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.