Justin Wilcox firing: Cal to name Nick Rolovich as interim head coach

California decided to be the latest program to fire its coach this evening, with the Golden Bears moving on from Justin Wilcox. Now, we reportedly know who will take over for the end of their season in the interim.

Per sources speaking to On3’s Pete Nakos, after originally being reported as well by ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Nick Rolovich will take over as the interim head coach at Cal. He’ll apparently be ending his first season in Berkeley by going from being a senior offensive assistant on staff to taking over for the final two games for the Golden Bears.

“Former Washington State coach and Cal offensive assistant Nick Rolovich is being named interim, a source tells @On3sports,” Nakos posted this evening. “ESPN first.”

Rolovich was last a college head coach from 2016 to 2021, with four years spent at his alma mater at Hawaii before eleven games in total, due to the pandemic as well as his eventual firing, at Washington State. He had a record of 28-27 (.509) with the Rainbow Warriors and 5-6 (.455) in his short stint with the Cougars to be dead even at 33-33 (.500) while in Honolulu and Pullman. He then has over a decade and a half of coaching experience, with the most notable work being other offensive roles at Hawaii as well as Nevada.

However, Rolovich is most remembered for how his very brief tenure ended at Wazzu. He, along with some members of his staff, did not comply with vaccine mandates for state employees, or those handed down by the conference at the time in the Pac-12, during COVID-19 in 2021. He, basing his decision on religious beliefs, then sued the school for doing so, which he has since lost by a decision from a federal judge earlier this year in January of 2025.

At the time, Jake Dickert, now the head coach at Wake Forest (8-3) elsewhere in the ACC, replaced him at Washington State, as he left there last fall being 23-20 (.535) over three and a half seasons with the Cougars. This was then the first job of note back in collegiate football for Rolovich, with it now leading to him being an interim for the final regular-season game next weekend against SMU before an eventual bowl game for Cal.

California fires Justin Wilcox

California has fired Justin Wilcox before the regular season finale, according to a report from On3’s Pete Nakos. He was in his ninth season with the program.

During his time with the Golden Bears, Wilcox compiled a 48-55 (.466) overall record. He was 26-47 in conference play, with those games split between the Pac-12 and then the ACC since realigning in 2024.

California started this season on a strong note under Wilcox, getting out of the gates with a 4-1 start. But things have trended steadily worse ever since, particularly as conference play hit with the Golden Bears having lost four of six to be 6-5 (.545) with one game left in 2025. This also comes after last night with a 31-10 loss at Stanford, which has seemingly prompted the change in Berkeley.

Wilcox was unable to win enough to salvage his job. The team still has one game remaining against SMU, with a win being the difference in Wilcox finishing with his second-winningest season with the program with seven. Cal won seven games in his second season with the program in 2018, and then won eight games the following year in 2019. However, reaching that level of success again had proven elusive, with five straight losing finishes from 2020 to 2024.