Breaking Down the Cal Coaching Staff: Bill Musgrave

With fall camp fast approaching, we're putting together breakdowns of every coach on Cal's coaching staff. We're continuing with a look at Bill Musgrave, who came to the Bears from the pro level, his second time coaching college football (after a stint at Virginia in 2001-02)

Here's a few things to know about Musgrave.

Previous Installments: Wilcox | Sirmon

While Musgrave played his college years with offensive coordinators who would go on to be head coaches in the then Pac-10 (Bob Toledo and Mike Bellotti), he went to the San Francisco 49ers (initially drafted by the Dallas Cowboys). While in San Francisco he spent three out of his four years under the tutelage of Mike Shanahan, the 49ers offensive coordinator at the time, while backing up Steve Young. Musgrave would then follow Shanahan to Denver in 1995, when latter became head coach of the Broncos.

Those years influenced the kind of offense Musgrave runs, a pro-style with roots in the west coast offense. It's similar to what Kyle Shanahan, Matt Lafleur, and Sean McVay all run, with all three of those coaches having come from the same Shanahan tree. Musgrave also credits longtime Broncos' assistant/former head coach Gary Kubiak as an influence, having played for him in Denver as well.

While Musgrave set a number of records at Oregon, including still holding the Oregon record for the most passing yards in a game (tied with Justin Herbert with 489 in a game in 1989 at BYU), Musgrave may have also developed the first ever video game injury, something shown in the video below. When asked about it not long after his hire in 2020, Musgrave noted to Golden Bear Report that it may have come from playing Galaga as opposed to playing Joust, the game seen in the video below.

Even with an injured finger, Musgrave finished his college career as Oregon's all-time leading passer, surpassed in recent years by Marcus Mariota and Justin Herbert. He also led Oregon to two bowl appearances in 1989 and 1990, as the Ducks hadn't been to a bowl since 1963 prior to Musgrave's arrival.

Musgrave actually has the longest tie to Wilcox, meeting the Cal coach when he was a kid. The Wilcox family, living in nearby Junction City, would be around the Oregon program while Musgrave was playing there from 1986 to 1990. Musgrave would keep up with Wilcox throughout his coaching career, and when Wilcox called about a recommendation for a potential offensive coordinator, Musgrave threw his own name into the ring.

Musgrave came to the Bears after working in the NFL for 20 years, and one habit has carried over from his pro days. In Atlanta, Musgrave coached Michael Vick, Matt Schaub (who he had coached at the University of Virginia), and Matt Ryan, with Ryan being around for three of Musgrave's five years. Because Musgrave didn't have the same type of hands of the targets Ryan was throwing to, he figured out that a baseball glove could help produce a similar result.

"That started when I was the quarterbacks coach for Matt Ryan in Atlanta," Musgrave told Golden Bear Report last year, "we were trying to get more out of our individual drills where they weren’t so half speed, those drills should be game speed, and Matt, I wanted to him to feel like he could throw full speed to me even though I may not be able to catch like Tony Gonzalez or Roddy White, I wanted him to throw to me like I was those guys so we could get maximum value out of an individual period. That glove is a tremendous crutch for me where I can use it as a blocker and catch some full speed passes no matter how far I am from a QB and he can feel like he can get the most out of a drill."

In his time as an offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach, Musgrave has coached 11 Pro Bowlers, with WR Amari Cooper, C Rodney Hudson, T Matt Kalil, RB Latavius Murray, G Kelechi Osemele, FB Marcel Reece and TE Kyle Rudolph, QB Steve Beuerline, QB Matt Ryan, and QB Derek Carr.

Though he had been out of the recruiting game for 18 years, Musgrave has had some early success recruiting quarterbacks for the Bears. In his first cycle, he offered one quarterback, Kai Millner, and landed the Under Armour All-American three months later. In his second cycle, the Bears offered two quarterbacks in Noah Fifita and Justyn Martin, going all in on Martyn and landing the four star quarterback.

Both Millner and Martin have somewhat different skillsets, but Musgrave has a willingness to embrace the differences in order to create explosiveness on offense.

"Quarterbacks come in all sizes with all types of skillsets," Musgrave said, "many ways to skin the cat when you play quarterback. If you want to be effective, you have to throw the football, you’ve got to be accurate. If you’re more reliant on your legs, you have to be explosive to get out of trouble or make people miss, create explosive plays with your legs if you’re not a real passer. That’s what’s great about the sport of football, there’s no one way to do it, there’s no cookie cutter type quarterback. I really enjoy the variety.

With Millner, Musgrave has noted the Higley HS QB is smooth in his throwing motion and decision-making, and has been good on his feet when he has to improvise. In Martin, Musgrave likes the arm strength and the frame Martin has, along with the ability to move in and out of the pocket to make throws.

"The fact that I can throw the deep ball and all the short routes," Martin noted after his OV last month, "he likes getting me moving and getting the possession catches."