Cal Football Retains Sione Ta’ufo’ou As Assistant Inside Linebackers Coach
The California Golden Bears kept several staffers from Justin Wilcox's final regime, including a few Bay Area locals.
Sione Ta’ufo’ou was one of several Cal coaches retained from the 2025 coaching staff, as he moves over from the defensive line and outside linebackers to now coach as an assistant to the inside linebackers. Previous to his time in Berkeley, Ta’ufo’ou was the defensive coordinator at UAB in 2023-24 and at Lipscomb Academy in 2020-22.
But Ta’ufo’ou hails from the Bay, where he was the head coach at Menlo Atherton from 2012-16 and Archbishop Mitty from 2017-19. And he played at St. Francis in High School, as well as earning honors at St. Mateo Community College.
There are multiple Cal coaches now with defensive coordinating experience on staff. There is new Cal head coach Tosh Lupoi, who coordinated Alabama and Oregon to playoff appearances and a national title. There is inside linebackers coach Bob Gregory, who was the defensive coordinator at Cal during the heyday of Jeff Tedford. Da’Von Brown held the co-DC responsibilities at Western Kentucky last season. Keith Heyward was a defensive coordinator at Oregon and at UNLV. And there is Ta’ufo’ou. There will be significant coaching experience on defense to help first-time defensive coordinator Michael Hutchings ease into his role.
Confirmed Cal coaching staff
Tosh Lupoi, head coach (Oregon defensive coordinator)
Jordan Somerville, offensive coordinator (Buccaneers assistant QB coach)
Nick Rolovich, quarterbacks coach (returning)
Jeff McDaniels, assistant quarterbacks (returning)
Keith Bhonapha, running backs coach (Michigan State RB/ST coach)
Pat McCann, pass game coordinator (Oregon State WR coach)
Ike Hilliard, wide receivers coach (long-time NFL WR coach)
Geoff McArthur, assistant wide receivers coach (Cal legend)
Steve Haunga, tight ends coach, run game coordinator (Oregon offensive analyst)
Mike Saffell, assistant tight ends (returning)
Famika Anae, offensive line coach (returning)
Viane Talamaivao, offensive tackles coach/RGC (Stanford assistant OL coach)
Michael Hutchings, defensive coordinator (Vikings safeties coach)
Da’Von Brown, defensive backs/co-DC (Western Kentucky, same roles)
Keith Heyward, defensive pass game coordinator (returning)
Darrion Daniels, defensive line coach (Oregon defensive analyst)
Ed McGilvra, assistant defensive line coach (Sacramento State defensive line)
Bryan Barraza, edges coach (Oregon staff)
Lorenzo Alexander, assistant edge coach (Cal football legend, runs linebacker training camps)
Ryan Berry, defensive assistant (Syracuse quality control)
Bob Gregory, inside linebackers coach (returning)
Sione Ta’ufo’ou, assistant inside linebackers (returning)
Connor Boyd, safeties coach (Oregon defensive analyst)
Duke DaRe, assistant defensive backs coach (Baylor quality control)
Zach Tinker, special teams coach (Oregon special teams analyst)
Jason Novak, head athletic performance coach (returning)
IF this many skilled asst coaches translates into better performing football players, THEN we should expect a) better discipline & focus for fewer penalties? b) better execution within assignments? c) better game preparation? This many coaches is such as departure from where Cal has been. I can’t wait to see the results.
I was looking around and think we may now have one of the biggest coaching staffs. Would need to do some deeper digging to sort out all the "analysts" to make an apples-to-apples comparison.
I am totally fine with this, of course. If we're going to compete, we have to commit. Ron must have found a big chunk of cash somewhere. Excited to see the results!