Oregon State has been in full-blown search mode since firing Trent Bray mid-October after the Beavers stumbled to a 0-7 start. Robb Akey has been running the show as interim head coach while athletic director Scott Barnes conducts a national search. The Beavers appeared to be closing in on a decision earlier this week, with several strong candidates in the mix. But then the coaching landscape shifted.

On3’s Pete Nakos dropped the news that the Beavers are shifting their focus: “The Beavers appeared to be closing in on a hire in recent days until Cal fired head coach Justin Wilcox on Sunday night. Oregon State is expected to talk to Wilcox. Other top names in the search are Montana State’s Brent Vigen, Alabama co-offensive coordinator JaMarcus Shephard, UC Davis’ Tim Plough, North Dakota State’s Tim Polasek, and former Wisconsin head coach Paul Chryst.”

According to Oregon insider John Canzano, intermediaries for Wilcox and Oregon State were already working Monday to set up an 11th-hour interview that could completely change the direction of the search. This isn’t the first time Wilcox and Barnes have talked, either. Wilcox interviewed with Barnes several years ago before the Beavers ultimately hired Jonathan Smith.​

So why would Oregon State want a coach who just got fired after going 48-55 over nine seasons? Well, context matters. Wilcox inherited a Cal program that was coming off a 5-7 season under Sonny Dykes. And he immediately transformed the defense from a disaster (42.6 points allowed per game in 2016) to one of the best units on the West Coast (20.4 points allowed in 2018). 

He has serious defensive chops. He spent 11 years as a defensive coordinator at Boise State, Tennessee, Washington, USC, and Wisconsin before taking the Cal job, building elite defenses everywhere he went. At Cal, he led the Bears to back-to-back winning seasons and bowl games in 2018 and 2019 for the first time since 2008-09. He also beat top-10 Washington State 37-3 in 2017, and won five of six Big Games against Stanford, including four straight from 2021-24. 

For Oregon State, Wilcox, who will receive $10m as a buyout, could be exactly what they need. The Beavers are a defense-first program in the middle of rebuilding after losing most of their conference affiliation. And Wilcox has proven he can win in tough situations with limited resources. He’s from Eugene, Oregon, so he knows the region intimately. And he’s got deep West Coast recruiting ties from his years at Cal, USC, and Washington. 

At 49 years old, he’s young enough to build something long-term. But he is also experienced enough to handle the pressures of a Power Five (or whatever the Pac-12 becomes) program. 

Sure, Montana State’s Brent Vigen (57-12 in five seasons) and Alabama’s JaMarcus Shephard (explosive recruiter and offensive mind) are intriguing options. But Wilcox brings a proven track record at the FBS level and a defensive identity that could stabilize a program desperately searching for answers.

California continues their coaching search 

While Wilcox is getting linked to the Oregon State job, his former employer at Cal is conducting their own search. And the list of candidates is raising some eyebrows. According to On3’s Pete Nakos, Pat Fitzgerald has emerged as a serious contender after settling his $130 million wrongful termination lawsuit with Northwestern. 

The former Wildcats head coach, who won 110 games and two Big Ten West titles during his 16-year tenure, recently told ESPN he feels “100% vindicated” and is ready to return to coaching. For Cal, Fitzgerald represents a high-risk, high-reward hire. He is a proven winner with Big Ten Coach of the Year honors. But he is also someone who comes with significant baggage that could make the university administration nervous.​

But Fitzgerald isn’t the only name generating buzz. ESPN and Nakos both have Oregon defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi as the “clear favorite” for the job. This makes a ton of sense given that he played and coached at Cal from 2000 to 2011 before building an elite reputation at Alabama under Nick Saban and now at Oregon under Dan Lanning. 

Oregon’s Will Stein, the offensive coordinator, is also on the radar. General manager Ron Rivera is leading the search. And with Cal sitting at 6-5 and bowl-eligible despite the coaching change, there’s no immediate pressure. But they’ll need to move quickly if they want to land someone like Lupoi before other Power Four programs come calling.​