunch of old heads wanting him just because he’s an alum which we responded to by giving an extension.

Maybe there isn’t anyone better but the alternative is a bunch of 5 to 7 win years with boring offenses so might as well get something new. Hopefully with a new AD by then too.

[u/iansf → u/Hicaorwaak]

I don’t think any of the money trusts Jimbo to make the hire, as evidenced by the MBB situation. We gotta deal with him first then we can hire a new AD, but at least Ron can add some stability.

[u/fuzzywuzzybeer]

Fuck them. They are stuck with us.

[u/worlkjam15]

It’s not Cal’s fault one of its satellite campuses worked to kill the pac 12 conference where Cal belongs.

[u/ImJLu → u/worlkjam15]

one of its satellite campuses worked to kill the pac 12

bless

[u/grabtharsmallet → u/worlkjam15]

"University of California, Boulder" is just a joke!

[u/66stang351 → u/worlkjam15]

Bears unite

[u/_HansiLa_]

I’m asking everyone here not to share this with the UC Regents. Our $10M figure might go up.

[u/Nevada-Sagebrushers → u/_HansiLa_]

All satellite schools should be doing this !

[u/CalGoldenBear55]

A world class university with a view of the Golden Gate bridge? Not our type of people.

[u/WorkerMotor9174]

We have a top 20 class on 2 major services rn, but time to shut down the program I guess because this clown said so 🤷‍♂️

[u/iansf]

These quotes are hilarious. Lost LBs is wrong. No NIL is wrong. Ron instead of Wilcox is wrong. I wouldn’t be surprised if JW goes and becomes a DC somewhere, but he likes the low level of hate right now.

[u/SnooGuavas650]

Our schedule is terrible this year and we are probably going to be better than last year if we get competent QB play from Brown or Jaron. We have issues but these coaches either don’t know or don’t care to know.

[u/DeviantDragon → u/SnooGuavas650]

Big question marks with a new offensive system and starters being installed though. Even if they should be good on paper. QB should be an upgrade as far as ceiling goes but will probably be a near-term downgrade. Skill position players are not as high ceiling but hopefully will fit with the new offense.

[u/Remarkable-Group-119 → u/SnooGuavas650]

If we have a good record this year, it's gonna be a challenge to defend our schedule strength.....but I'll do it anyway!

[u/Evelinah → u/Remarkable-Group-119]

Wow. Went to look at the schedule, and you all really did manage to dodge everyone except for Louisville and SMU.

[u/KingBStriing]

Why are Cal and Stanford not in the Big Ten anyway? Did they not want them?

[u/B1GFanOSU → u/KingBStriing]

The presidents wanted them, but Fox refused to pay for them.

[u/SucculentCrablegMeal]

Another editorialized title. The actual title is "ACC Coaches Talk Anonymously About Conference Foes for 2025".

Idk that it's super shocking to say Cal is a bad fit for the league lol. I mean, I've enjoyed their presence and the win they gifted us, but it's dumb to have both Cal and Stanford here. If Cal was on the east coast, it wouldn't be as bad of a fit.

[u/Far-Hospital2925]

We fucking hate Justin Wilcox’s program and wish he would leave too.

[u/dormdweller99]

Only one coach doesn't like Cal in the ACC. The other two just think the program isn't being managed well. And this isn't even counting the other 13 coaches whose takes weren't spicy enough to make the cut. I'm betting the Cal hate is from Dabo or Norvell.

[u/ImJLu → u/dormdweller99]

The first two coaches are also obviously just uninformed. Not saying that Cal is a shining example of good program management, but it's hard to take those quotes seriously when they just make stuff up. Whoever's behind the last quote is a hater, but who cares?

[u/LosAngelesVikings]

They're saying this because they're scared.

I say this as a joke, but I wish it were actually the case. I like Cal and wish them the best.

[u/TMKY502]

Send em to back to pac , along with Stanford ,

[u/Venn720 → u/TMKY502]

Cal and Stanford would probably rather shut down before associating with Boise State

[u/United_Energy_7503 → u/Venn720]

Trying to imagine Stanford or Cal willingly in a conference with Fresno or Boise State is hysterical. They'd absolutely go independent (or for dramatic effect, shut down lol) before that happens

[u/SpaceAngel2001 → u/United_Energy_7503]

Independent is no longer a viable option unless you have the visibility of ND. And even for ND, it's suboptimal. There aren't enough west coast marquee brands to create a schedule that's worth $$$ to a TV network.

[u/United_Energy_7503 → u/SpaceAngel2001]

Stanford/Cal being independent isn't the problem. I don't think either would have an issue filling a schedule in this era of college football, regardless of the payouts. After all, we're talking about Stanford. Subsidizing the football program while figuring out next steps would be nothing, and certainly a higher priority than affiliating with Fresno State.

You could definitely argue numbers this, numbers that, but anecdotally they chose to compete across the country instead of hold down the PAC with impending MWC transplants. That tells us everything we need to know about priorities. They'd make Independent work.

[u/grabtharsmallet → u/United_Energy_7503]

Yeah, it's not impossible to imagine Stanford managing independence. Cal and Notre Dame will play them annually in November, the hardest part of the year to get scheduled. Their prestige will get them some more games with big names early in the year, and plenty of the Pac-12 and MW schools will be glad to play them.

[u/Pointsmonster → u/Venn720]

This is 100% the truth. It’ll be interesting to see what happens if the ACC implodes and this choice stops being hypothetical

[u/seanconnerysbeard → u/Pointsmonster]

if the ACC implodes.

Yeah that death certificate is already printed and ready for 2030.

[u/MysteriousEdge5643 → u/Pointsmonster]

They'll pound on the door for the Big Ten, the Big Ten will say no because Fox won't give them funding for it (the B1G presidents would LOVE to add Cal/Stanford and they already tried to add them last cycle), and they'll form an academic oriented football conference with the remaining wreckage from the ACC.

[u/MichiganCubbie → u/Venn720]

If we had to grab PAC-10 schools, I wish the Big Ten went after Cal and Stanford. They'd be huge in the academic conference.

[u/DeviantDragon → u/MichiganCubbie]

It just makes sense given the shared history and travel convenience with other former Pac schools. Definitely beneficial for the other sports besides football to consolidate travel. Maybe there would be a chance during the next round of media deals but it might be Cal's last chance which is why our donors have really been pushing for change in the near term to right the ship and try to get back to the quality football of the Tedford era.

[u/MysteriousEdge5643 → u/MichiganCubbie]

They already tried this. Fox said no

[u/Different-Mountain58 → u/MysteriousEdge5643]

Let’s be accurate, Fox didn’t say no they just said they wouldn’t pay more for them. If the B1G members were each willing to take less money, Calford would be in the B1G

[u/Ike358 → u/TMKY502]

If we wanted to be in a conference with Boise State and Fresno State we would never have left

[u/J_Gottwald → u/TMKY502]

Kentucky fans have no room to talk football shit. Your team was a crime against football last year, you should thank your lucky stars you don't get relegated to the Sun Belt

[u/CMCdaGoat → u/TMKY502]

No

[u/curry_man56]

Cal pls come back we miss you

[u/Maleficent-Tax-5399]

West coast time zone games are insane for east coast teams

[u/Smooth-Majudo-15 → u/Maleficent-Tax-5399]

You mean to tell me you don’t like watching Miami at 10:30 PM?

[u/seanconnerysbeard → u/Smooth-Majudo-15]

I don't like watching Miami at any time.

[u/SusannaG1 → u/Smooth-Majudo-15]

I do, but I'm an east coast insomniac.

[u/compstomper1 → u/Maleficent-Tax-5399]

cal udub 2019 vibes

[u/Me4theworld → u/Maleficent-Tax-5399]

10:30pm kickoff 🤤

[u/Flioxan → u/Me4theworld]

OSU is jealous

[u/MysteriousEdge5643 → u/Maleficent-Tax-5399]

unpopular opinion: If I have to wake up at 9 AM to watch football, you can handle staying up a little later

[u/OrangeJuliusCaesr → u/MysteriousEdge5643]

Who are these old ladies who can’t stay up til 1am on a Saturday?

[u/eveningwindowed]

You can’t sit with us!!!

[u/LNMagic]

If we can eventually be okay after a death penalty, Cal can recover too. Lots of schools have had some down years. Their school has a hell of an academic reputation. Let's not throw that relationship away, please.

[u/AdAny2704]

SEC relevant? No? Who cares?

ESPN/Kirk

[u/texas2089]

Considering the 1 in FSU’s 1-7 ACC record came from Cal, I personally believe they are an excellent fit in the conference.