Madison — Justin Wilcox's coaching career, which began discreetly when he took a job as graduate assistant at Boise State in 2001, was trending upward for more than a decade.
After two seasons at Boise State, Wilcox served as California's linebackers coach for the next three seasons. He parlayed that job into a four-season run as Boise State's defensive coordinator and then enjoyed two-season stops as the defensive coordinator at Tennessee and Washington.
When head coach Steve Sarkisian moved to USC from Washington in 2014, Wilcox followed.
Then came the 2015 season. Sarkisian was fired on Oct.