Marques Tuiasosopo Joins Cal Staff as QB Coach

In a move reported this morning, Cal has hired former UCLA QB coach and Washington great Marques Tuiasosopo to fill the position. Tuiasosopo comes up from Los Angeles after a year with the Bruins. Prior to that, Tuiasosopo had been the tight ends and associate head coach at USC under Steve Sarkisian, working under Sark there and at Washington.

With the hire of Jedd Fisch at UCLA, who coached QBs at Michigan, Tuiasosopo looked to be on the way out, and Justin Wilcox pikced him up to pick up Jake Spavital's responsibilities, as he handled the QB coach duties last season. Tuiasosopo brings a recruiting pedigree to the Cal staff, winning Pac-12 recruiter of the year in 2015 for being the lead recruiter of USC's 2015 class, a class that was ranked #1 by Rivals. Tuiasosopo was also the interim head coach at Washington for their bowl game in 2013, winning the Fight Hunger Bowl that year.

Tuiasosopo has ties in the Bay Area, as a longtime backup for the Oakland Raiders. He now has the task of coaching up Cal's quarterbacks, as the Bears don't bring back much experience at the spot. Davis Webb played almost every snap last season, to the chagrin of a number of people, and while Ross Bowers and Chase Forrest have both seen the field at Cal, neither has had meaningful playing time yet. Max Gilliam and Vic Viramontes both redshirted last season, but add a running component that should be present in new offensive coordinator Beau Baldwin's offense.

With the addition of Tuiasosopo, the offensive staff is nearly filled out, with a running backs coach needing to be found, and a whole defensive staff in the air not too long before signing day.