Is Cal Football Coach Justin Wilcox on the Hot Seat?

One of the questions heading into the 2025 football season is whether Cal head coach Justin Wilcox will retain his job if the Golden Bears have a poor season. Put simply, is he on the hot seat?

Wilcox’s Cal contract runs through the 2027 season, but the Bears have not had a winning season since 2019, including 6-7 and a bowl berth last year.

CBS Sports this week took on the task of rating the job security of all 136 FBS coaches. A panel of nine people gave each coach a rating from 0 to 5 to come up with an average score, with 0 meaning complete job security and 5 meaning “win or be fired.”

Wilcox received a 3.44 rating, which falls between 3.0 and 3.99 in the category of “Pressure is mounting.”

Here is how CBS Sports rated the ACC coaches, with the category that puts them in. They are listing in the order of safest to the most vulnerable. We included Notre Dame, which is an independent but plays six ACC schools in 2025.

---Marcus Freeman, Notre Dame: 0.11 -- Untouchable

---Dabo Swinney, Clemson: 0.22 – Untouchable

---Jeff Brohm, Louisville: 0.78 – Untouchable

---Rhett Lashlee, SMU: 0.78 – Untouchable

---Jake Dickert, Wake Forest: 1.00 – Safe and secure

---Brent Key, Georgia Tech: 1.00 – Safe and secure

---Fran Brown, Syracuse: 1.00 – Safe and secure

---Manny Diaz, Duke: 1.22 – Safe and secure

---Bill O’Brien, Boston College: 1.56 – Safe and secure

---Bill Belichick, North Carolina: 2.11 – All good . . . for now

---Mario Cristobal, Miami: 2.56 – All good . . . for now

---Pat Narduzzi, Pittsburgh: 2.56 – All good . . . for now

---Dave Doeren, North Carolina State: 3.00 – Pressure is mounting

---Frank Reich, Stamford: 3.22 – Pressure mounting

---Mike Norvell, Florida State: 3.33 – Pressure is mounting

---Tony Elliott, Virginia: 3.33 – Pressure mounting

---Justin Wilcox, Cal: 3.44 – Pressure is mounting

---Brent Pry, Virginia Tech: 4.11 – Start improving now

The nine panelists who made the ratings may not know the thinking of the decision-makers at each school, so this is primarily based on observations from afar.

Football general manager Ron Rivera has the task of deciding whether the Bears head coach is dismissed or retained, although Chancellor Richard Lyons makes the final call on Rivera's recommendation.

Chancellor Lyons may have offered a hint of his perspective with his statement to Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury-News in an interview back in February:

“Our revenue sports need to be competitive, like so many of our other sports,” Lyons said. “Another six-win regular season [in football] will be disappointing given how much we are investing. We can’t keep investing and not deliver in our revenue sports.”

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