Cal Bears Football

Justin Wilcox is set to be head coach of the Cal football team for the foreseeable future.

The school announced on Thursday that Wilcox has agreed to a contract extension through the 2027 season. The Golden Bears went 5-7 last season and finished fourth in the Pac-12 North.

Cal had started the year 1-5 but went 4-2 to close the season, ending with a win over USC. The Golden Bears also defeated their rival Stanford 41-11 in November.

"I appreciate the opportunity to be the head football coach at Cal and am excited about the future of our program," Wilcox said in the release. "I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute I have spent with the extraordinary young men who have been in our program."

Wilcox has coached Cal since 2017 and compiled a 26-28 record in five seasons. The team had back-to-back winning seasons and bowl game appearances in 2018 and 2019, a feat the program hadn't achieved in 10 years. The Golden Bears lost the Cheez-It Bowl to TCU in 2018 but topped Illinois in the Redbox Bowl the following year.

However, Cal has never finished with a conference record above .500 in Wilcox's tenure.

"We have very high expectations," Wilcox added. "I think we've earned the right to expect more, and that's exactly what we're going to do."

Under Wilcox, Cal has also seen substantial growth off the field. According to the press release, "the program announced its highest graduation success rate ever at 84 percent" in December."

This year's USC at Cal football game, which was scheduled for Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET in Berkeley's California Memorial Stadium, has been postponed because of COVID-19 issues within the Golden Bears program. 

Jon Wilner of the Bay Area News Group first reported the news. 

As noted by ESPN's Kyle Bonagura, who confirmed the news, more than two dozen players tested positive for COVID-19 last week and did not travel with the team to face Arizona on Saturday. That matchup resulted in a 10-3 loss for the Bears, who had just 42 scholarship players on hand.

Cal then had more positive test results on its team, which has a 99 percent vaccination rate among players, per Bonagura. Those additional results led to the postponement.

The game will now be played Dec. 4. 

The USC-Cal game is the first FBS contest this year to be postponed because of COVID-19 concerns, according to Wilner.

Cal quarterback Chase Garbers, who was one of the players who did not attend the Arizona game, expressed his frustrations with the University Health Services on Monday:

Bonagura gave a rundown of what happened last week leading into the Arizona game:

After a couple positive tests early in the week, the city of Berkeley required the entire team to be tested on Wednesday—including asymptomatic vaccinated individuals— which revealed the outbreak, the source said. It's unclear when the players and coaches who tested positive will be allowed to return to the team.

Cal head coach Justin Wilcox offered comments after the Arizona game.

"This is a city of Berkeley [process] and the [UC Berkeley administration are] the ones that relay the information to me," Wilcox said. "I'll be looking forward to sharing more at a later time. I don't think this moment is the time to discuss that."

In addition, as Kylen Mills of KRON4 News reported, "players are upset they're forced to sit 10 days regardless of vax status or subsequent negative tests."

A positive COVID-19 test has led to the cancellation of Saturday's football game between Washington and California.

In a statement from the Pac-12, the game was canceled at Cal's request because the team did not have a "minimum number of scholarship players available" after a positive test.

Cal head coach Justin Wilcox told reporters Wednesday that the game's status was up in the air because a "significant" number of players had to undergo contact tracing after the positive test was returned.

"It's a tricky situation as we all know," he said. "We are glad to report that the one positive is asymptomatic and everybody's healthy. But the result of the contact tracing is significant. We will hopefully learn in the short term where that leads us, but it's a significant hurdle."

Per the official Pac-12 guidelines for this season, teams must have at least 53 scholarship players available to play, including a minimum of seven offensive linemen, four defensive linemen and one quarterback.

Saturday will mark the first day of the Pac-12 football season. Teams will play a seven-game conference-only schedule in the regular season, and the Pac-12 Championship Game takes place either Dec. 18 or 19.

The California Golden Bears announced former NFL running back C.J. Anderson is coming back to the program as a volunteer quality control coach.

Anderson played collegiately at California and ran for 1,135 yards and 12 touchdowns while adding 350 yards and two scores through the air in 2011 and 2012.

He played in the NFL from 2013 through 2019 for the Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Rams, Carolina Panthers and Detroit Lions. Anderson was a Pro Bowler in 2014 for the Broncos with 849 rushing yards, 324 receiving yards and 10 total touchdowns and was impressive again in 2017 with 1,007 rushing yards, 224 receiving yards and four touchdowns.

Anderson also helped the Broncos win the Super Bowl in 2015.

It is not a surprise to see him pursuing a coaching career.

After all, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported Anderson planned on pursuing a coaching opportunity at a Power Five conference school when he officially retired in September. "Details soon," Anderson said at the time.

Turns out, he is going back to his alma mater.

In light of Under Armour attempting to terminate its contract with UCLA, Cal has launched a preemptive strike saying the company "does not have grounds" to end their deal.

"While we understand that we are in challenging times, we have been and remain committed to our partnership with Under Armour," Cal said in a statement. "We are confident that we are fulfilling the terms of our agreement and that Under Armour does not have grounds for termination. We know that UA has put years into building its college business, and we have done and will continue to do everything in our power to help them succeed.

"Cal Athletics remains steadfast in its commitment to support its student-athletes with the apparel and footwear they need to train, compete and succeed in their chose athletic fields."

Under Armour, which has had several recent quarters of disappointing sales and has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, recently informed UCLA of plans to back out of their $280 million apparel contract. Michael Smith of the Sports Business Journal reported Under Armour is planning to attempt to back out of its deal with Cal as well.

Cal signed a 10-year, $86 million deal with Under Armour in 2016. While the deal pales in comparison to the UCLA pact, it's safe to say neither deal has provided Under Armour much benefit in national exposure. The schools have combined for three bowl appearances in football (zero Top 25 rankings) and two NCAA tournament berths in men's basketball since the deals were signed.

With Under Armour looking for ways to slash costs, dissolving those deals would be a natural way to find $366 million in savings. It's unclear if the company has any legal grounds to do so. Both UCLA and Cal said they're planning to fight, likely to avoid lost revenue that they would not otherwise be able to recoup—especially in the midst of a pandemic. 

The University of California released a statement Wednesday after former student Paige Cornelius, who worked as a sports medicine intern in the athletic department, announced she had "medically withdrawn" from the school to seek treatment following alleged sexual harassment by players, coaches and staff members of the Golden Bears' football team.

Cornelius told Kyle Bonagura of ESPN.com that she decided to go public with her story after attempts to reach athletic director Jim Knowlton, football coach Justin Wilcox and other staff members went unanswered.

"We are aware of the very disturbing public allegations made on social media," the university's statement read. "Allegations of sexual violence and sexual harassment by campus employees are confidential unless officials determine policy is violated, and disciplinary action has been decided."

Cornelius said the harassment included one member of the coaching staff threatening to get her fired if she didn't have sex with him—ESPN reported he was since removed from the staff, though it's unclear if it's related to the case—and another staffer followed her home and asked if she'd go to the pool with him, saying she would "look amazing in a bikini."

"This coach is still employed by Cal Football, just to make that clear," she wrote on Facebook, per Bonagura.

Cornelius added she's "seeking intensive therapy and psychiatry for the post traumatic stress syndrome and anxiety that happened from the time I spent working for the Cal Football team."

In May, longtime Cal assistant director of student services Mohamed Muqtar was fired after sexual assault and harassment allegations were brought forward by seven women.

The school released a statement saying, "The findings described in the report are appalling, wholly unacceptable and have no place in our department, on campus or anywhere."

Bryce Turner, a redshirt sophomore cornerback at the University of California, died this week at the age of 20.

Per a statement from his family (h/t Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle), Turner had been hospitalized after suffering a "medical emergency" during a non-team workout last week. His cause of death has not been revealed.

Turner's family said in a statement released on Thursday the medical emergency occurred near their home in Southern California.

After Turner's hospitalization, Cal head coach Justin Wilcox said in a separate statement the school would "do everything we can to support Bryce and his family during this difficult time."

Turner transferred to Cal after spending his freshman season at Long Beach City College. He made his lone appearance for the Golden Bears during a Sept. 15 win over Idaho State and tallied one tackle in the 45-23 victory.