How Cal Coaches Have Fared in Their Fourth and Fifth Seasons

Current Cal Head Coach Justin Wilcox

Justin Wilcox is entering his fifth year as Cal’s head coach. I thought it might be revealing to look back at how previous Cal head coaches have done in their year fifth year at the helm. BUT. Do we really count the truncated, bifurcated, covid-ravaged mess of 2020? I do and I don't. Since you may consider this his fourth FULL season or his fifth season, I decided to look at how all previous Bear coaches have fared in both their fourth and fifth seasons.

We’ll start with fourth-year coaches:

First let’s look at the coaches who had successful tenures. (I define successful as having gone to a Rose Bowl or won or shared a conference title or finished in the top ten in their time with the Bears.)

Andy Smith’s fourth team (1919) went  6-2-1, a slight drop off from the 7-2 1918 campaign. Of course the following season was the first of the Wonder Teams.

Nibs Price’s fourth year (1929) saw the Bears finish with an excellent 7-1-1 record however the one loss was in the Big Game and cost the team a trip to the Rose Bowl. Still, it was Price’s best overall record as head coach.

Stub Allison’s fourth season (1939) saw the Bears follow their unbeaten campaign by going 10-1 losing only at U$C. It was the last of the Thunder teams.

Pappy Waldorf went undefeated and to the Rose Bowl in his fourth year (1950). The season only marred by a tie in the Big Game and of course their third successive Rose Bowl loss.

Mike White’s fourth year team (1975) was his best going 8-3 and earning a share of the conference title.

Bruce Snyder’s fourth season (1990) produced the Bears’ first winning record in eight years and earned it’s first bowl appearance in eleven as they sported a 7-4-1 record.

Jeff Tedford’s fourth year (2005) was sandwiched in between his two best seasons but was pretty good in its own right with the Sturdy Golden Ones going 7-4 in the regular season then winning their bowl game for an overall record of 8-4.

Thus every successful Cal football coach had a winning record in his fourth season. Four coaches had their best teams and one had a breakthrough season.

Now let’s look at the coaches with unsuccessful tenures. (I define unsuccessful as having failed to go bowling and/or having a losing record overall.)

Navy Bill Ingrahm’s fourth season (1934) was his first not to produce a winning record. The Bears finished at .500 (6-6) and Allison was fired.

Marv Levy’s fourth season (1963) was the last of his tenure and like all those that preceded it was a losing campaign.

Ray Willsey went 5-5 in his four year (1967) just as he had in his second season, oddly his first and third teams went 3-7. He finished his career at Cal two games under .500 after coaching for eight years. Wilsey did win his first Big Game in ’67.

Roger Theder and Keith Gilbertson both coached four seasons and both had winning teams in their second years but losing seasons in years three and four and were then fired. Theder’s fourth team (1981) went 2-9 and Gilbertson’s (1995) was 3-8.

Joe Kapp

Joe Kapp started with a winning season in 1982 capped (Kapped off?) off by the most memorable of Big Games. His second team slipped to 5-5-1 and year three was a terrible 2-9 team that foretold his dismissal after year five. In year four (1985) the team went 4-7, the saving grace being a win over U$C.

Tom Holmoe’s fourth year (2000) was like all the rest, a losing one, 3-8. He, like Kapp, served a fifth season before Cal fans were put out of their misery.

Sonny Dykes’ fourth year (2016) — stop me if this sounds familiar — was his last. It was his third losing season atCal.

With the exception of Ingram who went .500, all Cal coaches who ultimately failed had losing seasons in year four. Many had their worst season. All but three were fired and two of them coached only one more season. 

Now let’s look at those coaches who made it to a fifth year. Starting with the successful coaches.

Andy Smith (1920) went undefeated and won the Rose Bowl. It was the first of the Wonder teams and they outscored opponents, 510-14.

Nibs Price (1930) had a disastrous fifth season that cost him his job, it culminated with a horrible 41-0 loss in the Big Game. Price had two bad years at Cal, his first and last and between did all right going  20-6-3  and earning a Rose Bowl berth.

Stub Allison (1939). After four excellent seasons the party was over. Stub never had another winning season starting with a 3-8 campaign in year five. He did, however, retain the Axe.

Pappy Waldorf (1951). The string of unbeaten regular seasons and Rose Bowl trips ended. But it was still a damn good season as the Golden Bears went 8-2.

Mike White (1976) followed up his co-conference championship the year before with a disappointing 5-6 season that ended with heartbreaking loss (is there any other kind?) in the Big Game.

Bruce Snyder (1991) finally hit the big time finishing 10-2 and earning a top ten ranking after a whipping  Clemson on New Year’s Day in the Citrus Bowl. His future was set. Unfortunately as Bob Bockrath was the AD, Snyder’s future played out at ASU. What might have been.

Jeff Tedford (2006) went 10-3 in his fifth season and shared the conference title with U$C. It was the second of two great seasons at Cal. But in his remaining six years he never matched the glory of '04 or ’06.

Interestingly, four successful had winning fifth years and three losing ones. Three of those who posted winning seasons had their best or one of their two best seasons

Most unsuccessful coaches never reached a year five. Here are the three who did.

Ray Willsey’s (1968) had his best season in year five finishing 7-3-1 earning national rankings and demolishing several prestigious programs such as Syracuse and UC, Los Angeles. However the Bears flopped in the Big Game. Willsey never re-captured the magic of the ’68 campaign as he hung on for three more mediocre years.

Joe Kapp (1986) went 2-9 and was finally canned. He did, however, engineer the biggest upset in Big Game history, thus finishing with a winning record (3-2) against ‘Furd.

Tom Holmoe (2001) had the worst of his five years at Cal and was fired after the Bears finished 1-10.

Cal Football Anniversaries to be Recognized or Ignored in 2021

It's the 25th anniversary of Mariucci's one season at Cal

2011. This is the 10th anniversary of the lone season in which the Bears played their home games outside of Berkeley. While Memorial Stadium was being refurbished the Bears played their five home games at the home of the San Francisco Giants, now called Oracle Park. This was perhaps the worst good team the Bears have ever had. They had a winning season at 7-5 but lost to all three rivals and were beaten in their bowl game. There were no “special” wins.

2001. This is the 20th anniversary of the last of Tom Holmoe’s five losing seasons. The only victory came in the season’s last game at Rutgers (a game rescheduled after the September 11 attacks). The highlight of the season came immediately after it ended when Tom Holmoe was fired. (He was a nice man, though.)

1996. This is the 25th anniversary of Steve Marcucci’s lone season at the helm. (What might have been if he had been hired instead of Keith Gilbertson in 1992). The Bears went 6-6 after a roaring to a 5-0 start. They lost to Navy in the   Aloha Bowl.

1991. This is the 30th anniversary of Bruce Snyder’s fifth year in charge, the Bears went 9-2 in the regular season and then whipped Clemson 37- 13 in the Citrus bowl to give the Bears their first top ten finish in forty years.

1981. This is the 40th anniversary of Roger Theder’s fourth and final year and boy was it a stinker. The Bears managed two wins.

1971. This is the 50th anniversary of Ray Willsey’s eighth and final season as head coach. Like most years under Willsey, the Bears were mediocre posting a 6-5 mark which culminated in a brutally boring 14-0 Big Game loss. It was one of five seasons in which Willsey’s Bears finished either 5-5 or 6-5.

1961. This is the 60th anniversary of the Marx Levy’s second season. Like all four of his tenure it was not memorable.The Bears went 1-8-1 with a win at home over UW the only saving grace.

1951. This is the 70th anniversary of a very good Pappy Waldorf team that went 8-2. It was a bit of disappointment after three successive unbeaten regular seasons and consequent trips to the Rose Bowl. The season did end with a Big Game victory that kept the then Indians out of the Rose Bowl.

1946. This is the 75th anniversary of what until then was the worst ever Cal football team. Frank Wickhorst was the hapless coach of this 2-7 and he was quickly canned at season’s end.

1941. This is the 80th anniversary of one of the most unusual teams in Golden Bear teams in history. Cal has only ever beaten their three rivals in the same season six times and they’ve gone to the Rose Bowl five of those times. This was the exception. This squad not only didn’t go to the Rose Bowl but they only won one other game (against a semi-rival, St.Mary’s). Beating U$C, UC, Los Angeles and Stanfurd in the same year has to qualify as a great season, losing record or no.

1931. This is the 90th anniversary of Navy Bill Inghram’s first and most successful season. The Bears finished 8- 2 and reclaimed the Axe for the first time since 1925. The rest of Ingram’s tenure was not so hot.

1921. And finally this is the 100th anniversary of the second of Andy Smith’s Wonder Teams. The Golden Bears went undefeated, outscoring their opposition 312-33. Only a scoreless tie in the Rose Bowl against Washington and Jefferson (the school not the former presidents) marred the season.

The Agony and the Ecstasy and More Agony, A Brief History of Cal Football

From Cal's 1938 Rose Bowl victory over Alabama

The history of intercollegiate football at the University of California is replete with the pomp, pageantry and tradition that exemplifies college football in the United States. Cal has a particularly rich football past with many heroes and glorious football teams. But the hard truth is that, in general terms, the Golden Bears have, for over sixty years, pretty much sucked at football. True fans love their Golden Bears just the same; hope springs eternal.

I am second to no one in my love of Cal football. I love the stadium, the band, the cannon, the fight songs, the card stunts, the colors and of course, Oski. I love the university and all it stands for. I am proud to bleed blue and gold.

I've been attending Cal football games since before I can remember. The first game I can recall going to was, a loss to Missouri in 1962. My love affair with Golden Bear football began with my first exposure to the team, the stadium and the atmosphere. When, as a mere lad, I began attending games the Bears were in the midst of perhaps the worst run of in their history, which is really saying something. But I was hooked. It wasn't just football or college football it was Cal football that intoxicated me. Memorial Stadium was my favorite place in the world. If I went to a game and Cal lost I was forgiving and looked forward to better days ahead. I was happy just to have been there. If they won I was delirious with joy and anticipated more glory to come. In later years I took the losses a bit harder but I've learned — after far too much practice — to take defeats in stride and move on with my life. The wins I savor more and more with each passing year. I've come to realize how precious each is.

In the last sixty years Cal has boasted some excellent teams and great players and played in some legendary games including one that is generally acknowledged to be the greatest college football game of all time (the 1982 Big Game). In recent years Cal has featured such future NFL stars as Aaron Rogers, DeSean Jackson, Marshawn Lynch and Jared Goff, to name but a few. But the truth of the matter is that in terms of the college football universe Cal football has been — for quite sometime now — pathetic. 

But it didn't used to be this way. Not at all. (In discussing Cal football history I will always begin with the 1915 season when Cal made the permanent move back from rugby to American football.) From 1915 through 1938 The University of California was one of college football's powerhouses. In those 24 years there were 20 Bear teams that had winning records and only two with losing records, while two others finished at .500. Among those teams were Andy Smith's Wonder Teams which included five consecutive unbeaten seasons (1920-1924). Over those five years the Sturdy Golden Ones outscored their opponents 1,564 - 139.

A rare bright spot in the '60s, Craig Morton

Cal stumbled a bit in the aftermath of Smith's death following the 1925 season, but their 1928 squad went to the Rose Bowl and they lost but one game the following year. Later under Coach Leonard "Stub" Allison the Bears hit dizzying heights again. In his first four seasons (1935-1938) the Bears were 35-7-1 featuring a 1937 squad that earned a 13-0 Rose Bowl victory over Alabama and a claim to the then mythical national championship.

The Bears did not suffer a prolonged spell of sub par seasons in football until World War II. From 1939-1946 Cal had no winning seasons and managed only one at .500. Allison's early magic wore off and his 10-year tenure was done at Cal after the 1944 campaign.* There followed three head coaches in three years but the last of the trio was Lynn Pappy Waldorf, under whom the Bears instantly returned to glory. In his first four seasons (1947-1950) Cal went 38-4-1** and appeared in three Rose Bowls where three of those losses occurred, in each case ruining unbeaten seasons.

After the last of those Rose Bowls the Bears had two more winning seasons under Waldorf, going 8-2 in 1951 and 7-3 in 1952. It is since that 1952 season that Cal football has been in college football's doldrums — at least where wins, losses and conference titles are concerned. In the next fifteen years, Cal had ten losing seasons, four .500 seasons and only one winning year, albeit the last Cal Rose Bowl team (1958). That last Cal squad to win an outright conference crown was preceded by three teams that won a combined six games and was followed by four teams that managed six victories between them. The 1958 squad was a true outlier in a particularly bleak period of Cal football.

From 1953 through last season Cal has had only 25 winning seasons with 38  losing seasons and eight at .500. On top of that, since 1937 Cal has managed a combined total of zero unbeaten seasons. Also, since 1952 Cal has accumulated a grand total of zero seasons with just one loss. Since that time the Bears have had only two teams go through a season with as few as two losses. One of those was the 1991 squad which suffered a regular-season-ending seventeen point upset loss to the ‘Furd in the Big Game and the other was the 2004 team which ended its season the victims of a beating by a heavy underdog, Texas Tech, in the Holiday Bowl. Thus Cal's two best teams of the last 60 years each were dealt a convincing upset beating at or near the end of their campaign.

The Bears have managed a share of the conference crown twice (1975 and 2006) but both those teams missed out on the Rose Bowl as a consequence of losses to the team with whom they shared the title.

Do you have any idea how many college teams have gone unbeaten since Cal last did? Do you have any idea how many college football teams have gone through a season with just one loss since the last time Cal did? I don't know either but anyone who has even a cursory knowledge of college football can tell you that there have been a lot. A helluva lot. Many of those teams are Cal's arch rivals (‘Furd, U$C and UC,Los Angeles). Misery loves company and the best the Bears can do in their conference for company is the likes of Washington State. But even they have gone to the Rose Bowl twice in the last 20 years.

Cal's all-time leading rusher, Russell White

Speaking of Cal's rivals, if you are really a masochist check out the Bears' records against their three rivals over the past sixty years. I don’t have the heart to do it because I know just anecdotally it is very bad versus each one. These woeful records include long losing streaks against all of them (From 1972 through 1989 against UC, Los Angeles 1959-1969 and 2004 to 2017 against U$C and against the ‘Furd 1961-1966, 1996-2001 and from 2010 to 2018. The best winning streaks against each of the three has been five vs. UCLA, 1990-1994, five vs. ‘Furd, 2002-2006 and three vs. U$C, 1998-2000.) Here's how bad it is, Cal has not beaten all three in the same season since 1958, the school's last Rose Bowl year. Indeed the Golden Bears have only ever beaten all three in the same season in Rose Bowl years and in 1941(which is a story for a different time).

Besides their three California based rivals, the Bears have a very long standing rivalry against the University of Washington and I guess it wouldn't surprise you to know that our record against them has been abysmal in the past sixty years and also includes a horrific losing streak (1977-2001). We managed a five game winning streak against them from 2002-2006.

My intention here has not been to send anyone spiraling into depression nor make anyone ashamed of Cal football. (On the contrary I think Bear fans should be very proud of their team.) But I always think it's best to face the truth. I taught U.S. History for over twenty years and I believed it my responsibility to relate to students the horrors of slavery and the sufferings of so many Native American tribes. I did not sugar coat or embellish, I merely tried to present the facts as objectively as possible. In presenting this most abbreviated version of Cal football history I have endeavored to relate facts. I have been a student of Cal football history all my life so I knew what was coming in starting my research, but even I was struck by the dimensions of Cal's football futility.

The beauty of this recitation of horrors is how wonderful we'll all feel when this turns around, as I believe it will beginning this very season. I predict that sixty years in the future someone will be writing about the glorious records of Cal football over the preceding six decades, with statistics revealing their dominance in the conference in general and over their arch rivals in particular.

The question of why Cal has failed to scale the heights this past half century plus requires a detailed answer which I may explore in the future. I do know that teams in sports of all types at all levels, professional and amateur sometimes develop a winning or a losing culture and either is hard to break. When a game is on the line teams can sometimes expect to win or expect to lose as the case may be. It can also happen when two teams face one another. There have been far too many times in Big Game history when a close game did not go Cal's way. Meanwhile it was only in only in the early Tedford years that one felt certain that Cal would be the team that came through in the end, this feeling was epitomized by the 2009 Big Game.

Cal has certainly had bad luck with coaches and coaching hires. Pete Elliott left one season after leading the Bears to the Rose Bowl. His successor, Marv Levy went on to be a successful NFL head coach but had four horrible seasons at Cal (1960-1963). Mike White was running a fairly successful program (1972-1977) before running afoul of Athletic Director Dave Maggard and NCAA regulations. The hiring of former star player Joe Kapp (1982-1986) proved a big mistake. Bruce Snyder (1987-1991) had Cal in successive bowl games but the then AD Bob Bockrath drove him out as part of his torching of Cal athletics. The Bears hired Keith Gilbertson (1992-1995) to replace him and his tenure was short lived. Available at the same time as Gilbertson was Steve Mariucci. After Gilbertson was sacked Mariucci was brought in but left after one season (1996) to take the 49ers head job (things would have almost certainly been much different in Cal football if Mariucci had been hired in '92 instead). In the wake of Mariucci's sudden departure came the epically bad hiring of Tom Holmoe who is the only man to coach Cal for more than four seasons (1997-2001) without posting a single winning record. So the whole business of hiring and keeping head coaches has played a major role in the Bears' recent woes.

DeSean Jackson

Of all the fan bases I've been associated with Cal football's is the best. We are knowledgable, passionate, and (relative to other fans) patient. The years of suffering have hardened us to defeat but not accepting of it. When glory comes we will savor it. And it will come. Justin Wilcox and company are in the process of breaking the cycle. The Bears are on the verge of a major breakthrough that will bring a new era of Cal football. Not one of futility but one of glory. By Oski I know it.

*After Allison's fantastic start at Cal he never again had a winning season and only managed .500 once in his last six seasons at the helm.

**Like Allison, Waldorf roared in like a lion — or Bear — and went out like a lamb. After six straight winning seasons he had consecutive .500 teams and consecutive losing seasons. As most fans of today are no doubt aware Jeff Tedford also came on like gangbusters. With a 43-20 record in his first five seasons going to bowl games in all of those seasons save his first when Cal was on probation. In his last six years Tedford teams went 39-37 and missed going to a bowl game twice. The only Cal head coach who served for ten or more years who didn't fit the fast start slow finish trend was Andy Smith who built up for a few seasons before his Wonder Teams. But even he ended his career by slipping to 6-3. Of course he died after that season and we'll never know if he would have righted the ship or continued to slide. I think most students of Smith and college football would assume the former would have happened.