Cal Football: `Justin Didn’t Stay to Stay Where We Are'

After turning down a job offer from Oregon, his alma mater, Cal coach Justin Wilcox explained, "If we continue along this path, we can do some great things here, and things that haven't been done before.”

Weeks later, having signed a new contract designed to keep him in Berkeley through the 2027 season, Wilcox added, "We have very high expectations. I think we've earned the right to expect more, and that's exactly what we're going to do.”

At a program that has been competitive since Wilcox’s arrival for the 2017 season but still hasn’t assembled winning record in Pac-12 Conference play since 2009, exactly what do those expectations involve?

Athletic director Jim Knowlton talks in the video above about Cal’s status as an exceptional university.

“I just think when you think of being exceptional, you don’t want to be exceptional in just one part of what the university does.” he said. “Our expectations are we’re exceptional in everything we do, and that includes the athletic department.”

Knowlton referred to Cal being represented by 58 athletes at last summer’s Tokyo Olympics. “At Cal that’s what we’ve grown to expect,” he said. “And the same thing with football. We expect to be exceptional in football . . . We expect to win championships.”

It’s within the program’s grasp, Knowlton believes.

“Justin didn’t stay to stay where we are,” he explained. “He stayed because he knows we’re building something that’s going to allow our team to win championships.”

Perhaps even do something Old Blues have pined over now for 63 years?

Cal hasn’t played in the Rose Bowl since Jan. 1, 1959, when the Bears trekked to Pasadena before losing 38-12 to Iowa.

That was 17 years before Wilcox was born.

Truth be told, It was before Knowlton was born.

“I didn’t come to Cal not to be able to go to the Rose Bowl,” Knowlton said. “And it’s not to go see someone else play. It’s certainly to watch our team play. I know that’s what we all want.

“I sometimes chuckle that our fans would rather go to a Rose Bowl than a national championship. I say that tongue and cheek, but we want to get back to the Rose Bowl. That is a goal of ours and certainly what we’re driving for every day.”

Cover photo of the Rose Bowl in Pasadena by Kirby Lee, USA Today

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo