California fires head football coach Justin Wilcox

California has fired football coach 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 overall record. He was 26-47 in conference play, with those games split between the Pac-12 Conference and the Atlantic Coast Conference.

California started the 2025 season on a strong note under Justin Wilcox, getting out of the gates with a 4-1 start. But things have trended steadily south ever since, particularly as conference play hit.

The Golden Bears lost on Saturday at Stanford 31-10 in a fairly lifeless showing. That prompted the change atop the program.

According to Nakos, offensive assistant Nick Rolovich is being named the interim coach with Justin Wilcox out. He is a former head coach at Washington State.

Even with the change there are some reasons for optimism for the program, starting with freshman quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele. He has been a revelation throughout the season, though he’s come back down to earth a bit in recent weeks.

He was instrumental in the team knocking off No. 15 Louisville at Louisville two weeks ago. The talented freshman threw for 323 yards and two touchdowns in the 29-26 overtime upset.

Retaining him will be key now with Justin Wilcox gone. But California has sounded confident on that for weeks, coaching situation notwithstanding.

General manager Ron Rivera offered a short but blunt comment when asked about it at the start of October. That was when the freshman phenom was at the height of his run with the Golden Bears.

“At the appropriate moment,” Rivera said, ostensibly referring to a compelling NIL package. “We’ll get it ready to go… I am [confident]. I really am.”

Justin Wilcox, though, was unable to win enough to salvage his job even with the talented freshman. The team still has one game remaining against SMU. A win would have given Wilcox his second-winningest season with the program at seven wins.

California won seven games in Wilcox’s second season with the program in 2018, then it won eight games the following year in 2019. However, reaching that level of success again had proven elusive.

The Golden Bears went 6-7 in each of the last two seasons, dropping a bowl game after finishing the regular season at .500. That could very well be the same trajectory in 2025, though now it will happen with an interim coach.