Job security should never be a concern for Tim Plough at UC Davis. He earned a degree in history at UC Davis and played quarterback for the Aggies. This is his 11th season with the coaching staff and second as head coach. His record is 19-6 and he has twice led the Aggies into the FCS playoffs.
Even will all that, Plough realizes college coaches are an endangered species. “One year I’m next greatest thing and they’re talking me up like I’m the best coach in the world,” he said, “and then a year later I will get people sending me messages saying they want to run over my kids with a car.”
That is a bit drastic, but his point is fans and boosters can be fickle. They will turn their backs on a coach after one losing season even if the coach has had success in the past. They do not take into consideration how much the program has improved and that the defeats are no longer so lopsided.
Paul Wulff was fired at Cal Poly on Nov. 23 after the Mustangs finished 4-8, reaching four victories for the first time since 2018. Cal Poly lost to UC Davis for the ninth consecutive year, but the 34-27 loss was a far cry from the Aggies winning by an average of 33 points in the previous seven years.
“I think Paul’s a great coach and it hasn’t been the easiest situation at Cal Poly. I thought his team got a lot better this year from a year ago,” Plough said. “You get rid of a guy like Paul Wulff and you better have a good reason as to why and who you’re going to bring in there.”
Cal’s Justin Wilcox was also fired on Nov. 23 after a 31-10 loss to Stanford. The folks with any say in the decision must have forgotten that the Golden Bears won the Big Game in five of the previous six years, including a 41-11 win in 2021. Buying out Wilcox’s contract will cost Cal $10.9 million.
Plough was distraught after Wilcox’s dismissal because they are best friends. ”There’s not a better coach in the country than Justin Wilcox,” Plough said. “If he’s not good enough for your program at the moment, I’d be hard-pressed to see who you’re going to get to replace someone like that.”
Wilcox came to Plough’s rescue by offering him a job as Cal’s tight ends coach in 2023. Plough was fired as Boise State’s offensive coordinator in 2022. A 27-10 loss to UTEP was the last straw, leaving the Broncos at 2-2. Plough feared a few heads could roll in a staff meeting the next day.
The only one that did was his. The news made the ESPN crawl before Plough could call his wife Christine or figure out how he would explain it to his three sons. His parting gift was being told he could not clean out his office until everyone had left the building. He waited until 10 p.m. to return.
Much to his surprise, the coaches still employed by Boise State greeted him and helped him gather his belongings. Plough was surprised again the next day when several players stopped by his home to wish Plough and the family all the best. That was a parting gift wrapped in sincerity.
“You feel for the players. You feel like you let them down,” Plough said. “So even though the results were not what you wanted and things didn’t go the way you wanted and you blame yourself for not getting things done, you feel like you made an impact at least on the people you were around.”
His success in returning to UC Davis has nothing to do with being “any smarter or dumber” than he was at Boise State. “I just think it’s such a results-oriented business,” he explained. “You get pressure from fans and you get pressure from people that have no idea what they’re talking about.”
Every game is an evaluation for Plough because “if you win or lose, you know that what’s you’re going to be judged by. That’s why I focus so much on detaching from results. Everybody else is going to judge me by results, If we were 3-9 and not 9-3, they’d be trying to run me out of here.”
