Cal overhauled their entire football coaching staff following the firing of Sonny Dykes on January 8. Less than a week later, they hired Wisconsin defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox to replace Dykes. The late coaching change has put severe time constraints on everyone associated with the Cal football program. Wilcox has been working to put his coaching staff together and recruit ever since. It's a tough multi-task ask for a first-time head coach but he seems to plowing through it as best he can. He did find some time to attend Cal's thumping of Stanford in basketball last night. Go Bears! Being a defensive coach, Wilcox had to get the coaches on the offensive side of the ball into Berkeley first. He has to be able to show current Cal commits and possible recruits what his offense, and hopefully their offense, will look like. Considering the time constraints that he was under it looks like Wilcox put together the foundation of a fine coaching staff in a very short time.
Head Coach: Justin Wilcox
Offensive Coordinator: Beau Baldwin
Defensive Coordinator: Tim DeRuyter
Quarterbacks Coach/Passing Game Coordinator: Marques Tuiasosopo
Offensive Line Coach: Steve Greatwood
Wide Receivers Coach: Nicholas Edwards
Defensive Backs Coach: Gerald Alexander
Strength and Conditioning Coach: Torre Becton
The most important hire for Wilcox was that of offensive coordinator. Wilcox has to concentrate on fixing a simply horrible defense. He also has to go through the growing pains of being a head coach for the first time. He needed to be able to turn the offense over to someone and let that person run with it. It's hard to imagine a better coach to do just that than Beau Baldwin. He's been the head coach for little school powerhouse Eastern Washington for the last nine seasons. He posted an 95-35 record at EWU. He's led his team to the FCS playoffs six times. Winning it all in 2010. His offenses have routinely been among the best in the nation. He's also given Pac-12 teams fits over the years.
2011 L UW 30-27
2012 L WSU 24-20
2013 W OSU 49-46
2014 L UW 59-52
2015 L Oregon 61-42
2016 W WSU 45-42
Having an experienced head coach on the staff can only help the first-timer Wilcox. Baldwin's spread offenses will fit the players that Cal has recruited the past four years under Sonny Dykes. Perhaps more importantly, Baldwin is adaptable. He fits his offenses to the skills of his players. Wilcox wants some more traditional power football. That's seen in Cal recruiting tight ends and fullbacks for the first time since the Jeff Tedford days. Baldwin's offense should be the sort of offense that won't leave Cal's defense gassed because they get no breaks and are on the field way too much. And this defense needs any help that it can get. Baldwin brought his EWU receiver coach Nicholas Edwards with him to Berkeley.
Wilcox's first hire was offensive line coach Steve Greatwood. He was the offensive line coach for most of his 30+ years at Oregon. He's had success on the field and in developing NFL-ready linemen.
Wilcox hired former Fresno State head coach Tim DeRuyter to assist him in improving Cal's defense. His experience as a head coach and four decades coaching defenses can only be a benefit to Wilcox moving forward.
One of the most underrated yet most important coaches on a football team is the strength and conditioning coach. The players spend more time with this coach than any other coach on the staff. Becton is well respected within his industry for his educational approach to the profession. He's familiar with the Pac-12 as he coached at Washington from 2011-15 and USC in 2016. He's also familiar with his new head coach. Wilcox was the defensive coordinator at Washington from 2012-13.
Likely remaining positions to be filled:
Running Backs Coach
Defensive Line Coach
Linebackers Coach
Tight Ends Coach
Special Teams Coach
Some colleges have one coach handling a position and special teams so a couple of those positions could be filled by one person.
Once Cal finishes up recruiting this week Wilcox will probably switch his focus to filling out the rest of his coaching staff.
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