Justin Wilcox
Justin Wilcox went 48–55 as a head coach, 2017–2025, at California. Share
- Record
- 48–55 career
- Seasons
- 9
- Schools
- 1
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Born
- Nov 12, 1976
- Alma mater
- Oregon 1999
- Best season
- 2019 8–5
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | California | 5–7 | 5th (North) | |||
| 2018 | California | 7–6 | 5th (North) | Cheez-It Bowl L | ||
| 2019 | California | 8–5 | T–2nd (North) | Redbox Bowl W | ||
| 2020 | California | 1–3 | T–5th (North) | |||
| 2021 | California | 5–7 | 4th (North) | |||
| 2022 | California | 4–8 | T–9th | |||
| 2023 | California | 6–7 | T–7th | Independence Bowl L | ||
| 2024 | California | 6–7 | T–14th | LA Bowl L | ||
| 2025 | California coached 11 of 13 games | 6–5 |
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.
Players he coached
Nohl WilliamsConsensus All‑American, 2024
Every player from his seasons with a Heisman top-five finish, a national award, consensus All-America honors or a first-round pick. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, free licenses; credits on each player’s page.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 26 | 5–21 | 19% |
| Against top-10 teams | 11 | 1–10 | 9% |
| Against rivals | 16 | 7–9 | 44% |
| Conference games | 73 | 26–47 | 36% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 4 | 1–3 | 25% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 47 | 19–28 | 40% |
| At home | 52 | 30–22 | 58% |
| On the road | 47 | 17–30 | 36% |
| At neutral sites | 4 | 1–3 | 25% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 47 | 29–18 | 62% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 56 | 19–37 | 34% |
His own 103 games on file, 2017–2025, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| David Shaw 2017–2022 | 3–3 | Stanford | 6 | |
| Chip Kelly 2018–2023 | 2–4 | UCLA | 6 | |
| Jonathan Smith 2018–2023 | 2–4 | Oregon State | 6 | |
| Mario Cristobal 2018–2024 | 1–4 | Oregon, Miami | 5 | |
| Chris Petersen 2017–2019 | 2–1 | Washington | 3 | |
| Mike Leach 2017–2019 | 2–1 | Washington State | 3 | |
| Clay Helton 2017–2019 | 1–2 | USC | 3 | |
| Jedd Fisch 2017–2022 | 1–2 | UCLA, Arizona | 3 |
Justin Wilcox’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Stanfordseries | 9 | 5–4 |
| Oregon Stateseries | 9 | 5–4 |
| UCLAseries | 7 | 2–5 |
| Oregonseries | 7 | 1–6 |
| Washington Stateseries | 6 | 3–3 |
| USCseries | 6 | 2–4 |
| Washingtonseries | 6 | 2–4 |
| Coloradoseries | 4 | 2–2 |
How he was hired
- Hired by California for the 2017 season from Wisconsin, where he was defensive coordinator.
Power-conference head-coaching hires since 2010, with each coach’s previous job and ties to the school as collected by hand from Wikipedia: Hiring facts: M. Schuckers, cfb_coach_analytics.
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001–02 | Boise State | Graduate assistant | |
| 2003–05 | California | Linebackers coach | |
| 2006–09 | Boise State | Defensive coordinator | |
| 2010–11 | Tennessee | Defensive coordinator | |
| 2012–13 | Washington | Defensive coordinator | |
| 2014–15 | USC | Defensive coordinator | |
| 2016 | Wisconsin | Defensive coordinator | |
| 2017–25 | California | Head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Dan HawkinsBoise State
- Jeff TedfordCalifornia
- Chris PetersenBoise State
- Derek DooleyTennessee
- Steve SarkisianWashington, USC
- Marques TuiasosopoWashington
- Clay HeltonUSC
- Paul ChrystWisconsin
Assistants who became head coaches
- Beau BaldwinCentral Washington, Eastern Washington, Cal Poly
- Jerry AzzinaroWestern New England
- Marques TuiasosopoWashington
- Tim DeRuyterTexas A&M, Fresno State
- Jake SpavitalTexas State
- Tim PloughUC Davis
- Sterlin GilbertMcNeese
- Bob GregoryBoise State, Washington
- Bryan HarsinArkansas State, Boise State, Auburn
- Nick RolovichHawai’i, Washington State, California
Worked under (8)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dan Hawkins | Boise State | 2001–02 | Graduate assistant | |
| Jeff Tedford | California | 2003–05 | Linebackers coach | |
| Chris Petersen | Boise State | 2006–09 | Defensive coordinator | |
| Derek Dooley | Tennessee | 2010–11 | Defensive coordinator | |
| Steve Sarkisian | Washington | 2012–13 | Defensive coordinator | |
| Marques Tuiasosopo | Washington | 2013 | Defensive coordinator | |
| Steve Sarkisian | USC | 2014–15 | Defensive coordinator | |
| Clay Helton | USC | 2015 | Defensive coordinator | |
| Paul Chryst | Wisconsin | 2016 | Defensive coordinator |
Coached under him, later head coaches (10)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beau Baldwin | California, 2017: assistant head coach, offensive coordinator and running backs coach; 2018: assistant head coach and offensive coordinator; 2019: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | Central Washington, Eastern Washington, Cal Poly | |
| Jerry Azzinaro | California, 2017: defensive line coach | Western New England | |
| Marques Tuiasosopo | California, 2017–18: quarterbacks coach; 2019–20: tight ends coach | Washington | |
| Tim DeRuyter | California, 2017: defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach; 2018–19: defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach; 2020: assistant head coach, co-defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach | Texas A&M, Fresno State | |
| Jake Spavital | California, 2023: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | Texas State | |
| Tim Plough | California, 2023: tight ends coach | UC Davis | |
| Sterlin Gilbert | California, 2024: passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach | McNeese | |
| Bob Gregory | California, 2025: analyst; 2025: inside linebackers coach | Boise State, Washington | |
| Bryan Harsin | California, 2025: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | Arkansas State, Boise State, Auburn | |
| Nick Rolovich | California, 2025: senior offensive assistant | Hawai’i, Washington State, California |
Other assistants under him (8)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Erik Meyer | California, 2017–19: offensive quality control coach | |
| Peter Sirmon | California, 2018: assistant head coach and inside linebackers coach; 2019: assistant head coach, co-defensive coordinator, inside linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator; 2020–24: defensive coordinator, inside linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator | |
| Bill Musgrave | California, 2020–22: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Keith Heyward | California, 2021: outside linebackers coach; 2025: defensive backs coach | |
| Kenny Hill | California, 2022: offensive quality control coach | |
| Vic So’oto | California, 2022: outside linebackers coach; 2023–24: special teams coordinator and outside linebackers coach; 2025: co-defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach | |
| Mike Bloesch | California, 2024: offensive coordinator | |
| Terrence Brown | California, 2025: co-defensive coordinator |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
Pay
| Year | School | Job | Contract pay | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | California | head coachbonuses up to $900,000; buyout $8,708,500 | $1,600,000 USA Today | |
| 2016 | Wisconsin | defensive coordinatorbonuses up to $117,000 | $500,000 USA Today |
USA Today’s coaches salary database (2014–17, from public-records requests to the schools; Rachel Ehlers’ copy): the season’s contract pay, school pay plus outside money, before bonuses.
Pay of public employees in their public job only: head coaches, and assistants in the seasons our records name them a coordinator, at public universities.
How he coached
Wilcox’s teams went for it on 23% of fourth downs and on 42% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 55% of plays and took 25.2 seconds a play, 2017–2025.
| Season | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 12 g | 24 of 103 23% | 34% | 57% | 22.9 | +0.03 | |
| 2018 13 g | 27 of 116 23% | 47% | 50% | 25.4 | −0.15 | |
| 2019 13 g | 16 of 103 16% | 30% | 49% | 26.1 | −0.01 | |
| 2020 4 g | 8 of 36 22% | 42% | 54% | 25.1 | −0.07 | |
| 2021 12 g | 28 of 95 29% | 49% | 52% | 27.3 | +0.03 | |
| 2022 12 g | 21 of 103 20% | 41% | 64% | 25.8 | +0.05 | |
| 2023 13 g | 34 of 106 32% | 50% | 49% | 23.4 | +0.03 | |
| 2024 12 g | 20 of 103 19% | 41% | 59% | 24.8 | +0.03 | |
| 2025 13 g | 24 of 100 24% | 51% | 60% | 25.5 | +0.02 | |
| All 104 g | 202 of 865 23% | 42% | 55% | 25.2 | 0.00 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.