Report: Oregon head coaching job turned down by Pac-12 candidate

After Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal left Eugene to return to his alma mater, as he was recently named head coach at Miami, the Ducks athletic department brought in Cal head coach Justin Wilcox, among other candidates, to interview for the vacancy.

Wilcox has only been a head coach for five seasons. He was hired by Cal in 2017, and he’s since amassed a 26-28 record at the helm of the Golden Bears. In his best year, 2019, saw Cal finish 8-5 and win the Redbox Bowl, but Wilcox has only made two bowl games in his five years. Regardless of his resume, a previous report indicated Wilcox impressed Oregon brass in his interview. But according to a subsequent report on Sunday, “impressed” might be an understatement.

John Canzano of Oregon Live reported that Wilcox was actually offered the Oregon head coaching job by athletic director Rob Mullens on Friday. And in a shocking development, later that day, Canzano said he turned it down.

Oregon has not finished below .500 since 2004, and the job presents an opportunity to perennially compete atop not just the Pac-12 but the entire country. Since 2000, Oregon has only missed a bowl game in two seasons, and Cristobal was able to amass a 35-13 record in his five years at the helm.

Not only would Oregon provide a better opportunity for Wilcox to compete at a national level, but it would also pay more than his salary at Cal. Wilcox was slated to make $3.3 million in 2021, which ranks as the seventh-highest salary in the Pac-12 and the 43rd-highest in America. That number is dwarfed by Cristobal’s salary, which was $4.4 million in 2021, and reports had circulated suggesting that Oregon was willing to pay even more.

Instead, Oregon ended up hiring Dan Lanning, Georgia’s defensive coordinator, to lead the Ducks program moving forward. Not to say that Lanning was a bad hire; however, one can only wonder what went into Wilcox’s decision to turn down what appears to be such an appealing job.

To make matters even more puzzling, Wilcox — who held a number of defensive coordinator positions before his hiring at Cal, including several in the Pac-12 — is an Oregon alumnus. He played for the Ducks from 1996 to 1999 as a defensive back, and he was born and raised in Eugene, Oregon.

“The Ducks strong denial that Lanning had the job on Friday night makes more sense now,” Canzano reported. “Lanning moved into the No. 1 position after Wilcox turned Oregon down. Lanning probably knew he had the job but I’m told the Ducks paused to make one final ‘Hail Mary’ run at Wilcox early Saturday morning. The Cal coach slept on it and told Oregon he still wasn’t coming. Lanning was then announced as the hire at 2 p.m. PT by Mullens.”