Cal Football Selects Oregon Analyst Connor Boyd as Safeties Coach
Tosh Lupoi goes back to the Oregon well to make a host of hires.
Cal announced a slew of assistant coach hiring on Saturday. Tosh Lupoi went back to Oregon and made it clear that he was bringing in a host of coaches who fit his vision—young, on the rise, and ready to make their mark. All of these coaches are currently on the Oregon staff as analysts, which in modern college football are practically position coaches who are not allowed to recruit off-campus, but otherwise serve as position coaches.
Here’s one of the four hires:
Connor Boyd - Safeties Coach, 1st Year
Connor Boyd began his career at Alabama during his undergraduate studies, where he worked as a student assistant at the football office under Nick Saban, collaborating directly with then Alabama assistant/now Georgia Tech head coach Brent Key. He was part of a larger Alabama staff that handled campus recruiting events. From there, he moved into the coaching ranks at Jacksonville State, where he served as a graduate assistant for the offensive line and defensive scout team rooms. He then moved onto Tennessee (2020) and Colorado (2021), taking work as a volunteer defensive assistant with the Vols, then as a graduate assistant for the defense with the Buffs.
At Oregon, co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach Chris Hampton cited Boyd for his gamefilm collaboration. With no dedicated safeties coach, Boyd appears to have been responsible for a lot of safety prep with Hampton this past season. Oregon was 5th in the nation in passing efficiency defense (103) and 5th in the nation in allowing passes over 10 yards (only 74 on the year) in 2025.
This will be his first year as a full-time position coach. Welcome Coach Boyd!
Here’s a current look at the announced 2026 Cal football coaching staff that has been hired to this point:
Tosh Lupoi, head coach (Oregon defensive coordinator)
Jordan Somerville, offensive coordinator (Buccaneers assistant QB coach)
Nick Rolovich, quarterbacks coach (returning)
Keith Bhonapha, running backs coach (Michigan State RB/ST coach)
Steve Haunga, tight ends coach/RGC (Oregon offensive analyst)
Michael Hutchings, defensive coordinator (Vikings safeties coach)
Da’Von Brown, defensive backs/co-DC (Western Kentucky, same roles)
Darrion Daniels, defensive line coach (Oregon defensive analyst)
Connor Boyd, safeties coach (Oregon defensive analyst)
Zach Tinker, special teams coach (Oregon special teams analyst)
They better recruit the hell out of the portal because the X’s and O’s are gonna be a work in progress.
I get a great feeling about the way Tosh is assembling this team. I believe it is A) built to relate to the modern professional student athlete with B) young strivers determined to make their marks in the coaching ranks. It will create a culture more like Boise State than Oregon; one that self-perpetuates over time as new young bright minds fill in for those who will, with success, be hired away. That includes the HC. It’s a team of rivals/team of friends approach that — relying on youth and vigor rather than big money and marquee coach name status — may well be perfectly timed for this watershed moment in college football history. Time will tell, but fer damn sure Go Bears!