FishDuck Article Administrator No. 1 Share Posted October 28, 2022 To our eternal shame and sorrow, Justin Wilcox said “no” when offered the head coaching job of Our Beloved Ducks. Joey Harrington, on behalf of more than a dozen other former Ducks players, pleaded to AD Rob Mullens in a letter: “There is a candidate out there who embodies both the connection to the past and the skill to get ... A Sad Reflection: We Could've Had Justin Wilcox FISHDUCK.COM To our eternal shame and sorrow, Justin Wilcox said "no" when offered the head coaching job of Our Beloved Ducks. Joey Harrington, on behalf... 1 1 2 2 Two Sites: FishDuck and the Our Beloved Ducks forum, The only "Forum with Decorum!" And All-Volunteer? What a wonderful community of Duck fans! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrJacksPlaidPants Moderator No. 2 Share Posted October 28, 2022 I don’t blame Wilcox one bit. It’s kind of hard to call defensive plays and call out adjustments when your own fans refuse to keep the noise down. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Log Haulin No. 3 Share Posted October 28, 2022 Fool me once... Players picked the last guy. Why Mullens would do that twice is beyond me. Glad it didn't work out for Joey. 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flyin Vee No. 4 Share Posted October 28, 2022 Wilcox has the perfect job. Where else could someone make millions with little expectations? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pennsylvania Duck Moderator No. 5 Share Posted October 28, 2022 It would've been very sad...I don't even want to think about it! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeotechDuck No. 6 Share Posted October 28, 2022 (edited) That was an awesome article. I can't stop laughing. Edited October 28, 2022 by GeotechDuck 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyToBeADuck No. 7 Share Posted October 28, 2022 It's difficult to know where to start on this subject. Joey and the alums surely meant well. Whats frustrating is that Mullens took that as good advice. Nothing as sound as good intentions. WTH? So glad that Justin stayed at Cal. This forum would be losing its mind if this talented team was 3-4 or even 4-3. Mari no O just throttled the offense. Justin has no clue what a offense is....... While listening to Canzano last Monday about Wilcox it was brought up that Mullens and the powers that be told Wilcox they alrrady had his assistants lined up. There was no option for Wilcox. Canzano asked Wilcox if that was true. Wilcox said that someday he would sit down and tell that story. Telling? The real story is who brought Dan Lanning to Mullens attention? Who convinced Phil that Dan Lsnning was the right hire? Now that would be a good story. Tonight when I say my prayers I will thank God that Justin made the right decision. He may have saved the Ducks 2022 season and Mullens his job. GO DUCKS! Beat CAL...... 3 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mudslide No. 8 Share Posted October 28, 2022 (edited) It may be irrelevant. Or it may not. But out of too-much-time-on-my-hands curiosity, and also because I'm a name kinda guy, I looked up the meaning of the name, Wilcox. Here is what Ancestry.com had to say about the Wilcox family history... English (Yorkshire Lancashire and Flintshire): variant of Wilcock with genitival or post-medieval excrescent -s. This form of the surname [Wilcox] is based on the pronunciation. Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022 One doesn't require a dictionary to decipher those key words. Maybe Mullens has an Ancestry membership. Or maybe, it was an amazing prescience by Mullens of what Wilcox might bring to the Ducks, no? Hmmm..... Edited October 28, 2022 by Mudslide Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RealtimeDuck No. 9 Share Posted October 28, 2022 I am thrilled with the success Lanning and company are having! It was a terrific hire and indeed we wouldn’t have got him had Coach Wilcox accepted the position. Justin has proven he has some great coaching chops in his stints with Petersen as well as bringing optimism to a Cal program with very limited resources. i am not wishing, at this point that he had accepted the position in Eugene, but I would not suggest that he wouldn’t have done very well in Eugene! I see him as a very gritty gritty defensive minded coach similar to Whittingham. What success might have he had in Eugene with the facilities and resources? I choose to believe that he would have done well. We’ll never know. I think the downside and microscope of being a hometown coach must have been a very large influence on his decision. Go Ducks!! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Marsh No. 10 Share Posted October 28, 2022 I think when Wilcox was offered the job it came with a LOT of strings attached. Probably something like veto power over any of his desired coaching hires and he would have to fit the mold as to what Mullens and Knight wanted Oregon to look like. I get the feeling that Wilcox was told upfront as a part of a potential hiring that he would have limited control and have a short leash at Oregon. Wilcox has done an ok job at Cal. Cal does not have the resources required to be a strong football program. They were absolutely hammered by health regulations in 2020 and 2021 where they dropped a game to Arizona last year because they couldn't fully practice due to an outbreak and quarantine protocols in Berkeley. I feel he may get his team back on the trajectory he had them on in 2019 which as a steady up-ward trajectory. For some reason though Wilcox can't seem to find offense at Cal. He had Beau Baldwin (former Eastern Washington Coach and now Cal Poly) and he had a brilliant offense at EWU but it never materialized at Cal. I suspect Wilcox was getting in the way of his OC much like Cristobal. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Fischer Administrator No. 11 Share Posted October 28, 2022 Awesome article Alan! Stub! I love it, as coaches should have a colorful name. I always liked, Spike Dykes at Texas Tech....how can not love a name like that? I do think a little more humor fits here... 2 Mr. FishDuck Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LADuck No. 12 Share Posted October 28, 2022 That is some kind of excellent writing. Thanks! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desert Duck No. 13 Share Posted October 28, 2022 On 10/28/2022 at 12:38 PM, Charles Fischer said: Awesome article Alan! Stub! I love it, as coaches should have a colorful name. I always liked, Spike Dykes at Texas Tech....how can not love a name like that? I do think a little more humor fits here... But Mullen's did listen to Joey & Co. Apparently, he put the full-court press on Wilcox (yes, another misplaced sports metaphor), made multiple offers, and Justin thankfully said no both times. I think the Gawds of college football have smiled on Oregon several times over the last few years. First, there's the fact that Florida came calling not once, but thankfully twice, to relieve us of Sunshine State heavy-duty anchor/baggage. Then, Justin said no to the Ducks. Followed by Lanning saying yes. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan No. 14 Share Posted October 29, 2022 On 10/28/2022 at 2:13 PM, Desert Duck said: he put the full-court press on Wilcox (yes, another misplaced sports metaphor) You hit a grand slam through the uprights with that one. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kirklandduck Moderator No. 15 Share Posted October 29, 2022 I'm glad Wilcox didn't take the job. While I respect him on the defensive side, he's always been a middling head coach to me. If he took the job, even with the resources available to him I don't think he'd recruit better than top 25 on average and win records would be 7-9 wins every year. No thanks! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CalBear95 No. 16 Share Posted October 31, 2022 As I wrote at the time of the search, no other program with an opening was even considering Wilcox. That should tell you one of two things: he’s either a really mediocre to bad coach or you are seeing something that eludes everyone else. The fact Mullens threw himself at Wilcox multiple times in a fit of desperation was (and remains) alarming. Wilcox likes to hide behind the built in excuses at Cal because he is, at best, a mediocre coach. He should never have been on the list and only was because some ex-players and boosters were panicked about another coach leaving and so convinced themselves the answer was “an Oregon man.” The Ducks dodged a huge bullet. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
