General manager Ron Rivera sacked Justin Wilcox after a 31-10 loss to Stanford in the Big Game Saturday dropped the team to 6-5. He had a 48-55 record in nine seasons.
Pete Nakos of On3 Sports reported that the leading candidate to replace him is former Cal defensive lineman and current Oregon defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi.
A brilliant recruiter and a strong motivator, Lupoi's Oregon defense ranks No. 5 in the country in yards per play at 4.13 after holding USC to 52 yards rushing on 28 carries Saturday. The Ducks have risen to No. 5 in both the AP and Coaches Polls, with the Week 14 College Football Playoff Poll due to come out Tuesday night.
His potential move to Berkeley and the ACC for his first head coaching job sets up a number of intriguing possibilities. From Junction City, Oregon, a Duck all-league defensive back in the '90s, Wilcox proved himself to be a brilliant defensive strategist at Boise State and Washington before landing the head coaching job at Cal.
Wilcox dismissal sets up several intriguing dominoes
If they have to replace Lupoi, maligned and questioned after big Oregon losses to Washington early in his tenure and again after the team was shelled last January at the Rose Bowl, Dan Lanning has a very strong candidate on staff in secondary coach Chris Hampton.
While it's uncertain if Wilcox would be open to it, he'd be a slam-dunk hire as defensive backs coach and associate head coach/defensive coordinator. Has a lot of X's and O's expertise that could really get this defense to a national championship level.
Timing becomes a crucial element. Oregon is one game from locking down a College Football Playoff spot and is even alive for the Big Ten Championship Game, though the best-case scenario may be to sit that one out and have three weeks to rehab and prepare for a first-round home playoff game.
Should Lupoi interview for the job or accept it, would he coach the Ducks' D through the playoffs? The program has a handful of top 2026 recruits due to commit on defense with early signing day two weeks away, including Tony Cumberland, Tank Jones and Jett Washington. National rivals will try to pry them loose if Lupoi moves on.
Let the Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele sweepstakes begin
— CFBTalkDaily (@CFBTalkDaily) November 23, 2025
With Cal firing Justin Wilcox every program in the country should be contacting JKS and asking “ how much”
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Another X factor in the Wilcox decision is Cal freshman quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, a former Oregon commit who transferred after participating in Rose Bowl practices last December. The 6-3, 225 lefthander from Ewa Beach, Hawaii could be a hot commodity in the Transfer Portal if he decides to enter again.
On an inadequate roster Sagapolutele has thrown for 2,787 yards and 13 touchdowns, engineering victories over North Carolina, Louisville and Minnesota in a 6-5 season.
Dante Moore looks like he's returning to the Ducks for another year, though he'd be a candidate for the top pick in the NFL draft and a potential $50 million contract he decided to come out. Another year of college starts would be a great benefit for him, but he's already highly rated by scouts.
Should Moore leave, the Ducks might be shopping for a quarterback, setting up a possible scenario where Sagapolutele returns to Eugene the way Moore did after transferring from UCLA.
All that is days and weeks into the future. The task at hand is to game plan for Demond Williams and Washington, keeping those home playoff game hopes alive.