One of the breakout coaching stars of the 2024 season will call Berkeley his home.

Kyle Cefalo was announced Friday as the new wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator at Cal. The 35 year old will take over for Burl Toler III, who announced his departure from the Bears earlier this week.

Cefalo served as the offensive coordinator at Utah State this season and guided the Aggies to a top-10 showing in total offense adding to his track record of developing top receivers at his previous stops.

The Aggies ranked seventh in total offense this year by averaging 467.7 yards and had top-25 finishes in both passing yards and rushing yards under Cefalo. He stepped into the offensive coordinator role ahead of the 2024 season following a year in which he split those duties in Logan.

He began his time at Utah State in 2021 as the passing game coordinator and receivers coach. His other previous stops include Maryland and Arkansas State where he first worked as a graduate assistant under new Cal offensive coordinator Bryan Harsin in 2013.

Cefalo is the latest piece of a changing staff under eighth-year Bears head coach Justin Wilcox with the first move being to add Harsin, who was previously the head coach at Auburn for two seasons in 2021 and 2022.

It remains unclear what will happen with offensive line coach Mike Bloesch, who served as offensive coordinator this season, but Wilcox has maintained that he wants to keep his staff as intact as he can.

Cefalo has an impressive track record coaching receivers throughout his career.

That includes having one of the Group of 5 receivers projected to be selected highest in the next NFL draft, Jalen Royals. The senior played in only seven games this season before going down with an injury but still posted monster stats in that time with 55 catches and 834 yards receiving plus 6 touchdowns.

Royals caught 9 passes for 211 yards and 2 touchdowns against Boise State this season.

Utah State had three receivers with at least 40 catches and 400 yards receiving this year.

Across his career, Cefalo has guided multiple receivers to All-American seasons including Deven Thompkins at Utah State and Jonathan Adams Jr. and Omar Bayless at Arkansas State. All three were semifinalists for the Biletnikoff Award.

Cefalo walked on at Colorado before becoming a scholarship receiver for the Buffaloes. His foray into college coaching began as a recruiting intern at Boise State before earning his first job under Harsin as a graduate assistant. He remained at Arkansas State after Harsin left to take over at Boise State and then moved on to Maryland as a graduate assistant before landing back at Arkansas State as a receivers coach.

Hometown: Boston, Massachusetts

College: Colorado (2012)

Coaching history

2013 – Recruiting intern (Boise State)

2013-15 – Graduate assistant (Arkansas State)

2016 – Graduate assistant (Maryland)

2017-18 – Inside receivers (Arkansas State)

2019-20 – Special teams co-coordinator/receivers (Arkansas State)

2021-22 – Passing game coordinator/receivers (Utah State)

2023 – Co-offensive coordinator/receivers (Utah State)

2024 – Offensive coordinators/receivers (Utah State)

2025 – Wide receivers coach/passing game coordinator (Cal)